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Where the Wild Things Are

Where the Wild Things Are

Starring Max Records, Catherine Keener, and James Gandolfini
Directed by Spike Jonze (Adaptation)
Rated PG for mild thematic elements, some adventure action and brief language
Appropriate for ages 10+

    Based on Maurice Sendak’s classic children’s story, Wild Things follows an unruly little boy named Max that runs away from home one night and ends up on an island inhabited with dangerous but lovable monsters that at first want to eat him, but then choose to be ruled by him.

    Under the control of a more normal individual this film would have been a cute and fuzzy little picture with zero vision and very little life.  After all, when imagining a movie of this story, most would automatically think of an animated film, but Spike Jonze saw something completely different.  That is why author Sendak allowed him to make it where he forbid so many before him.  To create such life-like monsters in such a beautiful manner and put them in a world where each new step is an unprecedented adventure is exhilarating.  The choices of style, music, costumes, facial features, and every other little detail make this one of the most breathtaking productions I’ve seen all year. 

    What impresses most though is that the spirit of the film truly represents that of a wild little boy.  It’s almost as if Jonze himself has not grown up and is able to represent those crazy feelings in sight, sound and emotion on screen.  Just like a little boy, the film is a little annoying at times, but you are always kept on your toes. 

    One of the biggest questions I have gotten is how acceptable it is for children.  I’m not sure if I would let small children into this one, especially if they were mine.  That being said, there were a lot of little kids at my screening and they were enthralled.  I was worried that there would be a lot of crying and “daddy I’m scared” talk, but instead it seemed like the kids were having more fun than me.  Go figure.  A-

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Capitalism: A Love Story

Capitalism: A Love Story

Directed by Michael Moore (Bowling for Columbine)
Rated R for some language
Appropriate for ages 13+

    Documentarian Michael Moore is back in this whistle-blowing look at what the banks and our government are up to while we aren’t paying attention.  While the main focus of the film deals with the infamous bailout that took place late last year, he also finds a huge amount of sins committed against those with less by those with more. 

    Some of the scariest findings are the “dead peasant” policies that major corporations like Amegy bank and Wal-Mart take out on employees so that they can cash in when they die.  Realizing that your average employee is worth more to the corporation dead than alive, they play a twisted game of Life that is so sick it is hard to believe.

    Taking an angle he hasn’t used before, he points out the Christian view of capitalism.  He interviews several clergy and makes a very convincing argument that Jesus would have never supported our capitalist system. 

    With Moore’s dry wit and cynical sense of humor, uncomfortable laughs abound.  And his style of adding archival footage behind dialogue is as clever as ever.

    As usual with some of his movies, some of his arguments aren’t completely convincing.  I’m not so sure that pointing a finger at “the man” and putting all of the blame there is completely responsible.  Some of the fault has to lie with the people for buying houses they couldn’t afford, even if the government and banks convinced them they could.  Maybe Moore should have used this platform to try to teach some fiscal responsibility rather than simply present an “off with their heads” argument. 

    Also, if he really wanted this film to get out, he should have cut out the couple of F-bombs in it and opened up the movie for a much wider audience. 

    That being said, I do think that this is an important film.  It’s not as vital or well-made as Sicko or Bowling for Columbine, but it shows America in a state of disrepair that is truly horrifying.  He says in the movie “I refuse to live in a country like this – and I’m not leaving.”  Love him or loathe him, I don’t think you can doubt his patriotism.  A-

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New on DVD

New on DVD

The Proposal
Rated PG-13 for sexual content, nudity, and language
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds costar in this smash hit rom com about an overpowering Canadian boss (Bullock) that forces her assistant (Reynolds) to marry her in order for her to be able to stay in America.  To prove to immigration that the relationship is one based on love and not citizenship, she must travel with him to Alaska to spend a weekend with his family.  While extremely contrived, the movie does provide some good laughs and occasional decent chemistry between the two leads.  There’s not much authenticity to be found as much of the film is extremely over the top, but the characters are likable enough that most of the time you don’t care.  Still, it’s not the kind of romantic comedy I prefer and while I think that Reynolds is one of the most talented actors working today, I also think that the Bullock is so over utilized in this genre that it hurts.  As for the extras, I’m thankful they chose the ending they did and not the dreadful alternate ending on the special features.  C+

Adoration
Rated R for language
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
A high school student creates a story of his dead parents, linking them to a terrorist plot that they had nothing to do with, just to see what fellow student reactions would be.  This complex and twisted tale by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Atom Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter) shows a mix of Muslim and Christian cultures in a very different and original way.  By becoming lost around the story, I found myself becoming attached to the boy, his French teacher, and his uncle which brought the film together in a very special way for me.  While I didn’t really care much for the multimedia dynamic Egoyan tries to introduce here, I found the main narrative very moving.  A-

