Godzilla / The Quiet Ones / The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Drive-In Triple-Feature

Title(s):  Godzilla / The Quiet Ones / The Amazing Spider-Man 2

Date of Theatrical Release(s):  May 16, 2014 / April 25, 2014 / May 2, 2014

MPAA Rating:  PG-13 (all)

On the 16^th of May, your friendly ol’ Unimonster loaded the family truckster with food, drink, blankets, the Uni-Nephew, and the Rug-Monkey, and headed out to the local Drive-In.  Our primary goal for the night was to have a great time watching the new Godzilla film, but good timing (plus a little bit of relocating from one screen to the next during intermission) allowed us to score a triple-feature of genre films.  It was also my first chance to check out the Tibbs since they upgraded to Digital over the off-season.

Since the boys and I watched these movies as a team, we’ll review them as a team.  Each review will include their thoughts on the film in question.  So let’s go to the Drive-in!

Godzilla

We were all looking forward to Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla, the big budget reinvention of the King of all Monsters.  Following a spring filled with hype about this movie, we were all a little concerned that it might fail to deliver as much as was promised … I more so than the boys.  I still have vivid recollections of the last time the Big G appeared on American shores, in the 1998 Roland Emmerich-directed GINO (Godzilla … In Name Only) stinkfest.  It too had been massively hyped, only to disappoint legions of loyal Kaijû fans, including the Unimonster.  I hoped history wouldn’t repeat itself, but Hollywood has a poor track record in this area.

After viewing, all I can say is … this movie was fantastic!  For once, the hype wasn’t overdone; if anything, the movie was better than I expected.  This is Godzilla; Americanized, sure … but still recognizable as the Big G.  If the trailers mislead on any point, it’s the impression that Bryan Cranston is the star of the film.  His performance as Joe Brody, the first to give warning of Godzilla’s presence is good, and the character is important to the plot, but his screen time is limited.  Never having seen an episode of Breaking Bad, my impressions of Cranston all revolve around his Emmy-nominated role of Hal, Malcolm’s long-suffering father on the hit series Malcolm in the Middle.  It’s different seeing him in a dramatic role; good, but different.  I kept expecting Hal to pop-up.

The lead is nominally Aaron Taylor-Johnson, familiar to genre fans as Dave Lizewski / Kick-Ass, from Kick-Ass and Kick-Ass 2 (both highly recommended, btw), but make no mistake, the star of this film is 250 feet tall and scaly.  This is Godzilla’s film, and though I would’ve like to see more of him on-screen, his impact is unquestionable.

The one problem I do have with the film is that far too much of it looks as though it was lit with a 40-watt light bulb.  I understand using shadows to conceal something in order to build suspense, but in order for there to be shadows there must also be light.  When you’re seeing one- or two-minute sequences that are essentially just a black screen, that’s not building suspense; that’s taking the audience out of the action.

Still, that’s my one complaint, and it’s not a major one.  Overall, it’s a tremendous movie, and easily vaults to the top of my list for Movie of the Year.

The Uni-Nephew’s Review:  “Godzilla was a great movie, with lots of action and a great story!”
The Rug-Monkey’s Review:  “Great!”

The Quiet Ones

Ever since the resurrection of Hammer Films, and their first unqualified success with The Woman in Black, I’ve been waiting for the follow-up.  Something, anything, to show that the studio’s new incarnation was for real.  The Quiet Ones, the studio’s first release since The Woman in Black, is not that film.

Starring Jared Harris, Sam Claflin, and Olivia Cooke, The Quiet Ones is the type of Supernatural / Psychological horror that Hammer used to do very well, with films such as 1963’s Paranoiac or 1964’s Nightmare.  My issues with this film are that, for a “Horror” film, there’s a distinct lack of … well, Horror.  To describe the film as slow-moving would be an understatement; the movie plods along with the deliberateness of a stagnant creek.  John Pogue directed this tortoise of a film, working from a script he co-wrote with Craig Rosenberg and Oren Moverman.  I don’t know if ‘glacial’ was the pace he was shooting for … if so, then he hit the mark.

