Blog From The Bench

So I went and saw Cloverfield. Now, what can I possibly say about this movie that the rest of the internet hasn’t already said? Let’s see…

Blah blah blah plot summary blah blah blah surprise party blah blah blah New York attacked blah blah blah giant monster blah blah blah hand-held camera blah blah blah motion sickness blah blah blah go back to get the girl blah blah blah internet hype blah blah blah cauliflower blah blah blah J.J. Abrams blah blah blah Slusho blah blah blah Zoidberg blah blah blah boogers blah blah blah has Rambo opened yet?

The big question: Do we actually see the monster? Answer: yes, it gets a close-up. And, honestly, I was kind of disappointed. After all that build-up, I’m sad to say that the big beastie looks kind of ordinary (for a giant monster, that is). Plus, the overall visual effects look a little too CGI-ish and not fully integrated with the human characters. At least not to my eye.

If the filmmakers were here, I’m sure they’d give me a big speech right now about how the movie is supposed to be more about the characters than the monster, and I can kind of see that. Unfortunately, some of the character bits don’t make sense, just like some of the monster bits don’t make sense. I’m willing to believe that a guy would go to great lengths during a crisis to save the girl he’s hot for, but it’s a little harder to buy two friends and a fourth person who hardly knows him tagging along. And, yeah, as the movie goes from one nightmarish experience to the next, it becomes less and less believable that they’d keep filming all this. I get that they’d do it for a while, because this attack would be history in the making, etc., but after almost getting killed for the 14th time or so, it gets incredulous. There are numerous instances of character motivations, camera set-ups, and even monster attacks that serve no real purpose except getting these people to the next plot point, and that makes for frustrating viewing.

Did I totally hate the movie? No. There were a few scenes that really captured the intense, thrill-ride feel the creators were aiming for. Some of the humor in the dialogue also got me chuckling. Some twists and shocks in the movie took me by surprise, I’ll admit. It’s just that a few fun scenes don’t add up to a satisfying movie overall. I’d classify Cloverfield as an interesting experiment -- a novelty item. It was amusing to see once, but not something I’d rush out to see again (or see a sequel to).

Director David Lynch loves mysteries. He has often argued that a mystery loses its power over an audience when it is solved, and that sometimes, there are mysteries that should never be solved, but should instead remain unknowns for the audience. This has understandably frustrated many viewers of his films, but if you ask me, he’s got a point there. One of the biggest mysteries, then, is “who is this David Lynch guy who makes these ‘out there’ movies?” For an answer, or at least a partial answer, turn to the new documentary Lynch (One), now playing in select cities.

Here we see Lynch in the early days of work on INLAND EMPIRE. He has a not-unsurprisingly odd phone conversation with Jeremy Irons, and he makes the first announcement about the movie to the pay-only viewers on his web site. We see him fuss over the small details on a set, so everything can be just right – just as he imagined it. Then there’s the much-talked-about moment in which Lynch loses his cool and snaps at his crew. Honestly, I didn’t think this was that shocking. It’s nothing compared to the footage of an enraged James Cameron going off on his crew on the Aliens two-disc set.

Lynch does get to talk some about his creative process. In the past, he used to never about this, but in recent years, he’s opened up a lot more. Maybe it’s because of the Web site and the daily interaction with his fans. Who knows? Either way, it’s fascinating stuff. He of course mentions transcendental meditation, and he credits that for a source of a lot of his creativity. He also debunks the concept of the suffering artist, saying instead that the greatest art is created when the artist feels joy in his or her life.

Of course, this is still David Lynch we’re talking about, and there are plenty of quirks to be seen or heard, most notably Lynch’s preoccupation with Bastille Day (Your guess is as good as mine). Also, why is Idaho mentioned a few times in the movie? Isn’t Lynch from Montana?

One big mystery surrounds this movie: Who is the director, credited here by the pseudonym “blackANDwhite?” A lot of people online think that the director is Lynch himself. All I can do is shrug and say, “Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t.” Still, the documentary does show some Lynchian touches, such as when Lynch wanders through an abandoned factory, marveling at all the pipes and machinery. As he does so, we’re treated to all kinds of cool cinematic shots of said machinery. There are a lot of visual tricks like this throughout the movie that keep it moving along at a nice pace.

