Hushpuppy is a magical, brave little girl living in a harsh, unsettling world. She narrates her own mythical life among her peopleâ┚¬â€Âthe nearly homeless, resourceful, undereducated, proud, alcoholic and probably mentally ill.
They live in a Louisiana swamp where they create boats, homes and schools out of the junk all around them. They don't even have the wherewithal to leave when a hurricane is on its way.
I wish little indie films like this won Oscars. I wish they got seen.
Young Wallis and her dad Henry are brilliant in their roles. Their hideously ugly land also possesses mysticism and voodoo that fires the little girl's overactive imagination. Her hard-drinking father sometimes goes missing for days. At other times, his fearful love teaches Hushpuppy the toughness and resourcefulness that anyone needs to survive in the swamps.
BotSWâ┚¬â€Âdirected by first-timer Benh Zeitlinâ┚¬â€Âis overflowing with ugly magic. His eye feels like Terry Gilliam directed a documentary about Louisiana backwater people. A boat is fashioned out of a rusty truck bed. A floating school's roof is covered with broken boards on end, like porcupine's quills. A trailerâ┚¬â€Âa child's home and play landâ┚¬â€Âteeters on a giant propane tank. These fanciful, hideous visions won the film a special award at Cannes.
BotSW is about imagination and ingenuity in the worst situations. BofSW also respects its crazy people, despite their self-destruction. It may frustrate and inspire you. It wins hearts by breaking them.
The good scenes are like 1940s Warner Brothers cartoons.
Blue Sky Studiosâ┚¬â€Âthe creators of four entertaining Ice Age filmsâ┚¬â€Âaren't very interested in character and arc. They love slapstick, and they build their movies to make us giggle.
That's not a bad thing. Bugs Bunny and Road Runner don't really have any deeper goals, and we love them. Among these great comic voicesâ┚¬â€ÂLeguizamo and Sykesâ┚¬â€Âthere are some that just don't add spark to the animation, like Lopez and the otherwise brilliant Emmy-winner Dinklage.
This time the woolly mammoth Romano and his family (Latifah, Parker) are separated by the instant breaking up of the continents. (Apparently, this only took a few hours. There's a hilarious bit with the squirrel Skrat on how that happened.) Papa mammothâ┚¬â€Âwith his saber-tooth pal Leary and sloth friend Leguizamoâ┚¬â€Âare set adrift on an iceberg. They try to get back to their families, but then they run into evil pirate ape Dinklage and his crew.
It doesn't make any sense at all, but then it's not really supposed to. In fact, I wish they'd ditched the shallow theme of family bonding, concentrating on the more successful cartoon violence and sight gags.
This comic focus would've needed a more versatile actress than Lopez. Most certainly, they would've never asked Dinklage to sing a big showstopper; that was just painful and dull.
You say you want a revolution? Well, The Dark Knight Risesâ┚¬â€Âmaybe not all the way to the top, but pretty darn closeâ┚¬â€Âto give us a cautionary tale about anarchy, what we pass on and what we cannot leave behind. Occupiers, beware!
Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman has sequestered himself after having taken a bad rap. (Remember, it's the price he pays for creating Ledger's Joker and not having the balls to kill him.) However, after eight peaceful years, a crazed mercenary (Hardy) and a sexy cat burglar (a surprisingly strong Hathaway) have called the Bat out of retirement. Good thing too, because someone plans to destroy Wayne's beloved metropolis and all its rich fuddy-duddies, starting with the stock market.
Director/co-writer Christopher Nolan and his co-writer brother Jonathan always create stronger themes than other comic book films. So, it's slightly disappointing that this slightly overcomplicated final flick doesn't have a standout performance like Ledger, nor does it have a nagging question like the Dark Knight did about moral absolutism. Also, I could whine about how the Nolans' borrowed from Dickens and Hugo, but I'll leave that up to the fan blogs.
The action and acting are amazing; the plot twist is fun, and the entire long film is decidedly grim. That's what happens when you're deciding whether to wipe the slate clean, destroy the world or pass it on. Nolan did the latter.
