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One Frame At A Time

Animator Phil Tippett’s Passion Project And Going Back For 4ths Of “Thor: Love And Thunder”

By Bryan VanCampen

I’ve never seen a lm like Phil Tippett’s “Mad God” (Shudder, 2021, 83 minutes) and I may never again. It’s the damnedest thing: you could show “Mad God” to 17 people, like the opening night screening at Cinemapolis I attended in July, ask each person what the lm was about, and you might get 17 di erent views on the lm that are all valid. No wrong answers.

“Mad God” is like a Ray Harryhausen tour of hell. An enigmatic emissary gets dropped into an apocalyptic landscape to look around and investigate. He’s captured and put on an operating table where he’s opened up and eviscerated. Depending on your point of view, the emissary is reanimated by a mad scientist and sent back on his mission, or he’s been replaced.

I wouldn’t say that “Mad God” follows the classic Hollywood narrative, but once you give yourself over and immerse yourself, there is a story that drives the lm. And even though “Mad God” boasts the lushest, technically advanced stop-motion animation you’ve ever seen, the lm does have actual human actors in it.

“Mad God” feels pretty unique and yet, there are echoes of the Brothers Quay, the gnarlier aspects of “Robot Chicken,” and for some reason, I was getting a real “12 Monkeys” (1995) vibe from the movie.

You might not recognize Phil Tippett’s name, but you’ve seen his expert stop-motion work in the “Star Wars” series, “Piranha” (1978) and “Starship Troopers” (1997), among many other sci- classics. “Mad God” has been Tippett’s passion project for more than 30 years. He animated three minutes of the lm when he was working on “RoboCop 2” (1990). Finally, he got hip to Kickstarter and raised $250,000 and there were sporadic bursts of production over the years. Tippett still has most of his models and gures, and thanks to collectors like Guillermo del Toro, every time he sold one of his pieces for, say, $60,000, he put that money into shooting more “Mad God” scenes. Besides live screenings, it’s streaming on Shudder. I love it.

I ran into a co-worker today. Before I could say anything, he said, “Don’t say a word about ‘ or: Love and under’ (Disney-Marvel, 2022, 120 minutes). I’m seeing it tonight.”

All I said was, “It’s fun. Everything they set up in ‘ or: Ragnarok’ pays o really nicely.”

He grinned and got on his way.

Taika Waititi’s movie feels like six different movies, all but one hilarious, and it’s a pleasure watching it all coalesce. I’m not sure that Christian Bale as the latest big bad is well established but then again, I said the same thing about Cate Blanchett in “ or: Ragnarok” and it’s one of my favorite MCU movies. I really didn’t like the rst two MCU “ or” movies, but I did notice that Chris Hemsworth was a lot more fun as a avor in the “Avengers” stew. Bringing in Waititi and a welcome turn to comedy was a smart move and yes, “Love and under” builds on stu we all loved last time, and even brings back thespian Matt Damon and the other Asgard players for an adroit recap of the past. (Wait until you see who plays Cate Blanchett.) I also dug Waititi’s return as Korg, Tessa ompson as Valkyrie, now keeping the village of Asgard safe, and any number of other callbacks.

“Love and under” brings back Natalie Portman as Jane Foster for the rst time since “ or: e Dark World” for the lm’s emotional center, and two di erent characters mistakenly refer to her as Jane Fonda and Jodie Foster. Russell Crowe shows up as Zeus, talking in a Chico Marx “tootsie-frootsie” accent. I don’t know why he’s doing it, but he’s doing it, and it’s fun.

“Mad God” is a stop-motion passion project (Photo: Provided)

“Mad God” is streaming on Shudder. “ or: Love and under” is playing at Regal Stadium 14.

RIP Composer Monty Norman (the “James Bond eme”)

Read BVC’s interview with Corey Rosen, vice president of creative Marketing at Tippett Studios, at Ithaca.com.