People in the Movie Industry I'm a Fan of #2

Vincent Price (1911-1993) - Film, stage, television and voice actor

Live-action roles: House of Wax (1953 version, Professor Henry Jarrod), The Fly (1958 version, François Delambre), The Last Man on Earth (Dr. Robert Morgan), The Abominable Dr. Phibes (Dr. Anton Phibes), Edward Scissorhands (The Inventor)
Voice roles: Michael Jackson's Thriller (The Narrator), Tim Burton's Vincent (The Narrator), The Great Mouse Detective (Professor Ratigan), The Thief and the Cobbler (Zig-Zag)

Vincent Price! What can I say, other than that he was one of the most charismatic men to ever appear in a motion picture? He was a bridging gap between the horror actors of the Universal Era and the Hammer Age, and remained in the business for almost fifty years. He had a unique voice, and the way he pronounced words was just delicious (he spends most of The Great Mouse Detective baby-talking, but it never gets annoying).

Price never did have a really iconic role that even the most ignorant layman should know, which is probably why he's best known as Vincent Price, undefined by a single fictional character. He did, however, tend to get cast in certain kinds of roles, which are best summed up by Vincent, Tim Burton's excellent stop-motion tribute, narrated by the man himself. Price considered the short film "the most gratifying thing that ever happened".

In his free time, Price was a collector of art; in 1951 he donated ninety paintings from his own collection to a community college for teaching purposes, making them the first public school in the US to own a teaching art collection. He never let fame get into his head either: he considered appearing in The Muppet Show a tremondous honour.

Random facts: He and Christopher Lee (who were friends) were both born on the 27th of May. Price played both Abraham Lincoln and Oscar Wilde on stage. His final line of dialogue in a film was "this is the end".

Instead of presenting a quote of choice, I'll embed the song "Goodbye, So Soon" from The Great Mouse Detective.

Clancy Brown - Voice and film actor
Live-action roles: Highlander (The Kurgan), The Shawshank Redemption (Guard Captain Hadley), Starship Troopers (Drill Sergeant Zim)
Voice roles: Gargoyles (Hakon, Wolf), The Spectacular Spider-Man (Rhino, Captain Stacy), Jackie Chan Adventures (Captain Black, Ratso), Sponge Bob Square Pants (Mr. Krabs), Crash Bandicoot (most of the games as Dr. Neo Cortex and Uka Uka), Lex Luthor in basically every DC cartoon to feature the character

"That dude with the smooth voice". Ironic, since his rise to fame was as The Kurgan, a role in which he growled all his dialogue. As far as fame goes, Brown may pale before Price, but unlike poor Vincent, Brown did appear in Shawshank, and thus has the license to add "I was in one of the best movies ever made" to his tombstone.

He's best known among geek circles for being the longest-standing single actor to ever play Superman's archnemesis Lex Luthor. He started in the role in Superman: The Animated Series in 1996, and he's reprised it as recently as 2009 in Superman/Batman: Public Enemies. In Batman: The Brave and the Bold, he actually stepped down on playing Luthor, only to play an alien counterpart called Rohtul (get it?). His other voice work tends to focus on the villain side, too, which is really a shame because his silky voice can work on a supporting good guy, and he makes a pretty good straight man for comedy scenes as witnessed in that Jackie Chan cartoon.

Also, is it just me or does he kind of look like Ron Perlman?

Quote of choice: "President? Do you know how much power I'd have to give to be president?"

Wright (sceptical), Frost (confused) and Pegg (aggressive)

The Cornetto Trio (Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost)
Movies: Shaun of the Dead (Wright directed, Wright and Pegg wrote, Pegg and Frost starred), Hot Fuzz (same credits as Shaun), Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (Wright directed, co-produced and co-wrote), Paul (Pegg and Frost starred and wrote), The Adventures of Tintin (Wright co-wrote, Pegg and Frost appeared as Dupont and Dupond)

It's quite simple: these three dudes make great movies. Now, honestly I think Shaun of the Dead is a tad overrated (a word I dislike using): it doesn't really hold up for more than one view and some of the acting is a bit shoddy. It's got a great script, though, and it lay the foundations for what I hope to be one of the best group of careers Hollywood will see during our lives.

