This was one of those movies where reading the book first actually ruined the movie experience a bit for me in the end.  Scorcese does such a good job retelling the book both visually and in casting the parts, that the obvious feeling of knowing everything that’s to come creeps up and you almost have no desire to finish the movie.  That being said, I can only fault the movie on my very biased situation.  For the rest of you, there’s no reason not to see Shutter Island.  It captures the mood of the book very well, and DeCaprio did a fairly decent job as the main character, who, in the book is a gravely voiced, grade-A bad ass war vet who is now a U.S. Marshall trying to crack a missing patient case.  I had more of a Mickey Rourke image in my head for the main character, but Leo pulled it off well enough.  For what it is, the cinematography was excellent, the story was retold to a T, and I’d have to still give the edge to the book, and a big recommendation still to see the movie.  Oscar contender?  I’m not sure, but I still enjoyed seeing the book finally come to life.

She’s Out of My League

Some movies you just watch because you’re not in the mood to see anything that’s too serious.  I laughed a lot more than I thought I would, and if you go into it expecting the comedy of the year, well, obviously you’re going to be disappointed.  Otherwise, it was better than I expected and unless you’re a “hard 10″ perfect person, and are more of a 6 or 7, then this should be a pretty decent feel good comedy for you.  You can’t hate a movie too much that makes you laugh and has the nerdy guy winning in the end right?  Uh oh, did I ruin the movie for you with that spoiler?  Yeah, I didn’t think so.  Go see it on a date and don’t take it too seriously.

Un Prophete (A Prophet)

Now this is a great movie.  I randomly saw it about a month ago and it’s still lingering in the back of my mind.  It basically tells the story of a kid accused of a crime, falsely or otherwise, they never say, and he gets stuck in a Corsican prison to fend for himself.  Godfather comparisons have been aplenty, and I have to say I almost enjoyed this take on organized crime than The Godfather.  I’m not saying it’s better by any means, just the way they present it is excellent.  Amazing acting, great story, and it just felt very real to me.  It’s kind of hard to explain the story, and I’ll most likely give too much away in trying to do so, so I’ll just give it my highest recommendation and let you guys decide.  I was honestly pretty bummed when this didn’t win best foreign film at the Oscars, but it’s one you definitely shouldn’t miss.  One of the year’s best.

Up in the Air

Another one of my favorite movies of last year, this one tells the story of a man whose job is solely to travel around the country and strategically fire people for companies that are downsizing.  When his job is threatened by a new tech idea that has them fire people over the internet instead of in person, he takes the girl whose technology was her brainchild around the country so she can see that doing it in person is really that much more important.  Clooney really won me over playing the main character, and my description is just the main plot, with all the stuff that happens to him along the way, and his unique relationship with the people in his life who barely get to see him, really driving the movie.  If you’re looking for the next movie to really be worth your money, I can’t recommend this one enough.  It’s that good.

Sherlock Holmes

Guy Ritchie is known for his British crime action films, which I love to death, but if he’s going to be making more big budget flicks in the future, I sure hope they’re all on par with this one.  Robert Downey Jr. does his usual great acting job, and his quasi-intelligent mumbling a hundred miles an hour style really works well as Sherlock Holmes.  I wasn’t expecting much out of this one, and maybe that’s why I enjoyed it so much.  From the very well done action scenes, to the final moment when all is revealed by one Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I have to admit I left this one with a huge grin on my face.  I don’t want Ritchie to give up the Lock, Stock/Snatch formula any time soon, but if he must dabble in the big budget summer flicks, I can feel a lot more confident that the next one will be just as good as his underground stuff.

Youth in Revolt

If you think from reading these reviews that I enjoy every movie I see, well, you’d pretty much be right.  I grew up watching a movie a week for years on end with my dad, and bad movies were just as fun for us as the really great ones.  But alas, Youth in Revolt was just not that good.  Ignore the fact that everyone’s getting sick of seeing Michael Cera’s face and focus on the actual movie for a second.  Did you see the preview and notice how they all talked in this weird, sort of high class monotone that you’d expect to see in a Victorian era film or in your local country club?  Well, I prayed they didn’t pull a Juno or Napoleon Dynamite and have every character talking the exact annoying way as each other the whole film, but Youth in Revolt does this in spades and it annoyed the hell out of me.  Almost to the point that I just turned it off halfway, but I give every movie a chance and stuck it out.  Cera’s character is a wimpy kid (big surprise) who goes on a trip with his mom and her new boyfriend (Zach Galifianakis, who is hilarious in his brief time in the movie), and finds the love of his life while there.  One thing leads to another and eventually he has to leave.  In order to get back there, he has to get kicked out of his mom’s house so he can live with his dad, which is where his “true love” lives.  Enter the mustachio’d Cera, the evil alter ego he creates so he can do all the evil things it takes to get kicked out.  And that’s basically it.  The evil Cera actually cracked me up quite a bit, and I was disappointed he wasn’t in the movie nearly as much as the trailer would lead you to believe.  But besides that, the rest of the movie fell flat for me.  I got annoyed, the dual Cera parts didn’t carry the movie whatsoever, and the story was just blah to me.  I imagine the book is pretty funny, but the movie just didn’t do it for me.  My rec?  Pass on it and wait for Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.

