so again about Where The Wild Things Are…   it’s sad.  and it’s just so sweet, i can’t seem to get over it.

****

i was watching the trailers before Wild Things and they played a trailer for The Blind Side, that football book i mentioned last week.  so weird that i just thought about it and saw the trailer like that, especially after i completely forgot they were making a movie.  the movie trailer looked oh-so-craptastic, to my dismay, but i see how there’s really very little room around that. 

it’s a non-fiction book about a dirt poor, lost-in-the-woods street urchin high school kid who just happens to have all the physical attributes to be a premier football lineman.  a wealthy white woman sees him digging around the dirt slums and brings him into her home and basically gives him a new life going to high school and playing football.  the woman is played by Sandra Bullock, so right away it’s going to be at least a little craptastic.  it’s a great story in book form though, written by Michael Lewis (Liar’s Poker).  in movie form, on the other hand, there’s really only one way to go and that’s “uplifting”, aka typical, aka craptastic.    gotta make some money somehow.

****

i could talk about how the monster costumes and effects were impressive.  and how technical mastery created monster faces that showed such painfully present emotion.  and how the stick structures and sparse world of wooded fantasy were perfect for this brand of “wild thing” imagination.  i could talk about catherine keener’s acting or the DP’s camera shots.  but that would all just be being reductive and missing the forest for the trees, because ultimately all the technical aspects and production values worked well enough to disappear into the film content itself and present to you this masterpiece of a film.  i’ll say that again for effect.  masterpiece.

i remember seeing the book around the house when i was a kid but i don’t think i ever read it.  if i did, i don’t remember it, so i can’t compare.

it’s the story about a nine year old kid named Max.  his parents are divorced.  his sister is older and ignores him.  his mother is dating Mark Ruffalo.  one night he lashes out at his mother and runs away to the woods where he sails a boat to a faraway island populated by giant, childlike, “wild thing” beasts who immediately adopt him as their king.  things go great for a short while in this fantasy land until real world emotions peek into Max’s kingdom and threaten to tear apart his new family of fellow wild things.  (so, anyone that complains about this film having no plot should just STFU because there it is.) 

again, i won’t go into the technical stuff because i don’t want to lose sight of the magic of this film, which is the re-creation of the entire spectrum of childhood emotions, which actually is the entire spectrum of Real Human Emotions, just in a different setting.  fear, betrayal, disappointment, loneliness, happiness, hope, love, comfort.  spike jonze romps through our fundamental emotive existence through this kid Max, sometimes heart-breakingly and sometimes with enthusiasm.  there’s no mistake though, the film’s emotions are all real, endearing and somehow have such an intense vivacity that they often felt like an electric shock or a splash of water in the face.  in a good way.  i’m not exactly sure how Spike Jonze did it, but he put all the pieces together and the film, like Pinocchio, became a living thing.  and he did it all without talking down to Max or giving us, the audience, an adults’ view of Max’s story.  i became Max and the Wild Things, and i felt their emotions as i feel my own. 

from this nytimes article: “‘We wanted it all to feel true to a 9-year-old and not have some big movie speech where a 9-year-old is suddenly reciting the wisdom of the sage.’ [Jonze] hadn’t set out to make a children’s movie, [Jonze] said, so much as to accurately depict childhood. ‘Everything we did, all the decisions that we made, were to try to capture the feeling of what it is to be 9.’”  what the quote and article didn’t say however is how in trying to show the view of a nine year old, the film became instantly relateable regardless of age to anyone that has a heart.  (or, also a likely possibility, i am literally retarded.  emotionally stunted.  but at this point…  so what?)

i just saw this thing yesterday, so the experience is still fresh and might dull out later, but right now, i feel like Where The Wild Things Are is one of those films that come along every several years that convince you of the awesomeness of movies.  the word “fantastic” somehow isn’t fit to describe this film.  “special” works much better. 

previous reviews here.

The Class (2008) – french, documentary style narrative about a high school teacher’s year in a low-income neighborhood school.  it’s based on a non-fiction book written by the main actor who, himself, was a high school teacher, so if it seems he gets very into his role, it’s because he’s playing himself.  given the fact that the book is written by the teacher and that that teacher is also the main actor of the film, i expected a completely one-sided, fuck-the-students type of story, but it wasn’t really.  (or am i sympathetic to teachers?)  while the film gets a little jumpy skipping from one time period to the next, i thought it was an extremely compelling film that gets into the middle of the two-sided exchange that is high school.  3.5 stars.   

