Just relax and let your mind go blank.

Avatar
2009

Dir: James Cameron (If you don't know this you are either clinically dead or do not watch movies)

A paraplegic marine dispatched to the planet Pandora on a unique mission becomes torn between following his orders and protecting the world he feels is his home. (imdb)

Okay so this is going to be one short and sweet Avatar review. By now the internet is flooded with reviews, mostly positive, for this "landmark" film. Landmark in that in twenty, forty, one hundred years time people will look back and say, see this film, this is where it all started - in terms of CGI that is, and definitely not in terms of strong (or original for that matter) screenwriting. I say the story isn't original, but then these days what is? What is great about Avatar is that it takes a largely unoriginal idea and makes it its own, through the world Cameron creates we are aware that this is a Pocahontas-esque story but with a modern/futuristic spin and the detail put into the world of Pandora more than makes up for the shortcomings of largely underdeveloped characters. I agree that this film is landmark, it's one of those films you should see just to say, yeah I saw that when it came out in the cinema (I imagine this conversation will take place with a great grandchild on the knee for some reason) - and in my humble opinion I deem Avatar this generation's Snow White. From Snow White - the first full length colour animated feature - we have all grown up with Disney as a part of our lives, and have seen animation develop, but that's where we can trace it back to. Similarly, if this technology Cameron executed so well in Avatar is to become the way of the future, we can trace it all back to here.

Avatar is not the best film of 2009, but it is up there as one of the most entertaining. Sure it is riddled with cliches, stereotypical characters (just kill Colonel Miles already!!) and some blush-worthy moments (I don't care how realistic the Na'vi people look, the love scene just doesn't work for me) but you soon forgive these elements when the film as a whole literally can take your breath away. The action scenes are every Sci-fi/thriller/action-adventure film lover's wet dream - they are remarkable. Overall a great Hollywood Blockbuster and lots of fun.

Could have done without: Monotone narration.
Jess' Guarantee of: a numb bum by the end (162 minute run time!)
Will make you want to: Run right out and try and hitch a ride on a giant bird.

3.5 / 5

"Nowadays you can go anywhere in the world in a few hours, and nothing is fabulous any more."

Part One - Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Danny the Champion of the World and The BFG.


Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox is on Australia's cinematic doorstep so I thought I'd take a few moments to revisit some of the other film adaptations of classic Roald Dahl stories, and look at a few that sit in the neglected pile.


The best place we can start when discussing Dahl adaptations is with 1971's Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory staring the delightful Gene Wilder as the man himself, Willy Wonka. Growing up this film was shown on TV a lot, it pained my mother to let us watch it but we soaked every minute of the delicious story up. It was only upon watching it later, when I could actually pick up on some of darker tones and references - such as the image of the chicken's head being cut off that flashes briefly on screen - that I grew to love this film even more. Here we have a children's story that entertains, who wouldn't want an all access pass to a chocolate factory?, and comes with a message without shoving it down your throat. Wilder's performance is spot on in portraying the slightly deranged, unstable chocolatier and each of the children's performances have become iconic in their own right. As far as adaptations go, and perhaps largely because Dahl wrote the screenplay, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is a true classic.

So of course the next logical step is to look at the more recent adaptation of this story, which kept true to the name of the book, Tim Burton's 2005 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory staring Johnny Depp as Mr Willy Wonka and a plastic clad Deep Roy as every single Oompa Loompa (cue mistake number one). I know a lot of people who enjoyed this version, and upon seeing it in the cinema I have to admit I didn't hate it, it was passable. But on my second viewing, on DVD, it struck me how apart from occasional entertaining moments from Depp, and the irrefutable design and look of the film, there wasn't a whole lot left for me to love. The final nail in the coffin was the back story of Wonka's dentist father, an entire sequence which I could have easily done without. I would never choose to watch this version over the 1971 film and doubt I could sit through it in its entirety again.

