Fantastic Mr. Fox

This weekend I found myself in the wonderful world of New York City. Craig and I went on an adventure around the city and ended up at the theater. We were planning on seeing Men Who Stare At Goats but we found out that Fantastic Mr. Fox opened that night. Without hesitation we got tickets and were so excited to watch this film so early.

All I can say is...this movie was...FANTASTIC. I was laughing throughout the entire film. The animation was brilliant. It was a true Wes Anderson film. I fell in love with the characters because I felt their laughter, their excitement, their sorrows, and their adventures. I wanted to watch it again after it was over.

The facial expressions were amazing, the soundtrack was beautiful, and the voice actors did a fantastic job (George Clooney, "the great" Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Wally Wolodarsky, Michael Gambon, Eric Anderson, and Willem Dafoe).

It opens up Thanksgiving. This film deserves to be watched. It also deserves to be nominated for an Academy Award. I have a feeling that this years race for Best Animated Film is going to be amazing (Up, Christmas Carol, Coraline,...so many more).

I wish I had time to write a longer review but it is 3:28am and I need to sleep. I will re-post this weekend.

Righteous Kill

I finally got to watch Righteous Kill. A ground-breaking movie that basically caught the attention of De Niro and Pacino fans because, well, it contains both of them. Yes for a rare moment, both actors starred in the same movie. We had this before if you recall The Godfather Part II, where De Niro plays the younger Vito Corleone, but he never appears in the same scenes as Pacino (who plays the adult role of Michael Corleone in the "present" of the film.) In Heat, a crime thriller, they're both the stars, but are rarely acting in the same scene again.

Now in Righteous Kill, they're together throughout most of the film. I got to say guys, this movie was NOT as good as it should have been. I don't know if it was poor writing, sketchy plot, or just acted in a poor manner, but the movie did not deliver for me.

Al Pacino, the whole time I watched him, I felt like he just didn't care. I felt like he wasn't acting, and he was kinda on a coffee break when motioning through his lines. There wasn't the passion we saw him display in the Godfather, and he didn't even overact as he did in Scarface. In this movie, he just simply, shrugged and said, well we're going to get our money back on this movie for being in it.

De Niro is average, but I don't think the script allowed him to be more than that. De Niro didn't portray someone new to me.

The plot...ehh..it tried to be playful and tricky, but it kinda left a lot of open questions. It wasn't genuine. This movie might have worked much better 20 years ago. It's just too much for it's own good. De Niro and Pacino are old...give them something to portray in that perspective.

"Where The Wild Things Are" Illustration Wildness

A group of students guided by our dear CCAD Film Society, decided to work on a set of poster illustrations for the movie "Where The Wild Things Are". Weekly we will show what they came up with. This week we start with my great friend Graham Erwin. The posters are for sale now for 5 dollars 11X17.