Hot Fuzz is one of the most tightly-written films ever: no word is ever spoken, or an object shown on screen, which isn't later brought up for a gag or a plot point. It and Scott Pilgrim also cemented Edgar Wright's trademark directing method: absolutely everything is puntuated with rapid fire editing to create mock drama. Dramatic paperwork. Dramatic ice cream shopping. Dramatic shoe lace tying. I can't wait to see Wright return to the director's chair to see whether he can keep the gag fresh in the future too.

In general, reminding myself of Wright, Pegg and Frost is a good way for me to get excited. For all the great movie stars and makers of the past, it's wonderful to know that talented people exist today, and I'm going to get to see first-hand all the stuff they make here on out. If that isn't fanning, I don't know what is.

Quote of choice: "I dunno... pub?"

The Adventures of Tintin

Hey! Finland got a cameo in this picture.

AT LAST! Us Europeans get a movie almost two months before the North Americans do! I feel so vindicated for having to wait half a year for Princess and the Frog to come out. I guess it figures. After all, The Adventures of Tintin is based on an European comic. In fact, this film redeems Franco-Belgian comics in Hollywood from the wake of the lame live-action Asterix films. Let us never bring those things up again.

Tintin is a reporter of ambiguous nationality who has a tendency to get into an adventure pretty much any time he opens his front door. While browsing a flea market, he buys the miniature of an old wooden ship. This causes him and his helpful dog Milou (I refuse to use translated names for these characters, by the way) to be dragged into danger's way. He eventually teams up with Captain Archibald Haddock in a race to find all the clues to a fabulous treasure before the bad guys do.

I was at first pretty sceptical about this movie. Not because it's CG (though a cartoon movie could have worked better), but because I thought they might try to alter the premise to sell it better to audiences who are used to "comic book movies" like The Dark Knight. However, I should have put my trust on Steven Spielberg; Tintin is perfectly in tune with its adventurous roots, and captures the feeling of a children's comic book almost spot-on. And as for those who are sceptical of the CGI, I think that the film looks pretty good. The characters' skins are a bit too unsmooth and blemished for my liking, but it wasn't really distacting. As far as stylished CGI goes, I prefer Tangled, but this is a not-so-close second.

There are so many big names attached to this picture, and most of their individual little touches can be felt throughout. Tintin is a Spielberg producation throughout, complete with music by John Williams. I might be bold enough to call it Indiana Jones 5. Peter Jackson is the producer, will direct the sequel if one is made, and brought along Andy Serkis (Gollum from The Lord of the Rings trilogy) to play Haddock. Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) co-wrote the script, and his BFFs Simon Pegg and Nick Frost voice bumbling detectives Dupont and Dupond. I can't help but get this funny image of Spielberg inviting people to the pre-production table and yelling: "And bring your friends too!"

The action scenes in Tintin are great, with really imaginative scenarios and a damn good balance of serious and silly to them. They get a little cluttered at times, but never descend to incomprehensibility. I think that near the end, the action focuses too much on Haddock and too little on Tintin, but it's all well and good because Haddock is damn entertaining. He's like that character we've all seen a million times, the one who always screws everything up, but he still manages to be endearing and funny when he messes around. However, one thing that I really didn't expect to amuse me so much as the slapstick. I don't think I've ever seen such well-executed physical humour in a motion picture. This isn't your Disney movie where for every punchline the comedy foil says he also has to get hit in the head once, so that audience members with no sense of humour can also find something to laugh at. Here, the slapstick is an end to itself, and the hurt is set up and handled with excellence.

I'm not going to criticise Tintin for having an overly convoluted plot and contrived action scenes. It's an adventure story: people in these things can't file taxes without having to solve five riddles. fight off eight henchmen and escape three death traps. What I am going to criticise it for is having a weak pacing. This is probably a result of the comic adaptation, but that's not an excuse. There's too little rest between action scenes, and at times the plot is unveiled too quick for my taste. At one hour and fifty minutes, this is already a pretty long animated movie, but I think the script needed some work to make it more balanced and less exhausting.

That's... pretty much it. It's a solid adventure film with good humour, and lots of talented people behind the scenes. I didn't really read Tintin as a kid, but I read Uncle Scrooge comics, and the feeling of adventure in this movie makes me tingle with nostalgia.