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Yesterday afternoon I got to share a late brunch with my friend Sergio who flew back home to Detroit last night … his time was limited in town but I’m glad I got to see him all 3 days he was in town. Last night I met up with Kirsten, Josh and Darion and the 4 of us made our way to the ArcLight Theater in Hollywood, CA to see Where the Wild Things Are:

Because I loved this storybook as a child I had high hopes that the movie version would be just as good. I have to admit that I really liked the movie … up to a point. Let’s start out on the positive … young actor Max Records, who plays the lead boy in the film, was a revelation. He was so enjoyable to watch on the big screen … for me, he really made the character in the book come alive. Never once it look like he was acting — he really became the character. Spike Jonze‘s direction was superb … the visuals were just outstanding and the movie really is a sight to see. For me, the movie was only half good. It started out strong and held me rapt for the first half of the run time … but once the Wild Things started to show how emo/whiny they were made out to be, I quickly lost interest. For me, the story held such wonder and imagination as a child … and visually, the movie does as well … but the “poor me”, self-loathing, whiny bullshit that the Wild Things started to spew was such a turn off. I was totally bummed out by the time the movie was over. I was sure one of the Wild Things was gonna commit suicide … and I’m utterly convinced that some of them are emotional cutters. Dude, I get that this film was meant to be an emo masterpiece but it got really heavy-handed midway thru. Once the main Wild Thing named Carol ripped off the arm of his best friend out of self-hating frustration, I was pretty much checked out. I personally felt that casting James Gandolfini as the voice of main Carol was a huge mistake. All I could hear was Tony Soprano … his very audible nasal breathing-while-talking manner was hugely irritating. So yeah … the movie is really, really good for the first half and almost just as equally bad for the second half. Because the book is only like 13 sentences long, the director really had to take liberties with the extrapolation of the story … IMHO, he got it half right.

Not sure what the plan is for tonight … David and I are expecting his sisters for a visit later on this week and we have LOADS of cleaning to do before they arrive. Depending on how much work we get done will determine if I will be able to get outside and see the sun.

Last night writer Maurice Sendak was on hand for the NYC premiere of the big screen adaption, helmed by visionary director Spike Jonze, of his beloved classic children’s book Where the Wild Things Are. Fans of the book, me included, have been waiting anxiously to see this story come to life in theaters … and we are only days away from the film’s release. Here are a few photos from the red carpet arrivals at last night’s premiere event for Wild Things:

He created a vast wilderness inhabited by scary creatures in Where the Wild Things Are, but Maurice Sendak still seemed overwhelmed by the line of media and photographers that assembled in the urban jungle for the premiere of the big-screen adaptation of his classic book. “Oh, look at this. A real red carpet,” marveled the 81-year-old author as Wild Things director Spike Jonze led him by the hand into New York City’s Alice Tully Hall at the film’s premiere. Jonze did not re-emerge, but Lauren Ambrose and Forrest Whitaker remained outside to brave the October chill and talk about voicing the Wild Things that inhabit the imagination of the story’s central character. “I was so excited to be playing the one I feel I look like, with the long, red hair,” said the flame-tressed Ambrose as she checked out a movie poster featuring an image of her character, a free-spirited monster named KW. “It was very freeing … and I didn’t have to worry about what I looked like.” For Yeah Yeah Yeahs frontwoman Karen O, composing the film’s soundtrack was a task that began when she discovered the book as a child. “I remember sitting down at the piano and trying to write a song for it when I was very young,” she said. “I even wrote a poem called Land of the Wild Things. It was longer than the book.” Producer Tom Hanks mused on the dark themes of the story, which have some wondering if kids are indeed the movie’s target audience. “Children are very complex beings. They’re not all fun and games and volleyballs and Nerf guns,” he explained. “They kind of experience bigger mood swings than adults do because they haven’t had any experience yet with loneliness or bitterness or confusion.” Still, 12-year-old Max Records, who makes his feature film debut as Max, insisted there were plenty of PG-13 antics on set. “We hoisted [Spike's] Vespa to the ceiling then covered him with yogurt and rice,” Records remembered. “That was fun.”

