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SKY CAPTAIN Screens At Comic-Con' D
Hi, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab...
Beaks, Quint, and a whole bunch of other AICN friends and family were at this screening, and the word from them is that it tore the roof off the place. This is the first review anyone’s sent, though, so here we go...
Harry - I have written before from a different email, one review you used and some you didn't but here goes nothing...
How is it hanging AICNers?
I am at Comic-Con in wonderful San Diego and by chance while at a party for this one thing instead of going to the Star Wars fan film festival like I planned, I get an invite to a flick, none other than "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow."
Now I know that Salty Seaman is scouring the Con somewhere, but WHY the hell doesn't have have a computer-friendly hotel? Anyway, I didn't see any Seamen-like figures at the screening, which I don't think had much to do with the Con as there were a lot of industry-like folks in attendance. In fact, Maggie Thompson from Comic Buyers Guide was there as was a Dark Horse big-wig and I had a pleasant chat with an effects guy who had only seen 40 minutes of the film. Was Quint at Shawn of the Dead?
From my hotel, earlier in the evening, two GIGANTIC inflatable robots (I think) were visible in downtwon SD, near the convention hall, so if the screening was publicized then I guess it was to impress somebody in the room. Anyway, bottom line, I liked this film a lot, although I am puzzled what the general public will think.
Now, there are spoilers ahead but I HATE runing the movie and I will hold back to the best of my ability. This isn't the kind of flick to hit you with something you didn't see coming, but all the same, I will do what I can. The producer was there to introduce director and writier Kerry Conran (I used IMDB) and apparently its the first screening ever, anywhere.
So, Sky Captain (Jude Law) and Polly Perkins (Gweneth Paltrow) eat up the screen almost all of the time. Although Angelina Jolie is also top-billed, she isn't central to it all, or even much more than an extended cameo. She does have nice lips though and perfect teeth. The rest of her was hidden.
Perkins is the impossibly tenacious reporter who has every instinct, follows every lead (threat of death isn't the slightest bit of a deterant) takes every picture never once has a hair out of place. Captain is part of the mercenary air crew (of which apparently only Captain actually flys, the rest run around and get shot) and he is impossibly brave, impossibly handsome, impossibly skilled and impossibly lucky.
These two have a very Han Solo/Leia type relationship al la Empire Strikes Back. They have an aparent past, they bicker, they make smart-ass quips to each other in the face of horrific danger and all the while they are really wanting to jump on top of each other and spread man goo around. I get the feeling Polly would be a dominatrix, telling her Sky Captain what to do and how but...anyway...
Tenacious Polly follows a lead which lands her smack dab in the middle of New York City when a legion of "iron giants" decide to attack, defended only by her impossible luck and the skilled piloting of Sky Captain and his Spitfire prop plane fully equiped with its Snow Speeder grappling hook. He was called in by visible radio waves (think Tesla album cover) from New York City, which is aparently just over the mountains (yes, geography majors) from NYC.
Our good captain and the good reporter eventually meet up and start bickering with Giovani Ribisi who plays the impossibly smart guy who can invent anything (a gun that melts metal instantly) except a decent camera for Polly. He plays R2D2 to the Han/Leia dynamic. He is the tech-hero of the film and is also not in it much, although our captain LOVES Dex.
Dex is abducted by a whole different kind of robot (just big ones, not GIANT ones) with snakey arms and off go Han/Leia arguing in the Mellenium Falcon to find him. Along the way, Polly takes a few pictures, chooses not to take a few pictures and they meet Jolie who plays a male Nick Fury on her S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier who serves as the Lando of the film, except with much bigger lips. Jolie, like the other cast members, is actually perfect to play the deliberately sterotypical character and she does look fantastic.
So then they visit King Kong's island/the Degobah System, complete with the big log that crosses the chasm, still looking for Dex and the bad guy that never appears - a bit like Sauron in Lord of the Rings. So, to go much further would really infringe on the film too much, but I hope you get the basic idea. They fight lots of robots, go to Eden which is now radioactive and do cool stunts and try to save the world while longing to get naked together.
From my tone you might think I don't like the film, but that isn't true. It wasn't strikingly original in its plot/ideas/characters but it was pretty amazing visually and the sounds of big clanking robots was equally as accomplished as sights of it. I think the movie was made for style and the substance was deliberately thin.
