Where The Wilds Things Are Review

Where the Wild Things Are: Ultra-creative filmmaker Spike Jonze adopts the beloved children's book that was penned in 1963 by Maurice Sendak. Considering that the source material is less than 350 words cover-to-cover, one might wonder if there is enough substance to fill a 95 minute feature film. There is no need to worry, Spike Jonze does an amazing job of staying true to the spirit of the book while expanding the adventure! The story begins with Max (played tremendously by newcomer Max Records) playing outside his house with neighborhood kids. In just a few minutes of screen time we get an understanding of Max's high energy level, be it running around destroying things or crumbling down emotionally when things do not work out for him. Also explained in the opening moments of the film is the dynamic family situation Max finds himself involved in and how he perceives it. After angering his mom one night while she has a new boyfriend over, Max runs outside of his house and into the land of the Wild Things. It is here where the film impresses the most. I found it astonishing how well the film captured the wonderment of a child's imagination. The movie does not spoon feed you the correlation between the real world and Max's imaginative world. Instead, it does it very subtly and extremely beautifully. Accompanying Jonze's fantastic images is a haunting musical score that heightens the movie's emotions. Because the film is ultimately an exploration of imagination, I suspect that younger viewers will not find the film all that captivating. However for me, a young man that is a kid at heart, this is one of the year's best!!

Ry's Rating: B+

If this movie had parents they would be: The Never Ending Story & Finding Neverland

With a runtime of 98 minutes

this film is rated PG

A Serious Man Review

A Serious Man: The Coen Brothers' latest effort focuses on a Midwestern Jewish man who is on the verge of a breakdown. Larry Gopnik is a married man and the father of two who sees his life unravel from just about every angle. For starters, his wife asks him for a divorce so that she can marry a friend of the family who is a recent widower. His 12-year-old son's main hobbies are getting high and listening to Jefferson Airplane. Meanwhile, he is up for tenure at the school he teaches at, but even that seems like it is about to become a disaster. Larry looks to his faith for answers on why all of this is happening, but he is having trouble finding an answer. If we have learned anything about the Coen Brothers throughout the years, it is that they are masters at creating and showcasing unique perspectives on distinctive characters. A Serious Man is no exception, the characters are so well written that humor pours out of their smallest actions. However, because the film plays so heavily on Jewish heritage I found myself missing out on a lot of that humor. In fact, at times I felt like an outsider looking in at the party. The film also features a serious side that tackles both morals and faith, but that failed to have enough substance and as a result did not work for me. In the Coen Brothers' filmography this would land somewhere in the middle............I'm serious.

Ry's Rating: B- (RAB: Rental At Best)

If this movie had parents they would be: Falling Down & Doubt

9 Movie Review

9: Gorgeous animation wasted on a sub-par story! The opening scenes set the right tone while showing this film's huge potential. Our main character, a sock puppet named 9 awakens for the first time in a world that has been decimated by war. Those who fought in the war and why is unknown. As 9 discovers the world around him, he slowly uncovers clues as to what caused this mass destruction and wiped out all of mankind. He also encounters other puppets roaming the desolate landscape, each of them made by the same maker and each of them numbered like him. The leader of the puppets is number 1. He believes that they should stay in hiding until all is quite as they know that there is an evil machine roaming around the land that kills anything that moves. The detailed animation is simply amazing and draws you into this strange world. Unfortunately, the film veers from the eerie discovery theme and chooses to focus on big action sequences. This is a terrible mistake as all of the action takes away from the unique feel of the film. I would have preferred to spend more time with the characters adventuring through different environments revealing clues from the past. Eventually we do get a full explanation as to what caused the war and this too can be noted in the disappointment column. It is a story with themes that we have seen more than once before including the destruction of mankind and man vs. machine. The story is not complex enough and that in turn explains why they chose to fill so much time with loud action sequences. In the end, the lesson we learn from 9 is that above all a movie needs a compelling story in order for all of the eye candy to mean anything.

Ry's Rating: C

If this movie had parents they would be: Wall-E and Terminator 4 salvation

With a runtime of 85 minutes

this film is rated PG-13

Inglourious Basterds Review

Inglourious Basterds: Quentin Tarantino, WWII, Brad Pitt, Jewish-American soldiers out for revenge against the Nazis = Where do I get in line? The premise of the film is straight forward, a group of Jewish-American soldiers led by Lt. Aldo Raine (Pitt) are dropped into Nazi-occupied France. Their object is to kill as many Nazi soldiers as possible, spreading fear among the Third Reich. This would make you believe that the film is going to be filled with a lot of gory action scenes, but that is actually not the case. Instead, the highlights of the movie are the well written Tarantino characters and the well written Tarantino dialogue. Speaking of dialogue, the story is told in a variety of languages including German, French, English and even a little Italian. As for the Tarantino characters I speak of, the show stealer is the German Colonel, Hans Landa played masterfully by Christoph Waltz (Oscar nom for sure). Hans is a detective with the Third Reich that has a specialty for finding Jews in hiding. He is evil, but comical at the same time. Another storyline that eventually crosses that of The Basterds is of a young Jewish girl who owns a cinema in Paris. While concealing her Jewish identity, she begins a relationship with a famous German actor and soldier which leads to a German film premier being held at her cinema. Eventually all of the characters and all of the storylines converge for a memorable night at the movies (yeah, that's a pun). As good as some of the characters were in the movie, I was hoping for a little more out of the group of Basterds. I was expecting them to have that Reservoir Dogs kind of chemistry and that was not the case. They are also not as prevalent in the movie as you would think. This is not all that bad, however, since the other characters are just as, if not more interesting. The film also takes some time to get going, but once it does hit full steam it never slows down. Ultimately, the main star here is Tarantino who has such a unique way of telling stories - and that it is a beautiful thing to behold.

Ry's Rating: B-

If this movie had parents they would be: The Dirty Dozen & Kill Bill

With a runtime of 152 minutes

This film is rated R