American Violet
Rated PG-13 for thematic material, violence, drug references and language
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Set a few years ago in Melody, TX, American Violet follows the true-life events of a town shaken up by a District Attorney that attempted to keep the black citizens down by raiding their projects and making them plead guilty to felony charges to get out of prison.  This would help the DA get more federal dollars for drug prosecutions as well as keep the black people in the town from voting him out of office since much of the community would be felons, even if they were innocent.  With a stellar cast including Charles Dutton, Alfre Woodard, Will Patton, Tim Blake Nelson, and Nicole Beharie, the acting is top notch for an indie.  More importantly though is that the movie is a shock to the system and shows how ugly America can be and how much it still needs to be fixed.  B+

The Wizard of Oz: 70th Anniversary Edition
Rated G
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
It’s hard to believe it’s been 70 years.  OK.  I know I can’t say that since I’m only half that age, but looking at this newly remastered edition, it really is hard to believe that the film looks so fresh.  Maybe it’s because the movie is one of the most cherished of all time, so the print has been babied, but this new edition, even more so than the last edition released, looks and sounds exquisite.  The new set includes several new features, among them a new sing-along track, new documentaries, and if you get the Blu-ray box set, you’ll get more extras than any movie I’ve ever seen before.  A+

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut
Rated R for pervasive vulgar language and crude sexual humor and for some violent images
Available on Blu-ray
Making its Blu-ray debut is the Oscar-nominated South Park musical that proved to the world that animated films weren’t just for kids anymore.  When Cartman, Stan, Kenny and Kyle are caught going to see the latest Terrence and Phillip movie, their parents launch a war against Canada in order to prevent that kind of smut from hitting America.  While crude and vulgar, the movie is also a brilliant political and social satire and contains some darn good tunes as well.  To help us better remember the impact of the movie, as well as hear lots of cynical diatribe, there is a brand new commentary by filmmakers Trey Parker and Matt Stone.  A

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Paranormal Activity



Paranormal Activity

Starring Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat
Rated R for language
Appropriate for ages 18+

    When a young couple starts to hear noises at night in their San Diego home, the boyfriend buys a camera to film their sleep and check for any disturbances.  Sure enough, strange things are afoot in the bedroom while the lights are out and the couple discovers that their is an invisible demon that is after the girlfriend, and the camera at night is capturing everything.

    Shot on a shoestring budget, this indie is causing quite the sensation nationwide.  By demanding the movie to come to their towns on the official website, www.paranormalactivity-movie.com, audiences are slowly bringing this movie across America, only to be shown at midnight.  Houston obviously has some loyal horror fans because the AMC 30 Dunvale got it almost immediately.  This is impressive because it’s not showing in most other markets yet.  I was lucky enough to catch it at the New York City Premiere last Thursday night at midnight and the line for ticket holders was around the block. 

    But besides the hype, the real question is – is it as scary as folks are saying?  The answer – flippin yes.  Sleep is when you are your most vulnerable and to witness this kind of documentary style footage, real or not, told in this context, is as scary as I’ve ever seen.  I am getting the chills just writing this review.  My head and neck start pulsating every time I tell someone about the film.  I was uncomfortably scared for 90 minutes.  My saving grace is that my wife and I were staying in a hotel next door to the theater, because our house looks exactly like the one in the film and I don’t think I could have gone home that night.  Oooh.  Chills again.  

    So is the movie without problems?  No.  There is one major logic flaw: if you are haunted by a demon – get your butt to a church!  Even Bill Maher would change his tune and kiss the Pope’s ring if a demon was attacking his wife, so why did this couple not at least give it a serious thought?  And if there isn’t a good reason for the couple not to try to get some sort of clergy involved, with the exception of the perhaps the world’s only demonologist who happens to be out of town, then go sleep in a chapel for a night.  But then again – there probably wouldn’t be much of a film then if this scenario played out, and that terrific ending, which just gave me another chill, would have never been caught on camera.  A-

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New on DVD



New on DVD

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Rated G
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
In spite of being a huge Disney fanatic, I’ve never been that much of a fan of Snow White as a movie.  That being said, I’ll freely admit that I do understand that it is arguably the most important animated film ever made.  When Walt Disney suggested the idea of a feature-length animated film in the 1930s, the idea was unheard of.  After all, why would anyone want to watch a cartoon that is more than 5 minutes long?  The movie was supposed to be a disaster, and had it been anything less than it was, who knows if we would have had the rich tradition of animated films since.  One of the special features on the disks even suggests that The Wizard of Oz was only greenlit after Snow White’s success, and without the success of this particular fantasy, we might have never have seen the likes like Dorothy or Luke Skywalker grace the screen.  I’d say that makes a movie important.  The film itself has numerous special features, but my favorite is an interactive tour through Hyperion Studios, the studio that housed the early Disney artists.  A+



The National Parks: America’s Best Idea
Unrated
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Filmmaker Ken Burns brings us his next masterpiece with this look at our national parks in this twelve hour documentary that was almost a decade in the making.  Exploring the history of natural treasures and the reasons why some of our great leaders tried to protect them, Burns uses archival footage in combination with stunning cinematography from the majority of our national parks, to augment the masterful storytelling that we have come to expect from him.  While Burns has impressed us in the past with his documentaries on Jazz, Baseball, and WWII, I can’t help but feel that this is his both his best looking and most compelling story yet. A


Man vs. Food
Unrated
Available on DVD
Three of the things I love most in life are entertainment, food and travel, so there’s no surprise that I’m hooked on the Travel Channel’s hit show Man vs. Food which follows Adam Richman as he travels around America discovering its greatest pig-out spots.  In every city he visits, he also takes one of its famous food challenges, from eleven pound pizzas in Atlanta, to tackling eight plates of breakfast tacos in Austin, to wolfing down the world’s hottest curry in New York City.  The show is very addictive and the only thing the DVD lacks is a trip to H-Town.  The nerve!  A-

Assassination of a High School President
Rated R for sexual content, some nudity, language, and drug and alcohol use – all involving teens
Available on DVD
When a budding high school journalist is tricked into committing a character assassination piece against the reigning student body president, he tries desperately to both get his mistakes corrected and blow the whistle on the real guilty party.  Distracting him along the way is the president’s ex, played by Mischa Barton, who he unexpectedly becomes romantically entangled with.  The pic makes for a decent enough high school drama/mystery, but fails to reach any real significance with its complicated plot.  Also, the addition of Bruce Willis as the principle whose biggest concern is to get kids to stop chewing gum in school was funny at first, but got a little silly after a while.  That being said, the film is very convincing at portraying rich white kids as vindictive little monsters and some of the worst villains you could possibly go up against.  C+


IMAX: Dinosaurs Alive!
Unrated
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Dinosaurs Alive! takes a look at many of the different dinos from millions of years past, how we found out about them, and what their particular skills and traits were.  On a big IMAX screen, with 3D glasses, this film is truly impressive and really does come alive.  Unfortunately, on a anything smaller, and in 2D, the results are less than impressive.  The science is very basic and overly dramatic, and the film, at less than an hour, is not exactly compelling.  The documentary on how the film was made is actually a nice special feature worth checking out though.  C

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Surrogates



Surrogates

Starring Bruce Willis, Ving Rhames, and James Cromwell
Directed by Jonathan Mostow (Terminator 3)
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence, disturbing images, language, sexuality, and a drug-related scene
Appropriate for ages 13+

    Set in the future, humans no longer have to leave their homes, but rather they project themselves into young-looking robotic surrogates that can live their lives for them, keeping them completely safe from harm and always looking their best.  When someone invents a weapon that can kill the human owner through its surrogate, the police, led by agent Tom Greer (Willis) must find how to stop this weapon from killing off not only the surrogates, but all of their human owners as well.

    Stealing from films such as Total Recall and The Matrix, the story isn’t entirely original, but none the less still feels like it could have been penned by Philip K Dick himself as maybe one his lesser stories.  The tale is a little preachy in regard to trying to show what we could all be like if we stop getting out there in the real world and spend all of our time behind our computers.  Then again, maybe the preaching is necessary.  

    Future theory aside, what most folks will want to know is the quality of the action, and overall, it’s not bad.  There’s loads of violence, chases, and other miscellaneous action-junkie fodder.  In other words, you won’t need a long attention span to enjoy.

    That being said, some of the plot is a bit confusing and/or just doesn’t make sense.  But by the time you get to the end,  you just want to see how it’s going to go down and how they are going to get to the great trailer moments you’ve already seen (shame on them).  

    The biggest problem with the film is that Bruce Willis seems miscast.  Maybe it’s because he was trying to act tired since he was used to using a surrogate, or maybe because he was tired since he can’t do these types of roles the way he used to.  I like him in the action roles, but this one just didn’t feel right.  It makes me wonder what the film would have been like with a Vin Diesel or a Hugh Jackman in the lead.  B-

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New on DVD



New on DVD

Away We Go
Rated R for language and some sexual content
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Sam Mendes (American Beauty) directs John Krasinski (The Office) and Maya Rudolph (SNL) in this little indie about an expecting couple that travels around North America looking for a place that they can finally consider a true home for themselves and their new baby.  The pic feels more like a thought-provoking buddy road trip movie than a romantic comedy, although there are enough laughs to keep the film well in the comedy genre.  But I think it’s the tears that folks will remember the most and the performances by the leads here are truly touching.  There are also a bevy of interesting characters to keep your attention throughout, with great cameos by a host of terrific actors like Catherine O’Hara, Jeff Daniels, Allison Janney, and Maggie Gyllenhaal.  Check out the extra on how the cast and crew went out of their way to keep the film’s carbon footprint to a bare minimum.   A-

Management
Rated R for language
Available on DVD
If you are like me and you were hoping that Jennifer Anniston’s latest theatrical release Love Happens would have been a romantic comedy instead of whatever that was, check out this very low budget pic starring Anniston and Steve Zahn.  Anniston is a bored salesperson staying in a cheap motel in the middle of nowhere and Zahn is the son of the owners of said establishment.  When his cute but kind of creepy moves prove effective, a very different kind of relationship is forged and what we get is one of the better rom coms of the last few years.  Don’t let the art house label scare you off.  If this would have been released in theaters by Paramount it would have made a killing.  I just hope it gets a better second life on DVD.  A-

The Girlfriend Experience
Rated R for sexual content and language
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Between big box-office releases, director Steven Soderbergh (The Informant!) likes to push out an occasional very low budget indie.  The Girlfriend Experience tells the story of a high-end prostitute (played by adult film star Sasha Grey) as she attempts to live a half-way normal life, including her committed relationship with her personal trainer boyfriend.  Granted, too much time is spent exploring her boyfriend’s career and not the subject at hand, but still, the film is a fascinating and fresh look at the world’s oldest profession and the most surprising thing is that the movie isn’t at all about sex. B

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
Rated R
Available on Blu-ray
This obscure little film, which just so happened to be named one of Entertainment Weekly’s 20 Scariest Movies of All Time, is making its much anticipated blu-ray debut.  Loosely based on the real life serial killer Henry Lee Lucas, the story follows Henry, living in Chicago with his sociopathic friend Otis and Otis’s sister Becky.  As he and Otis travel around committing acts of random murder, Henry becomes romantically involved with Becky, putting a strain on his relationship with Otis.  The movie is definitely sick and twisted.  I wouldn’t call it scary, but I would use the word disturbing.  Even more disturbing is the documentary on the real life Henry Lee Lucas who committed many of his murders in the state of Texas.  I’m actually very thankful they didn’t make the film completely accurate after watching that doc.  I’m even more thankful Lucas is not around to see it.  B

The Universe Seasons 1-3
Unrated
Available on Blu-ray
The complete History Channel series The Universe is available in this 10 blu-ray set filled with pretty much everything you ever wanted to know about the universe we live in.  While the production isn’t quite up to Cosmos standards, and the animation is a little bit and miss, the content is very interesting and the examples made, while sometimes a little cheesy, are usually entertaining.  Sometimes there is a feeling that there’s not quite enough to fill each hour-long episode and that they are stretching a bit, but it seems that that is the route many of the science programs are going nowadays.  Still, if your goal is to learn about everything outside of the Planet Earth, this set will fully educate you.  B-

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The Informant!

The Informant!

Starring Matt Damon, Scott Bakula, and Joel McHale
Directed by Steven Soderbergh (Ocean’s Eleven)
Rated R for language
Appropriate for ages 15+

    When Mark Whitacre (Damon) starts lying to protect himself from crimes he has committed at work, he volunteers to serve as a star witness to the FBI against his company in order to protect himself. 

    There’s a whole lot more to the film than that last statement, but I’d hate to give anything else away because it’s all just too much fun to discover for yourself.  To think that this film is a true story is absolutely amazing.

    The story itself isn’t that excitement.  A whistle blower from an agricultural company works with the FBI to have his company investigated for price fixing.  Wow.  Yawn.  So what makes it fun?  Matt Damon.  Damon brings a life to this character that I’m sure the real life character could have never given off.  He narrates the film so that we as the audience know exactly what is going on at all times, but then his inner monologue goes off on tangents like a dog being distracted by a squirrel.  So even when there is some serious stuff going down on screen, you hear him getting distracted and off subject and you can’t help but wonder what the heck he is going to say next.  As a character he is one of the most entertaining I’ve seen in years.  He had me in stitches from start to finish.  As a performance, his is the best I’ve seen this year – by far.  I don’t know if that will be my final synopsis in December, but nine months out of ten ain’t bad. 

    Directing-wise, this is Soderbergh’s best work since Traffic.  The film is well-paced and well-crafted.  Of course it helps when you have a script of this quality from Bourne Ultimatum writer Scott Z. Burns. 

    So consider yourself informed – you gotta see this movie!  A

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New on DVD

New on DVD

Observe and Report
Rated R for pervasive language, graphic nudity, drug use, sexual content and violence
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Seth Rogen is the anti-Paul Blart in this dark comedy about a drug using, power abusing mall cop that has two goals: 1) catch and kill the flasher that exposed himself to his dream girl and 2) join the police force.  This is a sick and twisted tale that is probably just what you would expect from writer/director Jody Hill, the creator of the HBO show Eastbound and Down.  Seth is convincing as the psycho wannabe cop, although Anna Faris, Ray Liotta, as well as the rest of the cast serve as caricatures more than believable human beings.  Still, if you are in the right mood, I think you will find this to be an enjoyable film with some very big laughs.  B

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Season 4
Not rated but contains adult content
Available on DVD
I’ll admit that I’ve let this little FX sitcom about the worst-run bar in Philadelphia escape me now for four years.  I thought I would watch a couple of episodes for review here just to see what it was about, and now I can’t believe I’ve let this one get away for so long.  This is one incredibly funny show.  Always Sunny follows Danny DeVito and a group of four twenty-somethings as they badly run a bar in Philly.  But in all of the episodes, each incredibly flawed character tries to scheme and plot against one another until the laughs build to a huge crescendo.  This is not nice-guy comedy, but the really good ones rarely are.  To see for yourself, check out one of the few episodes available on hulu.com and then you might be like me – completely hooked.  I devoured the show on this three DVD set, and then set my DVR for Season 5.  A

O’Horten
Rated PG-13 for brief nudity
Available on DVD
Norwegian with English subtitles
This Norwegian import follows the strange life of retired train engineer Odd Horten (appropriately named, even if it is in Norwegian) as he tries to figure out what to do in his post-retirement life.  Maybe I wasn’t in the right frame of mind while watching this movie, but it just never sank in for me.  Its humor is very subtle and while it is a comedy of sorts, the comedy is so deadpan and absurdist that while it occasionally brought a smile to my face, I never did find it to be terribly funny.  I did, however, find it interesting if that is any concession.  His little adventures are far from boring and I kept asking myself what I would do if put in similar circumstances.  B-

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past
Rated PG-13 for sexual content throughout, some language and a drug reference
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Garner star in this not very romantic romantic comedy about a womanizing photographer who goes through the Dickens ghosts with girlfriends past, present, and future in order to show him how horrible his life truly is.  From start to finish this is just nothing but a bad film.  Badly acted, poorly directed, and lazily written, Ghosts is one of those films that has a decent premise, but terrible execution.  This is really surprising too since the writers of this trash also turned in a little hit called The Hangover and the director has done some decent work himself including the hit Mean Girls.  Of course it doesn’t help when your two leads lack any sort of chemistry and the judge of romance is that the hero suddenly doesn’t want to sleep with the other brides maids any longer.  Give me a break.  This is not a romantic comedy, but rather an unfunny sex comedy that tries to convince women desperate for the latest rom com to bite like a worm on a hook.  I say don’t bite.  While they’ll eventually throw you back, why spend all that wasted time in the boat?  F

The Hannibal Lecter Collection
Featuring the films Manhunter, The Silence of the Lambs, and Hannibal
Rated R for strong gruesome violence, some nudity, and language
Available on Blu-ray
If you are ready for a night or weekend of cannibalistic terror, this 3 Blu-ray set includes all three of the major Lecter stories in stunning hi def.  While I did like Red Dragon better than Manhunter (they were both based on the same book) Manhunter was the film that started it all and deserves to be included in the same set.  While Anthony Hopkins didn’t show up till Lambs, Brian Cox makes for a very good Hannibal and CSI’s William Petersen under Michael Mann’s direction creates one of the 80’s greatest police thrillers.  Once Hopkins came on board though, Silence of the Lambs turned in an exceptional Oscar run and brought the Thomas Harris series to the forefront.  The brutally violent Hannibal furthered Lecter’s killing spree as he escapes from prison and goes after a new set of victims.  All in all, this is a great collection of stomach-turning films that any horror film or cop thriller buff will want to add to their collection.  Manhunter B+  The Silence of the Lambs A  Hannibal B