 

The characters are on the whole unlikeable; Claflin’s Brian McNeil is the closest you get to a hero for the piece, though not a very effective one.  Professor Joseph Coupland (Harris), the head of the group, is the perfect example of the ‘creepy uncle’, the kind which parents don’t let their kids visit unsupervised.  Only Cooke, as Jane Harper, the subject of the Professor’s experiments, is entertaining.  And I get the impression that that’s an accidental occurrence.

Despite all this, The Quiet Ones isn't a horrible movie … just a profoundly disappointing one.

The Uni-Nephew’s Review:  “The Quiet Ones was a good movie but could’ve been a bit faster-paced, with more horror aspects to it (considering it’s a horror movie).”
The Rug-Monkey’s Review:  “The Quiet Ones was okay, but wasn’t what I expected.”

The Amazing Spider-Man 2

Okay, confession time … I’ve never been a fan of Marvel’s Superheroes (DC all the WAY!), and Spider-Man was always my least favorite of the bunch.  Still, the recent Marvel blockbusters have made me a (partial) convert—with one exception:  Spidey.  To this old comic-book lovin’ Unimonster, he still comes across as comical, almost a parody of superheroes.  Truthfully, I fell asleep during the last big-screen adaptation of Stan Lee’s most famous creation, and expected to do the same with this one.  No one was more surprised than I that, not only did I make it through the entire film (though some credit has to go to having two rambunctious teenagers in a tightly enclosed space … think ‘pair of chimps in a Gemini space capsule’), I actually enjoyed the movie.

Granted, I know next to nothing of the character’s back story, or the various comic-book iterations of it that exist.  Andrew Garfield did a very good job playing Spider-Man, but more importantly, he did a great job playing Peter Parker, the harder of the two roles.  To be the superhero, the man or woman in the mask, cape, or tights, is easy.  It’s all action.  All one has to do is be heroic.  It’s as their secret selves that you see the cost of being the hero, as with Christian Bale’s Bruce Wayne.

Emma Stone (Garfield’s real-life girlfriend) plays Gwen Stacy, the love-interest of Parker / Spider-Man, as she is aware of his secret.  This threw me at first, as the little that I do recall of the comic book Spider-Man was that his girlfriend was named Mary Jane, but I was enlightened as to the discrepancy by the boys.  Stone gives a very good performance, and there’s no denying that she’s one of the most beautiful actresses in Hollywood.

The cast overall does an excellent job, aided by a superb script from Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, and Jeff Pinkner.  Kurtzman and Orci have been one of the most successful screenwriting duos of the last decade, penning the Transformers, Spider-Man, and Star Trek franchises to box-office gold.  Marc Webb does well as director; though to be honest, with this level of talent on board, it would be hard not to.

While Spider-Man will never be a favorite Superhero of mine, not even my favorite Marvel hero, this movie surprised me in just how much I enjoyed it.

The Uni-Nephew’s Review:  “The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was a very good movie.  It has many twists to it, and a very good story.”
The Rug-Monkey’s Review:  “The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was really amazing!”

One final word on the Tibbs Drive-In’s digital upgrade is in order.  The picture quality was very good, not as vast an improvement as you would see in a similar upgrade in a conventional theater, but that’s a function of the limited amount of light that can be projected onto the screen when that screen is a hundred or more yards away from the projector, as opposed to a hundred or so feet.  Still, I mourn the loss of film, and the idiosyncrasies associated with it.  Progress may be more efficient, but it’s nostalgia that stirs the heart.

Unimonster's Screening Room: 300-- Rise of an Empire

Title:  300: Rise of an Empire

Date of Theatrical Release:  7 March, 2014

MPAA Rating:  R

 

Reviewer:  Unimonster

Seven years ago, I proclaimed Zack Snyder’s epic vision of Frank Miller’s graphic novel 300 the Movie of the Year for 2007.  It had everything that makes a movie great … well almost everything, unless you want to count Gerard Butler’s shaved pecs as breasts, which I don’t.  Rumors of a sequel began almost immediately, though I wasn't quite sure how such a feat would occur, with the Spartans lying slaughtered on the field of Thermopylae.  It took a while, but Zack Snyder, Kurt Johnstad, and Frank Miller finally figured out a way to revisit the Greco-Persian wars—by putting them to sea.  300: Rise of an Empire focuses on the battle of Salamis, fought in September, 480 BCE, roughly concurrent with the battle of Thermopylae.  The Athenian fleet, commanded in part by a general named Themistocles, decisively defeated the Persian fleet commanded by the Persian emperor Xerxes I, and Queen Artemisia of Caria, located on what is now the southwest coast of Turkey.

