Where the Wild Things Are

good dramatic adaptation of a classic kids book

where the wild things are is a reimagining of the classic maurice sendak kids book. the film is almost nothing like the book, other than the monsters look amazingly similar. max is a rambunctious kid who is having a rough time growing up. he is kinda a loner with few friends, and he feels like he's being ignored by his mom and sister. one night he goes 'wild' and runs away... he sails to a new land where the wild things are. he meets carol, douglas, kw, ira, the bull, and others. they eventually make him their king and all is great, until max starts playing favorites and doesn't rule properly (he is a kid after all). he finds out that carol (voiced by james gandolfini) is in love with kw, but wants everything to be a certain way. he eventually finds out that max isn't a real king, and flips out, forcing max to hide. he realizes that life isn't all fun and games, and that he misses his mom. the dramatic elements are amazing in this film. i teared up watching carol the monster express his feelings. it's quite impressive. it may not be how the book goes, but this version of the classic childrens book is a very good artistic achievement.

Whispering Corridors (Yeogo goedam)

stale korean horror film

after seeing lots of good asian horror films, one like this just doesn't compare. a high school is being terrorized by the ghost of a former student who commited suicide. her former friend, and new teacher at the school is investigating what happened, and meanwhile 2 girls are trying to contact spirits... a few people end up dead, and overall it's kinda confusing. i just didn't like it as much as other more recent asian horror films involving ghosts. this is somewhat of a classic now, and has inspired some sequels.

Willard (1971)

inferior to the remake.

willard is an odd little horror film about a troubled boy and his developing obsession with his rat friends. willard (bruce davidson) is working a shitty job for a boss who hates him, his mother is constantly nagging him and making his life miserable, he has no friends, etc. he befriends a bunch of rats he finds in his house and trains them to do things for him. he starts to treat the white rat, socrates, better than the rest, and ben, another important rat, becomes jealous and eventually turns on willard. the story is good, but the acting is pretty shitty overall. ernest borgnine plays willard's boss who treats him like shit. willard is convinced that he killed his father, and is forcing him to sell his mansion after his mother dies. the remake (which i saw years ago in theaters) is far superior to this one. crispin glover was amazing, and the horror elements were a lot creepier. i'm glad i saw this one though finally.

Wristcutters: A Love Story

unique take on suicide and romance

zia (Patrick Fugit) and desiree (Leslie Bibb) break up... zia ends up killing himself and wakes up in some strange new world with other people who offed themselves. in this place no one can smile, and there are plenty of strange happenings at all times, including a black hole that is located within a car that eats anything that is dropped. zia finds out that desiree has also killed herself so he and his friend eugene (Shea Whigham) embark on a road trip to find her. on the way they meet mikal who believes she is there by mistake. the film is very enjoyable, and unique, but not annoyingly quirky. tom waits and will arnett show up in smaller roles, but it's always fun to see either of them. i was kinda hoping this film would be very dark and morbid/depressing, but it was actually fun and somewhat lighthearted. but it worked well.

Whatever Works

woody returns to new york

first off, i'm a HUGE woody allen fan. even his worst film is generally better than an average one by anyone else. if you're not a fan, don't fucking bother seeing this. it's not for you, i'm almost certain. after his last few films based in europe, he returns to the state that he loves so much, and a story that is quite familiar for woody. in my opinion this is his best film since 'match point'.
larry david plays boris yellnikoff, the latest woody avatar, a "genius" who has no faith in humanity. he hates so many things (almost all of which i agree with by the way) including religion, racism, the nra, dumbing down of humanity, etc. boris basically spouts off a lot of woody's philosophical musings throughout the film, many of which i'm quite familiar with. overall he basically just says, "whatever works", find any love you can out of life and that's all we can hope for. larry is quite good, even if his range is incredibly limited.
boris meets melodie (even rachel wood), a very young 'simpleton' from the south who eventually absorbs his philosophy and they get married. there is a lot more to the story, including melodie's parents discovering their sexuality, melodie finding her true love who loves life the way she does, etc. the film is slight in nature, but very enjoyable to me. my favorite parts are when boris looks at the camera and talks to us. he's the only character who can 'see the big picture'. it's fucking win.

We Own the Night

decent cops vs. drug dealers drama

i was interested in seeing we own the night after i saw james gray's two lovers. jaoquin phoenix is pretty good once again as the son of a lifelong cop who is trying to run a successful brooklyn nightclub. drug deals go down, but he doesn't get involved... until his cop brother mark walberg forces his way into his life. robert duvall and eva mendes give the best performances in this film, while walberg and phoenix are on and off at times. the film is gritty, but forgettable and the ending pretty much sucked.

Waltz With Bashir (Vals Im Bashir)

unique take on a war docu-drama

waltz with bashir is an animated film about director ari folman's experience during the israeli invasion of lebanon in the mid 80's. he doesn't remember much about the events and subsequent massacre of innocent palistinians, so he embarks on a quest to find out information from his fellow soldiers from the time. he is still haunted by dreams and memories of the bloodshed, as well as his former comrades. the animation is similar to cel-shading or the techniques used for waking life. it can get kinda annoying after a while in my opinion. i understand why they used animation... it makes the reenactments more believable and the overall film work. the interviewees are real as far as i know, and the story is all true, which makes it important. i felt myself becoming somewhat annoyed and disinterested as the film went along.

