Friday's Top 5... Burton/Depp Collaborations

#5: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Yes, I am one of the few people who actually likes Tim Burton's version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I can't help it; I think that movie is hilarious and so is Johnny Depp's Willy Wonka. I'll show myself out...

Review: Before Sunset (2004)

* * * 1/2
Director: Richard Linklater
Starring: Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy

A lot of film have ambiguous or open-ended conclusions and sequels to such films can be tricky because sometimes the "unanswered" aspect of the ending is a large part of what makes a film so strong in the first place. Richard Linklater's 1994 romance Before Sunrise is a pretty much universally beloved film, the kind of lightning in a bottle project that becomes one of the defining films of its kind. Releasing a follow-up could have been disastrous, a film that at best failed to live up to the promise of the original, and at worst tarnished the original by virtue of the connection. Instead, Before Sunset actually improved on its predecessor, presenting a perhaps less idealistic vision of its characters, but a more mature and, in many ways, more resonant picture of them.

Review: Haywire (2012)

* * *
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Starring: Gina Carano, Ewan McGregor, Channing Tatum, Michael Douglas, Antonio Banderas, Michael Fassbender

When Steven Soderbergh announced last year that he planned to retire after making three more films (which, for most directors, would mean retiring in 6 to 10 years, but for Soderbergh would mean retirement within, like, a year), it was shocking but, at the same time, made a certain amount of sense. It's shocking because he's still in his prime and he's such a consistently interesting and excellent filmmaker, but it makes sense because there are few achievements he has left to meet. He has an Oscar, has proved to be ambitious in both large-scale (the Che films) and smaller scale films, has had films that were huge commercial successes, and has made personal, experimental indies, and he's been ridiculously prolific (24 films in 23 years). Soderbergh is an artist with nothing left to prove, which is why he can turn his attention to making delightful genre pictures like Haywire without having to worry that his legacy will in any way be tarnished because he's not making "important" movies.

Review: Pariah (2011)

* * * *
Director: Dee Rees
Starring: Adepero Oduye, Kim Wayans, Charles Parnell, Aasha Davis

Movies like Pariah are often little seen, stuck in extremely limited release, destined to be a festival darling rather than a mainstream hit. It's the kind of film that's destined to be pigeonholed, in this case either as a "black movie" or a "gay movie," and written off as having niche appeal. It's bizarre considering a film like Pariah probably contains more thematic universality than the current box office top 5 put together, not to mention more resonance.

The Five-Year Engagement (2012)

* *
Director: Nicholas Stoller
Starring: Jason Segel, Emily Blunt

It's always disappointing when a film that has all the individual elements of a hit just can't find a way to make them work together in harmony. The Five-Year Engagement boasts two talented actors as its leads, several other talented actors in supporting roles, and a screenplay that has real flashes of intelligence and takes its characters seriously as people while still being able to poke fun at them. So what went wrong? Ultimately a nearly perfect first half gives way to a second half that drags under the weight of its plot contrivances and brings the whole thing down.