Pamela

When I first heard of a comedy directed by Aaron Haynes, I really didn't know what to expect. I knew Aaron could be funny, since he had helped me think up a few of the funnier jokes in my own movies in the past- but I had never seen him even attempt comedy in a movie of his own (besides some light comedy relief in his "Vlarion" movies). After seeing "Pamela" (and remembering back to "Redux"), I honestly think Aaron is one of the best directors this community has to offer. Pamela is not only expertly directed and animated, but also damn funny!

First off, the story. The movie follows Detective Detective (not repeating myself here...) Joe Peterson. The detective is sent on a case to discover the murderer of the husband of one of his clients. The only clue he has is that the man, before he died uttered the name "Pamela". What follows is a film noir spoof that is full of clever visual gags, hilarious (and expertly over-acted by Jon Barton) lines, and some of the most eye-poppingly beautiful use of the expansion pack yet.

In fact, with the expansion pack in mind, let's talk about the animation. I could easily describe it in two words- "Holy f***ing shit". Well...okay...technically that's three words, but still! The expansion pack shows up in full force here, and is used to create some of the greatest looking hand made scenes of any 3dmm movie ever made. Before I said that GITS was the best you could get default 3dmm to look without hurting yourself...well, I'm pretty sure this is as incredible as you can get the expansion pack to look...even IF you hurt yourself seriously in the process. The expansion is used to create everything from realistic shadows, to cityscapes(sp?), to mountains, to light radiating from a nearby street light (probably my favorite effect). yeah, well, I want to get to the comedy part of this movie, so I'll just leave it at this, the animation is freaking mind boggling.

Still, this movie could have all the great camera movements and expertly used expansion textures in the world, but as a comedy, it wouldn't work if it wasn't funny. Luckily, it is. This movie has some of the most clever visual gags and some of the greatest lines in any 3dmm comedy I ever remember seeing. I won't bother wasting them, because how unexpected they are is half of what makes them so funny. There's one joke early on involving the detective resting his feet on his desk that was pure genius- it reminded me of one of the better "Naked Gun" movies. Whenever the movie aims to be funny, it is. There are no missed jokes here. Also, the twist ending is great stuff. I saw it coming about half-way through, but it was still very funny when it was revealed.

Sound-wise...no complaints. The music fit well, and the voice acting was excellent. Jon Barton is slowly becoming my favorite 3dmm voice actor. Man...I really have nothing else to talk about here. But I'm only on my third sentence...did I mention the movie looks incredible? I did? Dammit! Well, it does, and it sounds good too. Conclusion time:

"Pamela" went from being a movie I knew absolutely nothing about, to one of my all-time favorite 3dmm movies. Yeah, you know what that means. Perfect 100% for this one. Man, I've been giving away 100%'s like candy, I gotta start reviewing some bad movies. Anyway, this one really deserves it. Great animation, incredible directing, hilarious jokes...Anyone got some more positive adjectives? Download this now, it could very well be the best movie of the August 2004 film festival.