[Avon-theatre-news] AVON THEATRE EXTRA! EXTRA!

[Skip Huston]

AVON THEATRE EXTRA! EXTRA! 
Hey, folks! Here is Decatur Herald & Review reporter and all-around good guy, Jim Vorel's, blog entry (from the online Herald-Review.com edition) that you might find helpful if you are on-the-fence about seeing RANGO. This was used with Jim's kind permission. Read it and see what you think! Then, come see it at THE AVON!! (No other theater in the Decatur area is groovy enough to see this one in!).


Ten reasons you need to go see “Rango” immediately
By Jim Vorel


If you’re the kind of person who is easily convinced of things, then just stop reading right now and go see “Rango.” As in, like, RIGHT NOW. Just go. Go.
…alright, for everybody who needs a little bit more explanation, I present the ten reasons.

10. It’s not just for kids

…or even mostly for kids. It may not even be for kids at all, but they’ll still probably enjoy the frenetic action. However, this movie is much more rightly aimed at smart adults who appreciate witty humor.

9. It’s a great Western

Once again, not a kids movie, it functions fantastically as a genre film. If Westerns are your thing, this is pretty much required viewing. There should not be any human being in America who went to see “True Grit,” thought “I enjoy this,” and does not go to see “Rango.” For the record, I am ranking “Rango” above “True Grit,” and the rankings honestly aren’t even close.

It’s got every aspect of a great Western, with the right amount of clichés and stock characters to make you feel totally comfortable with the character archetypes but unsure of how things are going to proceed.

8. The action scenes are out of control

The trailer doesn’t even do them justice in communicating how action-packed this movie is. This argument is very closely linked, however, to…

7. The visuals are gorgeous

I was hesitating before calling this “the best-looking animated movie I’ve ever seen,” but now I’m thinking back and I can’t think of one that looked more beautiful on screen. There is literally so much going on at times that I know I couldn’t possibly have seen it all. This, factor, combined with the action sequences, means an absurd degree of visual candy. And I’m NOT the kind of person who says “visual candy” or goes to a movie for special effects. Thank goodness the special effects are backed up by…

6. Great performances by a bunch of character actors

And yes, Johnny Depp is fantastic as well, but this kind of Western wouldn’t work at all without the help of around a dozen great character actors, like Ned Beatty as the scheming mayor, or especially Bill Nighy as the absolutely terrifying Rattlesnake Jake. Much like he did in the second Pirates of the Caribbean movie as Davy Jones, Nighy emotes to the nosebleed seats as a thug who is WAY too smart and too cunning for the hero to reasonably hope to overcome on his own. And this leads me into…

5. The fantastic character designs

Maybe the most incredible achievement is how the film creates an entire town of different animal species and tailors their looks to serve the roles of a Western. The mayor is a long-lived desert tortise. His secretary, the vivacious fox-lady. The hired muscle Gila Monster. The haggard jackrabbit doctor, missing one ear. A quartet of owl mariachis that narrate the story. For lack of a better explanation, they all have the perfect ratio of animal-to-human in their features to communicate “what animal are they?” and “what stock character are they?” In the same vein…

4. It’s a movie-geek’s movie

The thing is absolutely packed with callbacks to dozens of other Westerns and Hollywood movies of all sorts. Some scenes directly remind one of films like “Apocalypse Now” or “Star Wars,” and there’s even one direct reference, early in the film, to Depp’s own “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” of which this entire film could be part of, as a feverish, drug-addled fugue state vision. It would certainly explain a lot about where all the talking animals came from.

3. It was the number one film at the box office last weekend

…If that’s the kind of thing that motivates you to see films, I’m willing to provide the factoid in order to get you to the theater.

2. The soundtrack is spectacular

Composed by Hans Zimmer, fresh off “Inception,” and using Los Lobos, it’s just everything you could want in this sort of movie. The epic instrumental pieces are intercut with comedic songs throughout the film on how Rango is “sure to die any time now.” I’m seriously considered buying the soundtrack, and that would make it the first time I’ve bought a movie soundtrack outright since…ever?

1. It took me like 10 minutes to write this list

I didn’t have to think about these reasons at all–the film is just that good. Go see it. If you hate it, then by all means let me know, but let Roger Ebert know too, because he’s on my side on this one. 

EXTRA BONUS 11TH REASON TO SEE “RANGO”: It’s not in 3D. 

That is all.

So go see it in theaters while you can! Do not wait for the deadened version that will be playing in months on your TV screen–this thing needs to be experienced on the grand stage. And feel free to thank or hate on me, as necessary



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