30 Days of Night

Very entertaining horror flick. Sort of Aliens meets The Thing.

I like how fresh this movie is. The "hero" has both physical and emotional weaknesses (he has asthma, and he is visibly frightened throughout the movie). The vampires are so atypical that I hesitate to call them such; they're more like psychopathic demons. They have a merciless, shark-like quality to them that makes them truly horrifying. The camerawork is effective in augmenting the mood, alternating between graceful pans of the snowy landscape and shaky hand-held to heighten the tension. The creepy, almost ambient music really adds to the mood, as well.

That being said, 30 Days of Night is not without its flaws. While it's cool that the "vampires" speak their own language, seeing them verbally communicate with each other detracts from their creepiness. There's also some forced emotional conflict that doesn't fit in with the main conflict. The climax, however, is the ridiculous-flavored icing on the cake; I won't spoil it, but you'll see what I mean if/when you see it. (On a more minor note, the movie is about twenty minutes too long.)

All in all, I would say 30 Days of Night is above average. It's a new take on an old idea that delivers what it promises to. Though its weaknesses make it less than what it could have been, its strengths make it well worth a watch or two.

Gone Baby Gone

I really can't say enough how much I love this film. It's one of the few movies I can think of that I have absolutely no complaints with.

Ben Affleck really surprised me with his directing abilities with this movie. Everything about it shines excellence. Harry Gregson-Williams's score is beautiful and heart-wrenching. The cinematography is scarily gorgeous and professional. John Toll is a master of his craft and shows off some of his best work here. The performances are so strong you forget you're watching actors. The writing is nothing short of brilliant.

This is a definite must-see.

Where The Wild Things Are

I'll try to keep this short, because this movie works mostly on a non-verbal level. Spike Jonze somehow managed to not only make a great adaptation of a classic kids book without messing it up, he grew it into a powerful story with something for kids and adults alike. The story isn't as important as the characters and the feeling, and here they are rich and interesting. I also appreciate how he walked a very delicate line between light and dark; this is important because Maurice Sendak's books are intentionally dark-edged. Life is a mix of light and dark; Where The Wild Things are faces this head-on, and speaks to our animal nature.

Stranger Than Fiction

This could easily have veered into excesses of cute or predictable or trite or stupid (or some combination of those), and I kept waiting for it to fail, but somehow it stayed upright and finished as a satisfying, if not outstanding, story. I personally have always been intrigued by stories that mix frames, muddle reality vs story, etc., but so often they ultimately disappoint. This one, about a character in a novel who starts to hear the author narrating his life, and planning his death, holds up reasonably well, avoids several wrong turns.

Having it anchored by Will Farrell was another worry for me -- I like him, but he is known more for comedy, and is pretty bland, especially in the first half of this movie. This serves his character, who is a very boring IRS auditor, but ultimately we (the audience) need to find something interesting and/or likable about our main character to keep watching (or indeed, care whether he dies). Farrell does pull it off, but I have to say just barely -- without some very nice supporting performances from Emma Thompson, Dustin Hoffman, and Maggie Gyllenhaal, I think this would have sunk into lameness. Creative but solid directing and writing, some clever special effects, and good music help to add enough freshness to keep it enjoyable. Solid B, worth a rent.

update: For a long time I considered Roger Ebert the quintessential movie critic, but over the more recent years I've slowly but surely been losing faith in him. I just read his review of Stranger Than Fiction, and I think I see at least part of his problem. He doesn't pay close attention, and ends up reading things into movies that aren't there. For example, about this movie, among other things, Ebert writes "Harold would prefer not to audit any more tax returns." Uh, that never actually is said or even implied; it might be true, but the movie really isn't about that, and isn't focused on it. I think Ebert read that into it because he wanted to make the connection to Bartleby the Scrivener. Sometimes he just picks up the gloss of a movie, and then leaps to connections and conclusions as he sees fit. I suppose we all do that to some degree, and I suppose if I were to write as many movie reviews as he does, I'd start to get sloppy and gloss over details, too. But still, I think he misses some stuff and gets some movies wrong because of it. Just sayin'...

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

This is easily my favorite Pirates of the Caribbean film. Everything comes full circle here, and the waiting pays off.

The writing is excellent. There are plenty of surprises left to keep the audience on the edges of their seats. The journey to Davy Jones's Locker to rescue Jack Sparrow is fun and interesting, while the Locker itself is weird without being too surreal. The working albeit shaky truce between Davy Jones and Beckett is well-done, too. The climax is absolutely brilliant. The final battle between the Flying Dutchman and the Black Pearl will go down in history as being one of the greatest battle sequences in cinema history.

The only drawback to this movie is that you absolutely need to see the previous film to understand this one. Other than that, At World's End is a truly epic finale to the trilogy.

Coraline

I'm not ashamed to say I love a certain class of movies for younger audiences. Not just any kid's movie; many I can enjoy at a lower level, and some I consider surprisingly clever and even deep, but I rarely "love" them. But there are some very special films that aren't so much for kids, as for everyone; films that can be enjoyed on so many levels, and are sort of ageless and universal. One good example would be Spirited Away (and almost anything else by Miyazaki); another would be The Nightmare Before Christmas. And I include some of the better Pixar movies in this class...

Coraline is a new example of this kind of movie, and quickly on track to become one of my favorites. Written and directed by Henry Selick (Nightmare..., James and the Giant Peach) and based on a book by Neil Gaiman (Beowulf), this is a stop-motion wonder that shares some things with Nightmare, but isn't as dark, and as far as I'm concerned, is more nuanced and enjoyable. The story, characters, voice acting, animation, art production, etc. are all top notch, but what really gives Coraline a special spark is fantastic music by Bruno Coulais and how well it evokes different moods. I've already bought the soundtrack...

And the characters are really fleshed out well; they each have some depth to them. Coraline in particular is quite complex; sometimes she's sarcastic and moody, then she's innocent and playful, and when push comes to shove, she's determined and brave. She exhibits an enjoyable range of facial expressions and body language. It is almost impossible not to forget that she's "just" a "puppet" as the movie progresses.

The Fisher King

This is one of my all-time favorites, and as often happens with favorites, I tend to forget how good it is until I watch it again. I really like Terry Gilliam's work, but so many of his movies are flawed or out of balance in some ways, more quirky than enjoyable. But with Fisher King he somehow got it all working right...

This movie has so much going on; it is a redemption story, two love stories, a buddy movie, a modern-day fantasy, a love note to New York, and more. The acting by the ensemble cast is excellent, and mixes comedy, drama, romance, social commentary, and the absurd into a odd (and sometimes intense) but overall rich and satisfying whole.