Tout le monde peut cuisiner!

Saw 'Ratatouille' last night in French! The voices are great & help make this 'postcard' version of Paris more authentic-even the on-screen graphics are in French;the hand-written letters, Gusteau's book etc. I assume these scenes were re-rendered for the 'version Francais'?

I still want to see the 'version original' to hear Peter O Toole as the critic.

The camera-work & the animation in the film were the stand-outs for me. As Andrew Stanton said in his Comic-Con speech-Pixar has animators who've been there for 15 years & just get better with each film. I thought this kind of long term nurturing of talent died with the Nine Old Men-they had 40 years to perfect their craft-but it seems Pixar have a similar commitment, let's hope they can keep improving for another 25 years!

I know Linguini's design was based on Lou Romano's appearance somewhat but don't you think Sempé's 'noses' could have been an inspiration too? Linguini could be the adult version of petit Nicolas.



Here 'Lifted' is called simply 'Extra Terrestre' & played well with the audience I was part of. It got big laughs from the younger kids & older adults. When the WALL-E trailer played & the little robot says his name it got a big response from the crowd with the kids copying the voice! Bodes well for next summer. . .

My trip to Cannes & wot i did lurn

This weekend I have been on a nice day by the seasisde in Cannes. I saw an art extibishun about a French skoolboy called Nicolas. This is wot i lurnt-

Monsiur Sempé's first name is Jean-Jacques and he draws VERY small. He called the boy Nicolas after he saw a wine shop with this name.

Monsiur Goscinny's first name is René and he wrote about the most famous peeple in France. He wrote about Nicolas as I have said already and a French viking called Asterix and even a French cowboy called Lucky Luke. He knew them all but is dead now.

It was a very nice museeum and very intresting. I was taking lots of piktures too.

A banner year. . .

This must be one of the most interesting years for animated feature releases in the history of the medium. We saw the Simpsons Movie last night- it's thankfully brief, after an hour of non-stop gags it becomes slightly wearisome-like a long episode of the TV show. However it's very funny & the feature format allows the film-makers to break many TV restrictions; nudity, mild swearing & even sex!

Musée d'histoire Naturelle, Nice

The Natural History Museum in Nice must be the smallest in the world-it's ONE room! These goofy looking creatures I've drawn are pretty much the only exhibits they have apart from lots of pickled fish in jars & some groovy shark jaws.

A Good Year

I've been in France for a year! I moved to Paris last June just as the French were starting to gain ground in the World Cup. It was a sweltering hot summer in the city but there was a great feeling in the streets & people would go crazy whenever a match was won. I was only there for 4 months before moving on South. I've put together some of the sketches of people I met or saw & some of the situations that I got myself into over the past year.



Car-burning seems to be a traditional French past-time! During the World Cup I ended up in the eye hospital after getting too close to the smoke of a burning vehicle & a fragment of something lodged itself on my retina! In February I had a bike accident on the Promenade & my shoulder hasn't been the same since. For some reason my doctor sent me to a Gynaecological clinic to get x-rayed!



Here's a photo collage of some sights I came across in Paris.



These pics are from the Cote d'Azur.


France really is a marvellous country & I've only seen a tiny part of it. I hope to stay as long as possible & discover more.

Annecy Sketchbook

Here come the sketches . . .


The Thiou river seen from the Pont-Morand.


The Palais de l'Isle or 'the Old Prison' from two different vantage points.


Sunday is market day on the Pont-Morand.




Alleyway opposite Café des Arts (left) & views on the lake (above).

Annecy Animation Festival 2007

Freestyle doodlin' with pinkie extended.

Phone doodles

Doodlin' while on the phone to the UK tax office. . .

Festival de Cannes 2007

Well, my first Cannes Film Festival is over. On Sunday high winds swept in from the Mediterranean & whisked the circus away. It was a blast. Whomever first had the idea to invite the world film industry to a small(ish) town on the French Riviera for 10 days of non-stop movies & parties under the sun in glorious surroundings deserved the Legion d'Honneur. If only they had had the foresight to arrange better parking!

The highlight of the festival was seeing Martin Scorcese give his Masterclass. Quentin Tarantino was in the audience & as he arrived everybody went wild taking photos as he took his seat, the French LOVE this guy!

Best film of the festival for me was CONTROL, the Ian Curtis/Joy Division bio-pic by Anton Corbijn. It won the Best European Film award in the Director's Fortnight & made a star of Sam Riley who plays Curtis.

Cannes movies

With 200,000 people in Cannes for the festival attending the screenings has proven to be quite a trial. The red carpet premieres are only open to those with invitations & the requisite black tie suit. I opted for the more accessible 'day after' screenings but this entails standing in line for an hour or more in the baking sun with 300 other fatigued film fans. There is a profound respect amongst the French for cinema & it's great to be part of an enthusiastic, vocal audience.


NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN

The best movie by the Coen brothers in years. Nail-biting suspense as Josh Brolin's modern-day cowboy is relentlessly hunted by Javier Bardem's ruthless hitman Anton Chigurh. One of the all time great cinematic bad guys.

WE OWN THE NIGHT

Conventional thriller from James Gray worth seeing for smokin' hot Eva Mendes & Joaquin Phoenix on even better form than in WALK THE LINE.



PARANOID PARK

More teen-angst from Gus Van Sant. Skater kid's slacker lifestyle complicated by parental divorce, virginal girlfriend & accidental murder!


DEATH PROOF

CRAP!! So disappointed in this, the Weinsteins really must stop indulging Quentin. DEATH PROOF is his weakest movie & at times just plain boring. The film was presented in a longer cut to the GRINDHOUSE version to gain some kind of respectability as a stand alone piece (inexplicably making it into the Official Competition) but I have a feeling it probably works better doubled up with Robert Rodriguez's PLANET TERROR?


MR.LONELY

Harmoy Korine's latest has a commune of celebrity lookalikes on a Scottish farm, sky-diving nuns, Samantha Morton as Marilyn Monroe, Diego Luna as Michael Jackson & Werner Herzog in an acting role. Perfect!


MY BLUEBERRY NIGHTS

As the Opening Night film the 'Wongster's' English language debut had a great buzz but proved to be a total snooze-fest! Notable only for Darius Khondji's exquisite photography & solid performances from David Strathairn & especially Natalie Portman's sassy poker ace.



Anton Korbijn's first feature kicked off the Director's Fortnight in style. His biopic of Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis brought the house down & deserves much success. One of the festival's best so far.

ZODIAC

I was enthralled by ZODIAC's intricate puzzle solving & tight narrative construction. Fincher's best film to date & career best performances from all involved, even Charles 'Roger Rabbit' Fleischer!


SICKO

Michael Moore's latest docu-rant lambasts the US healthcare 'industry' & posits the 'free' systems offered by the UK, Canada, France, Cuba as ideal models. The only free healthcare available on US territory is apparently for prisoners at Guantanamo Bay!


ZOO

Dream-like, recreation documentary film ZOO is the warming tale of a man who loved his horse TOO much! A contoversial subject dealt with in style & good taste.