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Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
Set in a mythic version of the late 1930s, this movie is a stunning tribute to classic sci-fi serials, comics and pulp magazines of that era. Starting with a reporter investigating the disappearances of top scientists, the story quickly becomes a nearly constant barrage of giant robots, aeroships, submarine planes, ray guns and retro technology on a grand scale. The plot, which hurtles across maps of the world Indiana Jones style, definitely take a back seat to the effects. The character interactions are all predictable. But all of that is consistent with the genre, and for me it didn't get in the way of enjoying the hell out of this movie.
What sets this film apart from others is that every scene was shot against a blue screen. Except for some hand props and the actors themselves, the whole thing was computer generated. We've certainly seen plenty of CG, going all the way back to "The Last Starfighter" in the 80s, but I've never seen anything done so stylishly or so well. Perhaps the hazy, murky look is perfectly suited to both the 1930s atmosphere and the current state of the art of CG. It works.
The packed screening was followed by a Q&A with director Conran, who turned out to be an impressively low-key, likable guy. He started working on the film about 10 years ago with a blue screen in his living room, wondering whether he could create an entire movie in his Mac. The first 6 minutes took him 2 years. Initially he made an animated version, which actors later used as a guide as they mimed their way through the live version. When Paramount got involved they insisted on big-name actors, so the theatrical release is actually version 3. Hopefully all three will make it onto the eventual DVD. Conran mentioned that for his next project he wants to tackle Edgar Rice Burroughs' epic John Carter series.
The presenter, a filmmaking friend of Conran's, closed the screening with a joke about Pete Townshend meeting Eric Clapton in a London bar and commiserating about some new kid named Hendrix, "who's gonna kick our asses." He imagined that Spielberg and Lucas might soon be having a similar conversation somewhere in California. I have to agree that it seems like a distinct possibility.
Thanks to serutan for this review!
Pretty sure that Attack of the Clones was also shot entirely in front of a blue screen.
Support the First Amendment. Read at -1
I just saw the trailer for this yesterday. I must have been hiding under some rock (or not reading /.) for the past several months, because I hadn't heard of the movie until my roommate told me about it yesterday. Looks very cool.
No, I just made sure my eyes were looking at the computer monitor.
From the commercials about this movie, it looks incredibly cheesy, like an unwitting hollywood insult to the retro-future styling (not to mention their choice of an actress, bleh). It's good to hear otherwise.
-Jesse
Nothing says "unprofessional job" like wrinkles in your duct tape.
called The Immortal you can find it on the net, pretty wierd but shot intirely infront of a blue screen
of the PC / Xbox game "Crimson Skies" when I first saw the previews.
Let's see. 1. It's a Sci-Fi Movie. 2. It's not a sequal or a remake. And 3. It's not Star Trek!
Wow, they should make more of these!
The plot, which hurtles across maps of the world Indiana Jones style, definitely take a back seat to the effects. The character interactions are all predictable. But all of that is consistent with the genre
Is this a little contradictory? Special effects are not ground-breaking. Give me a movie with effects like these and a plot that doesn't insult me. Then, we can call it "groundbreaking."
... if you like the look of this movie also look at Sin City, directed by RR (Desperado, Spy Kids fame). It is also filmed all against a green screen like Sky Captain. Initial screenings have people drooling. Sky Captain looks good, but I think Sin City will own all when it comes to the style... go RR!
I've seen the trailer a few times in the movie theatre, and it looks pretty impressive visually- soft lighting, retro color scheme, etc. I guess it doesn't translate as well onto the small screen.
I saw my first preview for this movie this past Holiday season, when I was also playing through "Crimson Skies", the Xbox port. Both have a similar vibe, a retrofuture that never quite was, lots of planes, exploding dirigibles, etc. I'm really looking forward to this flick...
SO YOU'RE GOING TO DIE: The Comic for Dealing with Death
Wow my pirate / brunette bombshell fetish is finally realized!
GetTheJob.com : Nothing but Real Jobs.
That's what Jar Jar Binks, "Face Dances", and "AI" have in common!
Rich And Stupid is not so bad as Working For Rich And Stupid.
Couldn't you have put in a paragraph or two drawing parallels between this movie and Columbine? Or how it relates to globalism? Your plain vanilla movie review kinda feels naked without you attempting to link it in with current events or society.
