I think Pixar in particular is at the point where it can make anything non-organic look absolutely, fool-the-eye realistic. A few of the scenes in Syndrome's fortress had moments when there weren't any people on screen, and the rockets and computers and things were flawless. But with people, plants and animals they go cartoony, and I hope it stays that way. Nobody's good enough for true photorealism yet, and the attempts just look creepy.

I think Pixar in particular is at the point where it can make anything non-organic look absolutely, fool-the-eye realistic.

It will be a weird day when they can make totally realistic computer animated people. Think of all the dead famous people who will be appearing in new movies....

Like Steve McQueen in car commercials?

It will be a weird day when they can make totally realistic computer animated people. Think of all the dead famous people who will be appearing in new movies....

I hope that never happens, because just the idea of it made me shudder like a shuddering thing. If anyone attempts it, I suspect the visceral icky wrongness of the very idea will keep people away from the box office.

Think of all the dead famous people who will be appearing in new movies....

Lawrence Olivier in Sky Captain. Keith Richards in Pirates of the Caribbean 2.

Oliver Reed in Gladiator. Though he was mostly alive for most of it.

The Vestibules have a sketch about Lawrence Olivier endorsing Coca Cola post-mortem. I imagine they laughed their asses off when they saw the cast list for Sky Captain.

Oliver Reed in Gladiator. Though he was mostly alive for most of it.

And eerie as fuck in that big close-up when it was obvious that he was being CGI animated postmortem.

No shit. It was like BILL SYKES IS GONNA KILL YA!

I saw the Incredibles Sunday and it was awesome. Not a bad way to spend my 19th birthday. A little ways back people were talking about Vin Diesel. If the Iron Giant hadn't cemented my love for him these quotes of his did:

Q. If the world's most infamous dictators challenged the Iron Chefs to a battle in Kitchen Stadium, whose cuisine would reign supreme?

A. [Without hesitation] Idi Amin. He had this hotel set up in Kampala where he would send political opponents and people within his own regime who didn't please him. Then, of course, they would be tortured and usually killed horribly. What I think would give Amin an edge on a cooking show would be his refined palate. He ate his political opponents, he sometimes cooked parts of their bodies himself, so I think he would know how to prepare a slab of Kobe beef.

and

Is it true you're really into Dungeons and Dragons?

No. I never play D&D. For some reason, they thought that I played D&D for 20 years. They thought that I spent years playing Barbarians, Witch Hunters, Unearthed Arcana. They thought I still played D&D back in the '70s when it's just the basic D&D set. They thought I continued to play D&D when it became Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. They thought I played D&D when there was only three books - the Player's Handbook, the Monster Manual and the DM's Guide. They thought I played D&D as it continued onto the Unearthed Arcana, Oriental Adventures, Sea Adventures, Wilderness Adventures. They thought I played D&D at the time when Deities and Demigods was the brand new book. They thought I played D&D when I used to get up to a place called The Complete Strategist in New York. (Vin mouths: "I'm into D&D a lot.")

These are all fabrications?

Yeah, I don't know where they got that from.