The three little pigs - the swine crisis.... horrifying children short

 

So my 3 year old nephew was obsessed with watching cartoons of the 3 little pigs over the holiday. Most were dreadfully animated, I mean just terrible and some were weird tie ins to other shows where other children's characters would be inserted into the story. This was... something else. 

The story is told with live actors in really creepy looking masks. The wolf is sort of interesting but the pigs look terrifying. Many versions take liberties with the original tale, you can only tell the same story so many times and most will avoid the wolf in the pot at the end, choosing to have him cartoonishly shoot into the air like a rocket instead of being cooked. I have NEVER seen a version where one pig is pothead who burns his own straw house down while another is an alcoholic who has WW1 flashbacks. A super sexy Red Riding Hood shows up at the end.

Effort went into this and some people talk about how nostalgic this was to them. It's not poorly done it's just wildly inappropriate for kids and seriously... WTF? 

Interview with the Vampire (season one) 2022 created by Rolin Jones

 I have been a fan of the Ann Rice book since it was released in 1976 and I still have my original paperback copy. The back cover had models portraying the main characters in a formal portrait and that image of them stuck with me and became how I visualized them. There were followup books, though the first of them "The Vampire Lestat" took awhile to come out the rest were written much quicker and soon Rice had several series of supernatural series covering all sorts of occult subjects, with varying degrees of success in my opinion. A film version of "Vampire" was released in 1984 and while it had some lovely cinematography and a well know, good-looking cast it was TERRIBLE. Miscast and, apparently due to the objections of Tom Cruise, it erased all the gayness which made the book so fascinating when it was released. Cruise tried to make his version of Lestat the highlight of the film and Will credit him for making a huge effort in the role. However taking away the character's queerness took away the character and all that effort was not enough to save the project. 

Now we have TV series based on the same material and I was not too hopeful how it would come out. I knew in advance they had changed the time period and were going to play quite a bit with the original storyline of a book I simply LOVE. Louis de Pointe du Lac is now a rich black brothel owner, not a white plantation owner and the story has shifted about 100 years later than the novel. The original story still exists in it's original form by way of this being a second meeting of the now old, dying of Parkinson's journalist (Eric Bogosian) once again meeting with Louis who wants to redo the interview after admitting he wasn't entirely honest the first time around. He provides evidence of his current version with diaries and newspaper clipping etc to show his good faith and also to give us, the viewer, more insight into other characters in their own words. 

As the interview progresses, the familiar story is presented in different ways and some elements are changed completely. Louis has a servant (Assad Zaman) who arises the suspicion in the journalist that even this new interview might be given by an unreliable narrator - and he is not wrong. 

I don't want to spoil things as this series is absolutely fantastic and gives us the tone and feeling of the book while at the same time letting it be its own thing. It adds to the book, a rare thing, and does not shy away for the queer elements (not at all) and introduces new ones like Louis having to deal with racial and sexual prejudices which really adds to the character in ways I wouldn't not have predicted. Jacob Anderson IS Louis, the pouty, miserable vampire of the books but with much more context. And my goodness is he beautiful both physically and as an actor in the role. Sam Reid grew on me as Lestat and his wrath and mental instability is terrifying. His French accent is a little off for me so it took me longer to buy him as Lestat but he really succeeded in getting me on board. Bailley Bass is Claudia, the young girl who is made a vampire to complete their little vampire family. In the show she is not a 5 year old but a teenager and Bass runs away with the adolescent rebellion as only a vampire stuck forever in a teenager's body can. Being transformed so young, killing and living as a supernatural creature is all she knows and that makes her more dangerous than maybe Lestat and Louis could have anticipated. 

This series has been beyond good and doesn't seem to have a huge backlash some other reboots or followup properties have in recent years. Some of that is the quality of the show nullifies the dumb internet bigotry and some might be is has slipped in under the radar just enough to have avoided the attention of Russian trolls. Hard to say. There is some what I would call light nudity and sexuality but there is some pretty nasty violence... I mean several times during the season I was really taken aback by it. It isn't without purpose, however. Everything in this show seems to have purpose and leads somewhere interesting. The second season can't come soon enough. 

The Man Who Fell to Earth (2022) created by Jenny Lumet & Alex Kurtzman

 I will have to state I was pretty much against this TV series from the announcement. It seemed a bad idea and to remake the Nicolas Roeg film starring David Bowie was a fool's errand. Luckily it's done cleverly enough with some nods to the film but allows itself to become it's own thing. 

Chiwetel Ejiofor plays a new alien coming to Earth find Jerome Newton, David Bowie's character from the film and basically discover what the fuck happened to the guy sent to get water to save their planet 45 years ago. Lots of fish out of water stuff the first few episodes which is amusing enough and also some new world building never even hinted at in the movie. We see much more of the alien planet and that culture and over 10 episodes we get a better idea why they have chosen earth. Some of it is hand waving nonsense but works on a symbolic level and a lot of time is spent more on the machinations of the CIA, Jerome Newton and the new spaceman who has named himself Faraday.  Naomie Harris plays a scientist who has given up on her career after a terrible radiation accident that was her fault but she is the only person on Earth who can interpret the alien tech to help Faraday complete his mission. Kate Mulgrew plays a ruthless CIA agent and Bill Nighy takes over the Bowie role. 

