you've lost your...much-ness...

Along with every mallrat Hot Topic shopping teenager, I too was pretty excited about Tim Burton's latest "re-imagining" of Alice in Wonderland. I've always been a fan of Burton and his style, extending into the awesome art he's done (I wish I had a way to get the MoMA in NY to see his exhibit), but lately I've been kind of wishing he would get back to doing more original work. He hasn't put out anything I would say was particularly bad (I even defended his Wonka remake), but it just seems like the inspiration is starting to wane for him.

I will say right off the bat that visually the film is absolutely stunning. All the environments, costume designs, and set designs just ooze Burton's style and it really is beautiful. That being said, I miss Burton's practical effects. With most things I tend to be a big fan of practical effects vs. CG effects anyway, depending on the situation of course. I just love the way real objects draw you into the universe so much more (for example look at the machinery in the lab of Edward Scissorhands...it just makes everything seem so much more real). There are a lot of subtle CG things that he implements very well, like making the Red Queen's head gigantic, and making Crispin Glover somehow even more tall and lanky than he actually is. I understand that nowadays with schedules for films getting more and more demanding that you have to use CG to speed up some processes, and obviously for large-scale things it just makes sense, but it just gets frustrating with Burton because I know he's such a talented artist and to see his amazing trees and things like that not actually existing makes me sad. Also, the Tweedles just look wrong. I don't know how you could make characters that shape and make them look "right," but that is not it. But again, my own personal nitpicks aside, it really does look beautiful.

I think the standout problem to me with the film is that it just seems that it's lacking things. Much the same way as Charlie and the Chocolate factory, Burton based his version of this classic story on the original Lewis Carroll book, but still paid a few homages to the well-known and well-loved Disney cartoon. Now, I admittedly haven't read the book so I can't critique it as a direct adaptation of the book, but even having not read it, I just feel like there was a lot left out. I didn't really get that scale and the scope of Wonderland as a whole. Not that it would be all that exciting to see people traveling from place to place, but it just seemed like they wanted to make sure they hit the highlights, and let the in between things fall through the cracks. For instance I want to know the reach of the Red Queen's power. How did she come to power? If the White Queen doesn't rule anymore, how come she still has a bitchin' castle? You get a hint of the Red Queen using her Jabberwocky to burn one village. How much more did she destroy with that guy? What the hell is a Jabberwocky? Sure they're not necessary plot points, but I think it would add to the depth of scale of the world.

In the same lacking vein, I feel like one of the classic scenes from the animated film (and, from what I've heard, from the book as well), the tea party scene didn't seem to have the intended effect. There were no logical paradoxes, with the exception of "why is a raven like a writing desk?" and it seems out of place without the rest of the paradoxes being there. Those logic problems were a keystone of the whole scene, even the whole story, so it was a shame to see it watered down so much. The scene didn't have the crazy, frantic feel I thought it should have either. I feel like that scene should be the most confusing, sensory overload scene, but instead they just went for confusing. The hare was hilarious, but it just wasn't quite enough. I did very much enjoy the use of the nonsensical Wonderland "language" but for the most part everybody seems to be saying these made-up words under their breath so you find yourself wondering if you're supposed to know what they're saying or not.

It seems like I'm coming down pretty hard on it, but really those are just things that disappointed me, and although I really did still enjoy the movie, if those problems were addressed it could have been a great movie and that's what bugs me. One thing I will say this film actually did better than the animated version was keeping that sense of parallel situations going on in Wonderland vs. what's going on in the real world. Not in a Wizard of Oz kind of way with characters playing the same people in the alternate reality, just situational. It was very interesting and very well done. As I said, visually it was fantastic, and the performances were fantastic as well. Mia Wasikowska was a real standout as Alice, along with Burton's two significant others: Helena Bonham Carter and Johnny Depp. Although I did think it was a bit strange when Depp's mad hatter would randomly become Scottish from time to time.

