Revew: A Christmas Carol (2009)

Runtime: 96 minutes

Starring: Jim Carrey (voice)

My Rating: 3.5 stars.

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What is the most memorable character from the original Christmas Carol? Is it Scrooge? Is the Ghost of Christmas Past? No and no.

It’s Tiny Tim and his “God bless everyone” speech. He’s what tugs at the heart of old Ebenezer Scrooge, and subsequently the audience. We need him. I need him.

Call me old fashioned, but Tiny Tim died in computer animation.

Don’t get me wrong, A Christmas Carol is a strong movie, but 3-D animation – the best use of the technology I’ve seen – doesn’t make the old Charles Dickens tale any better.

Tiny Tim just isn’t as cute, as heart-warming, or as lasting his live-action predecessor. That’s a huge problem that director Robert Zemeckis barely acknowledges.

Instead of working to build the character, Zemeckis neglects Tiny Tim. He’s secondary to Scrooge’s journey instead of the catalyst for his change. Yes, Scrooge changes because of Tiny Tim, but I don’t know why. We don’t see enough of Tiny Tim, and we don’t know enough about why Scrooge suddenly feels so strongly for him.

We did in the original.

Now, I’ve said my piece. The movie on its own is impressive. There’s heart to it and the voice acting of Jim Carrey as almost all the characters is impressive. His talents were not wasted or lost.

They were, however, overshadowed by the apparent need to scare the audience into change, as Scrooge was. I was actually frightened by the ghosts and some of the actions scenes felt too intense for small children, especially with the 3-D animation.

But in the end, it’s hard not to come out of the theater with a smile, feeling like you need to hug someone. It speaks to the power of Dickens’ original story. Technology has caught up to the imagination, but with it some human element was lost.

When it comes Christmas eve this year, I’ll put on Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer first, then I’ll turn to Scrooge (1951) before I go back and watch A Christmas Carol. 3.5 stars.

Here is my list for 10-best movies featuring aliens. I have excluded Star Wars and Star Trek because they are in their own category. Here you go:

10. Signs

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9. Aliens 3

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8. Men in Black

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7. Independence Day

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6. Monsters vs. Aliens

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5. District 9

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4. Close Encounters of the Third Kind

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3. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

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2. Alien

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1. Aliens

The Fourth Kind

Rated: R

Starring: Mila Jovovich

My rating: 2.5 stars.

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With Paranormal Activity and The Fourth Kind in theaters this week at the same time, you have a choice: Ghosts or Aliens.

I'll put it this way for you: Go for the aliens because The Fourth Kind delivers the scares Paranormal Activity promised.

I know The Fourth Kind is getting terrible reviews. Other critics are writing about the bad acting, the no-direction, the mocumentary style doesn't work, etc... Not me. I say this is a decent movie, but not without problems.

The narrative is weak. We start with a story of Dr. Abigail Tyler (Mila Jovovich) and her husband, Will. It starts with a murder, or so we're told. Will is dead. Dr. Tyler, a psychologist, has to find answers.

They live in Nome, Alaska, where there is the highest rate of unsolved disappearances and murders in the country. The FBI has visited the town over 2,000 times. What is going on?

It's an obvious question with a basic answer: Alien abductions, of course.

Well, duh. I didn't buy it, but the film, which alleges it's a reenacted documentary, slowly turned me.

“You can't dispute the video,” Dr. Tyler says. “The evidence doesn't lie.”

Dr. Tyler films all her patients, most of whom describe seeing a white owl outside a window just before they are abducted or something horrible visits them. This horrible thing is even caught on audio tape once, and spoke in an ancient human language. It says “I am God.”

OK, riiiiiight.

The Fourth Kind is relentless at making you believe, despite its shortcomings.

Is it poorly acted? Yes.

Is it silly? Yes.

Is it believable? Maybe.

The biggest problem I have is with the approach by director Olatunde Osunsanmi. It's a documentary of sorts with fill-in-the-blanks scenes. It's as if he tries to connect the dots between on-camera tapes and audio recordings. The issue with that is the only one who would talk to him about any of these events was Dr. Tyler, who is clearly unstable from the moment we see the “real”Dr. Tyler on camera giving an interview with Osunsanmi.

She believes her own tales, but a good journalist will tell you that one always needs a second source. There isn't one present here, which questions the validity of the entire film and project.

So Dr. Tyler believes there's some alien presence in Nome. No one else does. It's even unclear at the end of the film what anyone but Tyler actually believes.

That's a glaring error in making The Fourth Kind a great movie and a great story. That said, it's not a ghost story.

The truth behind the film is that there were 24 disappearances in Nome over the last 40 years. This film is based on a theory that the disappearances were the result of several alien visits. It's hard to trace the truth behind the film's claims of “archival footage” and “actual audio.” Dr. Abigail Tyler does not exist. It's either an alias or a fictitious character.

