Fantastic Mr. Fox is the latest stop-motion animated film to hit the big-screen. Stop-motion seems to be a dying breed in animation, but it's at least cool that notable film teams, like Henry Selick and Aardman Animations, are keeping the art-form alive. This time, with Fantastic Mr. Fox, we have Wes Anderson joining the party. Wes Anderson is probably most known for his 1998 release of Rushmore, but today he has ditched live-action for a charming and witty film based off of a children's book.
Fantastic is in the name, and fantastic is right - Fantastic Mr. Fox is fantastic (Ok, that was cheesy...). It really was.
In fact, this is probably one of the most intriguing stop-motion films I've ever seen. It's kinda funny, because with some of the biggest studios out there that follow this medium, they try to make these films as realistic as possible; but this film, it recognizes its limited resources, and takes advantage of it. As a result, Fantastic Mr. Fox has been turned into one of the most unique looking films out there. A lot of people can look at the animation quality for this film and call it poor compared to other animated films, but I think it only adds to the charm and humor.
Humor is right. I thought this movie was funny. I was smiling just about the whole way through, and bursted out laughing countless times. The film just knows it's stupid, but in a good way. It takes stupidity and makes fun with it. The story itself is enough to tell just how stupid this film is. A story about a fox who can't get over his favorite pastime (Stealing), moves into a new home with his family, but soon crosses trails with a group of some of the meanest farmers that then turns everything into a hide film as these farmers do whatever it takes to take down these critters... And they really do pretty much anything over capturing a fox. It was just so hilarious and stupid, and so fantastic. There really wasn't anything not to like.
In conclusion, Fantastic Mr. Fox is an animated film that deserves attention. It's not just a film for kids, because there's also tons of cussing in this film... So adults should love it, too. I give this film two thumbs up (Click spoiler below) and a 9/10.
Paranormal Activity is a film written and directed by Oren Peli. This film was first ever showed to an audience in 2007 at a film festival. Since then, Paranormal Activity has been popping up here and there at various film festivals and getting word of mouth by people who have seen it. Here it is now, 2009, and Paranormal Activity has been officially released to a very limited amount of theaters. This Indie film has had a long journey, but now it's finally released. For most people, there probably isn't a theater around them in America that shows this film - but no worries, it is now official that October 16th is the big day for this film and it will be released nationwide. If you're unlucky enough to have it not released at a theater near you, hopefully you can wait for another week.
So anyways, about that film... It's being described as one of the scariest movies ever by a lot of people, but I would not say it's the scariest film I've ever seen, but it was definitely creepy and got me nervous many times. I've seen a lot of messed up things in life, so it's not easy to scare me anymore; but to make me nervous and cringe at the edge of my seat, then the film has done the job right.
I certainly understand why this film is so scary for many people. It's just so realistic, and it's hard to believe that I just paid to watch people act the whole time. It didn't feel like acting at all, it felt just like what the film intended it to be: with a couple under the suspicion of strange activities going on around their house at night and one day felt like filming around their house to see if they could pick up any disturbances. The film was so realistic, that when the movie finished, a guy across the theater asked: "So wait, was this real, or not?" -- That might have been a stupid question to ask, but I think that question alone just shows that this film is about as realistic as it gets and doesn't fall under the typical cliches that we're used to seeing. We don't need constant blood and guts and shock value with CGI monsters to creep us out. Those gimmicks just get boring after a while. It's a good thing that Paranormal Activity didn't go for any of that. Paranormal Activity really focused on the quiet moments of horror. I think it's the quiet moments that effect people the most. Humans are not meant to relate real life with things popping up constantly in your face - we much better relate with the quiet things and the sense of wonder of what could possibly be the meanings of certain things. I think that's where this film is most effective and is able to really disturb a lot of people.
Overall, Paranormal Activity, is what I would think, is definitely a film that does something good for the horror genre. It's good to know that the horror genre isn't completely dead. I think most mainstream film studios should seriously take a look at what Paranormal Activity did and try to learn a thing or two about what is really some of the most basic, yet effective horror techniques. 8/10
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs is the latest computer animated film (That is based off of the children's book of the same name) released by Sony Pictures Animation.
Computer Animation has become a very profitable medium over the years. We see so many of these films nowadays, that one can't just make a computer animated film anymore and expect people to like it. As this medium of animation continues to grow, so are the people - and audiences will no longer accept cheap gimmicks seen rehashed over a hundred times. As for Sony Pictures Animation, they learned it the hard way when they decided to hop aboard the CGI-Train with Pixar and Dreamworks. Their first film, Open Season, was a failure. It lacked a valued story, original characters, and ultimately the heart of what makes a computer animated film good. Since then, they've made other efforts, such as Surf's Up. moving on from there, Sony really had to change their game plan a bit if they really wanted to capture the hearts of audiences and be truly respected like other computer animation companies... So here we have today: Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.
Did Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs deliver, or did it hit low standards like Open Season? -- I think it surely delivered the goods. This is one of those rare films that will really come out of left-field for a lot of people. It's such an unexpectedly awesome movie for me.
It really was just surprising for me when I saw just how good it was... And previously I thought it looked stupid based off of the trailer.
Well, this movie certainly is stupid -- but in a good way. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs is a very silly name for a movie (And book), so you gotta expect that it is a very silly movie with a silly premise... It really is, silly at its core. In a way, it felt like a really fun Saturday morning cartoon (One of the good ones, like Looney Tunes or Mickey Mouse). But don't let that intimidate some of you who don't like such nonsense... This film also had a lot of heart and a story that was entertaining all the way through.
The film is very funny - quite possibly the funniest film I've seen all year... I just kept laughing all the way through.
In the end, I think Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs will be one of those unexpected gems for a lot of people. Don't come into the theater expecting a very serious film; because if you do, then you will see the film wrong. If you come into the theater just wanting a fun and lighthearted film with lots of smart humor, feast your appetite on Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs is quite possibly one of the best non-Pixar computer animated films I've ever seen (And that says a lot for those who know how pro-Pixar I am). 9/10
