David O. Russell

Went to a screening of The Fighter tonight, which was part of a David O. Russell retrospective at the Museum of the Moving Image. Spike Jonze led the Q&A, probing into the director's musical and cinematic influences (spanning from Nirvana, Woody Allen, Wes Anderson, Quentin Tarrantino) and uncovering some interesting insights and tidbits about his other films, like Spanking the Monkey and I Heart the Huckabees. At the beginning of the Q&A, David O. Russell pulled out a box of Altoids and Spike Jonze proceeded to dole out mints to the front row--so we all had fresh breath for the duration of the interview, which was pleasant! Rosie Perez also made an impromptu shout out from the middle of the theater, before heading out to get a burger. As for the The Fighter, it is a good film and turns out some phenomenal performances, especially Christian Bale, as Mickey Ward's brother, Dickey. Probably my favorite film of his to date.

Where the Wild Things Are: VOD or DVD, your choice.

At some point in 2009,  along with the slobbering film junkies and depressive Muppet nerds,  I was eagerly anticipating the release of Spike Jonze's latest film, Where the Wild Things Are.  Dave Eggers was attached as co-writer; the trailer was lush and atmospheric; and the indie scoring had the right dose of I-tunes download appeal. If anything at all, Warner Bros. had cornered the McSweeney-reading, American Apparel-clad hipster market like nobody's business. But amid all of the excitement, reports of development and production snafus began to leak out into the blogosphere, which signaled that this beloved children's book could potentially turn into a cinematic shit-show.  The more optimistic side of me held onto the belief that Spike Jonze could actually pull it off.  After all, he successfully executed Being John Malkovich (Love!), Adaptation (Like.) and a countless number of music videos.  All required making sense of the nonsensical, or, at the very least, giving narrative form to emotional qualities in music--quite an ambitious feat for a filmmaker.

Unfortunately, despite the capable cinematography and poetic visuals, the story does not sustain one's interest for the duration of a feature length film.  Watching a monster clobber another monster, walk across the desert, or barbarically yawp over a seaside cliff, may have some impact on the audience for the first time, but the following 20 times--without empathy, believable motivation or entertaining action sequences--it all becomes a monster bore.  I suppose it was difficult to watch, because there was no emotional depth to the kinetic energy. 

The film wasn't completely flawed, the first 15-20 minutes that provided the back-story of Max, the main protagonist, and his family was lovely and competently rendered, perfectly and poignantly illustrating family dynamics (especially with the mother, played by Catherine Keener) and the psychological qualities of the characters.  Ultimately, the experience of watching Where the Wild Things Are was a bit like seeing someone's vacation photos. Lovely to look at, but not very fun because you aren't in them. 



 

I Dig Spike Jonze, But...

I realize it's just a teaser trailer and Where the Wild Things Are doesn't get its release till October 16,2009 , but I am fearful that this movie will SUCK.   Spike Jonze has an incredible eye, so the photography looks lush (based on the teaser) and overall visuals I'm sure will prove noteworthy (Who isn't a sucker for wide-shots with the nostalgic glow of that warm sunlight?).   It seems like the film could represent the adventure of  The Princess Bride meets the schmaltz of The Never-Ending-Story meets the boyish fantasy of Time Bandits. Hmmmm, doesn't sound too bad...It's just that everybody freaking loves this trailer and maybe I'm just being contrarian. This adaptation has the potential to be the best of those films or a freaking shitshow.  Time will tell...