Ah, finally! I get to actually review something big. Something with a ton of back story to me. Something that I have such a personal connection to, that I was extremely critical of anything that could have come of it. Yes I like many many people, grew up with the gloriousness that was Maurice Sendak’s classic children’s book “Where the Wild Things Are”. It was a fun little story with creative monsters. I loved book and read it all the time, well into middle school in fact. Back the fuck off if you want to judge that I read a kid’s book that long, it was just good. To be honest though children’s media, when well done, really holds up when you’re an adult too. I love going back to look at things like “The Sandlot”, or “The Never-ending Story” and the almighty “E. T. The Extra Terrestrial” and “The Goonies” because of one big reason that I’m sure you already know, THEY’RE GOOD!!!
Thus I come to the film version of this story. I was as skeptical as you probably are if you haven’t seen this movie. The original story was very short. Here’s the brief summary of the book. Max is a rowdy kid. He gets in trouble with his mom one night, and she sends him to bed with no dinner. While in his room, Max goes in to an imagery world that he navigates through in a boat and comes to the titular Wild Things. They are a bunch of big monster looking things and Max becomes their king. However, Max gets bored after awhile and heads home much to the dismay of the Wild Things. When he finally gets home he finds that his mother has left him dinner in his room, and it’s still warm. It’s a sweet and charming story, meaning making a good movie out of it is near impossible.
So, how is such a feat to be achieved? Well, you simply need to watch this movie and you have your answer. It’s a great film that keeps the heart and story of the original material but adds a lot great things! Things that most movies these days lack like: character and plot and great design.
The story is mostly the same, but they add some changes. Max is not so much rowdy as troubled. He’s at the point where he’s feeling alone, his sister is off with her friends all the time, his mother still loves and cares for him, but she has her own life too. It comes to a head when he gets the feeling that his mother doesn’t really seem to want to pay attention to him when he’s feeling lonely and so he puts on his wolf costume (another nod to the source material) and throws a fit that ends in him biting her and running away to the woods. There he finds a boat and goes to the land of the Wild Things. He becomes their king and tries to rule in such away that everyone is happy and always having fun. Slowly though, he realizes that his selfishness is actually hurting the Wild Things, and ultimately decides that he has to go back home.
Now, really this is one of those things that may sound silly to some, but really this is a movie that is based on a picture book, if you have shit design you have fucked the movie, plan and simple. Thankfully it’s like I said, the design is just perfect. Most of the Wild Things look like they walked out of the book, mainly because, well, they’re actually in front of the camera. I said in my “Sorority Row” review that I’m not too hot on 100% CGI, mostly this comes from the fact that many CGI movies just look fake. I mean, they look cool, but I can tell I’m looking at an effect and it really detracts from the movies most of time unless we’re talking about things “King Kong ‘05”, or the “Pirates of The Caribbean” films. Thankfully, this movie chose to make the Wild Things with the help of the studio that is God when it comes to suits and puppets, The Jim Henson Work Shop. Before anyone points out the CG in the movie, I’m aware, the facial movements are CG. I don’t care because the rest of the creature is actually there. The CG is there to add fluidity that can’t be achieved by animatronics, THAT’S HOW IT’S SUPPOSED TO FUCKING WORK! On top of this, the sets look amazing and really give you a sense of being in another world. It really feels like you’re there.
On top of that, the acting talent is just stunning. Max Records is just amazing as Max here. He just perfectly gathers all the anguish, anger, happiness and well nearly every other emotion I can think of for this character, and he’s only 12! People made a big deal about Haley Joel Osment in “The Sixth Sense” or Keisha Castle-Hughes in “Whale Rider”, and they did very well in those roles, but really I didn’t see anything worthy of the Oscar nominations they received. With Records, I saw a child performance that was seriously over looked. Catherine Keener does great as the mother, being supportive but having her limits and getting frustrated by her son’s behavior. Honestly, what steals the show is the Wild Things themselves, not just because of the design, but seriously the voices are what seal the deal for me. All the talent from Catherine O’ Hara to Chris Cooper to Tony Soprano himself James Gandolfini creates their own characters beautifully. They all have their own personality traits and quirks. It’s different from what you thought would come from the story because all these character are poignant, well rounded and oh so likable.
You know what, I could give this movie a verbal blow job for fucking hours and still not come close to truly describing how good it is. It’s hard to describe so here’s what happens now: You are going to close this window. You will then go to a torrent site or your video store of choice. You will rent or download the movie. And most importantly of all, FUCKING WATCH IT!
