Where the Wild Things Are

The time is now, the place, could be anywhere, Max opens a door with the key of imagination... Well, you get my drift. 

“Let the Rumpus begin!" says Max, our main character of the film adaptation of Maurice Sendak's children's book, "Where the Wild Things Are". The book, written in 1963 comprises no more than 25 pages of, illustrations, and sparse dialog. The star of this not-quite-a-children's-story is actor Max Records, who ironically plays, "Max." Also, starring are the voices of James Gandolfini, Forest Whitaker, Catherine O'Hara, and Chris Cooper to name the most prominent. My curiosity was how are the filmmakers going to make this very short adventure tale into a feature length film? The Answers: Using the book as an outline, director Spike Jonze, in collaboration with the Maurice Sendak, created a psychological profile of an ignored, temperamental, imaginative, and lonely little 10-year-old boy. I suppose you could see this movie as the, "author's cut" of Sendak's original story.

So it is in the movie, as it is in the book. Max, ignored by his older sister and his mother, seeks attention by throwing temper tantrums. After starting and losing a snowball fight, which he starts, Max goes into his sister’s room and destroys her belongings. Later Max dons a wolf costume and while his mother's boyfriend is over, Max jumps onto the table, embarrassing his mother, and demands, "Feed me, woman!" During a short scuffle that follows, Max bites his mom, who declares him, "out of control." Running off into the night and across the street to a small lake, Max sets sail to the land where the wild things are. Coming to the island, he discovers giant creatures that seem remarkably similar to the stuffed animals in Max's room. The creatures are destroying mound-like dwellings and Max, happily joins in the destruction. Turning on Max, the outsider, the creatures plan on eating Max, but Max bluffs his way out by, declaring himself their king. The group of "Wild Things," Introduce them self to Max starting with Carol, a horned, hairy, and tall creature seems to be the de facto leader of the group, voiced by James Gandolfini. Carol is a lot like Max in that he is temperamental, moody and his need to have his group stay together and live happily is his driving force. Judith, voiced by Catherine O'Hara, is another large hairy creature, whose prominent feature is the horn on her nose and, her "downer" personality playing opposite to Carol's drive for happiness. Between Carol and Judith is KW, voiced by Lauren Ambrose, she has no horns, the loner of the group, and is happy to seek peace on her own. KW's wanting to be away from the group bothers Carol enormously. A reversal of roles takes place and Max is now in the adult position with these creatures are children, with all the fears, insecurities, and immaturity of a 10 year old. If you watch this film carefully, you will notice that each of the characters represent people from Max's life. Too much psychology to go here, however, this movie plays on many levels. Some of those levels are hits and others are definite misses.

One aspect of this film that I found intriguing is the musical score. Karen O and the Kids work hard to bring this movie to life, although the music is catchy, the length of the scenes tends to dampen the musical effect. The fort building scenes go on forever, once again, the music sets a mood, but the action does not carry the scene.

The photography of the Australian countryside, although not breathtaking, is beautiful and so are the special effects. The suit costumes are a refreshing break from the film industry's addiction to CGI. Lance Acord and Spike Jonze, photographed the creatures in such a way that you feel their emotions, and you can empathize with them.

I watched this movie after being told it was not actually a kid's movie. I was not sure what to expect. I think if this film were for children, it would have been better. I think that the biggest disappointment with this movie has nothing to do with the production values or the acting. What was a classic story of imagination and adventure, has become a deep reflection on a child's unhappiness and ultimately our unhappiness that we cannot resolve in finding that our supper is still hot when we return.

Movie Data

Genre: Adventure, Drama, Family, Fantasy

Year:  2009

Staring: James Gandolfini, Forest Whitaker, Chris Cooper, Max Records

Director: Spike Jonz

Producer(s)  John B. Carls, Gary Goetzman, Tom Hanks, Vincent Landay, Maurice Sendak

Writer(s):  Spike Jonze & Dave Eggers

Rating: PG

Cold Heart and 'Warm Bodies'

S ometimes a classic story takes on a different form.  In the case of "Warm Bodies" that story may be familiar, however, in the case of life in a post-apocalyptic nightmare of zombie hoards, which form comes in the form of a wishful dream.  A fun, shambling foray into the romantic comedy genre with a side of horror, "Warm Bodies" stars Nicholas Hoult ("X-Men: First Class," "Clash of the Titans," "A Single Man") and Teresa Palmer ("I Am Number Four," "The Sorcerer's Apprentice") as a cute mismatched couple on a journey of discovery.  "Warm Bodies" is rated PG-13 for some of the violence. 

It doesn't take long to realize that you are watching the most recent adaptation of Shakespeare's adaptation of the 1562 Arthur Brooke's Italian tragedy "The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet."  An older version of the story comes from Ovid's "Metamorphoses," called "Pyramus and Thisbe." Our story's protagonist, is named 'R' because he can't remember his real name, other than it may have started with an 'R.' He spends his days shuffling around an airport terminal.  R, unlike other zombies tends to be introspective wonders why he doesn't seem to be like any 'normal' zombies.  Why he has flashes of thoughts, almost memories, while he ponders the mysteries of life, somewhat odd for a zombie, don't you think?  R is a hoarder, a collector, and he appreciates music.  'Warm Bodies' is based on Isaac Marion's book of the same name and explores the world of zombies as more of a metaphor of the dull grind of everyday life that we find ourselves trapped in.  A world where we, as humans, live day to day without any real friends, any real thought of what is happening around us.  However, occasionally that one special person appears in our lives and things change. 

