"Alice In Wonderland" Review

Why it took Tim Burton this long to make a movie adaptation of “Alice In Wonderland” I’ll never know. Considering Burton’s previous accomplishments of making movies with weird worlds and isolated protagonists, it seems like he would have tackled Lewis Carol’s classic book years ago. But then back then he’d have to make sets to create the world he does here, which would have been tedious and expensive. Now he can just put his characters in front of a green screen for half the cost and just as nice a look. To say this movie looks great would be an understatement as for all the complaints Burton gets on his storytelling I hear very little complaints of his visual accomplishments.

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Back In The Game

After a month long break it's time to get ready for the 83rd Academy Awards.  As it stands there are still ten films that can be nominated for Best Picture, and already there are some early stand outs.  "Alice In Wonderland" is not likely to get any major awards nominations, but Tim Burton's latest should easily sneak into some of the visual effects categories.  Right now there are two movies that look like good potential Best Picture nominees: "Shutter Island" and "Greenberg."  "Shutter Island" would make perfect sense early on even in this game.  Yeah it's a horror film but it's also directed by Martin Scoresese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio.  Both these men look like they are potential Best Director and Best Actor nominees (respectively).

The other Best Picture potential is Noah Baumbach's critically acclaimed "Greenberg."  This movie has potential for nominees for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actress.  However if there's only one nomination for this film it very well could be for Ben Stiller's remarkable out-of-character performance as the title character.  Having finally found a role that shows he can be a serious actor, Stiller looks like a shoe-in for Best Actor at this point in time.  Other early potential nominees is Dreamworks "How To Train Your Dragon," which is threatening to defeat Pixar's winning streak in the Best Animated Feature category.

Also of note is Disney's critically acclaimed documentary "Waking Sleeping Beauty."  Though the Academy ignored the last Disney doc "The Boys: The Sherman Brothers," this new movie about Disney's great revival of their animation legacy in the late 80's is getting audiences to stand up cheering after the movie is over.  Chances are something more important might win the prize in the end, but this movie has the potential to get audiences behind it enough to get the nod.  The race may just be starting, but it's looking oh so promising already.

"Alice In Wonderland" Johnny Depp Trailer

I keep hearing how Disney plans to release multiple trailers for Tim Burton's upcoming "Alice In Wonderland" movie. Trailers starring Alan Rickman, Helen Boham Carter, and all those other famous people that are starring in the film. So far all the focus has been on Johnny Depp as The Mad Hatter. While I get the fact that Depp is famous and a big box office draw, focusing the ad campaign on him still strikes me as odd seeing that The Mad Hatter very much a supporting character, and too much Depp in the ads could prove fatal once the public realizes just how little of the film he's in.

"Coraline" Opens Big

Some of you may be worried that I'm jumping the gun a bit, but in my eyes "Coraline" has solidified it's status of being an early contender for the Best Animated Film Oscar for this year. The movie has opened to great reviews (88% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.com) and good box office (close to $5 in it's first day). Considering we live in a world of computer animation and fart jokes, this is pretty impressive. I wrote about the project when I first heard about it, and despite being in a position where I'm supposed to be agnostic about a films prospects, I had a good feeling about this film. The combination of stop-motion master Henry Selleck and graphic novel genius Neil Gaiman sounded like a recepeit for instant magic. I haven't seen the film yet. I was supposed to see it last night but there was a problem and I couldn't go. Now that word-of-mouth is out on how good this film is I feel more mad that I didn't get to see it last night.

I also feel "Coraline" is the first horse in a race that hasn't been interesting in years. I love Pixar as much as the next person, but it's frustrating to see them win every year. Of course, the only reason this is the case is because the competition normally doesn't step up to the plate to offer any real competition ("Persepolis" aside). This year we have "Coraline," we have the Tim Burton produced "9," we have the latest from Hayao Miyazaki "Ponyo On A Cliff," we have Disney's return to traditional animation "The Princess and the Frog," etc, etc...let's just say that Pixar's "Up" has some serious competition this year. Which is a good thing. Far too long the animated feature race has been too predictable and boring. This year it looks like animation is going to come fully swinging as something to be taken seriously. And who knows: Maybe "Up" will even receive a Best Picture nomination.

