Hi, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab...
I’m on the record about how much I enjoyed this film, but more and more readers are getting their chance to sneak an early peek, and the reactions keep coming in. Here’s a few more of them.
Harry,
Checked out a Sneak of SkyCaptains and totally blown away. The entire film has the feel of structure like a serial. Rise and fall of action, it seems as though it can be broken into pieces and shown. Odd pieces somehow fitting together... Super Real 'world' is not to be believed.
Noir-ish lighting in the City sequences disappears from rest of film (entirely overdone in City sequence - in some cases you cannot see the actors faces!! are they joking around or paying homage?) . Opening city battle is a little brisk and lacking explanation, but build of the story soon usurps the action. Just when the action plateaus really hard after departing Shangri-La (how can the action improve after leaving Shangri-La?!? Try explaining better why the villain is doing what he is doing..)Half way through, Angelina Jolie busts in the film for 15 minutes or so and really kicks it up a notch. The Brit SkyCarrier Amphibious Squadrons are friggin' cool. Beyond building robots and kidnapping Crusty Krauts Scientists, still don't get what the point of the villain is ...
Though use of quaint dialogue seems a bit too much of 'the '40's hokey': obvious exchanges and annoying statements by Polly(Paltrow) are more than a tad grating: she gets punished rightly later on- and then gets him back... Characters never flesh out much but action overcomes that.
Taking from the stylized 30's and 40's, artdeco looks and sleek lines draws you in to make you admire the hokey-ness. Pieces of every B flick of the era are throughout the film 'Lost Horizon', 'Island of DrMurrow' any number of 'Rocket' films. But these segments and the ending feel 'bolted on'. When in doubt steal the goodness or pay homage to the imagination age of 40's film? The film is really so much fun, it seemed as though the filmaker didn't really want it to end!
Portions of the 2nd half of film I saw are still in the cutting room as evident of title boxes dated 6/15/2004. These frames are primarily 'bridges' in the action (grainy, obvious in-progress flying shots of the P40, the leads walking through less-than Matte-painted Shangri-La, struggling through the digital Island jungle and fighting the loader robots) Exceptions for these bits: this flick is total eye candy 6G-ride! Anyone who is heavy on Video Games will fall into this with ease. I will definitely hit the trail to see it another time.
keep up the good work and good luck to you!
Sean Gallagher
It’s interesting that even people who dislike the script (which I didn’t) seem enchanted by the look and feel. That’s a real testament to the amazing work being done by the entire WORLD OF TOMORROW team. Check this out:
Hey fellow Aint-it-cool readers, this is Drago. The last time I wrote in a test screening review was last year for Bulletproof Monk. This time I bring a more anticipated film that was supposed to come out this month, SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW !
(I love writing that in capital letters:)
I won't go into the plot of this film in case to not ruin the experience for people who are still dying to see it but my overall feelings for it are simple, its a fun movie. For the 9 year that loved Van Helsing and its monsters, there's a 9 year old that will love Sky Captain and it's giant robots, cool air plane battles, and good old fashion action and adventure. Don't be pretentious when you see this film. If you don't think that 1930s style robots and quasi-future retro technology is cool, then avoid this film. If you do love old school serial adventures like Rocketman, Max Fleicher Superman cartoons and rayguns, then this film is a blast.
Is the story great? Not particularly, but I'm going to forgive the predictability of the story simply because the tale was easy to get into. Is the acting good? It's fine, Jude Law is good as the title character (but he lacks any real charm to make him memorable), but Paltrow is a little to sedated in this film for my taste. Most of the actors in this filme just feel wooden here except for Michael Gambon (aka the new Dumbledoor for the Harry Potter movies) who was quite good in his small but good role.
As for the films highly praised (or highly criticized) CGI look, I personally had no problem with it. This film is a cartoon, a comic book come to life so for me, the CGI was like looking at a moving pulp magazine cover, and it worked for me.
On a sad note though, I don't think the general audience will get into it. Since the test audience consisted of mostly of young adults, there was a lot of laughing at certain moments that weren't meant to be funny (example: when any of the robots showed up) and the audience just wasn't feeling it. I have this prediction the movie will fail at the box office because of that ,which is sad.
This movie is a real fun time. I personally will check it out again when it comes out in the theater this September. The film does have two months to make it perfect so I hope it turns out even better. It's a nice breath of fresh air in the fanasty-action genre. It's not a perfect diamond, but it is quite a jewel.
Until next time I remain fire breathing,
DRAGO
Well, let’s hope this film’s success isn’t entirely based on whether or not a few 14 year olds don’t get it. I think adults are going to be drawn into this world, and it may well play older. No harm in that.
Harry,
I write this with a very heavy heart. America is not going to get Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. I just came from a preview screening here in Orange County, CA, and the almost unanimous sentiment was that the movie sucked.
Which, I am very glad to say, it didn't. This was easily one of the most well conceived and original movies to come out in the last several years.
I won't go into depth on the plot, and I won't include any spoilers. I hate spoilers.
First, the style. The film attempts to replicate the Saturday morning serial feel of adventure movies from the 1930's and 40's. And it succeeds. Every single shot, whether it was a sweeping special effects orgy, or a tight shot of two actors in an office, was tremendous and stylish. There is a haze to the picture, and a washed out look that really pulls you into the movie. I was mesmerized from beginning to end.
The special effects, in 95% of the film, were without equal. The actors were fairly seamlessly interated with the computer generated environments, and easily outshone similar efforts in the recent Star Wars films. The robots, the planes, the huge flying fortresses, everything was a feast for the eyes. I cannot tell you how much I loved this movie. I was literally on the edge of my seat the whole time.
The story was interesting and entertaining. Yes, it was simple and not unpredictable, but it was also really engaging and satisfying. I was never bored.
The acting, for the most part, was top notch. Kudos to Jude Law and Angelina Jolie on their performances. They were humorous and entertaining. Gwyneth Paltrow, on the other hand, bordered on annoying for most of the movie. It may have been her character, but I felt that she was a little too pushy through most of the movie.
Now about the audience's reaction: My friend that I went to see it with hated it, saying that it was predictable, that the dialogue was cliched, and that he didn't "get" it. He wanted to know all the back stories for every character, and felt confused by the whole mythos. I fear that his reaction will not be unique, or the minority. I am really scared that America is going to be a nation of idiots with regards to this movie.
I loved it, and I want to see more movies like it. Hopefully I'm not alone. If you use this, sign me Nathanael.
A fellow film buff,
Nathanael May
It’ll be fun to see how fandom takes sides on this one in September, and I hope Paramount has a major presence with it at ComiCon later this month.
"Moriarty" out.