I watch a ton of movies, so I’ll try to make this a more regular section on the site to catch you up on all the movies I watch.  Hope these helped sway your decision either way of whether you should watch that movie you’d been longing to see for a while, and check out the new trailer for Scott Pilgrim vs. the World before you leave.  It looks pretty sweet.

It goes without saying that I was more than excited to finally see Spike Jonez’ film adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are.  All the controversy with the studios and that whole backstory was almost old news to me by this point, and I was just ready to see the movie at last.  So, what did I think?  It’s a mixed bag of thoughts honestly, but after sitting on my thoughts for a couple of days, I think the good far outweighs the bad.

This film is weird.  I’ll get that out of the way first and foremost.  And I was surrounded by kids who were visably scared and either crying, or definitely wanting to get the heck out of the theatre.  The Wild Things are Max’s creations in his imagination, and from the first couple of scenes, I could tell this wasn’t your typical children’s story.  The real life scenes were dark, and add monsters that basically represent the people and emotions surrounding Max in his everyday life, and we’re left with a great portrayal of the array of human emotions, from lonliness to joy, and how we treat each other every day, which isn’t great most times.

I was wondering how they would transistion from real life to Max’s imagination, but it was done pretty seemlessly, and since I went into this knowing it was Spike Jonez and that it would be strange, the transition to the land of the Wild Things seemed to work just fine.  Once on the island, that’s when Jonez goes to work.  The intial scene where he first meets the Wild Things is pretty funny as Max scrambles to come up with something to say to keep them from eating him, and eventually convinces them he was a king where he came from before, and they decide he should be their king to solve all their problems.  Among them being lonliness, jealousy, fear, and depression.

I won’t mention much more about the plot, even though most of you have read the book and know what happens, but I’ll just say the other stand-outs besides the morals that are so well presented throughout, are the creature designs.  I’ve told most of my friends to see the film for the creature design, then for the message, then finally for the plot.  That’s how neat it was to see the Wild Things on the big screen.  The trailers really don’t do justice to how well done Carol, Ira, Douglas, Judith, and the rest of the Wild Things are.  I’m curious to see the behind the scenes features on the dvd talking about what went into creating these elaborate monster costumes.  As huge as they were, I had no trouble believing they were real living, breathing creatures, and that’s a testament to the great job done by Jonez and crew.

If you’re still on the fence whether or not to see this in theatres, I say definitely go see it.  I personally won’t see it again in the theatres, and won’t be in line to buy the dvd the first day it comes out, but as a unique experience, this movie takes the cake and should be experienced by everyone at least once.  If you’ve got kids, I’d just use your own judgement to how they’ve reacted to past movies.  The only really scary parts are when Carol gets mad and chases Max around angrily trying to eat him.  That probably would’ve scared me as a little kid, but there were still plenty of kids around me who were glued to the screen wanting to see more.

Where the Wild Things Are is one of the most unique movies we’ve been given this year, and that alone should be reason enough for you to see it.  Plus, we’ve all read the book and I can’t imagine it being pulled off any better on the big screen than this.  I’ve seen a lot of great movies so far this year, and I can’t say anything I’ve seen even comes close to being this original, both visually and emotionally.  Go see it.  You won’t regret it.

I loved this movie.  There’s no other way to put it.  And in a completely different way than my love for (500) Days of Summer.  (500) Days of Summer was a love story we could all relate to.  And for most of us that wasn’t necessarily a good thing.  It was a love story we found ourselves relating to more of the bad parts than the good, but one we still loved none-the-less.  Away We Go on the other hand is a unique story that we can relate to in theme, but one hardly any of us could relate to personally.

The Dave Eggers penned story feels like exactly that.  Quirky, smart, and often times funny in the most uncomfortable of ways.  Fans of Eggers’ numerous books should love the writing throughout this film and if you’ve never read an Eggers’ novel, definitely go pick up one asap.  You Shall Know Our Velocity would be my suggestion.  But Away We Go is the simple story of Burt and Verona; a 30 something couple about to have a baby, that decide to hit the road in search of the “perfect” place to raise their child.

Burt’s parents conveniently take a trip they’ve been planning for 15 years the month before the baby is born.  The two people they purposely moved close to for the baby’s sake just up and leave, so the two come up with a list of place they either enjoyed in the past, or where friends and family reside, and “go away” on their little home finding adventure.  You can imagine the friends and family they meet along the way at each stop is stranger than the last, but I loved every character in their own unique way, whether it be that they’re simply crazy, or the stories behind their lives we grow to learn.  Eggers’ novels are full of memorable characters and even more memorable locations, and this movie shows that he’s at it again.