Next we come to Danny the Champion of the World, and confession time - I can't recall reading this book or seeing the 1989 TV movie staring Jeremy Irons. I merely mention it as it seems to be amongst Dahl's better known works and with the new Fantastic Mr Fox perhaps we are in for a remake of this story too.

And now to a personal favourite, 1989's animated adaptation of The BFG (The Big Friendly Giant). With no notable voice actors and some now considered dated animation many people seem to either love or hate this film. It really is one of Dahl's best books, not only is the story an absolute cracker - Orphan Sophie is taken by the BFG one night when she witnesses him blowing good dreams into the bedrooms of children, and alternatively takes nightmares and bottles them. Apparently this story grew from a smaller story told in Danny the Champion of the World. What I love about this film is how trippy it is at times, it seems to sit nicely along the first film adaptation of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in bordering on creepy. The opening titles and music alone are a perfect example, and the character of the BFG is the stuff of nightmares until we get to know him. An under appreciated gem in my books.





Part Two will cover The Witches, Matilda, James and the Giant Peach and upcoming films The Twits and The Witches remake.

Part Three will cover the unmade film versions of the books The Magic Finger, George's Marvellous Medicine, Esio Trot and The Enormous Crocodile.

It ought to come like leaves to a tree

Bright Star
2009

Dir: Jane Campion


The drama based on the three-year romance between 19th century poet John Keats and Fanny Brawne, which was cut short by Keats' untimely death at age 25. (imdb)

If Twilight and Edward Cullen give teenage girls unachievable expectations of boys, then Bright Star is quite possibly the equivalent for the more mature movie going audience. By the end credits I wanted daily devotionals of poems and letters, the ability to feel my love's presence on the other side of a wall and, well... I'll happily not take the unfortunate ending Keats and Brawne have.

First off, the film is beautiful, visually stunning one moment and bleak the next, we are instantly transported to this period and to these characters' lives. The costumes, particularly Brawne's, are exquisite, and the set design minimalistic yet entirely appropriate. Everything about the look of this film is inviting and entirely lovable for a period film geek, such as myself.

The story itself is entirely new to me, I had no previous knowledge of Keats beyond a few poems read in high school English. After seeing the film I did a quick internet search and it seems the plot is based in some truth. Regardless of whether this film looked at a fictional poet or was indeed based on the poet Keats, the story told is a classic tale of impossible love in an era when societal standing and wealth meant everything. Keats and Brawne have an undeniable bond (conveyed brilliantly on screen by Abbie Cornish and Ben Whishaw), but his low standing and lack of income mean they cannot marry. So they must at first love from afar, and this is where such a love story stands out to me. In a time where there really is no moral compass in films as far as showing love without the physical aspects, Bright Star comes along to show, or perhaps just remind us, that love is more than sex, and we can have an incredibly satisfying and rewarding love story on screen without having to jump to the bedroom.

What made this film excel just that little bit more, were the splashes of humour throughout, provided largely by Charles Brown (Paul Schneider) and in the dialogue between Brown and Brawne. Common in many Austen adaptations, the use of humour in a period film can make the unfamiliar setting somewhat more accesible and enjoyable to today's movie going public and works effectively here to break up the large chunks of swooning and brooding.

Call me a sap, a hopeless romantic or even a lost cause, Bright Star is 2009's most romantic film.

4.5 / 5

Will you keep out all the sadness?

Where the Wild Things Are
2009

Dir: Spike Jonze

An adaptation of Maurice Sendak's classic children's story, where Max, a disobedient little boy sent to bed without his supper, creates his own world--a forest inhabited by ferocious wild creatures that crown Max as their ruler. (imdb)

Okay so first off the film adaptation of the beloved (a word that has become a cliche when discussing this story) picture book is a little different to that skeletal plot outline above. Of course the filmmakers would have to add some stuffing to the story, fluff it up a little bit with a backstory rather than just Max was a brat, was sent to bed without supper, used his imagination, adventure, back to reality, the end.

