City: Humboldt County
State: CALIFORNIA
Country: US
Signup Date: 8/11/2006
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Saturday, August 12, 2006
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originally printed 12.30.04 in the Eureka, California newspaper The Times-Standard.
Finding Neverland
Durant: I was pleasantly surprised when I walked out of this movie. I thought going in that it would drag, and the turn of the century England setting would get old, no pun intended, fast. The drag was minimal and the setting didn't matter. I don't think it would have been the same if Johnny Depp wasn't the lead. He was perfect. The story had recognizable references to parts of Peter Pan throughout, like when the widow Sylvia Davies (Kate Winslet) says her husband would have never allowed a dog in the house and he would have tied it up in the yard. The fantasy scenes are great and used just enough. The movie deals with a lot of tragedy, but ultimately ends well. It's also neat to know the back story of one of the world's most famous children's tales, but I think Hollywood has beaten this Peter Pan horse to death. It's better than a large, but not quite an extra large.
Rating: L/Tall
Faulk: "Monster's Ball" was a great movie, and here again Forster has managed to put all the right pieces together to make a beautiful film. Finding Neverland is a love story that's not about romantic love. Imagination becomes redemption, almost as if William Blake were behind the screen writing instead of David Magee. Through imagination, viewers learn, you can stake a claim to what's magical about childhood and fight off insulation, bitterness and grief. Johnny Depp is an inspired choice for leading man as James Barrie, the playwright behind "Peter Pan." Kate Winslet offsets his performance perfectly as the mother of the four boys who become the Lost Boys of Neverland. All told, the movie moved gracefully between reality and fantasy and left this viewer with a deep urge to hug my kids and extend our play time. The kudos would continue but for lack of space.
Rating: XL
Meet the Fockers
Durant: I'm sorry. I didn't actually get to see this by deadline, you know, with the holidays and all, but I heard it didnt live up to the potential that a movie with Robert DeNiro, Dustin Hoffman, Barbara Streisand and Ben Stiller should have. I will eventually see it, but from what I've heard I think I'll wait for the DVD.
Rating: N/A
Faulk: Less than the original, but still good. "Meet the Parents" was fresh and had an immediate energy to it that Fockers misses. The sequel lurches to a start - struggling for a reason to justify itself - but by the end of the first 30 minutes, the classic jokes are flowing like blue toilet water. Ben Stiller is always funny as Gaylord Focker, and Dustin Hoffman and Barbara Streisand make a convincing pair of sexually enlightened parents. As an aside, I better make it clear that I believe Streisand to be one of the most over-rated stars of the 20th century. That being said, she did well in this movie. Robert DeNiro was good, but his character began to bore me about 10 minutes in. The movie's biggest liability was its biggest joke - the name Focker. How much mileage can a marginal and contrived pun be expected to handle?
Rating: L
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
Durant: This is the first Wes Anderson movie not co-written by Owen Wilson, and you can tell. Not in a bad way, or a good way, it's just different. I got the feeling it was a play that spilled over into a film, or a play with special effects. Everything in the movie was over the top - most animals shown are made up and computer generated, the Team Zissou uniforms look like leisure suits and squeezing about 15 people in a very small submarine. But it works. It's funny, sad and theres more action than any other Wes Anderson film. The soundtrack, as with other Anderson films, has just as big as a role as the lead actors. The songs are almost entirely old David Bowie stuff, either sung by Bowie or the Brazilian actor Seu Jorge, who plays Pele dos Santos and covers all the songs acoustically in Portuguese. A nice surprise is Willem Dafoe's character Klaus Daimler. He doesnt have that many lines, but something about his interaction with both Steve Zissou (Bill Murray) and Ned Plimpton (Owen Wilson) is great. It's an XL now, but once I've seen it a few more times when its released on DVD, I have the feeling that will climb. But for now...
Rating: XL
Faulk: Original movie-making is hard to find in commercial outlets these days, and Wes Anderson has hewn a bit of one-of-a-kind magic out of a pile of celluloid with "The Life Aquatic." The movie features Anderson's increasingly well-known stylistic flourishes and quirky humor, and takes it to another level. His use of color - particularly blue and yellow - dazzles viewers and adds a strange emotional tension. What may have been sacrificed for style is depth of character, but to paraphrase the famous creative writing teacher John Gardner, all things are allowable in comedy - as long as it's funny. And this a comedy. Make no mistake. His other films added enough complications of character to move into other genres, but this movie - I believe - was meant only to be funny and to showcase Anderson's peculiar vision. It succeeded and is one of the most exciting new films Ive seen. Bill Murray is brilliant as Steve Zissou, and Owen Wilson does almost as well as Ned Plimpton.
