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Reel News: Corey Haim 1971-2010

Various media outlets are reporting Corey Haim has died of an accidential drug overdose in Los Angeles.

The former child-actor was probably best known for his roles in THE LOST BOYS, LICENSE TO DRIVE, and LUCAS.

Haim was 38.

Reel News: Shake off your Oscar hangover with this:

A Reel Review: ALICE IN WONDERLAND

This latest rendition of ALICE IN WONDERLAND is Tim Burton’s attempted masterpiece of craftsmanship, held together with scotch tape and Popsicle sticks instead of nails and wood. Using Lewis Carroll’s novels as a merely a backdrop for his dark and whimsical vision, ALICE is a dull film that is occasionally cute to look at, but is overall ineffective and dull.

Alice (Mia Wasikowska), now in her twenties, falls back into the hole leading to Underland, a magical world she once visited as a young girl, but has little to no memory of. The world is now ruled by the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter, in her 5,000th Burton film), who has devastated the once lush and beautiful landscape. Hooking up with old pals in the form of the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp, in his 5,001st Burton film), the Chesire Cat (Stephen Fry) and the looney-tunes-looking Blue Caterpillar (Alan Rickman), Alice reluctantly looks to restore Underland back to its rightful rule under the White Queen (Anne Hathaway), all while fulfilling her prophesized destiny of slaying the wicked Jabberwocky.

As stated, this Wonderland serves merely as a backdrop and playground for Burton, who doesn’t give us a straight-up adaptation, but more of an alternate tale of what would have happened if a grown-up Alice came back (HOOK, anyone?). It’s not a horrible idea, but Alice’s character doesn’t develop deep enough and never seems to feel any dread or longing to get away from this bizarre place and back home. The storyline is a fresh take on a tale seen a million times over, and it does have teeth at times, but the overall script lets it fall into just another big-budget retread that is bland and predictable.

Burton has always had an excellent eye for striking a perfect balance between dark and whimsical, and here he leans more towards dark. The storyline of an Underland falling into ruin gives him a pass to avoid a Disney-like design and lean towards his trademark bleakness. In this forum it works, but it’s sure to anger many purists loyal to the source material. The CGI work is cartoonish at best, and nothing is convincing or jawdropping. The lack of practical filmmaking leaves things feeling heartless.

Wasikowska looks and feels right as Alice, but is lost amongst the overused green-screen. Depp succeeds as the Hatter, and he mugs and rambles away in front of the camera seemingly on his own with no direction. Hathaway doesn’t do much as the White Queen, but carries what she has to do well. The voice talents are the real stars, with Rickman and Fry getting the best lines and what laughs there are here. Probably the nicest touch is Christopher Lee’s short but sweet work as the voice of the Jabberwocky. His unmistakable pipes are a nice touch to a CGI-overloaded creature with little dread.

Probably suffering the most from the thin script is Bonham-Carter’s Red Queen. Manipulated by CGI to give her an XL head, she looks and feels the part, but there is no dread or malice coming out of the character other than saying “off with his/her head” every other scene. She’s an uninteresting villain that no one would care how she may meet her end or morality lesson.

Younger audiences will be drawn to the film courtesy of the talking animals and wildly colorful palette. Older audiences (anyone over 13), will walk away un-entertained and looking for a bit more. It would have been interesting to have seen Burton attempt this film during his BEETLE JUICE years, where the lack of crap CGI would have kept him grounded with more attention paid to character and script. ALICE is not a disaster, but is far from a stroke of genius.

BOTTOM LINE: Rent it.

Reel Talk: Oscars are this weekend

The 82nd Academy Awards will be presented Sunday, live on ABC 8pm eastern.

Hosted by the tag team duo of Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin, this year goes back to an older format of ten (10) nominated films for Best Picture.

The field of Best Pic Noms looks crowded, but only five of the ten have been nominated for Best Director. That makes AVATAR, THE HURT LOCKER, INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, PRECIOUS, and UP IN THE AIR the real contenders. With the exception of AVATAR, all those films have been also been nominated for their screenplays, which hurts James Cameron's epic. THE HURT LOCKER and BASTERDS seem to be the favorites on paper, with nominations in acting and technical categories. However it's hard to ignore what AVATAR has done in both the box office and in the visual arts. This writer is filling in the circle next to AVATAR in his pool, as it's just too BIG of a monster to ignore. By the way: the last film to win Best Picture without a screenplay nomination: Cameron's TITANIC in 1997.