Wendy and Lucy

slow, and slight, but pretty enjoyable

michelle williams does a great job as wendy in wendy and lucy. she plays a poor struggling woman trying to make her way to alaska for work with her dog lucy. during a series of events things go downhill fast for the two and the film is mostly about wendy trying to locate her best and only friend, her dog. the film could have ben a 10 minute short feature, but it works fine as an 80 minute film, mostly because of michelle williams' performance. i must warn you, nothing substantial happens in this film.

Watchmen

unadaptable? most likely.

zack snyder seemed to try his best to adapt the amazing graphic novel 'watchmen' into a feature film... but in my opinion all he did was add tons of style, gore, the word "fuck", and long detailed dr. manhattan dong. seriously, the film started off cool enough, we finally get to see these epic characters come to life on the big screen! but the director of 300 simply can't help himself. the material is good enough, and that's why it belongs strictly to the pages of the comics. the intricacies of the novel seem silly in film context, and often the characters seemed dull and lifeless. its almost impossible to convert a comic to film without this stuff happening. also i was very unhappy with the changes to the ending. the main omission: rorschach's final journal entry. this is critical, as the news boy will eventually realize the truth! damn.

the opening credits scene is awesome. with 'the times they are a changing' playing. awesome...

Wild Side

dull "thriller", but at least it has walken

the only reason i saw this movie was for christopher walken. he was his usual self, nothing too amazing to offer in wild side. he's a criminal who's under investigation. he falls in love with a banker/hooker (anne heche), and his driver/bodyguard happens to be a cop investigating him. wacky stuff! also, anne heche falls in love with walken's wife (joan chen). the movie makers either know NOTHING about human sexual relations, or they were pressured to make the sex scenes as unsexy and unbelievable as possible. also, anne heche has never been attractive, has she? this was made in 1995, and it shows. kinda like a lame version of 'the net' with some lesbian action thrown in.

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

pretty damn good

going in i didn't have high expectations for walk hard, and i wasn't disappointed at all. i love most all of the apatow films (sans the ricky bobby shitfest), and one of the only ones i had missed was the dewey cox story. lots of funny moments, good songs and spoofs of the music biz. john c. reilley is always good. this one delivers for the most part.

The Wrestler

kinda like rocky, but good.

darren aronofsky's latest film isn't about the harsh realities of professional wrestling, or about redemption... its really about one man's struggle with what's real and what is fake. much like the "sport" of pro wrestling. mickey rourke is fucking good. that's all there is to say about his performance as randy the ram. he looks like shit, and plays the best 'broken down washed up deadbeat former superstar" ever. he made this film so great! i was a fan of pro wrestling when i was a kid, like so many others... and i saw Beyond the Mat a long time ago, so i was aware of the fucked up nature of it all... but this film takes the struggle and misery to a whole new level. there are many tear jerking moments in this film, and Marisa Tomei even delivers as an aging stripper. with a child to take care of, she doesn't want to fall in love with the ram, because she thinks he can't tell the real world from her stripper world. it works really well. i really love darren aronofsky films, he is probably still my favorite director right now, and this is a great film. i wonder if he has lost some of his unique touches that made pi and requiem for a dream so amazing. no matter, i HIGHLY recommend the wrestler.

Wet Hot American Summer

'the state' stars get together to make a kinda funny film

i've had this on video for years now and just now decided to watch it. mainly because i liked role models (made by basically the same people). The movie is decent, and has some pretty funny stuff... but overall it is just kinda messy. the stories and characters are funny, but there are many awkward scenes and dumb jokes that just get in the way. i don't really care for Janeane Garofalo either. all the main guys from the state are great however, and Paul Rudd plays a pretty good teenage jerk. i'd recommend wet hot if you like the state, stella, reno 911, etc., otherwise you can pass.

The Wicker Man (1973)

The Original... DUH!

wow, i loved the wicker man. edward woodward and christopher lee were amazing in this unsettling (but not horrific) thriller. one of the most unique stories i've seen. i have never seen a movie deal with paganism and religion taking over a town like this. the film deals with religion and consumption of society, but at the same time has many elements of a hammer/christopher lee film. the wicker man itself is amazing, and the ending is definitely not designed for/by hollywood. i LOVED the wicker man, and cna't believe it was remade... by a fucking mormon of all people! booooo!

W.

Good dramatization of a shitty president.

I really liked this movie. I went in knowing it wouldn't be a total hate filled vilification of the man, but I didn't expect I'd come out of the theater with some respect for the man as a President and as a person. I love most of Oliver Stone's films anyways, but W. made me respect him as a filmmaker even more. Josh Brolin is one of my favorite actors now. The only real negative about W. is the chick who played Condoleezza Rice. She looked the part, but for fucks sakes her voice was horrible. The real Condi isn't that putrid!