I don't want to spoil much but it's safe to safe the story gets complex and is pretty engaging and while they keep away from trying to be anything like the Roeg film (a very good call), each episode is named after a Bowie song and in the episodes Bowie lyrics are woven into the dialog which is interesting as an idea but often seemed forced to me. 

Visually well filmed and effects that work and look great but don't overwhelm the story or call too much attention to themselves. Too many of the characters are damaged, some to the point it would be impossible for them to work in a Walmart, never mind be CIA agents. The two leads work well but some of the others are really hard to relate to. Too much attention is paid to their flaws and not to who they are so it's hard to know what we are supposed to feel about them. This doesn't keep the series from building and twisting in ways they are entertaining and engaging, though. Despite the title and sure material it stays pretty grounded in its storyline and while not a classic like the movie it stands enough on it's own that I would say to give it a try. 

Thor: Love and Thunder (2022) written and directed by Taika Waititi

Taika Waititi is an odd choice for a Marvel Universe superstar but this and his last Thor film has elevated the series with its quirky humour and fun. 

Following a lead from the comics this film has Thor discovering that his ex girlfriend is now also a Thor and the two awkwardly rekindle their romance. As in the comic, she has been diagnosed with cancer and each time she uses the mighty hammer it hastens here death. Natalie Portman reprises the role, having skipped the second film and is pretty damn good. So is everyone else and I had to be told that Gorr the God Butcher, the piece's villain, was Christian bale. I had no idea. 

As light and action packed as this movie is, it stands out to me for a reason we often don't see in this ginormous blockbusters. Whenever a serious or emotionally poignant scene comes up there is always a quip to knock it out of the film and be forgotten about. Not this time. Waititi does not skimp on the feelings or hide them when talking about the cancer. It's not overdone or thrown in to make yu cry but it does ground the film like no other marvel spectacular and it's all the better for it. 

Funny, touching where it needs to be and full of fun performances makes me look forward to the third. 

The Northman (2022) Directed by Robert Eggers

 

In his third full length film, Eggers was given a substantial budget, over twice his other films, and it shows. It's lovely to look at and meticulously constructed, like his other films. Having more money seems to have added a commercial element I can't quite put my finger on that was absent in previous efforts. The story is fairly cliché, young prince survives the betrayal and murder of his father and swears revenge on the traitor - becoming a savage warrior in the process. He has brought back actors from previous films and added some higher end ones, all of which are great in their roles and obviously wanted to work with him. Ethan Hawke is maybe the weakest in his role as king but when the weakest role is still fantastic, you can't complain. Alexandre Skaesgârd is intense with his body language, psychical presence and wears his anger well throughout as the revenge seeking prince. Bjork has a small role that suits her well, particularly her voice and Nicole Kidman takes on what could have been a forgettable character and gives her life. 

The film was a commercial failure at the box office but I see it having a long life in video  and streaming for years to come and I will buy the BluRaye. Eggers does use original languages but not exclusively so most of the film is in English. The other languages didn't need subtitles to understand what was happening. He is a stickler for original language so the English throughout was unexpected. There was nudity in the film and some sex but nothing terribly explicit. In fact, some of the nudity took me out of the film because while it wasn't exactly "the guy is naked but there is vase in front of his junk" censorship, it wasn't NOT that either. there is a en epic naked sword fight in a volcano that was maybe cropped a little too carefully to hide things which, for me at least, always brings attention to the director hiding something and it's more distracting than seeing a penis briefly. Woman don't get to be quite as modest. It is pretty violent in parts but I wouldn't say any of it is out of place for the story and Eggers does not shy away from things like rape is happening - but he doesn't make it selling point as others might have and I really appreciated that. 

There is some debate on whether or not this is a fantasy film. Maybe. There are fantastical elements but most of them can be easily dismissed as the character's fantasy or the mythic interpretation melting with the real event. I liked an ambiguity and the myth making mixing with the action. 

Not my favourite from Robert Eggers but three great films out of three is a pretty good record! I don't think he is chomping at the bit for more large budgets and frankly he doesn't need them. More frankly, I don't think many films needs the enormous money poured into them. 

Everything, Everywhere, All at once (2022) written and directed by Daniel Kwan Daniel Scheinert

 I have been seeing a lot of A24 films lately and they vary in content but the quality is usually pretty high but this one... this one is jumps the shark in so many ways and so full of ... everything... it is in multiworld of it's own. I will watch Michelle Yeoh in anything, she never disappoints and she give a great comic but grounded performance in a movie with no ground at all under it's feet. After a short period of introduction it begins is frantic journey of a woman who starts to jump across the multiverse as she tries to settle her laundromat tax situation and keep her family together. It's funny, touching and I can't remember a film where I said "What the fuck?" so many times. David Lynch, eat your heart out  fro weirdness, this story literally has it all, everywhere and at once. Your brain just can't hold all the stuff this throws at you. 

It was a surprise hit, not Marvel multiverse hit territory but it goes places marvel never can and manages to do so on a 25 million dollar budget. It's effects are amazing but not out of control and don't need to be because you are so involved in what's happening and knocked off balance every few minutes with something more bizarre and so out there you never recover. For such concept it is a surprisingly human film, the characters are all great and Jamie Lee Curtis has such an over the top role that goes from comedic, to terrifying within an instant and then to a place where she is completely relatable and sympathetic. 

There might be a universe where someone doesn't like this movie, but I do not want to go there. It's a revelation of a film. 

