The Iron Giant (Bird, 1999) Enjoyable, Imaginative, Witty, Funny, Smart, Heart-Felt, and many other countless adjectives can be used to describe this excellent tale of a boy and his iron giant. Really, you just have to watch it, but some of the best stuff to look out for is the funny scene where Hogarth and the
Giant first get to the junkyard, and they have to be quiet so as not to wake Dean up. Of course, the Giant is as loud as possible. When a car alarm goes off, he has to throw the car a million miles away because it won't shut up. Really hilarious stuff. The voice-work by Vin Diesel as the Giant, Christopher Mcdonald as the evil CIA agent Kent Mansley, and Harry Connick Jr. as Deam McCoppin is all really well-done. The scene wherethe Giant (SPOILERS) flys into space and says "Superman" just before he collides with the rocket brought genuine tears of sadness to mu eyes, and then tears of happiness came when he re-assembled to come back to Hogarth.An excellent, fun animated feature that everyone should see if they haven't already. [size=5] The Incredibles (Bird, 2004) This still ranks very high on my "Best Theatre-Going Experiences" List. The film is a great, old-school homage to the Saturday morning cartoons of yesteryear. Like in the The Iron Giant, the characters are cool (especially Samuel L. Jackson's character Frozone) , the dialogue is smart ("We keep finding ways to celebrate mediocrity!"), and the voice-acting is top notch (Jason Lee's sinister Syndrome voice is the best). My favorite part is when Frozone is arguing with his wife about finding his supersuit, but he can't tell her why he needs it.[/size] Other favorite parts include the funny opening scene of all the superheros getting sued, and of course, the little boy watching Mr. Incredible lift his car up over head. It's just a blast to watch, and it's my second favorite Pixar movie (Toy Story is still my favorite).[size=4] Deep Red: The Hatchet Murders (Argento, 1975)[/size] My first ever Argento was a blast to watch. It was my first "Italian giallo" film, which is basically the Italian version of pulp fiction, except it's extremely bloody. Anyway, it felt like Argento had taken some awesome Morricone music, mixed it with as much gore as you see in films like Hostel, put in many extreme close-ups and pan outs like you see in old Kung-Fu films, and voila! The result is a really fun, frenetic murdermystey that will have you on the edge of your for the entire 100 minute run tme. I definitely need to check out some more from this guy.
March 25, 2007
