I am also not a big fan of director Robert Zemeckis’s work. Here at The Pulse, they will joke that I am much more likely to be sighted weeping over an independent film from Poland with subtitles than Forrest Gump.

Yet I fully plan to see Disney’s A Christmas Carol, and luckily for me, it looks as though it will be playing all the way through the holiday season.

There have been at least 30 film versions of A Christmas Carol, dating all the way back to a black-and-white version in 1901. Dickens has been credited with “re-inventing Christmas” and there is certainly something eternal about the tale of a miserable miser who is given another chance to live a better life.

Several of the reviews of this film version call it “gothic,” as in “combining both horror and sentiment.” That appeals to me, for Dickens was a very gothic writer. Clear-sighted about the horrific poverty, the child laborers, the disease, the filthy tenements that were glossed over by wealthy Victorians as they lived their lives of ease, Dickens has no peer in English for writing passionately about these injustices. Speaking about the poor living in workhouses, one of the philanthropists who approaches Scrooge says, “Many of them can’t go there, and many would rather die.” “If they would rather die,” retorts Scrooge, “then let them do it, and decrease the surplus population.”

Not so very far from the declared views of some modern radio talk-show hosts and politicians, is it? When 14 percent of the American population says they have trouble putting food on the table, at least some of the time, how far have we really come?

But as insightful as he was about this side of his times, Dickens was also incurably sentimental, another classic trait of Victorian literature. Today, many of his heroines seem insipid and even poor old Tiny Tim and his much parodied “God bless us, every one,” gives modern readers cavities with his syrupy story.

Yet A Christmas Carol endures, and beyond enduring, is beloved. Why? Because it is a story of redemption and hope. Scrooge’s heart is definitely at least two sizes too small, and his life as a ruthless businessman has without doubt harmed many people. (Bernie Madoff, anyone?)

Unlike Bernie, however, Scrooge is given the opportunity to review his life with the possibility of change, and we, as the invisible clingers to the Ghosts’ skirts, see what has caused the young Ebenezer to become the wizened Scrooge. As we do so, we think about our own lives. When have we been miserly with our love, our compassion, our open-heartedness? Is it too late for us to change?

Charles Dickens’s idea is that it is never too late. And that, for me, will always be his timeless holiday message. I read a version of this story every year and try to take its message to heart (and avoid shrinkage).

So, off I’ll trot to see what Jim Carrey makes of Ebenezer. It doesn’t hurt that Zemeckis also cast Gary Oldham, Bob Hoskins and Colin Firth; good on you, Bob.
And even if Carrey is no Alastair Sim, George C. Scott or Michael Caine (in A Muppet Christmas Carol), I strongly suspect I will hugely enjoy it anyway.

Disney’s A Christmas Carol
Directed by Robert Zemeckis
Starring Jim Carrey, Gary Oldham, Bob Hoskins, Colin Firth
Rated PG
Running time: 1 hour, 36 minutes

Think of the “Twilight” saga as the Lord Of The Rings for teenage girls, who have been the single largest demographic for both the books and the first film.  The sequel, New Moon, does not neglect that core audience.  In fact, it speaks directly to the fair-haired female youth of America in ways that almost no other film has done since James Cameron combined a teen romance into the disaster epic of Titanic a decade ago.

If you are a fan, you will find great satisfaction in the new film.  It is well acted, tightly directed, and delivers all the elements that make the series work: brooding vampires, a tortured love story, and the requisite moody sets to appeal to the lovelorn high school set.  If you are not a fan, though, you might to check out one of the other new releases this weekend (such as the surprisingly satisfying The Blind Side with Sandra Bullock).

At the very least, you won’t have to suffer through endless high-pitched squeals of joy from the teenage throats meeting every appearance by the cast.

The Twilight Saga: New Moon
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Bill Burke
Director: Chris Weitz
Rating: PG-13

Life is unraveling for physics professor and generally good man Larry Gopnik.  His wife Judith is having an affair with an aloof family friend and wants a divorce. His brother Arthur is emotionally and physically incapable of living alone and spends his nights in Larry’s living room.

