'Tis The Season... Installment 2

Posted by Rachael

The second movie in our holiday-viewing docket is Elf, another new classic. At once heartfelt and hilarious, Elf consciously conjures up a childish sense of wonder while playing to an audience that ranges from the littlest tykes to middle aged Will Ferrell fans.

The story of Buddy the 6+ ft elf is a unique one within the Christmas movie pantheon: Buddy was abandoned as an orphan, accidentally stowed away on a bag to the North Pole, and was raised among Santa and his toy making ilk. When he grows up to be Will Ferrell, his ungainly size and general non-elfness make him realize what he should have known all along: he's not an elf, he's a human, and he has a non-elfen father on the Naughty List in New York City.

After a fantastic sequence in which Will Ferrell wanders through a claymation version of the North Pole in a nod to classic Christmas fare, Buddy makes it to NYC, where he's just as much of a misfit among the work-a-day cynics who populate there. He works at Gimbels, befriends his fellow "elf" (a disarmingly blond Zooey Deschanel) and worms his way into his father's family's hearts, despite the fact that he seems like a tights-wearing psychopath. But when the general lack-of-belief causes Santa to crash land in the middle of Central Park, everyone's belief is really put to the test.

In the end, Elf is more about how much fun it is to be a kid than it is even about Christmas. It uses the santa metaphor to make the popular argument that strangling our inner child probably isn't the best way to go through life. It's Will Ferrell's complete conviction with this idea that makes Elf so much fun. It's a gleeful film, filled with moments, both tiny and oversized, of hilarity.

Tangled Up

Posted by Rachael

I have a confession to make. Despite years of soccer-playing, action-figure-collecting, comic-book-reading, action-movie-loving tomboy-ery, I've always, truly, wanted to be a Disney princess. But I didn't want to be just any princess: I wanted to be Belle, the confident heroine who ultimately saves herself and her love with her brains and good heart.

This is hardly a unique statement. Generations upon generations of girls the world over have day dreamed about being a disney princess. But it's the neccessary context around which to understand my reaction to Disney's Tangled.

The newest Disney film follows Rapunzel (Mandy Moore) and Flynn (Zachary Levi) as they evade a wicked wit, uh Old Lady, chase their dreams, banter, interact with adorable anthropomorphized animals, and, inevitably, fall in love. It was cliched before Enchanted came out and set it in the real world, but it definitely feels worn in this hour of post-modern Shrek-ery and Pixar films.

But god damn. That so doesn't matter. The beauty of a true Disney film is not in the shocks of the plot (although Tangled is an excellently constructed story), but in the magic that floats off the screen. The animation is top-notch, the voice work across the board excellent, and the songs (as drafted by Disney vet Alan Menken) are fantastic.

top of that, Rapunzel is a heroine for the ages. The movie feels at once classic (there's no meta-winks at the camera, no irony to be found here) and modern (yet the film doesn't feel the need to relegate Rapunzel to a pre-Mulan damsel in distress mode). As voiced by Moore, she's spunky, intelligent, innocent, engaging, and active, constantly working towards her own freedom and her own happy ending. If the feminist in me has always had a sort of love-hate relationship with the princess side of me, both sides happily coexisted while I was in that theater.

A lot of reviews I've read feel the need to explain now what Tangled isn't (oscar-worthy, a Pixar film, going to cure cancer), as if the reviewer feels a little ashamed of how much they fell in love while in that movie theater. But screw it. If my life was the Disney movie I wish it was, then walking out of that theater I was in full blown ballad-mode, and not the beginning, heart-felt longing ballad, but the near end of movie I'm so happy my head could burst ballad. And if that's all a movie has to give me, I feel no need to appologize for my adoration of it.

Disney recently announced that Tangled is the last of their princess movies, and seeing the film made me realize what a shame that truly is. It isn't just the songs or the pretty dresses or the cute animals; it's the princesses themselves who, when done right, are much better than just future dolls, they're the fully-realized version of who we wish we were. and as long as the princesses are as fantastic and interesting as Rapunzel, that's a good thing.

'Tis the Season...

Posted by Rachael

For Christmas movies.

The "Holiday" season has never really begun for me until I allow myself to slip into the pop culture cocoon of movies, tv shows, and music specifically designed to activate the heart tingling part of us all that wants to give ourselves over to childish optimism. And nothing is quite as essential as the Holiday movie parade, those classics and not-so-classics of the silver screen that annually grace my home theater in the hopes of capturing some christmas joy.