My other pics:
Best Actor: Jeff Bridges CRAZY HEART
Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS
Best Actress: Gabourey Sidibe PRECIOUS
Best Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique PRECIOUS

A Reel Release: WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE

Director Spike Jonze's adaptation of WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE is released today on DVD and Blu-ray. Released in theatres in October of 2009, the film was met with mixed reviews and took it on the chin from fans of the original childrens' book. It earned $77 million at the U.S. Box Office, and was nominated for several awards from the Golden Globes, Broadcast Film Critics Association, and the Art Directors' Guild.

Below is my review posted on Facebook in October of 2009:

Director Spike Jonze returns to the big screen with a charming, engaging, and emotional re-telling of WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE.

WILD THINGS follows the adventures of young Max (Max Records), an imaginative, lonely, and misbehaving boy. His sister is outgrowing him, and his mom is busy with work and a new boyfriend. After a major temper-tantrum, Max runs away from home, and sails away to the land of the wild things, centered upon a group of fantastic creatures who crown him their king.

Max’s story is told through his eyes, and is done masterfully well. There are touches here that will take the viewer right back to childhood, as Max hides, plays, interacts with his mom, and builds things with vivid imagination. With low and unique angles, coupled by well-used shaky-cam, Max’s world is shown from his perspective, and there are elements that will touch the inner-child in everyone.

As good as his home life is presented; it’s his journey to the wild things’ land where things really come to life. In each of the creatures, a portion of Max’s life is represented; from his childhood, to his mother, to the part of him that never gets the attention he seeks. His behavior is reflected back at him, and it makes for great character development. There is a LOT of allegory here, and nothing should be taken literally. Some of the allegory is obvious, and some of it requires some thought and hindsight. Messages concerning the way children play, think, and act are abundant here, and it’s a fulfilling experience. Elements we see from his home life in the early goings are expanded upon in this new world, and it’s fascinating to see.

The creatures are brought to life using animatronics, suitronics, and some CGI . The CGI work is used for the wild things’ faces mostly, and it is beautifully realized. The wild things carry their emotions on their faces, and it is remarkably easy to connect with each one.

The technical work here is superb. Jonze’s camera work is awesome with his unique angles and perfect framing. The score is perfect for its environment and very moving.

Acting-wise, things are perfect. Young Max Records is a great find, as he displays fear, wonder, and anger in a convincing performance. The voice talents of James Gandolfini, Paul Dano, Catherine O’Hara, Forest Whitaker, and Chris Cooper are perfectly cast, and the voices blend in well with their characters. Catherine Keener is perfect as Max’s mom, as she displays all the love and emotion needed and them some.

Despite being a film about childhood, WILD THINGS doesn’t really lend itself as a kids’ film. There is no villain, no vivid colors, and no colorful characters to catch attentions. Kids will easily become restless in viewing this, as there is a lot of dialogue and few action sequences. Where kids may struggle with it, adults will be taken back to places they had not visited in a long, long time. WILD THINGS is thought-provoking and powerful, and Spike Jonze’s first masterpiece.

BOTTOME LINE: See it.

Reel News: ALICE IN WONDERLAND Uproar

www.cinematical.com is reporting of a minor uproar leading to an outright protest of Tim Burton's upcoming ALICE IN WONDERLAND.

It seems AMC Theatres is unhappy with Disney. The Mouse is looking to shorten ALICE's stay in the theatres, giving her just a 12 week run. That would put the DVD on shelves by June 1st. That's a much shorter theatrical-to-home trip that most films get.

Reel Speak: Unless it's really, really good, it's rare for a film to run much longer than 10 weeks. AMC (and eventually other chains), do have a valid point: If audiences know that a movie will be out in stores in few months, why go to the theatre? With rising ticket prices and Blu-ray films looking spectacular at home, theatres just may suffer.

At the same time, Disney doesn't seem to be helping their age-long cause of bringing people out to the movies. ALICE seems like it would be better viewed on the big screen, and won't be available in 3D at home. It's also rare for the consumer to buy a movie they have not seen in the theatre. If they go in cold and not like it, they might just go to the movies next time.

A Reel Review: COP OUT

Action stalwart Bruce Willis and SNL graduate Tracy Morgan team up for a buddy-buddy cop flick in the form of COP OUT, which attempts to mix comedy and drama with some mixed and often empty results. With the laughs numbering in the single digits and the drama on the light side, COP OUT offers little to latch on to.

Jimmy (Willis) has his rare baseball card stolen by a thief (Seann William Scott). The hocking of the card is Jimmy’s only way of paying for his daughter’s lavish wedding (Michelle Trachtenberg of BUFFY fame). Jimmy and his NYPD partner Paul (Morgan) track down the card to a drug dealing gangster, all while protecting a rival-gang’s mistress, and dealing with Paul’s marital problems.

