The Secret of Kells

which was followed by a paternal lecture on the evolution of perspective and foreshortening

Brother Aidan reminded me of George Carlin.

Abbott, I think I'm the other kind of American, because Triplets demanded a lot more from me because of its narrative minimalism. (I really didn't like Tati's Playtime, either, so this is definitely a pattern for me.)

Ha, he reminded me of George Carlin, too! I feel totally lame admitting this but I was having a hard time understanding their accents. It was a challenge. TBH I have the same problem with American-made movies where everyone speaks only in whispers for dramatic emphasis like in "The Forgotten."

so sick of wacky r kelly videos

I was gonna go all "but what accent WOULD a Ninth Century Scottish monk (who was actually probably either the descendant of or trained by Irish missionaries) who ended his days in Ireland actually have?"

But then I remembered that some Americans can't even tell a Scottish accent from an English one, let alone an Irish one so I guess I better just wait until the DVD gets here and anyway, hey, I often have trouble understanding Texans, Canadians, people from Georgia/the Carolinas (US versions) and Weejans so who am I to talk?

But you know, a cartoon based on an illuminated manuscript and set in a dark ages monastary is pretty much as K8-bait as you can get, really. Because that alchemist's laboratory (and really, even if that's supposed to be a scriptorum, that's a damn alchemist if I ever saw one) looks super amazing.

I have trouble understanding Southerners too, and they comprise half my family, y'all.

There was a security guard at my old job that my friend from Knoxville, TN (who also worked there) was afraid to talk to because she couldn't understand him. He was a grizzled old Texas dude and even I had to concentrate to figure out what all he was saying. What was awesome was that his favorite topic of conversation was the fantasy novels his granddaughter wrote!

Anyway, this movie is on Netflix now, and I am excited to watch it! Zero interest in Up. Pixar movies just... try too hard.

really beautiful little film...mick lally was fantastic as brother aidan. felt the use of animation to help with the rhythm of the story was really cool...and the music was actually good too, lots of it sounded like an irish trad version of steve reich's "electric counterpoint". also found the vikings/normans being such huge faceless BARBARIANS weird too...the way the tones and colours changed so effortlessly to reflect the moods in the film was so cool.

my only criticism is quite minor and it's prob the way the irish language was used. it's typical of the twee and really cloying way irish has always been used in cartoons and it just makes the language seem stupid. i question the need for it being in there at all, and i say that as a good irish speaker and someone who is pro keeping it alive. just all that "peangair bán" shit etc and that song...they've been dishing this crap out to kids for aeons and it doesn't make them like the language.

also the totally shoehorned and unnecessary use of the irish proverb in the scene where brendan meets aisling...it's like, kids aren't going to find an ancient gailge version of "look before you leap" or whatever interesting. maybe i'm totally off base but it had the feel of some irish language evangelist really wanting to force this.

but yeah i really enjoyed it. book of kells, yeah! i know what i'm going to see next time i'm back home in dublin!

Godddamn Irish propaganda, book was actually inked in IONA...

tracer island

Not super jazzed by the story or performances, but a lot of very cool art in this.

saw this last night, loved it to death. the animation and backgrounds are beautiful, of course, but i loved the story and characters, too. simple and two-dimensional in the manner of most children's films, but i have no problem with that. i related both to our hero and his woodland friend, got caught up in the quest story and even a little, uh, emotional from time to time. plus the cat! instant addition to the short list of my favorite animated films, something i'd like to buy and have around the house along with sleeping beauty, spirited away, fantastic planet, etc.

tartakovsky's influence is all over the secret of kells (along with that of other nickelodeon animators), i can't deny that, but not in a way that made it feel derivative to me. the animators here took some familiar styles and ran with them, an artistic approach i respect. and as much as i liked the look of samurai jack, i always appreciated it from a distance. i never fell for it the way i fell for TSoK.

Yeah, I agree. This had all the stylized-ness of that but pulled it off in a warm and attractive way.

really interesting to hear the writer/director (and lead animation designer) talk about his inspirations and strategies in the bonus features. lot of cool art history parallels and borrowings. plus i guess he'd been working on it for something like 10 years, since before he graduated college, very much a life's work. plenty of time to develop deep connections in the material.

^ this is the one thing I miss with netflix streaming - watching a cool movie and then digging into the extras