Poster illustration: Mothra

 

 Mothra was maybe my least favourite of the giant monsters as a kid but this was fun to paint. For some reason I drew her on a HUGE canvas, like 60 inches wide and then inserted her in another project to add the graphics and words. It's a different format than all my other monster posters but so what? I originally was going to crop out most of the wings she could be in a close up on a vertical canvas but it seemed a waste of all the work I did. 

Werewolf by Night (2022) directed by Michael Giacchino

 

A last minute entry to the October Horrors this year. I was able to watch this on a bus ride to the States and was very impressed with it overall. It has humour, gore, great makeup effects and just about everything one might want for a halloween special. Added to that, it was exceptionally made. It wasn't just in black and white but also used period Universal Studios classic horror titles and compositions. Apparently it was filmed digitally, then transferred to film and scanned back in to give it that old film look. The pain they took to make the details, no matter how obscure seem authentic really should praised. 

The story is short (one hour) and simple. A group of monster hunters are competing for "the bloodstone" and the right to lead the monsters hunters after the recent death of the current head of the group. I didn't recognize 90% of the characters and that is probably good since, well, they mostly don't last long. It's pretty gory for aMarvel and Disney Plus show but still had humour and characters you get familiar enough with to think you know more about then than you do. The transformation scene is amazing and the added bonus of "Man Thing" (both creatures mostly done by custom and makeup) really made this special. 

October Horrors: Curse of Dracula (1979)

 

This isn't really a movie... or even a TV movie. It is a re-editing from the 70s TV show "Cliffhangers" which gave us some interesting , if not cheesy, stories broken u in classical serial style. The Dracula section of the show is actually quite fun and interesting. The lead gives Dracula a little depth and this re-edit is done very well and, though long, keeps you interested. The whole thing is as available on You Tube as you can see above! 

Morbius (2022) Directed by Daniel Espinosa

Based on the Marvel comic this is marvel's latest attempt to add supernatural characters into their marvel Superhero universe. The "living vampire' appeared in the 1998 film "Blade"  briefly and that film is on schedule for a new reboot. Having succeeded adding Dr Strange into their stable of heroes successfully this was the next step as they mull around the idea of adding "Werewolf by night", the aforementioned "Blade" and possible "Tomb of Dracula" in future. This film isn't as successful as Strtange and while it's not a bad film it isn't all that great either. 

The main issue is the all too cliché plot and characters. The actors are all fine in the roles but they are not given anything new or unusual to do. I actually predicted almost all the plot beats within 5 minutes of the film starting and was not wrong about any of them. The effects are very good and some of the visuals are pretty cool but they don't add anything to the story. 

This is an obvious movie made to set up their universe for other movies. It doesn't really even come to any sort of solid conclusion and so much is left unexplained it just feels unfinished and a tease by the end. A tease for what? I have to say I am not even slightly curious. 

My Copps Hill Burying ground photo book on Amazon!

 Just a Halloween reminder that my 44 page photography book about Boston's 2nd older cemetery is for sale on Amazon.   Click the link to buy a copy! 

Synopsis:

Growing up in historic Boston, Massachusetts in the 1960s, I had the good fortune to have access to some of the oldest and most renowned graveyards in the United States. I took full advantage of them. For me, they are restful places filled with history, untold stories and wonderful works of art. It is easy to forget how special they are.I was always in awe of Copp’s Hill Burying Ground, having first visited there at as young boy with an unmarried aunt. One of my favorite authors, H.P. Lovecraft, mentioned the cemetery in one of his best known short stories, Pickman’s Model. One of the stones even has what looks like the inspiration for Lovecraft’s ghastly creation, the Cthulhu. Of all the old burial places in the city, this is the one that most strikes a chord with me.Even though I might prefer a more out of the way and hidden boneyard for my remains, I can’t say the idea of digging a hole and hiding myself under Copp’s Hill for eternity doesn’t hold a certain appeal.

Muppet Haunted Mansion

 This halloween special was filmed over 17 days... and it shows. It's not terrible overall as it is aimed clearly at children and keeps it simple. It lacks the jokes only adult fans would get and seems rushed and watered down. It's basically Gonzo and King Prawn going through the first part of the Haunted Mansion ride at the Disney parks, integrating muppets with the ride's well-known set pieces. 

I did like the last 2 muppet movies, so I'm not a muppet purist but I hope this is not the future of the franchise. 

Award: best animation at the Tokyo Vilm Awards

Another award for my animated short,  The Cask of Amontillado" is at the Cask of Amontillado at the Tokyo Film Awards! 

Again,  Mike Luce and Michael Z Keamy deserve all the praise for their wonderful voice work! 

Woman in Motion (2022) directed by Todd Thompson

 

 This documentary about the work actress Nichelle Nicols did after her role as Uhura on the original Star Trek series ended is inspiring. While it does have interviews with other Trek cast members. it mostly deals with her impact on helping NASA diversify racially and in regards to gender. The doc has enough Star Trek references for fans but the discussions with astronauts and NASA officials is what drew me in. We don't need any more reasons to adore Nicols but this actress, dancer, singer and activist never stopped giving us more - right up until her recent death. 

Mrs Harris Goes to Paris (2022) directed by Anthony Fabian

 This small British film stars stars Lesley Manville, Isabelle Huppert, Lambert Wilson and jason Issacs among others. Its simple story is based on a book and follows a fairly predictable plot line. Lower class Mrs harris dreams of getting a Christian Dior dress in Paris and through a series of events both lucking and unlucky ends up at a private show ready to spend every cent she saved to live her dream. Many tings get in the way of course and she becomes a driving force in the other characters lives who mostly are trying to help her out being fascinated by her dream of buying a dress. 

