At long last, Spike Jonze’s adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are arrives in theaters this weekend. Did Bob Cashill have a wild rumpus at his screening, or did he send Jonze to bed without supper?
Thanksgiving: For some, that time of the year to reconnect with friends and family, to eat plenty of turkey and trimmings, and figure out what to gift Aunt Ida with this Christmas. For filmgoers, a big fat plate of depression, as the movies grim up, some chasing Oscars and prestige, others going for our wallets, and all of them leaving us in serious need of candy canes and eggnog.
This season’s champ is clearly the feel-good urban horror movie Precious. It leaves no stone unturned to flatten us. A partial checklist of miseries: Poverty. Illiteracy. Morbid obesity. Incest and rape with dad. Two-time teenage pregnancy, the first resulting in a Down’s syndrome child matter-of-factly named “Mongo.” Oh, and it’s 1987, as AIDS did its worst to decimate whole communities. The movie is based, as the subtitle tells us, on the novel Push by Sapphire, and it pushes hard, squashing our tearducts. I smell a musical.
But wait, it gets worse. Poor Precious (Gabourey Sidibe), the punching bag of the title, is stuck in a festering, shades-drawn-tight Harlem apartment with her monster mother, played, in a performance of epic degeneracy, by Mo’Nique. Director Lee Daniels has conceived the film as a kind of fairy tale, with the big-boned actress as an unstoppable seven-headed dragon. From her sweaty couch she smokes incessantly, drinks buckets of Sunkist orange soda, defrauds the welfare authorities, and treats her daughter as her personal slave, hurling everything including the TV at her and poor Mongo—and she uses Precious for sexual gratification, too. Come awards time Mo’Nique should be whisked from the red carpet and transferred to the Hague to stand trial for crimes against humanity. (more…)
Spike Jonze has given us more pleasure than most other filmmakers, just in smaller doses. Like this:
And this:
And of course this:
A Spike Jonze short film of Maurice Sendak’s pint-sized classic Where the Wild Things Are might have been solid gold. (An animated short was produced in 1973.) But Jonze has attempted a full-length, live-action version, which makes no sense. Then again, on paper, Being John Malkovich (1999) and Adaptation (2002) didn’t make a lot of sense, either, but he and screenwriter Charlie Kaufman conjured movie magic from them. There was hope. (more…)
It’s very rare for a high-concept comedy to work on a consistent level. Often, the movie is only funny in concept and only contains enough successful jokes to string together an amusing trailer. This is not the case with Ricky Gervais’ (co-creator of The Office) co-directorial debut, The Invention of Lying.
While watching, I couldn’t help but be reminded of the classic Bill Murray comedy Groundhog Day. Both stories involve individuals who stumble upon a special ability and proceed to go through the natural stages any omniscient being might: exploitation for personal gain, assisting those in need, and then, ultimately, solving personal romantic struggles.
The Invention of Lying takes place in a world in which lying isn’t just non-existent, but also completely unfathomable. People tell each other exactly what they think, which leads to some very scathing insults at the expense of Gervais’ character, Mark Bellison. Not only do all the characters treat one another with the most brutal form of honesty, but also advertisements and signage follow the same rule (an honest TV commercial for Coke may be the funniest part of the movie). (more…)
Hot on the heels of his new novel Juliet, Naked is Nick Hornby’s screenplay for An Education. Though the writer’s name is a selling point for the film (a rare honor for a lowly scribe) don’t expect the pop- and sports-obsessed musings of the movies based on his books About a Boy, Fever Pitch, and High Fidelity. Based on a memoir by Lynn Barber, this one’s about a girl. And what interesting company 16-year-old Jenny (Carey Mulligan) proves to be.
An Education takes place in 1961, just before London started to swing. From the start, the movie is excellent at signifiers: The period production design (Andrew McAlpine), art direction (Ben Smith), set decoration (Anna Lynch-Robinson), and costume design (Odile Dicks-Mireaux) all show a proper, if mildewed, English reserve, and the lighting, by John de Borman, has an uncanny restraint, as if it too is being rationed. Conservatively raised by parents Jack (Alfred Molina) and Marjorie (Cara Seymour), Jenny would seem to be far from the epicenter of the cultural earthquake that would collapse the fifties into the sixties. But she’s a little braver, and more precocious, than her schoolmates, to the occasional dismay of her teacher, Miss Stubbs (Olivia Williams), and the institution’s headmistress (Emma Thompson), who see her as Oxford material.
