Beautifully Assembled

As you are no doubt aware, I make my judgement of how any particular summer at the movies will be, quality wise, based on how well the first BIG movie is. Last year, the Marvel train was in full force, kicking things off with Thor, which I loved. And luckily, my prediction was right on the money. Summer 2011 was a great season, but if my prediction now is accurate, then it will in no way touch this summer. Let me just get it out of the way right now. I am expecting great things from Prometheus, cannot wait for Brave, am stoked for Ted and for GI Joe, and, of course, am anticipating the hell out of The Dark Knight Rises. But if any of those films can beat The Avengers for my number 1, then I will be floored. What Marvel studios, along with writer/director Joss Whedon have done is truly marvelous, a triumph of character mixed with spectacle mixed with humor mixed with emotion mixed with action. After five films and tons and tons of teases and build up, the wait is over. The Avengers have assembled, and they defy every expectation there was or could have been.

There's Scary Shit Going Down In America: GasLand and Meeting Mark Ruffalo

Despite all of Bard's shortcomings (and there are many) they are not totally against shelling out to get someone influential and famous to come talk to us on whatever the issue of the week is. I'm not talking about some chemist that only people who follow chemistry would know; I'm talking about someone that the general public is well aware of. Just last night, Bard's Environmental Program hosted a screening of Josh Fox's GasLand, one of the five Oscar nominees for Best Documentary. In attendance were two people who make a living studying the effects of fracking. The other was Mark Ruffalo. Yeah, that Mark Ruffalo, the one from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Zodiac, and The Kids Are All Right. He's big on the whole environment thing, and has joined the tour of the film in hopes of raising awareness of natural gas drilling in the United States. Needless to say, I was there. I took an interest in Fox's film from the beginning. I actually know the man, thanks to a summer spent at NYU, and had heard about the project as it was just getting started. Also, the film nut in me couldn't pass up a chance to meet Mark Ruffalo. How would I be able to face my fellow LAMBs if I turned down an opportunity like that. The event pretty much boiled down like this.

They Have Issues Too

LAST REVIEW OF A BEST PICTURE NOMINEE! JUST IN TIME!!! I AM AWESOME!!!

What is it about dysfunctional families that always make them to topic of a dry, ironic, witty indie comedy with darker undertones? I thought the trend bucked with Little Miss Sunshine, but, lo and behold, we have another of this devilish subgenre vying for Best Picture rights this year. The Kids Are All Right paints the whole "kooky family" thing in a new light by having both parents be gay, and layers this new idea onto strong writing and good performances. However, I do have something to say before we keep going. All you people out there who heralded this as the best thing ever, and how Annette Bening totally deserves that Oscar over everyone else, I say to you. CALM DOWN!!!!!

They have issues too...

WHAT THE FUCK?

I'm sorry. I've been a little stingy with the posts as of late. None of the movies coming out really appealed to me. The Wolfman just looked like yet another tired reboot of a horror classic; Percy Jackson and the Olympians just looked stupid, and did you really expect me to go see Valentine's Day, a movie that celebrates the stupidest and most insulting holiday of our society? No. But, all that can change now, as Shutter Island, the oft-delayed, new Martin Scorsese picture, is here! Should you see this movie? Ummm... duh! It's Martin Fucking Scorsese! Get your sorry self to the theatre! Now!

Shutter Island starts off on a pretty solid, if unoriginal note. Two Federal Marshals, Teddy Daniels and Chuck Aule, are dispatched to Ashcliffe, a institution for the criminally insane, on the remote Shutter Island in Boston Harbor, to help in the investigation of the disappearance of a particularly dangerous patient. It's clear from the beginning that something is not quite right with Teddy. This offness persists and becomes more apparent as Teddy and Chuck get deeper into a supposed conspiracy on the island. Things really go to shit when a hurricane hits, setting some of the more violent offenders loose, and causing Teddy to really lose it. He doesn't know who he can trust, when everyone seems ready to throw him in a cell in the very place he's investigating. The script is based on a novel by Dennis Lehane, who is also the virtuoso behind Mystic River. It's not the most original story on the market. There's an enormous twist that I will talk about in a little bit, that, I'll be honest, I could see coming, but more on that later. But, I'll be frank. Narrative is not the point of this movie. The point of this movie is to freak you the fuck out and look damn good doing it, and in that sense, Shutter Island succeeds.

Leonardo DiCaprio teams up with Scorsese for the fourth time to play Teddy. I hope DiCaprio and Scorsese keep doing movies together for years to come, because they know each other's quirks, and DiCaprio just gets better and better because of it. He's a bundle of feverish paranoia, solid and confident on the outside, but an absolute wreck on the inside. He's great, capturing all the craziness and fear that a guy like that must be feeling. Mark Ruffalo plays Chuck, who is so much more level headed then his partner. Ruffalo does a nice job combatting DiCaprio's screen chewing with a certain manner of calm and collectiveness. Ben Kingsley is the head doctor on the island, and he is positively terrifying! That's all I'll say on the matter for fear of giving something away. Other performances include Emily Mortimer as the escaped convict, Michelle Williams as DiCaprio's wife, Max von Sydow as a deranged doc, and Jakie Earl Haley in a chilling cameo. Do I need to say anything more about the performances? No! It's Scorsese, arguably the best character director living today.

