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:

Loving Vincent (2017) written and directed by Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman

 A film pretty much entire painted by hand by 100 artists in the style of Vincent Van Gogh and entered around a fictional attempt to deliver his last letter to his brother. The style of this film is amazing and the animated painting aspect looks like a impossible task to pull off but they managed to do it. Though the story is fictionalized, most of the information transmitted about the artist was vetted through a group specializing Van Gogh and they assisted and supported this project for years to insure its authenticity. 

The technique of animation could have been very distracting from the story but I have to say I was drawn in from the start and the well done characters and performances of the voice actors and those who were rotoscoped were so compelling the animation slipped into the background for me. It covers a lot of ground and is very emotionally charged at times, especially the end which made examen my own life as an artist, one who is NOT a genius but feels compelled to create over anything else. 

Five stars at least for this one. 

Black Widow (2021) directed by Cate Shortland

 

The long awaited solo Black Widow finally arrives this past year and while it's a fun film to watch with some nice performances by Scarlett Johansson and Florence Pugh, it's sort of too little too late for it to make a big impression. 

The story takes place between other Marvel movies, obviously before Black Widow dies in Endgame and involves her finding her lost sister and reconnecting with the rest of her "family who were really just Russian agent from a shadowy secret group training girls from childhood to be "black widow" assassins. Shenanigans ensue and the characters are lively and fun to watch with nice action set pieces and some ridiculous scenarios... how long would a giant floating fortress take to fall to the ground? Hours apparently! None of that gets in the way enjoying the action and it move along fast and furious with Shortland's excellent direction. 

It's pretty good fro a project that was in development hell for so long but it does suffer from a little too much Marvel in universe referencing and doesn't set itself apart from a typical superhero movie except in one area. The main characters are not really all that super. The two woman leads are highly trained assassins and much of what happens is more like a Bond film than anything else plot wise and that was much appreciated. If this had been  released 10 years earlier it would have had a much larger impact and being released now takes that thunder away. It simply isn't needed and adds very little to the Marvel universe or what we need to know about Black Widow in the end. 

Enjoyable, yes. A much watch? Sadly,  no. 

La guerre des tuques (1984) Directed by André Melançon

Well this is one NOT to watch. SPOILERS but read anyway! 

Yes I know this is holiday classic, beloved by all of Québec. A light romp, growing up story of a snow fight "war" between children around a huge snow castle/fort. I understand fully that is a commentary on actual war using the children as proxies. Whatever. 

The filmmaking's below par, it has many elements I can't stomach like "funny" music to tell you when things are funny and the images overall are sort of muddy. This can be excused, many films are not beloved because of their stunning cinematography, etc. but because they represent a time or a place in the lives of people having lived through similar times and places. How and when you saw the film can make a big difference in how it affects you and how you think about it late in life. 

At the end of the "war" part of the snow fort collapses, killing the much loved dog of one of the main characters. The two sides stop fighting and bury the dog... then fun happy music and funny shots from the film are played over the credits - like nothing TERRIBLE happens at all. War metaphors aside, I don't think this film is great for young children, especially those with pets. The dog is crushed and suffocated to death because of the actions of horrible, selfish children. Anti-war point made - cue the goofy happy music! 

There was a cartoon version remake in 2016 which does try and handle the subject better, but still kills the dog in the end so there's that. 

The cavalier way the dog's death is handled and the all is well now the "war" is over really rubs me the wrong way as if you couldn't tell.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings 2021 directed by Destin Daniel Cretton

 At the start of this films mother bestows a special pendent to her children as she puts the pendent around her son's neck, I said out loud to my brother also watching the film: "One day you wake up wearing this pendent totally hot looking and shirtless". And that is exactly what happened. This is not to say that this was any more predictable than other Marvel films, it isn't and it has plenty of nice touches that puts it apart from the growing library of superhero movies already produced. Not far apart, but enough to make it a pleasant watch. The leads are good and the supporting cast ids even better. Michelle Yeoh is in it and that alone makes it worth watching. 

The story is more complicated than some action movies and covers a long expanse of time as the Xu Wendy discovers 10 rings that give him power and immortality which leads him to conquering and exploiting the world until he falls in love and give it up. He is the father of the two children I mentioned with the pendants and he returns to his powerful rings and habits after his wife is killed by criminals seeking revenge on him for his past deeds, The son is taught to be a tough fighter while the daughter is ignored but teaches herself to fight and be ruthless. The son finally runs away from his family and leads a fairly normal life until he is attacked for his pendants the story really begins. Great fight scenes and action pieces ensue and they are certainly fun to watch. He does this all with the help of his quirky best friend Katy and the actress, Awkwafina, is really good in the role. The two end up on and dangerous adventure where family secrets are revealed and a secret magical land is discovered. The two leads do not become romantically entangled, no one does and for that alone makes this a stand out movie for avoiding all those tired tropes. It's nice to see friendship shown so strongly in any film. 

There is, of course, the fight between good and evil forces which doesn't always work or make complete sense but it's entertaining and the supporting cast brings it all to life. I would love to see what Disney and marvel does to include these characters in their universe.