| Author | Message | ||
     Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.47 |
Wallace and Gromit! 20 years old today! It really doesn't feel that long. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.37.199.45 |
Time passes quickly when you can only move one frame at a time. | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.47 |
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| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 82.38.75.85 |
Weber, you're a W & G fan? I think I love you! No, seriously, I adore Wallace & Gromit. So, which is your favourite film then? For me, I think it has to be "A Close Shave", though "The Wrong Trousers" runs it a close second. The scene in "The Wrong Trousers" where they're chasing the sinister penguin on that toy train has me in fits of laughter every time I see it! | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.180.125.231 |
I love them all, but probably The Wrong Trousers most of all. The bit that makes me laugh out loud in that is the scene where the penguin pulls the rubber glove off its head and Wallace says "It's YOU!", as if the disguise had fooled him up to that point... | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 218.168.197.235 |
I love Wallace and Gromit, especially (surprise, surprise) "The Wrong Trousers". | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 82.38.75.85 |
I guess you guys know they're currently doing another W & G film, don't you? Not sure when it's due out, but looking forward to it anyway. I think they've gone back to the shorts, rather than a feature length one like "Curse of the Were-rabbit".  | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 218.168.197.235 |
Is that "A Matter of Loaf and Death", Caroline? | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.110.244.162 |
The heist scene in 'The Wrong Trousers' is a parody of the heist scene in a great French noir film, 'Rafifi', made by an American director forced out of the USA by McCarthy. It's even funnier if you've experienced the wire-taut atmosphere of the original scene. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.157.125.133 |
Genius. Love em. Gromit's facial expression are more expressive than any Oscar winner's. | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 81.155.107.1 |
Interesting point. Will a cartoon or CGI face always be more expressive than any human face with finite muscles....? Makes a case for all films to be non-human? | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 82.38.75.85 |
>>Is that "A Matter of Loaf and Death", Caroline?<< I think that was the one they released last Christmas, Huw - though, actually, you've got me wondering now - are they currently making another one or was I getting confused with this time last year? (it's my age and failing memory, you know  ). Maybe someone with more active brain cells than I have can tell us? But you're overseas, aren't you Huw? It may be that you haven't seen A Matter Of Loaf and Death yet? Joel - that's one of the things I love about W & G - they parody, and pay homage to, so many other films. Beautiful! Gary, Des - the facial expression thing is even more amazing when you consider that Gromit doesn't have a mouth. It's all done with the eyebrows and the way the head moves. As for the idea of all films being non-human, the thing I particularly like about Aardman Animations films is that they use stop-motion animation, not the kind of computer-generated stuff you get in most cartoons nowadays (plus CGI spcial effects in films, of course). Another film which used stop-motion recently is Tim Burton's The Corpse Bride. I saw an animator from the production team on The Corpse Bride and someone from Aardman talking about the techniques they use when I went to Bradford Animation Festival a few years ago - fascinating stuff. I reckon you can do far more with stop-motion animation than with CGI, so that's why it appears more realistic (with regard to conveying emotions, etc). But it's more expensive to do of course, hence the shorter films rather than feature-length ones. If you think back to the old drawn cartoons like Tom and Jerry, the range of emotions shown there is quite brilliant too given the techniques they were using at the time. You'd think they'd be able to do as well with CGI, but they just don't seem to be able to. | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 218.168.192.152 |
Caroline, yes, I'm overseas, so I'm often a bit out of touch with what's being shown in the UK, especially on the telly. I haven't seen A Matter of Loaf and Death yet - I heard about it earlier this year but wasn't sure if it was out yet or still being made. If they're making another one, that's good news! | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 82.38.75.85 |
I might be wrong about another one, Huw. I'm starting to doubt my conviction on that now!  A Matter of Loaf and Death is good, but probably not the best in my opinion. Plenty of interesting film references, a little romantic interest, lots of laughs - but nothing which stands out quite as much as A Close Shave or The Wrong Trousers. Worth watching when you get the chance though. | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.47 |
Wrong Trousers is my favourite. The chicken disguise is one of the most briliant examples of surreal humour I know. I even have the t-shirt with the wanted poster on it. | ||
| Stephen Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
I agree Caroline, CGI is cheap and lazy filmmaking and rarely looks convincing. I'm a lifelong fan of stop-motion animation. There is something magical and also quite creepy about seeing real three dimensional objects appear to move of their own volition and cast real shadows as they go. The awful CGI additions to the original three Star Wars movies look like flat transfers stuck on the screen by comparison to the stop-motion effects they jostle with. The works of Ladislaw Starewicz, Willis H. O'Brien, Ray Harryhausen, George Pal, Oliver Postgate, Trumpton etc, The Herbs (my fav kids TV show), Wallace & Gromit, Tim Burton's animated films, the nightmare fantasies of Jan Svankmajer - all pure magic!! | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.55 |
I thought episodes 2 and 3 of starwars felt like I was watching some else play a computer game. One of them even had a conveyor belt scene where the hero had to jump over and under and through obstacles, and a moving platform thing jumping from hovercar to hovercar. they were complete rubbish. And there's no IMHO on that. This time I'm stating objective facts | ||
| Stephen Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
Do you mean 'Attack Of The Clones' & 'Revenge Of The Sith' or 'The Empire Strikes Back' & 'Return Of The Jedi'? Two of those are brilliant entertainment (in their original forms) while two are very mediocre and crushingly disappointing... with insane misuse of CGI being one of the main reasons! | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.47 |
clones and sith. The originals are great (Yes I admit it, I liked the ewoks) | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.131.109.69 |
I loved Sith. Blew me away - easily the best since Empire. The last good W&G was Trousers - the rest are (to quote Craig) Meh. In fact, the last for me was positively heartless. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.131.109.69 |
Fave? The moon one. | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.177.183.128 |
Clones & Sith. Awful, awful, awful. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.240.106 |
I'm with you, Mick. Utter turdicles. | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 218.168.182.210 |
I'm with Mick and Zed on this - I found these films to be soulless, silly and tacky. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.131.109.69 |
Maybe you need to be in tune with them. I wasn't crazy on Clones; just Sith, and a lot of Phantom. | ||
| Kate (Kathleen) Username: Kathleen Registered: 09-2009 Posted From: 93.96.181.75 |
Wrong Trousers and Grand Day Out! W&G brings out the kid in me and is always guaranteed to cheer me up if I need a laugh. "Gromit, we'll go somewhere there's CHEEEEEESE!" | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 218.168.182.210 |
Tony, I've never been able to get into Star Wars, to be honest. I thought the original films were enjoyable enough, though I never loved them the way most people seem to. I must be missing the SW gene or something... | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 82.38.75.85 |
Like some strange parallel universe, we now have one conversation going on about Wallace and Gromit and one about Star Wars, all in the same thread! I think I'm missing the Star Wars gene too, Huw - I always thought it was complete rubbish. Never mind, we've got the W & G gene - that's the important one! |