The films takes her through a lot of ups and downs but none of it resonated with me emotionally. The lead actress is very good but the plot points are cliché and I never once felt things were going to end badly. Maybe if the movie was shorter. Some of the production values were quite high looking but other times the economies forced by a smaller budget stuck out for me. 

Should have been magical but ended up a little meh. Not boring, the actors keeps you interested with their performance and I thought Jason Issacs tried hard to give some depth to his character but it never reached my heart. 

Polish posters: Nazis

 A couple film with Nazis in them. Casablanca, of course. Sort of restrained for a Polish poster and Cabaret which is pretty clever turning the dancers's legs into a swastika. 

Cask of Amontillado at the Serbest International Film Festival (SIFF)

 My animated film, The ask of Amontillado" is at the Cask of Amontillado at the Serbest International Film Festival (SIFF) in Moldava September 5th! 

Thanks Always to the two Mikes, Mike Luce and Michael Z Keamy for their voice work! 

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) directed by Sam Raimi

 

Even though Morbius the Living Vampire was touted as the the first Marvel Universe horror movie, this movie fits that description much better. Sam Raimi is very restrained in this sequel to Doctor Strange but not completely tied down. Like most marvel films, violence is limited but very much present in this film and the presence of a zombie, scary deathly creatures and the return of the Scarlet Witch (whose performance by Elizabeth Olsen is one of the highlights of the movie) got right into the occult with no looking back on "scientific" explanations for what is happening on screen. 

Like all films form this studio... great effects, cheeky dialogue and a million easter eggs from other films and the comics abound. Sadly, like many of the latest marvel outings this film does not have a self contained story to tell and doesn't even really end. It just keep on going into the post credit sequence and leaves you not waiting for a new adventure but hanging on the one you just saw. 

Oddly the multiverse angle seems more constrained than in the last Spiderman movie which might be a good tactic. There is only so much batshit crazy audiences can deal with. It does have a very jack Kirby inspired monster and the new character America Chavez holds her own with the returning cast members from previous films. Sadly, even her story gets no resolution. 

Fun, visually stunning but in my opinion it's hard t care about movies the don't actually begin or end over the runtime. 

Mad God (2022) Phil Tippet

 Renowned animator Phil Tippet worked on this film over a period of thirty years. People familiar with his work on the Star Wars films , Jurassic Park or Robocop will likely be shocked at the Bosch/Giger/Blade Runner nightmare that is this film. What is it about? Fuck me if I know, but it's fascinating nevertheless with its combination of stop motion, puppetry and live action all smooshed together in a gory, slimy mess that pays homage to everything from Forbidden Planet to 2001 A Space Oddest and every torture film you ever imagined. 

The animation is top notch and complicated. The sets are amazing and detailed and the music gives you more clues as to what is happening than the visuals will as they show you a world of violence and mysterious mysticism filled with pain and terror. 

The French Dispatch (2021) directed by Wes Anderson

Made as a love letter to print journalism, this film is, like all Wes Anderson films, odd, hard to categorize and filled with a multitude of known actors here in The Slammer - including Told Swinton and Griffin Dunne! 

Separated into parts like the sections of a newspaper the film does not follow one story but manages to connect several stories presented as articles to be published in the last issue of The French Dispatch after the death of the editor played by Bill Murray. Like an actual newspaper or magazine, you have different stories but told in the same oddball style that brings them all together. It's funny in an odd way and touching, also in an odd way and you might moved to tears at the end and disregard the text over the editor's doorway in the file which simply states... "No Crying".

As a french speaker I may have found this funnier than a non speaker would as it does have a fair amount of French dialogue (with graphically integrated subtitles) and knowing a little of the language makes names and some other details jump out of the background more. Like all Andersen's film, it's VERY stylized in performances and cinematography and may not be everyone tastes. If you do like his work I think you will find this charming. 

Melancholia (2011) directed by Lars von Trier

 

A moody slow paced film with some very compelling performances, especially by Kirsten Dunst and small character roles by Slammer favourites like John Hurt, Charlotte Rampling and Udo Kier. Kiefer Sutherland also reminds us what a good actor he can be, even in a support role. 

The story revolves around two sisters, one with depression issue who is getting married at her sister's and brother-in-law's estate which goes all wrong by the end of the night. It is revealed that a rouge planet is heading towards the earth and will have a close fly by in a very short period of time. Sutherland's character who owns the estate is studying the event and tells everyone not to worry while at the same time secretly  buying water and gas. As the planet grows in the sky tension rise and fall and it finally becomes undeniable that the planet will strike the earth, destroying the planet. 

Things to love about this film are multitude. I think showing that the earth is destroyed in the opening sequence adds to the tension within the small group of characters. That small group in an isolated estate is also a brilliant move. We never see or know what is happening in the larger world. While Dunst's character is shown as a woman suffering form severe depression, she is also, especially in the end the most accepting of her and the world's fate and sets up a very touching, loving way for her, her sister and her nephew to face the inevitable. 

Technically a disaster film, I guess, but not one with large scale destruction. Instead it focusing on smaller scale destruction of relationships and emotional states while at the same time giving us some scary yet beautifully poetic images of the coming apocalypse. The effects are sparse, simple and veery well done s as not to distract from what is happening. 