Update 2-8-2009: Well the numbers are in, and "Coraline" opened at number 3 with about $16 million dollars in it's first weekend. It made more money then "The Pink Panther 2" (which many predicted to be the number 1 movie this week), and judging on good word-of-mouth this movie should do very well in the coming weeks.

'Spidey 4' To Shoot In 2010

Getting the news straight from MTV is a report that actor J.K. Simmons has reveled that filming for Sony's much anticipated "Spider-Man 4" will begin shooting in 2010, with a 2011 release date planned. Though the article also mentions that director Sam Raimi, nor actors Toby McGuire and Kirsten Dunst, have officially signed on yet. I mean, really, what's going on? Are they signed on or not? Sony made a big deal when they announced that Raimi and McGuire were on board with the project, and Raimi was even bragging about the good deal he got (and his intention to end the series properly this time around). Dunst has always been in the air, but now these two are not fully commited? Folks, this is how Hollywood works: It's an endless sea of confusion. Someone could be attached to a project for years and never see it into production. Just ask Tim Burton, who did pre-production work on a new Superman movie for over a year and never saw a single frame of the movie filmed (Bryan Singer would eventually direct).

As for this article...hey, I'm just reporting what I see. I don't doubt Simmons comments (esspecially his comments on how he wants to stay a supporting character, seeing as he only does a couple weeks of work that way), but I do doubt MTV's reports about the cast and director. I find this earlier report from The Hollywood Reporter to be of more value, them being a magazine who specilizes in this sort of stuff. But you never know. Hopefully when the film is finished, and regardless of who stars and directs it, it will be as great as "Spider-Man 2," and they will have learned from a competing superhero franchise how to do serious comic book movies right.

"The Dark Knight" on NES?

Oh, and while we're talking about "The Dark Knight," a man named El Macbee created a fake intro for a fake NES game of "The Dark Knight," and what it would look like if Nintendo made it on their classic console. And yes, the end result is rather neat. Though we can't play this game, you can find lots of copies of the original "Batman" game based off the Tim Burton movie available, and that movie adaptation IS worth playing:

9

This is the trailer for the upcoming animated film "9," directed by Shane Acker and produced by Tim Burton. Oh, and the movie has an all-star cast including Elijah Wood, Jennifer Connelly, Academy Award winner Martin Landau, and many more. I know that we're already predicting that Pixar's "Up" is next years front-runner for Best Animated Feature, but looking at "Ponyo On A Cliff," "Coraline," and now "9," all I have to say it...woah, next years looks to be a very interesting year for animation.

Nerd Pays Tribute To Wood

For those of you who visit Cinemassacre there's a good chance you're going to that site to watch the online show "Angry Video Game Nerd." Created and starring James Rolf, AVGN is the ultimate show for fans of retro gaming. And I'm not talking about Playstation, Nintendo 64, or Dreamcast, I'm talking about classic Nintendo, Genesis, and Super Nintendo. This is what Cinemassacre is mostly known for, though other movies are posted on the site too. These range from video reviews, convention videos, and even original movies. Right now Rolf is in the middle of his Godzilla-Thon (with seven movies left to review including the Matthew Broadrick movie), but he decided to take a detour and do a two part "Ed Wood-A-Thon." At this point you must be wondering what this has to do with Oscars. This is a valid question, seeing as how Ed Wood is condiered the worst director of all time. That said...


...if you need a connection it's that Tim Burton's "Ed Wood" film won two Oscars, including a Best Supporting Actor for Martin Landau. That said though, I really just want to point you to this tribute of a man who might have made terrible movies, but he loved making them anyway. Wood is a director I respect in that regard, and it also shows that bad movies can be entertaining in their own right. So, yeah, I guess this really isn't Oscar stuff, but sometimes it's good to take a break from all the serious stuff going on out there. Besides, the only thing sadder then Wood's films is the current presidential debates.

Ed Wood-A-Thon (Part 1) | Movies & TV | SPIKE.com