By Joe Leibovich

There is a great deal of magic in director Spike Jonez’s adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s beloved children’s book Where the Wild Things Are.  It is a movie that creates a very palpable world of wonder and beauty. However, I am not entirely sure who the target audience is for this film and I am not entirely sure the magic lasts through the entire film.

Jonez, along with Dave Eggers adapted Sendak’s very short book into a fully realized film vision.  It is the story of a young boy named Max (played to perfection by neophyte Max Records) who feels alienated and abandoned by his single mother (Catherine Keener) and sister.  One evening, after his sister’s friends destroy his snow fort and his mother has a date over for dinner (an inexplicable usage of Mark Ruffalo, who may have 2-3 lines),  the energetic and angry Max throws a tantrum and flees the house.  He finds a boat and sails away to an island inhabited by huge and wonderous monsters.  Through trickery, he avoids being eaten by them to become their king. And that, as the book and movie say, is when the wild rumpus begins.

The Wild Things are true marvels.  They are a actual costumes, not CGI creations.  And that choice gives this film a feeling of reality and warmth.  The visuals on the island of the Wild Things are stunning. From the creatures themselves to the various structures and landscapes that are gilmpses from Max’s “real life” are quite amazing.

The acting by all the participants is excellent.  Max Records is a true find, and is absolutely perfect in his role.  The voice actors who portray the Wild Things fill their roles with humor and feeling.  Each of the Wild Things seems to be a piece of Max or people in Max’s life.   James Gandolfini is Carol, who is Max’s closest surrogate on the isle.  He gives a nuanced and emotion filled performance as a beast with anger issues who feels ignored, just like a certain little boy in a wolf suit.  The entire ensemble of beasts is terrific, from Catherine O’Hara as a “downer” monster, to Forrest Whittaker as a creature who likes to put holes in trees, to Lauren Ambrose, the mother/sister figure on the island.

The first half of Where the Wild Things Are is captivating, and unlike anything I have ever seen before.  No film has ever captured the feelings of being a boy so well.

About halfway through the movie, Gandolfini gives a speech about losing teeth slowly- how day by day they can get looser, and day by day the spaces between them grow larger, until one day you wake up and have no teeth left at all. It’s a wonderful metaphor for alienation and loss. It is, also, however, somewhat how I felt about the movie.

At a certain point, and I am not sure when it happened, I was no longer under the spell of this movie.  The emotional connection to Max had dissipated, and the movie simply did not have the impact on me it had held before.

This is not to say Where The Wild Things Are is not a good movie. It is. Spike Jonez has put together something very special.  I wonder if young children will truly enjoy this PG rated film from beginning to end, or if they may grow restless.  To its credit, Where The Wild Things Are deals with a lot of serious, emotional issues – childhood anger, loneliness, control issues. But it does it subtly, and in such a way that it shouldn’t bore the audience. Still, I wonder if it may be too much for children. And, if that is the case, who is this movie aimed at?

All that said, Where The Wild Things Are is a Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius (sorry…), and it is a wholly original, sweet, and magical piece of filmmaking  that will stick with you for “through night and day and in and out of weeks and almost over a year” if not longer.

On the Movie Report Card, I give Where The Wild Things Are an A-

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If you’re like me, and thats pretty scary, then sometimes you like to push things to the max. Sometimes I like to see how far I can take things…just to see what the breaking point is. Crazy huh?

Anyways, I’ve been running my car really low on gas these days. What can I say?! I stay pretty broke…maybe I’m trying to push myself to the edge, just to see how far I can stretch the pennies I do have.

So yeah, the photo above is my car’s way of telling me that it’s hungry and I just keep saying, “Just a few more miles…just a few more.”  Wonder if I can make it home today…its only 23 miles…

- Jared

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Hello there friends. Its been a while and I thought that I’d give you an update on whats been gong on…

There will be a third season of the podcast. Its just taking a while to get it going. We’ve recorded one episode…it just needs to be edited. The episode will have local Memphis artists, Tiffany Harmon, Other Stories, and Emily Anderson. Look for it soon.

I’ve been busy working on my directorial debut. Its a film about two detectives, in a small town, who take on a 20 year old cold case and as they go through it, their every day lives wrap around it and inadvertently solve it. The film is titled One Degree Below and was written by my friend, Evaristo Scarsanela Jr. Hell of a name, right?

Anyways, the script is done and I’m in the process of doing my revisions. After all of that is done, I’ll send it to my Line Producer, an amazing man by the name of Trevor Allen, and he will do the budget, schedule, and get the proposal going…then we try to hunt for investors.

Money is the biggest factor, when making a film. If you don’t have enough, you can’t get good actors and your film comes off as cheap and hokey…I don’t think that we’re going to have any problems getting our budget. We just nee to make it happen.

Aside from all of that, I’m just trying to get my life in order. For a long time, I was focused on other people and things making me happy but that’s not how it works. Your life is in your own hands and you have to reach out and take it, but that’s hard to do.

GET UP OFF YOUR LAZY ASS AND MAKE IT HAPPEN!!!

And that’s what I’m doing.

Ive been writing a lot lately: music, stories, and just random poems and short hand stuff…anything that will unclog all of this crap out of my head. So yeah, I’m in a really creative mood, at the moment, and I plan on taking full advantage of it.

For example, I was driving home the other night and I came up with a really cool idea for a film. I had my iPhone with me and I recorded myself brainstorming about the idea and this is what I came up with…

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

So, that will be the next think that I’ll be working on, after One Degree Below. Don’t think about stealing it, ’cause I’ve already sent in a treatment and outline to the WGA.

Look for the new podcast, out soon, and One Degree Below. I’ll be posting more blogs about it, as we go.

Until next time,

Jared

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If you’re like me, then you are a text whore. I live on my phone. For example, I’ve answered about ten texts since I started writing this review.

“How do you ever get anything done?,” you ask.

I have no idea.

I’m a social networking whore, as well.  I like anything that connects me with other people, and today’s app does just that.

(continue reading…)

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Lorenzo, over at the Psychedelic Salon announced a poster contest.

This is my entry.

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Visit Garage Games’ website here.

Read a great developer interview concerning the game at Garage Games Blog Developer Interview Series.

Marble Blast Mobile walks a fine balance between being a casual game and keeping elements that immerse more in-depth gamers. I’ve never had the patience (or hand eye coordination) to stick with action-puzzlers, but MBM somehow wrangled me in and I finished the game in one night. It uses some very clever power-ups to keep level design interesting, my favorite being the gyrocopter, which lets you fly your marble short distances. Tapping your marble lets you jump over short obstacles.

(continue reading…)

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So yeah…I’m at a small outdoor fest in Holly Springs, MS, called The Fools Ball. It’s a three day weekend full of local rock and a non stop party. Music, drinking, and camping…sounds fun to me.

A three day event that only costs $20. Plenty of cute girls and endless types of “fun” to be had.

I was very surprised to see that so many people here are into NOS. Every time I turn around, I see a handful of people with balloons. Very interesting.

So yeah, who knows what tomorrow will bring. We shall see.

Check out these pics of the giant bonfire and fire dancing

(continue reading…)

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