It might be a little slow or even a little "artsy" for some people but I found it very involving and poetic. 

Silent Summer: Metropolis (the novel) 1925 written by Thea von Harbou

 

This was a book I looked decades for in either English or German and never came across a copy until I recently searched again, but this time for digital copies and easily found a one for under 2$ on Kindle! I had read the script and seen the movie many times and finally was able to compare the film to the source material.

Von Harbou wrote the book with a film adaptation (by her then husband, Fritz lang) in mind and it was serialized in a magazine as way to get the story out to the public as pre-publicity for the upcoming film. 

The story and characters are pretty much the same overall, thought Joh Frederson, the Master of Metropolis, is more fleshed out and has a mother who makes it very clear that he has become a terrible person after the death of his wife after the birth of their son, Freder who he adores but shows little emotion to.

Another difference is the religious symbolism, heavily Christian -  but sprinkled with other mythologies throughout. It is something not really seen in the film and a little overdone. As it was written in 1925 there are also some lines of racism and quite a bit of sexism thrown in for good measure, thankfully missing from the film. The biggest was a huge surprise for me, the absence of the film's iconic message: "There can be no understanding between the hand and the brains unless the heart acts as mediator."

The robot, so iconic in the film is less here and is much more human-like in the novel, It arrives on the scene already made, can talk and begs Joh Fredersen to give her a face. She still gets the face of the Maria the defect leader of the poor and the love interest but her role is smaller and a little muddled in book form.

Well worth a read if you never have and having read the script long before any restorations of the film were done, this would have been an amazing revelation as to the many missing elements from the presentations of the movie I was seeing at small theatres and church basements in the early 80s. 

Silent Summer: Salomé (1923) directed by Charles Bryant

Based on the play by Oscar Wilde and starring Alla Naive, this is a very stylized (which is putting it mildly) adaptation that has more in common with a play than a film at times. It does offer some very strong shots, like the suicide of the man jumping from the palace wall into the void that a play could not really accomplish. The sets are sparse and costumes a re base don Beardsley drawings and work very well to give the movie a look that is both beautiful and bizarre. The acting is exaggerated and I suspect the Ken Russell version of this story was heavily influenced by the silent version as it too was more than a little over the top. The editing is excellent and many of the shot compositions are fantastic and unique looking. 

The actual dance is a little underwhelming and I was surprised that while she asked for the head of John the Baptist we don't see it on it's silver plate and we certainly don't see her kiss it's lips. That was done under the cover of her robe and might make that act seem even more shocking in the end. 

Silent Summer: The Haunted Castle (1921) directed by F.W. Murnau

 There really isn't much haunted anything in this film as the story centres around a group of aristocratic hunters stuck indoors because of a storm and receiving an unwanted visitor - a man accused of murder three years before. The plot revolves around his efforts ot vindicated himself and is more like a Agatha Christie mystery than anything else. Being a Murnau film is it exceptionally well made, great editing and interesting shots as the twists and turns and new guests arrive to shine light on the murder and who might really be the killer. 

The Kino restored version is on youtube:

Polish Posters: Tootsie

 I do like this one! The image is proactive and well done even though it really doesn't reflect the tone of the film very much. The font for the title is a little banal but it stands out because of the hand written text all around it. 

Spiderman: No Way Home (2021) directed by Jon Watts

 

The third film instalment with Tom Holland as the titular Spiderman is, once again another fun, fast moving film. Well, fun is mostly right, this film has a fair amount of pathos and outright tragedy infused into it. To avoid spoilers on a fairly new film I won't got too deep into that but this movie does change the lightness that has been a trademark of the first two film into something that gives the character more depth and actually brings him closer to the the tone of other Spiderman incarnations that focused on his guilt and loneliness as a superhero. 

Peter parker was exposed as the superhero in the last movie which has caused all sorts of trouble and he asks Dr Strange to cast a spell to make the world forget who Spiderman is and it goes terribly wrong, opening a rift in the multiverse which brings in not only 2 other Spidermans but villain from movies from other studios.  It's brilliantly done! The previous actors playing the crusader reprise their roles and while it has great comic effect it also give them a chance to bring the Holland's version in line with theirs... the three are connected by tragedy and they each help the other to learn to live with it. 

Classic villain played by the original actors bring nostalgia but also add a certain heaviness to the film I didn't expect. They go beyond fan service and are essential to the story. 

Festival Nomination! Cask of Amontillado at the Cannes Shorts festival!

 

 My animated Poe tale, "Cask of Amontillado" was nominated a the Cannes Shorts festival! 

You can see the film on Youtube, be sure to subscribe and like the film! 

Prehistoric Planet (2022) Apple TV series

One o the many projects that David Attenborough is known for is the BBC "Blue Planet" series that stunned the public with amazing nature photography and visuals and had interesting but not too much actual information. It relied heavily on the never higher quality of the video over everything else and it worked. Keeping the fact dumps to a minimum and just letting the public see and experience nature brought the wonder and curiosty of the world around us to the masses. The same can be said about this doc-series. It looks like Blue Planet, it sounds like Blue Planet (thanks to Attenborough's narration) and this a very good thing.