With Snyder busy with the directing chores on last summer’s blockbuster Man of Steel, Noam Murro was chosen to helm the project.  Murro, whose only feature prior to this was the 2008 film Smart People, had originally been named to direct the Bruce Willis action sequel A Good Day to Die Hard, but dropped out to take this assignment instead.  While he seemed an odd choice when announced, it’s hard to find fault with the decision, as the finished project will attest.  Working with a script penned by Snyder and Johnstad, the same team that brought 300 to the screen, Murro keeps the action flowing at a reasonable pace, though it does come across as a bit more ‘talky’ than its predecessor.

Leading the cast is Sullivan Stapleton, an Australian actor with a great deal of experience in television in his home country, though he has made occasional appearances in American productions, most recently 2013’s Gangster Squad.  He plays Themistocles as a man devoted to the ideal of a united Greece, with all the separate city-states banding together to resist the Persian onslaught.  Stapleton is very good as the Athenian general, convincing the viewer of his faith in a pan-Hellenic alliance.  I doubt that this will prove to be the breakout role for him that Leonidas was for Butler, but time will tell.  Opposite Stapleton is Eva Green, as the commander of Xerxes’ navy, Artemisia.  This is really her movie, and she commands every scene she appears in, as well as helping to provide the one thing that the first movie lacked—a healthy dose of female nudity.  Some familiar faces from the first movie appear—Lena Headey as the Spartan queen, Gorgo, David Wenham as Dilios, Andrew Tiernan as Ephialtes, and of course Rodrigo Santoro as Xerxes.  However, with the exception of Santoro’s Xerxes, this is not their movie, and they take up little screen time.

I took the Uni-Nephew with me to see this one on its opening weekend, and I must say both of us loved it.  We saw the 2D version, but I would say that had there been a 3D version starting at the same time, we would’ve opted for that; this is a movie that begs to be seen on the big screen, in three dimensions.  The effects were spectacular, the photography beautiful, and, just as the first did, it perfectly captures the mood and style of Miller’s graphic novels.  My recommendation is simple: if you loved the first film, you won’t be disappointed here.  But don’t wait for the home video release—get to the theater and see it, now … in 3D.

The Unimonster's Crypt Screening Room: WANDERLOST

Title:  WANDERLOST

Date of Theatrical Release:  2009

MPAA Rating:  Unrated Festival Version

[Ed. note:  At the recent Famous Monsters Convention in Indianapolis (see my Convention write-up above), this film from director / co-writer / producer David Kabler was one of the features selected for screening.  Due to a prior commitment, I was unable to attend the screening, so the filmmaker was kind enough to provide the Crypt with a copy of the film for review.  I would like to express my sincere appreciation for this kindness, which allows me to bring this review to my readers.]

One of the advantages of low-budget, independent filmmaking is just that: it’s independent.  The filmmaker, freed from the restraints of corporate oversight and the need to balance artistic imagination with commercial appeal, is able to give free rein to that imagination, and bring his unique vision to the screen—within the limits of his resources, of course.

The end result is frequently an intensely personal film, one that reflects the artist’s own hopes and fears, dreams and nightmares.  And the consequence of this is that not everyone will enjoy the film, or feel that it has a personal message for them.  That’s not a negative—these films aren’t designed to appeal to the mass market.  But when such a film does connect with a viewer, then the filmmaker’s vision is fully realized.

WANDERLOST is a surreal, bizarre journey through a nightmare world, one characterized by a ruined and decaying urban landscape.  The central figure is a drifter, traveling across country by hopping railroad freight cars.  His existence by its very nature is a solitary one, and one gathers that that is by choice.  Through flashbacks, the viewer is made aware of the character’s painful childhood as the victim of repeated, ritualized abuse.