The theme of Away We Go is how powerful love can be between two people, and mainly how it gets people through tough times.  Burt and Verona see these “tough times” front and center as they meet all their friends’ and family’s seemingly perfect lives, only to find they’re anything but.  The more I think about the movie, its characters, and its overall themes, the more I love it.  Normally I keep from getting carried away by throwing something like, “it’s not a movie for everyone, but…”, but this time around I think I can safely say I’d be surprised if anyone actually didn’t like it.  Sure, you can not like some of the more essentric characters, but as a movie overall, it’s a story we can all relate to and with Eggers helping pen the script, and Oscar winning director Sam Mendes running things, it’s no wonder so many people have ended up loving it.

Gigantic
Perch Score:  8.233

(500) Days of Summer didn’t help this movie’s score out in the least, but for the most part I thoroughly enjoyed Gigantic.  Paul Dano is stranger than normal, Zooey is still cute as ever (definitely more innocent this time around than in “Summer”), and John Goodman is hilarious as Zooey’s dad.  I read reviews saying it’s a good movie but the cast brings it down.  I don’t necessarily agree.  I just think it was a movie that tried to be sort of deadpan, especially with how Dano’s character was, and went a bit overboard.  Worth a viewing for sure.  Will it be one I grab on dvd and watch multiple times.  Eh, probably not.  But still worth seeing.  Especially for you Zooey fans.

The Brothers Bloom
Perch Score:  9.329

I loved (500) Days of Summer in a completely different way than I loved The Brothers Bloom.  It’s a quirky, yet amazingly well told and acted, story of the Bloom brothers (Mark Ruffalo and Adrien Brody), and their quest for the ultimate con.  They are world renowned con men and the story begins with Brody tired of not having his own life and always playing the parts his brother makes for him each con.  The introduction of Rachel Weisz’s character, Penelope, is when the movie goes from good to great.  She’s a shut in millionaire that they decide to take on an adventure, of course, to eventually get some of her money.  But when she takes to their style of life a bit too much, what ensues is funny, heartwarming, and just plain fun.  I realize that sounded like a line from the movie’s poster or something, but believe me when I say it’ll most likely be one of the better movies you see in a long time.

District 9
Perch Score:  9.299

I’m not sure what it is lately, but I’ve just been seeing a ton of great movies.  And the best part is how they’re all from genres all over the map.  District 9 from the dark sci-fi spectrum.  I expected good things going into this movie, but I left simply blown away.  I’ve been told my reaction was a bit overboard, but whether you thought it was just meh or not, I sure loved it.  The movie is filmed in a fake documentary style and makes you think that this could very well have been real.  This was Neil Blomkamp’s test from Peter Jackson to see if he could do a Halo movie or not, and even though he decided not to pursue directing Halo, you can see the game’s influence all over District 9.  The minute they start using the alien weaponry and their mech fighting machines, I couldn’t help but smile to see Halo style guns pulled off in a movie so well.  District 9 won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, as most sci-fi movies aren’t, but this one stands in a class all its own and should find even the most casual moviegoer leaving very satisfied.  I sure haven’t seen anything like it, and I’m sure most of you haven’t either.

World’s Greatest Dad
Perch Score:  7.032/10

I watched this last night expecting good things.  The red band trailer had me plenty excited to see Robin Williams in another dark comedy, and even more excited that he didn’t seem near as creepy as his role in One Hour Photo.  But alas, after a solid two weeks of seeing one great film after another, the stream finally came to an end.  This isn’t a bad movie at all, it just feels more like a good B-movie with Robin Williams heading up the cast.  Bobcat Goldthwait wrote and directed the film, and you definitely leave the movie thinking, well, I guess if I had to envision the kind of strange movie Bobcat would make, this would most likely fit the bill.  The more I think about the movie, the less I dislike it, but overall there were too many things that bugged me for me to let them slide and give it a decent rating.  Robin Williams was good as the down on his luck, nervous, and lonely dad.  The kid who played his son bugged the crap out of me.  I realize he was supposed to be a D-bag and a jerk to his dad, but I just felt like he was trying to be immature like Will Ferrell and John C. Reilley in Step Brothers, only he did a bad job and wasn’t funny.  “Oh yeah dad?  Well, only losers would do that.  Why don’t you make me.”  And so on, and so on.  The pacing was also really slow, but considering the material and the boundaries it eventually did end up pushing, I’ll give it some slack.  Not the best movie, but I’m sure you’ll be left scratching your head wondering if it was the great climax to the movie at the end that won you over, or if you did, in fact, actually enjoy the movie.  I’m putting my money on the former and calling it a day.

