Baron Dave Romm
Shrek Forever After
By Baron Dave Romm
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Shrek Forever After
Shrek Forever After is the fourth of the Shrek movies. The original, based on the book Shrek was a delightful blend of fairy tail spoofs, pop culture and over-the-top characters. The second and third movies carried on the traditions, advancing the story. In an unusual Hollywood box office scenario, the sequel more than doubled the opening week of the original, and wound up grossing twice as much. The third movie opened even stronger, though didn't gross quites as much as the second even though the budget was more than double. The fourth oped poorly, in comparison, and is only doing okay in its third week. It's making money for all of the right reasons.
Well, most of the right reasons, anyway. I saw it in An iMax 3D Experience. The "iMax" part basically meant a large screen in a regular theater (not a true iMax). The theater charged extra for what used to be a common size. While the large screen was nice, it wasn't worth the extra cost. The "3D" part was good, and worth seeing in this format if you have the chance, but isn't critical to the film.
Still, I liked Shrek Forever After a lot.
Quick plot summary, with a few mild spolers
Shrek is beloved in the kingdom of Far Far Away and is enjoying his role as husband and father to three baby ogres. Yet... something's missing. He likes the upside of celebrity but can't deal with the downside. So he makes a deal with Rumplestiltskin to have one day of his old life back... at the cost of Rumpy having one day of his. Naturally, this Faustian deal leads to disaster.
In his one day back to his old life, the villagers are indeed terrified of him and he likes that, but none of his friends recognize him, and he isn't married to Fiona. He doesn't exist in this alternate timeline. This is going to be permanent unless he fixes things by the end of the day.
Much of the plot is predictable, but works anyway. SFA falls somewhere in the realm of Back To The Future II's bleak present and the immediacy of 24 all within the Shrek universe's blending of fairy tales and modern pop culture.
It's both a family movie, and a dark movie; funny and touching at the same time.
What worked
The humor was fast paced, with a lot of visual jokes happening in the background. I probably missed some, even with the big screen. Animals turn one of the Three Blind Mice to the speaker. Battles happen behind Fiona. Signs go by quickly. I might have to rent the DVD just for the pause button. Some of the laughs are quick jokes, but much of the movie has sustained comedic turns.
The camera movement (yes, camera movement in an animated film) was superb. The director, Mike Mitchell get the credit for that. The camera angle swings around moving horses, reminiscent of the opening to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull; physically easier to do in animation, but still involves a lot of planning and fine computer work. The camera pulls back for several humorous reveals. The 3D comes into play when they're battling in many levels, in the trees or in the palace, and the camera angle zooms up and in.
The characters stay true to themselves, yet are profoundly changed for not having Shrek in their life. Donkey gets in his licks, but doesn't have many runs of annoying chatter. Puss 'n Boots is out of shape but still exudes bravura. Fiona doesn't have Shrek in her life, but is strong and feisty; a princess who's a natural leader. Shrek is both a disgusting ogre and very much in love.
The acting is delicious. Not just the voice work, but the animation. All the characters are expressive. A look can elicit laughs or sighs. Mike Myers, as Shrek, carries the bulk of the movie. For an ogre, he's the sympathetic character. Another hard to achieve aspect of the Shrek universe that's underrated. Cameron Diaz brings Fiona alive. Antonio Bandaras, as a fat cat yearning to be a swashbuckler, is great. Eddy Murphy as just another donkey who discovers he might be something more, hits all the right notes. John Cleese and Julie Andrews squeeze emotion from small parts as Fiona's parents. Walt Dohm as Rumplestiltskin is evil, scheming, foppish and demanding. Shrek's kids are... babies. The townsfolk are... folk.
Recommended
The first Shrek movie relied on novelty and plot twists. For the Shrek franchise to proffer four good movies shows a greater resilience than most. Instead of repeating the first movie, the fourth movie branches off a bit, to show us branches of consequence; lessons not learned and lessons learned.