To be sure there is some pretty out their speculation about the behaviour and physical characteristics of long extinct animals in this and it can throw you a little from tie to time. None of that is just pulled out of nowhere, there are legit reasons to think some sauropods might have had weird inflatable bubbles along their necks, but maybe not enough reasons to include it here except for the chance to show it visually. Showing it visually is the point of this series and it does that by combining fantastic real world high def video with some of the best computer generated dinosaurs ever on the screen. The 5 chapters are broken up into environments, like forests, fresh water... etc. none of which has much of link to the action on the screen. It is an interesting way to break up the episodes even if it just doesn't mean much in the end. 

It would be natural and almost obligatory to compare this to the previous king of dino-docs, "Walking with Dinosaurs" , which has been the high bar for showing long perished animals on our TV screens. I prefer the framing of "Walking with..." over this, but 22 years later the information in that show is out of date. I can't say it's aged poorly though. It still reads as real life because of the how they filmed each shot as if a real crew was there, including "mistakes" and bringing a natural look that sold the idea that these were actual living breathing creatures. "Prehistoric Planet" is similar but almost too perfect, much as "Blue Planet" was in that the clarity and colours. This is not a criticism, just a difference in style I would say. This new doc does a great job with the dinosaur designs and updating them with the current  and likely much more accurate ideas of how these animals moved and looked. The raptors and flying reptiles are outstanding and look as present as anything you might see filmed in a "real world" production. 

5 episodes on Aple TV +

Science Friction (Documentary) 2022 directed by Emery Emery

 

Brian Dunning's company, Skeptoid media has produced a couple documentaries and educational films to promote skepticism and critical thinking over the years. This one is a little different in that, while promoting sketpiism, it does so by interviewing scientists and experts whose words have been manipulated and their expertise exploited for the ever expanding market of dubious documentaries that look more to entertain and make money over actually disseminating real information. 

Emery Emery has set up this doc to look in some ways like the shows and films being exposed without sinking to their level, and in doing so I think proves that you can have real information along with an entertaining product. The basic premise is simple and impossible to ignore after hearing some of the interviews.... TV shows will change what anyone says as long as it promotes whatever controversy, film tie in or ideological idea that have decided on ahed of time. The victims, scientists and experts and those mislabelled as such, are sometimes aware that this is likely to happen but take the chance that some of the truth will get out there as well. Many if not most of those ghost, alien, cryptic shows are not there to inform anyone. They are there to get enough viewers to sell ads and the people who make them don't have the slightest idea what reputation and accuracy can mean to an expert in any given field. I think they those familiar with the larger skeptical movement will be surprised at how many leaders in that realm have tried but fallen short of getting their message out there no matter how careful they are to avoid the well known traps set for them. There is a real struggle with them to take the chance or just avoid interviews altogether.

The movie does not wallow in self pity or anger or even deal with some of the weird claims directly It rightly stays on  track and shows how words were twisted and edited to mean the complete opposite of was said and it exposes a few well know "documentaries" that are nothing but propaganda pieces that use dishonesty and editing tricks to fool viewers. ("Vaxxed" and "Expelled" are examples). The pace is quick and the lightness helps keep the outrage down while at the same time revealing what a big problem entertainment and ideological goals are when they overtake the need for facts and truth. 

Free on Tubi so there is no excuse to miss it! 

Selected for 2 festivals: Whistle and I Will Come

 

At the Warped Dimension film festival May 14, 2022 (Online Festival)

https://www.ahith.com/mrholeheadwarpeddimension

I will be doing a Q&A over Zoom the 14th so sign up! 

New York Istanbul Film Festival

The event is May 6th but I don't know much more than my film is one of the selections! 

http://www.newyorkistanbulshortfilmfestival.com/About/

 The film is off Youtube temporarily so it can premiere officially at the Warped Dimension festival! 

Encanto (2021) directed by Jared Bush and Byron Howard, co-directed by Charise Castro Smith

 

Encanto is the lightest film about transgenerational trauma you might ever see. It manages to be fun, musical (thanks to Lin-Manuel Miranda) and still gets a pretty deep message across about how terrible events in the past can still affect the present, even effect those who were not alive at the time of the event. 

As expected from any Disney film recently, the animation is flawless, the skin tones and the colour palette is really complex and beautiful. They have a way of making the most complicated animated scenes look effortless and every frame brings you deeper into the film's world of magical realism. 

All the members of a family have been granted magical gifts after being chased from their homeland a generation or two ago but these powers seems to be fading. One family member, Mirabel, was not granted magic powers and it comes down to her to find out why things are changing and discover how to fix them. I won't spoil it, but the lives of her siblings are not was magical as one would be led to believe. 

I like how the time and place of the film is never defined and even the traumatic event is very broadly defined so it could be anywhere anytime. Well, anytime after photography was invented as they use a camera in the movie a couple times. 

A well done, well acted. and well sung film with a deeper side if you care to look into it. 

The Eternals (2021) directed by Chloé Zhao

 

The Eternals is an odd property for Marvel to give the multi-million dollar treatment but they did it a few times before and often that risk makes for an entertaining film. I would say this is not exception, it' IS an entertaining film even if it is a bit of mess with plot and character motivation. Spanning thousands of years, the back stories of a group of... robots?... not clear what they are exactly but it is said they were programmed at one point so robots will suffice have been put on Earth to protect it from one threat - the monstrous deviants - and NOTHING else. These creatures have all been destroyed and the group separates waiting to be taken back home now that their work is done. More deviants appear and it is discovered that their purpose is more than they were led to believe. Follow that purpose and everything on earth dies or go against it at huge cost and only a small chance to succeed.

