There's a Rat in My Soup

Brad Bird, the director of the formidable and unspeakably brilliant The Incredibles is back with the Pixar gang for this summer's animated event (never mind penguins or bees), and the result is very good, but not as good as The Incredibles. (Then again, that is unfair, because what could be better than that movie?)

Ratatouille tells the story of Remy a rat that wants to be a cook, and Linguini a hapless boy that finds himself in a kitchen. From here, hilarity ensues.

The animation is, needless to say, out of this world. Pixar's geniuses do it again, and the production quality is unsurpassable (the short movie that comes before the feature, Lifted, is also fantastic and brutally funny). The characters are well defined if sometimes a bit stereotypical, and the French accent comes and go (which is kind of strange, because even though everybody is supposed to be French, only a few of them actually speak with French accents, but I guess that's just me being picky), but their designs are always dead on, and they always look great. The backgrounds are also extremely detailed and mind-blowing in their realism and depiction, and the lighting and other special effects look even more real than their real counterparts.

The themes of the story are some of my favorite ones: chasing your dream, doing what's right, having the courage to defend your view of the world against everybody else; and they're always there underneath the comedy, which makes the story solid and compelling. Obviously, I am bound to like such a movie, and I did.

Rotten Tomatoes gives Ratatouille a 95%, and even though the movie is good, I don't think it's that good. Cars disappointed me, and even though this one is way better than last year's movie, it's certainly not Pixar's best movie. Still, it is a terrific picture I recommend everybody, and you could do worse than finding rats in the kitchen, believe me.

Reading List: June

Another month comes to an end, and another (late) list with books and comic books is presented for your consideration. It doesn't look like I've read too much, but keep in mind that A Clash of Kings was twenty-five pages short of 1,000; and Four Past Midnight closed at 730. And both books have very small print and barely any margins to speak of. So let's see...

Prince Valiant, vol. 1
The first volume of Hal Foster's masterpiece, I really enjoyed it. Thanks to my friend Jorge for getting it for me.

The Eyes of the Dragon
I'm not sure if this book by Stephen King can be considered a re-read, because when I first read it about fifteen years ago, it was in Spanish. And I think I even read once after that, but it seems it was before I started my Booklist, so I'm not sure. Still, this is the second time (or maybe the third) I've read this book, but it certainly was the first time in English. And it is great. I also remember giving it to Nash for his birthday years ago, and he didn't like it very much. Still, it's a really cool book, and quite short (especially for Mr King's standards). So Halagan, you should read it!

I, Robot
My first book by Isaac Asimov, I got it shortly after watching the movie for the umpteenth time. I thought the book was great, and I could see how they took bits and pieces to create the storyline for the movie. I think it was done in a very clever and unusual way, because it seems to me the movie is just a story that could happen in the universe portrayed in the book, rather than an adaptation of the stories in the book. Read the book and watch the movie: both are fantastic.

A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire Book II)
The second installment in The Karaoke Saga, this book is as thick as the Chattanooga phonebook, I kid you not. I had to take a break after the first three hundred pages (a break during which I read both The Eyes of the Dragon and I, Robot), and then returned to the remaining 600-plus pages with renovated energy. The book is as good as the first one, but I still think some of the information presented we really could do without. But I already know volumes three and four are even longer, so hey: I'll have to take it easy.

Four Past Midnight
This book contains four novellas by Stephen King, two of which I had already read, so this is a partial re-read. And again, the two stories I had already read I read in Spanish a decade and a half ago. (The four novellas were published as two separate books with two stories in each in Spain, as it happens.) The first one, The Langoliers, I knew because of the movie. The film was just so-so, and the same goes for the story: it's okay, but that's it. The second novella, Secret Window, Secret Garden, I knew from the movie as well. This film is fantastic, though, and I recommend it to everybody here; and the story was also very good. This gave me the chance to appreciate what a wonderful job David Koepp did in adapting (and directing) the novella for the big screen. And I was very surprised to find that the ending is not what I was expecting at all, but I won't reveal anything else. The third story, The Library Policeman, was one of the two I had read years and years ago, and I enjoyed it thoroughly, especially because I barely remembered anything from it. And the fourth one, The Sun Dog, I had also read back in the day, and even though I remembered more things from this one, those memories were faint enough so as not to spoil the fun.

Venom vs. Carnage
The story by Peter Milligan is not the greatest tale ever told. In fact, it is quite average: Venom and Carnage beating the crap out of each other, and then Spiderman and the Black Cat become involved. The story showcases the birth of Toxin, the third symbiote (cause yeah, the Spidey universe needed another drooling creep), and even though the script is far from memorable, the artwork by Clayton Crain blew me away. This guy draws and paints the whole thing, and his skills are nothing short of amazing. So in spite of the mediocre story, I recommend this comic book because of the awesome artwork. Man, Black Cat looks so hot I feel like purring!

