the road

i read cormac mccarthy's best selling novel 'the road' and was both impacted and impressed by its story and the way it portrayed mankind. it also created a specific apocalyptic atmosphere that was unique. john hillcoat's adaptation of this novel into a film does a great job capturing this nihilistic atmosphere. this film is by far one of the most nihilistic and difficult movies i have watched in quite some time. this is not the type of movie one revisits on frequent occasions, and i left the theater in a partial depressed state despite its somewhat uplifting ending.

i found this movie to be very well done, and i enjoyed how true it stayed to the book. the sets and scenery were breath taking. viggo mortenson's acting, as usual, was more than adequate. robert duvall, continuing his trend of always choosing exceptional roles, does a phenomenal job in a role that took me a while to recognize who he was.

i think this film will appeal to both fans of the book and movie lovers alike. however, it may not appeal to casual moviegoers due to its extremely dark subject matter. while it is not a masterpiece, i also did not have any major problems with the film.

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james cameron had been developing this movie for quite some time, so for this film to be such a success with all the hype and expectation that had been mounting on it (much of it from cameron himself), it truly is a remarkable story.

everything about this film strives to be epic. the 3D scenes, the great animation, the familar narrative; this film is designed to be a hollywood blockbuster with mass appeal. and the film succeeds mightily on this medium. the large scope of the sci-fi story reminded me of star wars, and i wonder how it will be remembered in the future, when the kids who saw this movie grow older. it's uniqueness with it's greatly controlled use of imax and 3D will cause it to be remembered years from now as a great movie theater experience. blu-ray is also a medium where this film could really thrive.

this film is not without it's flaws. the narrative is very familar (think science fiction version of 'dances with wolves'). the story is rarely unpredictable, as the viewer ultimately has the end result stored in the back of their mind throughout. the dialogue is the weakest portion of this film in my mind. the character's aren't playing people but rather caricatures of their respective positions. the military talks were very crudely modeled after the bush administration (talks of 'preemptive strikes' and 'war on terror'), and i found this took away from the overall story. i do not need james cameron to preach to me about the military or crooked businessmen, and about our mistreatment of the indians.

overall, this film is definitely worth seeing, perhaps for the visuals alone. the world cameron creates in utterly fascinating, and i found that he is such an expert at creating climatic scenes that almost takes one's breath away in awe.

fantastic mr. fox

i am both a huge wes anderson and roald dahl fan, so i was obviously excited to hear that anderson was adapting the dahl book 'the fantastic mr. fox' in the form of a stop animation film.

this film was brilliant. definitely one of the most memorable movies i've seen this year. everything about this movie works right. george clooney's deep instantly recognizable voice is perfect for mr. fox, and voice acting for the others parts are also spot on. Jason Schwartzman is particularly funny as the fox's 'different' son Ash.

the story is very funny. it has that great edge where it would be funny for kids, but it has a lot of adult humor in it as well. it was always amusing, never boring, and i was sad when the fun experience had to end. visually, the amount of fine detail always found in anderson movies is present here as well. also, not being a regular stop-animation director (such as Henry Selick) he presents a lot of camera shots and close-ups that stop animation movies generally avoid. this unique film style works perfectly though.

i cannot say enough about this movie. it's my favorite wes anderson film since 'rushmore.' it has countless laugh out loud moments, and it really makes you feel like you're in the world it presents throughout it. it was the first movie in quite some time where i went to watch it again within a week, and it was equally as funny the second time.