No one knew about this story before the movie.

No one is talking about its truth.

No one knows much of anything, and the Internet has provided little answers and unfortunately makes the entire film science-fiction. There is no truth to anything you see.

So what do I do now? I have to base it as an original movie. My favorite genre is “drama based on real life.” Well, this, until I discovered it wasn't real, fit into that genre. Now that it's not, I have to say it's not a good movie.

I mean, the acting, especially by Osunsanmi, is horrific. The narrative is weak, twisted, and seems to get lost here and there. It's like when you were a kid and may have told a lie. And then that lie turned into another lie, and another lie, and another lie. By the end of it, you don't even know how one got to the other and which started what. Huh? Some people say that cucumbers taste better pickled.

Where the Wild Things Are

Rated: PG

Starring: Max Records

Runtime: 94 minutes

My Rating: 2 stars.

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I don't think Where the Wild Things Are could have every really succeeded. It's just too memorable and too good of a book.

“Where the Wild Things Are” – the book – is so successful because it lets the reader imagine what he wants. A child's imagination cannot be put on screen.

For one, it's different than any other child. For two, parents who remember the book remember more their memories about it. I did.

So when those images came to life on screen, I didn't connect with them. Neither did any of the adults there. They were mostly bored.

The kids, however, who either hadn't experienced the 10-sentence book or had no inkling of what a Wild Thing is, were delighted. Most were laughing hysterically, especially the child behind me.

Especially the child behind me.

Especially the child behind me.

I was fighting consciousness throughout the final 20 minutes. That's because writer-director Spike Jonze ran out material. He tried to make each sentence nine minutes on film. Instead he made each one six minutes, realized he had 30 minutes to fill and turned a film that was quite good into a soap opera.

He just didn't know how to get to the end. It was a good effort though.

Where the Wild Things Are follows Max (Max Records) as he runs away from home and discovers where the wild things are. It's a movie about the innocence and imagination of youth.

What comes on screen is a pseudo political drama and commentary on tyranny and socialism. Yes, it's there. Go watch it. Kids won't get it. I did, parents did, and it was all very disappointing.

Where the Wild Things Are just doesn't work the way Jonze did it, despite the fantastic-looking characters and original story. He carries it well for an hour, but fumbles it at the end. Unfortunately the result is a movie that started with high energy and ended as an epic all because Jonze couldn't drag a full movie out of the classic children's tale. Two stars.

Please watch the following video before you read this post.

It will not only make your day, but perfectly setup my wonderful column.

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Has it really been two weeks? Oh man, where did that all go?

Perhaps I was run off by a meddling old newspaper reporter.

Perhaps I'm sick of watching movies from the 1950s.

Perhaps hockey season started and football season kept going, and I found myself with little time to do anything other than consume college sports.

All of those things happened since I last spoke to you.

Let's start with the meddling old newspaper reporter. He, who we shall call Bubbledor, claimed to be wanting to help my writing. He said I used the word “heathen” wrong in a sentence when reviewing Apocalypto. He also said “the most advanced primitive civilization” displayed my lack of understanding the English language.

Perhaps, so... Usted, señor, me llevan demasiado literalmente y en serio. Bueno?

I spent the week readin-isin some wordes out of da-dum der book.

I kid. His football team lost in a pathetic display on Sunday, so all is not lost.

And let's talk about this black-and-white nonsense. I watched these movies in the last two weeks: Artists and Models (1955), The Apartment (1960), and The Asphault Jungle (1950). I broke it up with Atlantic City (1980). It's getting unbearable. I even did a count and found there are 153 movies on the list from 1950-59. I'm dead. I'm simply dead.

These films aren't even primitively advanced. Damn it, I'm still not using it correctly. Lo siento, Bubbledor.

Something kind of cool did happen while watching Artists and Models. It was digitally restored and colorized, except, apparently, this one scene. In it, there is a superhero portrait on a wall. It's supposed to be green. The reason I even noticed it was in the background was because it was black and white. I thought that was odd.

Then, the picture popped full of color for a split second, flickered for a few frames, and finally stayed colorized. This was my first instance when restoration “missed a spot,” if you will.

That process is obviously very primitive now, but perhaps advanced for its time. Hey! I think I used both words correctly. Bubbledor will soon e-mail me, I'm sure. That heathen.

The movies themselves were all fine, even if I can't effectively write about them. I especially liked Atlantic City, which showed that Susan Sarandon has aged quite well. Advanced-aged Sarandon looks remarkably like primitive Sarandon. Comments, Bubbledor?

Finally, hockey season started, and my life got increasingly more busy. I was driving to Canton and Syracuse during the week, interviewing players in person, over the phone, writing columns for the St. Lawrence hockey blog and the newspaper. I covered games on Friday nights and Saturday afternoons. Movies were quickly becoming a back-burner issue.

