Watchmen (2009)

Watchmen is the adaptation of the milestone graphic novel (comic book!) of the same name in 1985. The story is in an alternate reality in 1985 (Nixon is President to give you an idea) where superheros exist. One of them, The Comedian is murdered and sets superhero/vigilante Rorschach into a deep investigation that leads to a Earth changing event.

There’s a long history between the superheros and it’s all laid out for you in the two and a half hour run time. Keep in mind that they left a lot of from the book with that! Zack Snyder and co. had a daunting task in front of them, a shit load of people tried to get this done as a movie or TV mini series for years. I think they pretty much pulled it off.

The look is perfect, the tone almost so. It’s a very faithful adaptation, almost to a fault. That said, I have no idea what I would change. There are some questionable music choices, but the casting is great, costumes too. Acting is solid all around and while Snyder continues to remind everyone that he loves slow motion, the directing is great too. A lot of shot for comic book frames and all that. The ending was changed as well and while I’ve seen some people bitch about it, I can see why they did it and really don’t have a problem with it.

It’s a very heady movie, just because it’s from a comic book you can’t go in thinking X-Men or Hulk. Yeah, it’s got action but nothing that really matches the typical Hollywood Summer Blockbuster.

Solid movie, I really don’t have anything bad to say about it.

Where the Wild Things Are

This is a good 2 weeks late, but Where the Wild Things Are is one of the best movies I’ve seen in awhile.

Based on Maurice Sendak’s classic children’s story, director Spike Jonez has taken the core of the short story and expanded it into a fantastic, mature film. The book may be for children, but the movie certainly isn’t. I can’t see anyone under the age of 8 being able to understand, let alone appreciate the story and complex thoughts going on here.

I’m trying not to make this sound like a shitty ultra snooty art house film. It really isn’t, it’s just easy to go in expecting cartoon animals falling over each other and come out of it pissed when it’s actually a mature take on growing up and coming to grips with it.

It’s pretty simple, Max is a rambunxious 9 year old with an active imagination. His father is out of the picture (death? divorce?), his teenage sister has seemingly turned her back on him (she’s too cool for childish things) and his mother is trying to move on with her life with 2 kids in tow. After an argument with his mother, Max freaks out and runs away into the night. The journey with the Wild Things begins.

The Wild Things are Max. Each one is a complex emotion that Max struggles to understand and control. They all want to be loved, but don’t know how. Doing things you think are right, could push them away. Sacrificing your happiness is a rough road to take. Lashing out is easy to do. Fear makes you irrational and hard to understand. Max’s time with The Wild Things is pretty much a therapy session.

I really the whole message and the way it’s handled because it doesn’t pander to children. It doesn’t fall back on thinking that children as stupid, simple and need everything painted out in bright colors to get a simple point across. Instead of looking down to children, we get the daring take that children are just…young adults. We all go through these emotions and generally shittyness of life. The age of a person doesn’t change the emotions. It’s this daunting task that everyone goes through and has to handle in life. It’s a learning experience that changes from person to person. It’s confusing, fun, scary, uncertain, confusing.

The presentation is just fantastic. The movie is goergous. Fantastic directing, razor sharp editing, fantastic soundtrack, beautiful cinematography and top notch special effects. The Wild Things were made by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, so Max (that’s the actors real name too) had real beings to work with. Augmented with CG to animate their faces and a fantastic group of actors for voice work, there was never a time when I thought the Wild Things were not real. Max is really an amazing actor, he’s in 98% of the movie so he carries it all. This movie is impressive from end to end.

The best movies stay with you and I thought about this one for days after I saw it. It makes you think about your life and how you saw things as a kid and now see as an adult. I can see a lot of people hating this movie, not getting what it’s about. But those people are stupid, so ignore them and see it to take a trip you never knew you had to take.