Where The Wild Things Are (2009)
Bottomline: Good movie that deserves your time and attention.
Pros: Max Records. The Music. The Story. The Direction.
Cons: Drags in some places. Max is a brat, which bothered me for some reason.
Caveat: This movie is based on a beloved children's book but has at least two parts that can be freakin' scary for anyone under the age of about 8. There are monsters and they can be scary.
Where Can I See It? It is in the theaters right now.
QMR Opinion: This entire movie depended on the young man who would be chosen to play Max. My understanding is that it took Spike Jonze three years to find the right kid. I'm glad he waited. Max is played by Max Records, who is absolutely brilliant here. Jonze coaxes a performance out of this kid that is one of the best performances by a child actor I've ever seen (and, yes, that includes Haley Joel Osment). Max carries this entire movie on his shoulders. It is a well-directed, imaginative tale that is as deep as you want it to be. Jonze has directed a lot of music videos and you see some of that, but he slows the action down when he needs to. When the movie starts to drag, he knows when to cut away. As we were leaving the theater, I asked my 12-year-old daughter what she thought. She said she liked it. We started discussing what each of the monsters represented. She said it was her opinion that each monster represented a particular aspect of Max's personality. Uh, wow. Okay, I wish I had thought of that. WARNING: This movie can be scary for younger kids (8 or under).
Two Lovers (2008)
Bottomline: There are much better movies out there -- you know, like the ones they show on Lifetime?
Pros: Isabella Rossellini. Shot in and around New York -- Brooklyn, Brighton Beach, etc. Loved it! Vinessa Shaw turns in a solid performance.
Cons: Gwenyth Paltrow is going through the motions. Joaquin Phoenix plays an oddly disturbed young man who can't seem to get his head on straight (sound familiar). This. . . . . . movie. . . . . drags. . . . . .
Where Can I Waste My Time to See This Movie? It is available on DVD.
QMR Opinion: Joaquin Phoenix plays a disturbed young man who has a young lady who is in love with him (Vinessa Shaw), but he becomes obsessed with the equally disturbed Gwenyth Paltrow. I love New York and one of the best parts of this whole movie is the actual cinematography -- they use hand-held cameras on city streets and it works well. You feel like you are in New York. This film starts off interesting and strong but soon devolves into frustrating claptrap as Joaquin pines for Paltrow. There is this odd scene where Paltrow and Phoenix are on the phone but can see one another and she flashes her boob. It was way weird. Then there is this whole scene on the rooftop that was just nuts. The good news is that the end of the film could have gone one of two ways and it went the way I wanted.
How do you pick your favorite Python clip? I chose the bunny attack from Holy Grail because it wraps up everything I love about Python -- absurdity, dark humor, blood spray. Python has its own channel on YouTube.
Monty Python: Almost the Truth -- The Lawyer's Cut (2009)
IFC showed this six part documentary on Monty Python and it is fabulous. My wife is not a Python fan (yes, she thinks the coconuts are silly) and even she liked this. If you are even a casual fan of Python, this is a must see for you. The best sections are "Part 3: The Sordid Personal Bits" and "Episode 4: The Ultimate Holy Grail Episode." Let's face it. . .these guys are incredibly smart, incredibly weird and just dadgum funny. There are so many great parts of this six-hour documentary but one particularly good one for me was watching John Cleese deliver the eulogy at Graham Chapman's funeral -- he basically did the Parrot sketch. I can only assume that this will be available via DVD soon.
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