However, the enigmatic businessman who gives Jenny a ride home one day in his Bristol roadster, David (Peter Sarsgaard), sees her as something else. At least twice her age, and Jewish to boot, David is enchanted by his slightly thorny rose, who is in turn captivated by his stories of Paris and his familiarity with the worlds of art auctions, nightclubs, and racetracks. That David’s business partner, Danny (Dominic Cooper, from Mamma Mia! and The History Boys) and Danny’s girlfriend, the sexy but scatter-brained Helen (Rosamund Pike), are a rougher sort, and that the nature of their business is on the shady side isn’t too worrying. Jenny’s hooked, and so, to her surprise, are her parents, who buy the couple’s white lies, figuring that her association with a worldly type who brags about his friendship with C.S. Lewis can only improve her chances of getting into Oxford. (more…)
As the financial divide between fan and athlete grows with each year, our superstitions are becoming all that we have to identify with our favorite teams. We rarely get to the stadium these days, because we can’t afford tickets. And when we do, too often we find ourselves sitting next to some polo shirt-wearing bozo who arrives late, yaps on his cell phone, and leaves early to avoid traffic.
So we hold fast to our lucky jerseys, rally caps, and gameday superstitions, because we know that the slightest deviation from the rituals will, through a macabre act of synchronicity, cause our team to lose, crush our dreams and bring shame upon our community. We want – no, need – to think that, in some way, we have a positive impact on their team’s performance.
But what happens when an average fan’s actions genuinely hurt the team? This is the heart of Big Fan, the new dark film by Robert Siegel (The Wrestler). It stars comedian Patton Oswalt (Ratatouille) as Paul Aufiero, a 36-year old parking attendant who still lives with his mother – his childhood bedroom decked out with New York Giants memorabilia (the late-80s vintage “SIMMS 11” New York license plate was a great touch). (more…)
Did you know that one home is foreclosed every 7 1/2 seconds in the United States? Or that millions of unsuspecting Americans have secret life insurance policies taken out on them by the very companies they work for? If you didn’t, Michael Moore is here to tell you all about it in his new film Capitalism: A Love Story. So sit back and prepare for history class…
It’s been 20 years since Michael Moore burst onto the film scene with his first documentary, Roger & Me. Although his films have gotten bigger in budget and broader in scope, one thing hasn’t changed: Moore’s decisive uphill battle to point out what he perceives as the ills which face this country, and possible ways to correct them. All of this dedication comes to the fore in Capitalism: A Love Story, which details not just the history of capitalism itself, but how much the dream has changed from an idealistic vision that could have allowed us to live in a financial utopia, to a nightmarish quagmire that threatens to collapse our economy at any moment, based on the insatiable avaricious behavior of the 1% rich that unfortunately hold power over all of us. (more…)
To Hollywood’s credit, there’ve been a lot of female-focused thriller/horror films coming out lately. It’s almost as if production studios in La-La Land have suddenly realized there’s a feminine demographic they could cater to/exploit. Unfortunately for the ladies, studios still think that they can just throw anything at audiences and get away with it, which is why so many of the recent “girl power”-type films have been lousy.
The new horror/comedy Jennifer’s Body, written by Diablo Cody (instantly famous for penning the brilliant Juno) and directed by Karyn Kusama (AEon Flux and Girlfight, the latter of which bestowed upon the world the dubious gift of Michelle Rodriguez) is without a doubt the best of the bunch to come along thus far, although given its surprisingly uneven narrative, that’s not saying much.
First off, for those of you who are wondering: yes, Kusama kept in the scene where the two leads Jennifer (Megan Fox) and her oddly named best friend Needy (Amanda Seyfried) share a “controversial” lesbian kiss. It’s in close-up, it’s almost two minutes long, and for those who are attracted to such, it’s a very satisfying scene. Not since Susan Sarandon got it on with Catherine Deneuve in 1983’s The Hunger have two women looked so good together. Sorry to spoil it for you though, Fox and Seyfried only almost end up in bed together. (more…)
Before we begin, a brief warning to all parents considering taking the wee ones to see Focus Features’ latest, 9. Be certain that whatever kids you’re taking are stout of heart, because there are some creatures within this film–and the actions they take against the main characters–that may seriously frighten younger children. The film’s rated PG-13 for a reason, so consider yourself duly noted.
As for 9 itself–only the second animated film from Focus following their highly successful Coraline–the movie is amazingly entertaining and visually striking. In spite of its ending, which left me sort of flat, it’s very possible this film might make it onto my Top 5 list at the end of the year.
