Movie Night: The Kids Are All Right.

Review #551: The Kids Are All Right.

Cast
Annette Bening (Nicole Allgood), Julianne Moore (Jules Allgood), Mark Ruffalo (Paul Hatfield), Mia Wasikowska (Joni Allgood), Josh Hutcherson (Laser Allgood), and Yaya DaCosta (Tanya) Directed by Lisa Cholodenko.

Review
In honor of International Women's Day today, I decided this a movie that sounded like a conventional family flick that turned into a non conventional film (If that makes sense), and the movie makes it work really well. The movie might seem like a drama first, comedy second, but the movie still blends the two seamlessly, not letting one get overboard, and managing to be an entertaining, heartfelt movie that manages to use the great chemistry everyone has with each other and make the movie even better. The characters undergo changes (especially Ruffalo's character) throughout the movie, and it's nice to see transition, to see good character development. This is a movie that has a good range of emotions, it can be tense, it can be fun, and it can be engaging, and when the movie's over, you miss watching it, but you do feel whole, and it's a movie that contains itself, and it seals itself up nicely.

Overall, I give it 9 out of 10 stars.

Movie Night: Alice in Wonderland (2010)

Review #132: Alice in Wonderland.

Cast
Mia Wasikowska (Alice Kingsley), Johnny Depp (The Hatter), Helena Bonham Carter (Red Queen), Anne Hathaway (White Queen), Crispin Glover (Knave of Hearts), Michael Sheen (The White Rabbit), Matt Lucas (Tweedledee and Tweedledum), Stephen Fry (Chesire Cat), Alan Rickman (Absolem the Caterpillar), Barbara Windsor (Mallymkun the Dormouse), Timothy Spall (Bayard the Bloodhound), Michael Gough (Uilleam the Dodo), and Christopher Lee (Jabberwocky) Directed by Tim Burton.

Review
Tim Burton is known for his dark films (Batman - #040), Edward Scissorhands, Corpse Bride, Beetlejuice - #107, Ed Wood, etc), and this is no different. It feels like a tale of fun with many things along the way. Granted, they may be CGI, but they at least do look like they were meant to be in Wonderland. Wasikowska does a good job as Alice, making you feel for her and her struggles. Depp does a good job as well, making you interested in the film. The rest of the cast (Carter, Hathaway, Sheen, Rickman, Fry) do good jobs as well. But the two that while not having lines that stand out are Lee and Gough. Lee feels like the Jabberwocky, with that still deep voice. Gough does a decent job in his final film role, doing his best. This film tries to be great, and it works until you realize that it feels like it runs into the same thing over and over again as we get a fight that doesn't feel special given all we have seen. I have not seen the other film adaptions or even the book, but this is at least a good flick.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.