Double Review: Monster House AND Lady in the Water

Sometimes, Martin goes to the movies. Sometimes, he just buys a whole bunch of tickets, and watches whatever he can get away with. So was born the double review for...

Rant at the Screen! (Duplex Edition)

Today's movies are Monster House and Lady in the Water.

Mind you, I saw these films at a slightly different theater than usual - the Sam's Town cinema down on Boulder Highway. This theater, dear god, is the home to 9/10 of the people I usually don't see in my fair city. The home-rentin'/trailer livin' Upper-lower class o' America, and their 900 on their SAT LOL progeny. I had a thorough commentary for each film, which there was nothing to do about. Still, all that said, I had a good time. So, our films...

Monster House, brought to us by Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemekis. Now there's some production names. We proceed to get introduced to the life of your average 11-13 year old, complete with the useless babysitter, her obnoxious/abusive boyfriend, your idiot best friend, and the angry old man accross the street. The film mainly follows DJ and his friend Chowder (along with romantic interest/smart girl Jenny) on a mission to destroy an evil, person-eating house before Halloween night.

The film is well animated, the voices are all talents (the main cast aside, cameos are filled by folks like Jason Lee, Josh Heder, Fred Willard, and a tour de force by Steve Buscemi). The simple story takes a couple of nice turns before the very end. The amusement in the film exists on two levels. The children pick up on the obvious physical humor and violence, but extends onto an entirely different level for some amazingly hinted-at adult jokes (hidden within mundane dialogue).

In the end, I give it 4 out of 5 jars full of questionable liquid.

Lady in the Water is the latest by M Night Shyamalan, and is the first to feature absolutely no twist ending (Yeah!). The film is a modern-day, urban fairy-tale with examinations of the myth throughout. Cleveland Heap maintains the Cove, an apartment complex where strange things are afoot. Everyone in this film is extremely bizarre (not Mirrormask strange, but the sort of oddity you see in every day life), but their strangeness grounds this film in it's own surreality. Without much effort, we begin to accept the premise, and its consequences. Also included is a meta-examination of the fairy-tale cliches, which impact on the story. And last of all, an extremely threatening creature, who is at least as scary as the sprinklers in the film.

I'm torn on this one, because like all of M Night's movies, you'll either love this one, or find your own brand of confusion when you walk out. I really enjoyed the film, but recognizing that I love it because I enjoy post-modern analysis of fairy tales, I give it four out of five giant owls.

What's next in the review-box? Clerks 2, Little Miss Sunshine, My Super Ex-Girlfriend, A Scanner Darkly, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, and The Descent. God, am I gonna be busy. And, can't forget... Snakes on a Plane.