But don't worry, I'm alive and well, albeit bored with some of the old, old movies (Yes, as a 20-something, I think 1950s cinema is old, old. Sorry, Dad.).

I'll post the brief reviews and my movie list sometime Monday afternoon. For now, it's time to look over my hockey and football notes, call a player and try not to make any more egregious errors like calling the Mayans an advanced primitive civilization. You happy now, Bubbledor?

Zombieland

Rated: R

Runtime: 80 minutes

Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harelson, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin

My rating: 4 stars

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Zombieland is a movie-fan’s movie. It’s not going to the an all-time classic, nor will we be looking back on it in 20 years, saying this was the funniest film of this decade, but it is better than Shawn of the Dead and I argue funnier than The Hangover.

Yeah, I said it.

Zombieland is about a kid from Columbus, OH, who is also named Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg). Columbus is surviving in a post-apocalyptic world ridden with zombies. When we meet him, he knows not of another uninfected human. He survives on intelligence and a strict set of rules, which include “beware of bathrooms,” “maintain cardio” and my favorite “double tap.”

He mocks the clichés of the zombie-horror genre throughout, saying things like “You know when you think you’ve killed a zombie and you’re looking at it to see if it’s dead. Just pull the trigger again. It’s almost never dead.”

He is trying to find his way back to Columbus to see if his family is still alive. Along the road he meets Tallahassee (Woody Harelson). The pair team to kill zombies and get Columbus back home. Along the road they meet Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin).

The two girls swindle and trick the boys. Typical women. But since there are only two other known humans alive to the girls, they decide to travel with the boys.

The ensuing road trip – at first to Hollywood – is filled with hilarious kills, gaffes, and laughs, especially when they get to the hallowed gates of BM’s house. Tallahassee loves BM.

I liken this to Scream for its knowledge of genre history and its entertainment value for those who don’t.

It’s fun for everyone, but those who catch and understand the endless references (“I’m not very good at leaving. So… ‘That’ll do, pig’”) are rewarded. I found myself laughing when no one else was.

Start-to-finish, this is the funniest film of the year. It’s not in-your-face funny, like The Hangover, it’s subtle humor about girls, coming-of-age, regrets and, of course, zombies. Four stars.

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Where it's playing:

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Death by 1,000 Films

Did you get the memo?

One sticking movie. Uno. That's all I got to watch this week. And I almost watched it last week.

It was Mel Gibson's Mayan epic Apocalypto, and it was slow.

I originally went into this week hoping to finish off the “A” section of the list. Instead, I'm staring at six more films before I go on to the “B”s.

So why did this happen? I was on such a torrid pace, watching at least one movie every day.

The reason is because of St. Lawrence hockey and Syracuse football converging this week. I cover both teams, and preparing for SLU's season and covering Syracuse's first Big East football game made my days very long, very busy, and when I got home at 1 a.m. a movie wasn't really my first priority.

This week should be a little bit tamer. Today I'm headed to the movie theater, but tomorrow is a normal work day for me, so I will watch at lest one of the films on the list, probably two. I have Wednesday off (first day off in over one week), so I will knock off a few more that day.

It is a shortened column because, well, I have nothing to say. Apocalypto laughed at Mayan history. It turned the most advanced primitive civilization into just a bunch of heathens. It was wonderfully filmed, but historically inaccurate. It's also entirely in the Mayan language.

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THE MOVIES

Apocalypto. Rated: R. Year: 2006. My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars. A brief thought: It's good enough for a watch, but not highly recommended. It's on the list because it showed how good a director Mel Gibson can be.

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My Movie List.

I'll have my review of Zombieland later today. Four star movie.

Be sure to come back at noon for the latest column in my "Death By 1,000 Films" series.

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Name That Movie

If you know the movie's title, e-mail me at dcassavaugh@wdt.net. Check back tomorrow for the answer.

Top-10 Thursday: Indie Comedies You Don't Know About

Enjoy these. I laughed very hard during all of these.

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10. The Foot Fist Way

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9. Cashback

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8. I am a Sex Addict - The trailer is too dirty for me to post. If you search Youtube for "I am a sex addict trailer" you will find it.

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7. Pieces of April - This was the only trailer available online to embed. The sound is horrible. I apologize. It's a great movie.

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6. Henry Poole is Here - More sweet than haha funny.

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5. One Last Thing

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4. Easy

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3. King of California

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2. Squid and the Whale

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1. American Splendor

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Do you have any additions or personal favorites that didn't make my list? Add them in the comments below!

The answer to Monday's Name that Movie is It Happened One Night.

Connie Holberg, Lance and Cheryl Evans, Jude Seymour and Nancy Madsen answered correctly.

One-minute review: An original romantic comedy, this Best Picture winner is entertaining, funny and romantic. Even though it's nearly 80 years old, it still holds up well over time.

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