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Friday, March 12, 2010
Sorority Row
Hey there my faithful followers! The Cinema Lunatic is back and I apologize for my long absence. But enough of that, let’s talk about one of my favorite guilty pleasures, the slasher movie. God these were great in the 80’s. They had some nice kill scenes, usually had some very pretty girls, and a ridiculous enough plot that I actually laugh yet secretly admire how they take something so stupid and make you want to see it to the end.
But sadly we have entered the Dark Age, and boy am I sad. Basically in the 80’s there were a bunch of pretty interesting entries to the genre like “The Burning” or “Happy Birthday to Me”, and even things like “April Fool’s Day” or the original “Prom Night”, then sadly due to gross over saturation it became a bit of a joke and “Scream” came out, and it was basically a slasher that made fun of the clichés that had been created and then, well, that was it. All the slashers that have come out since then have been jokes, really bad jokes. Either we get shitty remakes of classics, like “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” or the up coming remake of “A Nightmare on Elm Street”(seriously even with Jackie Earle Haley as Freddy, it ain’t gonna hold a candle and you know it!), or things that hardly try like “I Know What You Did Last Summer” and its sequels. Some decent ones have come out on video like “American Nightmare” but we have yet to see a really good one come main stream to theaters in a long time. That is until last summer, which I regretfully admit I missed out on until it came to DVD.
Yes, a movie called “Sorority Row” is actually something that I found whole heartedly to be one of the most well done of the genre since “Scream” started the trend of just saying its all been done and we should just poke fun at it. It’s a bit jarring because I actually did specifically rent this to make fun of and bash on it, but the more I watched it, the more I started to like it. The film encompasses all that I dig about slashers and yet it doesn’t really seem to care about the clichés, it knows what it is and because of that just focuses on being a lot of fun to watch which has always been the point of the genre to me.
The plot is a rip off of, well almost every slasher movie, ever. A prank goes wrong and some one gets killed, so the main characters try to cover it up and then later it comes back to bite them in the ass and they get killed in increasing elaborate ways. That’s all you really need for a slasher. Nothing overly deep or insightful, just good gory fun. In this case it has to do with a sorority and the main characters are sisters of said. It does start off as a joke, but it doesn’t try to be too serious about it’s self and that is a nice change of pace to the slashers out there that still want to try and be. The plot has a bunch of holes, but it’s so much fun to watch that it doesn’t bother me, and shouldn’t bother you. Plus, for once a slasher actually had a well executed twist. It’s not great, you could either see it coming if you really think about it, or just think it was out of place, but it’s so well done that it actually does get props from me, mostly because it’s like “The Prowler” or original (yes original, there was one) “My Bloody Valentine”. They had twists that really didn’t make a ton of sense, but damn they were jarring and here it is equally so.
I have to say that the cast knew that this was just fun. They play frat boys and sorority girls so well it’s kind of admirable. They back stab and bitch and moan so much that it grates your nerves, yet I found always find some endearing quality in most of them. The majority of them know that what they did was wrong so they lament, but are afraid that the consequences would cause massive rifts in there lives, it’s selfish but at the same time I can’t think of anyone that wouldn’t think the same, even if only for a second. The director like I’ve said already, knew what he was making and decided that he would just try to make the best slasher in a long time. So while they have unlikeable traits, a lot of them, you never hate them enough to actually want them to see them die. So in that way a bit of suspense is achieved and a nice amount of fun can be had with if not really scary a couple of jumps can happen.
Then there is the make up effects, and I’m going to come out and say it: God I’m glad most of the gore effects in this movie were practical! I’m sorry for those who love the hell out of CGI, I have moments where I have to admit there was no other way, but it was so nice to see a horror movie that actually wanted to try and show really things like a girl getting a wine bottle shoved down her throat. In these movies, if it isn’t actually happening in front of the camera, what’s the fucking point? I’ll admit they do spice them up with some arterial spray here and there that is clearly CG, but the actually effect is still enough to get me excited to see that there are still people out there that are trying to practice the tried and true techniques of Tom Savini and Dick Smith, and that make me a happy reviewer.
Overall, I have nothing much left to say about this movie. I highly recommend it if you like horror films, especially slashers. It’s fun, dark, and if you’re like me, a nice thing to see. It goes back to what I said about “Zombieland” this a movie that knew what it was, didn’t try to be anything else, and just had fun with it. And to me, that’s truly what makes movies of this kind enjoyable. Is it good? No, not in the least. Is it scary? Not really, unless blood scares you. No this is just the perfect movie for a night of pizza, beer and friends on a Saturday. A highly recommended rental to say the least in my opinion. Come on, it has Carrie Fisher (You know, Princess Leia) swearing, drinking like a fish and packing a fucking shot gun! That alone deserves to be watched!
