It was hard not to be excited about the prospect of Tim Burton taking on Alice in Wonderland. It is a dark and twisted tale, inspired by a drug trip, that takes place in a world that makes no sense. How perfect for Tim Burton. To add further fuel to my arousal, the early stills were breathtaking, which I posted about previously.
What I got:
When you first meet Alice (Mia Wasikowska,) she is now a grown woman of 20, so already you know not to expect the same story as in the book or in the original animated Disney classic. She shows early signs of being at odds with her Edwardian lifestyle, and when she finds herself on the receiving end of a proposal of marriage in front of hundreds of people, she has no choice but to take a moment to investigate a rabbit in a waistcoat that keeps beckoning her, instead of accepting the offer.
What follows is a wonderous romp through the looking glass, Tim Burton style.
Everyone is older now, and the politics between the queens has deteriorated into open war. My favorite character in the whole movie is the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter.) She is wonderfully preposterous with her huge head and short temper. Anne Hathaway plays the White Queen and she lets out some of her disturbing side, which is new and very welcome. Johnny Depp is scene-stealing as the Mad Hatter and the voice talents of Stephen Fry and Alan Rickman are put to good use as the Cheshire Cat and the Blue Caterpillar respectively. Crispin Glover is Stayne, the Red Queens knight and right hand man and he does a good job of the role. I am not much of a Crispin Glover fan, but he does well here.
The art direction is the true star of this movie. It is so lush and fully realized that it takes your breath away. Lewis Carroll would be truly pleased to see his characters comport themselves in such a marvelous world. Tim Burton has truly created a masterpiece in Alice in Wonderland. This one is worth seeing on the big screen and a must for the DVD collection as well.
Niels Hansen is the co-owner of Hansen Creative Services, a graphic design firm near Columbus, Ohio which specializes in employee communications and small business marketing.
Rick Riordan has written a series of five wonderful and funny young adult books featuring Percy Jackson and the Olympians. The series does not rival Harry Potter in writing craft or sheer wonder, but it is a fun ride and a great way to learn about Greek mythology. My daughter and I have enjoyed these books together and we wanted the movie to be just as wonderful. However, my heart was filled with dread when I learned that Chris Columbus was the director.
What I got:
I pretty much got exactly what I expected, which is a real shame. Chris Columbus should not be allowed near our favorite books. He was in charge of the early Harry Potter movies, and even if the magic was nicely portrayed, the acting was just horrible, especially from the kids. The Lightening Thief suffers from the exact same problem. The art direction is gorgeous, the special effects are what they should be and a fine cast was assembled, but he still manages to make an almost unwatchable mess out of it all, and fall way short of what it could have been.
The story is fairly straight forward, even if they did leave out most of the funny stuff from the books: Percy Jackson is the son of Poseidon but doesn’t know it. He is growing up in NYC with his single mom and her jerk boyfriend (Joe Pantoliano, who cannot be made to suck, even by the likes of Chris Columbus.) On a school fieldtrip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art Percy finds out that he is a demi-god after a fury threatens his life. She is working for Hades (god of the Underworld) and they believe that Percy has stolen Zeus’ lightening bolt, which he has not. His best friend Grover is revealed to be a satyr protecting him and Grover whisks Percy away to camp half-blood and safety. After finding his place at the camp, Percy accepts the quest to go find the lightening bolt and to bring it back to Zeus on Mount Olympus which is now located above the Empire State Building.
The cast is very strong. It features Uma Thurman as Medusa, Pierce Brosnan as Chiron (the trainer of heroes,) Rosario Dawson as Persephone (Hades wife) and the always delightful Catherine Keener as Percy’s mom – just to name a few. Unfortunately, these talented actors are slumming it here. All of them are capable of so much more. It is as if Columbus went with the first take of every scene without any exploration whatsoever. He specializes in the significant stare and it is on full display here. Pierce Brosnan is especially afflicted, and not just because he is literally acting with a horse’s ass.
The young actors playing Percy (Logan Lerman) and his best friends Grover (Brandon T. Jackson) and Annabeth (Alexandra Daddario) are all too old to be given the child actor treatment, which is clearly what Columbus did to them. I would venture to say that they as well could do so much more.
If you take your kids like I did, they will probably enjoy themselves, even if you, as a sentient human adult, may have trouble doing the same. Restroom breaks and popcorn runs can be your friend here. Just remember: You are doing it for the kids. You may have to repeat that more than once.
Niels Hansen is the co-owner of Hansen Creative Services, a graphic design firm near Columbus, Ohio which specializes in employee communications and small business marketing.
I honestly didn’t know what to expect of Dark Target. I knew it was an action movie produced here in Columbus and that the talent was local. I assumed the budget was meager and I also knew that the director, William Lee’s, last movie was a zombie flick called Demons Rising and I hoped that wouldn’t be the tenor of this one.
What I got:
Let me say up front that I was impressed. Dark Target offers some really good acting, a good script and cast and crew that obviously poured their heart and soul into the project.
On the other hand, it is obviously not the product of a slick Hollywood studio and you have to allow for that when it comes to some of the technical aspects of the movie. That is especially true of the special effects. The gunfire muzzle-flares and the resulting flying blood splatter are very cartoonish but could easily be remedied with a bigger budget and some higher-end post-production. It is also obvious that the crew just came off making a zombie movie. Some of the violence and gore is clearly rooted in that aesthetic but it doesn’t overwhelm the action. The actual language is also quite raw and it seems at times unnecessarily so.
Overall the camera work is quite nice. William Lee uses interesting angles and editing to make the movie exciting and to pull you through the scenes. Shaky-cam is not my favorite style, but in this case it helps keep the energy raw and to communicate the on-edge quality of the story itself.
It centers around an ex-CIA operative, Daniel Kane (Brian Spangler-Campbell,) who tries to get away from spying after he accidentally shoots his best friend in the line of duty. He quickly gets pulled into a sinister plot where rogue agents led by Commander Baker (Kim Carey) are trying to alter the racial makeup of the country through wholesale execution of blacks. Kane allies himself with a drug-kingpin (Rebecca Moore) and a former CIA doctor (Jennifer Stepp.) Together they take the fight to Baker and his rogue band of sadists.
Dark Target is a nice showcase for some strong Columbus actors. I was especially impressed with Jennifer Stepp as Doctor Mia Camara. She is stunning on screen and commands any scene that she’s in. Brian Spangler-Campbell is also very strong in the lead role and his combat skills are quite impressive. The same is true of Duane Gamble, Jr who plays one of the rogue agents. Kim Carey is wonderfully demented as Baker and Lonnie Gary gives us her all as his partner and lover.I also enjoyed Gavin Herscher as the evil Dr N’Kame. He was very convincing as a heartless sociopath.
It is great to see that Columbus can put out such a strong movie and that we have such talent right here in town. Dark Target is not for everyone but if you’re willing to give it a chance it will reward you for it.
Niels Hansen is the co-owner of Hansen Creative Services, a graphic design firm near Columbus, Ohio which specializes in employee communications and small business marketing.
I’m very excited about Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. Looks very cool! But I’m also dismayed that Chris Columbus is in charge of it. Hoping he doesn’t mangle it too badly. Check out the cool trailer here:
2010 Movies Reviews, On DVD | admin June 27, 2010 | 
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