For a “Type Explorations” project, I put together this little video illustrating a little speech made by Spike on Angel the Series. Created in After Effects. Not 100% satisfied with it, but pretty close =)

It’s based off of this clip [watch for context-y reasons] “In the Dark” – Angel the Series

And now my vid: Magnificent Poof

Ladies and gentlemen, Jackie Chan and Jet Li are finally in a movie together. I was never truly excited about Forbidden Kingdom, but I knew that at some point, I’d be watching it, and probably enjoying it for what I think it was meant to be – an homage to old school kung fu movies long since passed.

The opening credits of the movie pretty much justify that, with posters of Bruce Lee, Sammo Hung et al. filling in the frames. The main protagonist is essentially this kid who LOVES Kung Fu movies and buys them of this old Chinese dude who I believe was his only real friend. Then, after an encounter with a gang, finds himself essentially inside one these movies where he meets Jackie Chan and Jet Li, and with their help, must return a mystical staff to the Monkey King of legend.

And this is where I started to have some problems with the movie – at this point, I wasn’t sure what audience the film was targeting. Was it for Kung Fu die hards? Genre fans? Or was it yet another Hollywood attempt of taking another culture’s fables and presenting them within a North American context?

It almost felt like a mash up where Karate Kid meets Crouching Tiger meets Disney. Sounds a bit harsh, but this might explain why there were times the movie felt like it was all over the place. Not only that, but I was having a little difficulty understanding the film’s own movie logic. Do Chan and Li actually speak English so the kid could understand? Can they actually speak English historically at that time? If so, why the HELL did they speak to each other in Chinese during their epic battle half way through the movie?

Where the movie delivers is the chemistry between Chan and Li. One of the fundamental flaws of most current movies is the fact that they seem to forget where all their material comes from and present them to the audience as if they were fresh. One can not argue the presence these two genre veterans bring to the movie, seemingly carrying the legitimacy of the movie on their integrity alone. Chan reprises his Drunken Master days as an immortal monk with a wine elixor, Li’s magnetism as the Silent Monk is a nod to the genre films that made him famous. And when the two battle it out on screen midway through the movie, it is pure joy. Choreographed by Woo Ping, it was incredibly satisfying to finally see what Chan’s drunken boxing would look like against Li’s speed and precision.

This brings me back to the film’s lead. What the hell was he doing there? Against Li and Chan’s presence, this kid almost disappeared – I had absolutely no emotional connection to his character; thus the weight of the film’s climax did not seem as significant as it should have been. In fact, I could almost argue that the film could have succeeded entirely without the kid being there in the first place, which makes sense, considering much of the appeal of the movie (at least for me, anyway) was stemming from the performances of Chan and Li .

What I did appreciate was the fact that the film at least made nods to the great kung fu films and martial artists that came before it. One of my favorite nods is where the Kid is asking Chan and Li about Bruce Lee during his training. The look on Chan and Li’s faces is priceless. Given that many stars of the martial arts genre owe their popularity to Bruce Lee’s contribution to Hong Kong cinema after his passing (especially Chan – who incidentally had an onscreen death at the hands of Lee in Enter the Dragon), it was definitely a great moment if one were aware of the historical context.

With that said, despite its flaws, The Forbidden Kingdom delivers where it was meant to. It’s not an amazing film, but it’s certainly a whole lot of fun. Definitely worth a gander, methinks.

- Lester Calleja
Lemon Meringue Productions

Hello hello,

Chapters 6 – 8 of the Ode to Susan Chronicles have been added to my blog. In these entries, the Oakville mini saga comes to a conclusion.

HelloHello,

My name is Shirley, also one of the many bloggers on MBM. Although my creativity is usually on the back burner I do have a great appreciation for all forms of art and its expressions.

Considering I am in the mist of exams I will end with this…
Photography is possibly my favourite artistic medium. One of the photoblgs that I check out regularly is daily dose of imagery. This photoblog belongs to Sam Javanrouh, a Toronto-based photographer who has been featured in numerous newspaper, magazines, and such. daily dose of imagery has been updated everyday with a new photo since 2003 and is still updated everyday with predominantly photos of Toronto. Do take a look at his photoblog and perhaps gain a new appreciation for what we usually overlook.
Here is one from April 17, 2008, Transfer

Take care,

Shirley

Hey all.

This is simply some amazing stuff. We all knew that the Wii could simulate virtual interactive environments, but despite the console’s many offerings, there have been very few the have really shown us the true potential.
Courtesy of our pal R.J., we at MBM present some Wii fun.

Enjoy. Let the gamers within us salivate in anticipation until Game Developers utilize this. I hope Sony doesn’t see this.

- Lester Calleja
Lemon Meringue

..leads to some pretty awesome ideas.

Mario Theme Played With RC Car and Bottles

Click and enjoy!

- Ryan Butao
Tripod Productions

To start off, since this blog is new it might not be evident that I’m a big fan of Japanese Animation. In fact I’d say big fan is an understatement, words cannot describe how much I enjoy this medium of story telling. In addition, I detest Hollywood for bastardizing anything they touch, be it the countless remakes or random adaptations.

Ghost in the Shell is akin to William Gibson’s ‘Sprawl Trilogy’ (read Neuromancer people) which makes it a cyberpunk/postcyberpunk anime. Dealing with the ethical consequences of the continuous merging of people and technology, and A.I. development. If you’re at all interested in checking it out, you owe it to yourself to check it out.

So DreamWorks wants to do a 3D live-action adaptation, possibly helmed by Steven Spielberg. My problem with Hollywood when it comes to adaptations is that the end product tends to deviate so far from the source material that what you get is crap that has the audacity to even share the name of its source. Especially when the studios have too much sway over production, so that it appeals to the less-than-average intellectual individual.

Someone out there might think an Anime to Hollywood adaptation is a good thing, well I have three words in response, The Dragonball Movie.

Hello random viewers and MBM authors,

You may or may not have noticed but I’ve updated the blogging system from 2.3.3 to 2.5 =)
Now I hope nothing on the site broke, but if something did, I kind of need to know. In closing, feel free to write a comment letting me know where the error was encountered so I can correct it.

Take it easy

Hey guys,
There is a new trailer out for Gotham Knight (for those of you who don’t know, it takes place between Batman Begins and the upcoming sequel). It’s pretty sweet and everyone needs to check it out, loving the animation direction.

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809997857/video/7356000

Hey guys!!

Been working on this on going story!! Check out them out when you got the chance! You’ll be able to find the Chronicles on my online blog site:

http://nemmysvoice.blogspot.com/

Chapter 1 – 5 have been uploaded!

Enjoy the read!! It’ll be updated every couple of days!!

Sincerely,

Lester Calleja
Writer/Director
Lemon Meringue Productions