While I have no plans for a Shrek Marathon to directly compare, the fourth one may be the best of the bunch; certainly my favorite since the first one.
On the Shockwave Scale of 9 to 23, with 23 as top, I'd give Shrek Forever After, aka Shrek The Final Chapter, about a 19 or 20. If you liked the first three (or any of the first three) then you will like the fourth one. Acceptable for the age range as the others.
Unless you want to splurge or see it in a large group, the iMax presentation isn't worth it. If you have the option, see it in 3D, but if you can't then don't worry missing anything. You don't have to stay for the credits: nothing extra at end.
Baron Dave Romm is a conceptual artist and a noble of Ladonia who produces Shockwave Radio Theater, writes in a Live Journal demi-blog maintains a Facebook Page, plays with a very weird CD collection and an ever growing list of political links. Dave Romm reviews things at random for obscure web sites. You can read all his music recommendations from Bartcop-E. Podcasts of Shockwave Radio Theater. Permanent archive. A nascent collection of videos are on Baron Dave's YouTube channel. More radio programs, interviews and science fiction humor plays can be accessed on the Shockwave Radio audio page.
Thanks to everyone who has sent me music to play on the air.
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
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Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Health Care Reform (pdf file)
Claire Finch: "Experience: I ran a brothel in a country village" (guardian.co.uk)
'It's not unusual to bump into customers in Sainsbury's.'
My life on crack (guardian.co.uk)
'It's the best sex, the most delicious meal, the most engrossing book' Bill Clegg, a former addict, confesses all.
Eliot Spitzer: Read the Gettysburg Address (slate.com)
Americans have lost their commitment to shared sacrifice. Lincoln's speech can help them recover it.
Ted Rall: STICKS AND STONES ON THE HIGH SEAS
Activists Finally Fight Back--And Win: They call themselves activists. But leftist activists rarely do anything. They march. They chant. They whine.
Bill Press: An Act of Piracy on the High Seas (Tribune Media Services)
Forget what country did it. Consider, first, the facts: Armed commandos attack an unarmed ship in international waters, open fire and kill nine civilians, including one American. What do you call that? An act of piracy. It doesn't matter what country did it. It would have been wrong for Iran to do it. It would have been wrong for North Korea to do it. It was wrong for Israel to do it - and the United States should simply say so.
Julia Keller: "Lee Child: Saved by the book" (chicagotribune.com)
Creator of Jack Reacher turned misfortune into gold.
Randy Newman, who 'sings like a frog on heroin,' gets his Hollywood Walk of Fame star (latimes.com)
Randy Newman, the singer-composer extraordinaire known for a few little ditties including "I Love L.A." and, oh, 19 Oscar-nominated original songs, got his name on star No. 2,411 on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Wednesday. (Bonus: Name spelled correctly!)
Lucy Mangan: Licensed to get a bit angry (guardian.co.uk)
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Conservative leaders say Comedy Central allows mockery of Christians because they don't threaten violence (latimes.com)
Conservative and Christian leaders on Thursday accused Comedy Central of having a double standard in its depiction of religious satire as they launched an effort to dissuade advertisers from sponsoring a potential new animated series about Jesus.
Wendy Ide: The special effect of Ray Harryhausen (timesonline.co.uk)
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Roger Ebert: Review of "RIVER'S EDGE": Dennis Hopper's other greatest performance (R; An Overlooked DVD)
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New Question
The 'Shut up and Pay up' Edition
Hillary Clinton struck a strong populist chord while wading into territory secretary of states rarely go last Thursday: Domestic policy... "The rich are not paying their fair share in any nation that is facing the kind of employment issues [like the U.S.] - whether it's individual, corporate or whatever the taxation forms are," ...
I think we can all agree that corporations are getting off easy, tax-wise, but what about 'rich' individuals? Two questions:
1.) What is your definition of 'rich' for an individual/family?
and
2.) What do you think their 'fair share' in taxes should be?
