At the Movies: Frankenweenie

Victor is a quiet kid who much rather spend time inside making movies or playing with his dog Sparky, than being outside with the other kids. He doesn't have many friends but he at least has Sparky. 

When a series of events lead to Sparky's accidental death, Victor is unconsolable, until his new science teacher unknowingly says something that makes Victor think there might be a way to bring Sparky back. 

But what'll happen when the whole town finds out?

Frankenweenie is basically Frankenstein but with a kid and a dog. And I really wanted to like it but sadly this movie and I didn't click. 

There is the esthetics of it, and it's not pretty, it reminds me of the low-budget scary shorts I used to watch when I was little in my country's version of PBS, only a lot more pretentious. 

The story is slow paced with nothing much happening until the very end. The movie wasn't funny or even really scary, it was creepy but not cool. And it's not a movie for kids. I heard at least two children in the theater asking if they could leave already, because it's not the type of movie that capture's kids attention. 

The only part I somewhat liked was Sparky. 

So the movie gets a C- from me. 

At the Movies: Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

Oskar Schell is an awkward and vaguely anti-social kid, who adores his father and loves going around New York City in the adventures and quests his father, Thomas, plans for him.  

But after the September 11 attacks, his life changes completely as his father, Thomas, was in the Towers when it happened and died as a result. Always closer to his father than to his mother, Oskar is left in shock, more afraid than ever.

Then he finds a key in his father's closet and is convinced it's part of one of the quests his father used to send him on, so Oskar becomes obsessed with finding the lock that fits the key, thinking it will bring him answers and closure. 

He designs a plan and gets help from an elderly man renting a room in Oskar's grandmother's house. The Boarder doesn't speak - hasn't for years -but maybe that's why Oskar feels like he can talk to him and tell him his secrets. 

I went to see this movie expecting I would like it, I had heard that it was good, but I'm sad to say I didn't like it.  I found the kid, Oskar - played by Thomas Horn - to be incredibly annoying and I failed at connecting with him 100%. He was just plain unlikable. 

The story itself wasn't bad, and I would have probably cried like a baby had the central character been more likable, because it was pretty heartbreaking and I thought the grown ups were very good playing their parts. 

As it is, I give Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close a C- 

At the Movies: Something Borrowed

Rachel has always been the good girl while her best friend Darcy is the wild one. On the night of her 30th birthday, Rachel strays from the good girl path and ends up sleeping with Darcy's fiancé Dex, complicating everything. 

The wedding is still on and neither Dex not Rachel are prepared to make any choices regarding their relationship. Rachel wants Dex but wants to stay friends with Darcy, and Dex thinks he has gone too far down the road with Darcy to call off the wedding, much as he can't get Rachel out of his head. 

I recently read the book, and I have to say that Something Borrowed the movie was pretty faithful to the book, with only very slight variations - like Ethan, Rachel and Darcy's homeboy being more in the picture than he is in the book. 

And I have to say that Ethan was pretty much the only person I liked in this whole movie. In the book, I sort of liked Rachel and Dex, but in the movie they both came off as completely spineless. Darcy was mean as ever but she wasn't fantastically mean, so it was rather bland. Bitchy, but bland. 

I found the movie slow and not very funny save for Ethan, so I give it a C-