Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean's _Mirrormask

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Only just caught the trailer for this last night. Goldang. Definitely will be trying to see that over the next week or so, as it opens today. Anyone else?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 30 September 2005 14:44 (twenty years ago)

Saw the trailer a few months ago, this looks TERRIBLE

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 30 September 2005 14:52 (twenty years ago)

Differing tastes I guess!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 30 September 2005 14:55 (twenty years ago)

I like Gaiman (for the most part) and I like McKean, but it just looked really cheap (I realize part of the deal with this is that they basically had a challenge to make it on a very, very limited budget). But the result seems, I don't know, really.....1989. If someone comes back and tells me it's brilliant I'll certainly see it. But I'm more interested in a film of Coraline made with lots of money.

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 30 September 2005 14:57 (twenty years ago)

Judge as you wilt. Anyway, my friend Jen's interview with Neil G. from the other day.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 30 September 2005 15:03 (twenty years ago)

But the result seems, I don't know, really.....1989.

Isn't that supposed to be part of the appeal? I read somewhere that they were trying to recreate that sort of movie - you know, "Labyrinth" and "Dark Crystal", etc, and "Mirrormask" is produced by Jim Henson Productions, after all.

I want to see this badly but I don't think it'll be showing in any theatres near me anytime soon. I met Neil Gaiman a couple of months ago - an almost unbelievably nice and funny guy.

But I'm more interested in a film of Coraline made with lots of money.

You're in luck, Henry Selick, who directed "The Nightmare Before Christmas" is apparently making a Coraline movie.

― Roz (Roz), Friday, 30 September 2005 15:38 (twenty years ago)

Well I saw it, and it was brilliant, so Kyle has to go. ;-) Seriously, I thought it was quite successful -- a bit of an obvious template in the end, granted, but frankly seeing what McKean could do in a film medium after only knowing him via comics was kickass. Many funny bits throughout as well.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 03:23 (twenty years ago)

I'm afraid to see it, my head will surely explode. And goddammit, 'select theaters' is right....it's not coming to Sacramento til the 28th. Man cannot live on Serenity alone, Neil!! Yes yes I'll live, but I WANNNA SEEEE IT NOOOOOWWWWWWWW....

― VegemiteGrrl (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 04:13 (twenty years ago)

Waaaahhhhh, it's not ever coming to Australia is it? Damn, I really wanna see this. Always loved McKean's work. Gaiman is thoroughly kicking up the humour eh? His new book Anansi Boys is a great piece of comedic fantasy - I'm really glad he's ditching the near horror, serious themes cause he definitely has a way with a one-liner.

And I still haven't seen Serenity either! Waaaagghhh.

― Roz (Roz), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 04:24 (twenty years ago)

Nothing listed for Australia yet, but I find it hard to believe that Neil would shun my homeland. He loves Australia. Then again who knows how Sony feels about Australia...I'll cross my fingers for you though.

And maybe you didn't get Serenity, but you got Wallace & Grommit & The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, and it hasn't even opened here yet! Waaaaghhh.

― VegemiteGrrl (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 04:34 (twenty years ago)

I think it looks total balls, but still better than Serenity.

― Pizza cook man said that Dear Leader covort with Japanese women and burn 10 (nor, Tuesday, 4 October 2005 05:13 (twenty years ago)

Ooh wei, thanks. Nah we got Serenity, I just haven't had time to see it yet and am DYING to go. Wallace & Grommit was awesome, very very funny and lots of subtle tributes to past cinema classics, Hammer House of Horror stuff especially.

― Roz (Roz), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 05:14 (twenty years ago)

wallace and g gave my 6 yr old nightmares!!!!!

― mullygrubbr (bulbs), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 05:16 (twenty years ago)

I couldn't get into this at all. It had all the makings of a movie I should love but just... fell flat for me. For one, the CGI was terrible. It looked almost exactly like that terrible "Alice" game that came out a few years ago. The story was okay but... well, to call it a retread is obvious and probably what was intended, but there really wasn't any point to playing out the same story again in a way that wasn't particularly new or interesting (to me, anyway.)

