herbiehancock

No 43 – The Big Lebowski Directors – Joel (and Ethan) Coen When I was a lad, Nu-Metal was all the rage; and though it tickles me to think of it now (as my musical tastes fall much more in to the twee and lo-fi bracket), at the time I would take great pleasure listening to the big, loud, discordant, screamy people. Besides the bands one might have listened to on Kerrang ! there were also the local bands of Oxfordshire . Namely, Centre Negative (too weird, even for me) and Coma Kai (who I quite liked). ‘But how does this fit into a whimsical sweary comedy about identity?’ I hear you ask… Well, when I bought the Coma Kai EP , the first track opened (after a prolonged Peter and the Wolf remix) with Walter’s insane shouting. “Do you see what happens Larry? Do you SEE what happens Larry? Do. You. SEE what happens when you FUCK a STRANGER in the ASS?” So those tenuous elements of my fifteen year-old life lead to my first aural dabble with The Big Lebowski . It ...

No 343 - Monsters Inc Director - Pete Docter (Co Director David Silverman ) I am a very vocal fan of Pixar and yet I feel I had criminally neglected this film. The last time I saw it was at the cinema. 9 years ago (cripes). So I sat down to watch it and I loved it. Probably loved it more now then I did then. - Now I admire not only the cracking story (which I'll discuss below) but also the amazing visuals. What I like about Pixar is that they constantly challenge themselves. Whether it is with the story telling side (can they make a silent movie about a lovable robot) or on the animation side of things. In the same way that Finding Nemo was a challenge to animate water, or A Bug's Life was about organic shapes - here the challenge was Fur. And in the example of Sulley they manage it beautifully. I'll chat about the characters later. Lets begin with the story. It continues the Pixar tradition of being all about story telling and cracking central concepts. This time it...