Sin Nombre (2009) – this film won all sorts of awards all over the festival circuit, including Sundance.  very impressive considering this is filmmaker Cary Fukunaga’s first feature film.  set in mexico, Sin Nombre is the story about a young, hardened veteran of the infamous MS-13 gang fleeing for his life and a young girl who is trying to smuggle herself into america.  i thought it sank the viewer into the slums environment exceptionally well, while always maintaining the human element with this boy and girl.  and it avoids the cheese.  3.5 stars. 

Adventureland (2008) – coming of age film that was much poo-pooed when it came out, which is too bad because it’s not really that bad, imo.  Jesse Eisenberg is a newly broke college kid that has to work a summer at the local amusement park to raise money for….  i forget.  doesn’t matter.  the recently ubiquitous kristen stewart is the prerequisite love interest.  ryan reynolds is some guitar player whatever.  if Eisenberg is forever known as the poor man’s Michael Cera, he deserves every letter of it.  he really is.  even though this film is a slave to the formula, i liked the little pockets of unhappiness that it dared to uncover in every character that michael-cera-wannabe runs across.  there’s a hint at real depth there, and i wished it explored that more, but oh well.  it is what it is.  halfway entertaining with a good looking, familiar cast and some potential for really great stuff.  too bad it never realized that potential.  2.5 stars. 

Duplicity (2009) – julia roberts and clive owen in a tony gilroy film.  also poo-pooed when it came out in the theater and also another film that i didn’t mind, even liked.  i am becoming a big fan of Tony Gilroy scripts (he also wrote Michael Clayton).  roberts and owen are both former government spies that are using their skills in the world of corporate espionage.  screenwriter Tony Gilroy excels at writing strong dialogue and inserting technical expertise, both in a real world, non-fantasy environment.  the things that happen in his world could be happening right next to you, but it just seems so outrageous at the same time.  the tone of Duplicity gets pretty silly, but these are still real people.  roberts and owen, reunited after their fantastic turn together in Closer, have enough star power to skate this twisty and entertaining story to a fun conclusion.  3.5 stars. 

Space Battleship Yamato: The Movie (1974) – you old guys, do you remember Star Blazers?  well this is the original movie.  it’s basically the whole Race to Iscandar story, seen to its conclusion in two hours.  it was made in the 1970s so the action sequences are laughably shitty by today’s standards, but the interesting part to watch here is how it all relates to Japanese national honor and military sentiment after the depression of WW2.  this film that was watered down and stripped of all pro-Japanese military sentiment in US releases is essentially about the eventual rise of Japanese military strength in a time of need and in service to the planet earth.  interesting.  still though, it’s a shitty movie.  1.5 stars. 

Away We Go (2009) – Maya Rudolph and John Krasinksi (from The Office) in a Sam Mendes film.  very entertaining film about a young, newly pregnant couple that are on a multi-city search for a new hometown and along the way confront the issues of how they want to end up as a family.  the film starts out in a flighty, fun place, but ends up in an extremely contemplative and almost sad position.  the wild swing between the two extremes — a liability in most cases — is an example here of completeness.  the key to this sort of thing is how likeable or engaging the two main characters are.  it’s clear everyone around them is kind of crazy, but do we really care what happens to the pregnant couple?  in this case, yes.  they are simply adorable.  Bert (Krasinksi) plays a sunshiney, loveable male ditz and Verona (Rudolph) is the darker, more contemplative half of the pair.  stitch them together with some snappy dialogue and there’s no way this roast comes out overdone.      4 stars. 

Goodbye Solo (2009) – indie film about a bubbly african cab driver who befriends an old, white curmudgeon customer in a very odd-couple pairing.  the white dude wants to be left alone, while the cab driver wants nothing more than to intrude on his life.  some soul-searching and self-discovery occurs as per norm.  like other films of this genre, Goodbye Solo rises and falls with the likeability of Solo, the cab driver star of the show, and whatever chemistry he strikes up with the old white man.  imo, Solo was pretty annoying, but it turns out that was part of the point.  long way around to get to a pretty mediocre conclusion.  3 stars. 

Sugar (2008) – another indie-type film, this time by the writer-director pair Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, the same two that made the pretty solid film Half Nelson.  Half Nelson got all the press back in the day, but i might argue that Sugar is the better film.  It’s is a sprawling and ambitious film about a young Dominican baseball prospect and his journey through a MLB farm system.  you think you’ve seen a hundred films like this before, but it turns out that Sugar isn’t like any of those other formula films, for better or worse.  imo, for better.  the main character, Sugar, comes from a place of instability, is blessed with some talent, and ultimately has to face the fact that his dreamy life might not be all that dreamy.   but far from cliche, this movie is a great example of the film’s not giving in to expectation while at the same time not defying expectations just to be cheeky.  it’s its own story, and deserves a look.  3.5 stars. 