Enter Julie (Teresa Palmer).  Julie lives with her father, Grigio, played by John Malkovich.  Grigio is the leader of a walled fortress near the center of town.  Malkovich plays the father and leader as sort of a gray character, not sure, where he stands in this film other than a minor antagonist.  Julie and her boyfriend, Perry (Dave Franco - James’s younger brother), along with a small group of armed scavengers are raiding a pharmacy for medical supplies when R and his group of shamblers smell human flesh and attack the pharmacy.  During the melee of humans against the shambling corpses most of the group is killed except for Julie, her friend, Nora (Analeigh Tipton), and of course Perry.  At this point, I have to mention that "Warm Bodies" main flaw is a lot of exposition, rather than action.  For the first 20 minutes of the film is almost total voice over by R.  I guess, that can't be helped, because eh, R is dead.  Throughout the film, R interjects humor as we hear his thoughts like when he is munching on Perry's corpse he takes a moment to think about how nice Perry's gold watch is.  Or when R and his zombie 'friend,' M (Rob Corddry - 'Hot Tub Time Machine,' 'What Happens in Vegas')  try to have a conversation that consists mostly of grunts and groans while the two try to express their feelings for each other.  Another road bump that 'Warm Bodies' runs into is that in some cases the pacing is a bit slow.  Either because director/screenplay writer, Jonathan Levine (50/50), and editor Nancy Richardson ("Twilight," "The Vow," "Red Riding Hood") were trying to take their time to develop the character of R and Julie, as people (zombie) meant to be together, or perhaps, zombies just don't move that fast. 

Like the Shakespearian story, R and Julie come to terms with their differences and although he is dead, R does his best to come off slick in front of Julie despite his handicap.  The audience witnesses what we as young adults in love go through.  It is about half way through the second act that the pacing picks up.  What I liked about this film is the sense of hope that the film gives the audience in its schmaltzy kind of way.  'Warm Bodies' also brings to mind another concept that I like is that in the acceptance of diverse states of being or just differences in people.  What I didn't care too much for was the amount of exposition along with the concepts that by eating someone’s brains you get their memories.  I thought that this one concept I thought was just too farfetched.  In this case, R's feelings for Julie are not only due to a physical attraction for her, but mostly by the fact that he ate her boyfriend's brains.  In spite of my minor objections, 'Warm Bodies' is just a fun film to take your older kids to, or a great date movie. 

Movie Data

Genre: Comedy, Horror. Romance

Year:  2013

Staring: Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer, Analeigh Tipton, Rob Corddry, Dave Franco, John Malkovich

Director: Jonathan Levine

Producer(s): David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman, Bruna Papandrea

Writer: Jonathan Levine, Isaac Marion (novel) 

Rating: PG-13

Running Time: 98 minutes

Release Date: 2/1/2013

On The Road

I  read Jack Kerouac's "On The Road" several times in my life. The first time was in High School, when I needed to write an essay on a book of my choice.  The first time I read it, I can't say I was "amazed." I was too young with no real experience behind me to evaluate such a phenomenal novel against.  A few years later I saw  "Heart Beat," a film released in 1980 before I graduated. Once again my interest peaked and I pulled my copy out and read it again.  This time with some life experience I could read it in a new light. This time I could "see" more of what Dean and Sal a bit more from their perspective.  
Later in the early 90's after settling down and having time to reflect after the last 10 years of insanity that I called my life, and the amount of miles I put on myself and my poor 86 Charger (200,000 miles in just over 4 years) I could see what Jack Kerouac envisioned.  This year (2012) sometime, MK2 Productions is releasing "On The Road." No date is scheduled, however, I just saw the trailer, which stars Sam Riley as Sal Paradise whom in the book is told from his point of view.Dean Moriarty, the main character, is played by Garrett Hedlund ("TRON: Legacy"). Kirsten Stewart ("Twilight" series, "The Runaways") plays the ditzy Marylou, Dean's first wife. 

Also listed in the cast are Kirsten Dunst,Viggo Mortensen, Amy Adams, Alice Braga, and 
Steve Buscemi.  Also coming out this December is F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby."  So if 2012 isn't remembered for the apocalypse, then perhaps the audience will rember 2012 as  the year that the great literary giants Fitzgerald, and Kerouac, had their novels come again to the big screen and a new generation will take inspiration from Jay and Dean.

Movie Data

Genre: Adventure, Drama

Year: 2012

Staring: Sam Riley, Garrett Hedlund, Kristen Stewart, Amy Adams, Tom Sturridge, Alice Braga, Elisabeth Moss

Director: Walter Salles

Producer(s): Roman Coppola, Charles Gillibert, Nathanaël Karmitz, Rebecca Yeldham

Writer: Jose Rivera, Jack Kerouac (novel)

Rating: R

Running Time: 124 minutes

Release Date: 5/23/2012