Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)

Director Tim Burton's remake of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971), based on a book by Roald Dahl, which doesn't really improve upon the original. I like Tim Burton, and will gladly follow wherever he may lead his audience, as his movies are simply fun to watch and he chooses captivating stories to portray, but this one left me wanting more, aside from the wonderful squirrel scene. I'm also a huge Johnny Depp fan and go out of my way to catch his movies, so this was a must see for me.

The special effects in the first movie were outta sight, to use a term from that period, particularly the swirly graphics of text during the oompa loompa songs, which were largely non-existent in this newest version. The initial glimpse of the factory didn't seem very different from the original and the boat ride down the chocolate river was lackluster in comparison. Additionally, I wasn't enthralled by the new oompa loompa songs, which were a little too glamorous for my taste and a bit redundant as all of the oompa loompas were played by one actor.

I heard Tim Burton was trying to remain truer to the original story, although I never read it, but movies aren't books. It's hard to beat Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka in the original movie version, and Depp plays Wonka in a strangely weird and girlish way, which often left me questioning his portrayal of that character rather than just accepting it.

Cinderella Man (2005)

Directed by Ron Howard, Cinderella Man tells the true story of James Braddock, a boxer during the Depression in America. Russell Crowe plays the failed boxer who returns to the ring to make some money to help feed his family. The fight scenes are quite nice and tense, particularly the scenes which utilize special effects to show bones breaking upon the impact of certain punches during the movie.

I'm not sure why I like boxing movies so much, but I do, and I liked this one. It's such a rugged and brutal sport that it makes for some good stories. What more can you say about a feel good movie in which you already know the outcome?

A Short Film About Killing (1988)

Directed by Krzysztof Kieslowski, a Polish director, the movie tracks the lives of three people and how their lives become entangled through a murder. I may have simply been unaware in other films, but the obvious use of filters in this film added a nice surreal effect. It felt like everything I was watching was unclear or indirect, suggesting a less precise interpretation of the events portrayed. It also added nice tension to the movie and asked me to pay closer attention as events unfolded.

As the lives of the three main characters, all of them unlikeable, converge, the karmic implications of their actions seem to return to them. Each character was forced to face the irony of their individual predicaments. In what came across as a criticism of capital punishment, it was difficult to see who was without fault. The movie showed that, perhaps, all people who condemned someone to die are, in part, responsible for the death. Ultimately, a quite enjoyable movie which presented the viewer with the raw materials to make a decision, but didn't provide the answer.