Rango

Is a damn fine animated movie (isn't it interesting that some of the best movies of recent years are animated?).

Surprisingly it's not Pixar nor Dreamworks, but Gore Verbinski and ILM (Pirates of the Caribbean director) and a great performance by Johnny Depp (how long before an acting award goes to an animated character?) that bring this movie to the stage.

The film was made in an unusual style with the actors performing ensemble-wise in a 'theater of the absurd' as opposed to the typical one person at a time in front of a microphone and served to capture great reactions. It blends the film together very well and I wouldn't be surprised if more animated films use this style.

Throw in a ton of movie references, one of the most unique beginnings to an animated film I've ever seen, some truly hallucinogenic scenes, fantastically detailed character design, and a great cast, and this could be the animated film to beat this year with Pixar releasing a cash cow in Cars 2. The king can be unseated.



IMDB
Official
Indiewire
Q&A With Verbinski
NYTimes

If You Have Not Seen The Wrestler

Then you need to have a long heart to heart chat with yourself about that fact.













Sit yourself down, probably in front of a mirror and say "lookie here, you, you just need to accept the fact that Mickey Rourke gives a helluva performance. He won the Golden Globe for a reason!"









"But Rourke's old and busted up. He's a washout", you protest. "Exactly", you say, "It's perfect! It fits, like an old glove".













"And let's not forget that Aronofsky turns off the surreal amplifier and goes unplugged, letting the acoustic harmonics of gritty realism flow, instead of being rammed down your cortex", you add.








"Pshaw, you don't now what your talking about, Aronofsky's a hack", your evil mirror twin poo poohs your idea.






















That's when you should kick that mirror in. Shatter it!









Do not let that kind of negative talk ruin a great movie! Go see it now.