Again, I did really enjoy it, and I recommend checking it out. It's just a bummer when just some minor tweaks and maybe making the film slightly longer could have turned it from 'pretty good' to 'great.' Hot Topic should still probably make out ok though.

Why are you all wet, baby?

I was pretty excited about Shutter Island, but I got worried when it got delayed by so long for "budgetary" reasons. It just makes you wonder why the studio couldn't come up with the money to promote the movie. Did they feel like it wasn't worth supporting? So because of that, I went in pretty wary and prepared for it to disappoint. It didn't.

By this point everyone can at least agree that Martin Scorsese is a brilliant director, so I won't even bother going into how beautifully shot the movie is. He did make some strange selections in the way of music, however. It's interesting because everything visually on the screen is being used to create this moody, sullen atmosphere, but then at times you're just beaten over the head with this overly dramatic Psycho-esque music. It almost makes you want to find the orchestra playing off screen and tell them to chill out.

The film follows our main character, Teddy Daniels, a U.S. Marshall, who is played by Leonardo DiCaprio. I was very afraid that his attempt at a bah-ston accent would kill it for me but it really didn't bother me too much. I got too wrapped up in the rest of the plot. Anyway, Teddy is coming to the mysterious Shutter Island which houses Ashecliff, a mental institution for the criminally insane, to investigate an inmate (patient) who has apparently escaped under very...unorthodox...circumstances. He is on this mission with his partner, Chuck, played by Mark Ruffalo. Throughout the movie I couldn't figure out why Ruffalo had become such a stiff actor, but once you get to the end you realize his character is probably just bored with the situation (it makes sense, I promise). When the Marshalls get to the island, they are greeted by Sir Ben Kingsly, who plays the chief psychiatrist Dr. Cawley. He then explains the situation to the Marshalls. It really is great to see Kingsly in sort of a return to form. He's been kind of picking some strange projects as of late, but he really shines in this role.

After a short time, the disappearance of the patient takes a bit of a back seat to the real intentions that Mr. Daniels had in coming to the island. I won't go into those reasons for fear of spoilers, but it has to do with Teddy's now deceased wife. Once we get to that point, the pace really takes off and becomes a real thriller mystery movie. It's interesting to me because I felt like the whole cast and the film itself had to kind of settle into itself for maybe the first third of the movie during the exposition. Everybody (not just Ruffalo) seemed a little stiff, or maybe just a little off to me for a little while but then once they settled in the film had my undivided attention. Especially when Teddy makes his way to the mysterious 'Ward C' where the most violent patients are kept. There's some really intense stuff going on in Ward C (including a kickass cameo by Rorschach himself, Jackie Earle Haley...that dude is everywhere right now!) but it never strays into that horror cliche of "gotcha" moments. There are a couple jumpy things but they certainly fit in and don't seem out of place with the rest of the mood.

Throughout Teddy's searching for whatever it is he's searching for, he is constantly having to butt heads with Dr. Cawley and his associate, Dr. Naehring (played by Max von Sydow, who's awesome), and they always seem like they're hiding...something. There's a great side story of the internal battle in the field of psychiatry that Dr. Cawley is involved in between pharmacotherapy (using drugs to treat mental illness) and simply talking to the patients as a way of therapy. It seems like a tacked on bit of information at first but again, by the time you get to the end you realize it is very, very important.

Speaking of that ending...is it the greatest twist ever? Not really, but the execution is expertly done. It's one of those things that you see coming pretty early but they drop so many other little tidbits that make you second guess yourself and wonder about what's really going on right up to the reveal. That's vague I know, but I don't want to be the guy on here saying Bruce Willis was dead the whole time. So, with an odd musical selection and a story that will keep you guessing until the very end, Shutter Island is a beautifully executed film that I really can't wait to check out again to see what kind of little things I missed the first time. I kind of wish I would have read the book it was adapted from, but with stories with twists in them, what's the fun of knowing what's coming, right?