Tag Archive for 'Other Mother'

Queen of Darkness 4: Coraline’s Other Mother

This the fourth Queen of Darkness post. Check here for more information on Queens of Darkness.

OK OK you regular readers must have seen this coming a mile away. If I’m going to name my top nine dark ladies of 2009, isn’t it natural that the lovely Other Mother make the list? I mean, I’ve basically built an Internet Shrine to the lady monster. Not only is she beautiful, but she gets more and more beautiful as the movie progresses. Add to that her collection of children’s souls, and some magical powers, and BAM! you’re talking about a couple handfuls of lady monster. Yes sir.

Other Mother

Other Mother

Other Mother Final Form

Sadly, No Animal Hat - Chicken Mitt, Though.

Sadly, No Animal Hat - Chicken Mitt.

Do you have anyone you would nominate for Queen of Darkness 2009? Leave a note in the comments! Be sure to provide reasons why you think so in the comment.

Published on September 29, 2009 in Queens of Darkness. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Coraline DVD 3D Experience NOT Crappy and Quite Good in Fact

Hi everybody. This is part 2 of my Coraline DVD review. Click here for part 1 of the Coraline DVD review. I finally got my act together to get this review worked out. It meant running a strange errand for a relative of mine in Japan to secure some extra technology, but what can I say? It needed to be done. That Russian mind-control bat espionage team will recover once they get a new mad scientist in, and it’s not really my fault. They attacked me first. As a result, however, I still haven’t had the time to enjoy all of the advanced features on the Blu-Ray Coraline DVD. Luckily I was able to check out the things that I actually cared about:

  1. The deleted scenes!
  2. How does Coraline look in 3D at home?

The Deleted Scenes from Coraline

One of my favorite things about DVDs is that they include deleted scenes. I actually like more deleted scenes than less, so I was a little disappointed with the deleted scenes on the Coraline DVD. There aren’t a whole lot of them. Also, with most of them, you can see why they didn’t make the cut. There is one of them, though, that is really amazing and beautiful, and must have been really painful for them to cut. It’s a bunch of mice that are flat and have been animated to weave around like they’re ribbons. Mice figure heavily into the the plot of Coraline, so it’s obvious why they made a scene like it.

Coraline DVD 3D Experience - Doll

The Coraline DVD 3D Experience

There has been a lot of controversy about the 3D on the Coraline DVDs ever since it was announced that they used an anaglyphic process. One news site even went so far as to declare “CORALINE DVD Will Offer Crappy 3D Experience”. Ever since I read that I’ve wanted to test it for myself. Today I watched several different parts of the movie in two different display formats, and I think using the word “Crappy” is just plain wrong. When the 3D version of Coraline starts, a little window comes up to tell you that you should give your eyes five minutes to adjust. Then the beginning credits begin, and before you know it everything has turned 3D. My friend agreed that the quality was better than we expected. (Don’t look so shocked. I have friends.) Here are some photos. Keep in mind that this is my camera operating under the worst possible conditions. One was shot from an LCD TV in the dark and the other shot from a screen with the image projected from an LCD projector.

Coraline DVD 3D Experince Spink and Forcible

As you can see here, there are kind of three separate images superimposed to make the complete image when viewed through the glasses that come with the Coraline DVDs. One image each for the purple and green, and then a third for the colors and shading. Some colors show up really well in the 3D. For example, everyone is flesh colored and that works great. Also Mr. Bobinsky is blue. Red and yellow also show well. It appears like anything white, green, or purple is going to have issues. Things that should be green or purple end up being gray or blue. Things that are white kind of shimmer between purple and green. Once you’ve watched the movie long enough, though, you don’t really notice it. We watched the Blu-Ray version on a 100 inch screen using an ancient home theater projector, in the dark. To be honest, I would expect the quality to be horrific on a small conventional TV in a lit room. However, I would expect the quality to be nice on an LCD HDTV as well.

For us, the Coraline DVD worked well enough in 3D that I think people will probably opt to watch it in 3D at home. It’s kind of fun!

"THREE!!!"

THREE!!!

I don’t have much more to say about the movie. I just wanted to throw this picture in to show how Coraline’s Other Mother says the word three: With STYLE and VERVE. That is what I am talking about. By the way, did mention that the picture quality on the Blu-Ray DVDs is awesome? It is.

Finally, the winners for the Coraline Lenticular Cup giveaway have been chosen. Congratulations to Karen and Angela.

That’s it for tonight. I’m going to spend some time on other things. There are still a couple of days left on my Coraline NECA figurine giveaway, so sign up if you haven’t yet. Don’t forget to check out Coraline Central on Dark in the Dark.

Coraline on Amazon

Published on July 22, 2009 in Coraline. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Coraline Blu-Ray DVD Review – First Glance

So one of my dark minions got a hold of the Coraline DVD in Blu-Ray format. Unforeseen circumstances have prevented me from playing the DVDs yet, so you can expect a full report soon, but not today, unfortunately. What I can say, however, is the little I’ve seen so far is really cool. I’ve also taken photos of the case and the contents of the Blu-Ray package (which Universal Pictures has also decided to dub a “Collectors Edition” of the Coraline DVD.)

