Return to Oz

 Return to Oz (1985)

Placing aside my unending hatred of The Wizard of Oz for just a second, this movie is actually really good. It was surprising to me, let me tell you, but it’s well executed, the acting is right on par, and the story while really rather dark at times is well written and takes the right cues from the book its (loosely, but not as loosely as the original movie – bleh!) based on.

It incorporates my favorite parts from The Marvelous Land of Oz – Tock the royal army of Oz, Jack Pumpkin head, and the flying Gump – and adds original touches to tie it back to the original film (Dorothy having trouble re-assimilating to life in the “real world” after her adventures in Oz) without kowtowing to the really bat-shit loco crap the movie made up.

And as an added bonus the film includes the unmistakable work of Jim Henson and his ever-lovable animatronics. Now, I do have an undeniable weakness for animatronics, but you just can’t go wrong with the work of Jim Henson.

Tin Man

Tin Man (2007)

One word: Steampunkalicious. For those you are unfamiliar with the fashion/lifestyle phenomenon of Steampunk, please check out the wiki here and these other great resources.

The steampunk overtones of Tin Man are slight, but definite and well executed to boot. The subtlety of costumes and the unspoken idea of technology provide a really intriguing and different fantasy world in which the story takes place.

To be perfectly up-front, it won’t really make any sense unless you already know something about “The Wizard of Oz” (like, the fact that it exists, the main character’s name is Dorothy Gale, she has a dog named Toto, she travels through the magical world of Oz with a scarecrow, a man made out of tin, and a lion, and that there are wizards and wicked witches waylaying her at every step), and it adds a lot of nuisance if you’ve read the book and not just watched the movie.

However, regardless of your prior knowledge of the mythos of Oz – or lack thereof – this is a really great miniseries that I would recommend to just about anyone. The acting, while perhaps not Oscar worthy, is solid and the story is well thought out and well executed and the actors are top notch. I know not everyone loves Zooey Deschanel, but you CANNOT not adore Alan Cummings, and Richard Dreyfuss is the perfect cherry on top.

All in all this is a great experience and a fantastic addition to the legacy of Oz.

P.S. No dancing here, but there is an enchanting and haunting children’s rhyme which will get stuck in your head.

Howl's Moving Castle

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

To be perfectly honest with you all, this is one of my favorite favorite favorite books EVAR, so my opinion is skewed -- but then again this is a blog and the reason people like blogs more than traditional media outlets is bloggers are (generally) upfront about their prejudices.

ANYROAD . . .

You really have to make a choice when coming up against this story, and that choice is if you want to watch the movie by Hayao Miyazaki or read the book by Diana Wynne Jones. I’ll do my opinions on the movie in another post and just tell you about the book here, but make no mistake they have completely different meanings.

The main undercurrent of Howl’s is the real reason I’ve read it so many times the spine is permanently creased and I freak out when I don’t remember where I put it. It’s a story that takes all the tropes of fairy tales and puts them through the ringer asking the hard questing of “Why?” Why must the oldest always fail? Why must our fate be sealed by forces out of our control and choices we were never given. Why should you never risk anything just because you’ve been told you are not allowed to believe in it?

Sophie Hatter’s fate is sealed because she believes it is, and through the book and the adventures she experiences within its pages she learned to overcome the limits that are only holding her back because she allows them. As Eleanor Roosevelt said “A person can only make you feel inferior if you allow it,” or something along those lines.

In short it’s a wonderful, heart-warming tale that ends in a whirlwind of self discovery and revelation and to this day I cannot get enough of it.

Buried

 

Buried by Robin Merrow MacCready

An intriguing, fast-paced, and haunting examination of how the lies we tell ourselves become truth as well as the capacity for self-protection humans have.

It will definitely keep you up at night (unless you read it in one night *wink*) and it will keeping you guessing and thinking.

A great read, if mildly disturbing.

Unraveling

Unraveling by Michelle Baldini and Lynn Biederman

The best (and simplest) way to describe this book is to say that it is Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells only better and for the younger set, something I think is really important with this type of dysfunctional mother/daughter relationship theme (in other words: a book for the daughter BEFORE she grows up and gets messed by the relationship she had with her mother).

The problems I have with Divine I do not find in this book, and the ending is considerably more clearly hopeful (though still leaves some to the imagination, which in this case is not the best ever). In short, you can walk away from this knowing that a a young girl's life is going to turn out much better because she had a chance to fix the relationship with her mother before growing up and going away.

Footloose

Footloose (1984)

You really cannot go wrong with big over curled eighties hair, shoulder pads, a lack of bra-age, Kevin Bacon, and rocking tunes. You really can't.

Footloose, for those few left you haven't seen if (you're lives are sorely lacking, let me tell you) embodies the love of dancing that many movies seek to have but fall short of. If you want a movie to make you feel good, that has good music, and quotes the Bible, this is the correct choice.

P.S. Kevin Bacon and a very young Sarah Jessica Parker.

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