The Gopnik children, Danny and Sarah, are pilfering cash from their father’s wallet to buy pot and save up for a nose job. There’s an anonymous person writing nasty letters to the university to tarnish Larry’s good reputation and destroy his chances at tenure.

Distraught and terribly confused, Larry sets out on a quest to find some balance to the chaos.  A devout Jew, he’s advised by his friends to talk to the rabbi.  He consults three and they all have different non-answers.  Temptations arise, questions go unanswered, doors get slammed in his face, and Larry is confronted with many a harrowing choice, each one compounding the mystery of the Coen brothers’ latest existential riddle.

The Coens know how to harvest the hilarity out of life’s absurdity and A Serious Man is a movie for people who can laugh at exaggerated characters put in situations that easily reach a level of gleefully deranged poeticism.  Here we have messages written on the back of people’s teeth, a rabbi who quotes Jefferson Airplane, and a perpetually drained cyst all working to prove yet again that these filmmakers specialize in their own brand of niche comedy.

Newcomer Michael Stuhlbarg imbues Larry Gopnik with a jittery, painful unease that makes his strife even more relatable.  His character shares many similarities to William H. Macy’s character in Fargo, but whereas Jerry Lundegaard caved to criminal activity under the crushing weight of self-pity, Larry Gopnik chooses to fight it out and make the most of his ability to choose.  It’s a delicate balance and Stuhlbarg pulls it off beautifully.

In typical Coen fashion, the supporting characters nearly steal the show, particularly Fred Melamed, who plays Sy Ableman, the agonizingly serious and overbearing family friend who has stolen the heart of Larry’s wife.

The story is set in the 1960s and lensed impeccably in sharp focus by veteran cinematographer Roger Deakins.  Nothing is amiss in this film and each dramatic and comedic note is pitch-perfect.   The characters in the absurd world of A Serious Man fit the film’s structure like puzzle pieces.

Still, when we step back to view the whole puzzle, it’s hard to be sure what exactly it is.  If you took one piece away, the whole structure would fall, but like any truly great piece of art, multiple questions are necessary to interpret why everything fits.

For example: Why does Larry Gopnik suffer so much? Is it as a result of something he’s done?  Does he need to make better choices?  What does it mean to be a good man?   Could Larry ever achieve it?  Is it possible for anyone to be truly good?

What can we make of the film’s spare hopeful moments, including a startling intrusion of grace just before the final act?  Are these tiny shreds of common grace sufficient to make life worth living?  And how does that darned Jewish fable at the beginning of the film relate to the rest of the story?

Much has been said of how A Serious Man is a retelling of the Biblical story of Job, that pitiable saint put to the test by the devil to see if he would deny God.   Nearly drowned in raging waters of uncertainty, Job had the courage to say of God, “Though he slay me, yet I will trust in him.”  Whether you think this wise or foolish, the Coens appear to have a more secular course of action in mind.

The film begins with a proverb from Rashi: “Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you.”  Is this the blanket answer to all the questions of A Serious Man?  I think the auteurs behind it would say yes—and even though it seems like a terribly simplistic retort, we can applaud them for finding a strangely funny, very dark, and surprisingly human way to announce it.

A Serious Man
Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen
Starring Michael Stuhlbarg, Richard Kind, Fred Melamed
Rated R
Running time: 105 minutes

2012 is based on the fact that the ancient Mayan civilization’s calendar ends in the year 2012.  While even the Mayan descendents in Central America have publically stated that none of them (or their ancestors) believe that meant the world would end in two years, when have facts ever stopped someone like Emmerich from having fun staging massive disasters for the cameras?

After all, this is the same man who brought us The Day After Tomorrow, Godzilla, and Independence Day.

At the same time, people do not line up at the ticket window for an Emmerich film expecting Oscar-caliber dramas.  When people want big, flashy escapist disaster porn, he is—along with Michael Bay—the go-to guy in Hollywood to deliver.

And if that is what you’re looking for—big, flashy escapist disaster porn—then by all means plop your money down at the ticket counter, buy a big bucket of popcorn, and sit back and enjoy the totally ridiculous, over-the-top story and wonderfully hammy acting by Cusack, Amanda Peet, Thandie Newton, Oliver Platt and Danny Glover (who all really should have known better, but look to be enjoying themselves immensely).

