Hanna (2011) - M3.1/E6

This is nothing like a Jason Bourne movie, though that is what it seems like from the trailers. It's actually an interpretation of Grimm's fairy tales (the twisted original stories of the sweet Disney stories we're told as kids). There is no real resolution, and mysteries presented are revealed rather abruptly. Even with these short comings, it was so intriguing we hardly knew that two hours flew by.

There’s little to offer on a moral level. The violence was rather gruesome and didn’t contribute to any positive message in the film. This is just a story about how an ex-CIA operative shelters his daughter and trains her to be an assassin so that she can kill the one person they’re hiding from. It’s a little deeper than that and artistically appealing, so we think it might be worth at least one initial watch if you’re looking for an action flick and don’t mind a few bloody scenes. The featured user review on IMDB is worth reading after you’ve seen the film.

Where the Wild Things Are

Synopsis

This is an adaptation of Maurice Sendak's classic children's story. In this adaptation, Max has trouble getting the attention he demands at home. After throwing a fit he runs away and travels a distance to an island where the Wild Things live. After spending some time there and growing up a bit (emotionally) he realizes he needs to return home, and is ready to better contribute to his family life.

Entertainment Value - C

This was an OK show, with potential to be really good. For a kids show, the tone was rather depressing throughout, even the music did nothing to brighten up the film. The colors through out were a drab gray and brown, maybe a little too artsy for its good. The 5 year old behavior in an older kid was a little annoying. The Wild Things were not as wild as I thought they should be, no gnashing teeth or too terrible roars. I guess it is a children's story and can't afford to get too out of hand. I wouldn't go out of my way to watch this one. Save your self 96 minutes and read the book again.

Moral Value - Failure to Communicate? - 4

What a lonely life Max led! The movie did a decent job showing that the mom loved her son, but it was kind of odd she didn't mention anything about calling the police or running out after him searching for hours in the rainy night. I liked the ending in the book a whole lot better, where Max never actually leaves his room, but when he "returns" he finds his dinner waiting for him and it's still hot.

There is a lot of trying to "fit in." Max tries to fit in with his sister's friends; Carol tries to fit in with Judith and the other Wild Things; both end up stumbling over their lack of self-control and social skills.

Max really gets a good look at his own life when he becomes the person responsible for making all the Wild Things happy (the role he thought his mother owned back home). He realizes that it's no party being in charge, that life is tough for everyone all around and you've just got to carry on. The strongest message I found in the film was in seeing Max realize that stepping outside of himself really helped him put his behavior in perspective; he began to understand that he was not the only person in the world, and that others deserve happiness as well, to which he needed to learn to contribute.

It was kind of cool how they mapped a lot of Max's, Claire's, and the Mom's personalities in the different Wild Things. Obviously the place wasn't real and was more a figment of Max's imagination, but I think they did a good job representing his imaginative journey.

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Synopsis
A cinematic piece of art that comments on the sometimes destructive nature of intelligence.  From apes, to humans, to computers, each are portrayed as scheming, murderous creatures.

Our Take
I'd put this film up there with Citizen Kane, another cinematic piece of art that isn't amazing but worth seeing at least once.  I've definitely never seen anything like this before, with almost half of the movie containing no dialogue and a good part of it just flashing lights and intense music.  Very creative to say the least, and visually stunning especially for it's time.

Moral Value
I didn't get a whole lot out of the movie until I read the summary provided on Wikipedia and made a few more realizations.  For instance, the satellite that resembled the bone that was thrown in the air was actually used to control nuclear weapons, an obvious parallel to the apes use of the bone as a weapon.  Intelligence brought great advances to both the primitive and futuristic societies but also pain and destruction.

Maybe I could have gotten a little more out of it by first reading Nietzche's essay that supposedly discusses the origin of man entitled Thus Spake Zarathustra, which is also the name of one of the orchestral themes of the movie.  In addition, the ending was rather bizarre but seemed to parallel HAL's reverting back to his "childhood."  Given the abstract format of the film I'm sure I did not grasp the whole meaning of the film, and due to the fact that Kubrick (the writer) never published the "philosophical and allegorical meaning of the film," any interpretation is pure speculation.

Why can't directors (or whoever's in charge of getting a movie to get a certain MPAA rating) try to give more mature-themed (thought provoking, philosophical, inspirational) movies a 'G' rating instead of thinking that mature audiences will only appreciate films if they have a lot of sex, violence, and profanity?