News and Wolf of Wall Street review.

I'm currently working on a bunch of different projects two of which are drawing to a close. The first is an advert for Blades Animation, this has been ongoing since the summer. All the animation sections are now complete and 90% of the live action has been shot? I have began editing the explainer video which currently runs at approximately 1 minute 15 though I'm aiming to have it down to under a minute. The main work left to do is the compositing which I'm starting work on tomorrow so will hopefully have it finished early next week. 

The second project I'm working on is a short film that I'm hoping will come in at under 2 minutes. The puppet was completed today and the set is nearly complete just some touching up on the paint work to do. Photos will be uploaded shortly. The actual animation won't start till some time in February. 

I finally got to see the Wolf of Wall Street this week and it's amazing the best film I have seen in ages. The film sees Leonardo DiCaprio playing Jordan Belfort who starts out trying to make a career on Wall Street as a stockbroker. After a short stint at his first firm he is left unemployed as the business fails. Jordan finds a job selling penny stocks and works his way to starting his own firm.

I was worried that I had hyped it up to much for myself and would be left underwhelmed. Not so the film is fast, frenetic with a great energy that doesn't let up until the final act, when like all great party's over indulgence catches up with the films characters as they deal with the consequences of their actions. There are so many great scenes that are at times hilarious, I had a huge smile on my face from start to finish. I though the film looked fun from the trailer but it was much funnier than I anticipated, I can't recommend this movie enough, go see it!!!

12 years a slave.

Just got back from watching 12 years a slave it's really good but very heavy going. It follows Solomon played by Chiwetel Ejiofor who is kidnaped and sold into slavery.

The film is divided into different sections as Solomon travels from owner to owner, the pace is slow although a huge amount of time is covered in approximately 2 hours. The film doesn't concern itself with dates or amounts of time during Solomon's ordeal. 

The biggest reason to see this film is for Chiwetels performance, he's amazing throughout. A mention needs to go to Lupita Nyong'o who plays Patsey another long suffering captive, who is equally good. The performances by all the cast are great showing the remorseless brutality, suffering and emotion the people endured. 

The events focus on Solomon's journey rather than getting heavily caught up with his relation ships or the politics of his situation. This allows you to see how awful the conditions the prisoners were kept in and how they had to suffer. Leading you to see the choices Solomon is faced with if he is to survive. The conversation with his fellow prisoners on the boat is a good example of this both offering different choices but both leaving little hope.

Visually the film is fantastic, the story is punctuated by beautiful shots of scenery and filled with colour. There are some lovely lingering shots allowing you to absorb the moment rather than cutting off to see what's next. 

A film that should definitely be watched as a great film and to experience, to see the horrors of slavery.

American Hustle

Going in to watching American Hustle I knew very little about the film. I hadn't seen the trailer, though I had seen the poster so I knew that I fancied Jennifer Laurence and Amy Adams and this looked like a film that had been produced to win some awards.

Upon arrival at the cinema I had still not received my Orange Wednesday code which was disappointing, my back up was to use my Odeon card as I thought I had accumulated enough points for a free visit, WRONG :( I was 30 points short due to the price increase. The Birmingham Odeon now costs a disgusting £7.95.

The trailers prior to the film starting were all acting films, heavy on emotion and looks to the camera for an Oscar.

American Hustle see's Christian Bale and Amy Adams play a pair of Con Artists who get caught out by Bradley Coopers FBI agent. Who then forces them to perform a bigger con in an attempt to catch out crooked politicians and Mobsters.

The film is slow to get going and I found myself drifting off a couple of times at the start. Once it did pick up I quite enjoyed the movie. The story is fairly simple and the con is straight forward and easy to follow. The story aside this is a film to check out for the characters and performances. The five main characters are all great to watch, I would have liked to have seen more of Jennifer Laurence as Bales bonkers wife. I liked all the hair styles particularly Bales hair construction scene and Coopers curlers. 

There was a distinct lack of violence resulting in no sense of danger for the characters, at no point did it feel like there was any risk for anyone on screen. Although I really enjoyed watching the characters and the performances I didn't really care about any of them leaving me cold to the films conclusion. Criticisms aside check out this film it's entertaining, with come good humour, although nothing amazing.

New year

During the Christmas period I've seen numerous top film lists being posted on Facebook, Twitter etc and have been asked what my favourites of the last year have been. Unfortunately I've struggled to give very comprehensive lists. Although I've been to the cinema loads over the last year roughly once a week I've forgotten most of them.

In the hopes of remedying this I am going to attempt to review each film I watch at the cinema, so I have a record of the films I've seen and to try to post blogs more regurly. I am also hoping to improve my ability to analyze and to articulate my thoughts on films more clearly. 

I think part of the reason I've struggled to be able to concisely list good and bad film from the last year is in part due to the shear number of similar films that have been released over the last year. I definitely felt like my interest was flagging due to the number of films that were filled with green screen animation. From talking too others they seemed less bothered by this than me. So maybe this is down to my interest in animation so am more aware of it. I mostly enjoy entertainment films but the number of movies I saw with explosions, robots, monsters, spaceships etc just became a bit of a blur. 

I'm tired of watching films where a couple of actors are stood in front of a green screen waving sticks at air only for the locations and extras to be put in later. This Christmas I saw the Hobbit and 47 Ronin. Although the Hobbit is the better film it could definitely learn something from 47 Ronin. Although the green screens of New Zealand are very beautiful it makes a big difference when the sets and locations are real. 47 Ronin did use CG but it also had a lots of fantastic practical sets and the colours were great. Unfortunately the fights were a total mess lots of close ups, poor lighting, choppy editing it would have been great if the camera had pulled back and just enjoyed the movement of the choreography. There were lots of other problems but the point I'm trying I make is the Hobbit coming at the end of a year of loads of "digital stuff" just being thrown unrelentingly at the screen was just to much.

At the moment the films I'm looking forward to the most are the Wolf of Wallstreet and Her. I'm sure I will see lots of Blockbusters again this year but will be approaching with caution. So hopefully this time next year I will have a big list of good and bad films I've seen and a blog with regular updates.