Where The Wild Things Are Reviews Start Coming In...

Heaps of praise coming in, for Where The Wild Things Are... here's Harry from Ain't It Cool News...

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE is the very best film I’ve seen this year. Not by a hair, not by a nose, but by a mile. More than that, it could very well be the best film ever created about what it is like to be a 9 year old. Do you remember? 9 years old. How did you play? How did you move? Do you remember the angles that you saw the world from? Did you ever start something that felt like the most fun thing in the world, until it wound up in tears. Do you remember laying at your parents feet as they had a difficult phone call, but you still don’t remember what it was all about, but you felt afraid? And you knew a hug or a story could make it better? WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE will remind you of all these moments… This is the most authentic & brilliant film about childhood that I have ever seen. It is tremendous at every fathomable level. From production design, costumes, dialogue, effects, music, photography, editing, sound design and most of all performances.

Wow! I know my friend Eric has been looking forward to this movie for quite some time... by the sound of things it seems like he's going to be floored by it! Click here for the entire review...

District 9 Breakdown

My good friend Eric went to see District 9 a couple of weeks back but he was majorly distracted by his girl while trying to watch the movie. Not that being distracted by a girl is bad mind you, but hey, movie tickets ain't cheap. Eric said he liked District 9 but that he couldn't help feel a bit unsure since all he could think about during the film was cutting a hole in the bottom of his popcorn box.

So since Eric wasn't able to fully enjoy D9, he decided to see it again, this time with two hot chicks! Just kidding. He went solo so I asked him if he liked it better the second time around. This is what he said -- spoiler free -- via email:

Yes, I did. INFINITELY better!!! Not having the distractions was a HUGE boost to the movie. Still a bit torn on whether it belongs next to Alien or 2001, but it’s close… VERY close. And the more I think about it, the more it does belong with those movies. In breakdown form:

1) DIRECTION

The style of Alien, 2001, and whatever other movie you want to put on par with them has always been at the visual forefront. Not just effects and camera work, but the way the story is actually told. Ridley using his technique and even cadence of dialogue to create a sense of foreboding and closure. District 9 does this too, from the camera work to just how the story is told, there’s a sense that something is off through the entire film.

2) STORY

All those films have had a unique story. Not a hook or a gimmick, something that actually stood out and made the story unique. Again, D9 has it. From the way it portrays the aliens, the government, everything. 

3) CHARACTERS

Here’s were D9 differs a bit from those other movies, or should I say, does what they wanted to do even better. One of the great things about those movies is that for the most part the main hero/heroine is a normal everyday person that turns bad-ass by the end of it. D9 pumps this up to a whole new level. The main character really has zero attributes about him that would allow him to be a hero, and in fact he’s not one. Without spoiling anything it’s more that he manages to get through something rather then actively trying to be a hero. Character’s, like people are self serving, and D9 has amazingly been able to create a character that can be both selfish and at the same time show compassion for someone/thing. 

4) BELIEVABILITY

Again, D9 may have done this better then any other movie. Not in the fake interviews or the sudo-documentary style in the beginning. But rather in how people react to situations, from the aliens, to the government, to the main character. The actions they take are believable through the entire film and there’s never really a “Really?!” moment. Even a noble act in this movie is at some level self serving, and I find that more believable then any Hollywood character ever. Not since Ridley Scott have I seen someone make a world so seamless. I’m talking on-par with Alien, Gladiator, Blackhawk Down. I just believed this was happening, this world existed, and these things were real. I’m not saying that Neil Blomkamp is the next Ridley Scott, who knows, his next could totally flop. But he’s shown he can be on the same level, I’ll leave it at that.

 

That’s my write-up of why the movie could belong up with all the greats. Add onto that the CG is great, action is almost nonstop, it’s well acted, and the tech is just damn cool and you at least have an 8 on your hands. But I’d say it’s more of a 9 if you ask me.

Some serious praise right there. I was planning on seeing D9 last weekend but I got wrapped up in some miscellaneous crap. I'm hoping to catch it within the next couple of weeks... I mean, I have to see it now, especially after hearing Eric rave about it... we usually see eye-to-eye on geek-related shit.