Starring: John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Thandie Newton, Oliver Platt, Danny Glover
Director: Roland Emmerich
Rating: PG-13

Disney’s A Christmas Carol. In his apparent attempt to appear in every Christmas classic ever written, Jim Carrey returns to holiday fare in Robert Zemeckis’s Disney’s A Christmas Carol. Carrey plays not only Ebenezer Scrooge in the 3-D film made with the same process as The Polar Express, but Ghosts Past, Present and Future as well. Colin Firth and Gary Oldman also star. Will either be fabulous or a very expensive turkey. Opens November 6.

The Fantastic Mr. Fox. The combo of director Wes Anderson and the dark children’s tale of Roald Dahl is intriguing, to say the least. The “claymation”-style adds yet another dimension. The film tells the story of Mr. Fox and his “hen heckling, turkey taking and cider sipping, nocturnal, instinctive adventures.” This story has been made into a successful opera, so we’ll see what Anderson does with it. Opens November 25.

Avatar. A hotly awaited return from director Jim Cameron, Avatar is said to have been “ten years in the making.” Set in the future, the story follows a paraplegic war veteran who is brought to another planet that is inhabited by a humanoid race with their own language and culture. We love that Cameron has cast that veteran of interplanetary scariness, Sigourney Weaver.  Opens December 18.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. An even-more-hotly-awaited (and boy, have we awaited) return, this one from director Terry Gilliam. The fact that it is also the final appearance of Heath Ledger has fans panting, and it doesn’t hurt that it also stars Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and musician Tom Waits. Described as a “fantastical morality tale, set in the present day,” the film follows Dr. Parnassus and his Imaginarium, a traveling show where members of the audience get an opportunity to choose between light and joy or darkness and gloom. Opens December 25 in limited release only, so call your local theaters and request that we get it here.

Ever since the United States went to war in Iraq, movies set in and around the conflict have met with box-office disappointment.  When the real world is depressing (recessions, real wars, etc.), movie audiences want to head to the multiplex for escapism.  The Men Who Stare at Goats provides that escapism the same way Robert Altman’s classic M*A*S*H did during the height of the Vietnam War.  While it is unlikely that “Goats” will end up in the same category as M*A*S*H, it is refreshing to see some of the best actors of this generation chewing up scenery and having a grand old time.

Starring: George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey
Director: Grant Heslov
Rating: R

The Arts and Education Council has one more film planned to screen on the tattered screens of the Bijou as part of the fall Independent Film Series and it is one of the most acclaimed of the season—Lorna’s Silence, a film by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne.

The brothers Dardenne are some of the most notable filmmakers working today.  They come out of a rich tradition of European filmmaking and their films will no doubt be catalogued on lists alongside the best of Ingmar Bergman, Federico Fellini, and Carl Th. Dreyer in the near future.

They have crafted a vigorously naturalistic film aesthetic that has garnered their films many prizes at the Cannes Film Festival including the Palme d’Or in 1999 and 2002 for their films Rosetta and L’Enfant (The Child).

The bulk of their work focuses on young people teetering on the edge of society in lower-class Belgium.  Their latest film is the story of a young Albanian woman named Lorna who plans on opening a snack bar in Belgium with her boyfriend Sokol.  Before Lorna can open her doors, she unwittingly becomes an accomplice in the infernal plans of a mobster named Fabio—plans that attempt to strip her of her identity and her humanity.

It would be unwise to summarize the plot any further because Dardenne films hinge on moments of surprise.  By this, I don’t mean jump scenes or revelatory plot twists—the very concept is far too American—but intensely personal emotional revelations that change our perceptions of the internal lives of the characters.  The apparent story of a Dardenne film is simple and very important, but the internal struggles of the characters are what make their films so unique.

In addition to the handheld camera, another reason a Dardenne film feels so natural is their method of working with actors.  When filming begins, the brothers don’t feel pressure to direct their actors exactly the way they have rehearsed things.

