Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with JinXy Chaos delving into a couple upcoming movies, that ELECTION chick's romantic undead comedy JUST LIKE HEAVEN (I hear Moriarty LOOOOVVVEEEDD that movie to death. You should ask him about it if you see him, or better yet send him an email about it!) and Tim Burton's CORPSE BRIDE. I can't wait to see one of these two films. Which one do you think it is? Oh, and look for another CORPSE BRIDE review below JinXy-boy's there!
Hey gang,
JinXy Chaos back again. (and again).
It’s been a week of death, romance, popcorn, and disappointment.
First on the slab: Just like Heaven.
Another otherworldly rom-com where two would be lovers meet but are separated by a vast and impassable rift. In this case it’s a matter of…well matter. Elizabeth Masterson (Witherspoon) is a women disconnected from any kind of life outside of her work that eventually becomes disconnected from her body all together. David Abbott (Ruffalo) is a depressed alcoholic in training who’s running away from life towards the bottom of any bottle he can find. Their lives smash into each other when David sublets her fully furnished apartment and proceeds to not use coasters at alarming frequency (gasp!).
David encounters this paranormal hottie in a drunken haze and is convinced he’s hallucinating the small blonde control freak, so he quickly turns to one of the severely under used characters (and actors) in the film Jack (Logue) for help. You see Jack is David’s wingman slash therapist, though we get no real clue as to how or why these guys are friends, and it’s unfortunate since these guys work so well together both as characters and actors. Jack convinces David that all he really needs is to get drunk and score (like all good wingmen should do).
The ghostly encounters continue however which leads to some funny moments between David and Elizabeth. There are real moments in this that show their chemistry and the talents of both actors. It’s during this that we met the other under used talent of this movie: Darryl (Heder). While Darryl does provide the movie with it’s fortune cookie wisdom about life, death, and connections he’s only in a few short scenes and leaves you wondering what might have happened had they given him a bigger part to play. But it’s pure minimalism for Darryl.
Along the way as you’d expect the main characters are beginning to fall in love but the script is smart enough to put some real life relationship drama in-between them in the form of Katrina (Ivana) the lonely temptress from downstairs. They could have handled this scene in so many ways and taken an easy road out but goes a long way to show Elizabeth’s coming to terms with her state of being. The only real mystery in this scene is how Katrina could possibly be lonely?!
With any romantic comedy there has to be a happy ending right? So you have to figure something has to happen to get these two together. As it happens Elizabeth is not really dead, she’s merely in a coma (don’t let the spiritual or moral logistics get you hung up here) from which they are about to pull the plug on. Now it’s a race against time and HMO policies to save her. The movie feels a little haphazard at this point as they calmly try to figure out the solution, its not horrible just felt odd. Naturally everybody wins at the end of the film and her body seems no worse for deep coma.
While romantic comedies are a dime a dozen most are just reheated leftovers from a dozen other films. This one does hit a little above the mark and is enjoyable to watch while your scoring brownie points with your girl and will help later when you want to drag your her to see Serenity, or History of Violence, or maybe just to apologize for taking her to see The Man.
Second on the slab: Tim Burtons Corpse Bride.
Animated Death never looked so good, but felt so dull. After over a decade of waiting for something as glorious and fun as The Nightmare Before Christmas I walked out of the theater last night feeling like a kid at Christmas who got a new bike with no tires. I’m left thinking either my expectations could have been too high or this movie just fell short of its intended mark.
The movie and the animation are gorgeous, though it looks far too much like Nightmare to avoid comparisons and invoke expectations. The story is fairly basic and gets going pretty fast. Victor (Depp) is set to marry Victoria (Watson) in an arranged marriage. Victor is a nervous wreck about it and is a very jittery fellow. He doesn’t have cold feet so much as nervous hands. Victoria is a flower in a family of poisonous weeds. She knows her duty and after meeting Victor seems very much taken with him. Its Victors nervous hands that set things in motion; while practicing his vows he mistaken places the ring on the finger of a murdered bride. From there the movie heads off into regular Tim Burton territory with fun creepy characters and imagery as Victor is pulled into the after life. Much like the world of Beetlejuice the dead walk, talk, sing, dance and are examples of how they died.
The rest of the movie Victor is trying to get out of this world and back to his living girlfriend above ground. Meanwhile Victoria’s parents find another suitor to replace the clumsy Victor. Once Victor learns of her new brothel he surrenders to something that’s been right in front of him; He’s got a wife and despite her being dead is really quite charming. He promises his love and consents to a ceremony to finalize their vows (and his beating heart). This is where the movie really shines. The dead return to the land of the living for this wedding of the afterlife. As the dead run amok and revisit old loved ones we get the only glimpse into the charm and fun Nightmare had.
While the movie is actually pretty good and it is entertaining I think aside from letting expectations get in the way this movie suffers from two glaring faults; The songs and the lack of charm. The songs are like dead finger nails on a chalkboard none of them are as witty are fun as they should be to lighten such a dark movie. The lack of charm is something you wouldn’t expect in a movie with Johnny Depp and Emily Watson, to say nothing of the rest of this great cast.
I wanted this movie to succeed in so many ways, I love stop animation, I enjoy it even more when it’s not all cutesy and has a plot. I want to see more studios pulling away from CGI animated movies and investing in such craftwork as films like Nightmare showed it could be again.
Here's that other one. I hope I disagree with both of these! I really want this flick to kick all sorts of ass!!!
A beautiful, but overall disappointing film.
I saw an advanced screening at the Walter Reade Theatre at Lincoln Center Monday Night in an intimate setting of about 100 cinephiles. I was so excited to see it, especially because the man himself was going to be there for some Q & A, but overall, it really was disappointing. I would call it a masterpiece that isn't really entertaining.
The world of the living is drab and dark and filled with the "walking dead" of society, whereas in the land of the dead, the characters come "alive" and are filled with energy and color. Great concept, but I wish we could have spent more time in the Underworld. ALL the character design is amazing and he even tugs on our heartstrings a little, but not enough. There are no less than three musical /piano playing sequences, that pull you right in, but when they're finished, the viewer waits for more excitement that never comes.
Danny Elfman's score is just okay. It begs for a little more melody and a LOT LESS "talking" style songs. It seems like the magical talents behind ANBC, have taken a step backwards in presentation even though they advanced technically speaking.
If I were a studio exec, I would certainly keep funding this man with the stop-motion animation medium, but I would step on his head a little when it came to story development. This film is begging for some magic. Is it amazing? Yes! Is it beautiful? Yes! Is it disappointing? Yes! It hurts at moments, not because of it being "bad" but because of the viewer wanting more from this cinematic relationship. It's like being with a high-priced hooker, fulfilling all your fantasies, but not actually LOVING you back.
The true benefit of this film would ultimately come from turning the sound off, sitting back and watching it with the music of Edward Scissorhands playing in the background. . .
Please make more, Mr. Burton. But PLEASE PLEASE spend more time on your story.
If you use this, please call me, Mr. Tibbs!
PS: Fantastic link about the process here:
