bkimbrell0
Joined Aug 2008
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Reviews20
bkimbrell0's rating
Last year, 2008, DreamWorks Animation Studios pulled a fast one on all of us by offering up an animated film that seemed poised to steal the coveted Best Animated Picture award at this year's Oscars, Kung Fu Panda. Awards king Pixar Studios, however, wasn't about to let that one go unanswered, as they subsequently unleashed their greatest masterpiece yet, WALL-E, the critical darling of the year and would-be Best Picture candidate.
This year, freshly-minted animation studio Laika has delivered what is likely to be the greatest blow to Pixar in many a blue moon, Coraline. Director Henry Selick, known for his The Nightmare Before Christmas job, improves on his previous effort with superior animation, pacing, and storytelling. Selick has crafted here an entrancing and original piece of art that, I believe, will reign supreme in next year's Best Animated Feature Oscar category. Coraline manages to be quite subtle in its first half, with a slow-burning tension and quiet, offsetting realism most films only dream of achieving. The anticipation builds as a bizarre and charming cast of characters are introduced, with purposes not entirely disclosed until we reach the wholly surprising final half. This set-up is incredible, and the multiple payoffs are even more so.
At precisely the moment the audience is begging for the characteristic grotesqueness of Selick's stop-motion animation features, the film explodes in a torrent of surreal, chilling, effectively creepy sequences that are relentlessly inventive. From a very mysterious, shadowlike feline, to the frightening spider-themed villain. From a walk around the circumference of an imagined dreamland, to a haunting circus tent, to a nightmarish garden, the settings here act as their own characters with astounding effectiveness.
This film has an extraordinarily classic feel to it, which may elicit audience members to reach back into their subconsciousness, asking themselves, "where have I seen this movie before?" You haven't, you only think you have because the story is so intrinsic that it feels like an amalgamation of every children's story you've ever heard in your life. No, this film is strikingly original, and it feels right at home tucked into the recesses of our mind where those other disturbing and unforgettable tales reside.
With haunting intensity, Laika has managed to craft here one of the greatest animated films of the decade. As we continue to follow Laika's future projects, I am hopeful that the added competition exhibited by animated films in recent years will allow some of our finest filmmakers around to pump out more and more masterpieces. My prediction for 2009 is that Laika's Coraline will outdo Pixar's newest offering, Up, in critical praise, and end-of-the-year awards.
9.5/10
This year, freshly-minted animation studio Laika has delivered what is likely to be the greatest blow to Pixar in many a blue moon, Coraline. Director Henry Selick, known for his The Nightmare Before Christmas job, improves on his previous effort with superior animation, pacing, and storytelling. Selick has crafted here an entrancing and original piece of art that, I believe, will reign supreme in next year's Best Animated Feature Oscar category. Coraline manages to be quite subtle in its first half, with a slow-burning tension and quiet, offsetting realism most films only dream of achieving. The anticipation builds as a bizarre and charming cast of characters are introduced, with purposes not entirely disclosed until we reach the wholly surprising final half. This set-up is incredible, and the multiple payoffs are even more so.
At precisely the moment the audience is begging for the characteristic grotesqueness of Selick's stop-motion animation features, the film explodes in a torrent of surreal, chilling, effectively creepy sequences that are relentlessly inventive. From a very mysterious, shadowlike feline, to the frightening spider-themed villain. From a walk around the circumference of an imagined dreamland, to a haunting circus tent, to a nightmarish garden, the settings here act as their own characters with astounding effectiveness.
This film has an extraordinarily classic feel to it, which may elicit audience members to reach back into their subconsciousness, asking themselves, "where have I seen this movie before?" You haven't, you only think you have because the story is so intrinsic that it feels like an amalgamation of every children's story you've ever heard in your life. No, this film is strikingly original, and it feels right at home tucked into the recesses of our mind where those other disturbing and unforgettable tales reside.
With haunting intensity, Laika has managed to craft here one of the greatest animated films of the decade. As we continue to follow Laika's future projects, I am hopeful that the added competition exhibited by animated films in recent years will allow some of our finest filmmakers around to pump out more and more masterpieces. My prediction for 2009 is that Laika's Coraline will outdo Pixar's newest offering, Up, in critical praise, and end-of-the-year awards.
9.5/10
WOW, that is easily the most depressing film I saw this year, hands down. Michelle Williams and Lucy the Dog star as Wendy and Lucy, respectively, in this remarkably affecting drama about a poor, independent woman escaping from her undisclosed troubles and making her way to Alaska with her dog. All the two have in life is each other, money is tight, food is hard to come by, and sleeping in the car is the only option for Wendy. A devastating turn of events happens to Wendy, and Lucy subsequently goes missing, leading Wendy on a mission to recover the only companion she has in her life. Along the way, Wendy encounters indifferent individuals whose actions are driven by self-righteous attitudes, but Wendy also finds help in an unlikely place, a compassionate security guard. In many ways, Wendy and Lucy succeeds in areas where Bolt (2008) came up short, but they both approach their themes in very different ways. Wendy and Lucy is absolutely heartbreaking, forcing me to cry out "NO!" twice in its duration. The ending was an absolute shocker to me, and actually squeezed a few tears out of my eyes.
