From: owner-chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org (chakram-refugees-digest) To: chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org Subject: chakram-refugees-digest V10 #63 Reply-To: chakram-refugees@smoe.org Sender: owner-chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk chakram-refugees-digest Wednesday, August 7 2013 Volume 10 : Number 063 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [chakram-refugees] Variety percy Kackson review mentions Xena [KLOSSNER9@] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 6 Aug 2013 20:05:42 -0400 (EDT) From: KLOSSNER9@aol.com Subject: [chakram-refugees] Variety percy Kackson review mentions Xena Film Review: bPercy Jackson: Sea of Monstersb * August 6, 2013 | 01:16PM PT Modern-day update of Greek mythology provides an epic showcase for mediocre CGI and slapdash screenwriting _Peter Debruge_ (http://variety.com/author/peter-debruge/) Senior Film Critic_@AskDebruge_ (http://twitter.com/@AskDebruge) _Logan Lerman, Alexandra Daddario Celebrate bPercy Jacksonb Sequel_ (http://variety.com/2013/film/news/percy-jackson-sequel-1200569436/) Three years after his last underwhelming adventure, the half-blood son of Poseidon returns to bastardize Greek mythology once again in bPercy Jackson: Sea of Monsters,b an epic showcase for mediocre CGI and slapdash screenwriting as the franchise ignominiously passes from bHarry Potterb helmer Chris Columbus to bDiary of a Wimpy Kidb director _Thor Freudenthal_ (http://variety.com/t/thor-freudenthal/) . Though this copycat franchise b about a camp where the godsb teenage spawn learn to harness their powers b is still chasing the coattails of its wizard-world cousin, Foxbs minimal Stateside marketing push proves the studio is focused more on overseas returns, where the original earned nearly $138 million. Looking old enough to be thinking about college, Percy Jackson (_Logan Lerman_ (http://variety.com/t/logan-lerman/) ) is still horsing around with centaurs and satyrs at Camp Half-Blood, where he has developed a rivalry with hyper-competitive Clarisse (Leven Rambin), clearly the heir to some of war god Aresb more combative qualities. The hokey camp is protected from outside threats by a magical tree that Zeus created from the corpse of his fallen daughter Thalia (Paloma Kwiatkowski) just outside its gates b an all-too-typical example of putatively classic storytelling updated to look wrong-headedly contemporary onscreen, courtesy of TV-quality visual effects. Perhaps the most dispiriting aspect of the Percy Jackson enterprise (especially for those hunting for the next Harry Potter) is how little care the filmmakers take in trying to make this young-adult tale feel timeless. Instead of telling a story that will hold up even a few years down the road, each installment takes age-old mythology and awkwardly pegs it to the moment, all but guaranteeing that it will seem outdated by the time the next sequel rolls around. Here, Percybs telescoping sword already feels outdated, as does the moviebs villain, wayward demigod Luke (Jake Abel), the blightning thiefb Percy dealt with in the first movie. The plot involves Lukebs attempts to summon Kronos and use the angry Titan (who looks like a videogame version of bLegendbsb Lord of Darkness) to destroy Olympus b a scheme that mistakenly assumes that whoever resurrects Kronos can control him. One of the picbs rare moments of inspiration comes in detailing Kronosb backstory, presented in an impressive sequence in which Percy perceives a stained-glass window come to life (not in the freaky b Young Sherlock Holmesb sense, but as an elegant standalone animated interlude). Otherwise, the overall vibe suggests bXena: Warrior Princessb as a Nickelodeon special, as Freudenthal encourages the kind of clownish acting normally found on kiddie TV. Lerman seems especially awkward in this context, having proven himself capable of far more serious and convincing performances elsewhere (including last yearbs bThe Perks of Being a Wallflowerb), and already transitioning from his boyish looks to the face hebll have in his 30s. The movie positions him as a lost kid seeking answers about his identity and fate from an unseen father, but he doesnbt appear nearly as young as his questions sound (bEver felt that everything youbve ever done is all just luck or something?b he asks a nearby lake, hoping Poseidon will answer). Percybs already delicate self-esteem is thrown topsy-turvy with the