When we last saw James Blake, the setting was a midnight gig inside a large church at SXSW. The audience was sleepy and hushed, and didn't so much as whisper during the set. Friday at ACL, Blake faced the challenge of bringing his music to a large audience of talking, drinking festivalgoers, many of which were likely hearing him for the first time.
The results were mixed: Blake's sonics were incredible, as the thundering dubstep basslines and tweaked, tuned vocals sounded excellent filtered through the massive PA's, giving the music added power and strength. Visually, though, there simply wasn't a lot going on.
As a new artist, Mr. Blake probably doesn't have the production budget for visuals, but his music screams out for them—especially given that the young musician is trapped behind a keyboard and can't really work directly on engaging the audience. While we saw a number of curious casual fans stop by and then walk away, the devoted fans loved what they heard.
The simple opening of "I Never Learnt To Share" drew huge applause, as Blake worked his tricks of both repetition and keeping the music sparse to bring a sense of urgency to the single lyric: "My brother and my sister don't speak to me...but I don't blame them." He also performed his lovely cover of Feist's "Limit To Your Love," which was perhaps the only mass appeal moment of the set. The biggest applause came when he dug out early EP track "CMYK" (which stands for Cyan-Magenta-Yellow-blacK, if you're curious) in what he termed the song's US debut. The song's foreboding effects drew everyone in, and the sonic build and release was a true highlight of the afternoon.
Toothless and Mason Thames in How to Train Your Dragon.
Let’s get it out of the way right at the top: The new live-action How to Train Your Dragon, coming a mere 15 years after the original animated film, serves no real purpose other than to make more money for Universal Pictures and Dreamworks Pictures. However, unlike Disney’s approach toward remaking their animated movies, this attempt manages to succeed on its own merits instead of being a half-baked vessel for nostalgia.
As fans will remember, Hiccup (Mason Thames) lives in Berk, a town on a remote island populated by Vikings who constantly have to defend themselves against rampaging dragons. Hiccup’s dad, Stoick (Gerard Butler), is the community’s vaunted leader, with a legacy that seems impossible for Hiccup to measure up to, especially since he’s stuck in the armory alongside Gobber (Nick Frost).
But Hiccup has a knack for inventions, and his use of one new weapon during a dragon attack takes down a feared Night Fury. Finding the wounded dragon deep in the forest, Hiccup decides against killing it, leading to an unexpected bond between the two of them. Most of the film shows Hiccup trying to prove himself to his townspeople, including the fierce Astrid (Nico Parker), while also nursing the dragon he dubs Toothless back to health with the help of another one of his ingenious creations.
Written and directed by Dean DeBlois (who’s had the same roles on all four HTTYD films), the film is most notable for how engaging it is despite it retelling a story many already know and love. The biggest reason for this is a pivot away from telling a story mainly for kids toward one that feels like an extremely light version of Game of Thrones. Almost right away, there are real stakes for the people in the film, and the way DeBlois and his team stage the scenes, the danger can be felt by the audience.
This sense of “realness” comes through especially well in the scenes between Hiccup and Toothless. The design of Toothless is faithful to the original, but the CGI makes the dragon feel amazingly believable. And when they start flying, the film literally and metaphorically takes off. At multiple points, the camera seems to have trouble keeping them in frame, a smart move toward verisimilitude when the filmmakers clearly could have made it an overly smooth watching experience.
Even though it’s more serious than the original, the film still has plenty of fun to offer. Characters like Gobber (who replaces his two missing limbs with odd contraptions) and the ragtag group of teenagers who come to be in awe of Hiccup’s skills at taming dragons provide more than a few laughs. Hiccup isn’t quite as goofy as he was when voiced by Jay Baruchel, which turns out to be a good thing as his sense of purpose amps up the drama of the story.
Thames’ performance gets better and better as the film goes along, as Hiccup goes from town whipping boy toward hero. He really shines in the last act when he’s given a few scenes that show off his acting range. Parker is equally good, demonstrating the girl power needed for the role, but also the softness of a potential love interest. Butler, the only actor reprising their voice role, is a great presence who sells the outsized personality of Stoick.
Against the odds, this new version of How to Train Your Dragon is equal to the success of the first film, accomplishing the goal of making it feel like you’re watching the story for the first time. If live-action remakes are going to continue to come out, future filmmakers should study this film for how to respect both the history of the franchise and the audience paying good money to be entertained.
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How to Train Your Dragon opens in theaters on June 13.
Photo by Bill Sallans
Photo by Bill Sallans
Photo by Bill Sallans