The Dark Crystal
The world's first ever all-puppet feature film (other than Anders Ronnow Klarlund's
Strings - also a fascinating movie and well worth a look - and, possibly,
Team America: World Police - which I haven't seen - have there actually been that many others since?), this represents a darker, much more straight-faced Jim Henson than you're probably used to. There's very little to laugh at, and it tackles some pretty weighty issues in its 90-minute running time, including tyranny and genocide. As you would expect, the puppetry is masterfully done - the Gelfling protagonists do look a little plain and ordinary, it must be said, but the supporting cast are just brimming with life and character, from the fluffy, razor-fanged Fizzgig to the shuffling, one-eyed Aughra, to those truly repulsive (albeit impressively-conceived) avian Skeksis. Henson isn't afraid to get seriously ugly in this one...in fact, there's one particular sequence therein which you'd do very well not to watch too close to a meal - that is, the scene where the Skeksis tuck into a gourmet dinner. I make no exaggeration when I say that their table manners (or rather, lack of) made me feel physically ill.
The narrative, though at times it feels a little swamped beneath all the gritty visuals on display, and occasionally wanders into all too transparently wannabe-Tolkien territory, does have enough interesting and original elements of its own to make it fascinating to watch - I particularly liked the curious kinship that the Skeksis share with their more benign counterparts, the Mystics, which I won't reveal here.
Not your typical puppet show, and all the more intriguing for it. You have been warned about those Skeksis, though.
Spoiler Below I'm pretty sure that some would consider Fizzgig's means of survival at the end to be a bit of a cop-out, but...dammit, I don't care. I loved that little Fizzgig. I was truly horrified for that brief moment when it looked like they'd actually killed him.
and
Pitch Black
To be honest I only watched the first hour or so...might go back and finish it at a later time, though presently I can't say I'm in any particular hurry to do so. I did really like the basic set-up, even if it's quite a familiar bunch-of-people-in-a-perilous-situation-get-picked-off-one-by-one scenario (one set in deep space, to boot). A spacecraft crashes upon a seemingly uninhabited planet, which turns out to be home to a variety of dangerous carnivorous lifeforms. Fortunately for the survivors of the crash, these creatures are repelled by light and spend most of their time hidden deep beneath the surface of the planet. Unfortunately for the survivors, they happened to crash just prior to a month-long total eclipse, during which these creatures will roam freely en masse, devouring whatever unlit prey they find in their path. The humans must now band together, including the rogue element on board, represented by Vin Diesel, to survive and find a way to escape, yadda yadda yadda.
It has the potential to be decent popcorn fun, and doesn't start out too badly, but once the main body of action gets underway it plays out a little too routinely for its own good, and the lack of surprises is a real minus point. Remember, a few pages back, how much I was raving about
Cube? That's largely because, in addition to being so taut and well-executed, it was genuinely unpredictable. The individual character arcs were frequently surprising and kept me firmly on my toes throughout. In
Pitch Black, on the other hand, I found I could predict not only which characters were going to die, but the exact order in which they'd be picked off too. I had singled out my favourite character within the first fifteen minutes, but since I could tell right off the bat that he wasn't the sort of character who generally survives this sort of ordeal (a suspicion which was duely vindicated), I tried not to get too attached. Still, I was able to get a few chuckles out of him before his borrowed time came to a screeching halt.
From what I saw, I definitely liked it a lot more than
Event Horizon, but still, there are better movies of its ilk out there.