The Spiderwick Chronicles

I saw this on DVD just recently. This is a well made film and is certainly worth a rent for an afternoon of getting your fantasy geek on. It's got good effects and it isn't light on being a little dangerous. The only downfalls to it are the two boy actors whose inexperience on screen really make it tough to champion them and the sister who as a character is so annoying. The story is taken from a children's series for young readers and it shows. I have no involvement or much care for the 'plot' nor the hokey mom doing what's best for her kids even if they hate her because dad is a womanizing jerk that has no cares for his kids once they are out of sight and out of mind subplot. Yeesh. That said though, it's a decent laundry movie.

I give Spiderwick Chronicles a 3 out of 5 stars.

The Dark Knight

I saw this movie at an early showing of 10 AM and was amazed at how few people were there. Yeah, it's early, but with all the hype, I still expected there to be more than like five of us at the showing, but you know, that's okay with me. Not having to put with a steady stream of the usual over crowded theater goers was just fine with me. This movie could have been on a bigger screen. I swore that this theater actually had a large screen upon which we saw The Two Towers, but now, after actually scoring a viewing "in the big room" I can say that it no longer exists. They must have cut it down to fit in another cinema.

This movie has been described as eating free ice cream off an ice cream truck. Once you get to the end, it's still great, it's still ice cream, but you're ready to be done. I think that comes from just how long this film is. I think it's about 20 minutes too long. The ending should have been the beginning of movie 3. Not that it detracts - it is after all ice cream and ice cream is still pretty good even after 2 1/2 hours.

The movie is loud, but unlike the first film, its loud in the right places with much better sound direction and music. The cinematography is much better in that the fights are not up close and blurry, you can see more of what is happening. I think the actual dialog is weaker than the first, but not by much. There is though some heavy lifting on the parts of Bale, Freeman, Oldman, Eckhart and Caine to keep the dialog from not falling into comic book parody.

In fact, it is the dialog that almost took me out of the film at it's opening. During what should have been a no dialog sequence, you have henchmen right out of the Batman TV show from the 1960's telling you what they are going to do in the hammiest of ham-fisted ways. It was almost, "Hey you mugs, get outta da way. Youse needs to be takin' care o' da bosses business!", in it's hokiness and it took a few minutes for the film to overcome it. I was now paying attention to the dialog and every time it slipped it made me cringe instead of just glossing over it to get to the next bit.

Once pass that, it's pure ice cream. As the comic book quality gives over to the dark knight you roll through so many emotions and changes that by the end you are sold on the moral tale they are trying to tell. It works. The morality twist of just who is crazy and what is crazy sells itself perfectly and gives new vitality and solid motivation to the Harvey Dent character and leaves it way open for a slam bang of a Batman 3, in fact it could leave itself open that Batman 3 is THE END of the series and the end of Batman. Of course they wont do that, but they seriously set it up that way.

It is violent and often frightening. You don't see the gore, for the most part, but you don't need to. Heath Ledger is amazing as the Joker. This is a fitting part for him to have as a final go out, but I can understand why playing this role disturbed him for sometime afterward. How do you unwind from having this character in your head? This is no fake laughing clown, this is a seriously deranged demon. One of the most telling moments is when Batman is battering him to get him to give up some information and he is just laughing and joking with him because he knows the one piece of Batman's psyche that is his to exploit. The audience also then realizes just what a menace both of them actually are. How many innocents get killed via Joker's capers? How many get killed because Batman can't save them all?

So this is the superhero movie of superhero movies. Yes. Better than Spider-man 2, better than Iron Man. Better than Hellboy. This is the new yard stick for these types of films. Once it got more into James Bond and police chief vs mobsters, it really started to come alive and not just resolve itself to Batman beating up on the Joker's henchmen. There are many holy crap! moments, tearful moments and several good scares and shocks. There is a Barbara Gordon in this movie and a potential Robin, but Bale is not just no, but OH HELL no, to there being a Robin or a side kick. I could see a punk vigilante that comes into the picture, but not a Robin. I agree with him on that.

I can only give this film a 4 1/2 *'s out of 5 due only to the poor, oh so poor, choice of dialog at the beginning.

The Happening

Oh M. Night, why do you do this to me? This is going to be a bit of a short review because I'm at work, but I had to get this out there. DO NOT SEE THIS MOVIE! I saw this yesterday and I honestly can't think of one good thing to say about it. I am a fan of Mark Wahlberg, especially after his role in The Departed, but this was some of the worst acting I've ever seen. The same goes for Zooey Deschanel and John Leguizamo. Totally unbelievable. The plot was so incredibly predictable that it was hard to remember that this was written by the same man that gave us The Sixth Sense! I won't give it away for those that still want to see this, but there were several times that I said "Really?" out loud. The worst part is, it was totally left open for The Happening 2. I would have rather been watching old reruns of What's Happening! "Hey hey hey!" The bottom line is, I give this .5 out of 5 stars

Iron Man

So the good news is Iron Man is a big bunch of Saturday fun out at the movies. There are good laughs and there is great action and special fx, and there are more quiet character driven moments that remind me a lot of similar scenes from the best of the Spider-Man flicks.