The whole film is mostly sepia tones and lighted a lot like you see on the posters. The most color is Polly's lips and a few explosions along the way and I admire the decision to take the look of the film that far. It worked for me. What makes the film watchable is the design of the thing, which is obvious, but I really enjoyed it.
The film is set in a weird pre-WWII age (I think) with skewampus technology (sumbersible airplanes but no curved glass on Captain's googles) with dirigibles and classic clothes. It's the technology in the film that is so WOWing, and a couple of times clever devices acheived a polite clap or two. The dinosaurs were a bit of a let-down because they didn't do anything and there weren't enough of them to really excite me. I couldn't help but wonder if a few scenes were on the cutting room floor at this point.
Like the setting, I felt that the audience was being asked to go back to a time when the viewing public was more simple. We were being asked to see the movie as somebody who watched the original Flash Gordon might have watched it. I don't mean that it was just stupid and asked the audience to be stupid (Van Helsing) but that it asked us to be wide-eyed and innocent. It asked us to have joy and wonder as the hero was heroic beyond belief, as Polly was Leia beyond belief and as Dex pulled inventions out of his ass beyond belief.
For me, all that worked. I bought into the film and enjoyed it. I fear critics are going to rip it up, swallow it and crap it out before the public can even try it, but I think viewing the film that way is too simplistic. I think the director asked us to meet him part way and I was willing to do it and I enjoyed doing it. I liked it.
A lot of talkbackers will be hating it (because Paltrow doesn't show her bubbies among other things) and calling it lame and inane, but I appreciate the vision, the commitment to a singular look and the fun I had while watching it. Even though I was seated between two palookas over 6 ft. 10, I wouldn't have minded it being a bit longer. I suspect the studio doesn't know what to do with this, thus a September release (although going against Spider-Man was suicide) but that doesn't seem as bad to me as I feared.
The first ass who screams "plant" must go read a year's worth of "Star Wars III is going to be great" talk balks. It's late at night so cut me some spelling slack, I have a Con to be at tomorrow after all. We do discover what the "World of Tomorrow" is and you will know it when you see it.
Affectionately yours,
Franklin "Foggy" Nelson.I agree with him, as I said in my review of the movie last month. It’s innocent, without an ounce of the cynical detachment that has become so standard-issue in almost any Hollywood movie these days, and I am pleased to hear that at least this audience... maybe the best audience the film’s ever going to have... met it on its own terms and had the fun that’s there to be had. Can’t wait to see it finished when it hits in September.
"Moriarty" out.
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The cast and the innovative effects alone make this worth a pee, but if it truly tore the roof off of the Convention Center then we geeks have yet another project to look forward to this fall. And please, for the love of mercy, stop treating "talkbacker" like a four-letter word. Contempt begets contempt.
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Worth a PEEK, worth a PEEK. Hoo boy, that's an unfortunte typo.
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jk--
great review. i wish i was at comic con. -
Why is it that people have to dwell on what others will think (critics, etc.)? If you like it, that's all that matters. You can't read minds or predict the future, so don't try.
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And SW Eposode III is going to rule FUCKER!
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Why isn't it September yet? And why will critics rip this apart? I am hoping they watch it and love it, but that's just my heart talking because *sigh*, it has indeed been stolen. I know I'm going to love it. Damn, I hope my audience is as hip to this film as the Con was, because if not, there's going to be some fighting in the parking lot! Well, arguing. I'll definitely defend it! It just has to be good. "Sky Captain" reviews and "Transformers" info?! It's too much. Plus, Jude is going to be in remakes of "All the King's Men" and "Brideshead Revisted" -- be still!!!
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The review didn't mention that this was the first time the final version has even been seen anywhere.
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Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie have two of the worst track records of any living Hollywood actresses. And for the love of god, does Jolie have to keep torturing us with her awful, awful, English accent?
"Ooh, cool, she's wearing an eye patch! I have to go see it now!!!" -
3rd Michael Caine remake in, what, four years? I'm fucking tired of remakes and uncredited rip-offs.
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Critics are like that, also Angelina Jolie is in this and they have a streak to retain.