But sadly we have entered the Dark Age, and boy am I sad. Basically in the 80’s there were a bunch of pretty interesting entries to the genre like “The Burning” or “Happy Birthday to Me”, and even things like “April Fool’s Day” or the original “Prom Night”, then sadly due to gross over saturation it became a bit of a joke and “Scream” came out, and it was basically a slasher that made fun of the clichés that had been created and then, well, that was it. All the slashers that have come out since then have been jokes, really bad jokes. Either we get shitty remakes of classics, like “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” or the up coming remake of “A Nightmare on Elm Street”(seriously even with Jackie Earle Haley as Freddy, it ain’t gonna hold a candle and you know it!), or things that hardly try like “I Know What You Did Last Summer” and its sequels. Some decent ones have come out on video like “American Nightmare” but we have yet to see a really good one come main stream to theaters in a long time. That is until last summer, which I regretfully admit I missed out on until it came to DVD.
Yes, a movie called “Sorority Row” is actually something that I found whole heartedly to be one of the most well done of the genre since “Scream” started the trend of just saying its all been done and we should just poke fun at it. It’s a bit jarring because I actually did specifically rent this to make fun of and bash on it, but the more I watched it, the more I started to like it. The film encompasses all that I dig about slashers and yet it doesn’t really seem to care about the clichés, it knows what it is and because of that just focuses on being a lot of fun to watch which has always been the point of the genre to me.
The plot is a rip off of, well almost every slasher movie, ever. A prank goes wrong and some one gets killed, so the main characters try to cover it up and then later it comes back to bite them in the ass and they get killed in increasing elaborate ways. That’s all you really need for a slasher. Nothing overly deep or insightful, just good gory fun. In this case it has to do with a sorority and the main characters are sisters of said. It does start off as a joke, but it doesn’t try to be too serious about it’s self and that is a nice change of pace to the slashers out there that still want to try and be. The plot has a bunch of holes, but it’s so much fun to watch that it doesn’t bother me, and shouldn’t bother you. Plus, for once a slasher actually had a well executed twist. It’s not great, you could either see it coming if you really think about it, or just think it was out of place, but it’s so well done that it actually does get props from me, mostly because it’s like “The Prowler” or original (yes original, there was one) “My Bloody Valentine”. They had twists that really didn’t make a ton of sense, but damn they were jarring and here it is equally so.
I have to say that the cast knew that this was just fun. They play frat boys and sorority girls so well it’s kind of admirable. They back stab and bitch and moan so much that it grates your nerves, yet I found always find some endearing quality in most of them. The majority of them know that what they did was wrong so they lament, but are afraid that the consequences would cause massive rifts in there lives, it’s selfish but at the same time I can’t think of anyone that wouldn’t think the same, even if only for a second. The director like I’ve said already, knew what he was making and decided that he would just try to make the best slasher in a long time. So while they have unlikeable traits, a lot of them, you never hate them enough to actually want them to see them die. So in that way a bit of suspense is achieved and a nice amount of fun can be had with if not really scary a couple of jumps can happen.
Then there is the make up effects, and I’m going to come out and say it: God I’m glad most of the gore effects in this movie were practical! I’m sorry for those who love the hell out of CGI, I have moments where I have to admit there was no other way, but it was so nice to see a horror movie that actually wanted to try and show really things like a girl getting a wine bottle shoved down her throat. In these movies, if it isn’t actually happening in front of the camera, what’s the fucking point? I’ll admit they do spice them up with some arterial spray here and there that is clearly CG, but the actually effect is still enough to get me excited to see that there are still people out there that are trying to practice the tried and true techniques of Tom Savini and Dick Smith, and that make me a happy reviewer.
Overall, I have nothing much left to say about this movie. I highly recommend it if you like horror films, especially slashers. It’s fun, dark, and if you’re like me, a nice thing to see. It goes back to what I said about “Zombieland” this a movie that knew what it was, didn’t try to be anything else, and just had fun with it. And to me, that’s truly what makes movies of this kind enjoyable. Is it good? No, not in the least. Is it scary? Not really, unless blood scares you. No this is just the perfect movie for a night of pizza, beer and friends on a Saturday. A highly recommended rental to say the least in my opinion. Come on, it has Carrie Fisher (You know, Princess Leia) swearing, drinking like a fish and packing a fucking shot gun! That alone deserves to be watched!
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