what's tasty and new in show business. [beta]
Where the Wild Things Are is Spike Jonze’s ode to childhood. Specifically, it focuses on the confusing, mercurial, and powerful emotions that command us as children when we haven’t been forced or trained or taught to master them yet. In that sense, it is a piercingly honest film, with a reverberant beauty gracing both its visual aesthetics and narrative movements.
Before diving into the film’s potent storytelling successes, I feel a brief mention must be made about its technical achievements. The creatures in WTWTA are beautifully crafted and lushly realized. The visual effects work done to animate their faces is stellar, to say the least. Jonze’s team really brought the monsters to life with a convincing mix of physical size and dynamic expressions. It’s important to note this because since so much of the movie is centered around them — and Max’s usually very physical interactions with them — filling them in with entirely CG characters or failing to allow them to adequately express themselves would have been damning to the film. The movie wouldn’t have worked otherwise. Nailing this one aspect has gone a long way towards allowing the inherent poignancy of the film to shine through.
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Though a bit heavy on the quirk and a bit imbalanced, Sam Mendes’ Away We Go still manages to be a funny, warm, and ultimately rewarding experience. Read»
Take a look at the Revolutionary Road director’s upcoming dramedy, starring John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph. Read»