OK, bottom line. If you’re a David Lynch fan, find out when this is coming to your city and go see it. If you know nothing about the man or his movies, this really isn’t the place to start. Instead of answering “Who is David Lynch?” the movie instead answers the question, “What’s it like to hang out with David Lynch?” The answer is a lot like the director’s films: Baffling at times, but still incredibly entertaining.

So the live action Ben 10 movie debuted just before Thanksgiving weekend on Cartoon Network, and I figured I’d share my thoughts on it, since it’s because of this site that I’ve become a Ben 10 junkie. And you know what? I enjoyed it.

Those who were expecting something along the lines of a Spider-Man 2 or Batman Begins from this movie might be disappointed. It is what it is – a low-budget made-for-cable movie. If you look at it in that context, then it’s pretty good. It’s certainly far more entertaining than those flaccid flicks the Sci-fi Channel coughs up every Saturday.

As the movie begins, Ben, his cousin Gwen, and his grandfather Max have finally concluded their summer vacation cross country road trip, although no one questions why it took about four years. Anyway, Ben spent the summer using a device called the Omnitrix to transform into any one of 10 different aliens, which he used to save the world from evil. But now he’s got to face an even bigger challenge – the first day of school.

The pressure is on Ben to be just an ordinary kid instead of going hero and fighting monsters every five minutes, and he’s finding it hard to adjust. He’ll soon be back into action, though, because a new baddie named Eon has shown up in town. He has a connection to both the Omnitrix and to the secret organization Max once worked for. Eon’s power to manipulate time, however, might mean he’s too much for Ben to handle.

The pyrotechnics and mass destruction seen on any given episode of the TV series isn’t quite the same here. The creators made the most of what they had, saving the big special effects shots for a handful of scenes. I have to admit, Ben’s alien forms, now in three-dimensional, CGI do look pretty good, if still a little cartoony. It’s too bad we don’t see all of Ben’s aliens, but the ones we do see are impressive.

The young actors playing Ben and Gwen, Graham Phillips and Haley Ramm, do an OK job. At times, it feels as if they’re merely reciting their lines, but each of them does have a moment to shine. Lending the acting a little more credibility are some notable performers, including Lee “Six Million Dollar Man” Majors, Robert “holographic doctor” Picardo, and Beth “used to be on The Daily Show” Littleford. As Eon, Christien Anholt spends most of the movie with his face partially obscured under his costume, but he sneers and snarls just as good as any cartoon villain.

I looked this movie up online after watching it and, ouch, a lot of folks on the internet really hated it. Some of their concerns – such as not seeing all of Ben’s aliens during the runtime, or replacing Richard Horvitz with some other voice actor for fan-favorite character Greymatter – might be valid, but others struck me as out of line. Do the sets and the alien tech look plastic and/or cardboard-ish? Yes, they do, but this is a lighthearted kids’ adventure movie, not serious science fiction, so I’m more than cool with the B-movie look of it all. Yes, the kid actors are a little wooden in their line delivery, but come on, they’re kids. Yes, the villain doesn’t radiate menace the way Ben’s number one baddie Vilgax does, but bringing Vilgax to live action would probably have required a Transformers-like budget.

The fans should be delighted that this movie exists. Just think about how easy it would have been for Hollywood to “re-imagine” this series for live action. Writers and producers could have chucked the characters’ origins and history, replacing them with dumber ideas and trampling all over what people enjoy about the show. Instead, we get a live action movie that goes right along with the show’s continuity. It’s a real treat for those who watch the show and it’s a lot of fun for everyone else.

When I reviewed the first Fantastic Four movie for this site, I basically said I didn’t like it, and I ended up getting a ton of hate mail. Based on those e-mails, it seems that although it was released in 2005, Fantastic Four has already become a timeless classic to be cherished by the masses and how dare a simpleton like me say anything bad about it--even though it has a scene in which the hero uses his powers to get toilet paper for himself while he’s on the can.

And now I’m painting the target on my chest again, because I felt Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer was also a disappointment. OK, so it wasn’t quite the gnarled fetus of a movie the first one was. I’ll admit there were a few moments that worked, but not enough to save the entire film, I feel.

First the positives: The Human Torch comes across as a lot less obnoxious this time around, and he gets to show his human side a little more. We get to see that he cares about something other than acting like a jerk all the time. Plus, the special effects do indeed get amped up considerably, and the Silver Surfer does look pretty sweet the way he moves around his board while in flight.

