Where the Wild Things Are

I had very high expectations for this movie and it surely did meet every single one. I was in love with everything about this film from the start. I will first mention the soundtrack, because it was perfectly done. Karen O from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs did a heck of a job scoring this movie. As far as the acting goes, young Max Records makes the perfect Max for this story. I have seen a lot of movies in my time with a lot of young actors not really cutting it, but not here. Max delivered a winning performance in my book. Just the perfect amount of adorable, vulnerable, courageous, crazy, wild, sincere, and witty. Catherine Keener shined in her scenes as always. The voice acting was top notch as well. Claire Fisher from 'Six Feet Under' (aka Lauren Ambrose) was awesome. Pretty much every voice actor was pretty fantastic. Catherine O'Hara got to be funny and that wins. Visually speaking, this movie outshines many I have seen in a very long time. There is not a wasted camera angle or scene. Every shot is full of beauty or emotion or both. Set designers need to win awards for this movie. Everything felt so real and so fantastical all at once. Spike Jonze might be my new current hero for this work of art. I was really blown away by the way this story was told on film. There could not have been a better adaptation. Beyond the movie, this story is phenomenal. I feel weird talking about how this story made me think and feel, because it is a story that is much bigger than this movie and it doesn't seem like the appropriate forum to discuss the book. All I can say is that the story's heart and feelings and fears and courage is told very very well through this film. It is a very evocative telling and it is an instant favorite of mine.

3:10 to Yuma (2007)

Solid western with solid acting. I admit I am not familiar with the previous adaptations of this story or with the original itself. So, maybe that is why I can like this version so much. Russell Crowe and Christian Bale are strong and their characters are even stronger. They had some pretty epic characters to work with and I think they filled them out pretty well. I can just always appreciate when a story is told well. This story is clearly written well and the movie conveys it perfectly. All the right things are left unsaid and anticipated and everything you need to know is made clear. I hate forced suspense and confusion in films that try to be aloof in their revelation of details. This suspenseful western does the story telling quite ideally. As far as acting, Crowe and Bale had some great support from Ben Foster (Russel from 'Six Feet Under') who makes a perfect bad guy, Logan Lerman who plays Bale's son, Peter Fonda, and Alan Tudyk who gets the one potential laugh out loud line in the film (well deservedly). Kevin Durand (LOST) and Luke Wilson also show up to lend their talents quite well. I was not really expecting much from this movie and I was very pleasantly surprised with how wrong I was. I think I really liked it. Maybe someday Alan will live to the end of a movie.

Wristcutters: A Love Story

What an interesting movie. This is a beautiful love story set in one of the most creative settings for a film I have experienced in a long time. The majority of the film takes place in a world not unlike our own where suicides are sent to reside after their 'offing.' This world is very similar to ours, only worse. This indie film was a very refreshing look at brilliant directing and writing. In a movie about suicides, one would not necessarily expect much hope, but one would be wrong. This film gives a vividly dull glimpse at a purgatorial world in a story of love and hope. The journey the main characters find themselves on is funny and insightful. We see friendship and betrayal as well as love and moments of pleasure in a land where one cannot even smile. I was really taken with this movie and I think that there is a lot here to be analyzed and appreciated. This movie brilliantly pulls off a balance between lighthearted love journey and deep substantive solemn voyage. Suicide has always been a very touchy issue in my life and I rarely can handle films dealing with it, but this movie shows a reverence and realism in its depiction of the issue that puts it forefront without fixating on it. Add all these elements in with some pretty stellar acting and this movie is a winner in my book for sure. Please check this out when you are in a solemn mood for a fun film. Someday I hope to watch and study this movie more.

Whip It

What a fun movie with some great actors! I was shaken at first by some really poor choices by first-time director Drew Barrymore, but great performances by Kristen Wiig, Ellen Page, Marcia Gay Harden, and Juliette Lewis helped a great deal to redeem this flick. The men in this film were not as awesome. Drew took some chances on some male actors that were clearly out of their league in this one. Andrew Wilson felt like an awkward Owen Wilson (his younger bro) impersonator for much of them film, and Landon Pigg, Ellen's love interest, was pretty flat. Jimmy Fallon was also used pretty poorly, but he did have a few funny moments. After a rocky start of awkward jumps from scene to scene and random dialogue-less shots and falling down montages (and several big jokes that literally got zero laughs in a crowded theatre...ouch!), this movie finds some footing and delivers some great one-liners and a pretty awesome female empowerment message without shoving it down anyone's throat. I appreciated the subtlety a great deal. I can see a very strong story in the movie and can tell that the novel must be pretty solid. Rounding off some great comedic performances was one delivered by Alia Shawkat of 'Arrested Development' fame. What a great best friend. Alia stole most scenes she was in. So, do not rush out to see this movie, but do catch it eventually for some fun, tenderness and (mostly) bloodless violence. I would probably be pretty confident in calling this the ladies' 'Dodgeball.' I am just putting that out there. I can't wait for the someday that Ellen Page gets to actually play a 22 year-old.