All the performances are good, the gang of super beings are all pretty unique and pretty fleshed out for a movie of this scale. It is a marvel film so the effects are top notch. The story is a little hard to follow or believe at points, it does ask you suspend your disbelief more than even other superhero movies do but the cast is endearing and pushes it along well enough that while you are watching you get caught up in the events on the screen and on't question it too much. I am not sure the ending makes much sense to be truthful and I did not like the "teaser" of a future reveal of one of the Eternals human lover being maybe more than that. Just tell us for once!  It was interesting enough to make me curious how they night fit into other marvel projects but it works as one off for me as well. 

Poster illustration: Mad Love (1935) Staring:Peter Lorre

 

I haven't done a classic monster poster in a while. I think, obscure though this film seems to be these days, it counts as one. The image of Lorre with a the back brace and metal hands has been seen well outside the film it was featured in and the story is based on a book by Victor Hugo.  I think there has been as least 5 movies versions of the story starting with a silent film that influenced the costume in this later film. Unlike other versions, this one has many of Hugos story elements but  also wildly forgets all about other elements and replaces them with some pretty perverted stuff. Lorries fantastic and Colin Clive is great as well. I have read the book in the original French, it's long and I have to say, disappointing. Maybe if I had no seen this film first, my opinion would be different. 

Drawn in Krita and the logo was done in affinity designer. As it often the case with these projects, my image was composed from a mix of publicity photos and film frames plus some influence from the silent version. I am not sure sure that I captured the metal in the hands as well as I would have liked. They were harder than I thought! 

The House (2022) directed by: Emma de Swaef, Marc James Roels, Niki Lindroth von Bahr, and Paloma Baeza

 

The House is a stop motion film presented on Netflix which tells three separate, non-related stories. The unifying element is that all take place in the same house, but in wildly different locals and situations. 

And heard within, a lie is spun

This first story is about a family on hard times offered a newly built home by a mysterious benefactor. It quickly turns to gothic horror and can be interpreted in a number of ways. The characters are sort of fuzzy humans that seem to be made from lint.

The Lost is Truth that can't be Won

This one did not resonate with me much a t all. The characters are anthropogenic mice, the main one being some sort of real estate developer renovating a large house and trying to sell it. There is a bug problem and an open house where an interested couple just doesn't leave and an odd subplot of him making calls to a love interest that goes off in a direction I didn't expect. Grotesque imagery abounds and there is even a really weird dance number... 

Listen again and seek the sun

This was the lightest offering of the three and again the main character is renovating the house but this time the actors are all cats and the house is sinking into a flooded landscape. The two renters don't actually pay rent and the owner simply can't see that the house is almost cause. A new age guru type arrives and turns everything on it's head. overall it's a positive and funny story but the hippy dippy characters are more annoying to me by the end. 

Worth seeing? Sure, the animation is mazing and the voice work well done. The stories were super weird, something normally like, but rambled a little much for me to get too involved. So maybe a B or B- for this one. 

Whistle and I will Come (2022) directed by Vincent-louis Apruzzese

 

Loosely based on the 1904 story "Oh Whistle and I'll Come for You My Lad" by M.R James. This film has no spoken dialogue and French translations of some written text. A woman living alone is joined by a surprise addition to her  isolated beach location where a hidden horror is revealed.

This was a much delayed project for many reasons. The pandemic made it difficult to create oddly because I didn't have enough isolation and family issues became a higher priority. It was also started, sets designed and a computer glitch made all the set files corrupted and they had to be redone. This made them much better in the end, I think. There is no spoken dialogue and the 2 instances to written text have French translations underneath for my local viewers. 

I use some traditional Aztec instrument sounds for some of the effects and composed the music myself, if you can call that composing... I hope it works. I made the character with an app called "Make Human" which has is limitations and needed modifications but saved time and aggravation getting this thing finally off the ground. All of the visual compositing was done in Apple Motion, my choice for animation these days. I had a plugin that allowed me to do change the focus in post, but it was updated and that feature was deleted! I was able to get my money back but the old version wouldn't work with the current Mac OS so I had to improvise and while not perfect, I found a way to do essentially the same thing. I did make the lighting with After Effects. I could have done it in Motion but AE has a preset that makes it super easy and I felt super lazy about it. 

Librement basé sur l'histoire de 1904 "Oh Whistle and I'll Come for You My Lad" de M.R James. Ce film n'a pas de dialogue parlé et des traductions françaises de certains textes écrits. Une femme vivant seule est rejointe par un ajout surprise à sa plage isolée où une horreur cachée est révélée.

Ce fut un projet très retardé pour de nombreuses raisons. La pandémie a rendu difficile la création bizarrement, car je n'avais pas assez d'isolement et les problèmes familiaux sont devenus une priorité plus élevée. Il a également été lancé, les décors ont été conçus et un problème informatique a corrompu tous les fichiers du décor et ils ont dû être refaits. Cela les a rendus beaucoup mieux à la fin, je pense. Il n'y a pas de dialogue parlé et les deux instances du texte écrit ont des traductions françaises en dessous pour mes téléspectateurs locaux.

