Movie Club Monday

“Coraline”

Director: Henry Selick

With: Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, Jennifer Saunders, Ian McShane, and Keith David.

Original Release Date: February 6, 2009

PG

I remember the first time I ever heard about Coraline. I was about nine years old. I had watched the trailer and something about it stuck out to me. I had never seen something with this particular animation style on this scale. I had seen movies such as “Flushed Away” and “The Nightmare Before Christmas”, but I never really appreciated stop-motion animation until I watched Coraline. I thoroughly loved this movie and the experience that it provided me.I soon delved into stop-motion. I tried to watch as much of it that I possibly could. It made me rewatch “The Nightmare Before Christmas” and I fell in love with that. I even went out of my comfort zone and watched movies I had never even thought about watching, such as “James and The Giant Peach” and “Wallace and Gromit”. I even tried to dabble in it myself. I would use my phone, which I can’t imagine was much more than a clamshell, to make these little photos of my action figures and make tiny stories with them. They weren’t great and they never turned out the way I wanted them to, but I still enjoyed the experience. Stop-Motion quickly came one of my favorite story telling methods to this day. I’m a huge fan of Laika, the company behind “Coraline” and every time I hear about a stop motion movie coming out, I am always the first in line. But the funny thing about this is that I have only ever seen Coraline once before. I saw it in theaters when I was younger and thoroughly enjoyed every minute, but not everyone I was with enjoyed it as much as I did. My dad and my step-mom both were not fond of this movie and I remember that their negative feelings towards this movie discouraged me from ever watching the movie while I was at their house. So , I just never had the opportunity to enjoy it again. When trying to decide a movie from my childhood that I hadn’t watched in a long time, I immediately gravitated towards this one.

From the first frame of this film, I was entranced. The way the music from the opening scene works with the action, I was immediately unsettled and I knew I was in for a treat. It then transitioned to the Jones family and their move to the Pink Palace. Coraline is young and just wants to be with he parents as a family, but her parents seem to be disinterested with her. They are so involved in their work that they don’t pay any attention to her. She then begins to explore her new living space. She explores the outside and her parents don’t care. She explores the house and all of its quirks, and her parents show her no interest. She eventually comes across a door and through that door, Coraline finds a world that completely different than her own. Her parents are there, but they no longer are focused on their work, but are doting on her, giving her all of the attention she has hungered for.

This movie is a spectacle full of color and thought provoking action. Every single frame has something intriguing to look at and consume. The color palette really shows the duality of the worlds. Everything in Coraline’s normal world has a muted color. It seems very gloomy and dark. The atmosphere is dank, it is usually raining. This mood and setting reflect Coraline’s feelings towards everything. Nothing feels quite like it should and it all causes a little distaste. Alternatively, everything in the “other” world is extremely bright and colorful. The scenery is vivid and everything is just as Coraline would want it, but yet, not everything feels quite right. Soon, Coraline learns that the ‘other” world is not exactly what it seems. That is where the movie truly finds itself. I remember thinking that when the “other” mother finally takes her true form, she truly was terrifying. The art style brought out this level of creepiness that really unnerved me.

Overall, I wish that there were more movies made like this. This is a children’s movie, despite what some people might say. It takes a concept that children face daily, wanting more than they already have, and show them the negative aspects of that in a way that can truly entertain them. I learned a lot from this movie to be comfortable in my situation and that it may not be great now, it’ll end out the way it should. Please, if nothing comes from me writing this splurge of nonsense, let it be that you watched “Coraline”. You’ll be glad that you did.

Rating: 10/10

“The Amazing Spider-Man”

Director: Marc Webb

With: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Denis Leary, Martin Sheen, & Sally Field.

Original Release Date: July 3, 2012

PG-13

Spider-Man has always been a central character driving my childhood nostalgia. From the very beginning, I have always been drawn to him. I don’t whether I thought his abilities were really cool or I related to the fact that he was a nerdy guy. In most movies that I had seen at that time, there wasn’t a lot of representation. When I was a kid, the Sam Raimi films were very formative for me. I remember watching Spider-Man 2 for the first time. My 5 year old mind was blown. The action was flawless and the special effects were the most impressive I had ever seen. These movies helped ignite my passion for film and Spider-Man became my hero. So, when I learned that after Spider-Man 3, they were rebooting the franchise, I was very hesitant as to what might happen. I had become so attached to that singular iteration of the character that I didn’t want to let it go. But the world doesn’t revolve around the way I feel and the film moved forward.

The first time that I ever watched “The Amazing Spider-Man”, it didn’t really stand out to me. The direction was inspired. It reminded me of recent coming-of-age films and I thought the style translated well with Spider-Man’s origin. I thought the story was decent, albeit a bit repetitive. I really enjoyed The Lizard and I thought the way they came about giving Peter Parker his powers was smart. Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone’s chemistry was electric, though I didn’t believe that Andrew was right for the part of Spider-Man. He seems to ooze this swagger that seemed to cool for me. I found myself struggling to believe that he was a social outcast. But overall, I liked it, but it didn’t hold a candle to any of the previous films.

Upon revisiting this movie, one of the first things I noticed was the production design. The designer painstakingly made sure that this new movie felt different from the original trilogy and I really enjoyed that. It allowed the film to distance itself. Within the first 15 minutes, I knew this film nailed the moral compass of Peter Parker. He put himself in the line of fire to save a kid who couldn’t defend himself, even though he was just as under-qualified. Throughout the whole film, the biggest thing that stood out to me were the relationships between the characters. His relationship with Uncle Ben and Aunt May was spot on and it really helped drive the storyline later on. Peter’s relationship with Gwen Stacy was still as strong as I remember it to be. I credit this to Marc Webb’s direction. Having a background in romantic dramas, he has a way to develop characters and make them interesting and engaging. I also found myself really enjoying the score. It was subtle and heroic and I felt that it fit the aesthetic of the movie. I also applaud the movie for bringing out Spider-Man’s snarky attitude. The Raimi films didn’t have as much of that and it felt at home in this movie.

I noticed also that the CGI for this movie hasn’t aged gracefully. Looking at Dr. Connors missing arm was extremely jarring and you could definitely see that something wasn’t exactly right. The Lizard looked decent most of the time, but occasionally it looked like a cutscene from a video game. The movie really fell from great to good in the final act. The storyline became very predictable. I knew from the minute I learned The Lizard’s full plan, I knew it would end on the rooftop and that Spider-Man was going to have help from Captain Stacy and Gwen. I still struggled believing that Andrew Garfield was not the coolest guy in the school, but it didn’t bother me as much as it did originally. There are also a couple of scenes that seem out of place in this movie, such as the very “Footloose”-esque skateboarding scene to Coldplay’s “Till Kingdom Come.”

Overall, I enjoyed “The Amazing Spider-Man” for what it was worth. It had some really good moments that came together to make a decent movie. I think that with a few story changes, it could have become my favorite Spider-Man movie. It stayed true to the character while making itself feel original at the same time.

Rating: 7/10