The endgame of COP OUT is for Jimmy to get his card back. It is meant to be an emotional draw and to bring the audience on his side. That focus gets lost and moved around a lot, as side stories with Paul and the mistress derail things. What also hurts is the phone-in performance by Willis. He exerts little heart behind his actions and lines, and it seems like he doesn’t care. Part of the problem could be blamed on the paper-thin script, but either way the audience has little reason to connect. Paul’s purpose in the narrative seems to be to provide laughs, and he gets most of the few chuckles (although a lot are over the top). Morgan carries his role well as the goofball of the film, which is why his marital-issues story comes off as out of place for him. Unfortunately for Morgan, the comedy routines also suffer from a weak script, which offers very few hooks, is lacking real wit, and is far from classic. Willis and Morgan have decent chemistry, but the good moments are rare. Top all this off with a few very un-interesting villains, and COP OUT borders upon boring.

The action sequences, which could have saved the movie, are dull as well. The gunfights are very plain, with no feelings of dread or excitement coming across. The lone car-chase scene starts off quick, and ends just as fast. The chase is also filmed at night, which is a bit of a “cop out” in itself; the filmmakers were able to get away with not having to show everything. It’s as disappointing as it is frustrating.

The rest of the cast does well with the thin material. Scott gets a few laughs, but the character is very one-dimensional and his shtick gets old in a hurry. Trachtenberg lights up the screen in her limited time, and appearances by Jason Lee and Kevin Pollack are welcome albeit short.

COP OUT is director Kevin Smith’s first attempt at a film in which he did not write, and it shows. The film is devoid of any wit, cleverness, or heart that he (or anyone else) could have brought in. With the exception of a few doses of his recycled toilet humor, it doesn’t feel like a Smith film at all. It seems that he did little to contribute other than showing up on set enough of times to get his name in the credits. His touch is absent, and it’s easy to wonder if he cared about the material. With him not showing any passion for it, no one else should have a reason too either.

BOTTOM LINE: Fuck it.

Reel News: Local theatre going BIG

Cinemark Theatres in Moosic, PA will be debuting their Cinemark XD (Extreme Digital Cinema) this weekend.

The new format boasts an extra-large IMAX-sized screen, 2D and 3D projection, and new digital sound. This will be the very first of this kind in Northeast PA.

The new technology gives Cinemark the flexibility to run nearly any film in digital (when available). Thus far only one out of the twenty theatres in the Moosic building has been outfitted with this format.

The first film to run will be Martin Scorsese's SHUTTER ISLAND. Considering the outstanding cinematography in this film, it seems to be the perfect fit for a big debut.

More info at www.cinemark.com

A Reel Review: SHUTTER ISLAND

Legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese returns to the silver screen with a bang, this time with a psychological mind bender in the form of SHUTTER ISLAND. By employing his signature craftsmanship with some excellent acting, Scorsese has done it again.

Set in 1954, Federal Marshalls Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his partner Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) are investigating the disappearance of a mental patient from a hospital for the criminally insane, located on a remote island. What starts out as a clever little mystery, turns into a twisty and bendy tale that keeps everyone guessing right until the end.

ISLAND’s main narrative begins with the solving of the case, but then veers over to focus on Teddy’s story. Teddy is a damaged man, with a history of drinking as he deals with his painful memories of WWII and the death of his wife (Michelle Williams). At first, the second storyline seems intrusive and unnecessary, but as things unfold it blends into the overall tale perfectly. It is clever writing, but what really drives the story is Scorsese’s exquisite cinematography blended with perfect acting. The camera never fails to move us right into the next scene. There is excellent pacing here, and even the slower “talkie” parts never fail to keep things interesting. The overall plot has been seen before, but not in this style. Things are given an exclamation point with perfect shot framing, movement, lighting, and acting.

Have we mentioned the acting? DiCaprio goes deeper than he ever has here, hitting several below-the-belt layers of a damaged man. His verbal sparring with the hospital’s doctors (Ben Kingsley and Max von Sydow) is a joy to see, filled with tension and wits. It’s clear why Scorsese keeps casting DiCaprio in his films: He knows exactly what to do with him in lighting and performance, and once again gives us a different Leo.

Kingsley and von Sydow are excellent as always, and the minor roles are perfect as well. Patricia Clarkson and Jackie Earle Haley have bit parts that they morph into beautifully. So well it takes a few seconds to even recognize them. Mark Ruffalo also does well, as does Michelle Williams. Each actor in ISLAND is developed well and given just enough to do.

Topped off with a foreboding and haunting score, ISLAND constantly has a feeling of dread and doom hanging over it. Every scene presents a different turn that will keep audiences guessing and unwilling to take a bathroom break. The finale is a jaw dropper, and makes one want to view the film again right away with the gift of hindsight. The desire for multiple viewings makes this a Scorsese classic.

BOTTOM LINE: See it.