Frequent cutaways introduce the viewer to other characters, each of whom seem to exist in a world apart from the others.  One of these is a graffiti artist who we watch as he creates an image on a brick wall.  He says nothing, simply stands at the wall creating his art.

There’s very little more I can say to describe the plot of the movie; not for fear of divulging too much, but because, quite frankly, I’m not sure there is a plot.  The film is visually equivalent to free-form verse; a series of random vignettes connected tenuously by a thread of horrific imagery.  Filmed in Asheville, North Carolina, it’s very well done from a technical viewpoint, and the photography, by co-writer Daniel Judson, is excellent.  Artistically, it serves very well the bleak, blighted mood of the piece, as does the various urban locations.  Kabler did a superb job designing the production to emphasize the isolation and alienation of the lead character, and on an emotional level, the film is quite successful at evoking the desired responses from the audience.

However, I’m someone who prefers some degree of linear reality to films.  While I can appreciate the artistic vision behind the film, and the quality of the execution of that vision, that alone is not enough to entertain me.  I need a story.  I’m a writer—words are my medium.  They are, in the final analysis, what I relate to, what I understand the best.  If the story doesn’t captivate me, then the most beautifully filmed, professionally produced movie is nothing more than a beautiful failure.  I wish that I could say otherwise about WANDERLOST.  Unfortunately, I can’t.

But that is merely my personal opinion of the film.  And, as I stated before, that’s the advantage of Indie films, and one of the reasons I’m such a fan of the form.  It doesn’t need to appeal to the masses; it succeeds, or fails, on an individual basis.  It’s art, not commerce, and just because it failed with the Unimonster means nothing if it succeeds with you.

To the best of my knowledge, there’s yet to be a DVD release announced for the film, so the best option for finding it is to go direct to the source and contact Kabler through his web-site, http://www.WANDERLOSTfilm.com.  So do what I did, and judge this film for yourself.  You may share my opinion.  You may not.  But how will you know unless you try it?

Unimonster's Screening Room: GARGALESE — THE TICKLE MONSTER

Title: GARGALESE — THE TICKLE MONSTER

Date of Theatrical Release: N/A

MPAA Rating: Unrated


I don’t often discuss short subjects here, not because of a lack of interest in them, but because until recently there were so few of them worth mentioning. Though Horror is particularly well suited to exploration through the medium of the short film, until the development of the “YouTube” culture it was very difficult for filmmakers to market their short films to the audiences that would be the most appreciative of them. That is no longer an issue, and short Horror Films of every possible description now flood the internet.

One of these short films is from a team of filmmakers headed by Dean Millermon. GARGALESE — THE TICKLE MONSTER is many things—but ‘easy to describe’ is not among them. This 17-minute short (though Millermon states that the ‘finished’ release might come in at a 15-minute runtime) concerns an alien invader, described by some as a “tickle bear,” who crash-lands in suburban Illinois. This begins an enjoyable, humorous if not particularly logical, sequence of events which adds a whole new meaning to the term “die laughing.”

Directed by Millermon, who co-wrote the script with Ryan Guenther, and produced by Brian Kallies and Laura Szymber, this short film is a great example of a small group of people using their talents and abilities to overcome an obvious lack of funds. What’s more, they appear to be having a great time while doing so. Axiom Megamedia is the production company, and one would hope that we see more from them in the near future.

As Gargalese encounters various residents of Northern Illinois, it mutates through several forms, emerging from a fallen meteor in the shape of an eight-inch tall, toothsome, sharp-clawed “tickle bear” before a shotgun blast from farmer Mike (Dana Gasser) spurs a change into a larger, more dangerous creature. The alien’s efforts to return home leads him on a journey through greater Elgin, Illinois—and introduces him to a number of surprised, and very ticklish, humans. The movie also stars Megan Hincks as Brenda, a human unlike any other in Gargalese’s experience.

