Two trailers hit today for highly anticipated new films by hip auteurs. The first, for the Coen Bros.’ A Serious Man, is one of the most successful spots I’ve seen in a long time. Here’s a movie that has none of the Coens’ usual players and yet it’s unmistakably theirs (and not just because it looks like a repeat of another of theirs). Then there’s the trailer for Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox, a stop-motion animated kids’ movie based on a Roald Dahl book, which features a few of the director’s usual actors and some of his signature camera style, but which, to me at least, bears little resemblance to his previous work (and not just because it’s an animation). Honestly, this may be the first of his films I don’t have interest in seeing.
I’m going to focus on the latter trailer primarily because it’s dividing bloggers, whereas everyone pretty much agrees that the Coens’ latest looks awesome. I’ve never been a big fan of stop-motion (though I do enjoy Nick Park’s films, go figure), because it usually creeps me out. Also, I’m typically against huge stars being employed for voice work in animated films, and I honestly can’t get past picturing George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Willem Dafoe and Jason Schwartzman while hearing their voices, and so I had trouble paying attention to the animals onscreen that are supposed to be the ones speaking.
I’m not alone in having no interest in this thing after seeing the trailer, but it seems some are still excited. Check out the rest of the film blogoshere’s reactions after the jump: …Read more
Today’s video is a brilliantly simple mash-up: The Nightmare Before Christmas meets the song “Halloween”, by everyone’s favorite goth-punkers, The Misfits. The attempts to sync the lyrics with characters’ mouth movements are only so-so. But what makes the clip really work is how the tempo of the song highlights the kinetic energy of the film.
The Nightmare Before Christmas, while being a widely-loved family film, never betrays its spooky aesthetic. “Halloween” by The Misfits is decidedly less kid-friendly, with lines like, “This day anything goes / Burning bodies hanging from poles / I remember Halloween.” But there is an undeniable kick to the beat that makes it feel celebratory.
For more upbeat Misfits fun, check out the video for their cover of The Cryptkickers’ classic The Monster Mash. It’s cut together with stop-motion animation from the 1969 Halloween special Mad Monster Party.
Last night, for the first time in almost 20 years, I watched Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. I’m sure I saw this thing at least once a year from birth until, like 1989 (when we got cable and I basically refused to watch anything but Yo! MTV Raps), but I had totally forgotten about the strange and wonderful little narrative details.
Like, for instance, Rudolph’s friend Hermy, the queer little elf who runs away from Christmas Town because no one understands his desperate desire to become “a … dentist.” And Yukon Cornelius, the shady mountain man who befriends Hermy and Rudolph en route to pick up “cornmeal, ham hocks, gun powder and guitar strings” (the makings of any good night, no?) And, oh, the Island of Misfit Toys. I can’t even begin to top the Wikipedia descriptions of that whole mess. Their take on Misfit Doll: “Misfit Doll (voiced by Corinne Conley) is an unnamed, but seemingly normal girl rag doll. Her presence on the island is never explained, though one accepted reason is that the problem is somewhat psychological.”
The whole experience basically caused me to revert to my 8 year-old self–as soon as it was over, I fell asleep on the couch in a puddle of my own drool. While I’m getting my game together this morning, go here to watch an unembeddable clip of Rudolph and Hermy, finding each other in a snow bank and cementing their bond through song.
We’ve had a bit of trouble getting this episode to go through the iTunes feed, so we hope this re-post will fix the problem. The original post, with episode description and embedded player, is here.
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