Guilt and Innocence: A daily primer

Finding Neverland

I went to see Finding Neverland this weekend, in the lovely Jesse-Wrech auditorium for a dollar, of course.

For those of you who really don't care about my half-assed reviews of every bit of media I consume in my life, I'll give you the two-point review:

1. Johnny Depp is a god among men and I love him.
2. After all the two and a half and three hour movies I've seen lately, I welcome the return of the hour and a half movie.

Now, for those of you who are willing to indulge me:

This was an irresistibly adorable movie. Though I am admittedly ridiculously attracted to Johnny Depp, I am also consistently impressed with his ability to act. There's a moment in the movie when he is supposed to be playing as a pirate with the boys, so I expected him just to slip into the character of Jack Sparrow, but he still managed to act as J.M. Barrie acting as a pirate. I believe he did a fairly decent job of capturing the spirit of J.M. Barrie.

The various imagined excursions in the movie give the whole film this whimsical feel. Perhaps almost too much so, as the movie feels closer to a fairy tale than the real-life tale it's supposed to be. Which is not to say that the movie does not have dark moments as well. Much of the movie is tinted with the themes of death, dying, and marital estrangement. But even most of these themes are handled with a beautiful whimsical sentiment.

This movie was definitely wonderful the first time through, but I'm not convinced that it can maintain the same whimsy on multiple viewings, but I'm willing to find out.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

The trailer for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is on Amazon.com, today.

I have to admit that I've been anxiously awaiting news about this movie. The Hitchhiker's Guide... has always been one of my favorite books and I was excited to see a movie adaptation. "Was" being the key word. After watching that trailer I'm extremely aprehensive. However, I will not give up hope. After all, John Malkovich has a role, and if anyone can save a movie, it's John Malkovich.

I found this to be true...

Stolen from Jason's site:

In a Pixar Interview: ""I think that movies are mirrors, and what people find in them usually says more about the viewer than the movie."

I have always found this to be true of myself. The movies I like I always like because I can seem myself in some character or believe that it speaks to some part of my life. I've always believed you can learn a lot about a person by simply learning what movies they watch, what books they read, what albums they listen to, and what pieces of art they appreciate. What we like and identify with says a lot about who we are.

Perhaps I'll work on compiling some lists of my favorites, so you can get a peak at who I am.

The Life Aquatic

Just got back from seeing The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou with Brendan, Josh, and Joe, which try as I might to like, I just couldn't.

I like Wes Anderson, and I loved The Royal Tennenbaums. I generally like Bill Murray as well, but I just can't bring myself to like The Life Aquatic. It was definitely funny at times, but overall it was long and boring. None of the characters are sympathetic and when there's nothing to laugh at, well there's nothing to maintain interest.

Of course the lack of comedy is doubly upsetting, because this movie is supposed to be funny, so it feels like being left out of a joke. It's one of those movies I try so desperately to like because I feel dull and uncultured for not liking it. Perhaps, I just missed out on the satirizing of adventure documentaries, which might be, oh because I've never seen an adventure documentary. But, truthfully, who has?

In all, The Life Aquatic gets a sigh from Kim, and a recommendation to watch it at your own risk.