It’s hard to talk about this movie without immediately giving away what it is about.  The trailer gives nothing away, and I went into the movie knowing only that Sam Rockwell was the sole crew member of a mining base on the moon, and that towards the end of his three year stay on the moon, he starts to go a little crazy and begins seeing things.  That’s honestly just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to this fantastic movie, and while I still won’t give away anything about the plot, I will tell you that this is Sam Rockwell at his very best.  I’ve yet to see any performance this year that matches his, and add to that the amazing CGI work done to recreate the moon and the base Rockwell lives on, and you get one of the surprise movies of the year.  Not to be missed by anyone, if Moon is showing anywhere near you, by all means drop what you’re doing and go see it.  It’s that good. (note: Duncan Jones, the director, is David Bowie’s son)

Trailer / Ebert’s Review / Metacritic
Public Enemies
Perch Score:  8.754/10

It goes without saying I prefer to see Johnny Depp any day as someone like John Dillenger over Jack Sparrow.  I also love Michael Mann.  So the fact that I really enjoyed Public Enemies is no surprise at all.  The movie is stylish, fun, and very well acted, portraying Dillenger and everyone involved in his escape plan.  This is one of my favorite performances by Depp in a while, and Marion Cotillard officially won me over with her role as Billie Freschette.  Everyone else in the cast was great, except for Christian Bale.  He didn’t do a bad job, he just didn’t seem to fit with the style of the film.  The rest of the cast was like “this is a robbery see, putcha hands up!” and Bale and his gravely voice were like “I’ll catch you John Dillenger.  That you can be sure of”.  It just didn’t work for me.  Definitely an Oscar worthy film, and one I’d been waiting for for a long time now and it didn’t disappoint.

Trailer / Ebert’s Review / Metacritic

Adventureland
Perch Score: 8.699/10

Greg Mottola, director of Superbad, directed Adventureland as his near impossible follow up to Superbad and my mindset going into this film was exactly that.  There’s no way this can compete with Superbad.  And, honestly, it doesn’t.  But that’s not necessarily a bad thing at all.  It does the job rather effectively of providing us with a funny, down to Earth film about college kids forced to put their big plans on hold and work at a crappy theme park.  Jessie Eisenburg does a great job filling Michael Cera’s place as the super awkward main role.  Although I think Eisenburg’s proven history in dramas, mainly in The Squid and the Whale, which is an oddly wonderful film, makes the serious scenes in this film much better.  I’ll still give the comedic edge to Cera though.  Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t the best movie in the world, but as a feel good comedy, it definitely does it’s job.  I laughed more than I thought I would, and by the end found myself saying, “wow, that was actually pretty good.”  And I’m sure you’ll find yourself saying the same as well.

Trailer / Ebert’s Review / Metacritic
The rest of the list…

Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
Perch Score: 8.122/10
More of the same great storylines and CGI, only this time there’s a vast jungle landscape hidden under the ice and the CGI guys went absolutely nuts towards the end with the use of 3D and simply making it look great.  I’ll be the first to admit it’s not cool to like the Ice Age movies, but I just can’t help myself.  This one might be the best of the series.

Miracle At St. Anna
Perch Score: 8.799/10
Fantastic movie.  I was expecting something a little more political, considering Spike Lee did it, but it ended up just being a fantastic war movie.  But Lee puts his fingerprint and style all over the movie, and I laughed quite a bit during the build up to the main part of the story.  It’s the story of a troop of black soldiers sent into an area first only to be abandoned, and the town that takes them in and keeps them safe.  A great film that you should rent next time you’re at the red box at McDonald’s.

Valkyrie
Perch Score: 8.455/10
Nothing like Miracle at St. Anna, this was one war movie I honestly had no desire to see.  But Tom Cruise proves once again that, while I can’t stand his antics in real life, he’s still a dang good actor, and his character’s quest to kill Hitler and overthrow the Nazi government makes for a great movie.  Not Cruise’s best, but it sure surprised me how good it ended up being.

The Haunting in Connecticut
Perch Score: 7.689/10
Scariest movie I’ve seen in a long time.  We watched it out of pure fun, not expecting anything, and Michelle’s eyes were covered most the time with her screaming “what’s happening!?  What’s happening?!” with me just laughing at how much the last scene freaked me out.  Don’t expect a life changing movie, but there’s plenty of scenes where the camera pans quickly to reveal a ghostly figure with it’s head cocked to the side in the back of the room for only the briefest of moments, but long enough to make you jump and think, what the hell was that.  Yeah, it’s one of those movies, and it doesn’t let up on the eeriness by any means.  Get a group of friends together and see it.
Movies I Want to See

• (500) Days of Summer
• The Informant!
• World’s Greatest Dad
• In the Loop (this look hilarious)
• Cold Souls
• It Might Get Loud (the guitarist in me wants to see this)
• An Education (screenplay by Nick Hornby)
• Inglourious Basterds
• District 9
• Heart of Stone
• Ponyo (Miyazaki’s, director of Spirited Away, next film)

There’s about 10 more movies I’d love to review, but I need to get going.  You’ll just have to wait for the next installment of my Perch mini movie reviews.  But seriously, if you have a chance to see Moon, do it asap.  I loved it.