Call me old fashioned, but I wanted more puppets and less crappy special effects. The new Wallace & Gromit looks good, tho!

― stephen morris (stephen morris), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 05:53 (twenty years ago)

Saw Mirrormask at the Edinburgh film festival a month or so back. Amazing rendition of McKean's style into animation. Didn't seem dated at all. Can't imagine any but the most curmugeonly Gaiman/McKean fans being disappointed, and it seemed to work for both adults and kids.

― Soukesian, Tuesday, 4 October 2005 06:02 (twenty years ago)

Call me old fashioned

Ha, you're old. Er, wait.

Two of my favorite moments -- the library (unsurprisingly) and the "Close to Me" sequence. Best damn Carpenters cover ever!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 12:07 (twenty years ago)

are there harlequin masks in this movie?

― kyle (akmonday), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 12:48 (twenty years ago)

Do you want them to be?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 13:04 (twenty years ago)

― kyle (akmonday), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 14:57 (twenty years ago)

Then there won't be. But there are a lot of masks.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 14:58 (twenty years ago)

eleven months pass...

Saw this the other night. Absolutely STUNNING visually but found the plot weak and baffling for the most part. Style > substance but impressive ambition all the same. Weird to see Rob Brydon in that get up, and the Mum I remember from an early 90s Carlsberg beer ad. She looked a lot better here tho, esp. as the dark queen. The lead girl was decent enough.

Quite liked the version of 'Close To You' performed in the film (by Josephine somethingorother), or maybe it was just the macabre spectacle of the scene taking over.

― Konal Doddz (blueski), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 09:51 (nineteen years ago)

The oddest thing perhaps was the building they actually lived in in Brighton. Didn't recognise it. Are the balconies really just open like that?

― Konal Doddz (blueski), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 09:54 (nineteen years ago)

I must get round to BTing this, I think Gaiman's an overrated but interesting and often entertaining writer, and I LOVE McKean.

I wonder if Stardust will be any good.

― chap who would dare to start Raaatpackin (chap), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 12:48 (nineteen years ago)

Absolutely stunning film on every level. Emotionally involving, as well as one of the most visually sumptuous films I've EVER seen. If the Sandman movies looks anything like this, I'm stoked.

The story was a bit opaque but it worked. Heavily Gene Wolfe influenced too, if you liked this try Wolfe's short fiction.

― Squirrel_Police (Squirrel_Police), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 22:44 (nineteen years ago)

what sandman movies?

― kyle (akmonday), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 22:47 (nineteen years ago)

I meant to say "the Sandman movie," the movie they have to make or I'll personally kick their arse.

― Squirrel_Police (Squirrel_Police), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 22:47 (nineteen years ago)

"them".

― kit brash (kit brash), Thursday, 14 September 2006 11:20 (nineteen years ago)

Who wants to see a Sandman movie?

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Thursday, 14 September 2006 11:54 (nineteen years ago)

I mean, I don't really hate the comic, but it seems rather unadaptable, mostly because the big story is too long, and shorter arcs wouldn't probably work as one-off films.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Thursday, 14 September 2006 11:57 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, I think you're right Tuomas. It could maybe work as a TV series, but they'd probably do away with most of the literary allusions, and all you'd have left would be a big pile of goff.

― chap who would dare to start Raaatpackin (chap), Thursday, 14 September 2006 12:23 (nineteen years ago)

Sandman is TOTALLY episodic. Any one of the mini-stories would work as a film.

― Squirrel_Police (Squirrel_Police), Friday, 15 September 2006 00:05 (nineteen years ago)

Saw this last Christmas, at that cinema at the end of Haight while passing through San Francisco, and utterly loved it.

The major pluspoint for me (and, I suspect, the minuspoint for the distributors) was the dreamlike focusing - I'm not sure what the technique is called, but everything that wasn't directly in the centre of the action was out of focus. Hard on the eyes, but very effective.

Also, she (Stephanie Leonidas) was brilliant, as was Gina McKee.

― Huey in Melbourne (Huey in Melbourne), Friday, 15 September 2006 04:40 (nineteen years ago)

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Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean's _Mirrormask_