Month: July 2011

New Tintin trailer

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People who are bigger fans of Tintin (the franchise really doesn’t “exist” here in the States for the most part, though a cartoon ran on Nickelodeon back in the day) are going to have to tell me if the movie seems to be “getting it” or not; but thus far I’m pretty enthused.

I’m still not convinced that motion-capture animation is “there” yet, but it’s not going to get “there” if people don’t keep refining it. Also, good filmmaking can overcome limiting techniques, so we’ll see.

It’ll be interesting to see how, if this is good, it effects the debate in the animation world over the technique. Last year, The Academy Awards made headlines by deciding that films primarily using mo-cap DON’T qualify for animated-film Oscars; which to be honest sounds somewhat illogical to me. I understand that there’s a pervading fear/resentment in the animation business that motion-capture devalues (literally and figuratively) the work of full-blown animators; but people have been rotoscoping for decades and I don’t see how this is appreciably different – particularly in the case of something like “Happy Feet,” which used humans to mo-cap non-human animal character with major animation-additions later.

NEW FEATURE! Weekend Catch-Up

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It’s the weekend! Here’s some of the stuff you may have missed on the MovieBob Blogs this week!

THE BIG PICTURE: “TURTLE MAKI”
The infamous TMNT Anime is the subject.

AMERICAN BOB: “JOBBED”
Politics, jobs and the U.S. economy.

GAME OVERTHINKER – EPISODE 53: “THINGS LEARNED IN THE DARK”
The Playstation Network hack/blackout is discussed. Also, a bunny.

I was INTERVIEWED by EXAMINER.COM

ESCAPE TO THE MOVIES: “HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN”
Nuff said.

INTERMISSION: “THE MORE YOU KNOW”
How to speak Hollywood movie-press speak.
Naomi Harris is (maybe?) the new Miss Moneypenny.

VOTE on the topic of the NEXT “Game OverThinker” episode!

Here’s a FAQ post about the new(er) shape of “The Game OverThinker” series!

REMINDER: MovieBob will be out and about at the IGDA Sumitt in Seattle!

As ever, feel free to follow MovieBob on Twitter @the_moviebob

Here we go again…

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UK’s Daily Mail – currently basking in the glow of being a British tabloid NOT shuttered by a horrific phone-hacking scandal – reports that the next installment of the rebooted James Bond series has found it’s Miss Moneypenny: Naomi Harris, late of “28 Days Later” and “Pirates of the Carribbean.”

If this is legit, it will make Harris the sixth actress (three in the “main” series plus two in the “side” films); and the first black actress to play the role. That second part will, of course, pass by largely un-remarked-upon and will not at all generate bleats of outrage from “racially-conscious” white people about “losing” this or that artifact of pop-culture; as everybody got that out of their system on “Thor”…

…right? 😉