In Jonze's long awaited film Max is a lonely child with a, I would guess, recently divorced mother and a sister who doesn't have much time for her little brother anymore (we can tell this from her talking on the phone, as all teenage girls in movies do, boys turning up at the house and finally seeing her get in a car full of teenagers and drive off). Max spends his days building forts and igloos, and making up stories about vampires that lose their teeth and are excommunicated from the vampire clan. Every portion of the opening scenes in the film show us that either what he does or what he imagines and talks about is lonliness and more importantly exclusion. I felt the opening part of this film was really well done, and whilst Max's ADD behaviour erred on the side of 'shut the hell up!' and me throwing a boot at the screen (had I even had a boot with me to throw) it set the story up well despite falling back on some safe executions.

There's no denying that when we as an audience follow Max to where the wild things are (i.e. the island) the film's energy really picks up. Firstly it's filmed beautifully, the Australian landscape really shines on the screen, from the bushland, to the dessert and lastly the sea it really is the perfect backdrop to this story. Secondly, as everyone has discussed, the use of Jim Henson puppets mixed with CGI is extremely effective, and whilst you are aware and slightly taken out of the reality of the story by these men in costumes, it is short lived as their delightful (although moody) personalities come through the fake fur and computer animation so well.

What is largely a morose story is peppered throughout with laugh out loud humour, such as when Douglas loses an arm and replaces it with a stick. If it weren't for these moments of relief and a shift in tone I doubt this film would have been as enjoyable as it was. Yes the serious tone and the serious issues it deals with are well executed, brilliantly in fact, but it did need those moments of childhood innocence to remind us it's not all doom and gloom.

At one point in the film I found myself wondering why I was getting upset over a bunch of puppets on a screen, especially as Carol lashes out at Max saying 'You were supposed to protect us' or as he was running to try and see Max before he sailed back home, my inner child cried out from within and my adult self told it to stop being so silly. I guess in a way that's one of the points this film makes; as a child you think being an adult is so easy, you don't understand why it is our parents let us down, disappoint or hurt us by leaving, as adults we may still not understand this but in a way we've learnt to deal with these emotions, maybe even bury them deep inside. And what happens when you bury something deep inside? Eventually it's going to build up, explode - as Max does, all of your 'wild' emotions and feelings let loose once again.

There are several ways to intepret or view this story but for me the core of it was the anger, the lonliness and depression that having a loved one leave can cause, there are wild things in all of us if we just take the time to find them. Not a perfect film but a really special one.

3.5 / 5

Sock Time

The French Kissers
(Les beaux gosses)
2009

Dir: Riad Sattouf

A coming-of-age tale about an adolescent boy and his efforts to fit in amongst a varied cast of characters. (imdb)

I've heard/read mixed reviews of this film, some claiming the awkwardness and unlikeability of the teenage characters put them off. For me those elements had quite the opposite effect. The French Kissers is a delightfully awkward yet lovable comedy in a different vein to what we're fed most of the time. Upon trying to describe it to someone I made the mistake of grasping at 'It's like American Pie, but a French version.' Oh dear me, American Pie wishes it had half the understated sophistication this film does; the characters are far from it, but the journey we are taken on is paced well, with plenty of humour and a dash of heart to boot.

There's a strange sort of 80s feel to this film at times, it doesn't have that boxed time period aspect that the majority of American films do, apart from a reference to 50 Cent. More importantly there's more going on here than the simple boy wants to kiss a girl/ get laid. In the background we have Herve's hilarious mother and her side story of wanting to find a man, whilst lovingly annoying her son. Mixed with school scenes, one of my favourites being in the gym and involving a dislocated arm, there are laughs to be had, but not of the cheap 'screwing a pie' variety.

The film ends in a somewhat unpredictable (in reality) way, and even feels a bit off compared to the rest of the film. It wasn't a perfect ending, but our characters are beginning to grow out of their awkward phases and it's actually okay that everything seems to have worked out in the end. An incredibly enjoyable film, one of the funniest I have seen this year without a doubt.

4 / 5