Film Festival Reviews. Part 8.
I’m really enjoying this year’s festival! Nine more movies to go, of which six are this weekend.
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Being based on the book by Roald Dahl, this movie has a very fantastic feel to it. Everything is quick and silly and
over the top. Sometimes the pacing reminds a bit of a Pixar movie with things happening in quick succession.
The
movie is beatifully animated with stop motion, even though it doesn’t look as clean as other stop motion movies like
Nightmare Before Christmas. There’s an almost experimental feel to the movie, with stiff walk animations and fur
randomly changing place between frames, but it only helps to bring out the fun. Children stories SHOULD be
experimental.
George Clooney plays Mr. Fox, but feels a bit out of place. There’s a slight disconnect between the
voice we hear and the character we see on the screen. The rest of the cast are spot on. Bill Murray plays the Badger
perfectly. This is the third movie I’ve seen with Bill Murray in in just three weeks. I thought he was taking a
break from acting?
Best part: The digging animation cracked me up every time I saw it.
Worst part: Mr. Fox’s trademark, a whiste and
some clicking sound, was just annoying.
Score: 4/5
Extract
After having run a flavor extract factory and business for many years, the owner gets a chance to sell his company
and retire. Then a bunch of very entertaining, but loosely related stuff happens and everyone laughs.
Mike Judge,
who made this movie, isn’t exactly known for making coherent movies. Beavis and Butthead Do America was good but
random, Office Space was great but random, and Idiocracy was just plain bad. Extract has some separate
threads going that coincide with each others at points, but it manages to feel more like Office Space than
Idiocracy.
Ben Affleck, who I’ve never seen do anything even close to good acting, plays the best and funniest
role in the movie. I’m not sure if this means that the rest are bad, or that Ben finally felt comfortable with a
role.
And, great surprise: In this movie, David Koechner plays an annoying, kind of dumb, shouty guy. It’s still
funny, though.
Best part: The last gag in the movie was by far the best. Subtle and crude at the same time. Perfect.
Worst part:
One of the characters suddenly acts waaay out of character for no explained reason, other than pure plot
convenience.
Score: 4/5
