Fantastic Mr. Fox

To celebrate the holidays my family had it's traditional past-time of going to see a film in theaters. My family is obsessed with film, most likely this is the start of my interest in film studies, and whenever we get together we have to watch something in theaters. This ranges from the action packed superhero film to the recent family orientated cartoon. Well this holiday's film was Fantastic Mr. Fox. When I first heard that this film was being made I had my doubts about the quality of work I would see. Fantastic Mr. Fox is my favorite Roald Dahl book and I really didn't want to see it if it was going to be another Dr. Suess catastrophe. I realize that these are two very different types of books and that filmmakers have already adapted 3 of Dahl's books but I lost faith in children's films with it's recent releases. The first two recent adaptations of Suess books (How the Grinch Stole Christmas and The Cat in the Hat) were absolutely terrible and the fact that people would even consider making Where the Wild Things Are into a full length film baffles me still. So seeing that my favorite childhood book was being made into a film caused me to worry. Fantastic Mr. Fox was the first book that I really read by myself and it was the start of my love of books, so I couldn't handle a film that ruined the story I fell so deeply in love with. And even though I had conveyed these worries to my family when we were looking for a film, they decided it was the film to see. So I watched the film with bated breath and looked to see what kind of changes they had made to my story. As soon as the film was over everyone turned to me to see how I liked the film. I really don't know what I think of the film. It certainly wasn't the worst thing I've seen and it didn't destroy the story but at the same point it changed enough to make me queasy. Clooney's representation of Fox was funny and I loved the way that Anderson made the characters look. It was certainly a unique experience and style that can't be denied. I felt that it was a good attempt at making the story into a full length film but in the end it couldn't live up to my book. The ending of the book happened during the first half of the film and the ending of the film was the directors own creation. And while the ending wasn't terrible it just didn't have quite the same feeling as the book. The book ends with a feeling of victory and has Fox overcoming the farmers. The film seems like a no win situation and ends with survival as the main idea. They also added a moral undertone that we must accept others for their differences that really isn't in the original story. So while I don't despise the film, I just can't get behind it like I did when Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory came out.

Sphere

As it has been mentioned previously I am currently an advanced film seminar this semester and what we learn and see in class has greatly influenced what write about for this blog. This seminar is focusing on the idea of the spectator and the way we watch film and media. So most of the films we look at are films that focus on the introductions of new media and the way it changed cinema. Well the last film we watched was Event Horizon and the student that was doing the presentation on the film showed us a clip from the film Sphere to be a way of relating the ideas in Event Horizon. According to him Sphere and Event Horizon are practically the same film so it was an easy way of looking at the idea of the bleak future that we hold in science fiction films. Well I found that Ion was showing it this afternoon and decided to see for myself how true this statement is. After watching the film I can see his point but have to disagree with the main reason he showed the clip in the first place. There are definitely some points that are very similar; both groups encounter an unknown object/ship that turns out to be alive, they both have to figure out what is going on to try and save themselves in the end, and both films like the many horror films my teacher, the horror buff, has shown has a high body count compared to the amount characters. But both films look at the idea of the bleak future very differently. Event Horizon focuses on the idea that people shouldn't mess with things they don't understand and the dangers that science has when people have pushed it too far. Sphere focuses on people and the dangers of letting their minds cloud the situation. Sphere has its main characters realize that they can't handle large amounts of power but has an optimistic look that someday people might. Event Horizon on the other hand has the main characters get punished for their mistakes and has their decisions haunt them. So while they do have similar aspects, they look at the world of the future very differently. I think that because science fiction films have so many similar story lines and such bleak outlooks on the future that they are unfairly grouped together. I liked Sphere a lot more than I liked Event Horizon; I find the playful look at people and their character flaws much more interesting than science advancing too far for its own good.