“We pretend that we are starting over from zero so that we can rediscover things that we did before,” said Luc Dardenne in an interview with Cinéaste Magazine.  “The instructions we give the actors are above all physical. We start working without the cameraman—just the actors and my brother and me. We walk them through the blocking [and they] say but do not act their lines. We do not tell them what the tone of their lines should be.”  The directors then bring the camera in and shoot the scene in one long take, allowing them to subsequently modify details.

Their signature method of approaching moral, spiritual, and psychological dilemmas is breathlessly subtle and provoking, even if one does not agree with their conclusions.  Each film in their constantly expanding oeuvre is morally undergirded (yet never preachy) and deftly gives testimony to the human need for absolution and repentance.

“[Lorna’s Silence is] about a young woman who has every reason to be desperate and who continues to believe that everything is possible,” concludes Luc Dardenne in the film’s press kit.  “How can a woman who doesn’t believe in God believe everything is possible? Where does this crazy hope come from?”
These are the questions of Lorna’s Silence, the Dardenne Brothers’ story of a young woman caught between love and a world of crime and deception.

It’s easily the most anticipated documentary of the year. Ortega said bringing Jackson’s final work to the big screen ended up being relatively easy. “There’s a story there. There’s a story that’s alive in every frame of this film, that I didn’t have to fabricate,” he said in press conference last week.

The film is also one of the most zealously guarded releases of the year, with no one but a few very select critics getting to see the complete work in advance.  Most reviewers were shown a 12-minute excerpt, but even from those scant few minutes, it’s evident what Ortega was talking about. The Michael we see is unguarded, real, honest in a way we might have never seen before.

Think what you will about Michael the person; Michael Jackson the entertainer is among the most talented and creative of all time. His death was a tragedy, but thanks to Ortega, Michael’s talent, creativity and vision did not die with him.

This Is It
Starring: Michael Jackson
Director: Kenny Ortega
Rating: PG

Max runs across the street and peeks in his house to get his teenage sister’s attention. Spurned, he goes back to his fort, but when his sister’s friends arrive, Max initiates a surprise snowball fight from behind the fence.

The fight, born from an innocent hunger for fun, escalates suddenly and ends with an older boy crushing Max’s snow fort with an impassioned, vindictive leap.  The defeated Max emerges from the snow fort with tears rolling down his face as his sister hops in the car with her friends and drives away without even a wave or caring gesture.  In turn, Max runs into the house and tears her room apart; crushing even the paper heart he once made her for Valentine’s Day.

Here we are introduced to the other side of Max.  Like any small child, he is easily hurt.  He cauterizes this hurt through destruction and anger, and after an evening altercation with his mother (the beautiful and reliable Catherine Keener), bolts from inside the house onto the street, where he loses his way and gets lost in the woods.  Soon enough, he has escaped to the imaginary land of the wild things.

The wild things are beautiful puppet/CG creations elegantly envisioned by the Jim Henson Company and voiced by James Gandolfini, Paul Dano, Catherine O’Hara, and Chris Cooper.  Lumbering through their native land—a wondrous place in walking distance from an ocean, a desert, and a verdant forest—they sound like humans, have the momentary reasoning power of adults, and use the logic of the smallest children. Their world looks much different than reality, but the motions of the heart and the consequences of actions remain the same, and for Max, this is the most profound surprise.

The film hinges on Max and Spike Jonze and his team have snagged the perfect child for the role: Max Records.  How a small child could keep a character like this so stunningly consistent throughout a two-hour film that takes place is so many settings and sustains so many imaginative flourishes is amazing.

Still, because it tries so hard to faithfully envision childhood imagination, Where the Wild Things Are is often visually and aurally confusing.  The wild things act like children and while Jonze’s camera inhabits their land, it does, too.  We’re taken from one immaculately designed set piece to another, faced with the immaturity and confusion of one wild thing after another and soon enough we’re disoriented.  Is this the point?  Perhaps, but cinematically less is more for a land like this.

And though it may be far from obvious, this is not a children’s film.  It is dark, it is often harrowing (in a PG kind of way), and it is free from the sentimentality and romanticism that plagues lesser films about children.

Allow me some introspection, if you will.  Exiting Where the Wild Things Are, I felt as if I had missed something, for I found myself thinking, “If only someone would please calm that kid down!”  I soon realized why.