Send your response to
wrote:
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
State of Michigan
Vanity Plate Nixed
Hi Marty,
Sally and I have been conspiring. We have decided that the State of Michigan (where I reside) is completely justified in turning down the vanity license plate bearing the name PINUS. Although it seems perfectly innocent there is great concern, especially among Teabaggers who have trouble spelling, that the Latin word pinus (meaning pine) may be confused with the male sex organ.
We submit the following illustrations and ask people to make up their own minds about how smutty pinus might be.
This is Pinus Ponderosa. Ooo, it's big. And straight.
I rest my case.
Peace --Joe with Sally's help.
Thanks, Joe & Sally!
Links from RJ
Two-Fer
Hi there
Two possible links for you today - thanks for taking the time to look
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Reader Comment
Re: 3 Idiots
I'm so happy to hear the news about all the awards that 3 Idiots got. Thanks!
I saw the film and loved it. I've been trying to get the DVD, but Amazon is having trouble filling my order. Maybe now, with all the awards, they'll get it and fill my order!
Linda >^..^<
Thanks, Linda!
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UN Goodwill Ambassador
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Actor Don Cheadle has become a spokesman for the United Nations environment program.
He was appointed Saturday in Rwanda's capital as a U.N. Environment Program Goodwill Ambassador and vowed to fight climate change and promote environment conservation.
UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner announced the appointment, saying that Cheadle would help raise green awareness among millions of people around the globe.
Cheadle also named a baby gorilla Zoya, a name chosen by internet users as part of a UNEP awareness program.
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Laments Fouling Of Paradise
Jimmy Buffett
Timing is not on Jimmy Buffett's side.
The "Margaritaville" singer is synonymous with the white-sand beaches along the Gulf Coast that are now being fouled by leaked oil. He's planning to open a hotel in Pensacola Beach, Fla., in two weeks.
He took a walk Saturday along the beach with Fla. Gov. Charlie Crist and noted that his favorite memories of the area are of sunsets in the fall.
He says he wants people in the area to know that he's there for them. He says if he's good for anything, it's "helping people forget their troubles for a couple of hours."
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Spike TV Surprise Appearance
Sandra Bullock
Spike TV says Sandra Bullock has made a surprise appearance at its "Guys Choice" event in Culver City.
Spike says Bullock received a standing ovation from the audience Saturday night at Sony Pictures Studios when she accepted the "Troops Choice" Award for Entertainer of The Year, from presenter Robert Downey, Jr. The award was voted on by members of the military.
The 45-year-old actress has kept a low profile since her public split from husband Jesse James after she won the Best Actress Oscar for her role in "The Blind Side" earlier this year.
Spike's "Guys Choice" will air on June 20.
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Boner's Not Amused
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An American politician is demanding Sir Paul McCartney publicly apologise for a joke he made at former President George W. Bush's expense during an appearance at the White House on Wednesday.
Republican John Boehner was not amused when the former Beatle poked fun at the ex-leader's intellect as he became the first non-American to collect the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song from Bush's successor, President Barack Obama.
McCartney said, "After the last eight years, it's great to have a president who knows where the library is."
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Laak, 37, said after breaking that unofficial record that he planned to continue playing at least until he hit 90 hours, which would occur at about 6:00 am local time on Sunday.
The pro hopes to fulfill a lifelong dream to make it into the Guinness Book of World Records. Authorities at Guinness won't certify whether the attempt is valid for months, after his staff sends them a recording and other documentation of the try.
Larry Olmsted currently holds the official record of 72 hours, 2 minutes, set at the Foxwood casino in Connecticut in 2004, but in poker circles the unofficial record -- not sanctioned by Guinness but still part of lore -- is Paul Zimbler's 78 hour, 45 minute stint last September in London.