Coraline DVD Slipcover Front

Here is the front of the slipcover for the Coraline DVD.

Coraline DVD Blu-Ray Back Cover

And the back.

Coraline Blu-Ray Contents

Here’s what you get in the box:

4 pairs of 3D glasses. As you can see, they are the purple and green type of 3D Glasses. I’ve read that with the purple and green 3D process, although there is still a lot of color quality loss, the quality is better than the old fashioned red and green.

A guide to the digital copy of Coraline. This works with a Mac via iTunes or a PC with Windows Media Player. The instructions are given and are pretty basic. There is an authorization code printed on the bottom (I painted over mine in the picture above, but it can be found in the white rectangle at the bottom.)

The set includes two disks. One is the Blu-Ray disk. It contains the Hi-Def version of both the regular-format move and the 3D format movie. It also includes all the special features in Hi-Def (which is cool!) Here is a post where I talk exhaustively about the Coraline DVD Features. Basically, you get: deleted scenes, “The Making of Coraline”, “Voicing the Characters”, “Creepy Coraline”, feature commentary, D-Box Motion, U-Control, and BD-Live. The last three need some explaining.

D-Box – D-Box is motion code included in the movie that will instruct a motion platform how to move and shake the chair you’re sitting in depending on what’s going on in the movie. Check the D-Box website for more details.

U-Control – This is one of those features I never use, but basically it provides extra content on the making of the movie that you can watch while the movie is playing if you want to.

BD-Live - If you have a Blu-Ray DVD player that can use online features, you’ll be able to do things like access extra online content and interact with your friends.

That’s it for tonight. Part two of this review is up. Click here for the rest of the Coraline DVD 3D Review. Don’t forget to check out Coraline Central on Dark in the Dark.

Coraline on Amazon

Published on July 21, 2009 in Coraline. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Coraline DVD Release Tomorrow!

Some news items to correspond with the DVD release:

First up, Coraline eBay auctions to benefit the Starlight Children’s Foundation. Memorabilia from the movie including limited edition Coraline Nike Dunks (some of which were signed by Dakota Fanning) and original Coraline books and film posters signed by Teri Hatcher and Dakota Fanning.

There are three new Coraline “making of” videos up on YouTube. All three are really cool!

Making Faces: About the process they used to animate the faces in Coraline. It actually looks quite dizzying. I had a mental picture of intense animators squatting over tiny sets and painstakingly choosing the next face, perhaps mouthing the lines from the movie over and over to themselves. Not so. Link to movie on YouTube is here.

The 360 Shot: An intense animator tells how they did what appears to be the 360 degree shot where the Other Father plays the piano and makes up a song for Coraline. YouTube link.

Wrapping Up Coraline: Henry Selick talks about the crew and how hard they worked to make it a great movie. Strangely enough he does not thank the Other Mother. Of course, he didn’t thank any of the other stars, so I guess that’s only fair, but I kept waiting for him to mention her. YouTube Link.

Dark in the Dark’s central source for information on Coraline: Coraline Central.

Coraline on Amazon

Published on July 20, 2009 in Coraline. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Coraline Lenticular Cup Giveaway

Coraline Lenticular CupThis morning I announced a cup giveaway happening at Evil Buttons. Tonight I find myself giving away two of the same cups. The cups are lenticular, which is the kind of thing where the picture moves or changes when you look at it from different directions. These cups are being given away on behalf of Universal Home Entertainment to help announce the July 21 (next Tuesday!) release date of the Coraline DVD. To enter, comment on this post. Two winners will be chosen randomly. USA residents only, sorry! The giveaway ends July 21 at midnight Pacific Standard Time.

There is also a sweepstakes going on. Enter Coraline’s Secret Door Sweepstakes for a chance to win $10,000 cash grand prize, plus great daily prizes like DVDs, gift cards from iTunes, Amazon and more! – http://universal.promo.eprize.com/coraline/ You can enter once a day. I already did mine. If you play the game and you don’t get a prize, as a consolation you get to see the lovely Other Mother. And that is exactly what I say when I see her: “Yikes!” I also say “Ouch my broken heart.”

Coraline Sweepstakes Other Mother Yikes

Universal is also promoting the DVD release with this strange site http://www.coraline3dgarden.com To use this site you print out a page and then hold it in front of a webcam. Then when you move the paper, the website shows you Coraline’s 3D Garden. I haven’t been able to check it out because I have a Mac. (Don’t act all shocked. Most monsters use Macs.)

Do it! NOW! And report back to me. You might win a free cup. Then go order a Coraline DVD. Preorder at Amazon! Don’t miss my central source for information on Coraline on Dark in the Dark: Coraline Central.

Published on July 16, 2009 in Coraline. 52 Comments Tags: , , , .