It’s hard to tell now what the rat is holding as one of the original boards is missing.  Some (especially journalists who have never seen it in person who just repeat the first newspaper article they find in Google without checking facts) say it’s a machine gun. I suppose that fits their world view nicely. I can see how they think that but it’s not.  Looking at a picture of it before it aged the object the rat is holding is clearly a marker pen. Sadly the red tip has been worn away and the middle board has been replaced.

I’ve just posted my latest revised theatrical lighting rig tutorial for Vue… Two Spots Slightly to the Side.

I went to see The Expendables last night.  I had worried that the Arnie, Bruce Willis and Stalone scene was going to turn out to be flan;  that the whole of it might have been used for the trailers.  Fortunately it hadn’t been so it was a fan pleasing moment.  It wasn’t Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in Heat but it was three of the biggest box office stars of the 80s on screen together.

However it set up a pattern for the rest of the film.  Stalone has a scene with Statham.    Stalone has a scene with Rourke.  Stalone has a scene with Li.  It would have been nice to see X with Y or Y with Z.   Despite all the screen time he had Stalone’s character felt like the least well developed.  His motivation for going back badly drawn pretty much coming down to a facial tick when he first sees Sandra.

Now I’m not saying that any ‘80s action film needed more than that but this film wasn’t a true ‘80s action flick.  It felt like someone was eating quiche while writing it.  It kept trying to be something a bit more modern.   The dialogue in all those scenes between Stalone and an other actor was subpar Tarantino.  The inclusion of, the sadly underused, Charisma Carpenter just reminded me how Joss Whedon turned the heroine needing the male action star coming to her rescue cliché on its head.

The action sequences at least were very much in the ‘80s action style.  There wasn’t a lot of obvious CG or a reliance on slow mo / fast mo to try and make the action more exciting.  There were car chases, fights, explosions, big guns and all the other elements you’d expect.  Sadly the final big fight had one element I’d hoped would be avoided – confusion.  As it progressed it just wasn’t clear who was doing what or who was fighting who.  At one point I thought Stalone was in a fight and then realised it was Statham.  More shots of them working as a well practiced unit like they did in the opening boat sequence could have raised the saved the finale.  It wasn’t Street Fighter confused but it lost narrative in favour of things going bang.

It also felt at times like it was trying to set up a franchise rather than do what it should have.  Jet Li’s whole family thing needed to be developed and explained rather than be left hanging.  Dolph Lundgren’s miraculous return from a “fatal” wound now in therapy / treatment for the ride into the sunset.  Is Stalone hoping he’s set up a new action franchise that he can pick and choose from a cast of action stars for?

So overall I’d come away saying The Expendables was another so-so action film.  It’s on a par with  The A-Team, The Losers or Salt each of which had flaws but, for me, Inception is still leading the pack with Solomon Kane getting an honourable mention for trying to be different.  There is at least one challenger left for the 2010 action crown – the trailers for R.E.D. look good.  Can Bruce and friends teach the youngsters a lesson?

The last bit of work tonight was to draw a map to go with the article.  I modelled it as a terrain in Vue and rendered it from a high angle.  I took the render into Expression and used it as the basis for the map…

16 Cook Street, Liverpool isn’t the most astonishing building ever but the Grade II* Listed Building is one of only two by the architect Peter Ellis.  I originally went out to photograph his other building, Oriel Chambers, but it was covered in scaffolding when I walked to it so I’ve picked out his Cook Street building instead.

Why would I want a photograph of a stone and glass fronted building that I see everyday and not even realised what it was myself?

Oriel Chambers, built in 1864, was the world’s first metal framed, glass curtain walled building.  Every building with a metal structure supporting it’s weight and curtain walls is a descendant of this radical piece of architecture.  16 Cook Street is a development on the style of the Oriel Chambers and is a precursor to the modernist style of architecture.

The Cook Street building was built in 1866.  There is speculation that the  John Root, who was sent abroad to avoid the American Civil War and was in Liverpool at the time, was influenced by the building when developing early skyscrapers in Chicago.

Just finished rendering fresh images for a revised version of my fourth theatrical lighting rig tutorial.

My spoiler filled longer thoughts on Salt follow this picture…

Salt isn’t a bad action film and I don’t think it suffered from the much hyped switch from Cruise to Jolie.  Given I like a lot of Cruise’s work and not a lot of Jolie’s (Wanted being an example of a film that disappointed) was a pleasant surprise.

Liev Schreiber and Chiwetel Ejiofor were both good in their supporting roles but this was no Borne style thriller where we see the action from both the side of the hunter and the hunted.  I can’t think of any other characters who really even stick in my mind: Vassily Orlov and Mike Krause were included just enough to serve their respective function as spymaster and husband/provider of spider venom.  The focus was heavily on Salt throughout.

It doesn’t seem entirely sure if it wants to be Bond, Borne or a generic action film.  It didn’t have its own definitive style but few films achieve that – the Borne trilogy probably being the most recent action films to do that.  It had the directing style of Phillip Noyce’s earlier work on Tom Clancy inspired films with a bit of the Borne style mixed in.  Thankfully they made the film without resorting to gratuitous slowmo / fastmo camera action that have been so in vogue in recent years.

There were some good action sequences.  The chase on the roads where Salt jumps from vehicle roof to vehicle roof sticks in my mind.  The assassination attempt, the boat sequence and her escape from the police convoy less so.  The effects didn’t gratuitously distract – Salt jumping down the elevator shaft was a bit of an obvious effects shot but it wasn’t as distracting as the Face running along a crane arm as it crashes to the docks in the A-Team last week.

The plot reminded me of a description from a book written in the ‘80s of how Spetsnaz and KGB forces would open a war with the West by mounting attacks on America.  This version was lower key and someone had had to do some work to cope with the change from the cold war to a friendlier Russia.  There wasn’t as much of the which characters are traitors as I’d expected from the trailers and Salts disguise wasn’t the full face latex mask much beloved of Mission Impossible since the 60’s.

I found myself wondering at one point how many alternate reality’s there are where the only changes are the holders of positions like the President of the United States or other officials.  This alternate reality had new US President, Vice President and Prime Minister of Russia.  Given the number of officials poisoned, blow up or shot it almost needed a special disclaimer at the end…

No animals or government officials were harmed in the making of this motion picture

I also had to wonder – what if the Secret Service took him to the helicopter and Airforce 1 rather than the static defence of a bunker?  There didn’t seem to be much of a plan B for that happening…

Overall Salt is a good action film but slightly generic and not quite as good as I’d hoped for but certainly better than a lot I’ve seen.

Earlier this week a thread on the Fraternity of Shadows website started about city fires on the Domain of Dread. It reminded me of the 7th Sea article and I’ve begun converting it, where appropriate, to Ravenloft. The Ravenloft version isn’t all ready yet but I thought I’d post the 7th Sea original tonight with the first part of the Ravenloft adaptation with d20 crunch following as I find time.

Liverpool Ornamental Chinese Gate

The ornamental gate to Chinatown, Liverpool on Nelson Street. Unfortunately the dramatic sky doesn’t really show up as well as I’d hoped in the photograph but it does frame the top of the gate nicely. The arch is the largest of its kind outside of China.

I’ve posted the third revised lighting tutorial tonight ~ Single Spot Slightly Behind.