Movie Review - Arthur Christmas (2011) (PG)

No Present Left Behind!

Arthur Christmas breaks no new ground as an animated 3D film, but as a twist on the Santa Claus legend, it's charming, clever, and often times quite funny - too funny, at times, for really young children. What new things can we possibly learn about Jolly ol' St. Nick? For one thing, there has never been just one of him; the name Santa is, in fact, a title that's passed down from generation to generation. We also learn that technology has evolved up in the North Pole just as it has with the rest of the world. In the twenty-first century, Santa's sleigh has been replaced with a gigantic spaceship, the underside of which has the ability to mimic the sky. In their cavernous North Pole headquarters, elves sit in front of computers while gigantic screens display flight information. Other elves walk around with PDAs.

On Christmas Eve, presents are delivered via a military operation so precisely organized, it puts Disney/Pixar's Prep & Landing to shame. Thousands of elves descend from the ship on cables. They wear black ops uniforms and shout code names to one another. They have a wide variety of high tech gadgets; one can scan a person's head and determine the percentage of naughtiness and niceness, while another can cleanly cut into a wrapped package, penetrate the toy's box, and remove the batteries. If there's an emergency, such as a Waker (a person that wakes up before Santa and/or the elves have a chance to leave the room), they resort to any necessary means of escape, such as faking the sound of a passing semi truck. These little guys know what they're doing.

The current Santa (voiced by Jim Broadbent) has just completed his seventieth Christmas, and despite being constantly tired and increasingly disengaged from any particular situation, he says he's looking forward to his seventy-first. This disappoints his efficient but arrogant son, Steve (voiced by Hugh Laurie), who feels that the old man has had his day and that he should be the next in line. Meanwhile, Santa's other son, the clumsy but high-spirited Arthur (voiced by James McAvoy), sits all day in the mail department answering letters to children all over the world. He's particularly fond of one letter from a little girl named Gwen (voiced by Ramona Marquez), who lives in Cornwall, England. She believes in Santa, but she's admittedly baffled by the logistics. How exactly can he deliver presents to billions of children all over the world in just one night?

A mix-up at North Pole Headquarters results in one present not getting delivered. Lo and behold, this would be Gwen's: A bicycle. It seems Santa was a little too premature in putting up that "Mission Accomplished" banner (yes, you know exactly what I'm talking about). Steve, not wanting to cause an uproar, says nothing to the elves and thinks the matter should be dropped. After all, who cares about one insignificant little girl? Everyone else got their presents, didn't they? This does not sit with Arthur, who believes every child should have a present to open on Christmas morning. No child left behind (and again, you know exactly what I'm talking about).

Arthur is encouraged by his cheeky 136-year-old Grandsanta (voiced by Bill Nighy) to deliver the present himself. However, it will be done the old fashioned way - with a vintage sleigh and the descendants of the eight original reindeer, who all conveniently have the same names (although Grandsanta can only remember three or four, and one of them he mistakenly calls Bambi). Grandsanta hates new technology. It was all better in his day. Arthur, despite being afraid of everything, decides he must save Gwen's Christmas before sunrise. Tagging along is an elf named Bryony (voiced by Ashley Jensen), who can gift-wrap anything in a matter of seconds, with enough time left over to put on a bow. So begins a high-flying adventure, made possible by magic dust created out of the Northern Lights. Several drastic detours will be made, the sleigh will eventually be mistaken for a UFO, most of the reindeer will get lost, and Steve and Santa will inevitably catch wind of the situation, stirring up a bitter family feud.

Although the film is bright and cheery enough for children, it's obvious to me that many of the jokes were written with their parents in mind. Consider one hilarious moment in which Arthur, Grandsanta, and Bryony find themselves zooming through the streets of Toronto; Grandsanta casually observes that absolutely no one lives there, making it ideal to quietly pass through on Christmas Eve. There's nothing inherently wrong with this; the parents deserve a laugh just as much as the children, especially if they pay extra for a 3D presentation. I certainly enjoyed the humor in Arthur Christmas, but I also enjoyed the animation, the renderings, and most of all, the plot. Call me sentimental, but I agree with Arthur - little Gwen deserves a present just as much as all the other children on earth.

Although Chris never officially studied film, film theory, or even journalism in college, his Bachelors and Masters degrees in Creative Writing has taught him to appreciate story, character, and the imagination - all aspects that apply to the movies, and if there's anything his years of living in Los Angeles has guaranteed him, exposure to movies would be at the top of the list. He has always appreciated the art of filmmaking, but it wasn't until 2006 that he began writing reviews on various websites for new releases. Still residing in L.A., his reviews can be read at his website, http://www.atatheaternearyou.net.