This is a film that does have a few nitpicks with some of the standard Marvel Comic ways of film making. Though, good news, it is by pure force of will and guts that these are soundly over come by the aggressive style of Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark / Iron Man and director John Favreau who creates some solid practical effects instead of overusing CGI. Favreau also is pro active in not making Iron Man yet another Marvel Zombie film by making the film a sci-fi / tech / geek / gear head adventure rather than a superhero film. This allows him to massage his way past some of the worst offending cliches of such films and move it into a more real world / real film scenario, and for the most part it works. You find yourself caught up in the characters and what's going on more than you are caught up in spectacle ala Transformers. Robert Downey pushes the film along so fast and so intensely that when it's over, after nearly 2 hours, you feel like you're just getting warmed up for the big event, and after the credits you find out what that big event will be by the time Iron Man 2 and 3 roll around with a nice cameo from Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury as portrayed in the Ultimates comic book universe that Marvel runs outside the continuity of the regular Marvel universe - where Nick Fury is a fifty something white guy. Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch basically drew Nick Fury as Jackson in this comics universe that is more tied into the Marvel movie universe as we shall see with the Hulk, Thor, Captain America and Avengers flicks.

Alongside the DC Batman and Superman franchises, this is a good example of how you do a comic book adaptation correctly. Favreau and Downey went so far as to bring in the current creators of the Iron Man continuity to be a think tank and script advisers. They also hired in top talent from Industrial Light and Magic as well as having top actors in all key roles in the film. Suddenly they have a film that people want to see, that's well made, that's not dumbed down and that is respectful of the source material. Wow. Imagine. It's big box office and on top of that, was not affected at all by the release of other popular video games and movies at the same time! So now finally, the big realization has forced its way into Hollywood execs brains - you do a comic book movie on the cheap and it's a dud, you treat it and its fans with respect and top quality and you're rolling in the dough... and how long did that take?

This summer we're getting Iron Man, Batman, Narnia, a Will Smith Superhero flick and The Hulk. Way to go Hollywood... now if you can just put together in your head the idea that when you release months worth of crap films, no one goes to the movies... because they're crap films you might actually find a way to make a consistent dollar and become an art form instead of just a feature length trailer for folks to buy the DVD...

So... go see Iron Man if you have any need to see wide screen sci-fi / comic book guys throwing down with big bad super villains - you will have fun.

I give Iron Man 4.5 out of 5 stars, way up. Robert Downey is Tony Stark and an acting force to watch out for in the future.

The Orphanage (El Orfanato)

Available at Amazon HERE
This is a Spanish Language film produced and presented by Guillermo Del Toro (Hell Boy, Pan's Labyrinth) and directed by new Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona. As with Pan's, there isn't an English dub, merely English subtitles, but as with Pan's, this is no detriment to the film and after the first ten minutes you'll forget that you're reading subtitles.

The film is a mystery / thriller / horror film. Not so much a who dunnit, but a what happened? It also is a bit of ghost movie and in that regard, it does some good spooking. It's not about shocking violence in the way Pan's tended to be, but it's more of a what's around the corner kind of scary. It's very character driven with the central heroine played by Belén Rueda. It focuses on her and her family and the life they hope to kick start by taking over a long dormant orphanage that she was raised in.

The plot of the movie is Rueda trying to establish a school for mentally challenged children at this orphanage while trying to deal with the HIV+ young adopted son of her own. The boy begins to have some very strong relationships with invisible friends and Rueda begins to wonder just how much of this is true and how much is it her son's imagination. When her son goes missing, she uses police detectives as well as psychics to help her find him. From there it's one creepy piece of the puzzle after another.

There is a nice twist in the film, more subtle than say The Sixth Sense, but when you get to it, it's pretty jaw dropping as you immediately start piecing together the ramifications of the reveal... then there's the ending... where you go... oh sh!t... one more time.

The acting is uniformly strong, the children are creepy and the medium in a trance going through the house is very creepy and unnerving. The only role that really didn't need to be there was her husband. Compliant, ambivalent and ready to bale out is all he's about and with a tweak here and there, they could have written that part out all together. The mother is very strong and from the DVD extras, such a strong performance and such a strong script are not common in Spain... and I'm not sure why that would be or why they would so strongly underscore that in the extra making of featurettes. The only way it could have been a stronger film would have been to have a stronger director rather than a first timer, but with del Toro behind the scenes, there was a strong guiding hand.

And! I can finally say... this is a REAL horror film. It doesn't rely on gore or torture and it's actually scary and spooky and just that kind of thrill ride when you really want something solid and well done. There is some CGI, but it's not the main thrust of any of the effects. On their budget, the CGI went, apparently, to stuff like making the house big enough and that type of stuff. So kudos there as well.