GMD
watch this
I just visited that museum on vacation a few weeks ago. It's not very big, being shoe-horned into the Experience Music Project, but what it lacks in quantity it makes up for with quality. The exhibits and presentation was amazing. (for example, while a short loop about the Matrix displayed on a big projection screen, smaller projectors turned the walls into cascading 'Matrix-code')
May you be touched by His Noodly Appendage. RAmen.
I'm looking forward to seeing this movie, but I'll admit I'm starting to have CGI-fatigue.
CGI should be a tool to enhance a good, original story.
I rarely see original plots anymore being made into movies.
One notable exception though, is the recently made Oldboy, a Korean movie.
If you intend to see this work of genius, avoid spoilers at all costs.
Every time I hear this advertised I picture the cryogenic technician in the first Futurama episode, saying "Welcome to the WOOORRLD of Tomorrow!"
"The plot, which hurtles across maps of the world Indiana Jones style, definitely take a back seat to the effects."
Why can't Hollywood make movies that have great special effects AND good plots? The Matrix and Spiderman were the the only two decent movies in recent times that have had good CG and a decent plot. I guess you could toss some of the Pixar flicks as well, but that's still a small minority when compared to all the crap that has come out.
Hollywood, pay attention: we need something that interests us, not just something that looks pretty.
You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life. --Winston Churchill
He imagined that Spielberg and Lucas might soon be having a similar conversation somewhere in California. I have to agree that it seems like a distinct possibility. Wonderful. We'll have another director who relies solely on CG to sell his films, without any real focus on plot, dialogue, or acting, just like Lucas does these days. I don't think that this is a good trend; it makes for bad movies and deligitimizes CG technology, so that directors who actually use it well (like Peter Jackson in LOTR) don't get the recognition they deserve.
"Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so." - Ford Prefect
I guess the world of tomorrow doesn't support Mozilla/FireFox. I can't view the page.
Special effects are not ground-breaking.
Why not? There's no SFX ground to break? Or does this not constitute a ground-breaking level of SFX achievement according to you?
Give me a movie with effects like these and a plot that doesn't insult me.
The plot insults you? WTF?
Its a pulp! I love these! Indiana Jones, Tom Strong, and now Sky Captain. I'm happy.
If you don't like pulps, that's your loss, but to say that it insults you...that's something else.
You can't take the sky from me...
SUre, the all-in-front-of-the-blue-screen point is important and impressive, but i'm equally intrigued by:
1. Laurence Olivier starring in the movie, from old celluloid.
2. That film noir look achieved through filming the scenes in black and white... and then colorizing them! (Smacks forehead) What a great, simple, and clever idea.
Those 2 slick gimmicks have to lend an air of retro feel to the movie with aplomb, nevermind the other design elements, like the look and feel of the robots.
Gotta see this one.
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
OK, let's translate this...
...groundbreaking film...
...I was completely blown away.
What you said:
What you meant:
OK, OK, I know this film is just a cheesy knockoff of a pulp '30s-era sci-fi rag, but Angelina Jolie pops her tiddies out! TWICE!!!
the fact that it was one man's vision, and started in his garage using off-the-shelf software and a whole lot of time before any studios ever got involved.
Wired had an article about it a while ago, and i've been excited to see it ever since.
Horray for garage studios!!
There are 01 types of people in this world. Those that understand binary, and me.
Cheesy? Of *course* it's cheesy! It's for every kid who sat in a theatre with a big bucket of popcorn, grinning like a madman at every swoop and explosion that graced the screen.
I wasn't part of the pulp era, but I enjoyed reading pulp and Golden Age sf works. There's just something free-wheeling, childlike, and wondrous about the visions of tomorrow that those stories embodied. I still like space opera, with vast galactic fleets spinning out of a nebular cluster to go into battle with the dreaded Zorkanoids -- or whatever the evil space being of the moment was.