Gosford Park

This past Friday I happened to catch the last hour and a half of one of my favorite movies, Gosford Park. I was first introduced to this film in my detective fiction class the first semester of my junior year. For another class that I had that same semester I was looking at the British Heritage film for my final paper and ended up watching the film again. I loved the film immediately and the second viewing just made that love even deeper. Gosford Park is a unique film that really makes the viewer focus on the story being told to them, which is probably why I was the only person in my detective fiction class to enjoy the film. What makes Gosford Park so interesting is the fact that there really is no main character that the film follows, it is a collection of stories and from this collection comes the main story. Think Crash without the storyline jumps and from the very beginning you understand how all the characters interact. Along with that aspect you have the always fun game of name that famous actor. This film is bursting with big name actors and actresses, Maggie Smith, Clive Owen, Stephen Fry, Ryan Phillipe, and many other faces you'll recognize. I love films that make you think and with each viewing you figure out something you hadn't before and that's exactly what Gosford Park does.

Gosford Park takes place in 1932 England during an aristocratic dinner party in the country. The film examines the different worlds of the downstairs and the upstairs. The upstairs world is the world of the of the aristocrats and their attempts to regain the power they have lost in the recent power change. Some of them solved this issue by marrying the nouveau riche and end up being miserable in their marriages. Others come up with ways of blackmailing those with money or businesses solutions that get turned down. Concerned with their own lives they fail to notice what is really going on and end up getting caught up in a mystery unknowingly. The second half of the equation of the film that makes it work out so well is the examination of the downstairs world. This is the world of the cooks, servants, and valets that make sure that the upstairs doesn't notice what really goes on underneath them. Along with knowing all of the gossip and secrets of the upstairs, they have their own secrets. When the host dies suddenly during the weekend outing, it is the downstairs world that figures out who did it and how. This film is an amazing look at how people think and the twisted relationships we create. It is definitely a film that deserves more than one look to fully appreciate the story it gives you.

Animal House

Now that I only a have a semester left in my college experience I finally decided to watch the favorite college movie of all time, Animal House. Over the years I've seen bits and pieces but I've never seen the whole thing at one time. And while this habit of mine is always interesting and has introduced a lot of movies to my collection, it does get annoying when you've seen the same parts over and over again. So when I finally get a chance to see a film all the way I jump on the opportunity. I must admit I'm sad that it took me this long to see Animal House all the way through. I thought that it was one of the best comedies I've seen over the years. While a crude comedy at points, it was concerned with making you laugh at all times unlike many of the comedies out today. I am not a fan of the gross-out comedy and hate it when everyone tries to tell me that those kind of comedies are the best. With films like Animal House there is clearly a type of comedy that doesn't have to rely entirely on grossing out the audience, just a little bit will go a long way. Whether this fact is because of the difference in times or whether it's because directors have gotten lazy over the years the world will never know. To leave you I have decided to include one of the best scenes in the film.

French Kiss

Flipping through channels I found an Encore Love presentation of French Kiss. French Kiss is your typical 90's romantic comedy starring Meg Ryan, Kevin Kline, and Timothy Hutton. Meg Ryan reprises her role as the talkative, anal over-achiever who learns to relax through the help of a man she just happens to meet. Ryan's character Kate is a teacher engaged to a Canadian looking to make her happy ending. But when her fiance (Timothy Hutton) goes to France and suddenly cancels their wedding, Kate doesn't know what to do. She forces herself to conquer her fear of flying to go to Paris and find him to see what happened. But in her attempt to find him she runs into a thief (Kevin Kline) who makes her trip into a disaster. Thanks to him and the various French thieves he knows Kate loses her luggage, money, and ends up having him stash his stolen goods in her only bag. And each time they think they have everything settled between them, Luc (Kline) realizes there's something else in her bag. In the end to make sure he gets all of his goods back, Luc promises to help her get her fiance back and ends up falling in love with her. As Kate travels through France to win her fiance she learns about Luc's life and also falls in love with him. Can they realize that they love each other in time? Being a romantic comedy you know everything works out for the best and that they end up together at the end. And while the movie followed all of the cheesy plot lines and Kline's French accent was terrible, I still enjoyed it. Every once in a while you need that cheesy love story to feed that hopeless romantic inside. So French Kiss may not be award winning but it certainly fulfills my hopeless romantic needs.

