Beowulf and Grendel

Beowulf and Grendel sounds interesting... it's an adaptation of the epic poem "Beowulf" ... Directed by Sturla Gunnarsson... starring Gerard Bulter, Sarah Plooey, and Ingvar Sigurdsson...

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Yeah, I really like the epic. I'm looking forward to this one, especially considering how cheated I felt that The 13th Warrior only adapted Michael Crichton's Eaters of the Dead (and not Beowulf, from which he pretty much stole his ideas).

Stellan Skarsgard is also starring.

Oops... I meant to list him too... thanks...

Thanks Caity.

I can remember studying the poem years back at uni though haven't read it since then. There's bound to be a copy kicking around somewhere in the loft, might be worth a trip up there.

Now, where's my sherpa?

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"Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how the Tatty 100 is done, they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves." - Brendan Behan

Man, that Sarah Plooey is a babe, and it totally works to her favor that her last name is the sound my toilet makes when flushing, that dirty, filthy girl!

I'm starting to worry about you....

I just find this to be very weird...

I didn't know they were making another Beowulf film, because I thought they were making one already with Robert Zemeckis directing. This is unique for me to look at, because as we speak, I'm in the process of creating my own vision of the Beowulf story- a parody entitled Geowulf (pronounced "Gay-o-wolf"). My production company has been working on it since September, and filming for it will wrap by mid-December. I was going to create my own thread for it, but since this one already came, might as well break some of the ice by showing you the poster for the film. I'll create the official thread, with cast, crew, and a short synopsis next week.

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Everything I do, I do to make my second stepdad proud.

Well, let's use this thread for all versions of Beowulf...

I saw the new Beowulf (the Robert Zemeckis one) reviewed on Newsnight Review last night, and I'm not really sure what to make of it. Reading about it, it seems interesting. Seeing trailers and posters, however, I'm not so sure.

For a start, posters which appear to ape 300 and Tomb Raider mark it out as derivative, even while it is playing the 'innovative' card with all this mocap stuff.

Seeing clips, though, I'm not sure what the purpose of the mocap is. Yes, for Gollum. But getting humans to act out and then cgi-ing them up to look like humans...erm, why? The clips I saw looked like a cut scene from a video game, and I'm not sure I could stomach 2 hours of that, although the reviewers on NR were quite enthusiastic about the animation, they had problems with the story.

Maybe it looks better in 3D.

Just noticed Yoda posted a review of this here

That's just marketing, to my mind. 300 was a big hit, and anyone who liked that is likely to like Beowulf, so I don't really blame them for drawing on that.

The purpose of mocap is for the things that aren't human. Sure, you could film Angelina Jolie in a body suit and it'd look pretty similar to what we get on-screen, but her tail would contrast with the live action more, as would the other dragons and demons that have to fight alongside the mo-capped humans.

As for video games...there are a few shots where it looks like one, sure. But not many. Typically, in digital productions, they look worse as you move in closer to the characters, and better when they focus on vistas and wideshots. The exact opposite is true here; the closeups look great, and the wide shots are what lack those little human touches that ring true for us.

I was quite impressed by how lifelike the characters look. That doesn't make it a great movie, of course (I just posted a review, and elected to give it 3.5 of 5 popcorns), but I do think it's a great achievement.

Ah, you beat me to it. Thanks.