Video-Game "Beowulf," Creepy "Mist," Slick "Devil," and Incoherent "Tales"
FS
Issue date: 12/4/07 Section: Arts & Entertainment
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"Beowulf"
The celebrated Anglo-Saxon poem gets the 300 treatment in Robert Zemeckis' "Beowulf" (wide release), which transforms the episodic tale of the brawny Geatish hero who does battle with the monster Grendel and the beast's mother into a boys' adventure for the video-game set, with plenty of fighting and bloodletting to satisfy aficionados of such stuff.
The movie alters the original narrative by turning Grendel's mother into a svelte seductress whom Beowulf doesn't slay; instead he has a relationship with her. And the dragon he does battle with in the last act turns out to be his own progeny.
But what really sets the picture apart is that it employs the performance-capture technology that Zemeckis previously used in "The Polar Express." The process morphs the actors-people like Ray Winstone, Anthony Hopkins, Robin Wright Penn, Crispin Glover (as Grendel) and Angelina Jolie (as Grendel's mother)-into animated figures, allowing them to be placed into utterly artificial settings of extraordinary scope and beauty.
The approach makes for some gorgeous images and works well with the beasties, however, it makes for stiff, waxen human characters who look like they've stepped out of gaming software.
That didn't bother fans of "300," though, and if you were entranced by that movie, this one should suit you as well.
If you do want to see it, however, be sure to check out the 3-D IMAX version showing exclusively at the Cinemark 17. This version shows off the picture to best effect.
"Before the Devil Knows You're Dead"
Sidney Lumet has been making movies for fifty years, ever since "Twelve Angry Men" in 1957. And "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" (Magnolia) shows that he hasn't lost his touch.
The movie is basically a film noir about a plot by two brothers (Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke) to rob the little suburban jewelry store owned by their parents. Of course, the heist attempt is botched, things spiral out of control and tragic results follow.
The celebrated Anglo-Saxon poem gets the 300 treatment in Robert Zemeckis' "Beowulf" (wide release), which transforms the episodic tale of the brawny Geatish hero who does battle with the monster Grendel and the beast's mother into a boys' adventure for the video-game set, with plenty of fighting and bloodletting to satisfy aficionados of such stuff.
The movie alters the original narrative by turning Grendel's mother into a svelte seductress whom Beowulf doesn't slay; instead he has a relationship with her. And the dragon he does battle with in the last act turns out to be his own progeny.
But what really sets the picture apart is that it employs the performance-capture technology that Zemeckis previously used in "The Polar Express." The process morphs the actors-people like Ray Winstone, Anthony Hopkins, Robin Wright Penn, Crispin Glover (as Grendel) and Angelina Jolie (as Grendel's mother)-into animated figures, allowing them to be placed into utterly artificial settings of extraordinary scope and beauty.
The approach makes for some gorgeous images and works well with the beasties, however, it makes for stiff, waxen human characters who look like they've stepped out of gaming software.
That didn't bother fans of "300," though, and if you were entranced by that movie, this one should suit you as well.
If you do want to see it, however, be sure to check out the 3-D IMAX version showing exclusively at the Cinemark 17. This version shows off the picture to best effect.
"Before the Devil Knows You're Dead"
Sidney Lumet has been making movies for fifty years, ever since "Twelve Angry Men" in 1957. And "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" (Magnolia) shows that he hasn't lost his touch.
The movie is basically a film noir about a plot by two brothers (Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke) to rob the little suburban jewelry store owned by their parents. Of course, the heist attempt is botched, things spiral out of control and tragic results follow.
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