1.  Bishop Allen – Oklahoma [mp3]

2.  Steel Train – Alone on the Sea [mp3]

3.  Jenny Owens Youngs – Led to the Sea [mp3]

4.  Metric – Gimme Sympathy [mp3]

5.  Silversun Pickups – Growing Old is Getting Old [mp3]

6.  Lisa Hannigan – I Don’t Know [mp3]

7.  Manchester Orchestra – Please Don’t Go [mp3]

8.  Emancipator – Soon It Will Be Cold Enough to Build Fires [mp3]

9.  Saltillo – A Necessary End [mp3]

10.  Manchester Orchestra – La-Di-Da [mp3]

So, Michelle and I went to this movie Sunday on a whim, showing up at the ticket counter at 1:05pm, asking for a ticket for the 1pm show, so saying we went to this movie on an impulse isn’t an exaggeration.  We literally walked by the theatre, gave each other a brief understood look, and just went.  And boy am I ever glad we did.  Sitting here thinking of all the things I want to talk about is almost an overwhelming task, as the complexity of The Watchmen is astounding.  I think I’ll focus on the characters first.

Part of the reason the plot feels so dang complex is because of how much time you find yourself in the past, looking at each character’s background and how they came to be.  The opening credits were right up there with the rest of the movie as far as cool factor are concerned, with a slow motion montage of scenes from the original Watchmen crew frozen in various scenes as the camera slowly pans around each scene of them stopping bad guys, posing for pictures, and even talking to famous people like Andy Warhol.  All behind a Dylan song, which I found to be pretty cool.  The story really begins in 1985, with Nixon, in his 5th term as president, passing an anti-masked heroes law which has made them illegal for the past 15 years.

That kept most the heroes off the street, like Night Owl II and Silk Spectre II, but others refused and still roamed the streets, like the Comedian and Rorschach.  I have to say Rorschach is one of the cooler characters I’ve seen in a film in a long time, and his raspy voice makes Christian Bale’s Batman voice seem like child’s play.  But that’s for another discussion.  The real story begins with the murder of the Comedian.  It’s a murder Rorschach doesn’t believe is a coincidence, and one that leads him on his own personal mission to find out why the Comedian was really murdered, whether members of his old hero gang believe him or not.

I have to admit to not having read the graphic novel, so I can’t say whether it follows the story faithfully or not, but most reviews I’ve read say it only deviated from the book’s plot in a few places, most notably the ending, and that Zach Snyder (director of 300), did about as good a job bringing it to the screen as anyone could.  And most thought the task was nearly impossible.

The plot just gets super complicated from here, with the US and Russia being on the verge of nuclear war, and Rorschach’s mission turning up more and more clues that lead to mysteries unraveled, heroes being set up and backstabbed, and ultimately the heroes putting their suits back on for one last battle.

Thinking back, my favorite character may have been Dr. Manhatten, the blue guy you’ve all seen in the previews, who’s the only real “super” hero in the movie.  All the others are just really strong and good at fighting, but Dr. Manhatten’s nuclear accident has literally made him into a sort of God, being able to create and destroy anything with his mind, and develop an other-worldly sense of things in the universe that we find makes him less and less human as the film continues.  Billy Crudip’s acting as Dr. Manhatten was amazing, as he brought this emotionless, all CGI character to life.  The other characters I wasn’t too sold on.  Night Owl II was a quiet, unassuming character, but I just never connected with him as much as Michelle seemed to.

And Silk Spectre II, played by Malin Ackerman, was the one character I couldn’t get to win me over no matter how hard I tried.  Maybe it’s the fact the the whole first half of the movie, all I could think about was how she was the little sister in 27 Dresses, and now she was in this mega-blockbuster role.  She’s not a bad actress, I just kept feeling like she’d won the role in a contest or something.  But it’s probably just my fault, as I should have left the room last time I was home when my mom was watching 27 Dresses instead of staying on the computer, stubbornly listening to it in the background as my mom kept sighing at all the girly parts.  Yeah, it’s probably my fault, but I still think maybe someone else would’ve been better for the role.

