{"id":181,"date":"2006-03-17T20:06:08","date_gmt":"2006-03-18T03:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/?p=181"},"modified":"2022-10-26T19:08:31","modified_gmt":"2022-10-26T23:08:31","slug":"the-dark-crystal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/the-dark-crystal\/","title":{"rendered":"Jim Henson’s The Dark Crystal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Oops. I should have let The Dark Crystal<\/em> live on in my childhood memories as a Good Movie. Seeing the brilliant Mirrormask<\/em><\/a> reminded me how much this movie affected my childhood, but seeing it again as an adult I find it has not aged well. The special effects of course cannot rival contemporary digital epics, but I was surprised to find the storytelling stilted and overly dumbed-down. Recent kids’ movies are pitched at a more sophisticated level, not feeling the need to start with a lonnnnng opening expository narrative and pause every 15 minutes or so to do a plot recap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, you have to admire Jim Henson’s sheer bloodymindedness at spending five years pulling off this difficult-to-make film. And it scores points for just being so weird<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And a quick word about the DVD: cheap menus and a horrendous print. What’s up with that?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oops. I should have let The Dark Crystal live on in my childhood memories as a Good Movie. Seeing the brilliant Mirrormask reminded me how much this movie affected my childhood, but seeing it again as an adult I find it has not aged well. The special effects of course cannot rival contemporary digital epics, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5575,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,2],"tags":[1323,42,1321,1322],"class_list":["post-181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2-stars","category-movies","tag-dark-crystal","tag-fantasy","tag-jim-henson","tag-mirrormask"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/dark-crystal.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa9lhB-2V","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":54,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/mirrormask\/","url_meta":{"origin":181,"position":0},"title":"Mirrormask","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"October 2, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Mirrormask is an utterly gorgeous collaboration between Dave McKean and Neil Gaiman, who are so good together that I admit to a little disappointment on the occasions when they work apart. I especially recommend reading the screenplay; one of the few scripts I've ever read that stands on its own.","rel":"","context":"In "4 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"4 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/4-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Mirrormask","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/10\/mirrormask-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/10\/mirrormask-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/10\/mirrormask-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/10\/mirrormask-1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/10\/mirrormask-1.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1475,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/coraline\/","url_meta":{"origin":181,"position":1},"title":"The Only Child: Neil Gaiman and Henry Selick’s Coraline","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"February 10, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"I saw Henry Selick and Neil Gaiman's Coraline on its opening day in my favorite movie theater, the best possible venue to see any remotely visually ambitious movie: the Clearview Ziegfeld in New York City. Fittingly, my tickets were misprinted \"Caroline,\" a misnomer that is a recurring plot point. 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Cruise's performance is bizarre and high-pitched, composed of crouched poses and unfocused stares. But to be fair, how else would any actor portray an uncivilized wild-child\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "1 Star"","block_context":{"text":"1 Star","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/1-star\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ridley Scott's Legend","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/legend-ridley-scott-unicorn.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/legend-ridley-scott-unicorn.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/legend-ridley-scott-unicorn.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/legend-ridley-scott-unicorn.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/legend-ridley-scott-unicorn.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":306,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/the-three-burials-of-melquiades-estrada\/","url_meta":{"origin":181,"position":4},"title":"Tommy Lee Jones’ almost unbearably gruesome The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"July 5, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Tommy Lee Jones' The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada joins Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man as one of my few highly-rated westerns. Like Dead Man, its tone meanders from the darkly comic to the melodramatic, and is at times almost unwatchably gruesome. Which does nothing to explain why I liked it,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "4 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"4 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/4-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/three-burials.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/three-burials.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/three-burials.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/three-burials.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/three-burials.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5674,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/jim-jarmuschs-the-dead-dont-die-is-an-unaffectionate-homage\/","url_meta":{"origin":181,"position":5},"title":"Jim Jarmusch’s The Dead Don’t Die is an unaffectionate homage","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"January 12, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I guess it shouldn\u2019t be surprising that Jim Jarmusch would make a zombie movie, since he\u2019s already cycled through idiosyncratic interpretations of westerns (Dead Man), vampires (Only Lovers Left Alive), samurai (Ghost Dog), and thrillers (The Limits of Control). 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