Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Buckets and Gloops and Salts ... OH MY!

In the movie watching marathon that has characterized the summer thus far, Charlie and the Chocolate factory is only the latest. Based by the book of the same name by Roald Dahl ... and NOT a remake of the 1971 Gene Wilder film ... Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a fanciful tale of pure joy and psychedelic-ness. Both have a distinct feeling of trippiness. I have unfortunately never read the book, but I hope to some day. And, sure, you can expect a review of it!

So, I love Tim Burton. And I love Johnny Depp. As an added bonus, I love Tim Burton and Johnny Depp when they work together. Suffice it to say, I love this film. I love it as much as I love Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Maybe I even love it more.

It was tons of fun. The most fun I think came at the beginning of the movie when we are meeting the Buckets. Good-hearted Charlie is played very well by little Freddy Highmore who, now has two winning roles alongside Johnny Depp (Finding Neverland being the other of course). Depp is fabulous as always ... and not nearly as creepy as Ebert and Roeper made him out to be. In fact, I think Gene Wilder was a creepier Willy Wonka (please see the scene in the boat ....whoa, scary). And I LOVE Christopher Lee and the Mr. Wonka senior.

I always get a kick out of Burton's visuals. My favorite in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was the scene where poor Veruca Salt gets her due ... at the paws of squirrels (bad nut, not a bad egg as in the '71 film). Plus there is a really nice gag about whipped cream.

Now lets talk about those Oompa-Loompa's. No longer weirdly orange, they were all played by Deep Roy. I read somewhere that Roy and Burton filmed each Oompa-Loompa in a scene separately using stand-ins who were later removed and replaced with Roy's work. A nice trick and much better than just copying and pasting Roy doing the same thing over and over again. Plus the songs were highly entertaining, especially Augustus Gloop's. I understand that the songs were pulled from Dahl's poems in the book.

Overall, I enjoyed myself immensely. Good fun, good acting, classic Burton. My only regret is not having a big bag o' candy to enjoy while I was watching the film!

Last Words: much fun, I highly recommend it, totally need it for my DVD collection

Fantastic Four

Okay, I admit, I was so excited about Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince that I just ignored writing an opinion about the Fantastic Four. So, here it is.

Fantastic Four is the latest in Marvel Comics' film adaptations. It is the story of five folks who, in the name of science, go in to space to do some research, get blasted by a freaky cloud and have their DNA altered as a result. Four of them turn out pretty fantastic and one, well perhaps fantastically evil is the right way to put.

So, I will get to straight to the point, mostly because I want to write about Charlie and the Chocolate Factory next. And, be prepared to brace yourselves. (I might say "yourself" because I think there is only one person who regularly reads this blog!). In terms of books and movies, it seems I have given mostly positive reviews. But...

While Fantastic Four was entertaining and watchable, it really wasn't all that super of a movie. Contributing the most to this is the cheese factor. The movie is ultra campy and corny. Most jokes, I could see coming from a mile away. The movie wasn't thrilling or action-packed. It did have it's action ... but ... eh. Also, the special effects were none too special. Especially the lightning. If you've seen it, you know what I mean.

I think maybe I was too impressed by thrills, action and effects of War of the Worlds to be impressed by Fantastic Four. Totally different types of movies, for sure. But still, the formula just wasn't working. I was prepared, however, having read several reviews calling the movie "sitcom-like". That's a good way to put it. Interestingly enough, the movie does end with the obligatory set up for the sequel. I might even venture to say there will be one, since the movie did reasonable well at the box office. Who knows, it could pull an X-men type coup. X-2 was a lot better than X-Men!

Anyway...

Last Words: It was okay, I recommend you Netflix it, it won't be added to my DVD collection.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

So last night, at about 11:10ish I left my happy little domicile for my local Barnes and Noble. Basically, the store was packed. I did reserve my copy and due to my apparent late arrival, I was the 238th person to check in. Despite all that, It only took about 30 minutes to get my book. The Barnes and Noble folks are troopers. I am sure it was insanity for them.

At any rate, I got my book (as well as couple of non magical sort of books), my poster and went on my marry way. Apparently, there were supposed to have been wristbands to those who reserved, but ... whatever.

So, of course I began immediately. And except to get a good night's sleep and some lunch, I didn't stop reading until I was done. That's the magic of J.K. Rowling's writing. After getting into the book, the general hype and excitement of finding out what happened had dwindled. What replaced the it, was excitement at have a darn good read.

Rowling, as always, captures everything vividly and honestly. It is obvious how much thought she has put into the entire series. And, as promised, this book ties so many loose ends from previous books. It also will make fans desperate for book seven as more questions are raised. The least of those being how it will all end.

I will not reveal any details of the book. Mostly because you really must read it! And I hate stumbling onto reviews that take all the fun away. Suffice it to say Rowling is as funny and brilliant as ever. Many wonder if she would be able to keep the Harry Potter magic alive and she does not disappoint.

A final note though ... this is indeed the darkest book yet and if you have little ones reading it, beware. That, I will say is something nice about Rowling. Despite her fictional world, she writes life as it is: it is has its good, its fun, its bad, its evil ... and its ends.

Last Words: Very good, I highly recommend it, in fact, read them all!

War of the Worlds

Yes, I saw it. Even though I was tempted not too. Tom Cruise has been pretty scary lately. Used to love the guy. But now ... eh. I like USA Today's opening line in their review: "War of the Worlds is even scarier than Tom Cruise's behavior lately." Funny stuff, but I still think Tom Cruise's behavior is scarier!

At any rate, War of the Worlds is summer blockbuster at its most blockbustiessness. It is based, of course, on the 107 year old book by H.G. Wells and updated to touch on our fears of terrorism and our new-found knowledge of life on Mars. (Our new alien invader friends are from an unknown planet.)

So, more than anything, this is a Steven Spielberg movie. And he, my friends, is a fantastic director. He rarely gets something wrong. And it terms of summer blockbuster, he absolutely hits the nail on the head. He always seems to work well with kids and Dakota Fanning is pretty darn good little actress as it is. The action is intense, and much like he did in Saving Private Ryan, Speilberg captures it in a gritty hand-held sort of way. I was constantly on the edge of my seat.

Spielberg's movies always have an element of family and War of the Worlds is no exception. Actually, I think the movie is mostly about family. About a father's (a not so great father at that) attempt to save his kids no matter what. I have read where some critics have said that then ending is a bit anticlimactic in how the aliens are finally defeated. If you were wondering how the aliens would be defeated, then I am sure it was. But, if you were wondering, like I was, how they would all survive, then it sort of makes sense.

Now, the movie isn't anywhere near Oscar worthy in terms of script and certainly the plot leaves a bit to be desired. Some say the part of the movie with Tim Robbins was distracting, I saw it as important to the family theme. But, I think this was a movie meant to entertain. And entertain it did.

Last Words: better than Star Wars, I recommend it, beware of tripods.