shopgirl

as steve martin tries to channel bill murray, claire danes scrunches up her face and cries...a lot. and kind of does her forlorn thing. shopgirl has no redeeming values whatsoever and if i had know that adam schwartzman would end up being the unequivocal highlight of the movie, i’d had passed on the film entirely.

capote

philip seymour hoffman, one of my favorite character actors, transforms himself into the titular role. having read the book and researched the hoopla that surrounded “in cold blood,” the movie was a near can’t miss for me from an interest standpoint. even without that bias, the film itself delivers on all levels, even if some audience members may be a bit confused with the lack of background and context provided in the early parts of the movie.

i'm not a fan of praising actors who play/imitate real people, but hoffman does an amazing job with the role of capote.

wallace and gromit

there's really nothing to say about the wallace and gromit movies. they're great. this is their first feature length film (aside from the hilarious "chicken run") and it does run a little long, but the humor holds your attention all the way through. if you haven't seen any wallace and gromit films, now's the time to start.

a fire at the warehouse where all the sets and characters for wallace and gromit are stored was a huge tragedy for claymation fans everywhere.

the corpse bride

i've not seen "the nightmare before christmas," but by all accounts it's a classic. corpse bride is not. the claymation and animation is done very well, but there's nothing memorable about the plot, the characters, or really, anything. sorry tim burton, next.

mirrormask

despite a less than captivating story, mirrormask is such a unique experience that to fault it for plotting seems to be complaining that works of art aren't accompanied by enough informational text. mirrormask is the work of "sandman" creator neil gaiman and his longtime artistic collaborator dave mckean -- with help from jim henson's creature shop. mirrormask follows in the tradition of "labyrinth" and "the dark crystal" to tell a tale of escape from the mundanity of everyday life to the excitement of a fantasy one.