Where the Wild Things Are film clip

[Captain Russ]

Vern's review is the only one I've read that hasn't fallen into the bullshit of "This movie validated me, my traumatic childhood, my geeky adolescence, and my career as an internet film critic" of most of the internet buzz on this movie.

Which is exactly why I love Vern. That lunatic ex-con, you just have to love him...or be dead inside.

Also: Dave Eggers makes my soul hurt in the, much in the same way a cheese grater in the shape of a vagina is not good for my appendice le manhood. Away We Go was saccharine hipster wish-fulfillment made celluloid.

I hope this isn't the case with WtWTA.

But then again, this book was never a badge of honor for me, so I'm the asshole. Or just a contrarian prick. OR BOTH???

[Shit Dickface]

Away We Go was saccharine hipster wish-fulfillment made celluloid.

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

disagreed

[Abraham Smashington]

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

disagreed

I want to see that flick but everything I've seen so far makes me want to punch Jim Halpert in the face and smash a chair over Maya Rudolph's back. I'm sure Lesley will want to see it and I hope to be pleasantly surprised.

[Shit Dickface]

It's good! Dammit, I loved it.

[PHEDG]

From EW

Profoundly beautiful and affecting, Where the Wild Things Are is a breath-
taking act of artistic transubstantiation. From Maurice Sendak's beloved picture book about a rambunctious little boy named Max and the kingdom of untamed creatures who adopt him as their like-minded king, filmmaker Spike Jonze has made a movie that is true to Sendak's unique sensibilities and simultaneously true to Jonze's own colorful instincts for anarchy. This is, to quote the 1963 children's classic, ''the most wild thing of all.'' It's also personal movie-
making, with corporate backing, at its best. Whatever the (well-documented) struggles it took to create this gem, the result is worth every monster growl. ''Let the wild rumpus start!'' Max declares in Sendak's pages, and Jonze, working from 
 a just-right screenplay he co-wrote with 
 simpatico spirit Dave Eggers, begins the boy-centric hullabaloo from the very first frame. Max Records, a Botticelli-faced discovery, plays the fictional Max with a lovely purity of energy and freedom — he has a rare kid-aged talent for concentration in the midst of brouhaha. When we first meet him careening around the home he shares with his patient mom (huggable Catherine Keener), Max is a boy on a tear, all motor and no brakes. Whether roughhousing with his dog, devising snowball-warfare strategies, shrieking with a power surge of 
 energy, or collapsing in a child's heap of spent emotion, Max is a dervish of mixed instincts. And Jonze's astute longtime cinematographer, Lance Acord, captures the jumble naturally, chasing after the kid with the nimbleness of a monkey-cam.
It's when Max pushes Mom's tolerance to the limit — Mark Ruffalo has a sweet, small bit as a visiting boyfriend who wears the glazed smile of 
 ''Do I really need this crap?'' — that the hero's adventure really begins. In Sendak's spare book (fewer than 350 words in all!), Max, outfitted in a really cool wildcat costume with whiskers, travels to unknown territory without leaving his room. In Jonze's seamlessly expanded view, he runs outside, whiskers erect, then boards a boat and heads to sea, and on and on ''in and out of weeks and almost over a year'' (to quote the book) to the place where the Wild Things are. The dark colors of nightmares break into golden hues. The music, by Karen O and Carter Burwell, haunts.
Such a place — so playful and mysterious! So liberating and scary! (Yes, some littler kids might be frightened during this PG-rated film, but probably no more so than they already are in their dreams, the kind that come with no rating system to guide a parent; besides, to face one's demons is to tame them, right?) Jonze and Eggers make a smooth storytelling leap by giving each Wild Thing a name and a personality, joyously inspired by Sendak's own illustrations of the creatures' bodies, balloon-big heads, and little V-shaped shark teeth. (Jonze regular Casey Storm designed the ebullient costumes.) I'll leave the discussion of personality integration to shrinks and online discussion groups. Any kid — or adult, for that matter — can identify with the anxieties of Carol (James Gandolfini, more delightfully vulnerable than we've ever heard him); the peace brokering of Judith (Catherine O'Hara, funny to her marrow); and the squabbles, preferences, vanities, and insecurities of Ira (Forest Whitaker), Alexander (Paul Dano), and Douglas (Chris Cooper). I especially like the measured feminine wisdom of KW (Lauren Ambrose). In their gorgeous landscape of dunes, jungle, and enigmatic structures that are as graceful as Noguchi sculptures (the production designer is K.K. Barrett), Max's new friends show him the way home to a self he can live with. On the way, I found myself bowled over with emotion.
Sendak's great gift to readers, old as well as young, is the seriousness with which he presents even the wildest mayhem, the deepest contradictions in human (and Wild Thing) behavior; the author empathizes with fantasists but has no time for cuteness. In his transcendent movie adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are, Spike Jonze not only respects the original text but also honors movie lovers with the same clarity of vision. This is one of the year's best. To paraphrase the Wild Thing named KW, I could eat it up, I love it so. Grade: A

[Abraham Smashington]

Once again, I think I'm going to be a goddamn victim of hype.