I have a lot of Christmas movies, so this year I'm going to chronicle my way through them as I watch them. Christmas is a process for this half-jewish girl, that starts the day after Thanksgiving on my mother's couch and ends on Christmas night at the movie theater. In between is a cornucopia of different films, in varying degrees of quality and belovedness.

The first movie on this year's docket is Love, Actually. It's purposefully a "new" classic. It's one of those movies that I have legitimately watched over 15 times and it never really gets old.

It's not that I think Love, Actually is one of the best movies of all time, or even the best Christmas movie of all time, although I do think that sometimes people refuse to see the excellent movie beneath the cliches. But the real reason why Love Actually makes this list is because of that the delightful mixture of old fashioned optimism with sometimes uncomfortable levels of reality that somehow makes Love Actually one of the most uplifting and hopeful movies of all time.

On top of that, it is a movie drenched in the popular culture infused wrappings of modern day Christmas, where pop songs and movies coexist with nativity plays at schools and private celebrations at home. It's love is hard won, whether its the midlife itch of Alan Rickman or the brotherly love that is all that's left for Laura Linney. And if at the end you're not singing along with Uncle Billy as he croons, "So if you really love Christmas, come on and let it snow," then you're probably a grinch. Or possibly Jewish.

...And The Deathly Hallows

If I were to remake the list below, Deathly Hallows would easily and handily fall at number 1. It wouldn't even be a debate. Let's just get this out of the way, right here: to me, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was easily the best film of the series, the best adaptation of a Potter book, and one of the best films of this year.

In a lot of ways, DH represented the perfect melding of book and movie. Freed from the crunching time constraints that the last four books have had to deal with, and with a fanbase that have almost all aged out of tweendom and strongly into "legitimate adult audience" world, Deathly Hallows is, appropriately, the most adult and compelling of the films.

I'm going to attempt not to conflate the book's excellence with the movie's own excellence. Of course Deathly Hallows tells a deeply fulfilling and appropriate story: we already read the damn book. JK Rowling's concluding chapter was a masterpiece of devotion to theme and character and the culmination of years of effort. But the movie lives up to this standard by taking the excellent material laid down and making it come to life cinematically.

As directed by David Yates, far less of the Harry Potter emotional journey is spelled out than ever before. The characters are going through some of the most intense emotions they've ever felt, but gone are the days when they will, child-like, spit it all out at the camera. Yates has such faith in his actors and audience that finally the series lets subtext remain subtext. You don't need to be told every detail of what's going on. We don't need Harry, Ron or Hermione to ever monologue about how weird it feels knowing the whole fate of the wizarding world lies on their shoulder, or how much more serious the danger is in this installment. In true cinematic form, we can tell from the imagery (Hermione's hands caked in Ron's blood, the casual death of a Hogwarts professor, Harry and Hermione's make out scene) and from the quiet moments (like Hermione's thoughtful line as the trio stands alone in Grimmauld Place, "We're alone.").

The way you can really tell that this is an excellent adaptation of the books is in the stuff that it just plain makes up. From the first shot of Hermione wiping her parents memory to protect them (which is mentioned in the book but not shown), you can tell that Yates and Kloves understands exactly what this means and they're counting on you to get it too. And damn if Emma Watson isn't knocking it out of the park, showing both Hermione's steely, bad-ass determination and how much it deeply hurts her to have to do this to her parents at the ripe old age of 17.

Or take the oft-discussed tent scene. It takes place right after Ron has (spoiler alert) left Hermione and Harry in a fit of horcrux-and-jealousy-induced rage. Hermione has been a vacant mess. Harry, being a good friend, starts goofy dancing with her to cheer her up. But they're also to mature individuals who are stuck in a bleak, cold world with little help, and there's a tiny moment between the two where it almost seems like this is going to a very non-canonical place. The ultimate decision by both characters to realize what their relationship really is therefore seems both more honest and more profound for the movie having gone to a place that the book never had to. It's both true to these characters and completely fabricated, and it provides a very vivid portrait of both the grace and realisticness of Harry and Hermione.

The fact that the added details feel perfectly in place is the greatest indicator that this movie, even more than any of the other films, gets what made the books worth it.