Let’s move to how in the world they kept this film an R rating.  I thought I was prepared for the styilized violence, since Snyder did 300 after all, but man, there are some intense scenes.  One scene in the jail almost made Michelle sick, which I found kind of funny, but it was understandable as it was pretty dang nasty and gorey.  You can see the beauty in the violence much like you could in 300, but somehow, Snyder ramped it up even more for this film and at times even I found myself with my head in my hands, almost chuckling to myself at how absurdly violent the last scene was.  On top of that you have sexually explicit scenes all over the place.  Not necessarily a lot of sex scenes, although there were some, but more just showing the human body in general.

It’s clear the people working on the film saw the human body as an art form, much like in 300 with all the soldiers 18 pack abs, so you even get used to the male frontal nudity by the end of the movie.  I’m talking mostly about Dr. Manhatten, whose blue man group could be seen in at least 90% of his scenes.  Which, when you really think of it, showed just how little interest he had any more about petty human desires like clothing.  He just didn’t care.  But definitely go into the film prepared for styilized violence like you haven’t seen and some pretty sexually explicit scenes throghout.  It didn’t really bother me, but it may bother some of you that are more squeemish, or are thinking about bringing the young’uns.

So, how to wrap up?  I really haven’t told you much at all in this review besides my rambling thoughts.  The plot is complex and requires multiple viewings to catch everything you missed.  I’m certain I missed key things for over half the movie and will undoubtedly be checking it out two or three more times.  The characters are all interesting, some more than others, and they do an excellent job of not over-doing a backstory that must be told in order to understand everyone in the movie and all that is going on in the present.

I’m still up in the air whether I like the Watchmen more than The Dark Knight.  I know I like it as much for sure.  But as far as superhero movies goes, this one stands in a class all its own, often times barely feeling like a superhero movie.  And to that the fact that its length makes it feel like there’s eight or so endings (none of which I cared in the least when the story kept going), and you find yourself processing one of the most complex superhero movies we’ve seen in a long, long time.  Who knows if it’ll become a cult classic, but I felt plenty satisfied by our unplanned movie excursion and I know I’ll still be talking about it a week from now.  If you’re looking for the first epic movie of 2009, I can guarantee you won’t find anything even close to this complex beast of a movie.

P.S.  Completely forgot to mention all the amazing music in it.  Most reviewers were turned off by the fact that they must have spent nearly as much obtaining licenses to use the music as they did all the CGI, but I absolutely loved the use of all the songs like Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel, and Jimi Hendrix.  Heck, this is a music blog after all, here’s the list of songs in the movie.

• MTV Theme: Man On The Moon – Jonathan Elias and John Petersen
• On the TV and opening fight: Unforgettable – Nat King Cole
• Opening credits: The Times They Are a-Changin – Bob Dylan
• Dinner with Laurie and Dan: 99 Luftballons – Nena
• Funeral: The Sound Of Silence – Simon & Garfunkel
• Vietnam: Ride Of The Valkyries – Budapest Symphony Orchestra
• Bar in Vietnam: Me And Bobby McGee – Janis Joplin
• Street protest: I’m Your Boogie Man – KC & The Sunshine Band
• Laurie comes to Dan’s house: Unforgettable – Nat King Cole
• You’re My Thrill – Billie Holiday
• Protest (from the opera Satyagraha) – Philip Glass
• Something She Has To Do – Philip Glass
• Mars: Prophecies (from Koyaanisqatsi) – The Philip Glass Ensemble
• Mars: Pruit Igoe (from Koyaanisqatsi) – The Philip Glass Ensemble
• Captains of industry / assassination attempt: Everybody Wants To Rule The World – Studio Group (originally performed by Tears for Fears)
• Love scene: Hallelujah – Leonard Cohen
• Bar scene asking about Pyramid: Clyde – Waylon Jennings
• Flying to Antarctica: All Along The Watchtower – Jimi Hendrix
• Leaving Antarctica: Requiem (Excerpted from Mozart’s Requiem) – Tyler Bates [Updated from original post]
• On the TV: Control Voice (from Outer Limits) – Vic Perrin
• On the TV: The Outer Limits Theme – Dominic Frontiere
• On the TV: Panic – Dominic Frontiere
• End credits: Desolation Row – My Chemical Romance
• Second end credits song: First We Take Manhattan – Leonard Cohen

Selik’s style is evident right from the start of Coraline, which most of you will recognize from his previous films, Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach, and Monkeybone.  Vibrant, insanely energetic sets and characters that immediately immerse you in a world unlike anything you’ve seen before.  It’s truly a sight that must be seen.  The real catch on top of Selik’s great imaginary world is the fact that the film is all in 3-D.  And let me tell you, there’s been very few moments when I’ve seen something that I instantly thought, this is going to change the way we all think about what was possible.  In this case, 3-D will change the movie industry forever.  Scenes where the garden comes to life are simply amazing as snapping dragons make you jump back as they come towards the screen, or when Coraline first travels through the tunnel to the other world and the screen suddenly looks like it goes back 100 feet.  It’s hard to put into words, so I recommend seeing Coraline if only to experience this new 3-D technology, which is hitting the industry with force here in the next year with all Pixar movies from here on out being in 3-D, and many other films like the new Ice Age and Monsters vs. Aliens.  I’m still curious to see a live action film in this new technology.

