Water For Elephants (2011) ****

So the question is, does Robert Pattinson have the talent to breathe life into a well-written script and character?

And the answer is, definitely yes!

Pattinson may finally be able to erase the RPattz side of his persona, or at least keep it at bay, with Water For Elephants. He plays Jacob, a hardworking son of loving Polish immigrants who is about to graduate from veterinary college in 1931. Deciding to abandon those plans when his parents are suddenly killed, he hops a train which just happens to house the Benzini Brothers Circus. Jacob very nearly gets thrown off the train but for the ministrations of kindly carnival worker Camel (Jim Norton), and is soon put to work putting up tents, keeping out nonpaying customers, and (of course) shoveling shite.  August  (Christoph Waltz), Benzini's charismatic owner and ringmaster, finds out about Jacob's training, he is immediately promoted to circus vet. His first patient? Ailing trick horse Silver Star, ridden by the lovely and talented Marlena (Reese Witherspoon), who just happens to be August's wife.

Water For Elephants is exactly the type of movie for which the long-unused term "sweeping melodrama" was invented. Based on Sara Gruen's acclaimed novel and boasting a script by 90s mainstay Richard LaGranevese (Bridges of Madison County, The Mirror Has Two Faces), it also features superb unhurried direction from Vienna-born Francis Lawrence. And the combined efforts of cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto and Jack Fisk capture the circus milieu perfectly, almost inviting the audience to run away and join.

As to the performances, Pattinson, although still very much a brooding presence at times, has moments where he is able to loosen up and open up, this being a romance and all. He is helped immeasurably by the presence of Witherspoon, a costar he can finally play off of. Waltz continues to display the simmering charisma-to-mania slow burn that we first witnessed in Inglorious Basterds . The romantic elements are refreshingly old fashioned, unfolding at a pace respectful of the Depression-era time period, also allowing us to understand the bright spot that the circus was in people's lives at that time.

Step right up, and enjoy!

MTMG

Bonus Post: Before We Start

Before we embark on our experiment in legit cyber home theatre, as a child of the 80's I'm gonna give a shout-out to a vanishing breed: the bricks-and-mortar video store.

Think back. Do you remember rushing to be the first to be the first at your local video store on Tuesday to grab the latest new release? On VHS? I sure do! I was among the first on my block to grab copies of 1990's Gerard Depardieu vehicle Green Card and Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands from the same year. My thoughts at the time? Green Card was a good first effort in North America for Depardieu, while Burton's Scissorhands stayed with me then, and remains with me still.

And 22 years later, thanks to a minor miracle, I can still experience that Tuesday rush, thanks to an absolute gem of a video store called The Videodrome, named after the cult David Cronenberg film. The store is run by people who love movies, for people who love movies. You won't hear, "We don't carry the Slaughterhouse series" when asking for Slaughterhouse Five, or have to spell out the name of your favorite cult director while the clerk goes blank. Need a suggestion, or want to know the Top 5 films from last year because you've fallen behind? Heather and her intrepid staff can help! And yes, they carry the latest new releases as well. I personally witnessed four copies of Lincoln fly off the shelves last week.

And The Videodrome knows how much people love their movies, and how they'd sometimes just love to have their favorite movie in their personal collection. More than anything else, it is Heather's special talent - almost a mission, really - to help you find your special movie after your chain store employee has looked in their one book and told you it's been discontinued. Don't believe me? Issue her a challenge by visiting the store at 8001 102 St in Edmonton, or by calling (780) 757-2232. The store's website is www.thevideodrome.ca and their email is info@thevideodrome.ca.

Happy hunting!

MTMG

A Rebranding: The Great Netflix Film Festival

Where does the time go?

Since I last posted on Mighty Mighty Movies Unlimited, home entertainment has undergone somewhat of a sea change, with a lot of us now sitting in front of our computers to catch up on our favorite films, thanks primarily to a wonderful streaming service called Netflix.

I will be unapologetic here: I love Netflix. Just love it. For roughly eight bucks, where else can you catch up on the last year or two of new releases and a smattering of fill-in-gaps-in-your-movie-knowledge old favorites? (A word to the wise however : If you see an old favorite today, watch it today. It may be gone tomorrow. And that's no lie!) Just to name a few...

RIP Runaway: Caught about a half-hour of this 1984 Tom Selleck-Gene Simmons starrer at Edmonton's Twin Drive-In with Silverado, and was looking forward to catching up with the rest. RIP 1978's Casey's Shadow (Walter Matthau, a girl, and a horse), 1980's Stir Crazy (that one really stung, seeing as it is a Richard Pryor-Gene Wilder classic that I first saw on local broadcast TV, of course edited for television.  I could go on. But you get the idea.

Now on to the positives. There is a heck of a lot of stuff to catch up on and revisit, and I'm looking forward to sharing my journey with you all. As I've posted before, there will be almost no rhyme or reason to my posts, except on days when I ask myself basic questions like:

Can Robert Pattinson stretch beyond Twilight?

So I guess this is my way of saying that my first films in The Great Netflix Film Festival will be 2011's Water For Elephants.

Looking forward to getting started!

Mikey The Movie Guy