The Godfather

So I have been thinking about things that inspire me. I usually do a lot of research for art, and usually it helps me focus my thoughts. I find that if I can reference something, I tend to do better in my art. So I often go out and take pictures or visit locations for inspiration. On that last image I posted with the diner, I visited a Steak and Shake and looked up a bunch of pictures about Coke bottle, glasses, salt shakers, and more. It really helped, but only for the production if the art itself. My inspiration comes from a variety of places, from photographs to books, and one of those would be movies.

I have taken it upon myself to research and watch as many classic films as I can, everything from old silent films to modern day classics. I specifically try to look at how light and color play into the film, and how the characters are developed. I have recently seen films like Casablanca, Citizen Kane, Apocalypse Now, Road to Perdition, and many others. The last film I watched with my wife was a long one, and has been on film historians' and critics' top 10 lists for decades. The Godfather. And you know... It was okay, had a complex story, but I was not as impressed as I expected to be.

I don't want to go into a full-fledged review or anything, but I will say that the story was predictable. The visuals weren't usually particularly awe-inspiring, although there were some good scenes in it, and the lighting was rather natural through most of the film. Since this was the restored version, I'm not sure if the color treatment was intentional or just an artifact of the film or age of the film.

I honestly can say that while I didn't hate the movie, like my brother, I don't plan to own a copy of it either. I'm glad to have seen it, and maybe I can pull some sort of inspiration out of it, but I think other films set in the same period, such as Road to Perdition, do a much better job in cinematography, lighting, color, story, characters, and pretty much everything else.

So my last say is that it is a well made film, but overrated. If anyone can point out to me something about the movie I am missing, I will gladly take a second look ad discuss this with them in the comments.

Iron Man 3

Hi everyone!

Another day, another pixel. I don't have any artwork picked out for today, so I thought I'd talk a little about Iron Man 3, but only briefly. And don't worry, I'm not a spoiler. I had the honor of going to a special premier of the movie at 9:00 before the official release, and got to see it on an all-new Sony Digital Cinema 4k display. It was a magnificent display! I really enjoyed the plot, and the twists, and of course the characters. They really like to lie on those trailers, or at least trick you into thinking something else will happen then what really does.

But of course there are the graphics. Amazing, again. Almost every scene was filled with CG goodness very well integrated.

However...

I was a little disappointed at times with the quality of the animation and compositing. Yeah, I know, I said something bad about Iron Man. Hey, I still enjoyed it, a lot, but nothing is perfect. In short, there are scenes that have iron man walking around and interacting that just look too mechanical or fake, like the physics are off. In one scene he's walking down a small staircase and for some reason he doesn't look right, like his weight doesn't shift correctly. It was subtle and easily missed, I can't even say now what specifically was wrong in scenes like that but the motion was just ever so off. Also, in the scenes where you see actors' faces inside the iron man suit, there is this sort of dark shadow creeping along the outside of the face that looks very artificial, and makes the face look like it was just placed inside a CG body. Worse yet, in a few scenes, the tracking of the face and the motion of the head/neck/body of the suit don't match! It appears the face is ever so slightly disjointed from the suit, in the wrong way.

Now that I've said these things, don't kill me over it. I really did enjoy the film, and I think how they handled Ben Kingsley's character was brilliant. Please, go see this movie and give me your response. I'm interested in seeing your take on the story and if any of the effects fell apart for you. Go! Enjoy it! Love it! It was fun, well-acted, full of amazing visuals and action, and worth the dime to see it. Just don't bother with the 3D, it was all post 3D and not filmed that way so save the penny.

And stay till the very end, very cute joke after the credits.