While GARGALESE — THE TICKLE MONSTER is very definitely a low-budget project, it’s a well-crafted one, and it benefits from the fact that the horror is firmly tongue-in-cheek. The film doesn’t take itself too seriously, which allows the audience to overlook the somewhat silly premise and play along. Millermon’s direction is good; everyone’s able to stay focused on their work, and the story progresses smoothly from point to point. The script is adequate; not great, but equal to the task.

The cast is surprisingly good, especially considering the independent, low-budget nature of the production. Particularly worthy of note are the three leads—Hincks, Dave Hunter as Brenda’s husband Ronnie, and Mack Perry as his uncle Glen. The two men soon find themselves confronting Gargalese, but when the alien encounters the very cute, redheaded Brenda… well, as the ex-husband of a redhead, all I can say is that we should have a brigade of redheads standing by in case of an alien invasion.

GARGALESE — THE TICKLE MONSTER is being screened at the Women in Horror film fest at Chicago’s historic Portage Theater on the first of May. For those not able to attend that festival, information on future screenings can be found at the movie’s Facebook fan page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Gargalese-The-Tickle-Monster/108685912506693?ref=ts. If you’re a fan of indie Horror or short subjects, then you owe it to yourself to find a way to see this movie.

Don’t let the Tickle Bear get YOU.

DVD Review: 300

Title: 300

Year of Release—Film: 2007

Year of Release—DVD: 2007

DVD Label: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment





THE MOVIE

This might seem like an odd film for me to review, a historical epic about the Battle of Thermopylae 2,500 years ago. However, anyone familiar with Frank Miller’s work, especially the fantastic SIN CITY, would realize that he could make the dictionary fit into the genre category.

For those unfamiliar with this most pivotal battle in the history of western civilization, it occurred as a massive Persian army (best estimates place it at around 250-300,000 men, not the one million mentioned in the movie…) invaded Greece in the 5th Century B.C.
A force of 6-10,000 Greeks, led by 300 Spartans under the command of their King, Leonidas, met them at a narrow coastal pass that commanded the exit from the invasion beaches, a pass called by the Greeks “The Hot Gates”—Thermopylae. With the Thespian and Phoecian armies covering his back and flank, Leonidas positioned his personal bodyguard of 300 handpicked men—all the Spartan council would allow him to take—astride the pass.

Over the next three days, 300 Spartan soldiers held the pass against the combined might of what, at the time, was the largest empire on earth. On the third day, a local shepherd named Ephialtes led the Persians to a small path behind the Spartans. The Phoecians defending Leonidas’ flank scattered, and a contingent of Persian infantry encircled the doomed Spartans.
The Spartans, remaining true to their beliefs, refused to abandon their positions and retreat with the Thespian army. Earlier, when asked to lay down their weapons, the Spartans replied “Molón labe…” “Come and take them.” They honored that statement, dying to the last man. That simple phrase is still the motto of the Greek Army. At the site today lies a simple marker that reads, “Go tell the Spartans, passersby, that here in obedience to her laws we lie.”

That is the history. And as inspiring and heroic as it is, Frank Miller managed, in his graphic novel 300, to inject steroids straight into the bloodstream of the historical facts. Then Zack Snyder got a grip on it. He hit it with 1,000 volts of pure energy, and zapped it with a little gamma radiation for good measure. The result is history, mutated.

Snyder, whose last genre work was the 2004 remake of DAWN OF THE DEAD, does a spectacular job here of transferring Miller’s graphic novel directly to the screen. The look and texture of Miller’s artwork has been perfectly captured by Snyder’s camera, giving the film a look unlike any other.

The acting is superb, especially that of Gerard Butler as Leonidas, the Spartan king; Lena Headey, as his queen, Gorgo; and David Wenham, as Delios, the lone Spartan survivor, sent back to rally support for the king. Dominic West, as the traitorous Theron, also deserves special mention, as in Theron he creates one of the slimiest villains to slither across the screen in some time.

If this film has a flaw (and that’s a big IF…) it’s that the history of Thermopylae is often buried under layers of surrealism, from a 7½-foot tall Xerxes, to a Persian court that resembles a traveling circus side-show, to the use of elephants and a rhinoceros in the Persian order of battle. Scenes excised from the final cut of the film were even more bizarre, with dwarf Persian archers riding giant humans into battle.

