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weird, disjointed, and not good
terry gilliam's latest film (and heath ledger's last) has a promising plot. doctor parnassus (christopher plummer) is a man with eternal life and plays various games with the devil (played by tom waits) throughout the years. in modern time the doctor is a travelling carnival man with a show that gives participants the chance to enter their imagination. his daughter is about to turn 16, and when she does her soul will belong to the devil, but he decides to play another game of chance with the doctor. whoever gets 5 souls first wins! seems simple enough, especially when the dr. meets heath ledger and he helps him recover souls in some weird choice the person makes inside the 'imaginarium'. the setup is interesting, and it's a typical terry gilliam weird-fest... but for some reason the emphasis is all on heath ledger's character, and not on dr. parnassus and his daughter (the hot lily cole). it's all weird and disjointed, probably because heath died during filming, but even if he lived to complete it, it'd be pretty crappy by gilliam's standards.
great performances, and unique perspective
going into 'up in the air' i was expecting another hollywood type movie with little plot and some quirkiness. i was pleasantly surprised by this film however. george clooney plays ryan, a guy who's job is to fire people. he travels all over the country firing people who get laid off. he loves travelling, and is a loner with no real home. his life is great, until the company he works for decides to keep him grounded and have the people do the firing through teleconferencing. ryan hates this idea, but is forced to take the brainiac woman who came up with it on 'tour' with him to see what he does. the plot seems really thin, but it's actually really interesting. the film is sometimes funny, poignant, and often sad. there is no hollywood ending, and that's a great thing. overall this is a great sleeper film with some great performances, especially from george and the 2 female leads.
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.
heartbreaking, well acted, but not perfect
obviously no movie is perfect, but the road has a lot going for it. it's nearly flawless in my opinion. the biggest problems are the ending, and the kid that gets more annoying as the film goes on. viggo mortensen stars as the man, along with his son they are navigating their way through post-apocalyptic america in search of heat, shelter, and warmth. the world they live in is always cold with very little light and almost nothing is alive. we don't know what happened to the world, but almost everything is now dead. the man was married to a woman (charlize theron) who couldn't handle the hopelessness that this new world brought, and eventually ended her life. now the man and his son are on the journey to survive. they encounter gangs of cannibals who are searching for any food available. the film is very dark, and plays out kinda like a thriller. the kid gets very annoying as the film goes on... he says 'papa!' in almost every scene, and it gets very cliche. overall a good movie, but the ending also isn't that satisfying.
flawed, cliche, but not too bad
precious is a fat black teenage girl who's pregnant with her second child. she's illiterate, and her babies' daddy is her father. her mom is abusive, and she discovers she has HIV. talk about overkill! precious isn't even that much of a likeable character, despite all her problems. it's a sad movie, and one genuinely tearjerking moment... overall the film has lots of cliches, such as the overly sympathetic teacher who thinks education is the most important thing. the movie is sad, but also kinda funny in parts. the 'daydream' scenes are kinda weird, they break the story so much and interrupt the flow. i think it's a good story that should be told, but the problems facing precious are too immense, and makes everything unbelievable. gabby sidibe, the woman who plays precious, does a great job, and so does mo'nique as her mother. mariah carey however is horrid. she can't act. removing your makeup doesn't make you believeable, it just makes her annoying and pretentious. she shouldn't make a career out of this.
wes anderson's fantastic mr. fox
i've loved wes anderson's films since seeing rushmore in theaters years ago. i couldn't quite explain why i loved them back then... and i still can't quite tell you now. my favorite is probably the life aquatic. the feel of his films, the characters, dialogue, and just overall style are so great. the films have a pleasing quality to them. fantastic mr. fox is certainly one of those films... even if it is a stop motion animated film based on the book by roald dahl. i remember reading the book as a kid, but the story was really just a blur to me now. this film is fun, funny, and even poignant at times. overall a highly enjoyable movie for kids as well as adults. unlike 'up', this film has jokes that adults can enjoy, and lots of fun for kids too. the voice acting is pretty good too... george clooney is mr. fox, meryl streep is his wife, jason schwartzman plays the son ash (my favorite personally), and bill murray, willem defoe, and others join in as smaller roles. i just really enjoyed this film, and i'm glad wes anderson is sticking to making his style movies.
excellent thinking film
