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SF-LOVERS Digest V6 #10 [message #5223] Sat, 28 July 2012 00:10
Anonymous
Karma:
Originally posted by: utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!sf-lovers
Article-I.D.: ucbvax.7996
Posted: Mon Jul 12 22:34:39 1982
Received: Tue Jul 13 10:11:14 1982

>From JPM@Mit-Ai Mon Jul 12 21:40:14 1982

SF-LOVERS Digest        Saturday, 10 Jul 1982      Volume 6 : Issue 10

Today's Topics:
               SF Movies - ET: The Extra-Terrestrial &
                        TRON & Secret of Nimh
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 5 July 1982 20:44 edt
From: SSteinberg.SoftArts at MIT-MULTICS
Subject: ET

ET seemed to be an updated Wizard of Oz with ET as Dorothy (complete
with the red glowing slippers) but it was sure short on interesting
characters and plot.  There was one plot, no subplots, and a LOT of
non-persons which aren't even as good as stereotypes.  I stand by
Sherlock Holmes, ordinary people aren't as ordinary as they look;
Speilberg doesn't just want ordinary people, he wants boring people.
Being a fan of those old John Wayne movies (like the Quiet Man) I
couldn't help wondering why they let so much potential plot slip by.
Why couldn't that crazy UFOlogist started romancin' Eliot's mom 
earlier in the flick?  What a waste!  ET is not a great adult flick
and the only juvenile review I've heard (from a friend's 5 year old
daughter) involved sheer terror.  ET gave her the creepies.

As far as the book goes, the New York Times loved it.  They really
thought it was a profound novel which is one of the reasons I don't
read those things too often.  read their book reviews too much
anymore.

------------------------------

Date: 8-Jul-82 14:38:17 PDT (Thursday)
From: Newman.es at PARC-MAXC
Subject: TRON causes stock market crash!

Today's editions of the LA Times, LA Herald Examiner, and Wall Street
Journal report that after "TRON" was pre-screened Tuesday for
financial analysts, there was a massive sell-off of Disney shares.
The stock fell 2-1/2 points Wednesday, after the start of trading was
delayed 90 minutes because sell orders had piled up before the New
York Stock Exchange opened.

Blame for the selling spree is generally given to Theodore James of
Montgomery Securities, San Francisco.  James described the film as a
"seriously flawed, disjointed story" with "distracting" special 
effects.


Incidentally, just what am I talking to when I call 1-800-622-TRON?  
If that's a speech recognition device, it seems like a pretty
sophisticated one!

/Ron

------------------------------

Date: 6 July 1982 21:11-EDT
From: Charles F. Von Rospach 
Subject: Secret of Nimh

movie: The Secret of Nimh

Pico review: If only Walt had been alive to see it.

Micro review: The best thing Disney ever put out.
              Unfortunately, Disney didn't do it.

General comments: 'The Secret of Nimh' is a full length animated
feature film, done by Bluth Studios of Hollywood. For those that don't
know, Don Bluth was a long time animator for Walt Disney and the
Disney Studios, starting with them about the time of Snow White, and
continuing until 1977, when he (and about 45% of the animation group)
left Disney studios to form their own company.  The major complaint
was that the people who were running the studios had no more creative
vision than they could find in their wallets. (side note: we ALL know
this is false. Since Walt's death we have seen such wonderful and 
successful Disney movies as 'Black Hole', 'Escape to Witch Mountain',
and the Betty Davis Fiasco that slips my mind at the moment). What we
have in 'The Secret of Nimh' is Bluth's attempt to return animation to
the high quality art form it was in the heyday of Disney Studios.

To the great amazement of myself (a long time Disney fen), he
succeeds.  Wonderfully. Spectacularly. superbly. Technically, the
animation is on the level of a 'Bambi', or 'fantasia'. There is such
detail in the background that you sometimes forget that the
backgrounds were drawn and not photo- graphed. The characters and
animation are so carefully and wonderfully done that for the first
time in years, I have actually believed in a animated character.

As far as plot goes, it is rather similar to the disney film 'the
Rescuers', at least in general. In trying to compare the two films,
though, I find that there really isn't much to compare. Both films are
VERY family oriented, although real youngsters might find some of the
scenes rather intense. both use familiar voices (Nimh has Dom Deluise,
Derek Jacobi, and John Carradine among others), and both have animals
fighting the mean rotten adult humans.  One advantage that Nihm has
over Rescuers is that the voices of nihm never overpower the
characters. In rescuers, Ava Gabor's voice coming out of a mouse makes
me think of Ava Gabor. In Nihm, Dom Deluise's voice coming out of a
crow is much more natural and makes me listen to the crow talking. The
Rescuers animation just doesn't cut it, either.

With the exception of the more-or-less sexist plot-line (widow mouse
helps the cuase and then goes home to tend children, satisfied with
her place in life), the plot is very lively and never really stops or
drags.