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Saudi Novelists
In a country where cinema and theatre are banned and most forms of public expression are censored, Saudi novelists are enjoying new popularity by breaking taboos with daring novels.
Although most of the works remain banned from bookshops in this ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom, Saudi book lovers buy them from other Arab countries where they are freely sold.
One of these novels, Abdo Khal's "She Throws Sparks" went all the way to grab the Arab world's equivalent of the Booker Prize for this year.
The work, which won the International Prize for Arab Fiction in March, exposes the gap between abundant wealth and poverty in a Saudi city in what the judges' citation called a "painfully satirical novel".
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Many Have Oil Links
Gulf Federal Judges
More than half of the federal judges in districts where the bulk of Gulf oil spill-related lawsuits are pending have financial connections to the oil and gas industry, complicating the task of finding judges without conflicts to hear the cases, an Associated Press analysis of judicial financial disclosure reports shows.
Thirty-seven of the 64 active or senior judges in key Gulf Coast districts in Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida have links to oil, gas and related energy industries, including some who own stocks or bonds in BP PLC, Halliburton or Transocean - and others who regularly list receiving royalties from oil and gas production wells, according to the reports judges must file each year. The AP reviewed 2008 disclosure forms, the most recent available.
Those three companies are named as defendants in virtually all of the 150-plus lawsuits seeking damages, mainly for economic losses in the fishing, seafood, tourism and related industries, that have been filed over the growing oil spill since the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded April 20, killing 11 workers. Attorneys for the companies and those suing them are pushing for consolidation of the cases in one court, with BP recommending Texas and others advocating for Louisiana and other states.
A Washington-based federal judicial panel is scheduled to meet next month to decide whether to consolidate the cases and, if so, which judge should be assigned the monumental task. The job would include such key pretrial decisions as certifying a large class of plaintiffs to seek damages, a potential multibillion-dollar settlement, whether to dismiss the cases and what documents BP and the other companies might be forced to produce in court.
Gulf Federal Judges
Video Captures Deadly Fall
Stephen Clancy Hill
Surrounded by a SWAT team on a rocky cliff, a porn actor suspected of killing a colleague last week moved to the edge of the outcropping and fell some 40 feet to his death, ending a dramatic, daylong standoff with police outside Los Angeles.
Video of the apparent suicide captured by news cameras Saturday shows Stephen Clancy Hill in Chatsworth, talking to police negotiators, with a crowd of media watching. Hill tumbled down the hillside after scooting to the ledge from a seated position.
Police said Hill had repeatedly threatened suicide in the hours leading up to the fall, which came a day after murder and attempted murder charges had been filed against 34-year-old porn actor.
Authorities said Hill, whose professional name is Steve Driver, attacked a colleague with a sword that was used as a film prop. The rampage occurred during a social gathering at Ultima's studios about a week after being told he was being fired and that he would have to move out of the production facility, where he had been living, authorities said.
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Accidents Prompt Upgrade
Sydney Opera House
Traffic accidents outside the Sydney Opera House, many involving tourists, have prompted a 125 million US dollar spend on building works for the sail-shaped building, officials said Sunday.
The monument will receive the biggest investment in its 37-year history after it was revealed traffic incidents occurred almost daily on the harbour foreshore outside the building, some involving sightseers being hit by trucks.
"Anyone who spends any time at the Opera House and here on the forecourt is aware of the multiple incidents that happen here on a daily basis," the landmark's chief executive Richard Evans told reporters.
The New South Wales state government announced the 152 million dollar (125 million US) spending plan, which will also fund a new lift to move heavy sets and scenery, following reports the Opera House was facing a financial crisis.
Sydney Opera House
Getaway Cab Sold
Lee Harvey Oswald
The Checker cab Lee Harvey Oswald took after President John F. Kennedy's assassination has been sold at auction to an Illinois museum.