District 9 (2009) – in the current onslaught of brainless and unoriginal remakes and adaptations, it’s nice to see a fun, creative and well executed sci-fi film break through like this one did this summer.  District 9 centers around an alien ufo landing that deposits a large population of aliens in south africa.  rather than fight the all out war for world domination, like one might expect, the aliens are rounded up and given shelter in District 9 because they’re all pretty much starving, and stuck here on earth.  humans rule this planet though, and people being people, treat the aliens like shit.  first told in a documentary style, the film lays the groundwork and tells the story of how the aliens and humans co-exist.  not nicely.  then something unexpected happens, and the film takes on a different tack, instantly transforming into a fast-paced action film.  even though the film felt familiar at times, i never thought it wasn’t a great new film.  4 stars. 

Brett Favre – let’s forget this recent annoyance about his retirement indecision.  that will be forgotten completely in the next ten years.  when you talk about enthusiasm for the game, this is it.  if love of football took human shape and pumped red blood, it would have no choice but to become Brett Favre.  there are countless stories and stats.  he threw a last second, game-winning touchdown with an injured finger on his throwing hand.  he’s started the most games since Moses.  i remember watching him get creamed once, absolutely smeared across the turf, and he immediately jumped back up and slapped the offender in the head.  out of anger?  nope.  to congratulate him for a great hit.  over the past few decades i’ve watched this excitement that bordered on insanity and let it infect me.  i wish all football players loved playing as much as he does.

Lawrence Taylor – possibly the anti-Favre.  he really doesn’t give a shit about football anymore, which makes me wonder if he ever did.  he’s a notorious druggie and quite unapologetic about it all.  but back in the day…  when he was in college, they polled all the NFL head coaches at the time and asked them who they absolutely wished they could land in the draft.  around 90% said Lawrence Taylor.  everyone says he was a game-changer.  he revolutionized the game of football.  i could always catch on little bits about what that meant but i never knew exactly how he did it.  he’s a strong, crazy motherfucker who runs after the quarterback like a wild jackass.  revolutionary enough.  then i read Michael Lewis’ excellent book called The Blind Side and learned exactly what happened.  read the book.  the original LT was a force that the NFL had to conform around.  and he was a New York Giant! 

Charles Oakley – everyone remembers Patrick Ewing when the New York Knicks were good in a previous life, but to me he never mesmerized like the don’t-you-even-fucking-look-at-me-or-i’ll-fucking-kill-you presence that was Charles Oakley.  Oakley’s numbers aren’t legendary as far as i know, but he dove for loose balls, rebounded, boxed out and owned the paint essentially by being a menacing dark shadow of malevolence.  i’m a sucker for unsung heroes, and this guy never got his due as the wind beneath Ewing’s wings. 

Derek Jeter – i feel like a little girl cheering for Jeter just because he’s the easy one to cheer for, the one EVERYone knows to cheer for, even the little girls.  he’s that easy to pick out for a reason: he’s fucking amazing.  people say he’s a clutch player.  true, he has come through in some tight, pressure-cooker situations before, but he’s just doing what he always does.  he’s a consistent performer and that means he’s performing similarly when things are ho-hum uneventful and when things are so tense the planet might spontaneously explode from the compressed energy and anticipation.  clutch?  that implies he might not perform otherwise.  consistent?  a grinder?  yes and yes, and the ridiculously high level of play that he plays at everyday is why he’s the king.  

Paul O’Neill – a Charles Oakley, quiet force, grinder type for the Yankees, but this is really less about O’Neill than it is about the championship teams that he was a part of.  Jeter was a rising star back in the late ’90s, but the team was dominated by unflashy grinders that just produced well together.  Brosius, Posada, Knoblauch (throwing issues aside), Tino, Bernie, Mariano.  Paul O’Neill is just my favorite — besides Jeter — of them all and my chosen ambassador for those glory days of the team that played so well together.  he never put up flashy numbers, but he hit well consistently kind of like Matsui does now, and he was a notoriously grumpy perfectionist, often throwing gloves, bats, helmets, etc. when he struck out.  he was a bona fide nutcase, but the anger was always directed at his own performance.  it would always crack me up when he threw his helmet after a strike out.  such anger!  he loved baseball and he loved playing it well. 

