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Muctu
Reviews
Ward 13 (2003)
Fast paced and interesting, but too repetitive
The titular Ward is either the psycho ward where our hapless hero believes he is beset by an army of sadistic doctors and orderlies, or it's the worst hospital since Roger Rabbit checked into St. Nowhere in Tummy Trouble. It's an impressive effort with some very nice staging of the endless succession of fight sequences, and some flashes of brilliance, but they don't overcome the repetitiveness of the film.
For some reason The Internet Movie Database requires 10 lines of text, and I pride myself on my brevity. I like to keep my comments brief and to the point and I would think that would be a positive thing for the readers of The Internet Movie Database. So, either this will be posted as is, or somebody at The Internet Movie Database will read it and perhaps consider my plea. After all, I am probably not the first reviewer to post too short a comment.
Seepage (1982)
Fascinating, surreal
It's been years since I saw this at Cal Arts. It was a combination of full size flat jointed animated figures (similar to shadow puppets) with hand drawn textured (pastel?) animation. I can't comment much on the story, if there was one, I remember two jointed figures on lawn chairs talking and later the film switched to the pastel or colored pencil part where a dog in silhouette was walking as the abstract background him changed; like most of Selick's work the visuals were more important than the story. It was truly memorable, like nothing I'd ever seen before, surreal, almost abstract. It anticipated his wonderful work doing MTV logos more than his feature film work like James and the Giant Peach or Nightmare Before Christmas.
Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure (1976)
Flawed Masterpiece
Richard Willaims is an animation god. He was hampered in directing this film by the producer. The final product is a very uneven film with a very convoluted story, but some amazing moments of animation (like Emery Hawkins' "Greedy"). Joe Raposo's repetitive music doesn't help either. It was made in wide screen so the VHS doesn't show it in all it's glory, let's hope for a letterboxed DVD someday. Still it's worth watching for some eye popping animation.
Space Station 3D (2002)
You are there
Finally here is a film worthy of the Imax 3D technology. It's a unique audio and visual experience. Amazing visuals, awesome scenes of weightlessness, spectacular blast-offs. I highly recommend this film for 3D fans and everyone else.