Zemeckis' A Christmas Carol

Tools    





One of my favorite Christmas stories of all time, being re-told by Robert Zemeckis and starring Jim Carrey & Gary Oldman (as well as Robin Wright Penn, Cary Elwes, Colin Firth.) If anything, I think the casting is pretty genius - Carrey plays Scrooge at different ages as well as ghosts of Christmas Past, Present & Future...and Oldman, c'mon when is he not amazing in a film??

No trailer yet, but a poster and a little bit of footage from the film:





Had to remove the YouTube tags, as the person who uploaded the video opted not to allow embedding.

Anyway, looks interesting. As I suggested in my review of Beowulf last year, the addition of technology which tracked the actors' eye movements was a big step forward in the motion-capture department, and Zemeckis seems pretty smitten with the technology at this point. I think it has a lot of potential, and though A Christmas Carol would seem a very odd choice for such an expensive method of filmmaking, it does have that slightly other-worldly feel that only this technique can really bring to life.

I'll certainly see it, if only to see how far the technology's come in the last couple of years. Still not sure where there is going, or how far, but I think we're probably nearing something big. At some point this is going to get just cheap enough, and we'll be flooded with all sorts of new content and ideas that wouldn't have been possible (or worthwhile) before.



I ain't gettin' in no fryer!
I think I can speak for a majority of the public when I say that Dickens' A Christmas Carol has been done to death.
__________________
"I was walking down the street with my friend and he said, "I hear music", as if there is any other way you can take it in. You're not special, that's how I receive it too. I tried to taste it but it did not work." - Mitch Hedberg



I'll see it. A Christmas Carol is one of my favorite Dickens stories.

I can't help but look at this as something that will be slick and plastic in a nifty little package but I could be wrong. Maybe it'll be decent.

I like some of the older renditions, the George C. Scott one in particular, because it's somewhat dirty & unpolished (figuratively). These, to me, look more time appropriate than the newer ones (Patrick Stewart).



I think I can speak for a majority of the public when I say that Dickens' A Christmas Carol has been done to death.
I agree. I just hope this isnt another crash and burn Jim Carrey Christmas remake a la this:

__________________
Latest Review: The Ugly Truth



I am burdened with glorious purpose
Wow, watching that clip I went from cynical to outright excited. This could end up being the best Christmas Carol yet because Zemekis is right. Dickens' story is just perfect for the fantastical elements since it really is a fantasy in many ways. It looks amazing.

And making Carrey do the ghosts as well because they are Scrooge's "alter-egos." Perfect.

I'm now officially excited. This could be great.



I actually love seeing all the different interpretations of A Christmas Carol, and I think that Zemeckis is definitely bringing a new perspective to this using mo-cap. And I think the technology also lends itself well to Carrey's style of acting - it will give him the perfect opportunity to showcase the physical aspect of his performances, which he's so good at. Definitely looking forward to seeing more footage from the film!



I'll see it. A Christmas Carol is one of my favorite Dickens stories.

I can't help but look at this as something that will be slick and plastic in a nifty little package but I could be wrong. Maybe it'll be decent.

I like some of the older renditions, the George C. Scott one in particular, because it's somewhat dirty & unpolished (figuratively). These, to me, look more time appropriate than the newer ones (Patrick Stewart).
A Christmas Carol is my favorite Dickens... and I love the versions with Scott and Stewart... and even the older one with Alastair Sim (think that's his name)...

I'm not a big Carrey fan... but I'll see this with the hope he turns me into one...
__________________
You never know what is enough, until you know what is more than enough.
~William Blake ~

AiSv Nv wa do hi ya do...
(Walk in Peace)




There was some recent screenings of the film this past weekend:

http://www.stitchkingdom.com/2009/06...3d-jim-carrey/
http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2009/06/24...ristmas-carol/

Seems like the 3D and the vfx lend itself nicely to the story. And seems like the trailer should be out pretty soon - looking forward to checking it out!



Cheers for posting those images, trailer, etc - I'm betting this will look pretty awesome in 3D....and judging from the comments from its showing at Comic-Con, the mo-cap looks pretty impressive this time around (from Beowulf):

The motion capture was steps above Zemeckis' own "Beowulf" and was incredibly immersive.

Zemeckis tackled the uncanny valley theory, which deals with the perfecting of humans in the medium. "I think we’ve gotten pretty close to perfecting this. ... We’ve learned how to light these eyes ... to paint the highlights. We have the technology to read the movement of the retina,” he said.
http://reporter.blogs.com/comiccon/2...mas-carol.html

The 3D Motion Capture looked better that it did in Zemeckis' last outing, Beowulf, but Beowulf had raging North Country mead-drinkers beating the hell out of one another working for it. I get the sense, based on Zemeckis' repetition of the phrase "in the novel" that this is going to be a very close adaptation to the source material. I have a hunch that the real fireworks of A Christmas Carol, as was seen in a quick montage sequence today, may not come til the film's third act.
http://movieblog.ugo.com/movies/a-ch...iego-comic-con



Bright light. Bright light. Uh oh.
I really don't know what I think of this flick (how could I?, I haven't seen it), but I trust Zemeckis quite a bit, and I thought Beowulf was major entertainment.
__________________
It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
My IMDb page



There official trailer is also online now: http://www.apple.com/trailers/disney/achristmascarol/

I was pretty impressed by it - the CG looks greats and seems like Zemeckis is definitely going by his time-travel version of the story. Also love Jim Carrey's expression at 1:14



I saw the movie trailer during one of my mall trips a couple of weeks back, and was impressed with the CG done just for this... although the type of movie would fit Jim Carrey to a T ( personally), I'd like to see just how it measures up to the book itself. Based on what I've seen so far, some movies just don't do justice to the book (granting that you do have to make it more concise for viewership's sake).
__________________
"Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it."
Maxine Taurus



Sorry jrs! You're totally right - THIS is actually the trailer:

http://www.apple.com/trailers/disney...ler_large.html

Maxine: I remember reading from Comic-Con reports that Zemeckis wanted to keep this close to the Dickens novel. I guess we'll see when the movie comes out, though.

Also, I'm going to check out the movie's train tour so I'll get a more "behind-the-scenes" looks at how they made the film - hopefully! Anyone else check out that train tour?