kim303 Reviews

Tron (1982)

one of the most mind blowing pieces of science fiction i've seen!

[10/10 · 6 October 2005]

OK, this is one of the very, very few movies I've ever granted a 10 with.

And why? Because of the visual style & unmatched originality alone! I just saw this today for the first time, and was completely awestruck from the beginning to the end. The style that the computer sequences are rendered with is pure gold. This movie really shows how limits may benefit art. I can't imagine a movie like this would work now that the technology is in no way limiting what can be done with 3D-software.

The airbrush work is sleek in the same minimal way as the wire-frame day-glo vector stuff.

The black & white human figures complete the totally ageless look of the CG sequences of this film.

I think this is one of the most underrated scifi-films of all time, and sincerely believe which will rise in artistic recognition as time passes and these beginning steps of computer graphics are just a page in the history books.

This is really an image of a very, very short span of time when computers were entering our world, but still missed a recognized position in people's imagination and everyday life.

I didn't know it beforehand and only realized it when the ending credits hit the screen, but visually this was a co-op between Jean "Moebius" Giraud and Syd Mead. The first on is my all-time favourite scifi-artist, and the other my most favourite visual designer in the movie field... Go figure :)

The Mists of Avalon (2001)

A good enough visual rendition of a very powerful story

[8/10 · 9 May 2005]

It's been almost five years since I read the book, so my memory on the original story is a bit dim.

The movie was a lot better than I believed it would be, and although the plot makes huge jumps and goes on really fast at times I was still very entertained the whole way through. Or maybe entertained isn't the right word to describe the experience, since the story isn't exactly a very happy one.

Casting was mostly good. The actor of Morgaine did the role very well (hmm also being super hot all the while... ahem), as did Mordred's. It's amazing how much the actor managed to squeeze from the scant lines he was given in the movie. Arthur was also good as this somewhat gullible, very sincere person that was brought down by the people around him that he loved & trusted. Except that there wasn't really any air of command around him, he just didn't seem like this radiant personality he was supposed to be. Most others were at least fine, but I didn't like Anjelica Huston as Vivianne too much. Maybe if she didn't look like a burnt out hippie on crack for the whole movie, I could have concentrated more on the portrayal of her character. Now she just didn't fit in really.

Obviously a lot was cut out, so there's not really any point in complaining about that... Well. In the end they DID make some rather awkward shortcuts, like the whole scene of Morgaine returning to Camelot with Mordred holding court there. Just horrible :P

Considering that this is a TV production, the audiovisuals in the movie are very acceptable. I also liked that the props were mostly quite down to earth and believable. No knights running around in shiny plate mail here :) And people do get old and get tired during the course of the story. Some parts were a bit suspect though... The Avalon priestesses with their silly tie-dye hippie new age gear were almost downright laughable, as were some of the female leads' gowns and stuff. The soundtrack was very good, and fit the new agey theme well with all the sarangis and other accidental occidental-isms... And gotta love Loreena McKennit anyway!

I liked the first half better than the end, especially the last 20 minutes or so just didn't work. Somehow I was left with the impression that the director originally wanted one 60 minute episode more, but had to cut it and shoot through the whole second half of the story with way too much speed.

I also liked the way how the personalities & relationships were the focus of the story. Yup, Zimmer Bradley's stories might be a bit of soap, but they still are refreshing when compared to these "Woman waits at home. Man goes out to kills orcs & goons. Man returns. And then they pork (except that we're spared this since the writer is some utter puritan)"-stories that Tolkien & co have churned out.

But, really, how CAN you spoil this story? I've read a few versions of the story, and you really WOULD have to try to lose all the drama...

OK, next I've just GOT to see King Arthur 2004 with Gwenhywfar (sp? goddamn welsh is sick) the warrior princess and whatnot ;D

London Kills Me (1991)

One of the better 90s urban-ite movies

[9/10 · 23 January 2005]

I really like this film! Of course the apparent main story of the shoes is nonsense, but I see this as a kind of a modern fairy tale. A very likable, light hearted story of a group of misfits & druggies going on with their life. I could relate to the characters quite well and many of them reminded me of people I know so even though basically they are obvious caricatures, IMO they are based enough on reality to make them fit for a film. The pace of the film is very loose & relaxed, and it has that special kind of... (sorry I'm not a native speaker) serendipity? Surprising beauty of very ordinary things that emerge from the everyday noise & chaos. The scene where the posse visits the countryside is very bitterly beautiful in so many ways.

It's not a documentary, so I won't really go into the subject of it giving a realistic image of the early 90s England or not.