9 takes place in a not-too-distant future, wherein humanity has been betrayed and destroyed by the highly intelligent machines they’ve built. Any similarities to the Terminator franchise end there however, immediately upon the introduction of the titular hero (voiced by Elijah Wood)–a stitchwork figure only inches tall, brought to life by an infusion of part of the very soul of its creator…the scientist who created the machines’ A.I., ironically to usher in an age of peace. The peace has been achieved, all right: the peace of the grave, brought to vivid life via scenes of ruined landscapes and brief glimpses of dead bodies, among them a mother still clutching her child. (more…)
It’s Labor Day Weekend, and if you’re like me, you’re off to the movies. What to see: The unstoppable Sandra Bullock in another romantic comedy? Gamer? Hmmm…maybe a double feature, the unstoppable Sandra Bullock in another romantic comedy andGamer? (What the heck is Gamer? Doesn’t a sequel to The Crow usually fly into this spot?)
No, you’re not like me. But I’ve got news for you: I’m not like me, either. Drag me to hell: I’m not gonna sit on my ass in some multiplex when the best weather of the season has arrived at the 11.5th hour. I’m going to sit outside and taunt the kids who have to go back to school on Tuesday—man, I hated Labor Day Weekend when I was a kid, knowing that the school bus was going to pull up like Charon the ferryman to escort me back to Hades.
Summer. It was good, now it’s dead. And it’s time to reflect on the corpse.
Boxoffice-wise, the top five films of the season were the Transformers and Harry Potter sequels, Up, The Hangover, and Star Trek. I saw the last three. (In a simpler time in my life, say any day before Aug. 25, 2008, I would have seen them all. The franchises got the boot.) And they were good. Well, The Hangover and Star Trek were good; I can’t say I got down with Up, which struck me as minor Pixar, not out-of-gas Pixar like Cars but a little thin. Still, I’ll buy the DVD—except for Cars, I have them all, even Monsters Inc. and Finding Nemo—and give it another spin. (more…)
I’ve been dying for Inglourious Basterds to reach its official release date, so I could finally talk with you about this movie.
When reading a review, everyone always wants to skip right to the point: Is it any good? Should I spend my hard-earned money to go see it?
Well, let’s cut to the chase then with a nice, small hint: Not only will Inglourious Basterds make my Top 5 Best Films list at the end of this year, but I’m already looking forward to buying the DVD whenever it comes out, so I can revel in the brutal playground of director Tarantino’s semi-historical revenge flick over and over again! So, yes…go see it.
![the_invention_of_lying_poster[1]](http://popdose.com/wp-content/uploads/the_invention_of_lying_poster1.jpg "the_invention_of_lying_poster[1]")
It’s very rare for a high-concept comedy to work on a consistent level. Often, the movie is only funny in concept and only contains enough successful jokes to string together an amusing trailer. This is not the case with Ricky Gervais’ (co-creator of The Office) co-directorial debut, The Invention of Lying.
![big_fan_377x566[1]](http://popdose.com/wp-content/uploads/big_fan_377x5661.jpg "big_fan_377x566[1]")
As the financial divide between fan and athlete grows with each year, our superstitions are becoming all that we have to identify with our favorite teams. We rarely get to the stadium these days, because we can’t afford tickets. And when we do, too often we find ourselves sitting next to some polo shirt-wearing bozo who arrives late, yaps on his cell phone, and leaves early to avoid traffic.
Did you know that one home is foreclosed every 7 1/2 seconds in the United States? Or that millions of unsuspecting Americans have secret life insurance policies taken out on them by the very companies they work for? If you didn’t, Michael Moore is here to tell you all about it in his new film Capitalism: A Love Story. So sit back and prepare for history class…
To Hollywood’s credit, there’ve been a lot of female-focused thriller/horror films coming out lately. It’s almost as if production studios in La-La Land have suddenly realized there’s a feminine demographic they could cater to/exploit. Unfortunately for the ladies, studios still think that they can just throw anything at audiences and get away with it, which is why so many of the recent “girl power”-type films have been lousy.
Before we begin, a brief warning to all parents considering taking the wee ones to see Focus Features’ latest, 9. Be certain that whatever kids you’re taking are stout of heart, because there are some creatures within this film–and the actions they take against the main characters–that may seriously frighten younger children. The film’s rated PG-13 for a reason, so consider yourself duly noted.
I’ve been 