2010 Filmz (Part One)

Alright, alright. I know what you’re thinking. But this is just for a transitional period more than anything else. The next one won’t be about films. Pinky promise.

Anywho, I figure that a good way to get back into the blogging mood would be to revert back to my filmic roots and go through all the 2010 new releases I’ve seen so far and offer up brief comments on them.

The Wolfman (Joe Johnston)
After spending what might as well have been an eternity in development hell, it’s somewhat understandable that the final cut of this film plays a little bit bipolar, to say the least. Reflecting the radically different influences in direction it had on its way to completion, it has the look and feel of a gothic period romance, random bursts of Burtonesque dark humor, and the ultra excessive splatterfest gore of a mid-1970s exploitation flick. I’d like to say that all of these unrelated tonal shifts add up to a one-of-a-kind whole, but I’d be lying. Although if you can get past some jarring changes in mood, it somehow manages to work amazingly well in all the areas that count the most. All in all, it probably could [and should] have been better, but still reasonably entertaining.

Alight, brief disclaimer here: for all like 3 people I’ve made aware of this blogs resurfacing, if you haven’t seen Shutter Island yet, skip this next part. This is one of those films that is damn near impossible to critique without discussing the ending. Not giving it away, just discussing it, as in making reference to it. Problematically, it’s not a terribly original or shocking of a reveal, so if you don’t heed my warning and stop here, you’ll probably figure it out.

Shutter Island (Martin Scorsese)
But yeah, Shutter Island is fantastic. I’ve always found director Martin Scorsese to be at his best when he branches off from his preferred comfort zone of gangster flicks (The Last Temptation of Christ > Goodfellas, yo), and Shutter Island is as versatile as it gets. Even with the films final outcome and resolution oddly coming off as trite and commonplace, it probably matters the least upon first viewing. The most important thing about it is watching classic director Martin Scorsese shed new light on the “Haunted House” horror staple. Given all that, this film is easily one of the most successful fusions of both psychological and old school horror in quite some time. And the sooner you accept that Scorsese isn’t interested in blowing your mind with screenplay structure gymnastics, the easier you’ll appreciate him blowing your mind with everything else. True, those looking for profound depth won’t find it, because Shutter Island ultimately wants to freak you the hell out and look damn good doing it. In that respect, it succeeds mightily.

Alice in Wonderland (Tim Burton)
Superlative-wise, this film is for Tim Burton what Avatar was for James Cameron; a few dozen [metaphorical] baby steps in a more technological direction for said filmmaker. What separates this from the likes of James Cameron's latest output is that Avatar still had what made Cameron popular in the first place appearing in more than just fragments. On paper, the same could be said for Alice in Wonderland, with all the frequent Burton collaborators on board. Unfortunately, with regards to a few instances of Burton leaving his mark on familiar elements from the original Disney film, there isn’t much here that couldn’t have been done similarly by anybody else who knows how to use CGI. Basically, Alice falls into the same camp as The Wolfman; a hodge-podge of elements that work and ones that feel oddly out of place. Only this time, it’s much more difficult to pinpoint the exact concepts that do and don’t work, since this film is coming from someone who knows how to handle material like this in a way that would satisfy both himself and the people he's working under. All in all, it was an interesting disappointment, although it’s reasonable to assume that Disney is more to blame for the major shortcomings than Burton is.

w00t.