It doesn’t surprise me that when Wes Anderson decided to take on a Roald Dahl story, he skipped right over some of the darker tales that inspired Alfred Hitchcock for his television series “Alfred Hitchcock Presents.” Instead, he went for a softer, more joyous tale of a fox trying to find his place in the world and with his family.

Anderson’s first animated film is a wonderful dive into the cheekily intelligent world that Anderson has established throughout his career. From Bottle Rocket to the Darjeeling Limited, Anderson never fails to create honest, flawed and charming characters–allowing the audience to witness these characters both at their lowest moments and their most endearing. The Fantastic Mr. Fox is no exception. Despite its more familial feel and childlike tone, the film is one of the more intelligent and mature stories released this year.  If Wes Anderson had a plan to win the hearts of film-goers everywhere with this film, he has succeeded.

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© kristin for The Happiest Medium, 2009. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: George Clooney, Jason Schwartzman, Meryl Streep, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, wes anderson

Said The Whale, photo by: Vanessa Heins

Said The Whale, hailing from the ever-blossoming music town of Vancouver, British Columbia, released their sophomore album last month on Hidden Pony Records. As I was a quick fan to one of their earlier singles “The Light is You,” I was eager to get my hands on the album and check it out. The band’s upbeat sound and amazing energy never fails to leave me wanting more, and all this just from their records! I’m still waiting my turn to catch these guys live.  (Hint: please come to NYC soon!)

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Post tags: Album Review, Ben Worcester, Howard Redekopp, Islands Disappear, Said The Whale, Tom Dobrzanski, Tyler Bancroft

Every Fall the networks begin their usual marketing announcements of “Best New Show This Season” and “Most Exciting Drama.” As audiences, we have grown accustomed to tuning it out. They say it every year about every show. One would think that after over 50 years of television the marketing professionals would finally figure out new creative strategies. This season was no different and with large campaigns from Glee, Mercy, Flash Forward and yes, even Cougar Town–it’s come to be that really, there is a best new show of the season and it’s NBC’s Trauma.

Don’t get me wrong, Glee certainly has actually given every network show a good run for its money with its upbeat sing-a-longs and downright hilarious social commentaries but when it comes down to it, the best is usually a tad underrated at first. Like House, MD was six years ago.

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Post tags: Anastasia Griffith, best new show, Cliff Curtis, Don Draper, Glee, Gregory House, House, Mercy, NBC, Trauma

Walking into a packed theatre at 4:00 in the afternoon on a Wednesday is a bit like an out-of-body experience. Arriving half an hour early, and still vying for a decent seat, is not something that happens often at a Brooklyn theatre. But that is exactly what happened to me this afternoon.

Michael Jackson’s This is It opened today and people around the world seem to have responded. The limited theatrical release time frame of two weeks was a genius move on the part of producers–probably a direct idea of director Kenny Ortega, the mastermind behind Disney’s mega trilogy High School Musical, gearing off the premise set by the Hannah Montana: Best of Both Worlds concert film.

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Read the rest of Michael Jackson’s “This is It” (475 words)

© kristin for The Happiest Medium, 2009. | Permalink | 6 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: film review, michael jackson, this is it