I was not sure what to expect from this film, but Mr. del Toro is batting a thousand with this release following up Pan's. The pair together would make a nice weekend's entertainment.

I give The Orphanage a 4.5 out of 5. Great solid horror film here without relying on the torture of women and gore. I would give it a five, but I know that some out there really hate reading their films, but this one is worth it.

Composer Esa-Pekka Salonen

Available From Amazon HERE

Available from Amazon HERE
These are the two most recent releases by renowned Finnish conducter Esa-Pekka Salonen of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. This releases are modern classical music but its far from the atonal and repetitive compositions ala Steve Reich and others who explore sound in looping mechanical mathematical ways. This is not to say that it doesn't have it's challenges, but there is so much meat here that you are given reason to want to explore and hear the various layers of sounds and instrumentation.

There are vocals here, but they are used as another instrument. I think the fact that some of them are actual words is not the point, I think the use here is strictly as another sound. LA Variations features Dawn Upshaw and Wing on Wing features Anu and Piia Komsi. It remains rooted in symphonic music, but it also has a bit of avant-garde and it has the sweep of orchestral soundtrack. So I don't think it would be worth picking apart except to say that there is a lot of meat here. It's also not studious in the way that say John Adams or Kronos Quartet might be. It more passionate and fluid than that.

Usually, in classical music, I prefer chamber music or I prefer vocal or operatic music and I will shy away from new classical music for the very reason that it comes off as somewhat clinical and even pretentious. This is not that and for those looking for something new with a bit of a challenge and a bit of a swing, I would say look here. From these works, I did explore off to Steven Reich's Different Trains and Electric Counterpoint, Brian Eno's Music For Airports and John Adam's On The Transmigration of Souls. Glad I did... some good stuff to explore.

I like Wing On Wing slightly better than LA Variations, but I would still highly recommend both.

I rate them 4.5 out 5. For taking a chance.

Cloverfield DVD

From Amazon HERE
So I spent an hour and a half watching Cloverfield. Sigh. What it is: a proof of concept of a good idea. What it's not: A good movie. Well, okay, it is well made, it's an interesting idea, but the final product just really doesn't deliver what you want from such a movie.

CF is a monster movie. We know this by now, so no spoilers there, and it's shot from the first person perspective of a character named HUD (Heads Up Display to you first person shooter fans) who is apparently using a wide screen cinema camera. Which everyone is commonly equipped with, not a regular video, standard perspective, camera. It uses state of the art technology to bring a monster the size of the twin towers to life in the middle of Manhattan. Okay... so far so good, but first we have to get to know the characters and understand their inter relationships... and then we have to have a reason for them to run around downtown while the monster is rampaging. Ok check... we got all that. Should make for a heck of a scare film with popcorn just being gobbled nonstop.

Well, the execution of the idea makes you put your popcorn to the side as the herky jerky camera work ala Blair Witch just makes you want to puke in your shoes. By the end I did have a headache from the nonstop camera bouncing. To make matters worse, instead of it being a chance to really give the viewer a tunnel view into what is going on by picking very specific shots, you get shots of the ground, of the dark, of peoples shoes, people across the way, the sky, etc. What you don't get is shots of the monster or the military fighting the monster even when those elements are within mere feet of the camera man. In a monster movie with state of the art special effects, I want to have the camera whirl up to show me a monster wailing away just above me while I poop my pants from the vertigo of such a huge beast. I also don't want twenty minutes of shots of the hapless victims while they tell us why they have a reason to flee together. I want monsters, I want fleeing, I want cars being thrown and buildings being stepped on when I pay to see a good monster movie.

The other bad thing is many many times the film jumps the shark in the decisions the characters make. When the army is evacuating everyone and all points lead out and you know that loved ones are probably dead, okay... the hero might go on, but most likely everyone is going to get on the first flight out and the army probably wouldn't have it any other way. The characters also like to stand in the middle of the path or road where everyone else going the right way has to smack into them and push them. They also go to a near collapsed building on the vain hope that a friend is alive, climb 52 floors, climb over to that building, find her with a rod through her, pull her off the rod, and she gamely retraces the route and is never plagued by said wound for the rest of the film. This among many ridiculous plot turns makes you just want to turn the film off, and there were many times when they were shooting endless shots of dark that I almost did.

The monster is also lame. It's built anatomically strange, it's a sea creature, but instead of staying in the water, it went up on the land and started wailing away, which I don't blame it, especially after the army started shooting rockets into it.

On the geek side, there are some interesting things to see as a proof of concept, but you know what? I'm frickin' sick and tired of all the sci fi and horror films being released currently being good ideas expanded into a feature film. Could you just think it through one time?

I rate 2 out of 5. For DIE HARD monster film fans only.