Unfortunately, not a lot else struck me as favorable. Mr. Fantastic still comes across as more of a goof and a screw-up than he does a hero. The Invisible Woman is supposed to be the heart and soul of this group, but she spends a lot of the movie just whining. The Thing isn’t doing a lot of stupid stuff like falling on his butt in a bar, which is good, but he also doesn’t get a whole lot of screen time, which isn’t so good.

Dr. Doom shows up again in this movie, and, once again, he’s portrayed as a wisecracking jerk and not as pure evil. Of all the megalomaniacs in fiction, Doom should be the one that we really fear could actually pull it off and conquer the world. Instead, he’s the movie’s comic relief. He makes jokes and smirks his way through the whole film when he should be emitting pure menace.

“Wait a minute,” you’re saying, “How can you tell Doom is smirking under that mask?” Well, it only takes the filmmakers a minute before they get rid of his mask and return him to full-on 100 percent Julian McMahon-ness, not realizing that the mask and the scarred face underneath is an integral part of who this character is. That’s how I see these movies in general – the creators have removed the elements of these characters that make them so appealing and well-liked over the years. What does that leave us with? Sitcom banter and lots of CGI.

But, hey, what do I know? Tons of people loved the first movie, and this second one has already made an Elemental Converter-sized amount of cash. So, if you’re one of the many who loved Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, there’s no need to write hate mail, just go off and enjoy it without me.

There’s been a lot of talk in recent years how countries like Korea and Mexico have been experiencing a “new wave” of filmmaking by producing a lot of exciting movies in recent years. While all that’s been going on, the Scandinavian countries have been quietly experiencing a “new wave” of their own, with a number of cutting edge films coming out of the lands of snow and blondes. The Palm Springs International Film Festival this year features a whole series of new Scandinavian flicks, so I knew I had to check one out. My geekishness won out over my film criticness, however, so I gravitated toward a supernatural thriller rather than a highbrow relationship drama. But when the supernatural thriller in question is Cecilie, there’s no problem.

Cecilie (Sonja Richter) is a young married woman ready to get back into her teaching career after a long leave of absence. All seems well at first, but she starts having strange nightmares and visions that are disrupting her job and her marriage. It’s then revealed that this isn’t the first time, and that Cecilie has had these frightening visions before. Driven to learn the meaning behind her nightmares, with the help of a think-outside-the-box psychiatrist, Cecilie now has to unravel clues to a murder that happened years ago, so history does not repeat itself.

Although Cecilie doesn’t add a lot to the horror genre, it certainly does a lot of things right. There was one shot early on that had me groaning because of how reminiscent it was of The Ring. I was all, “Great, I flew all the way to Palm Springs just to sit through yet another J-horror rip-off.” Sure enough, the look of the film is that sort of grayish-blue color seen in so many recent fright flicks, and it benefits more from a dark and gloomy atmosphere than it does from gore or monsters. But, as I kept watching, I became more and more engrossed in the storyline, I cared about the characters, and I really felt the suspense as the plot raced toward its climax at the end.

That’s what’s so great about Cecilie: it might use the conventions of the horror genre, but it tells its own story. So, although it’s familiar, it’s not a blatant rip-off or retread of what has gone on before--which, sadly, is what we keep getting from Hollywood. Cecilie is a real crowd pleaser. It has creepy nightmares, an interesting and well-thought-out mystery to be solved, and even some sexiness to satisfy the lowest common denominator. It might not be anything new--this is the type of plot they do every week on Medium--but it’s a satisfying spookfest with a great story. Check it out if you’re able to.

I don’t believe I’m about to admit this to the entire world, but here goes: while at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, I went on one of those bus tours that takes you around to the stars’ homes. If I were to sum up the entire tour in a single word, it’d be “hokey.”

People in Palm Springs rarely refer to it as “Palm Springs.” Instead, almost everybody just calls it “the Desert.” Driving into town, the Desert is not exactly what I’d call “pretty.” This isn’t the nice sweeping dunes of Lawrence of Arabia. Instead, it’s more of grungy, grey-brown, brush covered desert, like something out of, let’s say, Tremors. The city itself is much nicer, of course. Not only are there big ol’ palm trees everywhere, but the city passed an ordinance years ago outlawing large outdoor advertising. As a result, the whole place gets to show off some nice architecture without gigantic signs and billboards cluttering up the main streets. I can see why so many old-timey celebrities were drawn to the place. Speaking of celebrities, let’s move on to some of the goofy stuff from the tour.