J'utilise des sons d'instruments aztèques traditionnels pour certains des effets et j'ai composé la musique moi-même, si on peut appeler ça composer... J'espère que ça marche. J'ai créé le personnage avec une application appelée "Make Human" qui a des limites et des modifications nécessaires, mais qui a permis d'économiser du temps et de l'aggravation pour que cette chose décolle enfin. Toute la composition visuelle a été réalisée dans Apple Motion, mon choix pour l'animation ces jours-ci. J'avais un plugin qui me permettait de changer le focus dans le post, mais il a été mis à jour et cette fonctionnalité a été supprimée ! J'ai pu récupérer mon argent, mais l'ancienne version ne fonctionnait pas avec le Mac OS actuel, j'ai donc dû improviser et, même si ce n'était pas parfait, j'ai trouvé un moyen de faire essentiellement la même chose. J'ai fait l'éclairage avec After Effects. J'aurais pu le faire dans Motion mais AE a un préréglage qui le rend super facile et je me sentais super paresseux à ce sujet.

Lost in Space - season 3 Netflix

 It's been a couple years since season two thanks to the Covid epidemic but the show has managed to keep it is fairly tight tone even if it couldn't keep its main character from growing up. Luckily that is explained by picking up not where we left off but a year or so later with the family split up between the children on a destroyed planet surrounded but the debris of it own destruction and the parents who are working on a an array of the other Jupiter spaceships while they look for an alien motor and alien robot to transport them all to the promised land planet. 

The episodes are of varying lengths and I found that a plus. No episode had to be padded to fill in the running time and I think the money saved on that went into keeping the effects work top notch. 

As this is the last season, I wasn't sure how it work out with all the characters, Dr. Smith in particular is not exactly on a redemption arc really as it goes on but I was happy with her final outcome. The war between the humans and robots gets resolved in a way I found a bit obvious. That said it was entertaining and all the actors were good in their roles even after the unplanned hiatus. There seems to be more integration of the original TV show theme music which worked really well. This is one show that knows what it is and doesn't try to be anything else. Might even rewatch the entire thing again at some point. 

Polish posters: A little bit Kubrick

 

The "Eyes Wide Shut" I get, the "Clockwork Orange" the wolf thing really throws me off! 

Festival showing: The Picnic at the Symbiotic Film Festival

 

Bad timing for my film but a horrible tragedy in Ukraine and the rest of the world. The showing is tonight and still happening as far as I know. 

Poster: Phantom of the Opera (1925) Lon Chaney

 

This was one I wanted to add to my monster poster series for a while but finding the right image was not so easy. I went through the restored version of the film and many publicity photos to find something I thought was at least a little out of the ordinary. I blew up a frame from the masquerade sequence, which was also filmed in early colour, as well was reached out images of that Red death costume from other sources. I kept the composition simple, like the rest of the series. Even though ti was technically "in colour" and restored, the image was still not as detailed as I would have liked and the early colour was sort of all over the place frame by frame. Some things red in one frame were orange in another and some shadows were variations of green.  I like to do folds in cloth and this certainly has plenty of that! 

The logo was taken from the 1925 posters and lobby cards. I hand drew it from the references and tried to keep the colours true to the original. 

Obituary: Douglas Trumbull 1942-1922

 

One of the greats of movie effects has died. he was one of my greatest inspirations, just after Ray Harryhausen. Neither of them had super extensive filmographies but what they did changed effects in cinema. 

Trumbull worked on some of the most iconic and visually stunning films of all time. 2001: A space odyssey, Close encounters and Blade runner among them. He pushed the technology of watching movies as well as a long time proponent and researcher into higher frame rates and larger film formats. He never stopped moving ahead and his talents made everything he worked on better than they could have ever been without him. 

Book release/Sortie du livre: FLEXIBLE

 

 It has taken me a long while to put this together but it is finally for sale on Amazon! The limited amount of text is English and French. 72 pages in full colour.

The book is a compilation of illustrations of acrobats and athletes I have done over the years, some from a decade ago, some from the last month and are available as prints to anyone who is interested. The book is only 14.95$ USD and 18.88$ CAD. There is a Kindle version but it doesn't work as well in that format. 

My goal is to try and get my artwork out to the public and hopefully sell enough to help with my finances. That is not the most realistic plan, I know, but it's all have right now! 

If anyone out there would be kind and post about his on social media and tell anyone they think might be interested I would appreciate it. I am not on social media so it is fair to say I would not be successful doing that on my own. 

I need sales, but also reviews - they help a lot to get people interested in buying on Amazon. 

J'ai mis du temps à le mettre en place mais il est enfin en vente sur Amazon ! La quantité limitée de texte est en anglais et en français. 72 pages en couleurs.

Le livre est une compilation d'illustrations d'acrobates et d'athlètes que j'ai réalisées au fil des ans, certaines datant d'il y a dix ans, d'autres datant du mois dernier et sont disponibles sous forme d'impressions pour toute personne intéressée. Le livre est à seulement 14.95$ USD et 18.88$ CAD. Il existe une version Kindle mais elle ne fonctionne pas aussi bien dans ce format.

Mon objectif est d'essayer de faire connaître mes œuvres au public et, espérons-le, d'en vendre suffisamment pour m'aider à gérer mes finances. Ce n'est pas le plan le plus réaliste, je sais, mais c'est tout pour le moment !

Si quelqu'un était gentil et postait à propos de lui sur les réseaux sociaux et en parlait à tous ceux qui pourraient être intéressés, je l'apprécierais. Je ne suis pas sur les réseaux sociaux, il est donc juste de dire que je ne réussirais pas à le faire moi-même.

J'ai besoin de ventes, mais aussi d'avis - ils aident beaucoup à intéresser les gens à acheter sur Amazon.

Amazon Canada:

Amazon United States: