9 posts tagged “film”
I went to see a midnight showing of Where The Wild Things Are Thursday night. Coming out of the theatre, I was declaring my love for the film, when one of my friends said, "But it's not a kids movie."
This stopped me dead in my tracks. Not a kids movie? My friend said that it was "too scary" for kids.
Just because the monsters talk of eating the little boy at one point in the film, it's not a kids film? I don't quite understand this. There are plenty of "kids" films with darker messages. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory shows children practically being tortured in a fun factory, yet the film is now a family classic. Even The Wizard of Oz has frightful moments (personally, I think the witch and the monkeys are terrifying -- plus, unlike WTWTA, Dorothy never wins them over to the good side in the end).
It's been a while since I was a child, but are children's movies becoming softer in substance and premise in order for these movies to relate to kids? Are we sheltering kids from scariness and fright to the point where we don't want them to feel anything when they watch a film? I wonder why Wall-E or even Up get recognition for being geared toward children, when really they made politically statements and clocked in with movie times that would leave children bored. I actually described WTWTA as the "closest depiction of growing up on cinema." Yet, perhaps, I felt this way because I watched this movie from an adult perspective.
To me, Where The Wild Things Are is about imagination. There are no computers or text bullying in this film. The movie is about escaping life through your mind. I don't find this so scary, especially since the audience knows that the little boy isn't going to dream up being eaten, digested, then regurgitated.
I just started reading the book Important Artifacts and Personal Property from the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, Including Books, Street Fashion and Jewelry by Leanne Shapton.
The book's format is an auction book, with photographs of items and people acting as remnants of the relationship between Doolan and Morris.
I find the book fascinating. One of the most unique creative works I've ever read. It's a mix of anthropology and pop culture. However, as with any interesting literary work, the big-wigs in Hollywood want to turn this into a crappy movie starring Natalie Portman and Brad Pitt.
Let me just say, BOO. These two are the farthest-from people I would ever imagine in this film. Personally, I think Michelle Williams or Rachel McAdams (she needs redemption after Time Traveller's Wife) would be better choices for "Cakewalk" columnist Lenore Doolan and maybe Hugh Grant for the elder, British photographer (I do not want to hear Brad Pitt feigning a British accent).
Either way, this book is definitely worth checking out. It's an easy read at a little over 100 pages and tells a love story in a whole new way. Catch it in book form before it's tainted with a Lifetime-esque movie trailer.
I'm not usually one to go see Pixar films (I think Disney is the root of all evil in the world), but I've seen two of Pixar's most recent films, including Wall-E and Up.
I absolutely loved Wall-E and thought its social commentary was actually something more adult than childlike. In the near future on Wall-E's version of Earth, everyone is morbidly obese. So obese and gluttonous, that they end up inhabiting a ship in space because the earth is overrun with garbage and pollution. Every human character in Wall-E is at least 200 pounds overweight. Kids, adults -- EVERYONE. The moral of the story is that Pixar wants children to see what waste and over-consuming can do to a planet.
However, when I watched Up (which I also enjoyed), the main character is Russell -- perhaps the fattest Disney character I've ever seen.
Of course, it's not like there have never been chubby characters in a Disney film (see Beauty and the Beast's Lefou), but while watching Up, I was seriously concerned for the well-being and health of this fictitious and albeit animated child. Throughout the whole film, he's hungry and constantly chewing on a chocolate bar. I just kept wondering what Pixar's message was supposed to be. In Wall-E, this child would have been doomed.
While I realize that I'm reading way too much into his weight, it's still something I find interesting yet bothersome. Is Russell a reflection of more and more children being overweight in the United States or simply a representation of a child who is overweight?
I went to see Rian Johnson's The Brothers Bloom the other day and was struck by two things: one, that Wes Anderson might be currently the most copied filmmaker; two, that Rachel Weisz is amazing!
The Brothers Bloom tells the story of two grifting brothers Stephen (Mark Ruffalo) and Bloom (Adrian Brody) who are trying one last con on a rich eccentric heiress (Rachel Weisz). The movie is like the offspring between The Sting and The Royal Tenenbaums.
I enjoyed the movie, but Rachel Weisz's performance was what made it entertaining. Her portrayal of sheltered Penelope was award worthy (although I don't think this movie will be seeing any Oscar nominations). Weisz usually gets lost in the background for me (Definitely, Maybe) or simply serves as the beautiful romantic love interest (About A Boy). However, in this movie, I finally saw her as a full-fledged character, someone who has feelings and that I could root for. She also holds a likeness to my girl Kate Winslet.
Last Friday, I went to see the 2009 Oscar nominated Animated Shorts. The nominees include:
Lavatory - Lovestory directed by Konstantin Bronzit from Russia
Oktapodi - directed by Julien Bocabeille from France
Le Maison en Petits Cubes - directed by Kunio Kato from Japan
This Way Up - directed by Adam Foulkes and Alan Smith from the UK
Presto - directed by Doug Sweetland from United States
Some Oscar predictions are saying that Presto is going to take home the golden statuette:
This was the first time that I ever had the privilege of seeing the Oscar Animated shorts, and it was a real treat. Not only are they short, sweet and to the point, but the whole experience was also interesting because I got a chance to see filmmakers other than Howard and Spielberg. In fact, these shorts are perhaps where future classic directors get their start!
Personally, although I enjoyed Presto, I'm rooting for Le Maison en Petits Cubes on Oscar night. This animated short tells the story of a man who lives in a house that he builds higher and higher in order to escape the flooding in his community (Global Warming lecture, anyone?). However, when the man drops his pipe down a shaft in the house, he decides to strap on his scuba gear and look for it. In the process, he relives memories from his past, when he lived on dry land with his wife and daughter. It was truly one of the most touching movie experiences I've had in recent memory (even more so than Benjamin Button). It's rare that something animated and 12 minutes long could nearly move me to tears. Here's a clip:
While I am still reeling over last week's Oscar nominations, I've turned my grief into listening to Bruce Springsteen's "The Wrestler" over and over again. What a great song from a great movie. I urge anyone and everyone to see this movie, even if you have to make an hour's drive to see it (damn select city movies!).
I spend about eight to nine months of my life trying to predict Academy Award nominations and winners, from early summer to midwinter. Sad, I know. My friend and I strategize like those people who discuss game scenarios for the Superbowl. "If people like Benjamin Button enough, Cate Blanchett could replace Sally Hawkins in the Best Actress race?" "Dev Patel could be the most hated man in the world if he scores a nomination and beats Heath Ledger." "The Academy loves a crotchety Clint Eastwood role."
With the nominations coming out tomorrow morning, here are my 2009 Oscar nomination predictions in the eight major categories (even though if you ask me again in 10 minutes these are subject to change):
Best Picture: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Dark Knight, Milk, The Reader, and Slumdog Millionaire.
Best Actress: Anne Hathaway for Rachel Getting Married, Sally Hawkins for Happy-Go-Lucky, Angelina Jolie for Changeling, Meryl Streep for Doubt, and Kate Winslet for Revolutionary Road.
Best Actor: Leonardo DiCaprio for Revolutionary Road, Clint Eastwood for Gran Torino, Frank Langella for Frost/Nixon, Sean Penn for Milk, and Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler.
Best Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz for Vicky Christina Barcelona, Viola Davis for Doubt, Taraji P. Henson for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Marisa Tomei for The Wrestler, and Kate Winslet for The Reader.
Best Supporting Actor: Josh Brolin for Milk, Robert Downey Jr. for Tropic Thunder, Philip Seymour Hoffman for Doubt, Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight, and Dev Patel for Slumdog Millionaire.
Best Director: Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire, Clint Eastwood for Gran Torino, David Fincher for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Mike Leigh for Christopher Nolan for The Dark Knight, and Gus Van Sant for Milk.
Best Original Screenplay: Happy-Go-Lucky, Milk, Rachel Getting Married, Wall-E, and The Wrestler.
Best Adapted Screenplay: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Doubt, Frost/Nixon, Revolutionary Road, and Slumdog Millionaire.
I also believe The Curious Case of Benjamin Button will lead the pack with nominations, based on its Makeup, Cinematography, Art Direction, and Costumes.
My New Year's resolution, as it is every year, is to see every movie that is nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. Often times, the films that get nominated don't arrive in my city until weeks after they were released, sometimes way after Christmas.
However, I did get to see one movie during the Holidays that I truly hope gets nominated (and wins!) for Best Foreign Film, as well as a one-in-a-million longshot for Best Picture. It's called Let the Right One In.
The character of Eli (the vampire in female form) is depicted as having a blood-thirsty disease. When she sucks on the necks of her victims, you can see in her shoulders, her body language, that she almost hates herself for killing innocent people. Yet, the activity is necessary to her survival. Thankfully, while some guiltless bystanders do die, some really bad people who deserve their comeuppance get it in the end, as well.
I found this movie to be one of the most interesting films I've seen in a long time. And while you would think the film would be disgusting to watch (and I won't lie -- often times it was), the soft snow flakes and winter scenery make it so you can't look away at points. Never has something so gory been so beautiful.
Because I am self-proclaimed film awards "nerd," I realize that the Oscar race is pretty much set for top contenders including The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Slumdog Millionaire, and Milk. Not only does the kick-ass title itself warrant some kind of award (based on the Smiths' song), but I'd like to hope that this little Swedish gem (from the country that brought you ABBA, after all!) will be considered for a few statuettes. Please Academy voters. Do what the film title suggests.
Last weekend, I went to see the movie Milk, starring Sean Penn as the first openly gay elected official Harvey Milk. The film was amazing. I couldn't stop talking about it on my way home. I called people to tell them that Milk is an especially important movie for today, given the election we just came out of and the still hot-button issue of Proposition 8.
However, another important thing I took out of the movie was very disturbing: my immense attraction for a gay Emile Hirsch.
I've seen him in other movies, including the Sean Penn-directed Into the Wild. I thought Emile was great in that. Cute even. However, I didn't desire him as much as I desired his homosexual character of Cleve Jones in Milk.
Now, I am a self-described "fag hag," but I have never been attracted to gays in a sexual manner, mainly because I know deep down they could never be attracted to me. During Milk, Emile Hirsch's character obviously preferred men over women (there's a brief hot scene between him and Joseph Cross), yet I was still attracted. I dug that he wore short shorts, rocked out the curly hair, and fought for the Gay Rights Movement. I thought to myself, "*Sigh.* If only I could find a guy like him. . ."
Perhaps, more than anything else, my attraction stemmed from the fact that Emile Hirsch is in real-life, presumably, straight. I think I was attracted because a very straight guy was playing a very gay guy, all for the sake of art. Most straight guys get very uncomfortable even talking about homosexuality. But Emile went balls out (pun intended!) and actually played a homosexual -- kissing other men in the film. The liberalism in the statement might have been the other turn-on for me.
Or maybe I have just realized I have a weird fetish for men who act gay. Although, if I did, I don't think I would hate Ryan Seacrest as much as I do.