My tour guide was also a part-time member of the Dixieland Band at Disneyland, and was the closest thing to an actual celebrity I met while there.

Ten minutes into the tour and the first “celebrity home” we saw was game show host Monty Hall’s mother’s house. This didn’t fill me with much hope, but, fortunately, there were other stars’ homes that were, shall we say, a little more high profile.

The Desert’s two favorite sons are, by far, Frank Sinatra and Bob Hope. There was more info about these two guys on the tour than anyone else. In neighboring Cathedral City, we drove by the former Sinatra compound, made up of several buildings' worth of living space and partying space. Sinatra allegedly had the entire interior of one house painted bright orange, including ceilings, furniture, doors, doorknobs, and everything else, complimented with orange shag carpeting in every room. Why’d he do this? Because he’s Sinatra and he did it his way!

Bob Hope owned several homes in the Desert, living in a smaller one, and reserving the bigger ones for his parties. Turns out Hope made his fortune not from entertainment but from real estate. He had the foresight to buy up huge properties in the Desert long before rich folks started moving out there. I guess movies and comedy were just something he did on the side when not making shrewd land deals.

There are a lot of stories out there about Sinatra being all short-tempered, and I’m not saying that those aren’t true, but he also did a lot of charitable things for the town. The most notable of these is a park designed for use by the blind, which he financed with a blind friend in mind. The park has all kinds of displays in Braille, along with a special audio message from Sinatra himself, welcoming everyone to the park. With all that in mind, I guess it would be pretty insensitive of me to wonder why one path going through the park is lined with cacti on both sides.

An ordinary-looking trailer park proved itself to be a notable locale, as it’s where Bing Crosby and Jack Benny both lived in their later years. This begs the question: What in the heck were Bing Crosby and Jack Benny doing living in a freakin' trailer park?

Marylin Monroe’s house is very cool and classy-looking, which you'd expect from her. It’s also just a few blocks down from the home President John F. Kennedy stayed during his visits to the Desert. My tour guide said the two of them used to pass each other while jogging in the morning. Yeah, I’m sure they did.

Liz Taylor’s house is not only gigantic with an elaborately landscaped back yard, but folks can rent it out for several thousand dollars a day for parties. So you better not let your 9-year-old daughter find out about this place, or she'll be begging you to have her next birthday there.

Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn have a very nice house, and guess what? Their next door neighbor is Madonna. Tell me that’s not a sitcom waiting to happen.

The guy who did the voice of the Shadow on the old 1930s radio show is not only still around, but he has a little plaque outside his home bearing the famous line, “Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!” I do believe that was the coolest thing I saw on the tour.

While driving past Hedy Lamarr’s house, where her grandchildren live today, I learned that not only did she have quite the real-life adventure escaping Nazi Germany to make it to Hollywood, but she’s also credited as the inventor of a radio guidance system for WWII torpedoes! Where’s that biopic?!?

Vincent Price has a house in the Desert, but, sadly, it’s not a dark gloomy castle. It does, however, have the distinction of being the longest house in the city. So, that's something, at least.

These were the highlights for me. In case you're wondering why I'm not providing the full listing of all the houses I saw, it's because I really don't care that much. It was just something to do.

Why see a movie at a film festival that’s currently playing in theaters everywhere? While at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, I originally intended to attend the showing of Pan’s Labyrinth that included a Q&A with director Guillermo Del Toro, but I wasn’t able to make it. Instead, I was at the film’s second, director-less showing, but what a film it is.

It’s 1944. In a small village in Spain, the local captain (Sergi Lopez) is obsessed with keeping control in the face of various insurgents opposed to the new fascist government. His new wife has just arrived with her young daughter from a previous marriage, Ofelia (Ivana Baquero). The girl lives two lives, one in the harsh and lonely environment of the Captain’s home, where she and her mother are subject to his cruelty, and one in a strange fantasy world located within the nearby labyrinth, where she discovers she is a long-lost princess with a destiny to fulfill.

As of this writing, critics and movie fans all over the world are falling all over themselves in praising this movie, so I’m not sure what I can say that’s any different, except everything you’ve heard is pretty much spot on. The movie is not just visually rich, but it also has a great story, fascinating characters, and moving performances.