The trailers for this reminded me of another "guilty pleasure" film, "The Rocketeer." I suspect "Sky Captain" will join "Rocketeer" in my movie collection as something that is aimless, harmless exciting fun.
for the action, special effects, or storyline. We all know that geeks since the early 90's have attended movies for 2 reasons and 2 reasons only:
1) Angelina Jolie (and her lips..god those lips)
2) Natalie Portman
Hence the reason the movie "Hackers" is a favorite among geeks, as well as the continued success of the new Star Wars Trilogy (and in some cases "The Professional")
I think the difference is that many big budget sci-fi "epics" aspire to something more cerebral than their material will allow. Take all of that stuff and reprise the old Buck Rogers serial experience in a CGI package and you have something called fun. It's a foreign concept among "serious" directors and actors (and perhaps pretentious movie goers).
--
As a matter of fact, I am a lawyer. But I play an actor on TV.
Actually, this would be kind of interesting. I've read the original series (my father named one of my sisters after Dejah Therece, the Princess of Mars) and loved the sheer retro campty style of the "smiling Virginian" sword fighting his way across the Red Planet.
If done "so seriously it's fun" like Sky Captain appears, it could be one hell of a ride. If nothing else, I love a good swashbuckling movie.
52 Weeks, 52 Religions with John Hummel
...though I hadn't realized they had ported it over to the Macintosh yet.
If you haven't seen the commercials or trailers, take a look here . . . http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/skycaptain andtheworldoftomorrow/
Some people have a way with words, others not have way.
The real thing were written before physics was a respected scientific profession, and chemists and electricians were the cutting edge of technology. The World's Fair and the technological marvel of the Golden Gate Bridge are the settings for the Man of Bronze, a paragon of physical perfection raised by five scientists and flanked by his four comrades in arms, plus their pet monkey, pig and occasionally aided by Doc's sister.
They are slices of a different age, a different outlook. The world was as full of sinister forces as the headlines of today, but the steadfast belief that honorable and well trained (and euro-caucasian) men could triumph over evil was held as a truism. Airplanes were new, the world had just become global, but war had yet to span the whole planet.
Great books.
I have a strong feeling that this movie is based more on the modern steampunk and Sons of Ether (a la White Wolf's Mage) genre. A modern retake on an era, just like RenFaires have little to do with the actual Middle Ages.
--
Evan "Not for the Politically Correct sensitive"
"$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien
Wired ran an article about Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow several months ago.
This isn't a review, it is a few paragraphs about having seen the film.
/. is trying to waste my time with worthless sci-fi sychophants and their crap about bad sci-fi(All of Star Trek).
Is not a review a critical assessment of the films intentions and its success in achieving its aims?
Why do articles like these get approved?
Sometimes I think
Jeez! I'm a little amazed. I've been reading Slashdot regularly every day and somehow, without really realizing when it happened, I'd almost completely forgotten about Jon Katz. How can this be? I still remember how he used to make my blood boil with his pompous, sophomoric rants. And yet at some point I sort of started to chalk that up to the nature of the beast -- listening to children in grown-up bodies blabbering on like they wielded the authority of a BBC field correspondent was all part of the fun of Slashdot. Then he disappeared and ... could it be ... my Slashdot experience seems to be none the worse for wear! How can this have happened? How can I have so quickly forgotten all about Jon Katz's seminal contribution to Slashdot history, when it had given me so much bitter, perverse joy?
Oh yeah... now I remember. That was about the time I started browsing at -1.
Breakfast served all day!
is because it's hard.
hollywood is kind of like the gymnasts in the olympics. you always want them to do a spectacular routine, they always wants to do a spectacular routine, they practice forever to do it right, but they can still screw up badly, even at the highest levels of competition. it's just plain HARD. and you can still fail on the easy stuff you know how to do in your sleep.
there is just so many variables involved, and so many nuances of execution to keep track of, that hollywood will always be churning out bad movies.
but look at it this way: there are no peaks without valleys. you can't have something seem great if you compare it against a bunch of other movies equally as great. you're a tough judge. we all are. if every movie was matrix-quality, then it stop impressing you as much as it did. so bad movies will be made, in a greater number than good movies, forever. it's statistical inevitability and human psychology conspiring together.
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Don't they all start off as little guys?
Thats exactly right. Going to the movies is supposed to be a fun event. There is plenty of fun to be had in cheesy movies. When I go to see a movie I want to be entertained. Way too many people look at movies and take it way too seriously.
Even movies that are flat out bad can be watched in such a state of mind that one can find fun in them (without chemical influences of course).
What sets this film apart from others is that every scene was shot against a blue screen.
