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matt_zimmerAlso a review for the latest episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
Wallace & Gromit projects are rare, and it takes so long between them because the stop-motion animation is so time-consuming. Also, I think a few extra years here and there between projects might be a deliberate way to add to the mystique and the prestige. It totally works for both.
A Wallace & Gromit feature length movie is a treat we've only gotten once before. I am sad to report this is nowhere near as good as The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit, and feels more like one of the plots from the specials stretched out to movie length. Basically, Wallace creates an invention with unknown sinister applications. Lets the fame and acclaim go to his head while not appreciating Gromit. And utterly ignoring Gromit's silent heeds and warnings about the danger present. This is all very well-worn stuff for the franchise. Which is fine for a special. For a movie, I would have preferred to see something new like Curse Of The Were-Rabbit (which was a legit horror spoof). But it was enjoyable to me anyways.
Notes:
One of the pleasurable things about Wallace & Gromit is it is pretty much the only current / modern comedy franchise I can think of with zero edge to it. Yes, Feathers cricking his neck, doing pull-ups in the prison, and stroking a white baby seal are all hilarious. But that, and the prison turning out to be the Penguin habitat to the zoo in the beginning are pretty mild if that's the most outrageous humor to be found. Why is this rated PG anyways? Maybe because the MPAA is unfathomably corrupt and one step above a criminal organization.
Wallace speaks in dull, obvious cliches, not just because he is a stupid character. But because this franchise is both gentle and deliberate, and despite its fame in one of the main characters being mute, and having no mouth to express themselves, it is not remotely subtle. The emotion the animators can do with Gromit's expressions, where despite the emotional handicaps of the mouthless design, we can see exactly what he is thinking at all times, is a master class in subtlety. The humor and story however are broad, safe, and unafraid to be enjoyable in its utter predictability. I like that.
The Farmer from Shaun The Sheep cameos, proving that somehow both projects take place in the same continuity. Yeah, I'm still trying to figure out how that works too.
Feathers knows enough about Wallace's adventures to know that when the computer directs you to checkmark all pictures with cheese in it, the moon is the FIRST thing that ought to be checked.
Nice reverse turnip switch by Gromit at the end. Serves Feathers right, although frankly, him disappearing off into the sunset feels majorly unsatisfying anyways.
The stuff with the eager young Copper and the Chief was quite fun and delightful. I mentioned there is no subtlety or edge to the franchise's story and comedy? That! That!
I enjoyed it. Worthy project for the Wallace & Gromit legacy, if nowhere near up to the phenomenal standards of the first movie. ****.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit "Master Key"
Oh, man. Everything wrong and evil that social worker perp COULD have possibly done, he did. I very much enjoyed Bruno and Silvo putting the screws to him in interrogation. Kevin Kane in particular has become a great asset to the show. Not on Ice-T's level. But ballpark. The only other character on the show I've ever enjoyed quite as much as him and Finn was, of course, Richard Belzer as Munch. This is his first season as a series regular, and for me he's already become indispensable.
But yeah, on that act break revealing the true extent of the social worker's evil, I was like "Holy shit." Carisi says he knows his lawyer, and she'll accept a deal. She'd better. There is no scenario she gets that guy off with the ironclad evidence they had.
I like it when the cases on the show don't add up at first. For the writers on THIS show (if not always other Law & Order shows) the truth winds up explaining the holes, and is usually far more interesting (and like in this case more appalling) than the initial scenario led you to believe. Law & Order used to be the show KNOWN for the big twist in the fourth act, and the only one still doing that is SVU. ****1/2.
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
Wallace & Gromit projects are rare, and it takes so long between them because the stop-motion animation is so time-consuming. Also, I think a few extra years here and there between projects might be a deliberate way to add to the mystique and the prestige. It totally works for both.
A Wallace & Gromit feature length movie is a treat we've only gotten once before. I am sad to report this is nowhere near as good as The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit, and feels more like one of the plots from the specials stretched out to movie length. Basically, Wallace creates an invention with unknown sinister applications. Lets the fame and acclaim go to his head while not appreciating Gromit. And utterly ignoring Gromit's silent heeds and warnings about the danger present. This is all very well-worn stuff for the franchise. Which is fine for a special. For a movie, I would have preferred to see something new like Curse Of The Were-Rabbit (which was a legit horror spoof). But it was enjoyable to me anyways.
Notes:
One of the pleasurable things about Wallace & Gromit is it is pretty much the only current / modern comedy franchise I can think of with zero edge to it. Yes, Feathers cricking his neck, doing pull-ups in the prison, and stroking a white baby seal are all hilarious. But that, and the prison turning out to be the Penguin habitat to the zoo in the beginning are pretty mild if that's the most outrageous humor to be found. Why is this rated PG anyways? Maybe because the MPAA is unfathomably corrupt and one step above a criminal organization.
Wallace speaks in dull, obvious cliches, not just because he is a stupid character. But because this franchise is both gentle and deliberate, and despite its fame in one of the main characters being mute, and having no mouth to express themselves, it is not remotely subtle. The emotion the animators can do with Gromit's expressions, where despite the emotional handicaps of the mouthless design, we can see exactly what he is thinking at all times, is a master class in subtlety. The humor and story however are broad, safe, and unafraid to be enjoyable in its utter predictability. I like that.
The Farmer from Shaun The Sheep cameos, proving that somehow both projects take place in the same continuity. Yeah, I'm still trying to figure out how that works too.
Feathers knows enough about Wallace's adventures to know that when the computer directs you to checkmark all pictures with cheese in it, the moon is the FIRST thing that ought to be checked.
Nice reverse turnip switch by Gromit at the end. Serves Feathers right, although frankly, him disappearing off into the sunset feels majorly unsatisfying anyways.
The stuff with the eager young Copper and the Chief was quite fun and delightful. I mentioned there is no subtlety or edge to the franchise's story and comedy? That! That!
I enjoyed it. Worthy project for the Wallace & Gromit legacy, if nowhere near up to the phenomenal standards of the first movie. ****.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit "Master Key"
Oh, man. Everything wrong and evil that social worker perp COULD have possibly done, he did. I very much enjoyed Bruno and Silvo putting the screws to him in interrogation. Kevin Kane in particular has become a great asset to the show. Not on Ice-T's level. But ballpark. The only other character on the show I've ever enjoyed quite as much as him and Finn was, of course, Richard Belzer as Munch. This is his first season as a series regular, and for me he's already become indispensable.
But yeah, on that act break revealing the true extent of the social worker's evil, I was like "Holy shit." Carisi says he knows his lawyer, and she'll accept a deal. She'd better. There is no scenario she gets that guy off with the ironclad evidence they had.
I like it when the cases on the show don't add up at first. For the writers on THIS show (if not always other Law & Order shows) the truth winds up explaining the holes, and is usually far more interesting (and like in this case more appalling) than the initial scenario led you to believe. Law & Order used to be the show KNOWN for the big twist in the fourth act, and the only one still doing that is SVU. ****1/2.
