Cinemaniac

Feeling derelict in duties with respect to my graphics blogging aspirations, but lately I haven't found many graphical things post-worthy. Consequently, music, science, movies, whatever. This time, two more films.

The March of the Penguins runs an hour and twenty-four minutes. If you don't know anything about the mating rituals of the Emperor Penguin, you will feel infinitely more knowledgeable after watching this documentary narrated by Morgan Freeman. How these strange birds manage to survive with such inexplicable and ostensibly unfeasable reproductive strategies really is a wonder. The idea of a penguin couple successfully hatching a single egg and raising a chick to viability seems improbable, and, of course, they have to be successful enough to do it twice to keep the population stable (and that's leaving out early deaths). Some great cinematographic shots are also included.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I may be the wrong one to ask about this film. Willie Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, the 1971 Gene Wilder film, was one of my earliest DVD purchases, and I'm finding it hard to separate the two and evaluate Tim Burton's new film on its own merits. I've heard the latest film is truer to the book and held in higher esteem by Roald Dahl's descendants, but I'm feeling I much prefer the Wilder film. Credit where due, as usual Burton is stylist extraordinaire with stunning sets and art direction and cinematography, the new Charlie is much better than the old, and Depp deserves credit for creating a fresh and original incarnation of Dahl's eccentric candy maker. Still, while watching it, I couldn't help but long for the satire and social commentary of the first film, Julie Dawn Cole's stupendous Veruca Salt and Gene Wilder's darkly comedic Willie, with an oddly unthreatening eeriness, yet so blithe and whimsical, merrily offering David Seltzer's aphorisms. "If the Good Lord had intended us to walk, he wouldn't have invented rollerskates."