An incredibly brief review of Where the Wild Things Are

Now this was an interesting little film. As hard as I try to not compare it to its ten sentence counterpart, I feel I must do so to dissuade people who are looking for a direct adaptation. For those wondering, it is not like the book. In any way. Yes, it's main characters name is Max, and he imagines a dazzling world inhabited by beasts, but that is as far as the roots from the book run. The film takes many liberties, and offers a grittier, more angsty, and generally a more disturbing version of the story. As crazy as it may seem, Where the Wild Things Are was not intended for children.

Now that I have that out of the way, let us discuss the story, or lackthereof. The original children's book contained approximately ten sentences of story, and sadly its film doppleganger follows suit. Although the themes and metaphors run as rampant as the beasts themselves, this film lacks the storyline that could have turned it into a classic. It is a character motivated script that attempts to connect the beastly characters to Max's human life, and although this was interesting to explore, it just couldn't keep my mind on the island for more than half an hour. At an hour into the movie, I glanced at my watch and wondered when the climax would happen. It never did. That's right, we are looking at a film with no climax. Not only does it have no climax, but the gloomy and clinically depressed beasts only drag the film down further.

It wasn't all bad though. Through the suicidal beasts, the repetitive dialogue, and the long stretches where nothing happens, there were incredible moments of absolute beauty. The film is gorgeously photographed, and the location was just absolutely breathtaking. About seventy-five percent of the time, I was soley focused on the beauty of the landscape. That is not necessarily a good thing. The only other really interesting part was near the end when you realize who the different beasts represent in Max's life. This is actually truly fascinating and incredibly well done.

I have cut this particular review short because I intend to see the film again before giving it a proper grade. I think that much like The Village and Jarhead it was marketed terribly and showcased a film that nobody was expecting. I don't expect for it to get a much higher grade than it has now, but I must say that my dissapointment in the expected style and the actual style affected my view of it tremendously.

C+

Paranormal Activity

So here is the scary movie of the year that everyone seems to be talking about. Paranormal Activity follows the tale of two new home-owners, who are beginning to expect that their new home is haunted by some kind of spirit. In order to prove the haunting, the boyfriend, Micah, decides to buy a videocamera, and record what "may or may not be occurring". What he recorded will haunt my dreams for years to come.

So far this film has been recieving mixed buzz, and I believe I know where the disconnect comes from. This film doesn't rely on loud sharp noises, or sudden "scare" tactics that many scary movies these days employ. It does have a few, but it doesn't handicap the story in the process as many films do. The film looks to enhance your already present fears. That is, if you do not believe in ghosts and demons, you will not be scared by this film. You will think it is stupid, because much of the film relies on the fact that human beings are terrified of paranormal specters. If you do believe in ghosts however, you will be chilled down to your bones, and Paranormal Activity will not just stay in the theaters. It will haunt your dreams. Paranormal Activity affected me more than any scary movie I have seen in my life.

Paranormal Activity does a fantastic job of sucking you into its world and not letting you go. I felt myself falling into the story, and forging deep connections with the characters. They didn't have top-of-the-line dialogue of course, but what they did have was very real, and the film did a very good job of keeping that reality. It couldn't convince me that it did happen (the way the film is split, and certain bits where the camera "remained filming" were too cinematic for something of this nature), but the film-makers managed to convince me that it could happen, and that if I talked about it, it would happen. When I say that this movie affected me, I mean that I slept in the living room for two nights afterwards because I kept "feeling" something at the foot of my bed.

As for the film itself, it was very well put together. It was formatted in a way that allowed for it to be a spectacle, which was a fantastic idea. Everytime it moved to another night and showed the two laying in bed, the film allowed the tension to build to monumental heights before the big "reveal" of ghostly activity. That is what is terrifying about this movie. It is so based in reality that every single out of the ordinary move stood out more, and forced us to face the "reality" of these demons. It didn't make us believe that ghosts haunt the protagonists, but rather that the demons are standing at the foot of your bed every night.

As for the ending, I believe it was handled better in the original cut of the film. I won't spoil it for you, but the studio that agreed to market Paranormal Activity only agreed to buy the filmunder the circumstance that they re-film certain sequences to appeal to the mass audience. A more realistic and more fitting ending ended up on the cutting room floor in favor of an ending the typical "Hollywood Last Scare!" This didn't appeal to me, and I found that the theatrical ending only ruined what the film-maker had set up. He wanted us to go home feeling like it could happen to us because it happened to Katie and Micah, but the ending was a sharp and jolted reminder of "oh yeah, I was watching a movie. Thank God it was only a movie."

In the end, the movie used its limited resources to fantastic effect, and studio film-makers could learn that you don't need screeching violins and buckets of gore to horrify an audience. The Haunting needed to try so hard to be "scary" because of its subject matter of "this is the most haunted house ever". It ended up just trying too hard and looking foolish. Paranormal Activity had a door moving three inches left and right and a sentient Oijua board, but because the tension was present, and because it was happening to real people in a real location, it was a million times scarier than Jason and Freddy put together.

A