My most anticipated movie of 2009 has changed, as The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus has been moved from September, toward December of this year. Right now, the only film coming this month that I have seen a trailer for is the movie called 9. It’s the Tim Burton produced film about these really strange looking characters and an amazing voice cast, including: Elijah Wood, Jennifer Connelly, Martin Landau, Christopher Plummer and John C. Reilly.

I don’t really know much about it beyond that. Check out the trailer here as well, if you like.

It comes out on 09-09-09.

This is probably the first in a series of articles on the times that a movie has either been as good as the book, acted as a great complement to the book, or bested the book. This is the result of being tired of hearing the misconception that “the book is always better.” The truth is, it’s not. Sometimes the movie far exceeds the book in execution of the same story.

It could be that the filmmaker had a better vision for the story. It could be that the filmmaker is simply a better storyteller. It could be that the book just lends itself to also be great on film.

When I do my comparative analysis, I’m going to let you know whether I’ve read the book that the film is based on, and whether I read it before or after seeing the film, as all of these things have an effect on the results.

Read the rest of this entry »

I’m not a big Johnny Depp fan. Hardly at all, actually. But that isn’t to say that I don’t like movies that he’s been a part of. For instance, I haven’t really watched Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory in years, but I have seen Charlie and the Chocolate Factory a few times. The simple fact that the Roald Dahl Estate enjoyed the adaptation enough to grant them license to use the name says a lot, as the name was revoked from the musical film because it wasn’t what they wanted in an adaptation of the book.

I have also seen him, much to my chagrin, in Secret Window, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape and Benny & Joon. Pitty that those movies weren’t worth watching. I’m glad I saw them all for free.

The only other movie that I’ve seen him do a decent job in, is Finding Neverland. But that actually had a compelling story, unlike the last three I mentioned.

That being said, I’ve enjoyed the character of Jack Sparrow. I didn’t like, however, the chain-reaction of millions of female fans suddenly claiming that Jack Sparrow was God’s gift to women. To me, that takes away some of what made Jack Sparrow a real man, making him more of a girl (see Girl Vs Awesome Heroes, though I disagree with him about The Karate Kid – quite possibly the greatest movie ever made). However, Jack Sparrow was always able to manipulate his way out of situations in sometimes very daring ways, making him something more of a man.

Now, Johnny Depp has signed on for Pirates of the Caribbean 4. He can’t get enough of playing that character. I’m interested to see where this is going. I hope that Geoffrey Rush is back as Barbosa, too. But if Orlando Bloom is in it, and isn’t playing an elf, but instead someone that isn’t supposed to appear wooden and regal, they’re going to need to do a lot to keep me watching. Let the story move past the characters of Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann. Their story is now complete, while Sparrow has more to go. I’m glad that Disney is willing to make a fourth film. We can’t let the series end with that third one. However entertaining it was, having a nearly impossible to understand witch-doctor (who should have been subtitled) become a giant in the middle of the film was not very fun. The rest of the film was epic fun, but that was overkill.

He’s also signed to play a role in Jerry Bruckheimer‘s adaptation of The Lone Ranger. The role of the Lone Ranger’s sidekick, Tonto. Good thing that Depp is part Cherokee. Until I learned that, I thought they should have actually cast a true Native American in the role. It seems they have. Sort of. Either way, however, when the cast the Lone Ranger, it had better be someone great that can steal the scenes from Johnny Depp. We don’t want to see the marquee say “Johnny Depp is TONTO in The Lone Ranger.” Being the side-kick, the actor in the leading role should get the glory and the top-line.

And coming in at no big surprise to anyone, Tim Burton’s adaptation of Alice in Wonderland is going to have Johnny Depp in the role of The Mad Hatter. Brilliant casting. If there’s anyone that can pull of a watchable Alice, it’s Burton. Let’s see if he does it.

I just wish girls everywhere would get over their tendencies to scream every time Johnny Depp’s name is mentioned. He’s a married man, get over it.

-via Cinematical

The Iron Giant is a movie by Brad Bird. It’s brilliant and an animation classic. Even though it came out in 1999, it was probably better than much of the Disney animation that I’ve seen. With Disney marketting, this movie would have been huge. It should have been huge.

Big Fish is a movie by Tim Burton, based on a book by Daniel Wallace. The book isn’t as good as the film, though. The movie’s soundtrack is a brilliant score by Danny Elfman, the man behind Spider-Man‘s music. The music completely compliments the movie and is at it’s most brilliant in the final moments of the film, when they just let you take in everything that is happening, and all of the characters that you loved in the movie.