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from the trailers, this film looks absolutely gorgeous. the cinematography, editing, set designs, special effects. its been a while since we've seen a good homage to the sci-fi serials of old which inspired star wars. by the way, episode III will be amazing, going from what i've heard about it.
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Hmmm, I can see the appeal of THAT image. But I got to say it: Foggy's is one of the best reviews I've read in times. Very funny.
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Look, I don't want to piss on anyone's fantasy movie. But realisticly is there anyone out there who isn't worried about this one? The first thing I said when I looked at the trailer was "it looks nice, but a spitfire taking on giant robots?" I don't care if there is a grappling hook, or a "laser gun" it still is going to blow. Maybe there is more of a story than I thought, but like the reviewer said, its all stuff we have seen before. If I want to see a remke of a movie I liked minus all the cool things about said movie, I will go watch that turd of a Fallon flick Taxi (As sad as it sounds the Luc Besson originl in french was much better than that one looks.) Sky Captain and the world of tomorrow is like waiting for betamax all over again. All style, no story. I'll wait for it to go to the second run theatre, if I see it at all. Why waste the 3 bucks to rent it.
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I feel like a broken record. It has a great story. I've read the novelization based on the script. I can't wait to see what I read. The trailer holds a lot back.
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Jul 23, 2004 11:26:33 PM CDT
VIOLA! WHAT THE HELL IS THIS ABOUT BRIDESHEAD REVISITED?
by 221bbakerstreet
A Brideshead Revisited remake? But why? The BBC version was so good...(looks happily at the VHS tapes sitting by her TV). I dunno, maybe it's just that I'm in love with Jeremy Irons. Jude will be good at playing Charles, I'd say, but in all honesty I would have him pegged to play a better Sebastian. Do you know much more about it?
Yes, Beamish, Jolie's english accent is awfully bad. Was waiting for someone else to point that out.
However, I think renting the film would be pointless. For me the whole reason for seeing it would be the 'big screen experience.' If I can get someone to go with me...hopefully Dad...I'll be there for sure. -
Jul 23, 2004 11:29:24 PM CDT
I'll go mostly because it features Anjelina Jolie with an eye pa
by judge doom
Plus what about that shrunken elephant on the trailer? What was that all about?!
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I can't stand when a director thinks that if they wash out the colors of a film it will somehow have a greater impact. I hated it when Speilberg when through his washed out faze and I can't stand when anyone else does it. Either go black and white or do color. None of this half assed color bullshit. Its lazy artsy fartsy lack of vision.
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Jul 24, 2004 12:10:50 AM CDT
"SKY CAPTAIN" and "SPIDER-MAN 2" are my two MUST SEE movies of t
by jdanielp
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Try think RKO title card. Oy, kids today...
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Most filmmakers today wouldn't be allowed to make a move in B&W. This washed out look is the closest that it will get. Plus, it works for the look of stuff like SKY CAPTAIN and MINORITY REPORT more than "simply" Black and White would.
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The plane is apparently some derivation of a P-40 Tomahawk (replete with the grinning teeth of the Flying Tigers) that allows a passenger on board and can go underwater as well. Always worries me when reviewers throw in too much detail and especially when it's wrong. Spitfire indeed! :)
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Jul 24, 2004 2:22:55 AM CDT
Man goo? You mean gonad yolk? I now feel strange calling milk mo
by theginger twit
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If your milk comes in goo form, I think you need to switch brands...
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Jul 26, 2004 9:22:48 AM CDT
So Does it Connect on a Human level the way Phantom Menace didn'
by drath
Not to be picky, but TPM asked us to pretend we were simple minded too, but it didn't work because there was no one in the movie we could connect with. There was no one we could empathize with like Luke, no one we could just want to be like Han (well, mabe Darth Maul for a few badass wannabees). It sounds like the one thing Sky Captain has that TPM didn't is that Han/Leia interaction, but will that be enough or will it feel like a rip off of, well, Han and Leia? I hope I can enjoy it, because this sounds like a love it or hate it kind of movie. Maybe I should just ignore internet reactions. These kinds of movies were easier to love when I didn't know so many people hated them.
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...is a moron.
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What about Olivier in the film, using footage before his death to recreate him?
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