When I first heard about this two years ago I was very anxious to see it because: One, we were peers in the creation of products for the Commodore Amiga, and two, who doesn't want to know more about how technology may have been used to aid in the creation of a masterpiece.
I finally had an opportunity to see it last night and I have mixed feelings. Even though the subject matter was interesting, I felt the soundtrack was overwhelming and did not help set the mood and tonality of the scene. In fact I was struggling to hear Tim over the music. I also felt the pacing could have been tighter and it seemed stretched to turn it into a feature length movie. Maybe this was the intention to put you in Tim's shoes on how he struggled to keep his mind focused. I know in watching it, that I felt the need to hit the FF button. I also felt that his choice of experts felt underwhelming and in some cases, flat out wrong, as in the case of the expert establishing that there would be no way a human could discern the graduation in shading without the aid of an optical tool. Even if this were true, this is where the skill of mixing layers of paints over many years of study allows them to recreate the graduations without actually seeing them. If I can use a music analogy; Beethoven was still able to compose even after becoming deaf due to his years of experience.
Finally, even though I respect Tim and his accomplishments, I felt all I heard was Tim this and Tim that, and not as much on history of painting, optics and the support process that was clearly shown in the footage; like the crew building his set, his family's involvement, even Penn & Teller's involvement. This would have made a better story of one man's passion that was so infectious that he was able to convince so many to follow him on this long enduring obsession in self actualization.
I finally had an opportunity to see it last night and I have mixed feelings. Even though the subject matter was interesting, I felt the soundtrack was overwhelming and did not help set the mood and tonality of the scene. In fact I was struggling to hear Tim over the music. I also felt the pacing could have been tighter and it seemed stretched to turn it into a feature length movie. Maybe this was the intention to put you in Tim's shoes on how he struggled to keep his mind focused. I know in watching it, that I felt the need to hit the FF button. I also felt that his choice of experts felt underwhelming and in some cases, flat out wrong, as in the case of the expert establishing that there would be no way a human could discern the graduation in shading without the aid of an optical tool. Even if this were true, this is where the skill of mixing layers of paints over many years of study allows them to recreate the graduations without actually seeing them. If I can use a music analogy; Beethoven was still able to compose even after becoming deaf due to his years of experience.
Finally, even though I respect Tim and his accomplishments, I felt all I heard was Tim this and Tim that, and not as much on history of painting, optics and the support process that was clearly shown in the footage; like the crew building his set, his family's involvement, even Penn & Teller's involvement. This would have made a better story of one man's passion that was so infectious that he was able to convince so many to follow him on this long enduring obsession in self actualization.