RANDOM MUSINGS

Speaking of comic-book movies... I caught the first non-teaser trailer for Ang Lee's 'The Hulk' (June 20) before 'Daredevil' Sunday night and all I can say is -- these CGI artists must be stopped. I'm wasn't necessarily looking forward to 'Hulk' that much, but Lee is exactly the type of virtuoso director who should have been helming 'Daredevil.' And I like the cast. After being so charismatic in 'Chopper,' Eric Bana was a great choice for the titular character; a very-haggard looking Nick Nolte (when isn't he haggard-looking?) plays his father; and Jennifer Connelly -- who, for what it's worth, may be the sexiest woman on the planet, in addition to being a fine actress -- stars as his love interest. The first 30 seconds or so of the trailer introduces us to these stars and sets up the story and then wham!, we get our first glimpse of the green computer-generated monstrosity that is supposed to be the Hulk and, well, it just looks awful... like something out of a Nintendo game. No, I'm not showing my age by saying Nintendo instead of PlayStation or X-Box. I mean it really looks like Nintendo. I don't think I can sufficiently explain just how bad the Hulk looks in this preview. See for yourself here.

Legendary cinematographer Conrad L. Hall was posthumously awarded with the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) top award Sunday for his work on 'Road to Perdition.' Hall died of complications from bladder cancer on Jan. 4 at the age of 76 and is almost surely going to win the Oscar as well, where he is competition with Dion Beebe (Chicago), Edward Lachman (Far From Heaven), Michael Ballhaus (Gangs of New York) and Pawel Edelman (The Pianist). Hall won an Oscar for 'American Beauty,' his first collaboration with 'Perdition' director Sam Mendes, though he will probably always be remembered for 1967's 'In Cold Blood,' and perhaps even one signature scene, which I recall as one of the first instances where I actually became aware of what a cinematographer can add to a film. Here's how a feature on the ASC's web site describes it: "In an unforgettable scene, a chillingly unemotional killer speaks to the prison chaplain, who is reading the Bible aloud in the dim glow of a desk lamp. The light coming through the window creates a moody ambience. When the crew used a wind machine to put movement into the rain, the water condensed and ran down the window like a veil of tears. During a rehearsal, Hall noticed that the light and streaks of water on the window cast shadows on the killer’s face that looked like tears. He and director Richard Brooks subsequently incorporated the 'happy accidthe film. It captured the sense of pathos in a way that words couldn’t, and it was a major departure from the classical Hollywood style." Eric wrote a little tribute to Hall here on Jan. 17.