Friday, December 25, 2015

The Peanuts Movie

The Peanuts Movie [G]
Animation, Adventure, Comedy
November 6, 2015 - 20th Century Fox/ Blue Sky Studios
Directed by Steve Martino

Grade: B
Up-graded from C.

+1: Art direction (Nash Dunnigan).

Par: Story (Brian Schulz, Craig Schulz, Cornelius Uliano).

+1: Cues from classic “Peanuts” specials and movies (animation, characterizations).

Par: Music Meghan Trainor (“Better When I’m Dancin’”), Flo Rida (“That’s What I Like”).

+1: Franchise installment/ reboot.



Mission: Impossible 5

Mission: Impossible- Rogue Nation [PG-13]
Action, Adventure, Thriller
July 31, 2015 - Paramount
Directed by Christopher McQuarrie

Grade: B+
Up-graded from B.

+1: Car/ motorcycle chase.

Par: Spy-film double crosses.

-1: Infiltrating/ cracking underwater vault/ server things?

+1: Cast including Tom Cruise (Ethan Hunt), Rebecca Ferguson (Ilsa Faust), Simon Pegg (Bengi Dunn).

Par: Gadgets.



Ant-Man

Ant-Man [PG-13]
Marvel Cinematic Universe, phase 2, part 6 of 6 (a.k.a. M.C.U., part 12)
Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
July 17, 2015 - Marvel
Directed by Peyton Reed

Grade: B-
Up-graded from C.

+1: Comedy.

Par: Trip to the Avengers headquarters.

Par: Plot.

Par: Cast including Paul Rudd (Scott Lang/ Ant-Man), Michael PenĂ£ (Luis).

+1: Epilogue scene.



Par: End credit, “Captain America: Civil War” Preview.

Inside Out

Inside Out [PG] 
Animation, Adventure, Comedy
June 19, 2015 - Disney/ PIXAR
Directed by Pete Docter, Ronaldo Del Carmen

Grade: B+
Up-graded from B.

+1: Cast including Amy Poehler (as Joy).

-1: Emotional manipulation through color changing environments.

+1: Visualizing abstract thoughts.

Par: Maintenance workers.

Par: Every body has emotions.


Spy

Spy [R] 
Action, Comedy, Crime
June 5, 2015 - 20th Century Fox
Directed by Paul Fieg

Grade: B+
Up-Graded from B

+1: Cast including Melissa McCarthy (as Agent Susan Cooper), Jason Statham (Agent Rick Ford) and Rose Byrne (Rayna Boyanov).

+1: Government building basements.

Par: Spy movie tropes including gadgets, fancy parties, hand-to-hand combat, and betrayal.

Par: Fighting in kitchens.

-1: Gratuitous swearing.


Friday, November 20, 2015

Castle Castle Shining Bright

Yesterday was Mickey Mouse’s 87th birthday!

And speaking of Disney Birthdays, it is doubtful that it has slipped past you that this year Disney’s first theme park, Disneyland in California, has been celebrating its 60th birthday, a.k.a. its Diamond Celebration.

Being the Disneyphile, I composed these two wallpaper images from big splash banners from the Disney Parks site. The first night-time shot showed up at least by July, when it was the official birth day of the 17th.  The second replaced the first by August. I presume that it is a shot taken at dawn, given the lack of people in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle that would otherwise be crowding around it at any given dusk in the 7-day a week run park.

I was quite pleased how I managed to effectively erase superimposed text and things necessary for the site.

The time spent photo cleaning and further by putting them up as computer screen wallpapers, however, I had gotten to stare at them for significant amounts of time, and in doing so picked up on some weird photo editing on them.

In this image, the four lamp post banners with the Disneyland “D” at the top are the same re-sized and fit over what is possibly the original silhouettes of the banners in the original photo. With the two closest of the banners you can see, or rather not see, the drapery on the far turrets don’t show between the banners and lamp posts.

In this image, there are clearly six lamp post banner on the bridge and not just the 4 pasted into the previous image. Also the details of the castle walls including drapery can be seen through the bridge post banners.

However the thing that bugs me is the obelisk/post on the right with it’s strange dark halo against the castle walls. Because of this, that post looks a little too dark and a little too in focus when compared to it neighboring walls. One can only imagine what about that post necessitated a copy and paste upgrade.

Noticing the right-most tower roof, the fluttering flag atop the spire suggests that this is a long exposure picture for low lighting conditions.

You can find official Disney Park themed wall papers at the Disney Parks Blog:
http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/wallpapers/

Monday, October 26, 2015

Lenin Staute in Ukraine Gets Darth Vader Makeover

Reported by
Andrew R. Chow, The New York Times, Oct. 25, 2015
Marianne Zumberge, Variety, Oct. 24, 2015
Ron Dicker, The Huffington Post, Oct. 24, 2015

VOLOKIN YEVGENY/ RUETERS
 A statue of communist leader Vladimir Lenin has been transformed into a monument to “Star Wars” icon Darth Vader by sculptor Alexander Milov.

VOLODYMYR SHUVAYEV VIA GETTY IMAGES
A recent law banning communist symbols led to the makeover. The monument was fitted with the “Star Wars” villain’s helmet and Lenin’s coattails were converted into Th dark lord’s cape. However, the original bronze sculpting remains intact on the inside so that descendants may exhume him if needed.

DUMSKAYA