Where the Wild Things are

In short...biggest disappointment ever. Or of the year at the very least. Let me get this clear: I liked it, but I didn't like it as much as I wanted to. I think my problem was with character development. Even ten minutes in, I realized how hard it was for me to love Max and I just wasn't "feeling it". And maybe it's because I had had a rough day last Friday and my mind was elsewhere, I'm really not sure. I felt that the characters weren't very well fleshed out, so I couldn't bring myself to care very much for them, even after spending almost two hours with them.

That being said, it is a very beautiful movie. The scenery is gorgeous, the costumes are perfect (I'm fully expecting them to win the "Best costume" Oscar), and the "Wild Things" world felt real to me. It's just character that was an issue for me. And a lot of people I've talked to who have seen this movie have loved it, so Kirk and I are probably in the minority, but that's okay.

I think my big problem is that I hyped it up too much. I went in expecting it to be one of the best theatre experiences of my life, so of course I was going to be disappointed. I had this discussion with Jeremy once, about how if you have high expectations for a film, you are going to be disappointed. But if you go in expecting to hate it, then it feels better when you are pleasantly surprised. Since the trailer for Where the Wild Things are was among the better trailers I've ever seen, of course my expectations were high. Whereas a few years ago a friend dragged me to Beerfest, and I went in fully expecting to hate it, because I'd hated Super Troopers. But I loved it, and I think part of it was the fact that I was so pleasantly surprised.

So the big lesson? Try to keep expectations in check. No movie can be everything you want it to be, and going in expecting it to be is going to set you up for disappointment. I have learned that a few times in the past two years with films I've put on a pedestal (such as Watchmen, and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull). Neither were as good as I'd hoped, though I still enjoyed them. Disappointment is a bitter pill to swallow, but I think this time the lesson has sunk in.

I think I'd probably give Where the Wild Things are a 6/10. I think people should go see it for sure, especially on the big screen, but it's not worthy of raves from me. I do want to see it again, probably on DVD, to see whether it was just my mental state that affected my enjoyment of it.

Snow (Oh No!)

I'm sure everyone who talked to me yesterday heard me complain about the snow we got. I'm not big on cold weather, because I get cold very easily. I like milder weather, therefore Spring and Fall. I can take the inevitable snow...if it comes after Halloween. October 9th and snow already on the ground? No way. I am trying to accept it.

After Friday at the King's Head, Kirk and I decided to catch a movie. We picked out Couples Retreat, which ended up being a rather interesting choice, considering that it takes place on a tropical island...in contrast to the weather we were having outside. It wasn't bad. I like Vince Vaughn quite a bit, and he was reasonably amusing. Of course, Where The Wild Things Are comes out next week! I am getting very excited about it.

With Canadian Thanksgiving coming out soon, does anyone have a favourite Thanksgiving movie or tv special? I saw Pieces of April a number of years ago and I recall it being very moving. It stars Katie Holmes from her pre-Tom Cruise life, and she did a really good job in it. I think at times now she can be very over-publicized, in part due to her marriage to Cruise. I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving. The day after my Dad always bakes bread in our bread maker and we have the leftovers, and there's nothing at all like fresh bread. With the day off on Monday, I may put in a movie over the afternoon. I have several at home that I have owned for a year or more...and still have not seen. I swore to remedy that over the summer, but it never happened.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Film Release Date Changes: Bad Film or Bad Economy?

Occasionally highly anticipated films are pushed back (delayed), much to the chagrin of film fans. Those who are more cynical see these moves as a sign that the film in question is not testing well among test audiences, is of poor quality, or that the studio simply does not know what to do with it. Much of the time, it is simply a financial move. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince went from a November 2008 release to a July 2009 release. Warner Brothers had a huge financial success with The Dark Knight in 2008, therefore affording them the chance to delay the film, so further final touches could be made on it, and enabling them to make more money in the 2009 summer movie market. This move was a good one for Warner Brothers (though I was greatly angered when I heard the news last year), as HPB has made over 279 million dollars as of September 9th, 2009.

Shutter Island is a Paramount Pictures film that was supposed to be released on October 2nd, 2009. Instead it has been delayed until February 19th, 2010. Paramount has blamed the bad economy, among other things. But why did they pick February 2010? February is generally the studios’ dumping ground for poor quality films. Does this mean Shutter Island is set to disappoint? Darkhorizons states that it has been testing well, but I still remain skeptical. Martin Scorsese is a well known and very well respected filmmaker. Especially after his Best Director win for The Departed, his film deserves more respect than a February opening will give it. I’m thinking that Paramount simply does not understand the film, thinks it will not perform well, and wants to release where it will be quickly forgotten.

Another highly anticipated film, The Wolfman has been delayed multiple times. It was originally supposed to open in late 2008, then February 2009 (again, a bad sign), then April 2009, then it was announced that it would be released in November 2009 so there would be more time to promote the film. Finally, in July 2009 it was announced that it would be delayed again, for February 12, 2010. The Wolfman has undergone extensive re-shoots , which does not seem to be a good sign at all, at least to me. We shall see in February whether The Wolfman was worth the long wait, I am hoping it will be.

One more example of a long delay is with Spike Jonze's Where The Wild Things Are. Originally supposed to be released in 2008, mixed reactions, particularly the film being "too scary", lead to rumours of the film being scrapped and re-shot from the ground up. Thankfully, this rumour didn't pan out, Warner Brothers gave out more money for the project so more work could be done, and the current release date of October 16, 2009 was set.

Now, I'm extremely excited for Where the Wild Things Are. I loved the book as a child, and was devastated when I heard the rumour that the film was potentially going to be scrapped. I'll even admit that under the right circumstances, the trailer brings tears to my eyes. The combination of the song in the trailer (the very powerful Wake Up by the Arcade Fire), the clips shown, and the text between the clips is enough to move me very much. Watching the trailer again for this entry did actually make me cry. So, needless to say, I shall be sitting in the theatre watching this film on or shortly after October 16th.