[Abraham Smashington]

I'm more interested in the FX than the fucking movie.

[PHEDG]

from IMDb trivia

• Eric Goldberg was at one point attached to direct.
• The open call for Max was huge. It took several months and thousands of boys auditioned from several countries worldwide.
• Spike Jonze was approached by Maurice Sendak and was asked to take on the film adaptation. A movie had been on the burner since the early 90s, and Mr. Sendak had not been able to find anyone fitting to take it on.
• The creatures are being portrayed by actors in 6-8 foot tall costumes, with some additional animatronics, and computer-generated faces. The costumes were created by The Jim Henson Company, who were responsible for the Muppets and Labyrinth creatures.
• Throughout the writing process, Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers kept in close contact with Maurice Sendak, consulting and sharing script changes, models of the monsters, etc.
• It has been said that actors in the monster costumes would wear the head for no more than half an hour at a time, after which they would have 10-15 minute breaks in front of an air conditioner. Stunt performers would remain fully suited for hours at a time, without air conditioning.
• Numerous cameras followed the actors around to impress their expressions and feelings. The images would then be digitally "infused" onto the faces of the puppets and would follow the actors' performances.
• Originally, the film had a May 2008 release, which was pushed back to October 2008, after that, it was pushed back to a 2009 release.
• Filming began in 2005.
• Early development of a film version was leaning towards a fully-animated film.
• Other actors auditioning for the role of Max included Griffin Armstorff, Jackson Pace and Bobby Coleman.
• The film was originally set for release from Universal, but disagreements with Spike Jonze led to him taking the film to Warner Bros.
• Michelle Williams was at one point cast to voice one of the Wild Things, but the role went to Lauren Ambrose. The reason given by the filmmakers for this was that Williams' voice didn't match what they're going for.
• Initially, Warner Brothers studio was so unhappy with Spike Jonze's final movie (it was much less family friendly than they imagined) that they wanted to re-shoot the whole $75 milion project in early 2008. Jonze was eventually given some more time and money by the studio in order to make the final product satisfying to both, the studio and himself.
• Though their names are not mentioned in the book, Maurice Sendak named the Wild Things after his aunts and uncles: Bernard, Tzippeh, Aaron, Moishe, etc. The Wild Things have names in the film, but are not named after Sendak's aunts and uncles.
• In Max Records' previous film The Brothers Bloom (2008), he played Mark Ruffalo's character when he was young. Ruffalo and Records co-star together in this film.
• Maurice Sendak heard that one of President Barack Obama's favorite books was Where The Wild Things Are, so he sent Obama's daughters signed books with little sketches in the front and immediately got back a hand-written thank you note from Obama.
• This is the first time any of the cast members appears in a movie released on IMAX screens.
• Lauren Ambrose described her character as a "eight-foot-tall Neanderthal, that looks just like her".
• Chloë Sevigny auditioned for the role of KW.
• In July 2006, less than six weeks before the start of shooting, the Henson-built monster suits arrived at the Melbourne soundstage where Spike Jonze and his crew had set up their offices. The actors climbed inside and began moving around. Right away, Jonze could see that the heads were absurdly heavy. Only one of the actors appeared able to walk in a straight line. A few of them called out from within their costumes that they felt like they were going to tip over. Jonze and the production crew had no choice but to tell the Henson people to tear apart the 50-pound heads and remove the remote-controlled mechanical eyeballs. This meant that all the facial expressions would have to be generated in post-production, using computers.
• Max Records's favorite scene in the original book, is when Max meet a sea monster. That scene is however not included in the film.
• Spike Jonze turned down the chance to make the movie fully animated, because he wanted people to feel the Wild Things, and thought it would be more exciting and dangerous, if a real kid were running around with the wild things.
• All the original songs in the movie were written and preformed by Karen Orzolek, credited as her stage name Karen O., the lead singer of The Yeah Yeah Yeahs. She dated director Spike Jonze at the time of production. They have since broken up.

[Ed Hocken]

I should be seeing this movie, but I can't crazy about it. I barely remember the book.

Now if they had made a live action movie about The Snowman. Dammit, I'd be crying buckets.

[Abraham Smashington]

Yeah. I'm not in a rush to go see this. I was at first, but not anymore.

[Matt]

I'm taking the wife unit to see this tonight. Me, I don't really care all that much anymore, but she's all OH MY GOD IT'S GOING TO BE SO GOOD YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH that I can't deny her.

[Ed Hocken]

There are three other movies: Bronson, A Serious Man and Black Dynamite to see.

[Matt]

'Bronson' and 'Black Dynamite' didn't open here yet. 'A Serious Man' doesn't interest either of us. In truth, I'm STILL trying to sell the wife unit on seeing 'Zombieland' with me (she loved 'Shaun of the Dead').

[Abraham Smashington]

If she doesn't mind gore, she'll dig on Zombieland. Lesley fucking loved it.

[Ed Hocken]

Shit, I forgot about Zombieland. I haven't gotten to it.