Kemp Powers

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

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Close up of Miles Morales

More of the same, that’s what Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse delivers. The follow-up to Into the Spider-Verse is another blistering, migraine- and epilepsy-inducing collision of animation styles, the sort of thing which, if it had been done in the 20th century, would have taken the entire 20th century to do. And if you like it, there’s still more to come. This is the second instalment of the tripartite series and it ends with an abrupt “to be continued”, comic-book style. Beyond the Spider-Verse will complete the cycle. Quick recap. There are many parallel universes out there. And in many of these there are parallel Spider-Men too. Some look a bit like this, others … Read more

Soul

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Joe playing jazz

We’re so used to the phrase Pixar Movie that it’s often easy to forget that they are in fact directed by actual human beings, not rendering algorithms. Soul is co-directed by Pete Docter and Kemp Powers, says the imdb, but the end credits of the film itself tell us that it’s “Directed by Pete Docter” and “Co-directed by Kemp Powers”, not “Co-directed by Pete Docter and Kemp Powers”. Kemp was heavily involved in the film, particularly at the conceptual and writing stages, but even so it still feels like a Docter film. His last one was Inside Out, the story of a little girl’s personality in crisis. And before that Up and Monsters, … Read more