Where The Wildthings Are
I had waited to see this film as my original hype for it had died after reviews came back a little under what I was expecting. I recently got a chance to check it out and I’m glad I finally did. It has some wonderful imagery and fairly unique soundtrack. The acting is fairly solid with my only real complaints coming from acting choices made by the director and writers as apposed to the actors abilities. The main character in the film, Max, is Psychotic to the point of being a tad unrelatable, and the Wildthings are equally as negative and neurotic. While these attitudes do have there place in the film I thought that they dominated way to much of the arch.
The Wildthings looked great. I always love it when movies use practical effects, and they are used well here. Once again the great Jim Henson company was charged with bringing them to life, while an effects house was brought in to add life to the face that would impossible and most likely financially impracticable to build into any rig made today.
“Where The Wildthings Are,” may not be what you expect. It’s subtly acted, and has fantastic visuals. It’s pacing is slow allowing the viewer time to take in the creatures and world. However, there are many times when the movie is to slow for it’s own good. All in all, it’s a nice trip to take even if it contains textbook examples of why parents sometimes turn to drugs.
2012
I God awful piece of over produced and under acted celluloid vomit.
This Is It
I was never a devoted fan of Michael Jackson, but nevertheless was familiar with his hits that played on the radio, and on MTV of course. After his nose fell off, and his child molestation scandal kicked into full gear – in order to save my sanity – I stopped paying any attention to the media coverage and thusly the man himself. Now that this documentary of what was to be his final performance has been released I figured I should give it a watch as my interest had been sparked by his sudden death, and the one again, nearly unescapable coverage.
The film itself was not really what I expected, in that it was not really even a documentary. Instead it was a compilation of behind the scenes footage of Michael Jackson practicing this concert. It even goes so far as to reconstruct some of the performance that was – at the time – bare bones and not ready to show. With this in mind, the enjoyment you will pull from this film is in direct relation to how much you liked the man and his music.
I was surprised at just how many of the songs I new, which is to say, all of them. It was also amazing to see Michael still able to pull all of his moves at 50. Regardless of what you believe when it comes to his guilt, he definitely new how to preform and put on a show and, “This Is It,” as close as many of as we will ever get to seeing a new production from him.