***

click here for a funny take on Oakley by Bill Simmons.  scroll down to the John Shaft Award section with the MJ pic.  yes, The John Shaft Award goes to Charles Oakley.  because he’s a baaaad man.  “For God’s sake, everyone in the league is still afraid of him, personified by the one-sided Tyrone Hill/Oakley and Jeff McInnis/Oakley feuds, as well as the famous story of Oak slapping Barkley hard across the face during a ’99 lockout players-only meeting, which became his signature “Here’s why you don’t mess with Oakley” moment.”

what would you do if you meet a great person, seems to have a nice, easy-going, cute personality, is easy enough to look at, shares common interests, etc, but they have…  bad breath?  like you don’t even have to be that close to their face.  you just wiff it whenever they open their mouths to speak.  and it’s not just after they’d been drinking or after a meal or after they just woke up or something.  it’s all the time.  is this a deal-breaker?

i can imagine one side thinking that this is just a natural occurrence that will take some getting used to, just like any other flaw.  it can be overlooked.  we’re only human after all.  but there’s another side, a more instinctual side, that deep down might think this in particular might be hard to get over.  things that smell nice seem to have reaching effects into a mood, right?  if you walk into a house that just baked some cookies or banana bread?  if you smell the subtle hints of perfume behind a girl’s neck?  it reaches into your soul.  likewise, something that smells rank can have an equally powerful effect, no?  we might not think it, but doesn’t smelling something bad hint at something dirty?  unclean?  unhealthy to be near. 

logical thinking should trump this prejudice, but, as Malcolm Gladwell pointed out, we’re instinctual animals, often using logic to supplement our instinctual choices rather than to overcome them.  we’re only human after all indeed.  and while i don’t assume everyone is super logical and dismisses bad breath as easy overlooked, i do think that at least some of you (like me?) might react with slight repulsion at the idea of being face-to-face with someone with bad-breath for all eternity.

next question, what would you do if you meet a great person, seems to have a nice, easy-going, cute personality, has sparkling fresh breath, shares common interests, etc, but they are… not so easy to look at.  is it superficial and unacceptable to reject this person?  if you knew someone who rejected this ugly duckling, would you consider them to be made of weak character?  would you, yourself, be able to accept a fat, hairy, slob as your mate if all other signs were positive?  if you think it’s unacceptable to categorize ugly looks as deal-breaker, did you also think bad breath was something superficial and easy to gloss over and ignore? 

if a part of a person offends one sense, should another sense’s offense be no less important?  is it ethically ok to rank senses?  if so, what is the acceptable ranking and how did we come to that conclusion?  remember: you can’t smell through your television or movie screen. 

Kanye West in a Spine Jonze short film WE WERE ONCE A FAIRY TALE.  watch to the end.

someone suggested i add a few names to the Top 5 Endings list from yesterday.  Shawshank is a worthy addition.  it had a fairly strong and steady narrative that ended exactly how the audience hoped it would end.  the bad guys got their just desserts, and the heroes hung out on the clear blue ocean for the rest of their days.  and very importantly, Shawshank was a very good and entertaining film. 

not so much for Life is Beautiful, Rudy or Braveheart.  not to me, anyway.

i have major problems with Braveheart as a film, particularly the William Wallace character.  as an aside, it’s also becoming clear that Mel Gibson has a fascination with the glorification of gruesome self-sacrifice.  The Passion of the Christ might as well have been called Two Hours of the Execution of William Wallace.  he’s kind of like Clint Eastwood in the way they both latch onto a theme about morality and repeat it through several films.  for Eastwood it’s “hardened veteran is faced with the choice between bad and worse”, think Unforgiven, Mystic River, Million Dollar Baby, etc.  and for Gibson it’s “heroic figure is unjustly (at least in the eyes of the film) imprisoned and executed in the most grotesque manner possible.” 

anyway, i digress.  personally i think Rudy is Rocky, except Rocky was done with far superior character development and therefore created better drama.  and Life is Beautiful is nothing without that kid.  i also have issues with how the film was a hyperactive sweetfest basically begging you to adore it, but that’s just me. 

there are certain movies that end with such an overwhelmingly affecting climax, that are led up with careful purpose, that explode with such physical, intellectual or emotional finality, that you’re certain there was absolutely no better way to end the film, that hold you in its grasp until the very last second.  these are those films.

there’s an inherent spoiler element to this entire list but i won’t include any details about the ending itself.  still, though, if you’re like me and are sensitive to any kind of spoiler information, then stop reading now!  i have a feeling you might have seen all these anyway.

and by “Awesome Ending” i don’t necessarily mean “Awesome Endings with a Twist” though that might qualify. 

