From: utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!sf-lovers Newsgroups: fa.sf-lovers Title: SF-LOVERS Digest V6 #10 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 RospachSubject: 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 ***********************