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Movie Review - A Dangerous Method (2011) (R)

When Talking Was Experimental

Sabina Spielrein was one of the first female psychoanalysts, a fascinating achievement given the fact that she was committed to a mental institution for an entire year. After studying medicine and child psychology in Zurich, graduating in 1911, and getting elected into the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society, she proposed an idea in 1912, namely that the human sexual drive contained both an instinct of destruction and an instinct of transformation. Her death in 1942 at the hands of an SS death squad would all but erase her from the history books until her hospital records, journal entries, and letters to and from Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud were discovered and published; it's now widely accepted within psychiatric circles that her 1912 proposal greatly influenced the works of both men.

Spielrein is one piece of the puzzle in David Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method. We follow her, Jung, and Freud in a story that examines their complex relationship, which is simultaneously strengthened and threatened by their field of interest. Academically, they recognize the frailties of the human mind and strive to steer others in socially acceptable directions. Personally, they continuously fall victim to the mental weaknesses they so carefully study, and they become increasingly aware that social acceptability doesn't necessarily translate to common practice. Strange, how even those who categorize people into absolutes can themselves fall within ambiguous parameters. Perhaps it's those very absolutes that drive people towards unhealthy behaviors.

One focus is the relationship between Jung and Spielrein, which begins in 1904 and develops over the course of nearly a decade. Initially, Jung (Michael Fassbender) was a fledgling twenty-nine-year-old psychologist, who was married to a gentle but passive woman named Emma (Sarah Gadon) and was expecting his first child. Spielrein (Keira Knightley), Russian-born but able to speak fluent German, was a violent, severely traumatized eighteen-year-old mental patient placed under Jung's care, having been diagnosed with hysteria. Under an experimental form of therapy known as "the talking cure," Jung sits behind Spielrein and listens as she struggles to verbalize her problems. She eventually reveals a childhood marred by beatings and humiliation at the hands of her father. Further sessions unwittingly reveal a sexual proclivity: She becomes uncontrollably aroused by physical force.

This discovery brings Jung into the life of his mentor, Freud (Viggo Mortensen), as it validates his theory that sexuality and emotional disorders are intertwined. As the years pass, what began as a cordial, clinical acquaintanceship deteriorates into a stubborn clash of ideologies; Jung becomes increasingly bothered by Freud's unwillingness to reconsider his theories about sex, whereas Freud cannot tolerate Jung's growing interest in spirituality. During their initial correspondence, Freud refers Jung to a psychiatrist-turned-patient, Otto Gross (Vincent Cassel), a drug addicted hedonist; his arguments against monogamy inspire Jung to violate his code of ethics and begin an affair with Spielrein, which continues long after she ceases to be his patient and enrolls in medical school. This is not merely a physical attraction. He has truly fallen in love with her.

I have no way of knowing how historically accurate this film is, given the fact that the relationship between Jung and Spielrein has never been substantiated. There is, however, some compelling evidence of their affair, most notably the fact that, unlike Freud, Jung never publically acknowledged Spielrein's influence on his work. Rumors of other extramarital affairs also continue to circulate. Given this history, it's easy to see why Jung is portrayed as a weak man in the film - intellectually brilliant but emotionally stunted, consumed by guilt over a situation he could have prevented. He continues having children with his wife, and yet he cannot detach himself from Spielrein, who may be troubled but is also incredibly intelligent and sincere.

The screenplay by Christopher Hampton, adapted from his stage play The Talking Cure (itself adapted from John Kerr's nonfiction book A Most Dangerous Method), is well suited for the actors, the dialogue clever, elegant, and packed with emotion. In true psychological form, every line suggests a hidden meaning. This is especially apparent with Freud, portrayed as a piercing intellectual who isn't interested in solutions so much as the underlying problems - which, it seems, all stem from the sexual organs. His scenes with Jung flow like verbal ping pong matches. The scenes with Jung and Spielrein are fascinating in that they're founded on more than curiosity, desire, and passion; they depict the birth of a psychological movement. Herein lies the greatest strength of A Dangerous Method: It's a film to be listened to and not just watched.

Although Chris never officially studied film, film theory, or even journalism in college, his Bachelors and Masters degrees in Creative Writing has taught him to appreciate story, character, and the imagination - all aspects that apply to the movies, and if there's anything his years of living in Los Angeles has guaranteed him, exposure to movies would be at the top of the list. He has always appreciated the art of filmmaking, but it wasn't until 2006 that he began writing reviews on various websites for new releases. Still residing in L.A., his reviews can be read at his website, http://www.atatheaternearyou.net.

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