Love hurts when it punches your face

So yeah, I saw Scott Pilgrim vs The World today. And, honestly, so should you if you haven't seen it already. It's an absolutely fantastic movie, beginning to end, with great action, amazing dialogue, pitch-perfect humour, flawless timing, great music, and pop culture references that not only add the the movie if you know them, but doesn't detract from the movie if you don't. A+ on almost every aspect.

Almost, I said. So why did I say that? Well, let's take a look at the character interaction.

Scott interacts great with his band.

Scott interacts great with his gay roommate.

Scott interacts great with his sister and the foul-mouthed store clerk who seems to work everywhere in Toronto.

Scott interacts fantastic with his opponents, the Seven Evil Exes.

Scott interacts incredibly with Knives.

Everyone mentioned interacts well with each other too.

Hold on, something's missing here.

And that, folks, is the BIG GIANT FLAW in the whole damn movie. Scott interacts really crappy with Ramona, who's supposed to be this great love of his life. Really, it's like they're not a real couple at all, they're just people standing next to each other by chance, who kiss for some reason. I get Scott being fascinated, because she's a good character, hot, etc. I get Ramona being attracted (barely) because he's non-psychotic. But that's it. There's no chemistry, and we're never shown any real reason for them to be together in the first place.

Which is especially baffling, because he's great with Knives, and actually seems to be happy when they're together. Certainly there's chemistry there, which unfortunately highlights how little there seems to be between him and Ramona.

Is it enough to sink the movie? No. Not at all. It's still a fun, fast-paced, seriously geek-friendly movie that earns that A+ rating I gave it above, even if you do have to suspend your disbelief at the Scott/Ramona relationship.

Now, let's see Knives get her own movie, she was AWESOME!

Oh, and here' some sketches.

What's the big deal about sophisticatin' yo' palate?

Finally sat myself down and watched Brendan and the Secret of Kells last night, which if you know me is a bit of an achievement. I've had a copy kicking around since the beginning of May, but like most movies I really want to see, I somehow just never got around to actually watching the blasted thing.

In any case, it was worth the wait and then some. The deliberately flat, iconic style echoes the medieval Irish illumination theme perfectly, and the pace of the film is nicely bouncy. Oh, there could be a bit more depth in the characters, but for a straightforward adventure study revolving around artwork, it's still a satisfying romp. Although it does amuse me how they studiously avoid calling the Book of Kells a Bible, despite the fact that's what it was. It's also interesting to note how the English trailer is all about adventure and dark threats, while the French trailer concentrates on joy and wonder. Interesting, no?

Sketches in the key of green today.

Starting down that road

Well, I got it done and submitted, my very first animation. Pretty simple, it's the classic bouncing ball that goes all the way back to the early Disney days, and just about every animation student does it at some point. It's a good way to start though, since it boils everything down to basics, and I think mine turned out pretty well.

Background is mine, too. Not my most inspired work, but I like it.



In other news, I just watched the Spanish animated feature Nocturna. Seriously, why does this film not have a North American distributor? It's well drawn, well animated, full of appeal, the story is engaging and doesn't talk down to the audience, full of action and spectacle. All in all, what an exceptional bit of animation should be. There's a musical interlude at one point, midway through that really struck me in its sheer subtlety. The comparison to American features' need to shoehorn songs into every animated feature (I'm looking at you, Disney!), to say nothing of dialogue into every single moment is striking. If you can find a copy, and unfortunately it'll either have to be a download or an import, I highly recommend it. You won't be sorry.

Eight Days

You know what's wild? I start school on the same day that 9 comes out in theatres. Totally can't wait for that. And the Ottawa Animation festival is coming up soon too, so I might get a chance to see Cordell Barker's new film, Runaway, and the release of the Astroboy movie a week after that.

It's a good time to be into animation.

But school's creeping up fast. Tonight was the last Sketch Night of the summer (they don't happen during the school year), and tomorrow will be my last Wednesday night life drawing for a while. Gonna be a whole new kettle o' Pisces, starting in a little over a week.

Only one pic for you today, a bone beast girl I made up tonight. Her name is Darla, ain't she sweet?

Chop Socky

Ran across this wonderful post over at Scans Daily today, and got inspired to go look for some of that awesome 70's martial art film action. You know the stuff, awesome fighting, total crap translating and acting, slight pretense at plot. So I wandered over the YouTube in my search, and they had the entirety of Master of the Flying Guillotine. Awesome! Had a blast this afternoon watching it, and I might just do the same thing with Fist of the White Lotus tomorrow.

Because, y'know, embroidery-style martial arts rule.

Only one page today, a bit of fanart of Auhula, apprentice hippogryph master at Forest Song in World of Warcraft (and thus (c) Blizzard Entertainment).

She's not playable. She has no lines. And yet, I'm a fan.

Go figure.