Foundation
This book by Asimov was okay, but I was expecting something much, much better. It's repetitive and nothing much really happens. The dialogue is good, but the story is not very compelling. I doubt I'll continue reading the series.

Live Free or Get Your Ass Kicked

Who would have thought that I would enjoy Live Free or Die Hard as much as I did. Well, I, for one, was surprised. I thought the movie would be okay, but I must confess that I enjoyed so tremendously much that I'm seriously considering naming it Best Movie I've Seen in Theaters This Year. But maybe I liked it as much as 300, so it could be a tie. At any rate, I was genuinely surprised.

The story finds John McClane a few years after the last movie, and he doesn't seem to be exactly happy with his life. Then he gets an easy assignment that, needless to say, is not as easy as it first seemed to be. And, from there, all hell breaks loose.

Bruce Willis is fantastic as McClane, as usual. I guess they made this movie because the star badly needed a smash at the box office, given the lackluster performance of his movies of late. The movie made $33 million last week, and I hope LFODH will rake in tons of money, because it deserves it. The other actors are also good -serviceable, at least-, and the widely-criticized plot is just an excuse for the action to unfold. But what an action.

I had read about the incredible stunts, but the audacity and frantic pace caught me with my guard down. The amazing action sequences are just brilliant choreographies of destruction that leave you gasping for air, your eyes bulging with shock. The relentless pace doesn't let you go from the very beginning, and you start to feel McClane's pain and exhaustion. The action is, of course, over the top, but if you go to see a Die Hard movie, you know what you're getting into. Put it another way, don't tell me the stunts are unbelievable: if you buy a ticket for this kind of movie, you know you have to leave your disbelief at home.

And then we have Kevin Smith's character, and boy is he funny. I kept forgetting he was in the movie, and when he finally showed up I had totally forgotten he was supposed to be there, so I was surprised. Put it simply, Smith is the man.

So yeah: if you want to see a great action movie; or if you want to see a supremely entertaining movie; or if you want to see Bruce Willis being badass; or if you want to hear cool one liners one after the other, then go see Live Free or Die Hard. A true surprise that made my day.

With Love (part 6 of 6)

Pues aquí acaba todo. La amenaza ha sido neutralizada, y nuestras valientes espadachinas viven para luchar y hablar por los codos otro día. Aquí podéis ver mi cuarto dibujo favorito, con Taranne dándole un cachete al humillado villano, hahahaha. Espero que os haya gustado la absurda historia, y que al menos hayáis sonreído una o dos veces. Espero también que releáis cada página al menos diez veces, porque esto de hacer un comic completo uno mismo requiere mucho, mucho tiempo; sin duda muchísimo más de lo que se tarda en leer cada página. Menos mal que ya me lo veía venir y traté de limitar el número de páginas -y de viñetas- tanto como pude. Y eso es todo. No os olvidéis de mirar la página a lápiz y a tinta si os interesa, y gracias por vuestra paciencia!

With Love (part 5 of 6)

El bueno de Finn5fel sigue monopolizando Sunny Jhanna en la semana de celebración de los 400 posts -que a estas alturas ya son más-, pero la historia ya se acerca a su fin. Parece que Erin y Taranne sí sabían cómo hacer frente al monstruo flamígero… o eso creen. ¿Qué pasará a continuación? Mientras os mordéis las uñas hasta los nudillos de los nervios, dejaos al menos un dedo entero para manejar el ratón y echarle un vistazo a la página a lápiz con su correspondiente versión a tinta. Y dentro de unas horas, la última parte. Enjoy!

With Love (part 4 of 6)

He decidido no alargar la cosa tanto como planeaba, así que aquí tenéis el segundo post del día.

¡La caballería ha llegado! Aunque sin caballos… o caballeros. La pobre Dae queda en evidencia, pero ¿acaso saben Erin y Taranne qué hacer? Creo que hacía años -literalmente- que no dibujaba a Taranne, así que ha sido divertido volver a verla por Sanya. Una vez más, podéis ver la página a lápiz aquí, así como la posterior versión a tinta. Y mañana, la quinta parte. Enjoy!

With Love (part 3 of 6)

Aquí tenéis la tercera parte de lo que supongo podría llamarse un webcomic. El dibujo de Dae en la primera viñeta es uno de mis cuatro dibujos favoritos del comic. Dos de ellos ya lo visteis ayer (Dae revelándose, y Dae de perfil mirando hacia arriba), y para el cuarto tendréis que esperar. Así como para el desenlace. ¿Qué pasará? ¿Qué será de nuestra heroína ahora que se le han fundido las espadas? Y la pregunta más importante: ¿cómo demonios podría pasar algo así? De nuevo, aquí podeís ver la página a lápiz y la correspondiente versión a tinta. Y mañana, la cuarta parte. Enjoy!