"Alice in Wonderland"
- excellent, detail-heavy production design
- plagued by endless chase scenes and boring exposition
- Helena Bonham Carter delivers a delicious performance as the Red Queen - an evil diva who enjoys barking orders and watching decapitations
- Johnny Depp fares well as the Mad Hatter, but his relationship with Alice feels underdeveloped
- Overall, it feels like a compromised vision. Director Tim Burton made some quirky, weird hoices, but it never feels wholly "original." My guess is that the studio made him tone down his unique style.
- C+
"The Ghost Writer"
- boring, plot-heavy political thriller
- has very little to say about political corruption that isn't redudant, naive, or exaggerated
- way too focused on plot mechanics
- performances are merely so-so with the one exception being Olivia Williams as the irritable, intelligent wife of a corrupt former Prime Minister
- a very average film from director Roman Polanski ("The Pianist," "Chinatown")
- C