Movies
This animated steampunk movie spends a bit too many of its opening minutes justifying its steampunk setting, and the character models (apparently based on the work of cartoonist Jacques Tardi) are just slightly too rounded and New Yorker-ish for me to completely love. But the animation is very nice overall, and, what's more, the plot turns some admirably weird corners toward the end that transform the movie from a middling steampunk trope-fest into something original and very, very odd in its final act. Saying anything specific would spoil the sublime surprise of the movie's destination, and I'll say this much more on the negative: even though April's ostensibly dealing with missing parents, the film doesn't have an emotionally resonant bone in its body. But it's a lot of fun regardless. Grade: B+
As with the books, there's a gap between portent and execution: the world-building isn't quite complex enough to justify its epic scope and indie-realist aesthetic, the names and games aren't quite cool enough to justify the rapt Panem media obsession, the social commentary isn't quite astute enough to justify just how serious and dour everything is. But that doesn't change the fact that the series is still hitting the acting out of the park; say what you will about the effects (I will, and they're sub-par) and the story, but the cast is knocking it out of the park. I'm also still rather taken by the frankness of the "meet the new boss, same as the old boss" cynicism that the ending adapts from Collins's novel. It's not great, and there's nothing at all here that justifies the choice to tell this story over two movies and four hours. But it's competent. Grade: B-
This is, I believe, what people call "cheesy." It's acting certainly isn't winning prizes for anything but honey-baked ham. Ham and cheese is delicious, though, and this movie can be delightful fun and even spooky when it's not lingering too much on its characters (because lordy, they're annoying). The movie's an admirable and often successful experiment at making a movie scary entirely on the basis of camera movement and lighting, and even if "the scariest movie ever made" tag is a bit overblown, I'll go to bat for this kind of horror movie any day. Grade: B+
My familiarity with (and love for) the 1982 remake prior to watching this movie has turned out to be a liability on two counts since 1) Carpenter's The Thing is far superior, and 2) it also has very little in common with this original beyond the Arctic setting and the presence of scientists, dogs, and a malicious space alien. On the rubric of borderline B-movie '50s sci-fi, it's reasonably entertaining, and especially toward the beginning the dialogue is sharp enough that I was willing to believe that Howard Hawks did a little more than just produce. But don't go looking for cool prosthetics or intense paranoia or the alien doing anything more interesting than being just a generically sinister movie monster. Grade: B
I am not a pet person. But this documentary, a hilarious and sad and utterly unshakeable rumination on death and the metaphysical value we ascribe to the significant nonhuman presences in our lives, is one of the first times I've felt like I've come close to understanding pet people. Errol Morris has rarely been better than in his debut, although thankfully he's been frequently just as good in the nearly forty years since. Grade: A
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