Star Wars (1977) – this movie is so ubiquitous in common conversation that its achievements are sometimes forgotten to me.  Star Wars is the model for all Campbell-ian hero stories, ending properly with a scene of “Return” where the heroes are recognized for their accomplishments that separate them from everyone else.  the ending of this film isn’t the destruction of the Death Star — though that alone might warrant Star Wars an appearance on this list –, but the medal-award ceremony where the heroes march in a parade to receive the thanks of the people they saved, thereby enshrining themselves in the heroic pantheon.  propelled by john williams’ smashing score, this movie really couldn’t end any better.

**MEGA SPOILER ALERT** don’t click if you haven’t seen the film.  really.  rent it now.  skip this link. 
Memento (2000) – this movie’s pretty genius.  at first i thought the backward sequencing was just a useless gimmick.  very wrong.  that was the only way to tell this amazing story about a guy who can’t remember anything.  this film is a winding staircase and the final step is a doozy.

Cinema Paradiso (1998) – technically, this film isn’t perfect, but the ending is.  it’s sweet and sentimental, and, quite frankly, on a more personal note, it reminds me of at least one thing that i enjoy completely: movies.

Rocky (1976) – of course, it’s extremely shmaltzy, but i’m not sure any great underdog film shouldn’t be shmaltzy.  out of context, the swooning score and a baying Stallone might seem overdone, but in context…  do you remember the first time you saw this film end?  if you didn’t cheer for this loveable loser, then you, sir, have no heart. 

Oldboy (2003) – one of the greatest reveals in my cinematic history.  some movies get too cute in their wind up to the conclusive “reveal” resulting in me simply not giving a shit by the time it arrives.  not so here.  i soaked in every step and nearly shit myself when it finally happened. 

Honorable Mentions:
Some Kind of Wonderful – anyone remember the Lick the Tins version of Can’t Help Falling in Love that played at the conclusion of this one?  it’s awesome.  and here it is! 
Dead Poets Society
The Natural – i kind of love the ending to this with its situation, and the music and the lights, etc.  it was a toss up between this and Rocky, because i didn’t want to put up two sports movies.
The Blair Witch Project – great wind up to an abrupt and totally fucking frightening ending.
Thelma and Louise – really, what is this film without its signature ending? 
The Usual Suspects – really not the best film in retrospect, but i still enjoyed the ending a lot. 
The Shawshank Redemption – i hope…   (thanks, aegie!)

the hero who, at heart, is just an asshole, but is still the hero nonetheless.  or is he really just an asshole who happens to be a hero?

Michael Corleone – anyone here kill their own brother?  no?  thought not.

Mark Renton – there’s just no getting around it.  Renton is a complete and total asshole.  he stole a tape of his two friends having sex.  he helped one of those friends hooked on smack, which resulted in that friend getting AIDS and dying of toxoplasmosis.  he had a sexual relationship with a minor.  he was a serial thief.  he stole a bag full of money from his friends. 

The Pimp (from the korean film The Chaser) – you probably never saw this movie, but, trust me, he’s a GREAT anti-hero.  possibly the anti-hero poster boy. 

Tony Soprano – he’s definitely the hero of one of the greatest tv shows of all time.  and he’s definitely an asshole.  check and check. 

Clint Eastwood – every character he’s famous for has been a violent, chauvinistic, alcoholic murderer.  in High Plains Drifter, he raped a woman in broad daylight, got away with it, and was never not the hero of that film. 

(i don’t watch The Shield or else I’d probably put Frank Mackey on that list.) 

someone stole my ipod cable!  right off my desk at work where it was connected to my computer! 

my phone battery was at like 15% so i intentionally drained the last 15% of battery life hoping to recharge it while i worked.  when i reached across the desk to find the cable….  uh oh!  no cable!  drat!  i thought it might be someone at work, but this morning i unlocked the computer (i don’t turn it off or logoff) to see the iTunes software update notification window up.  this window doesn’t usually pop up unless someone boots up itunes, right?  so this means someone connected an ipod or iphone to my computer while i was gone!  probably the same fucker that stole my cable.  the nerve of this motherfucker!

and since he used my computer to charge his ipod/iphone, that probably means he doesn’t have a computer of his own here, which means he doesn’t work here, which means he’s probably on the cleaning crew. 

and unless i am willing to ninja it out all night hiding in the ceiling tiles ready to pounce on this fucking jerk, he’s pretty much gonna get away with it. 

hey, how do i trap this fucker?  i wish i could like install a camera and record him or rig my cube with a hundred fucking exploding caps of permanent pink ink like they have in banks.