Hey guess what?
No.
No.
Geez, no!
Over on the Facebooks, Oliver Simonsen shared a post that was a long time a'comin'.
Like years.
And years.
Annnnd years...
He says:
All rights belong to Dave Sim - and all the money goes to Dave and he can give the "film team" whatever he wants if any. The movie was done on no budget where I reached out to volunteers throughout the world and web:). Not sure if the end result warranted all the hard work, but there you go lol. I'm sending Dave Sim a DVD today. He hasn't seen a version in forever so he might very likely hate it. Probably:). Certainly don't blame him, but our modest effort was meant well:). I actually had no idea it was on Plex as i didn't get an email notification. We went through FilmHub which functions sort of like a Diamond catalog and lets you keep all the rights. The various "streaming channels" serve as comic shops in this comparison. I figured the movie would just sit there in the "catalog" and ignored for like forever. That's the scenario the various videos about submitting to FilmHub prepare you for, but it happened overnight. Looks like it might be On Demand on Vimeo soon too. And we'll see if any other streaming services.
And he shared a poster:
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| Click for Hugeness... |
Now you can THRILL to the FINAL Voice Performance of Jeff Seiler as Elrod the Albino! (Okay, okay. It's his only voice performance...)
And when you click to watch, remember that all those ads go to pay Dave. (So watch the trailer to that horrible new Will Smith movie nobody needs to see...)
MOMENT!
Next Time: Hobbs drops the link to that stop motion Cerebus in Hell? flick he and Birdsong made during quarantine last year...
8 comments:
I actually MADE a stop motion animation THIS year.
CONGRATULATIONS OLIVER & TEAM!
Whatever the response making a film is a big accomplishment let alone a computer animated one; many people talk the talk but you've walked the walk.
I'm sorry Jeff Seiler isn't around for this but I'd like to think he's in a better place, perhaps he's even seen your movie before you finished it since who knows how time functions on the other side.
I wish you success with this and any other creative projects you do.
cheers,
A Fake Name
1 of 2
Oliver & team,
My apologies I wanted to post this when it was all still fresh and I didn't take notes, so I may have a more detailed critique in the future. Or not.
The Good: I liked the texture on Cerebus as well as some of his facial expressions, ear movement etc. The music during the shadow-monster attack was good. Same with most of the skeleton fight. There's a scene inside a room with just a lot of well done detail with the two guys who hired Cerebus.
The lighting in some scenes was evocative. I particularly enjoyed when they got out of the city, the grass, flowers, natural textures were pleasing to the eye. The tiny bird in the monster fight with Cerebus at the end nearly looked like Pixar quality with impressive clouds and sunlight. And funny how it takes a dump on him.
Elrod stole the movie.
He was a much needed burst of energy. While not how I pictured it, I think Jeff did a good job. The lighting and imagery of the Blossom sequence worked for me. Especially good was the transition to the hallucination itself. Were the little flower monsters an homage to Bob the Angry Flower? Or were they in the comic? It's been a long time since I cracked open Cerebus Vol. 1 so I'm not sure how much was verbatim dialog and how much you tweaked but a lot of the humor worked. Particularly with Elrod!
A Fake Name
2 of (whoops) 3
The Bad: There was just too much jammed into this movie. Early on it nearly felt like the wizard and the dragon were the main characters. Then possibly Mick and Keith. The narration of his destiny being shattered, the alleyway, the text on the screen didn't work for me. Julius came off too subdued, his voice didn't "pop". Elrod stole the movie which is bad when Cerebus is the main character. Even worse there's really no attachment to him as a character in this. Why should anyone care about his destiny? The fight scene wasn't engaging. While I liked some of the hair in the movie it just didn't work with Red Sophia for me.
The animation is too stiff and herky-jerky. Most of the movie seems like cut scenes from a video game. Mick and Keith look like characters from Genesis's Land of Confusion music video from the 80s. Most characters have too much of the Uncanny Valley. The editing isn't smooth enough to blend the work of many different animators into one seamless whole. Some of the angles chosen obscure the action.
You needed several millions of dollars to do this properly. As if you didn't know that..!
I know, volunteers. From that perspective it's damn impressive. Unfortunately the lack of funds really hurt this production.
A Fake Name
3 of 3
You needed several millions of dollars to do this properly. As if you didn't know that..!
I know, volunteers. From that perspective it's damn impressive. Unfortunately the lack of funds really hurt this production.
Again, I give you and your team credit for completing this, no minor feat but overall I didn't like it.
I think you chose a nearly impossible task and then limited yourself by going the route of a feature length computer animated movie. I think a twenty minute short would've been the way to go with your nonexistent budget and volunteer team.
Perhaps it could work as a proof of concept demo. Apologies again if that's what this is meant to be, I've not followed the history of your project.
To end on something positive besides how impressive it is to make a movie, let alone one tackling a complicated comic with a team of volunteers, the hand-drawn or computer faking hand-drawn sequence during the hallucination was excellent.
Excellent.
That animation was a pleasure to watch. Good job to whomever did that. It's a shame a hand drawn film was even (presumably) more beyond your means than this one.
Finally, I don't think I'm the audience for this movie or maybe for any Cerebus adaptation. I love the comic, low points and all too much to want to see it adapted. There's a pleasure from the volumes that no film can match, not even one bankrolled by Disney and made by Pixar (they're the same?).
Re-reading the early volumes there's the comedy to enjoy and this vast lived in world to experience brought to life by Gerhard's fantastic art, while the later volumes get deeper into the human experience before reaching the unexpected turn into Monotheism and the Bible before ending on the lonely coda.
All while two masters keep pushing the boundaries of the form while keeping the story easy to follow.
Capturing the spirit of any book and getting it on film is challenging enough with a regular sized novel, a 6,000 page work makes it seem impossible. Maybe someday someone will do it but I think I'll always have the books as something that can't be surpassed let alone in a whole other medium.
But then, if I didn't feel that way I wouldn't be posting this on AMOC.
Enough about my taste. I'm sorry if my review such as it is, seems brutal. Not that I don't think you can take harsh and honest criticism, but it feels sorta like a jerk thing to do. At the same time I think not viewing it as I would any movie or giving it some special leeway would be doing you and your team a disservice.
Well, enough of this. I'm curious what others make of it. I'm sure after I click the Comment tab I'll have thought of other points I should've made.
I still think you making it was better than just having it remain some vague wistful fantasy in your mind. It takes a lot of energy and discipline to do this and obviously you (and your team) have that.
Again I wish you well in your own personal career and projects.
Best,
A Fake Name
Rich L (Horseshoe) here:
I would like to purchase a physical copy of the movie.
Thank you.
Same wish for a a physical copy here, or at least a downloadable (and fileable) copy: I rarely use Vimeo or any such service, and it seems you need an account to even watch a video there.
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