Videodrome

So this post's movie is a little out there in more than one way. My advanced film seminar teacher ended up having to cancel this week's class but didn't want to lose out on the film and discussion we would have. His solution, watch the movie on our own time and increase the size of the journal that would have discussed that week's readings. Not a big deal, then I watched the film. Videodrome has got to be one of the weirdest films I have ever seen and felt I had to share my confusion with you. The basic plot of the film is a cable TV programmer, played by James Woods, stumbles upon a pirated television broadcast called videodrome. What starts off as a simple curiosity quickly turns into a much deeper issue involving hallucinations. The film follows Woods' attempt to understand what's happening to him and the issues that each new piece of information brings along with it. Videodrome is truly bizarre to watch. With it's eighties special effects and the larger issues it looks at its pretty easy to get lost. One of the most telling scenes with this film is when his television comes alive and starts to speak with him. It really makes you question what you watch on a daily basis.

Now I realize that my paragraph above is not very descriptive and by no means explains the confusion I am currently feeling. However, the reason I felt it was important to post my thoughts on it actually relates a little bit to our class. The big issue that Videodrome addresses is the conflict that the film industry was having with the introduction of VCRs and the video tape. The film industry has always struggled with changes in media and the introduction of technology that changes people's perception of media. This industry went from having over 80 million patrons visiting it's theaters to 30 million over a twenty year period. This drop was attributed to the introduction and the easily available television set. During this change the film industry was in a state of confusion and tried it's best to overcome the loss of patrons it was having. When the VCR was introduced the film industry had its worries. But unlike TV, VCRs and the video tape actually benefited the industry by having films that were not available before easily accessible. It in the end helped to stimulate the industry and destroy it like so many feared. But like any new advance there are still that question its motives, and this particular result is Videodrome. Videodrome's director David Cronenberg looks at the video tape and the media changes it brings as dangerous. Through videos people are now able to watch things whenever they want and gives the media industry that much more of a grip on society. The dangers that Videodrome sees with this idea is that people will get too involved with the videos they watch and will lose touch with reality. It also concerns this film that people are so willing to allow the media that much control in their lives.

I thought it was interesting to watch this film and the fears it had of the changing film industry and think our recent discussions with the change of the newspaper industry. I feel that like the film industry all of these changes to the newspaper business will be detrimental at first but will eventually turn out to be beneficial. We just need to sit it out and wait for that moment.

Batman

I must apologize for my infrequent posting. It's not that I'm not watching movies for the blog, trust me I do plenty of that, it's become more of an issue of actually remembering to sit down and write. Well now that I feel like I've kind of explained my issues, I'll move onto the movie for today. I'm not sure why it is but within the past week I've happened to catch two different channels showing the first two Batman movies by Tim Burton. ABC Family showed the first three films as the ending celebration of their 13 nights of Halloween and AMC is showing the first two tonight for their list of 10 Unbelievable Transformations with Jack Nicholson's role as the Joker starting the list off. Now I will freely admit that I am quite the geek when it comes to superheros and the recent film adaptations they have created. I've seen pretty much everything that's come out, most of them in theaters and will always watch them on TV when I find them. Of the franchises out there Batman has always intrigued me the most.

I've always found Batman to be the most interesting superhero created and reimagined. Unlike so many heroes that comic books have created Batman is the one of the only heroes that has no powers. He relies entirely on his intelligence and the gadgets he creates. He is also one of the darker heroes which I find truly fascinating to watch. While all heroes deal with the question of where the line gets drawn between being the vigilante and the things they are fighting against, I've found Batman to be the one hero who is constantly battling this question. He goes out every night fighting in the name of justice and revenge but where does that line get drawn. Another aspect of the Batman series is the amount of times the character has be reimagined. In the past 20 years we have done from Michael Keaton's Batman, a witty hero who grasped a basic understanding of his emotional issues, to Christian Bale's, a hero so blinded by his rage and vengeance that he can't see the pain he puts those around him in. From Jack Nicholson's vision of a psychotic Joker to Heath Ledger's version with the latest Batman remake. With all of the versions in the collection you can always get a new view and appreciation for the character. And while I love what the director is doing with the newest reincarnation of the Batman story my favorite movie will remain Batman Returns. It not only has psychotic penguins but it has my favorite villain Catwoman. Maybe it's just because I'm a girl but Catwoman has always been the character I've admired and loved to be when we were playing as children. And now that I've seen it at a later age I've come to appreciate the obvious play with the sexual tension and emotional issues that Catwoman and Batman share. In the end I love the way the film plays with the psychology of the characters and how complex they truly are.