Let’s move on to the story of Coraline, which is pretty simple, but great none the less.  Coraline, an eleven year old whose parents are writers that recently moved from Michigan to Oregan, finds herself bored as her parents ignore her to reach deadlines, and her adventurous nature gets the best of her.  Eventually, her curiosity leads her to find a tiny door, which opens late at night and takes her into a parallel world where everything is the same, only more lavish and all the characters from her old world now have buttons for eyes.  Everyone in this new world is referred to with “other” attached, like other mother and other father.

I sat watching the film still amazed by the 3-D, but also wondering when the film would turn dark and creepy already.  And almost immediately the story twists and some scenes towards the end are just downright scary.  I won’t give away much since I enjoyed it that much more because I knew very little about the plot, but I’ll just say the other mother, along with the parallel world, are definitely what they first appear.  But that’s not too hard to figure out.

I think what I came out of this film thinking was obviously about this new 3-D technology, which I’m still convinced is the best new trend the movie industry has created in a long time, but I was also truly surprised at how good the film ended up being.  It’s a kid’s movie at heart, but the adult references abound throughout and most goes right over kids heads.  That’s how most of Gaiman’s children’s stories are anyway, so I expected no less.  If you’re feeling adventurous and want to experience something truly unique, then I can’t recommend Coraline more.  It’s the first fully 3-D stop-animated film and may end up being an instant classic when all is said and done.

I went with a few friends of mine late last night to catch the Coen Brother’s new flick Burn After Reading and loved it.  I’d read plenty of reviews going into it, all saying one of two things.  One, that it was fun, way over the top, and ultimately pointless for such a great ensemble to take on.  Or two, that it was too dark to be a true comedy, but also too loopy to not fall somewhat in the comedy category.  Both are pessimistic views on a movie whose moral ends up being that most things in life are pointless.  I’ll take the optimistic route with this review.

Although I had hoped that somehow Burn After Reading would be the next Big Lebowski, and while some reviews labeled it that, it ultimately falls short of that.  I don’t really see this new movie gaining any cult status here in 10 years like Lebowski.  I mean, it’s hard to forget characters like the Dude, Walter, Donny, the nhilists, Maude, and pretty much every character in the Big Lebowski.  But Burn After Reading still has its share of memorable, and very funny characters.  They’re just more along the lines of those characters in Fargo, who are normal people with normal lives suddenly acting crazy.

Brad Pitt’s character is by far the main reason you should see this movie.  Every time he was on screen, I was cracking up.  He plays an aerobics instructer, who, along with Frances McDormand, examine a disc the janitor recently found and plot to use the top secret information to possibly get a reward from the owner of the disc.  The information on the disc is part of John Malkovich’s memoir he had been writing after being fired from his government job.  To Malkovich, and to the two gym rats, this information is of upmost importance.  But, as the story progresses, you begin to think in the back of your mind, are these just a bunch of idiots running around because of trivial, non-important information?  It is a Coen Brother’s movie, so 9 times out of 10 the answer is probably yes.

George Cloony plays a womanizer who’s cheating on his wife with Tilda Swinton, who in turn is cheating on Malkovich with Cloony.  He becomes a factor in the story when he takes McDormand out on a date and gets wrapped up in his own consipiracy theory and paranoia.  I’d say Cloony is the loopiest of the bunch by far, which is pretty fun to watch.  Throw in the gym manager who is in love with McDormand, and you’ve got yourself a nice little disfunctional crew.  Oh, did I mention McDormand main motive for blackmailing Malkovich is to pay for plastic surgery that wasn’t approved by her HMO.  Yeah, I told you their reasons for doing all this weren’t exactly rocket science.

By the end of the movie, I was pleasantly surprised.  It does start out somewhat slow, having to introduce the characters.  But once everyone is introduced and become a part of the overall story, that’s when everything falls apart and becomes a joy to watch.  My recommendation going into this movie is to understand you’re about to watch a smart and well made film about some pretty clueless people.  I imagine most the people I’ve talked to who’ve seen it and didn’t like it only saw everyone acting over the top and not the overlying message the Coen Brother’s provide throughout the movie, and especially in the final scene, which very slyly, and hilariously brings all the nonsense back full circle and one can’t help but smile when the credits start to roll.

I’ll most likely see Burn After Reading once more before it leaves theatres, and then probably buy it on DVD, mainly because it seems like a movie you can have fun watching over and over again.  I still have some questions as to why certain characters did certain things, but for those reviews saying it’s overly dark and pessimistic throughout.  Well, yeah I guess you could say that.  But what it comes down to is that it’s a Coen Brother’s movie, and even though it’s admittedly dark and nhilistic, it’s still funny as hell and a joy to watch.