The trouble is: It looks very much like that.
Good use of blue screening results in the characters looking like they're "there". From the commercials I've seen of this movie, it reminds me of one of those old CD-ROM games where they mixed live actors and CG backgrounds.
This one just doesn't work for me. It feels so artificial.
Does it make you happy you're so strange?
we need something that interests us, not just something that looks pretty.
And you probably like women for their personality too. Wierdo.
paintball
(Incidentally, this is why working with Hollywood is such a pain. Either you're in development hell, and there's no money, or you're in production, and and there's no time.)
"Sky Captain" does look a bit too much like Crimson Skies. Microsoft has a line of Crimson Skies pulp fiction novels. that seem designed to be movies. Dreamworks optioned movie rights for Crimson Skies back in 2001, but didn't use the option.
The presenter, a filmmaking friend of Conran's, closed the screening with a joke about Pete Townshend meeting Eric Clapton in a London bar and commiserating about some new kid named Hendrix, "who's gonna kick our asses." He imagined that Spielberg and Lucas might soon be having a similar conversation somewhere in California.
So in a couple of years Conran's going to die in a hotel room after a night of drinking?
Well, the candle that burns twice as bright, burns out twice as fast...it's better to burn out, than to fade away...
"Leo Fender was in a 'state of grace' when he designed the Stratocaster." -- Paul Reed Smith
"Little guy with big ideas, can't bring them to fruition, needs to sell out to big media corps (TEH DEVIL!) to bring his dream to frution and expose it to the masses."
Now, if he had self-published, set up a website and sold his own DVDs, now that would be worth trumpeting.
This guy should be publicly flogged as a traitor, a collaborator with the evil corps! First against the wall when the revolution comes!
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Then you should rather enjoy the adventures ofTom Strong, from America's Best Comics. Very good pulp.
I have a strong feeling that this movie is based more on the modern steampunk and Sons of Ether (a la White Wolf's Mage) genre. A modern retake on an era
There is a vocabulary used to discuss and analyse art, and by extension science fiction, that uses the words "modern" and "postmodern" that you might or might not be aware of.
I don't want to go into a lenghty explanation of the differences, but basically, postmodern sci-fi is darker and recycles elements of past stories.
Yes, "modern" means "contemporary", but art gave it another meaning:
And by opposition:
The fun with sky captain is that it looks like its got the retro modern feel to it: A sense of adventure and wonder, as opposed to the post modern weariness (post as in after that era of "modernism"
So Sky Captain and Tom Strong are both postmodern, but they seek to reanimate the feel of their inspiration's modern attitude (the "gee whiz" feeling of the newness of things that are now retro to us).
You can't take the sky from me...
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
all the way back to "The Last Starfighter"
all the way back to 1984?
Never heard of Tron? 1982? CG all over the place?
You whippersnappers with your fancy Angelina Jolie-la-di-da and Jude Law-la-di-doo! Back in my day, all we had was Jeff Bridges and Bruce Boxleitner in neon jumpsuits. And we liked it!
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
He had the most inane and illogical opinions, but I really enjoyed his articles because they just generated levels of flaming and hilarity that are classic on slashdot.
What happened to Katz? Why did he stop contributing to slashdot? Is he still talking about Columbine and geekdoom? Did he lear to use a computer?
I wish slashdot would post an interview with him, I predict record page hits!
Jon Katz we miss you, you sucked, but you are missed!
- sigs are for wimps.
Like a candle in the wind?
When you get to hell -- tell 'em Itchy sent ya!
The commercials overemphasize her role. She is actually only in it for about 15 minutes. Don't let it drive you away.
Actually, there's a whole genre... it's called SteamPunk. Not too much of it has made it to the big screen (especially live action) and what has hasn't been great (it's a tough concept to pull off) but it is far from a novel concept.
If knowing something didn't actually happen makes a story worthless, we might as well just start throwing out the old SF from Vernes up to the early Clark, Asimov and Heinlein as well as all the historical fiction "littering" up our libraries and book stores.
Princess of Mars, A (2006)
Announced, and in production as of March 2004, my friends!
And to start the rumors flying like a Sky Captain, I heard they are looking at Rena Sofer.
kulakovich
Now, if he had self-published, set up a website and sold his own DVDs, now that would be worth trumpeting.
