Water for Elephants (2011, U.S.)

I have been looking forward to this film for ages. On one hand, I was very nervous about them ruining one of the best books of all time. (It's definitely in my top 3, if not my favorite book, period.) On the other hand, such a powerful story with the fascinating, detailed description of Water for Elephants has a lot of potential for greatness. (And with a knockout tagline like "Life is the most spectacular show on earth," it better live up to that potential!) I was also one of the few people who cheered for the casting of Rob Pattinson. (Twilight aside, he is a brilliant, brilliant actor. See: Little Ashes, Remember Me, The Bad Mother's Handbook, The Haunted Airman, and even Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.) I was actually more hesitant about Reese Witherspoon, although I do love her too.

So what's the verdict? It was a beautiful film. It wasn't the book, but it was a fairly strong adaptation. (It was one of the best since Gone with the Wind, I'm tempted to say—and about a thousand times better than the adaptation of The Time Traveler's Wife.) Mostly what was lost were the details of riding the rails, life in a circus, and relationships between characters. It wasn't enough to take away from the story, just enough that it didn't have the same sense of total immersion I felt while reading the book. (One detail that really bothered me was the number of liberty horses in Marlena's act. The description in the book really stuck with me, and my memory tells me she had 12. In the film, she only had 4. It's not that her act wasn't good, it's just that it was supposed to be the main attraction and didn't have the same grandeur I expected. Even 6 would have been okay, but 4 was too few! Yes, I am picky.) The only other thing really missing was on-screen time for Old Jacob. His thoughts on aging were real gems, and I wish Hal Holbrook had more of an opportunity to make the old man shine as much as the young one.

On the subject of actors, wow. Perhaps I'm biased, but I thought Pattinson was stellar. He captured the innocence, uncertainty, and compassion that are so definitive of Jacob's character. Reese Witherspoon was also wonderful and quite lovely. I've read that many people think they lacked chemistry, but I thought they had a sort of quiet chemistry, and their love for each other was built through their mutual love of animals. On that front, three cheers for Tai, the elephant who played Rosie. The Jacob/Marlena relationship would have been lost without her. The real unexpected talent came from Christoph Waltz, who I vaguely remember from Inglorious Basterds. (I was too busy trying to work out the plot of that movie to appreciate the acting, I suppose.) He was phenomenal as August. From his abusive rages to broken tears, from suave charmer to ruthless businessman, he didn't overact anything but truly conveyed that August was subtly but undeniably insane. Unfortunately for him, the script focused more on Jacob and Marlena, underwriting his part, which also served to cloud his motivation a bit as the climax approaches. Waltz did a lot with a little, in my opinion. I feel safe in going ahead to predict another Best Supporting Actor Oscar for this performance.

I don't even know where to begin on the costumes and sets. They were breathtaking. From the Cornell classroom to the home of Polish immigrants to the hospital to the forest to the train to the bigtop to the Chicago speakeasy to the office of the modern day circus, everything was perfect. The train, especially, seemed to almost be its own character. The costumes ranged from beautiful to grungy, simple to elaborate. Marlena's performance ensemble was an especially strange one, but kind of fun. And Reese Witherspoon was absolutely stunning in every costume, from simple clothes with a brightly polka-dotted scarf in her hair to form-fitting silk evening gown. August's ringmaster's get-up was probably the most circus-y element of the entire film, and I loved it.

The one thing I was surprised to be disappointed by was the score. James Newton Howard is one of my all-time favorite composers. While he's had some average scores with average movies, he's also given some wonderful films the extra push to make them truly great. (Two examples are Defiance, which had the most hauntingly beautiful score that makes my heart break when I listen to it, and the 2003 Peter Pan, which has such a magical score I can almost believe in fairies.) It's not that this was a bad score; in fact, it was quite good, and much stronger than countless other composers could have provided. I guess I was expecting this score to do for the circus the same thing that his Peter Pan score did for Neverland—bring it alive, transport me to the world of the film even when I'm not watching it. It just didn't quite cross that threshold, though it has some very nice themes (see especially "Did I Miss It?" and "Circus Fantasy"). I hate criticizing him, because I would have praised the efforts of any other composer on this score. I just expect something more from him, I guess.