I guess I could keep drooling for hours. Summing up, about all I can
say is that it is wonderful to see that the wonderfulness and
loveliness of the disney film really didn't die with Walt. I was afraid
that it had.  Fortunately, Bluth has shown us that all it takes is a
little love. He obviously loves his work as much as Walt did, and it
shows. The only real problem is that he had to leave Disney Studios to
do it. Having worked for disney for four years (at disneyland), I can
understand why. Even at the 'Magic Kingdom' the magic has gone out,
and the bottom line is now more important than the smile on a childs
face. If Walt were alive today, he would be working for Bluth
Studios....  

chuck (chuqui@mit-mc)

------------------------------

Date: 8 Jul 1982 1242-EDT
From: PERKINS at DEC-MARLBORO
Reply-to: PERKINS at DEC-MARLBORO
Subject: "The Secret of NIMH"

Mini review -- It's worth seeing.

Midi review -- It may not be the old Disney, but it is a whole lot
               closer to it than anything else that's out (or that
               I've seen clips from.)  It is delightful.  It is well
               done.  It will probably be a Hugo Nominee next year.
               (If there weren't so much really tough competition, I
               believe it could have won it...  it may.)

General Comments:

The story is believable, but weak in several places.  Mrs. Brisby goes
through several stages of personal growth where she has to overcome
her own fears until she reaches her personal climax and faces a
confrontation with DRAGON, the farmer's cat.  Dragon is a marvelously
evil feline (viewed from the perspective of a mouse.) It is doesn't
compare with old Disney evil cats.  It is neither thin and cunning not
fat and cuddly (from the human perspective).

Eventually Mrs. Brisby meets with Nicodemus, the wisened elderly
leader of the rats.  [Not a spoiler] The rats are going through their
own growth crisis.  The dastardly Jenner is attempting to overthrow
Nicodemus and "The Plan" in favor of the status quo.  (The rats have a
rather cushy life under the rose bush, complete with electricity and
that the use of power can bring.)

Notables doing the voices include Hermione Baddeley as the busybody
neighbor, Auntie Shrew, Elizabeth Hartman as Mrs. Brisby, Dom De
Louise as Jeremy the crow (comic relief anyone?  This klutz - er, guy
is something else.)  Peter Strauss is the voice of Justin, the Errol
Flynn (complete with sword fight) of this film, and Derek Jacobi does
Nicodemus.  John Carradine is the omni- potent Great Owl who gives
classic advice to Mrs. Brisby.

                GO  TO  THE  RATS  !

P.S.  She's the only one who has ever been to see the owl and lived to
tell about it.

The animation is masterful through out most of the film.  In some
places, I felt deprived, but only because I was once again used to
seeing good animation.  When a scene was done with a little less
effort, it showed.  Let me point out, however, that even these "less
effort" scenes totally overshadow everything else I've seen recently.

I recommend the film on it's own merits.  I expect it will do well,
though not as well as E.T.  It will have to do well if we want to see
more like it.

As Bluth's first feature, I think he did very well.  I will expect
more and better in the future.  "The Secret of NIMH" will prove that
it can be done.

------------------------------

Date: 7 July 1982 19:55 mst
From: Senft.Multics at PCO-MULTICS
Reply-to: Senft.Multics%PCO-Multics at MIT-MULTICS
Subject: The Secret of NIMH

Last year a discussion was going on about children's SF.  A great many
books were mentioned, but as I recall no movies.  I had the
opportunity to see a sneak of a children's SF&F film last week.  It is
an animated film in the style of the Disney studios of 20 years ago.
The animation is reminisent of that seen in Snow White, or Fantastia.
The reason the I am comparing this to Disney, is that the animators
left the Disney Studios over "artistic differences" several years ago.
They formed a production company and started doing their own films.
The company is Don Bluth Assoc.  and the film was "The Secret of
NIMH".  Th other key thing about the this movie is that it is not so
sugar coated and "gutless" as the recent Disney movies have been.

The story bears some mentioning, it is based on a childrens book "The 
Rats of the NIMH", a Newberry Award winner in the early sixties.  The 
Newberry award is given to the best childrens book each year.  The
film faithfully follows the book up to the ending where some "extra"
material was added.  The story is cute, science fiction, magic,
wholesome, and just plain good.  My son is an 8th-grader, and would
rather eat a bug then go to a "G" movie.  I dragged him to the sneak
(I am still bigger than he is, at least for another year), and he
enjoyed and wants to see it again.  The story has "guts", it doesn't
pull punches about death and destruction.  There is real terror when
the heroine's house is about to be destroyed.  There are scenes that
have the feel of terror that I got when I saw Snow White's wicked
step-mother give her the apple.

Now that I think about it I don't know if Snow White or some of the 
other early Disney features would have gotten a "G" rating.

------------------------------

End of SF-LOVERS Digest
***********************


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