Sadly, if he did that, few would have the opportunity to share in even a "corporatized" version of his vision simply because all the trumpeting in the world isn't enough to reach the masses.
It's all about distribution.
At one point in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Nemo declares himself to be a native of India, who has lost his family and his homeland.
He shows up again in The Mysterious Island, and although there are inconsistancies between the two books, we get a lot more information about him:
-- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
I also have to think that anyone who has dated a batshit crazy woman (ah, the good old days... when I could look beyond a woman's crumbling psyche and see the great rack inside), sees the downside in Angelina. Basically, I might want to do someone who looks like Angelina, but even just a night with that psycho might be more work than it's worth.
- Greg
Start a happiness pandemic
Come and see the violence inherent in the system!
It's easy to decry someone who 'sells out'. But why lambast someone who used the system to bring a dream to life?
Gainsaying mainstream distribution by mplying traitorship to some imagined cause is silly. What's the cause in this case? Simply an artist's desire to bring his vision to life.
To reach the masses, he cannot do this on his own. He either uses 'establishment' media channels or uses the internet, which despite the apparent chaos and freedom, still runs on a commercial backbone. He cannot show the world his vision without some medium (or media) to carry the message, who cares what path he takes? The important thing is that a man had a vision, and that vision was powerful (or at least compelling) enough to make the powers-that-be in the media industry sit up and take notice. Why should we not celebrate his success for what it is?
If visionaries can make their visions seen, by hook (the internet) or by crook (big media) what more revolution do we need?
"Yes, Jayne, she's a witch. She's had congress with the beast..."
"She's in Congress?" - Firefly, "Objects in Space
Come on the main theme is stolen from stargate, how can a film be good if they steal music from other things!
The source material in Sky Captain is mostly old movie serials from over 50 years ago, NOT SOME STUPID VIDEO GAME OR DISNEY CARTOON FROM THE LAST TEN YEARS!
Now if you were talking about the Fleischer Brothers' Superman Cartoon, MECHANICAL MONSTERS, from the '40s, then you'd be onto something.
-- Boycott Shell
I also have to think that anyone who has dated a batshit crazy woman (ah, the good old days... when I could look beyond a woman's crumbling psyche and see the great rack inside)
:) Now, I got me a logical woman *gasp, can it be true?*.
Brought back some memories here as well
-Jesse
Nothing says "unprofessional job" like wrinkles in your duct tape.
What a butt-load.
Just because you haven't had an idea worth making into something significant, don't carp that this guy did.
Dying alone and silent in idealism is nothing to hawk to the masses. Or even individuals.
Exactly. From the few trailers for the movie I have seen, and the prominent placing they gave her name in the opening credits, I figured she would have a much larger part. The director mentioned she was only on the set filming for three days... hardly a major role.
BTW, I went to the same preview showing you did (which was fun (and no previews!)). I had read about this movie a while ago (can no longer find the article online) and I thought it was an awesome premise and it was neat how the guy started it on his computer in his apartment before being picked up by the big boys. This is one of the few movies I actually looked forward to seeing and kept an eye on.
One more thing to note, in one comment, someone mentioned that the studio demanded they bet bigger actors for the movie. I think the director said it was the other way around. They showed it to Jude Law, who got Paltrow involved, and then the studios took note. At least, that is what I thought he said.
Andrew
PS: Damn the Cinerama for no longer offering free refills on popcorn!
Look, boys and girls! It's geek cool to 'dis' popular music and listen to shitty garage bands, all the while claiming that in some mysterious fashion this raises your intellect to godlike proportions over the masses of sheep you egotistically look down on.
And now we have something new! It's now cool to do the same thing to Angelina Jolie! Those same geeks who watched "Hackers" 67 times and jacked off wildly to every scene with Angelina in it now turn around and try to score points with their uber-arrogant crowd by claiming that Angelina Jolie, like "suxx0rs, d00d".
You know, if it were legal to sterilize you little twits I'd be out there with a pair of nail clippers in a heartbeat, doing my part to clean up the gene pool.
Max
My god carries a hammer. Your god died nailed to a tree. Any questions?
I definitely need to see this movie, if nothing else than to check for more similarities. :)
"Orthodoxy is unconsciousness" - Orwell