I could write a book full of praise for the main three's acting in this film. Gone are the days of awkward line readings, forced emoting, and eyebrow acting. All three main stars have blossomed into something fantastic. But if I had to give an award for best performance, it'd go to Emma Watson, hands down. I've mocked the girl who took my role for years. She was the weakest link for a while. But Watson provides such a painful, quiet, deeply flawed and wounded and yet strong and badass performance as Hermione that it made me love one of my favorite characters of all time even more for having seen it. There's another tent-scene, where Hermione slips back into her old school-girl esque habits ("Actually, I'm highly logical...") in which you can really tell just how far Watson has come from the old "Wingardium LeviOsa" days.

Some people are claiming the movie feels like only half a film, or is somehow unsatisfying, and I guess I can understand that, but for me, Deathly Hallows was everything it needed to be and more, and a beautiful testament to why it's worth it to adapt beloved books to film.

Harry Potter, the book and movie series, hasbeen such a profound part of my life for so long that the discovery of new levels of enthusiasm was a pleasant and fantastic surprise. The reason why it's ever worth the effort to adapt a book to a movie is not just to make money but, in a movie like Deathly Hallows, its the pure unadulterated joy that can come from watching a new work of art being spun from something amazing to begin with.

Harry Potter: A History*

Everytime I've tried to sit down and review the most recent installment of Harry Potter, I felt overly burdened by the attempt to unpack all my (and any tried and true Potter-fans) baggage walking into the theater. The baggage weighed down the review, until all cinematic point was lost, but I felt that the review was dishonest with out it. And then, like Barty Crouch Jr. provided Triwizard tournament hint, an idea struck me: why not just get all the baggage out of the way in its own post?

In other words, this is a post about the history of the Harry Potter film series, as I see it. Up front, keep in mind that I am a rabid, if not super-rabid, Harry Potter fan, who has shown up for the midnight release party of the last three book, and who received her first copy of Harry Potter at the tender age of 11. It is an understatement to say that this series has been a huge part of my life.

However, I was also a film major. That's not to say how fancy-pants I am, nor say that I am inherently more qualified to judge films, merely to point out that I have often been able to let my fan ardency for exactitude fade to a quiet whisper while watching a Harry Potter film (as will become abundantly obvious in the following list). So without further ado, here's my top six pre-Hallows Harry Potter films, in order from least-beloved to most.

6. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone- In an overly pithy sentence, it's as though the book version of Harry Potter has cast a "petrifiucs totallus" spell on the movie's first installment. With unoriginal direction by Chris Columbus, and combined with an over adherence with the book's minutiae, the Sorcerer's Stone completely fails to capture the magic of Harry Potter that has kept fans enchanted for so many years. Movies and books are inherently different mediums, and adapting one to the other requires more than just cutting stuff out for time- it requires a complete transfiguration.

5. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets- The same issues plagued the second film, although the danger of the Chamber of Secrets somewhat ups the stakes for this one and makes it a little more engaging.

4. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - There's not much to say about Order of the Phoenix. It takes the longest book and makes the shortest movie. Along the way, a lot is lost. This is good (even JK Rowling claims the books to damn sprawling and could probably use a good weed whacker editing job) but it makes it a less satisfying adaptation. I remember seeing it for the first time and kind of feeling as though I'd just watched a montage of important Harry Potter moments rather than one cohesive film.

3. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - Goblet of Fire was probably the most cinematic of the books. It tells a straight forward adventure tale of a too-young boy entered into a dangerous contest, and it has a natural ebb and flow along the lines of the three challenges that makes it really easy to transcribe to film. Mike Newell, the first British director to helm a HP film, turns the tale into a fast-paced school boy yarn, weaving the magical elements with the under dog elements. It makes it all the more startling when, at the end of the film, the tone shifts abruptly. The death of Cedric Diggory, and consequent return of Voldemorrt are where both the books and the film abandoned the pretense of safety, and it's an appropriately moving moment in the film. However, the film loses major points for its ending. So Voldemort's back and Cedric, Harry's rival in love, Quidditch and Tri-wizardry, has just been brutally murdered before their eyes. Basically, everything's gone to shit. So why does the film end with the trio playfully ruffling each other's hair? It's a dishonest moment within the film's universe that threatens to undermine the story's legitimacy. Also everyone has REALLY bad hair.

2. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - Alfonso Cuaron changed it all. When he took over the Harry Potter reigns for the series' third part, he famously decided on a theme for the stories to follow and then slashed out everything that didn't pertain to that theme. This means that Azkaban is, by far, the WORST adaptation of the books. But it just might be the best movie. By deciding to focus on theme and cinematic excellence, Cuaron allowed the series to move away from a cheesy kids movie and into the deep, wonderful series that we knew and love. On top of that, his "serious director" prowess was the first step towards building actual actors out of the trio at the heart of this film, rather than just treating them like adorable props. But his overall lack of reverence for the source material IS problematic, and that's why despite the movie's excellence, Azkaban falls back to number 2.

1. Harry Potter and the Halfblood Prince - Aside from burning down the Burrow in the middle of the film (seriously, what was that?), Half-Blood Prince strikes the most succesful balance between Harry Potter adaptation and really freaking good movie. It's a pivotal film, full of dark and impending danger, but it was also probably the funniest of the books, with many, many chapters devoted to the characters love lives and growing up mishaps. In many ways, Half Blood Prince the book was like a breather in between the ominous anger of Order of the Phoenix and the near unrelenting gloom and danger of Deathly Hallows, and the movie carries that sense while still taking the journey of Ron, Hermione and Harry into adulthood seriously. And the climactic journey into the cave and invasion of Hogwarts? Picture freaking perfect.

*Bonus points if you get the punniness of this title

Harry Potter's Secret Weapon (and sorry, Dumbledore, it's not love)

In the lead up to this week's world premier of the first half of the last book of the Harry Potter series, a series that has defined my pop culture existence since I first picked up the hard cover in 1998, I've been re watching all the movies*. It's pretty accepted logic that the movies have greatly improved as they've gone along. But in re watching the first two, both of which I've always more or less written off due to the awkward acting and poor direction by Christopher Columbus, I was struck by just how fantastically written they are.

Steven Kloves has written each Harry Potter movie since the first one, with the exception of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. It's his sure voice and unending devotion to the books that have kept the series consistent and critically lauded (for a popcorn series) since their inception, despite myriad of different directors, producers, even lead actors.

Thinking about the things that have always irked me about the films, the one thing that has stayed consistent was the writing. Most of the flaws come down to direction, acting, or editing. What Kloves nails throughout is the sense of this world, and the legitimacy of that world, and the voice of the characters. Where sometimes plots are shortened or changed (occasionally maddeningly), they still feel like Harry Potter.

This struck me particularly strongly in a scene in my least favorite movie, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Harry has just arrived at the Weasley's house after being broken out of The Dursley's. Mrs. Weasley is all atither because the boys stole the magical car, risked the exposure of the wizarding world (and their father's job), and all that other silly motherly stuff. In walks Mr. Weasley, who is more impressed with the fact that his car worked than with his sons' minor larceny. When he meets Harry Potter, the most famous "boy who lived" ever, far from asking about his parents' demise or the face of evil in the form of Lord Voldemort, Mr. Weasley's face lights up as he acts, "What use exactly is a rubber duck?" (/p>

It's a throw away line, taken directly from the books, that simultaneous ekes out laughs and gets to the heart of the Arthur Weasley character. And in a lesser screenwriter's hands, it would have been left out or mangled. It's a small incidence of the commitment to detail and character that has helped to turn the Harry Potter movie series into the landmark that it is, despite the many fan-related issues I may have with it at times.

On top of that, his favorite character to write for is Hermione Granger, and he also adapted one of my favorite Michael Chabon books of all time in the form of Wonder Boys. Steven Kloves, I bestow upon you an order of MyCinema, First Class, for your Devotion to Hogwarts.

* I take a somewhat controversial stance in the re-read-the-book-before-the-movie theory. It is my personal belief that re-reading the books before watching the new movies is dooming the movies to mediocrity, and since I actually think they're pretty good movies, I don't want to do that. Plus, whenever I finish a new film, I want nothing in the world quite so much as to dive back into the book, so I figure I might as well wait.

First Look: The New Muppet Movie

Take an exclusive first look at this photo from the new Muppet movie. Now I dare you not to love Jason Segel (not to mention all the other wonderful cuddly creatures in this photo!)