“It’s a Wonderful Life” is a terrifying, asphyxiating story about growing up and relinquishing your dreams, of seeing your father driven to the grave before his time, of living among bitter, small-minded people. It is a story of being trapped, of compromising, of watching others move ahead and away, of becoming so filled with rage that you verbally abuse your children, their teacher and your oppressively perfect wife. It is also a nightmare account of an endless home renovation.

Read full article here: Wonderful? Sorry, George, It’s a Pitiful, Dreadful Life

I found this article via Metafilter, where users started snarking against the movie.  In the Metafilter comments, a user named Miko writes a great summary of the movie’s message:

Anyone who thinks of “It’s a Wonderful Life” as a one-level, heartwarming Christmas feelgood movie has the wrong expectations – or just isn’t thinking about it. The author’s observations are obvious in the film; they’re the setup. George is a young man with dreams, but his sense of responsibility – overdeveloped, probably – and the needs of others make him sacrifice his dreams. There’s no smarmy sense that obviously one needs to sacrifice one’s dreams for the well-being of others; portraying that shallowly is what Hallmark Christmas Specials do. Instead, the sacrifice is slow, anguished, an excruciating death by a thousand cuts. Capra meant the viewers to notice, and be pained, every time George receives another disappointment… Capra wasn’t hiding this from the viewer.

…The heartwarming part is that George is able to make a conscious decision to accept the price. Can you say the same? When George decides not to die, he realizes the life he’s been despairing at – with the loud annoying kids, the dilapidated house, the “broken-down old building and loan,” the deferred dreams – is actually a pretty good, in fact damned lucky life. People love him; he has resources he never bothered to assess; his life has meaning. If you have never felt that way, suddenly profoundly appreciative of the basic goodnesses in your own life, I’d wager you’ve never yet nearly lost your life. Because that is exactly how a person feels when you realize that your day-to-day stresses and strains and disappointments and bothersome entanglements are not in the way of you living your life; they are your life. The fact that you never got to become and engineer and see the oilfields of Venezuelas, or whatever it is for you, tends to fall dramatically in relative importance.

The movie is dark and depressing for a reason. This is a challenging message, one a lot of people really don’t want to hear, and yet it turns out to be pretty true in most lives.

Miko’s last sentence sums up the reason why It’s a Wonderful Life is my favorite movie of all time.  There are challenges and difficulties, failed dreams and changed plans, but after all that, it is a wonderful life.

 Ever since I watched it, the film Juno has kept me up nights. I know millions of people love this film about a pregnant teen and would skewer me for my concern about it. Yes, it’s witty and Juno is a unique character. But the film doesn’t portray important realities about adoption. Juno is a modern-day Pied Piper that could lure many young women to a far different reality than the one implied on screen.

More at the article: In Juno, adoption pain is left on cutting room floor

I even got a sticker out of the deal:

For non Bat-fans out there, Harvey Dent is the real name of “Two-face,” a major villain in the Batman comics.  Dent starts as a lawyer fighting crime in Gotham, but half his face is later scarred by acid.  This results in a split personality, as well as a tendency to flip a coin to decide whether to be good or evil.  

You can see a toy based on his look in the new movie below, to get a sense of what the face above will look like by the end of the movie.

The film “The Golden Compass” isn’t simply about using fairy-tale magic to tell a good story, it corrupts the imagery of Lewis and Tolkien to undermine children’s faith in God and the Church, says Catholic author Pete Vere…

Collectively, the trilogy is known as “His Dark Materials,” a phrase taken from John Milton’s “Paradise Lost.” This is appropriately titled in my opinion, since each book gets progressively darker — both in the intensity with which Pullman attacks the Catholic Church and the Judeo-Christian concept of God, as well as the stridency with which he promotes atheism.

Full Zenit interview about The Golden Compass here.

Joker looks more Joker-y in these photos than he has before. Not as keen on the new Batsuit, though I imagine it’ll never have that much light on it in the film.