Ivana Baquero has received a lot of deserved praise for her years-ahead-of-its-time performance here, but for me the real star is Sergi Lopez as the captain. This guy has jumped right to the top of my all-time favorite movie villains list. He is just a slimy, cold-hearted monster. While watching the movie you want awful, horrible things to happen to him. It’s thanks to Lopez’s spot-on acting here that you get that reaction.

The visuals of Pan’s Labyrinth really shine, as expected. The fantasy sequences are not just eye-popping, but they’re also dark and creepy throughout. If Ofelia is merely imagining her otherworldly journeys, then the poor girl is pretty messed up in her brain. The faun, her guide to this world, is all kinds of creepy, and you’re never quite sure if he’s on her side or not. Another monster, one with bulging eyeballs on his palms, is even ickier, with stretchy skin dangling from his thin frame as he slowly moves toward you.

But as a whole, Pan’s Labyrinth is less about the monsters and more about the characters, and their longings for either control or freedom from control. You’ll see a lot of brutality and violence from beginning to end, from both sides of the conflict. There are some interesting subtleties at work here too -- notice how a knife shows up in both of Ofelia’s two worlds and how they are used later on in important ways.

Given how goofy Del Toro sometimes acts in DVD extras on his other films, it was almost a surprise as to how mature and confident this one is. It’s certainly the best of his work that I’ve seen. Highly recommended.

So I recently spent a week at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, enjoying the desert atmosphere and taking in some cool flicks, and boy did I start off with a good one.

It’s a shame that moviegoers' views of Kazakhstan will forever be associated with the lowbrow yuks of Borat when the actual country has produced Nomad, an action-packed historical epic, with high drama, gorgeous cinematography, and sword-swinging mayhem.

The story is set in the 18th century, at a time when the country was made up of various wandering tribes of Kazaks, always under threat of attack by their enemies, the vicious Jungars. As the film begins, there’s a Moses-like prophecy that says a sultan’s son will someday unite the Kazak tribes and defeat the Jungars, so of course the baddies set out to kill the sultan’s child immediately. Fortunately, the baby is saved by the titular nomad (Jason Scott Lee, Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story), a mystical butt-kicker and occasional advisor to the sultan. The nomad and the sultan agree to let the nomad raise the boy in secret, so the Jungars never learn he survived.

Jump to years later, after the child, Mansur (Kuno Becker), has been trained by the nomad to be one of the most skilled warriors in all the land. Upon learning who his father is, as well as his world-changing destiny, Mansur not only has to deal with fighting the sinister Jungars, but also the strains on his relationships with his father, his best friend, and the girl he loves.

What I’ve covered above is only the first half hour or so of the movie. Not only are there plenty of twists and turns to the plot as Mansur discovers his destiny, but there are all kinds of rousing action scenes along the way as well. The obvious comparisons to make are with recent “epic battle” movies like Lord of the Rings or, more appropriately, Kingdom of Heaven. But in its tone, Nomad is more like 1982’s Conan the Barbarian. Life in the desert is rough and violent, and those who are strongest with their swords are the ones who get to live the nice life. That is, until a hero like Mansur comes along, unites the people, and creates a new peace

The festival’s guide book makes a big deal about how the action scenes in Nomad are “old school.” There are no CGI armies here; instead, whenever you see a wide shot of hundreds of barbarians hacking and slashing away at each other, those are hundreds of bona fide extras all fighting it out for our entertainment. The many swordfights are well choreographed without resorting to outlandish jumping and king fu moves, and some of my favorite scenes include some elaborate chases on horseback.

In short, Nomad is an action-packed epic that thankfully has a great story to go along with its eye-popping battles. I’m guessing a nation-wide release and even a region 1 DVD will probably never happen, but if you somehow get a chance to see this one, go for it.

At first, this was going to be a list of the top five or top ten comics of the year, but with Runaways in the number one spot, there’s no need to bother with anything else. You’ve got Runaways, which is way up here, and then you’ve got all other comics, which are way down there.

Backing up for a sec, Runaways is about a group of unrelated California teens with nothing in common except that their parents are murderous supervillains working together to overthrow the Earth. Each of the kids has inherited some sort of power, item, or dinosaur handed down to them from mom and dad. The kids run away, swearing to right all the wrongs of their parents, as well as any other evil adults they come across. But, in the world of Runaways, the words “evil adult” are redundant.