But these excesses are faithful to the graphic novel, and do nothing to detract from one’s enjoyment of the movie. To be frank, only a serious student of history will care about such exaggerations; and in the core of the story, where it really matters, the filmmakers stay fairly close to Herodotus, the first chronicler of the story of the 300.

My DVD is the Widescreen 2-disc Collector’s Edition, and is absolutely perfect. Subtitles, menu design, graphics, video and audio quality… There’s nothing more I can say—everything is simply perfect.

As you might expect from a DVD labeled as “…Collector’s Edition” there’s no shortage of special features here, and contrary to the norm, none are ‘throw-away’ bits added just as filler. The best, at least to this history buff, is a detailed look at the history behind the fiction, the true story of Thermopylae. Hosted by historian and classicist Victor Davis Hanson (who was advisor to the production…) this nearly half-hour long documentary examines the film in relation to the factual accounts of the battle, most notably Herodotus'.

There are also multiple looks at the making of 300, including the short clips that were originally posted to the movie’s website during production. These detail some of the fascinating techniques used to bring Frank Miller’s vision to life, and such insights are always a favorite of mine.

There are more bonuses than the norm on this set, for which I’m extremely grateful. When I’m as big a fan of a film as I am of 300, then I want every special feature I can get in connection to the movie… with this set, I feel like that’s what I’ve gotten.

Let me end the suspense now: Barring something truly spectacular on the part of the genre films yet to be released this year, (and I think I’m safe on that score…) this movie will be my Movie of the Year for 2007. It has everything you could possibly want in a film of this type, from fantastic action to tremendous special effects, all captured in stunningly beautiful photography. Miller’s art is extraordinarily unique, and it seems to compel filmmakers to try to transfer it intact to the screen; as in SIN CITY. I for one am thankful for that.

I grabbed my DVD from BestBuy the day it was released, and paid about $25.00 for it. And it’s selling at Amazon.com right now for about $2 less. But whatever you pay for it, pick it up now… and thank me later.

DVD Review: THE DARK KNIGHT

Title: THE DARK KNIGHT

Year of Release—Film: 2008

Year of Release—DVD: 2009

DVD Label: Warner Home Video


As anyone who read my 2008 in Review [7 February 2009] column might recall, the year in genre film was dominated by one movie—Christopher Nolan’s THE DARK KNIGHT. From the powerful script, by Nolan and his brother Jonathon, to some of the best effects work I’ve ever seen, to Heath Ledger’s chilling performance as the Joker, this movie scored on every level; so well, in fact, that I named it 2008’s Movie of the Year.

Most of the cast of BATMAN BEGINS returns for this sequel. The notable exception is Katie Holmes, who originated the role of Rachel Dawes, Bruce Wayne’s childhood friend and love interest. Maggie Gyllenhall takes over the role here, and does an excellent job with it. Christian Bale, of course, returns as the Darknight Detective of DC Comics fame. Bale may not be my favorite actor to have essayed the role of Batman, but there is no doubt his is by far the darkest, most powerful portrayal. What he approached with his performance in BATMAN BEGINS he solidly nails here.

Michael Caine returns as Alfred, Bruce Wayne’s aide (butler just doesn’t seem to do justice to his importance…), and delivers what might be his best performance, bar none. Morgan Freeman is solid as Lucius Fox, Wayne’s right hand man at Wayne Enterprises, and Gary Oldham does a superb job bringing Police Capt. James Gordon to life.

New to the cast for this sequel are Thomas Jane, as District Attorney Harvey Dent, and the late Heath Ledger as Batman’s archenemy, the Joker. Jane is a bit overbearing at times as the righteously crusading D. A., though overall he does a good job. And, while there’s little more that can be said for Ledger’s performance as Gotham’s Clown Prince of Crime, it is something that the viewer must experience to appreciate.

This DVD is the stripped-down version, without any bonus features. While usually that works against any release I choose to review, the object here is the movie itself, and a film of this quality is quite capable of standing on it’s own merits. Though I still consider Tim Burton’s BATMAN the best filmed version of the Caped Crusader, this is by far the most powerful. See it—own it. Take the Unimonster’s word on it.

