22 Jump Street

Tonight's film.

They had me for 1 rather clear reason with extremely well-defined muscles. They kept me with a story that was equal parts sweet, self-aware, and totally side-splitting. And they won me over completely for the sheer audacity to put in a Benny Hill reference. I am starting the Oscar buzz now.

The House

Tonight's Film.

A strange and lingering movie out of Korea about the destruction of a group of falling down old houses and the spirits that dwell in them. Moody and moving, with just enough laughs to keep the children from totally losing it at the end. Just reminded them about the cat-god who stole people's underwear and floated in a purple easy-chair; they were happy again. They absolutely adored the house spirits. The people, well, they didn't really notice them and found their concerns and squabbles rather boring next to the gentle, bouncy spirits. 

Our imaginary-friend-loving 4-year-old loved it the most. Surprise, surprise. The ending is heart-breaking and makes me want to offer a few rice-cakes to the guardian spirit of our house. God knows that just dealing with the noise level around here must be exhausting to even the most benevolent of house guardians.

Toys in the Attic

Tonight's Film:

An entire country of forgotten toys exists in the attic in this stunningly creative movie out of the Czech Republic. The main trio (a bear, a knight puppet, and a clay man with a bottle cap hat) seek to rescue their friend, a doll, from the Land of Evil, which is ruled by a absolutely terrifyingly head statue of a vaguely Communisty dude in Kim Jong Il sunglasses. He has a personality to match and is surrounded by minions of bugs, rotting vegetables, and an disembodied eye that slithers all over the attic with the help of what looks like a vacuum cleaner tube. This is NOT Toy Story. It was by turns absolutely horrifying and fascinating, and while there was certainly some peeking between the fingers watching, not one child, from the sensitive 6-year-old to the fearless 2-year-old, left the room. They huddled in a pile and were riveted by the seemingly endless creativity of these bold film-makers. The use of garbage bags to create an ocean and pillows to create clouds were the children's favorites.

See it. Just don't blame me if your dreams turn out kinda wild that night.