In this film, Lucy becomes a character in her own right, a brilliantly effective choice. Lucy becomes not just a symbol of everything Wendy loves in this world, but her only hope for survival. It is never specified, but the audience member is allowed to create an entire backstory behind these main characters. I like to believe that Lucy is a childhood pet of Wendy's, who helped Wendy through a difficult childhood, perhaps with abusive parents, in a foster home, whatever you would like to believe. It makes Wendy's situation that much more affecting. If you've ever felt like you have but one object in this world to turn to in times of trouble, and you've felt like escaping from chains that are holding you down, and beginning a new life for yourself someplace new. If you've ever felt so cut off from other individuals in this world, like screaming at the top of your lungs. If you've ever been placed in such a desperate situation, where your livelihood is threatened, and all that you love seems as though it is vanishing before you, you will undoubtedly shed a tear at this incredibly powerful drama about the connections humans make, the friendships we forge, and the sacrifices we must sometimes make.
9/10
In this film, Lucy becomes a character in her own right, a brilliantly effective choice. Lucy becomes not just a symbol of everything Wendy loves in this world, but her only hope for survival. It is never specified, but the audience member is allowed to create an entire backstory behind these main characters. I like to believe that Lucy is a childhood pet of Wendy's, who helped Wendy through a difficult childhood, perhaps with abusive parents, in a foster home, whatever you would like to believe. It makes Wendy's situation that much more affecting. If you've ever felt like you have but one object in this world to turn to in times of trouble, and you've felt like escaping from chains that are holding you down, and beginning a new life for yourself someplace new. If you've ever felt so cut off from other individuals in this world, like screaming at the top of your lungs. If you've ever been placed in such a desperate situation, where your livelihood is threatened, and all that you love seems as though it is vanishing before you, you will undoubtedly shed a tear at this incredibly powerful drama about the connections humans make, the friendships we forge, and the sacrifices we must sometimes make.
9/10
This is a graphic novel in film form. This is an animated film that doesn't know it's not live-action. Waltz with Bashir may very well be the most important film of 2008. Waltz with Bashir is a very personal memoir of the Lebanon War of 1982, with the accounts of writer/director/producer Ari Folman and various real life individuals who fought on Israel's side during their odyssey into the hellish nightmare that would await them in Lebanon. The film plays out documentary-style, featuring the likenesses and words of Ari Folman himself, and many others who have the most amazing stories to tell about their experiences in this war. The film begins as a friend of Ari Folman is describing a recurring nightmare he has had for the past 20 years that is connected to a traumatic experience he had in the Lebanon War. This telling jump-starts Ari's own memories, and prompts him to seek out others who he fought with in the war to try and put the pieces of a seemingly unsolvable puzzle together. The quest he undergoes will reveal startling truths, harrowing and gritty accounts by Israeli soldiers, and profound revelations.
One story in particular involving a man whose fellow soldiers were wiped out on a beach in Lebanon, and the man subsequently had to swim far out to sea and stay there until it was clear to swim back, particularly moved me. Waltz with Bashir pulls no punches at any time; the war action is just as bloody and graphic as anything you will see in live-action war films, and the film intelligently explores the atrocities committed on both sides, by both Israeli troops and Lebanese Phalangists. The film's soundtrack has the most brilliant combination of Classical, Israeli Rock, and Euro Dance, and the animation style is designed to look like a graphic novel. The film has very profound messages, as Ari begins to question whether finding out the truth and solving the puzzle is something that he truly wants to do. Wouldn't it be better to forget about the horrors of war and pretend it never happened? Luckily for us, Ari does not follow that route, instead confronting his past head-on by creating this brilliant film about his journey to uncover the truth.
The film culminates in Ari's profound revelation that he may have inadvertently contributed to a massacre committed by Christian Phalangists in Lebanon, and symbolizes this revelation with a single use of live-action at the film's climax. This use of live-action is absolutely devastating, and one of the most powerful scenes in film this year. This is an astounding film about war, traumatic memories, and regret that stands as one of the most important films about genocide since Hotel Rwanda and Schindler's List. If you have any means of seeing this film, do it now.
10/10
One story in particular involving a man whose fellow soldiers were wiped out on a beach in Lebanon, and the man subsequently had to swim far out to sea and stay there until it was clear to swim back, particularly moved me. Waltz with Bashir pulls no punches at any time; the war action is just as bloody and graphic as anything you will see in live-action war films, and the film intelligently explores the atrocities committed on both sides, by both Israeli troops and Lebanese Phalangists. The film's soundtrack has the most brilliant combination of Classical, Israeli Rock, and Euro Dance, and the animation style is designed to look like a graphic novel. The film has very profound messages, as Ari begins to question whether finding out the truth and solving the puzzle is something that he truly wants to do. Wouldn't it be better to forget about the horrors of war and pretend it never happened? Luckily for us, Ari does not follow that route, instead confronting his past head-on by creating this brilliant film about his journey to uncover the truth.
The film culminates in Ari's profound revelation that he may have inadvertently contributed to a massacre committed by Christian Phalangists in Lebanon, and symbolizes this revelation with a single use of live-action at the film's climax. This use of live-action is absolutely devastating, and one of the most powerful scenes in film this year. This is an astounding film about war, traumatic memories, and regret that stands as one of the most important films about genocide since Hotel Rwanda and Schindler's List. If you have any means of seeing this film, do it now.
10/10