DVD Review: CORALINE Two-Disc Collector’s Edition

Title: CORALINE Two-Disc Collector’s Edition

Year of Release—Film: 2009

Year of Release—DVD: 2009

DVD Label: Universal Studios Home Entertainment

Neil Gaiman is one of the hottest names in Horror, a writer whose graphic novels such as Sandman and MirrorMask have established him as one of the top authors o

f Fantastic fiction. His work has also found its way to the big screen, with films such as MIRRORMASK, STARDUST, BEOWULF, and now CORALINE.

Henry Selick, the same man who brought Tim Burton’s NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS to life, directs CORALINE, based on Gaiman’s 2002 children’s fable. Coraline is a smart, rebellious pre-teen girl, whose parents have relocated the family from Pontiac, Michigan to rural Oregon. They move into the Pink Palace, an old house that has been converted into apartments. The other residents of the building are extremely eccentric, from the elderly actre

sses who share the basement apartment, to the Russian Circus performer in the attic. But there are no other children in the apartments, and Coraline is lonely and unhappy. Her only friend is Wyborn, an odd, nerdy boy, the grandson of the owner of the Pink Palace.

Wyborn gives her a gift, a doll he says he found in his Grandmother’s attic—a doll that bears an uncanny resemblance to Coraline. This opens the door—both literally and figuratively—on a series of bizarre occurrences that soon has Coraline fighting not only for her existence, but for that of others as well.

Dakota Fanning voices Coraline, and while her always annoying, smarter-than-all-the-adults-in-the-room routine wears very thin, she does an acceptable job here. Perhaps not having to see her on-screen lessens her ability to get on my nerves. Teri Hatcher provides the voice of both Coraline’s Mother, and the other-worldly “Other Mother,” the antagonist of the story. Her performance is good, not exceptional, but it does the job. The rest of the cast

is decent, though there are no standouts.

Visually, the movie is spectacular, though the 3-D version was not screened. I have never seen a 3-D film that seemed worth the effort it took to produce it, nor was it necessary to view it in order to review the film. The 2-D animation was so richly detailed and so well done that it would be hard to imagine that a 39¢ pair of red & green glasses would improve it.

The one flaw in the film, and indeed in the Gaiman book that inspired it, is that both are considered to be for children. Trust me on this—this is not a children’s tale. While I’ve never been one to believe that children should be isolated from every possible frightening image or concept like some emotional “bubble” boy or girl, I do feel that there are certai

n themes that they just don’t need to deal with until they are of an age to understand them [see Too Much Horror, 30 May 2009]. Children already have an innate fear of separation; this movie would directly attack those fears. To market it to children is, I believe, irresponsible.

CORALINE is a superb story, and this is a very good adaptation of it. It’s visually flawless, and that carries the occasionally weak performances along. Gaiman fans will, I believe, be pleased, and those unfamiliar with his work may find cause to become familiar with it. It’s not perfect, and I certainly wouldn’t let any child under the age of ten watch it—but I enjoyed it, and have no hesitation in recommending it to you.

DVD Review: 300

Year of Release—Film: 2007

Year of Release—DVD: 2007

DVD Label: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

THE MOVIE

This might seem like an odd film for me to review, a historical epic about the Battle of Thermopylae 2,500 years ago. However, anyone familiar with Frank Miller’s work, especially the fantastic SIN CITY, would realize that he could make the dictionary fit into the genre category.

For those unfamiliar with this most pivotal battle in the history of western civilization, it occurred as a massive Persian army (best estimates place it at around 250-300,000 men, not the one million mentioned in the movie…) invaded Greece in the 5th Century B.C.
A force of 6-10,000 Greeks, led by 300 Spartans under the command of their King, Leonidas, met them at a narrow coastal pass that commanded the exit from the invasion beaches, a pass called by the Greeks “The Hot Gates”—Thermopylae. With the Thespian and Phoecian armies covering his back and flank, Leonidas positioned his personal bodyguard of 300 handpicked men—all the Spartan council would allow him to take—astride the pass.