P.S. Empire Online has a pretty sweet web site. I would definitely subscribe if they offered subscriptions in the US.

P.P.S. UPDATE – the cover leaked early, so now all is revealed.  Interesting that the Internet is starting to get ahead of this excellent viral campaign.

It dragged a lot – although a cardinal rule of moviemaking is “show, don’t tell” I thought the movie should have explained the process of drug laundering much more briefly and given more time to character development.  It made me appreciate Casino all the more, since Casino sometimes had lengthy dialogue explaining the various processes that happen at a casino without slowing down the movie.  In this movie, there are whole scenes devoted to nothing more than cutting powder, putting it in bags, and selling it on the street.

The movie also had a bit too much of Denzel being Denzel – he didn’t seem to be acting so much as doing the usual silent, intense, sometimes furious character that he’s done so many times before.  Russell Crowe did a good job, but his character wasn’t developed beyond his ability to pass up bribes, a custody battle, and some weight lifting.  (Carla Gugino plays the wife, and gives an oversimplified argument of “You think you’re better than the crooked cops you fight”).

Overall, probably not worth the price of admission.  Rent Casino or the Godfather instead.

A gigantic monster rises from the deep sea and attacks New York. As it touches/infects people who have eaten sushi and/or drunk Slusho, it causes eggs inside to expand and produce new monsters.

Here’s what we’ll see in Cloverfield, as best I can piece it together from the trailer. I am not an insider on the film, just a fan who’s following the numerous fan sites and promotions.

I’m also writing this assuming that you too have been following the latest stuff on www.projectcloverfield.com, www.cloverfieldclues.com and the like, and that I won’t have to explain the basics.

The story begins with a young man named Rob, who’s having a surprise party. Party attendees are shown next to a sushi plate which they apparently are eating from.

The lights at the party flicker, and Rob goes to the roof. Something falls from the sky and explodes in the city.

Rob runs downstairs and outside. A huge projectile glances off a building and falls to earth; it’s revealed to be the Statue of Liberty.

Rob and friends from the party move around the city, trying to find out what’s going on. (Shots of horse-drawn carriage, tilting buildings, etc.) There is a firefight between soldiers and a large creature shown moving between the buildings (something is attacking from Without.) They go into the tunnel system and (apparently) the videographer is killed.

At one point Rob is left with two women and a (possibly new) videographer.

They encounter soldiers (“Whatever it is, it’s winning”) and there’s something wrong with one of the women. Men in biohazards take her away; her silhouette is shown expanding as if she’s a balloon. (Something is attacking from Within.)

Rob and one of the women are airlifted out via helicopter; while trying to leave the Monster destroys a bridge and grabs the helicopter. After this things are less clear – I’m betting Rob dies but someone else (maybe the woman airlifted out) keeps the camera safe and turns it in, intact, to the government, who edits it and adds effects (such as blurring out the soldier’s face).

What’s with Slusho? There’s a sushi chef on www.1-18-08.com, a sushi plate at the party, and references to Slusho’s mysterious “nectar” ingredient on various sites. I think Slusho (and possibly deep sea sushi) somehow infect those who consume them, and the monster’s attack triggers an internal attack causing them to explode.

There is also a nice theory on the large monster being a turtle (“Tagruato is an anagram for A TORTUGA, Spanish for turtle”), and the smaller monsters being crabs (there’s a scuttling sound when Rob and the women are in the tunnels).

Neat stuff. Looks like a well made movie, and even if there are no more trailers I’ll still be in line for a ticket on January 18, 2008.

Overall I thought the movie was a bit melodramatic but tugged at the heartstrings pretty effectively. It was also nice to see a movie that was subtly Catholic – for example, the Virgen de Guadalupe appears in the background of a home, though it’s never referenced by the characters or explained.

Worth seeing while in Boston, or in other cities if you get the chance.

More at: http://www.aintitcool.com/node/34155