On the BIg Screen

Hey,

I've seen two movies this weekend. They were both pretty good and worlds apart.

First up, I saw Real Steel. Yes, it's the boxing robot movie -- Rocky meets Bot Jox. It turned out to be a heck of a lot better than it had any right to be.

It's the near future and people watch robots duke it out in the ring for their amusement. Charlie is an ex-boxer turned robot gladiator owner/operator. He's kind of terrible at the job. He takes on risky bets and is quickly burning through money and robots. Then he finds out his ex-wife dies and he's in a custody battle for a son he never met. He tries to dodge the responsibility, can't quite clear it, the two of them find an old sparring robot and the two of them forge a relationship and battle their way to the top.

Pretty standard stuff for a boxing movie. But it all holds together really well. They strike a nice balance between Charlie and his kid working things out and the robot fights. The robot they work on, Atom, isn't sentient, doesn't develop sentience, it's just an element to bond around and the film doesn't try to make it out as anything more. The movie just does a good job telling it's story and doesn't get distracted by the window dressing it uses.

The second movie is soon finishing its run at the Landmark theatre in Kendall Sq. and I wish I'd seen it soon so I could urge you to go see it. The movie is The Mill and the Cross and it's one of the most interesting things I've seen in a long time and a film that demands to be seen on a large screen.

Peter Bruegel (the Elder) lived in Flanders in the 1500's. Here's a famous painting on his called The Procession to Calvary:





The movie basically brings the painting to life. Rutger Hauer (Hobo, Hobo with a Shotgun) plays Bruegel and he steps into and out of the painting and explains its construction to his patron. Rather than use biblical figures, he paints everyday people from Flanders and rather than Roman soldiers, he depicts Spanish mercenaries who were, at the time, oppressing the Flemish.

So you have scenes from this painting (and a lot of other Bruegel paintings) being re-created by the cast -- little vignettes that slowly stitch together into a larger passion play.

And the movie lets the visuals do the talking. There's only sparse narration and when any of the figures from the painting talk they do so in Flemish or Spanish and (I think) it's only a gibberish version of those at best so it's really about the look.

Anyway, just a fascinating, fascinating movie and I encourage people to try and see it (though sadly, its run at the Landmark ends Thursday which is a shame).

Here's the trailer:

later
Tom

On the BIg Screen

Hey,

I've seen two movies this weekend. They were both pretty good and worlds apart.

First up, I saw Real Steel. Yes, it's the boxing robot movie -- Rocky meets Bot Jox. It turned out to be a heck of a lot better than it had any right to be.

It's the near future and people watch robots duke it out in the ring for their amusement. Charlie is an ex-boxer turned robot gladiator owner/operator. He's kind of terrible at the job. He takes on risky bets and is quickly burning through money and robots. Then he finds out his ex-wife dies and he's in a custody battle for a son he never met. He tries to dodge the responsibility, can't quite clear it, the two of them find an old sparring robot and the two of them forge a relationship and battle their way to the top.

Pretty standard stuff for a boxing movie. But it all holds together really well. They strike a nice balance between Charlie and his kid working things out and the robot fights. The robot they work on, Atom, isn't sentient, doesn't develop sentience, it's just an element to bond around and the film doesn't try to make it out as anything more. The movie just does a good job telling it's story and doesn't get distracted by the window dressing it uses.

The second movie is soon finishing its run at the Landmark theatre in Kendall Sq. and I wish I'd seen it soon so I could urge you to go see it. The movie is The Mill and the Cross and it's one of the most interesting things I've seen in a long time and a film that demands to be seen on a large screen.

Peter Bruegel (the Elder) lived in Flanders in the 1500's. Here's a famous painting on his called The Procession to Calvary:





The movie basically brings the painting to life. Rutger Hauer (Hobo, Hobo with a Shotgun) plays Bruegel and he steps into and out of the painting and explains its construction to his patron. Rather than use biblical figures, he paints everyday people from Flanders and rather than Roman soldiers, he depicts Spanish mercenaries who were, at the time, oppressing the Flemish.

So you have scenes from this painting (and a lot of other Bruegel paintings) being re-created by the cast -- little vignettes that slowly stitch together into a larger passion play.

And the movie lets the visuals do the talking. There's only sparse narration and when any of the figures from the painting talk they do so in Flemish or Spanish and (I think) it's only a gibberish version of those at best so it's really about the look.

Anyway, just a fascinating, fascinating movie and I encourage people to try and see it (though sadly, its run at the Landmark ends Thursday which is a shame).

Here's the trailer:

later
Tom

Little Dudes and Littler Dudes

Hey,

I painted some more minis this month and finally had a chance to photograph them for you.

( here be little dudes )

So that's October. Next up, a batch of US troopers for our Insurgent friends to fight and then probably some more Insurgents (they usually arrive in pretty large groups and the 20 figures I have now, aren't enough).

later
Tom

Little Dudes and Littler Dudes

Hey,

I painted some more minis this month and finally had a chance to photograph them for you.

( here be little dudes )

So that's October. Next up, a batch of US troopers for our Insurgent friends to fight and then probably some more Insurgents (they usually arrive in pretty large groups and the 20 figures I have now, aren't enough).

later
Tom