Canadian auction house RM Auctions said in a statement Sunday that the 1962 Checker Marathon was among the holdings sold Saturday from the defunct Pate Museum of Transportation near Fort Worth, Texas. The former Dallas cab sold for $35,750 for display at the Historic Auto Attractions museum in Rockford, Ill.
Checker Motors Corp. donated the cab to the Pate museum in 1979.
Oswald hailed the cab moments after Kennedy was fatally shot on Nov. 22, 1963, when the bus Oswald initially tried to take got stuck in traffic. Oswald was arrested as a suspect in Kennedy's death and slain two days later by nightclub owner Jack Ruby.
Lee Harvey Oswald
Inmate Packed Contraband
Wenatchee, WA
Police in Wenatchee are surprised at the amount of contraband an inmate was able to smuggle into the jail rectally. The Wenatchee World said the man internally carried a cigarette lighter, rolling papers, a baggie of tobacco the size of a golf ball, a smaller baggie of marijuana, a 1-inch smoking pipe, a bottle of tattoo ink and eight tattoo needles.
Sgt. John Kruse said the volume of contraband left officers wondering.
Chelan County Regional Justice Center administrator Phil Stanley said the man was booked into jail Wednesday night to serve a disorderly conduct sentence.
Nothing was found in a strip search. A jailer later found a plastic bag and duct tape in the toilet. After questioning the inmate surrendered the contraband.
Wenatchee, WA
Wedding News
Pigboy
Rush Limbaugh got married on Saturday night to Kathryn Rogers in Palm Beach, Fla., complete with 400 guests, no media, a high-flying shout-out from the folks at Gawker and music by Elton John.
Among the folks trading the worlds of politics and political commentary for the Ponce de Leon ballroom at the Breakers hotel: Karl Rove, Sean Hannity, Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson, James Carville and Mary Matalin.
Elton has been slammed by some over saying yes to Rush's offer -- the married gay man who reportedly kept the hotel staff hopping is said to have hauled in a million bucks for his night's work at Limbaugh's fourth such celebration of nuptials.
Limbaugh and Rogers, who met in 2004 at a charity golf tournament, had been dating for about three years. What, nobody's yelling about a guy who's 59 marrying a woman who's 33? At least John married someone -- David Furnish -- only 15 years his junior.
Pigboy
Weekend Box Office
'Shrek Forever After'
DreamWorks Animation's "Shrek Forever After" remained the No. 1 movie for a third-straight weekend with $25.3 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. It raised its three-week domestic total to $183 million.
The overall box office tumbled, coming in at $125 million, down 24 percent compared to the same weekend last year, when "The Hangover" opened with $45 million, according to box-office tracker Hollywood.com.
For the year, Hollywood revenues are at $4.47 billion, up 3.7 percent over the record pace last year. But factoring in higher ticket prices, attendance now has slipped 2.7 percent behind last year's, according to Hollywood.com.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "Shrek Forever After," $25.3 million.
2. "Get Him to the Greek," $17.4 million.
3. "Killers," $16.1 million.
4. "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time," $13.9 million.
5. "Sex and the City 2," $12.7 million.
6. "Marmaduke," $11.3 million.
7. "Iron Man 2," $7.8 million.
8. "Splice," $7.5 million.
9. "Robin Hood," $5.1 million.
10. "Letters to Juliet," $3 million.
'Shrek Forever After'
In Memory
Brian Duffy
Brian Duffy, the British photographer whose pictures captured the mood of the 'Swinging Sixties', has died aged 76, a statement on his website has confirmed.
Duffy, David Bailey and Terence Donovan were dubbed "The Black Trinity", a trio of photographers who helped shape the image of London in the 1960s with their striking portraits of actors, models and musicians.
Duffy studied dress design at St Martins School of Art but began working as a photographer with British Vogue in 1957, the start of a hugely influential career which culminated in him famously trying to destroy all his work in 1979.
Duffy is survived by his wife June and four children.
Brian Duffy
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