There’s Nico, a would-be sorceress whose mystical powers involve shedding her own blood, Karolina, an alien with light-based abilities, Chase, who drives the team’s high-tech getaway vehicle, Gert, who fights crime with the help of a telepathic dinosaur, Molly, an 11-year-old mutant with the strength to bench press a bus, and Alex, the brains of the group. As you get farther into the series, some characters depart, while a few new ones join the team.

Marvel Comics’ Runaways is written by the great Brian K. Vaughn with a rotating team of artists consisting of Adrian Alphona, Takeshi Miyazawa, Mike Norton, Skottie Young, and Stefano Caselli, among others. It’s been collected in some handy digest sized graphic novels and in two gorgeous hardcover collections. If you want to “test the waters,” then I suggest seeking out the digests, which shouldn’t be hard to find. That being said, I heartily recommend the hardcovers, which are well worth the money. Not only has all the art been reproduced with glorious color and detail, but the hardcovers have generous extras, such as scripts and concept sketches.

I recently received the Volume Two hardcover for Christmas and reintroduced myself to the stories therein. In this volume, the Runaways have their first encounter with Victor Mancha, who becomes a member of the team, despite the fact that his father is one of the Marvel universe’s most feared villains. Then, Xavin, an alien, arrives with surprising news for Carolina, leading to heartbreak among the group. Finally, our heroes pay a visit to New York City, where they investigate a drug-related mystery and prove they have what it takes to square off against the Avengers.

It’d take months to list everything that makes Runaways so thoroughly awesome. There are complex, twisty-turny plots, where just when you think you’ve got the story figured out, there’s another surprise waiting for you. There’s witty dialogue -- which we’ve come to expect from Vaughn -- that knows when to make with the sarcastic wisecracks, and when to stay serious. Even though the kids are unconventional superheroes, you’ll find plenty of kickass superhero action along the way. What really makes Runaways stand out way, way ahead of all other comics currently on shelves, though, is the character work. These are a group of characters that readers can instantly relate to and care about. Marvel Comics always gets praised for classic heroes like Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four being great characters in addition to being great heroes. The Runaways fit that description nicely, and -- as long as future creators don’t screw them up -- they should achieve “classic” status of their own in years to come.

If you can’t stand superheroes and you hate all comic books with a poisonous rage, you’ll still enjoy Runaways. It’s just that good.

I made it to Harvard Square on the afternoon of Dec. 8 to see the first showing of David Lynch's new movie, Inland Empire. Three hours of Lynch surrealism? It was an exhausting, frightening, amazing experience.

So the movie begins with a troubled young prostitute who, after, uh, "servicing" her, um, "customer," turns to the television to escape her nightmarish life. On TV, she watches an odd sitcom about some rabbits, which then transforms into the story of Nikki, a successful actress about to start work on an important new film. As things progress, Nikki eventually starts to become the character she's playing. From there, reality just keeps on unraveling, as Nikki finds herself in one unsettling predicament after another.

What we've got here is a film with several layers of story going on at once. The trick to it is to know which parts of which story belong to which layer and...

OK, I'm going to stop right there and not even bother trying to analyze the plot. As with most of Lynch's films, this one's going to take repeated viewings before eventually getting a sense of just what is happening. The first time you see a Lynch film, you don't focus on the story, you focus on the mood and the atmosphere. This one's got all sorts of dark, creepy imagery, as well as that dreamlike feel that Lynch is so good at creating. It's not as "out there" as Eraserhead, but it's more oddball than Mulholland Drive. I'd say Inland Empire's closest kin would be Twin Peaks Fire Walk With Me, in that even though there's all sorts of bizarre unexplainable stuff happening on screen, Lynch never loses sight of where the characters are emotionally. You might not know what's going on, but you'll still be able to relate to the characters.

Speaking of which, Laura Dern was great here, playing several different characters (or, perhaps, one character with a very fractured psyche). I know a lot of folks are pushing for her to get an Oscar for this role, but I felt that her performance was genuine, and not just weepy Oscar bait. Justin Theroux, Jeremy Irons, Grace Zabriski, and perpetual weirdo Harry Dean Stanton were all excellent as well.

I left the theater feeling excited, in a way. Seeing this movie got my creative juices flowing, and, as weird as it all was, it reminded my why I love movies in general. So, yeah, I recommend that everyone make the effort to go see this one at the theater. Even if "art" movies aren't your thing and you'd rather see something like ninjas fighting dinosaurs, I say go see Inland Empire anyway, and see where the journey takes you.