As I’ve mentioned many times before on the blog, I am REALLY excited to see this film. I had to stop watching movie trailers back in the Spring for fear of seeing too much of the movie too soon. Where the Wild Things Are is seriously one of my fave books ever (I used to sleep with my copy of the book when I was little) so I really hope the movie version doesn’t destroy my childhood. My hope is that the film will be able to capture the spirit of the book and build on the imaginative magic that Sendak created all those years ago. I deffo plan to see this movie when it opens this weekend. Wee :)

[Photo credit: Wireimage; Source]

Earlier this week I mentioned that the movie trailer for Where The Wild Things Are would be premiering ahead of showings of Monsters vs. Aliens in theaters starting this Friday BUT it turns out that the trailer had made its way to the Internets just a couple of days earlier. Pink reader Brenda gave me the head’s up that the first trailer for Spike Jonze‘s adaptation of the amazing storybook has been posted online. Here are a few screencaps:

OMG … it looks incredible. From just the trailer alone you can tell that the story of Max has been fortified considerably. There is a darkness to the tralier that alludes to a darkness in the film. I’m so excited. After the jump, check out the trailer for Where The Wild Things Are in full for yourselves …

Last week we got our first look at the movie poster for the upcoming Spike Jonze film Where The Wild Things Are, which is the first big screen live actioni adaptation of the classic children’s book by author Maurice Sendak. Thus far, not much of the actual movie has been seen … that is, until USA Today got their hands on some promo photos from the film that give us our first really good look at what the movie will look like … behold:

Who’s Max? Why, Max is Max. Max Records, 11, is the boy with anger issues who escapes to a land where giant beasts roam in Where the Wild Things Are, the film version of Maurice Sendak’s 1963 storybook classic. Such same-name casting is the type of coincidence that could only happen to a filmmaker who once placed a portal in an actor’s head in Being John Malkovich. “It’s just fortuitous, kismet, circumstance,” says Spike Jonze, who cast Max after a director friend sent him a tape. “I can’t imagine anyone else playing Max. Max is the soul of the movie. He’s a very special sort of kid. Deep and thoughtful. Sweet and sincere.” Audiences will get a chance to check out both Maxes on Friday in a trailer accompanying Monsters vs. Aliens. The Portland, Ore., sixth-grader spent four months on the film, which was shot outside Melbourne, Australia. His parents — Shawn, a photographer, and Jenny, a librarian — along with brother Sam, 7, joined him Down Under. Max has been in videos for Death Cab for Cutie and Cake but has almost no performing experience other than a bit part in school “that was pretty pathetic.” Save for Star Wars, he says, “I wasn’t a huge movie person. I’m not into what won the Oscars this year.” What he is into is books, and Wild Things is one of his favorites. “It’s sort of different and not a simple story.” Max, who also can be seen in The Brothers Bloom (May 29), would like to continue to act. “But not gigantic parts. I’m in school and stuff. It’s too disruptive.” He did get some encouragement — from Sendak himself. “I got to meet him last September,” he says. What did the author say to him? “Good job.”

The more I see of this movie from promo photos the more desperate I am to be able to see the movie in full. The Where The Wild Things Are book is deceptively simplistic. There isn’t much text and, to me, the story is really told in the illustrations in the book. Because the story is about one child’s imagination, the possibilities for a full-on movie are limitless. I have full faith that Spike Jonze will be able to fortify the story that we all know and love and expand upon the world that Max creates in his bedroom. While I didn’t wear wolf costumes when I was a kid, I did like to wear my Batman pajamas and pretend that my room was the Bat Cave. Where The Wild Things Are really speaks to the spark of imagination that exists in us all. I’m really anxious to see Jonze vision of the tale on the big screen. October seems like a lifetime away but we will get to see the first video footage from the film ahead of showings of Monsters vs. Aliens, which opens this weekend. I cannot wait.

[Source]

Thus far there has been little information released (or leaked) from the much anticipated Spike Jonze live adaptation of the classic storybook Where the Wild Things Are (save for a few photos here and there) but today we get to check out the first promo poster for the film which is due to hit theaters this October. Rumor has it that the first trailer will show ahead of showings of the upcoming 3D animated film Monsters vs. Aliens … but, for now, here’s the poster:

Now this is a great poster! The guys over at the Spike Jonze Fan Blog have discovered the first poster for Spike Jonze’s Where the Wild Things Are movie, which Warner Brothers has currently set for release on October 16th. We still haven’t seen anything besides a few early photos from this, but word is that the trailer will officially show in front of Monsters vs. Aliens in a few weeks, so stay tuned. I’m quite excited, because although there’s been some reported troubles, all of that has only built up my expectations even more.

What a great poster! I really had my doubts that a live-action movie would ever be close to maybe doing justice to the magnificent book but … the tiny peeks we’ve gotten to see of Spike Jonze‘s work, I think he might be able to pull it off. It’s been so long since I’ve read the book myself, I might have to dig out my copy when I next go home to Detroit to refresh my mind. I am really excited to see this story come to life … my gut tells me it’s gonna be goooood. Woot!

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