Where The (Big, Furry, Agressive, Easily Conflicted, Akward and Extremely) Wild Things Are

A Children's Story For Adults

The movie Where the Wild Things Are is an in depth tale about Max (a young, emotionally conflicted boy) trying to be heard even though his size keeps him from being recognized. The movie takes a very famous book that is only 10 sentences long and expands it into a 101 minute film of moving emotions. The entire film is quite dark and very emotional, meant for someone with bi-polar disorder because it goes from being hilarious to being extremely depressing all in 3 seconds.

Very few of the characters in this movie had a human face, in fact there was quite a variety in the faces that the characters wore including goat, monster, owl, bull, and chicken. All the characters in the movie were extremely lovable and funny except Judith (she's a downer). James Gondolfini (Carol) once again blows audience away with his amazing talent. The real Oscar winner in this movie however, is Max Record who has a very intense and emotional role. The movie does a really good job of making the audience care about a bunch of stupid wild things.

One of the problems of this movie was the plot line. It seemed like the writers for this movie took cool ideas and wrote them down and shot darts at a board and when they hit the idea it comes next in the screenplay. The movie's plot line is easy to follow but keeps you asking questions like "why are they in the desert?" or "what is the point of punching holes in trees?". The movie used the book less like a screenplay (Because then the movie would have been ten minutes.) and more as a guideline of certain frames that should be hit.

There have been a lot of comments that people have made about bringing there kid to see the film and then finding out it is not made for kids. Well just to silence these assholes I would like to say that it was rated PG-13 (There's a hint.) and that the book is not even a kids book, it's protagonist is a kid who wears a weird wolf suit and yells at his mom. Now if you think that yelling at your mom builds good morals then you're an idiot.

The movie gave an extremely emontional view on a 9 year old's life. The movie hit all the right pressure points and will turn into a classic. This movie is one of the best movies I have seen in a long time.

Overall Rating: S-A-B-R-E

The Invention of the Good Romantic Comedy ... And we're not Lying

Ricky Gervais is one of the funniest men in the world. He created, wrote and starred in The Office, a revolutionary TV show and when he speaks at award shows the audience laughs, and not the pretend, acknowledging-the-joke-laugh but a real, that-was-actually-funny laugh. The Invention of Lying is Gervais’s newest project, one that he once again created, wrote and starred in and it too is a hit. The premise is original, the jokes new, the acting well done; in short the movie works even with certain given clichés.

The premise of The Invention of Lying is believe it or not about the invention of lying. It is an alternate universe where no one in the world can lie, or even knows what a lie is. In fact for some unexplainable reason not only do people lie but they go out of their way to tell the truth. Pepsi’s slogan is “for when they don’t have coke”, retirement homes are called “A sad place where old people go to die”, doctors tell you your diagnosis with added details. It is in this world that Mark (Gervais) tells the first lie and soon, with his power, he is living the high life. Unfortunately however, his ability cannot get him true love or save his dying mother and that is where the romantic portion as well as religious musings enters the movie.

That’s right romance and religion; those of you who watched the trailer are probably surprised because the movie is advertised as a straight-up comedy. It is however, a romantic comedy with dramatic portions, just to be one hundred percent up front. Hopefully this will not dissuade anyone from going because this movie is worth watching. To repeat from earlier, Ricky Gervais is one of the funniest men in the world, and this shows in The Invention of Lying.

The cast is star-studded including Jennifer Garner, Rob Lowe, Jonah Hill and Tina Fey, and all of them are impressive. Jonah Hill in particular was funny, playing a suicidal character who openly conversed about his attempts to kill himself. The religious sub-plot is also amusing, with the population pestering Mark about what exactly constitutes as a sin. Where the movie gets frustrating however, is the clichés it does fall into. How many romantic comedies have resolved with a wedding scene where the man begs the soon-to-be-married-woman to marry him instead (I can think of five just off the top of my head)? And on top of that the movie only ever resolves the romantic plot ignoring the lingering questions of religion.

To sum it up when Mark says: “This is the greatest movie ever made” he’s not lying, just exaggerating a little.

Overall Rating: S-A-B-R-e

I Am Legend Meets Hilarious

Okay picture this your the last man on earth or one of the last few people in America that isn't a zombie. All you do is kill zombies, and every day is a struggle for life while the only enjoyment left is one upping each other with zombie kills. It would be absolutely terrible.

But it is fucking hilarious to watch. And that is ZOMBIELAND!

Woody Harrelson, the zombie killing crazy, Tallahasse steals the show with his epic hilarious zombie kills and possibly even better are his lines before, after and during each zombie kill.

Then of course there is Columbus the typical nerd who rises above all and some how gets the hot girl. Columbus's nerdiness, akward flirting and hilarious fails just add to the overall feel and humout of the movie.

Zombieland does what lots of movies have tried to do and failed. Combine comedy and horror. These movies usually come off taking themseleves too seriously or just feeling incredibly lame. The only real successful one before Zombieland was Shawn of the Dead. Zombieland goes above Shawn of the Dead.

Shawn of the Dead is equivilant to the clown zombie in the Zombieland it gave Columbus a bit of a scare, but he squashed it just like everyother zombie in the movie.

Until you've seen zombieland you will never truely appretiate how enertaining it can be to watch zombies getting killed.

Overall Rating: S-A-B-R-e