1) Harptallica plays Smith’s Olde Bar.
2) Steve Prince’s I Know It Was the Blood opens at Hammonds House Museum with a reception and artist talk.
3) Antony & the Johnsons play the Variety Playhouse.
4) Coraline continues in area theaters.
5) Jim Warren discusses Cowlicked! Rants, Remembrances & Ruminations at Wordsmiths Books.
(Photo courtesy Harptallica)
WONDER WOMAN: Coraline (right)
The fantastical opening credits sequence of Coraline superbly sets the stage for the eerie wonders to come. An unseen, scissor-handed figure sews and dresses a rag doll in an otherworldly environment. At one point a needle pops through the coarse fabric and JUTS RIGHT OUT AT THE AUDIENCE, in one of those amusing show-offy moments we expect from 3-D movies, but still takes us by surprise.
Coraline employs most of its 3-D effects more subtly but with seamless effectiveness. Henry Selick, who also directed Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, presents an ingenious fusion of delicate stop-motion animation and splashy 3-D gimmickry. Each style enhances the other. Coraline’s toys-in-the-attic designs seem even more tactile and solid rendered in three dimensions. The combination insistently beckons the audience into the film’s creepy yet magical places and things better than the 2-D version would. (more…)
Looking over the films scheduled for 2009 release, the thing that most strikes me (apart from worries that a studio lawsuit could delay the March 6 release of Watchmen) is the omnipresence of 3-D. A theatrical gimmick that has proliferated over the past few years, 3-D exhibition and the funny glasses look to be inescapable in the upcoming year. More theaters will have the capacity to show films in digital 3-D thanks to the increased conversion to digital projection, and Hollywood clearly believe the gimmick to be worth the investment.
3-D can turn a lousy movie into a fun experience: I vividly remember having a blast seeing Friday the 13th Part III when I was in high school. The New York Times suggests that 3-D could revitalize the horror genre. This summer’s bloody thrillers include Piranha 3-D and a sequel with possibly the best title in movie history — Final Destination: Death Trip 3-D. The trailer for next week’s My Bloody Valentine 3-D (a remake of the 1981 slasher flick) makes its “date movie” value its major selling point:
Putting aside the schlock, at least three of the most potentially stunning films of 2009, including the latest from Pixar and the director of the highest-grossing film in history, will employ 3-D effects.