So what have we learned today?

1) District 9 sounds even more awesomer than I thought

2) Don't take your girl to a kick-ass movie because she'll only f#*k up your fun

Have you seen it? Tell me what you think, I'd love to hear...

My Transformers Revenge Of The Fallen Review

Let me preface my little two-minute review by stating even though it was somewhat thin on story and over-the-top on action and destruction, I very much enjoyed the first film, Transformers.

On Tuesday I took my 11 year-old and fourteen year-old boys to see the new Transformers film, Revenge Of The Fallen. I actually considered dropping them off at the theater since I had been made aware that this sequel was — at best — not very good. Right now I think it's floundering somewhere around 20% over at Rotten Tomatoes.

Anyway, much to my chagrin I did go with my sons to watch the movie. I figured hell, if for no other reason than to bond with my kids. They really, really wanted to see it.

So here's my review. Are you ready? Here it is:

Shweeeeeeeeeeedge, whoom, whoom, reaahhh, KOOM, womp-womp-womp-womp, ssssssshhhhatooooooooom, KWOOM-KWOOM-KWOOM-
KWOOM, rakk, BA-GOOM, pow-wow-wow-wow, KREEEEN, takka-takka-takka, reaahhh, ju-ju-ju-ju, creak, fwap, SHAAAAK, reaahhh, reaahhh, shloo-loo-loo-loo, whuuummmm, wak-ak-ak-koom, GOW, GOW, GOW, ssshhhleeen!!

Now repeat that for two and a half hours. Literally.

When I left the theater I felt violated. Visually. Auditorily. And I felt like the victim of some kind of scam. That I sat there and willingly wasted two and a half hours of my life, to me, was crazy town.

Look, I know a movie about talking robots from space that turn into (primarily) GM vehicles isn't exactly Shakespeare — and I realize the plot for said ridiculousness would be fairly thin if not non-existent — but holy christ, at what point did Michael Bay decide he would pummel people's heads in with mangled wreckage and explosions for an entire movie?

Shakespeare--------------Michael Bay

My understanding is that yes, Orci and Kurtzman (the same writing team behind the first Transformers movie and the new Trek film, among others) penned the script, but that Bay stormed his way through the script and assembled the carnage any way that he saw fit regardless of any cohesive plot. I could be wrong, I don't have evidence to back this up, but the general concensus seems to point to this theory. Why else would this film be such a disaster? And why would anyone be so hell-bent on pummeling the audience all the way through the movie rather than build-up to a climactic ending? Come on, this is basic storytelling here. You don't hose everyone down with everything you've got during an entire movie! I guess Bay figures, "Wouldn't it be a better fireworks show if the 'finale' was from beginning to end, just 110% fireworks all the way through?" This is not a fireworks show, this is a movie, and I have to disagree.

And I won't even mention all the terrible, terrible jokes, the "hey, we're a couple of robots from the hood, complete with gold teeth, ebonics, and we can't read either!" racism, the gratuitous-to-a-new-degree Megan Foxx camera angles and the stupidest line in all of moviedom: "I'm under the scrotum!"

Now I know why the phrase "Damn you, Michael Bay!" is so popular on geek sites like Ain't It Cool News.

For all the action going on, you'd think a person would be captivated, right? I fell asleep twice. And I wasn't tired when I walked in. This movie drained me. It drained me like those scary bird people drained the essence out of the f#%*ing podlings in The Dark Crystal (excellent movie, btw). That's how much it drained me!


So the movie ended and the credits started to roll. Before I got negative about the film to my kids I wanted to find out what they thought... I didn't want to taint their responses. As we walked out of the theater, I said, "So that was a lot of action! Did you guys get your money's worth?" My eleven year-old replied, "No. That was bad. It had no story, just constant destruction!" My fourteen year-old said, "It was okay." And for him to say that translated to "It pretty much sucked."

Regardless of the gazillions of dollars this thing is raking in, a word to anyone interested in a career in filmmaking: Don't use this movie as an example of how to make a good action flick... use it as an example of what not to do.

In the meantime, Michael Bay is laughing all the way to the bank. We are suckers.