I am not Max.  I wasn’t the energetic kid who built forts out of chairs and blankets, who ran around in an animal costume and wished he could run without stopping for ever and ever.  I was the kid from that children’s classic The Red Balloon, quietly content to myself, glad to follow the metaphorical red balloon around the streets for hours on end.

I don’t think my caustic reaction to Max is entirely unfounded, but to eschew him would be to close my eyes to what a profoundly wounded character he is.  Though there are moments when Jonze urges us to empathize with Max’s misbehavior to an unhealthy extent, his vision of Sendak’s story culminates in a subtle redemptive flourish that is huge in its power and profound in its implications.

All the imagination in the world may help a boy function in private, but it is the love and care of people in the real world that shape a young man.  This is the heart of Where the Wild Things Are and a lesson that will hopefully take root in the hearts of people who welcome this classic story into their lives now and in the years to come.

Where the Wild Things Are
Directed by Spike Jones
Starring Max Records and the voices of James Gandolfini, Paul Dano, Catherine O’Hara, Chris Cooper
Rated PG
Running time: 1 hour, 34 minutes

Starring Jesse Eisenberg as Columbus, and Woody Harrelson as Tallahassee, Zombieland details the life of two survivors with very different philosophies struggling to survive in a post-zombie apocalypse America. Along their way they are carjacked by the ravishingly emo Wichita (Emma Stone) and adorably vicious Little Rock (Abigail Breslin). You’ll notice the motif in their names, as Tallahassee doesn’t want anyone getting too attached, so they go by the names of the cities they used to call home.

Columbus has survived the apocalypse by adhering to a strict set of numbered rules. The most important is “Rule #1: Cardio” because as the director points out in the first few moments of the film, “The fatties were the first to go.” Columbus is a hypochondriac, omniphobic weenie, who spent his days before the apocalypse shut up in his apartment playing World of Warcraft. His fear of everything helped him establish other such important rules as “Rule #2: Beware of Bathrooms” and “Rule #4: Doubletap.”

Each time these rules are implemented, the director chose an ingenious way of layering the words over the film much in the way Volkswagen did with their CC commercials. The words become part of the setting, and occasionally get broken or blood-spattered—particularly as it pertains to Rule #4.

Inversely, Tallahassee has a philosophy that is considerably more basic. He is a man who enjoys killing zombies, is in search of the last of the Twinkies, and idolizes the acting prowess of Bill Murray. Preferring to be armed to the teeth, and chock-full of excellent one-liners, Tallahassee loves his work. A poster of the look on his face upon receiving his prized Twinkie should adorn college dorm rooms across the nation. Additionally, your day will be brightened when Tallahassee finds an abandoned Hummer H2 filled with automatic weapons, and triumphantly exclaims, “God bless rednecks!”

Oddly enough, Tallahassee also has the only visceral storyline of the foursome. His rationale for bloodthirsty vengeance against the undead abruptly shifts from superficial to completely justified. It might be hard to believe, but Zombieland could be the best example of Harrelson’s true acting abilities.

The sisters, Wichita and Little Rock, are on their way to Pacific Playland. This amusement park is hyped to sound like Disneyland, but in actuality resembles Lake Winnepesaukah. The purpose of this quest is to give Little Rock back a moment of her childhood, and the sisters are quite determined in their purpose. In the days before the apocalypse, the sisters worked as a con team, and their unique set of skills works to their advantage in Zombie America.

The unnamed star of the movie is a high-speed camera. While other directors work hard to obscure what you’re seeing by shaking their cameras to pieces, Fleischer went the other direction and slowed the action down. Don’t be confused: We’re not talking about the CG-slow-mo of 300 or The Matrix; instead we just have perfectly choreographed scenes complete with slow-motion fire, flying beverages and zombies.

The absolute most beautiful image you will see in a movie this year will be Abigail Breslin running through chaos wearing a Native American headdress and carrying a spear.

For those of you still unconvinced, let me assure you that while there’s some blood and gore, and plenty of zombies, this isn’t your typical “zombie movie”. Unless your typical zombie movie is Shaun of the Dead, then yeah, it’s a little like that.

Zombieland
Directed by Ruben Fleischer
Starring Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin
Rated R
Running time: 80 minutes