Over the next three days, 300 Spartan soldiers held the pass against the combined might of what, at the time, was the largest empire on earth. On the third day, a local shepherd named Ephialtes led the Persians to a small path behind the Spartans. The Phoecians defending Leonidas’ flank scattered, and a contingent of Persian infantry encircled the doomed Spartans.

The Spartans, remaining true to their beliefs, refused to abandon their positions and retreat with the Thespian army. Earlier, when asked to lay down their weapons, the Spartans replied “Molón labe…” “Come and take them.” They honored that statement, dying to the last man. That simple phrase is still the motto of the Greek Army. At the site today lies a simple marker that reads, “Go tell the Spartans, passersby, that here in obedience to her laws we lie.”

That is the history. And as inspiring and heroic as it is, Frank Miller managed, in his graphic novel 300, to inject steroids straight into the bloodstream of the historical facts. Then Zack Snyder got a grip on it. He hit it with 1,000 volts of pure energy, and zapped it with a little gamma radiation for good measure. The result is history, mutated.

Snyder, whose last genre work was the 2004 remake of DAWN OF THE DEAD, does a spectacular job here of transferring Miller’s graphic novel directly to the screen. The look and texture of Miller’s artwork has been perfectly captured by Snyder’s camera, giving the film a look unlike any other.

The acting is superb, especially that of Gerard Butler as Leonidas, the Spartan king; Lena Headey, as his queen, Gorgo; and David Wenham, as Delios, the lone Spartan survivor, sent back to rally support for the king. Dominic West, as the traitorous Theron, also deserves special mention, as in Theron he creates one of the slimiest villains to slither across the screen in some time.

If this film has a flaw (and that’s a big IF…) it’s that the history of Thermopylae is often buried under layers of surrealism, from a 7½-foot tall Xerxes, to a Persian court that resembles a traveling circus side-show, to the use of elephants and a rhinoceros in the Persian order of battle. Scenes excised from the final cut of the film were even more bizarre, with dwarf Persian archers riding giant humans into battle.

But these excesses are faithful to the graphic novel, and do nothing to detract from one’s enjoyment of the movie. To be frank, only a serious student of history will care about such exaggerations; and in the core of the story, where it really matters, the filmmakers stay fairly close to Herodotus, the first chronicler of the story of the 300.



THE DISC

My DVD is the Widescreen 2-disc Collector’s Edition, and is absolutely perfect. Subtitles, menu design, graphics, video and audio quality… There’s nothing more I can say—everything is simply perfect.



THE SPECIAL FEATURES

As you might expect from a DVD labeled as “…Collector’s Edition” there’s no shortage of special features here, and contrary to the norm, none are ‘throw-away’ bits added just as filler. The best, at least to this history buff, is a detailed look at the history behind the fiction, the true story of Thermopylae. Hosted by historian and classicist Victor Davis Hanson (who was advisor to the production…) this nearly half-hour long documentary examines the film in relation to the factual accounts of the battle, most notably Herodotus'.

There are also multiple looks at the making of 300, including the short clips that were originally posted to the movie’s website during production. These detail some of the fascinating techniques used to bring Frank Miller’s vision to life, and such insights are always a favorite of mine.

There are more bonuses than the norm on this set, for which I’m extremely grateful. When I’m as big a fan of a film as I am of 300, then I want every special feature I can get in connection to the movie… with this set, I feel like that’s what I’ve gotten.



IN CONCLUSION

Let me end the suspense now: Barring something truly spectacular on the part of the genre films yet to be released this year, (and I think I’m safe on that score…) this movie will be my Movie of the Year for 2007. It has everything you could possibly want in a film of this type, from fantastic action to tremendous special effects, all captured in stunningly beautiful photography. Miller’s art is extraordinarily unique, and it seems to compel filmmakers to try to transfer it intact to the screen; as in SIN CITY. I for one am thankful for that.

I grabbed my DVD from BestBuy the day it was released, and paid about $25.00 for it. And it’s selling at Amazon.com right now for about $2 less. But whatever you pay for it, pick it up now… and thank me later.