Rating: XXL
Fat Albert
Durant: It could have been so much better. Being a huge "Fat Albert" fan maybe my expectations were too high, but the story seemed to be pieced together at the last minute. And it was the little things - like Rudy, who is rude and spoiled and a big jerk in the cartoon, but was one of the nicest guys in the movie, and the way they used, "Like school on Saturday - no class" line in the wrong context. What saved the movie for me, at least a little, was the end sequence where Bill Cosby is at the gravesite of Albert Robertson, the real Fat Albert, and with him are all of real guys who inspired the Cosby Kids. That was nice to see, but the movie pretty much sucked for me. The 6- and 9-year-old I went with laughed the whole time and said they loved it. It is a kids movie but I think the wisdom of "Fat Albert" should be limited to a half hour cartoon, the way I remember it.
Rating: M
Faulk: It's easy to take cheap shots at movies. I hope to avoid doing that while at the same time making it clear what a terrible movie I thought this was. From the get-go, even the trademark, "hey hey hey," sounded silly and forced. I'm reluctant to say that Fat Albert's time has come and gone, but maybe it has. It was a good cartoon in its day, but somehow didnt make the leap to film. The actors lacked chemistry and in an age where kids have more sophisticated movie fare like "Harry Potter" and "Lemony Snicket" they don't need to be spoon fed mediocrity. I had hope when I saw Bill Cosby wrote the screenplay, but he failed to meet his usual standards of brilliance. The only redeeming aspect of the film was at the end when the people on whom Cosby based the original cartoon characters gathered around the grave of the man who was the model for Big Al. "Fat Albert" was thin on quality. All that being said, my 5-year-old son Gabriel gave it an eager thumbs up. Maybe I've just become jaded in my old age.
Rating: Small
DVDs
Napoleon Dynamite
Durant: It's rare that a movie lives up to all the hype, and even more rare when it surpasses it. This movie did. Seeing all the merchandise in Hot Topic and catch phrase bumper stickers, I had no idea what to expect. It was a flippin' sweet movie. The extras have some cut scenes that show a little bit more about why Pedro had to cut his hair and how Napoleon gets his suit. If you don't like quirky comedies than stay away from this one.
Rating: XXL
Faulk: A great movie that's appropriate for everyone in the family. While it could certainly be argued the film tried too hard to be something fresh and new, what else is there to strive for in an industry so clogged with crap? The movie-making tandem of Jared and Jerusha Hess may give the Coen Brothers a run for their money. Best of all, they did it with a slew of unrecognizable actors and a small budget. Independent filmmakers, take heart!
Rating: XL
Return of the King: Special Extended Version
Durant: Well it's a lot more comfortable watching this movie from your couch than being in a movie theater seat for three hours, and you'd better get comfortable because there's another hour of footage added to the special edition DVD. The added scenes are a mix of obvious new scenes, like a drinking contest between Legolas the elf and Gimli the dwarf, and ones that make you debate with others whether it was in the theatrical version, like the avalanche of skulls in the mountain. Even if you've seen the movie before, it still brings the viewer into it emotionally and now, in the comfort of your home, you can yell at Frodo to "Just toss the damn ring into the lava already!"
The special features are overwhelming if you try to watch them in any order, but they're great if you pick one out for a quick Lord of the Rings fix when you're not in the mood to watch the entire film.
At the end of it all you feel exhausted, like you just went on this journey with these men, elves, dwarves, wizards and hobbits.
Rating: XL
Faulk: The extended edition is made for the true Tolkien fan, which I am. It allowed for the gradual unfolding of plot and character. Perhaps most noticeably was the extra footage when Aragorn went to claim the army of the dead to use against the gathered forces of Sauron at Minas Tirith. While four hours would certainly be too much for a move theater experience, it proves delightful at home when you can hit pause and walk away for a quick diaper change or beer refresher.
For the real fans, the special features offer unique insights. Overall, the package is worth the price tag.
Rating: XXL
7:00 AM
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