There is no one like Martin Scorsese working in the business today. This guy is so good, that even his less then spectacular works would be considered masterpieces in any other director's hands. Shutter Island is nowhere near as good as some Scorsese's more recent films. Rather then join the ranks of Gangs of New York or The Departed as modern day classics, Shutter Island falls in with The Aviator as good, not great, but still better then 100% of the movies playing right now. Shutter Island marks Scorsese's return to the mind bending, freak you out, thriller genre since his absolutely brilliant Cape Fear in 1991. He's back in fine form, as he successfully chills the hell out of you watching this movie. Everything from camera angles, to the awesome use of shadows, to the overbearing tension, to the startling, jump out of your seat moments, are all used exceptionally well and do a great job at capitalizing the fear in Teddy's mind. And, finally, the twist. Like I said, it's a little predictable, but, HOLY SHIT, THAT IS A GOOD TWIST! This is not some, run of the mill, oh the good guy is the killer, twist. No, this is a Gwenyth's head in a box, Tyler Durden is the narrator, type twist, the kind that changes your whole view on the movie, and sparks heated debates on what actually happened when the credits roll. I'm getting goosebumps just thinking about it.

There are problems. Don't get me wrong, Shutter Island is a great movie, and certainly one that will be talked about come awards season, despite its February release date. But, it has its issues. There are parts of the movie where Teddy will hallucinate, and, while they are chilling and violent and all the stuff we've come to expect from films like this, some of them just don't fit and drag on for way too long. There's this one in a concentration camp as Teddy reflects on his war days that goes on forever! It's cool, but it draws you out of the story a little bit. Also, the script is weak in parts. All these complaints are for naught though! If Shutter Island accomplishes anything, it only reassures you that Scorsese is here, and he is just as good as he ever was! See this movie. Just be prepared to have your mind blown! A-

Eat It Up!

Brace yourselves! I'm about to delve deep into myself in yet another one of my many attempts to show you that I have a soul! I know you don't want to believe it, but come on! Give credit where credit is due! I just got out of Where the Wild Things Are almost on the verge of tears. I didn't actually let a teardrop go, as I was with friends, and that would have looked weird. But, that still didn't stop me from feeling an overwhelming sense of wonder and emotion with Where the Wild Things Are. Indeed, this is easily one of the best movies of the year, and, as my friend so succinctly put it, the first book-to-movie adaptation that is actually better then the source material on which it is based!
If you have read Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are, then you already have a general idea of what this movie is about. If you haven't read it, then close out of this page, turn off your computer and do so. For those of you who don't read, it boils down like this. There's a kid named Max, who is going through that phase of childhood, where everything he does is misunderstood, where the smallest things can lead to huge confrontations, and where the imagination is an untamed and wild beast! One night, Max is sent to bed without dinner. Instead of following his mother's orders, he runs away to the ocean. There he finds a small boat, which takes him to a far off island. Upon landing on the island, Max discovers that it is inhabited by giant "wild things", who, upon close inspection, are not that different from himself. He makes his presence known and is soon crowned the king of the wild things. As he befriends and plays with the creatures, he let's his own fantasies play out like he never could back home! The book Where the Wild Things Are was only made up of ten sentences. Co-writer/director Spike Jonze was faced with the, almost, impossible challenge of adapting the book into a feature length movie. Boy, did he live up to the task! To say that Where the Wild Things Are stays true to the spirit of the book is a gross understatement. It is such a beautiful story that is so masterfully written... I can't think of anything to say that will do it justice!
Max Records plays Max (go figure). This performance will probably go down in the annals of exquisite performances by a child actor. Records so brilliantly captures the juvenile spirit that made Max such and interesting character in the book, and does a great job translating it to the screen. He is simply wonderful! The rest of the cast is made up of, primarily, voices from the likes of James Gandolfini as the main and most troubled wild thing, Carol, Lauren Ambrose as the carefree and kind KW, Forest Whitaker and Catherine O'Hara as lovebirds Ira and Judith, Paul Dano as the lonely, sad Alexander, Chris Cooper as the yes-man Douglas, and Michael Berry Jr. as the quiet and shutoff Bull. All the voice actors do a great job, with Gandolfini and Ambrose shining the brightest! The layers of emotion that the voice actors give to their characters is so unique these days, it makes wish more people would give a damn! Catherine Keener and Mark Ruffalo show up briefly as Max's mother and her boyfriend, respectively. This is one of the best acted movies of the year! No question about it!
Back to Spike Jonze. Here is a director who has consistently turned in wonderfully quirky, very heartfelt films, from Being John Malkovich to Adaptation. Where the Wild Things Are is a big change of pace for him, but he handles the project as if he had been making movies like this for decades. He stays so true to the message and ideas of the book, whilst expanding the plot so that it would be interesting on screen, it is mind boggling! He so masterfully captures what is like to be kid, and all the confusion, imagination, innocence, playfulness, and mystery that goes with it! Despite this movie being a "fantasy" tale, it is very realistic. I don't think anyone can walk out of this movie and say that they didn't relate to Max at least once throughout the entire screening. They would be lying! Everything that we see Max contend with on the island with the creatures is a reflection of what every kid goes through at some point in their lives. Good luck not feeling that hard to find swelling in your chest when the movie reaches its heartbreaking-uplifting-at-the-same-time ending!
Words cannot adequately express how good Where the Wild Things Are is. I could talk all day about how great the cinematography is, how the almost dialogue free opening scenes are sublime, or how the mix of costumes and CGI to create the wild things could not have been done better. But, then you'd still be reading this and not going to see Where the Wild Things Are. So, that's all I have to say! Close out of this page, turn off your computer, and go see Where the Wild Things Are! To quote KW, "I could eat [it] up, I love [it] so!" A

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