arrival of Tyson (bBig Lovebsb Douglas Smith), son of Poseidon and a sea nymph, which makes this gangly new arrival to Camp Half-Blood his half-brother b and a Cyclops to boot. Of all the sketchy special effects in the film, none is more off-putting than Tysonbs lone eye, which he mercifully covers with sunglasses for long stretches. That makes at least one character who doesnbt have to suffer through 3D conversions of visually mediocre movies. The pic has better luck updating various other mythical monsters, ranging from the fire-breathing Colchis Bull to fearsome sea creature Charybdis (which looks like the aquatic version of the Sarlacc pit). Still, bSea of Monstersb seems incapable of finding elegant ways to introduce these CG attractions into the story and instead comes across like a lazy bedtime story the narrator seems to be making up as he goes. Itbs enough to make Homer hang his head as the episodic film stumbles from one corny setup to the next, operating on two shaky assumptions: first, that audiences remember the basics of mythology, and second, that theybll find it clever when the film name-drops classic characters in silly new situations. (Circeb s island becomes an amusement park, the eponymous bSea of Monstersb is revealed to be the godsb name for the Bermuda Triangle, and so on.) Itbs easy to forget this is a dead religion that novelist Rick Riordan and screenwriter Marc Guggenheim are mangling to fit the modern world, though their flip treatment of the underlying legends begs the question how audiences might react if they attempted the same CliffsNotes-style riff on characters from the Old Testament or the Quran. Whereas the tale might have demonstrated the immortal appeal of Greek mythology, it mostly just exploits the fact that its target audience is still being forced to memorize the godsb exploits in grammar school, serving up a quest thatbs modestly more entertaining than doing homework while completely missing the point about nearly everything it depicts. Film Review: 'Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters' Reviewed at Fox Studios, Los Angeles, Aug. 1, 2013. MPAA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 106 MIN. Production A 20th Century Fox release of a Fox 2000 Pictures presentation in association with TSG Entertainment of a Sunswept Entertainment/1492 Pictures production. Produced by Karen Rosenfelt, Michael Barnathan. Executive producers, Chris Columbus, Mark Radcliffe, Mark Morgan, Guy Oseary, Greg Mooradian. Co-producer, Bill Bannerman. Crew Directed by Thor Freudenthal. Screenplay, Marc Guggenheim, based on the novel by Rick Riordan. Camera (Deluxe color, Panavision widescreen, 3D), Shelly Johnson; editor, Mark Goldblatt; music, Andrew Lockington; music supervisor, Julia Michels; production design, Claude Pare; supervising art director, Helen Jarvis; art directors, Dan Hermansen, Kirsten Franson; set decorator, Shane "Perro" Vieau; costume designer, Monique Prudhomme; sound (Dolby Atmos/Datasat), Michael McGee; sound designers, Elliott Koretz, Ai-Ling Lee; supervising sound editor, Koretz; re-recording mixers, Ron Bartlett, D.M. Hemphill; special effects coordinator, Cameron Waldbauer; visual effects supervisor, Dan Kaufman; visual effects producer, Steve Dubin; visual effects, Rhythm & Hues Studios, MPC, Prana Animation Studios, the Embassy, Scanline VFX, Custom Film Effects, EFILM, Factory VFX; special makeup effects, Alec Gillis, Tom Woodruff, Jr.; stereoscopic supervisor, Sean Santiago; stunt coordinators, Scott Ateah, Randy Hall, Garvin Cross; associate producer, Jeffrey Harlacker; assistant director, Jim Brebner; second unit directors, Gregg Smrz, Bill Bannerman; second unit camera, Roger Vernon, Dave Norris; casting, Alyssa Weisberg; Canadian casting, Coreen Mayrs, Heike Brandstatter. With Logan Lerman, Brandon T. Jackson, Alexandra Daddario, Jake Abel, Douglas Smith, Leven Rambin, Nathan Fillion, Anthony Stewart Head, Stanley Tucci, Mary Birdsong, Yvette Nicole Brown, Missi Pyle, Paloma Kwiatkowski ========================================================= This has been a message to the chakram-refugees list. To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@smoe.org with "unsubscribe chakram-refugees" in the message body. Contact meth@smoe.org with any questions or problems. ========================================================= ------------------------------ End of chakram-refugees-digest V10 #63 **************************************