RIYL:  Coen Brothers’ comedies, Snatch set in the suburbs with bumbling idiots trying to blackmail each other

If some big publication took a quote from my professional review of this movie, it’d probably be something like this.

“One of the most visually stunning, beautiful movies I’ve ever seen with a simple plot that centers around storytelling itself and taps into a childhood sense of imagination that is found in all of us.”

Ooh, I like that.  I wish I could read the rest of my imaginary professional review, but I guess all we’ll get is whatever I come up with next.  The Fall, Tarsem Singh’s (The Cell) latest masterpiece, is a simple story at it’s core about the power of storytelling.  Roy, played perfectly by Pushing Daisies’ Lee Pace, is a stuntman in 1920’s Los Angeles that finds himself paralyzed in a hospital after an accident on the set.  Being temporarily out of work and a mess emotionally overall knowing he’ll most likely never work again, let alone walk, the idea of suicide enters his mind.  At the same time though, comes young Alexandria, who is also in the hospital getting her broken arm treated.

It’s during their first meeting in Roy’s room, which Alexandria randomly finds when looking for something she lost, that the storytelling begins.  Each character meets everyday for different reasons.  Roy, with nothing left to lose, tells the story of five mythical heroes and their wonderful, yet dangerous adventures, in hopes that he can keep Alexandria around both as company, and more importantly as his legs to the medicine room, where he can send her eventually to get whatever medicine he needs in order to kill himself.  Alexandria, on the other hand, finds Roy intriguing, and his story exciting in her boring world inside the hospital walls.  Once the story begins, Roy’s gloomy state of mind mixed with Alexandria’s vivid imagination, leads us on an adventure with the heroes that’s both beautifully vivid with breathtaking scenery and lavish costumes (Alexandria’s view), and dark and depressing with death, confusion, and villains, that the heroes must overcome.

As I said before, when you think back on the movie after seeing it, you realize how simple the plot really was.  A man telling a story to a little girl, with each having their own motives to keep the story going.  But, where the movie really won me over was the numerous themes found throughout the movie.  The innocence of childhood.  The power of storytelling.  The fragility of life and the power one person, even as small as a little girl, can have on one’s life.  All these themes are hidden in plain site during the Fall and give you plenty to think and talk about after the first viewing.  And, if you’re like me, you’ll be dying to see it again the minute the movie finishes.

Besides the story, the vivid imagery, and the underlying themes, the actors’ performances themselves are just as crucial to the success of this movie as anything else.  Lee Pace balances suicidal, bedridden man at the end of his rope with powerful, fearless hero as the masked bandit perfectly.  Some of the later scenes that find Pace nearly breaking down during the story, realizing he’s that close to killing himself, are some of the more powerful scenes I’ve seen in recent memory.

Alexandria, played by Romanian child actress Catinca Untaru, is the first reason I tell people to go see this movie.  This was her first movie, and on top of how amazing her performance was for it being her first movie, we also were told before the movie at our local arthouse, that she doesn’t know English, so they would tell her how to say each line in English and then film the scene, with her having little idea what she was actually saying.  I was wondering whether I should bring that fact up, as some of my friends said they couldn’t help but imagine the director right off camera telling her what to say each scene, but I never thought of it, and it’s a pretty neat factoid to think about after seeing the movie.  Also, and this may be even better, apparantly Catinca understood something wrong as they explained the movie to her on set, and thought Pace was actually sick the entire movie, and not just acting.  So, one of the reasons her performance is so believable during the more emotional scenes, is because she actually did believe he was sick, and had no idea until after all the filming that he was just acting.  It’s a funny mix up, but I’m glad it happened, because she did a great job.

So, after that overly-long review, full of all sorts of “why you should see this movie” facts and descriptions, if you’re still up in the air whether you should see the movie, well, then I can’t do much more for you.  I should’ve stopped the review about three paragraphs ago, but I found myself with so much to say.  It’s one of those movies I’ll pick up on dvd the day it comes out (and blu-ray once I’m rich), and watch for years to come.  It’s that good.  It’s a tough battle for best movie of the year at the moment, between the Fall, Wall-E, and the Dark Knight, but I can say one thing about the Fall, I doubt you’ve ever seen a movie quite like it.  And coming from me, who’s seen every movie under the Sun, that’s saying something.

The Fall
Perch Score: 9.546/10

[youtube iO0LYcCoeJY]

Official Site (hi-res trailer here)/ IMDB
Some movie clips and a featurette
Roger Ebert’s rave review

P.S.  I forgot to mention that there are no CGI Special Effects in the whole movie.  After you see the movie and how amazing the scenery and cinematography are, you’ll find that extra fact truly amazing.