In short, this was a beautiful, gritty, romantic, heartbreaking, powerful film, and I loved it. I may have even given it 5 stars if it wasn't based on a novel. I can't wait to see it again (especially because I don't always appreciate/enjoy a film as much if I've been anticipating it for so long—that anticipation can make it awfully difficult to focus). I also can't wait to read the book for a third time; the sooner the better.

*Special note: I have to say that for anyone who lives in NoVA or Texas and is lucky enough to be near an Alamo Drafthouse theater, you must see it there. The circus-themed preshow included a flea circus cartoon, a Droopy cartoon, an excerpt from Dumbo, Charlie Chaplin, Groucho Marx, and two songs from the Elvis flick Roustabout, among a few other things. It was awesome!*

Rating: 4.5

Up (2009, U.S.)

I really, really liked this film. It was funny, sad, beautiful, touching, engaging, lovely. A man who misses his wife decides to go on a journey to South America that they'd always planned together, and he travels by house, attached to a zillion balloons. The possibilities are truly endless here, aren't they?

The animation was awesome. The voice talent was spot-on. Good jokes. Suitable for small children but probably even more enjoyable for their parents. What more can I say?

There were a few parts that were just a bit too much for me, such as the ridiculous talking dogs. Still, the good stuff outweighed these goofy bits enough to make it a really enjoyable movie.

Oh, and the short played before the film, about clouds making babies for storks to deliver to earth, was priceless.

Rating: 4.0

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008, U.S.)

This film was truly stunning. It was creative and original. The cinematography was beautiful. The acting was fantastic. The makeup is a shoo-in for an Oscar for sure. The music could have been stronger, considering it was composed by Alexandre Desplat (one of my favorites), but it was really wonderful too.

I cannot say enough about Cate Blanchett and Brad Pitt—they are truly phenomenal actors. Both play their characters from their mid-teens to very old age (although in Pitt's case, his external and internal ages are the exact opposite), and they do so in the most convincing manner, even down to aging their voices.

The plot of this film was multi-layered. On the one hand, you have a man who is discovering himself and life in a much different way than everyone else does. He is lonely and feels like an outcast because of his special circumstances. He is wise as a "young man" because he's learned so much from the perspective of an elderly man. On the other hand, you have a great love story about star-crossed lovers who have terrible timing but who are fated to be together. And if you had a third hand, on that hand would be the meaning of family and its discovery in unlikely places. Life lessons and romance all mixed together with a mostly serious—though sometimes playful—tone.

If I had to recommend one movie from 2008, this would probably be it. I look forward to seeing how many Oscars this one can grab!

Rating: 5.0

The Man on the Train / L'Homme du train (2002, France)

What an interesting film. It was quite slow and required a lot of thinking (at least if one was to appreciate it fully), and I'm afraid I was a bit too exhausted to be watching it when I did. However, I did enjoy it. It was about a bank robber and a retired French teacher who met randomly and wished they could have the other's life. It was quite subtle and required the viewer to read much further into little conversations and actions. Several days after viewing it, I am left with only a vague feeling of the whole, which is probably why I have so little to say about it. I will say that the ending was a total surprise, and quite incongruent to the rest of the film. But it was decidedly the best part. Interesting.

Rating: 3.5

The Bucket List (2007, U.S.)

This was one of those movies that I figured I would watch if the opportunity ever presented itself, but I wouldn't be crushed if I never saw it. This was mostly because I love Morgan Freeman and hate Jack Nicholson. Though the previews looked good, I couldn't quite get over that Jack Nicholson bit. So my mom wanted to watch this, so I watched it with her.

Well, the movie was okay. It had some slightly funny parts, some parts that were quite moving, and some Morgan Freeman. (Really, you can't say no to him.) Also Sean Hayes was in it briefly, and I love him too. But mostly, this movie could have used more of everything. More humor, more drama, more character development, more Morgan Freeman. Ha ha.

The ending was beautiful, however, and I thought it almost made up for the weakness of the rest of the movie. Overall, it was entertaining and a good little movie. Not an award-winner or anything, but good enough.

Rating: 3.0