pete docter's MONSTERS, INC (2001)

before Ratatouille broke Pixar into a creative sprint, Monsters Inc was their most definitively original work, and that (along with Sully's still-breathtaking fur, jesus christ) keeps it fresh as the three before it start to show a touch of wear. but it also sits juuuust below Finding Nemo as their most classically accomplished screenplay: it's high-concept (in the best possible way) but doles out its information about the characters and their peculiar world in a completely seamless way, never talking down to the audience or daring for a moment to cease entertaining. (it pains me to think that the execrable Shrek movies -- flawed in all the ways this film is perfect -- will be forever tied to it.)

take the ending, as an example of Pixar's good taste. in another studio's film it would be a closing scene: a big hug, some sort of sappy, closure-stressing exchange of dialogue, big swell from the string section, quick punchline, cut to a montage of all the characters enjoying life, physical humor abounds, and ooohhhhhhwaitforit SMASH MOUTH AS THE CREDITS ROLL

here: one medium shot, one heart-crushingly wonderful word of off-screen dialogue, a facial expression, a tinkle from the score, cut to black.

but which one gets the Oscar? gah.

frank darabont's THE MIST (2007)

Darabont seems so professionally taken with the work of Stephen King that it's a little sad he doesn't really have the chops to make an actual horror film; i've got patience enough with his genial mediocrity, but The Mist bites off a little more than he can chew. there's a good bit to admire in his adaptation, from the portrait of ugly religious fervor (one wonders how a pared-down Mist might work on the stage) to it's heavy, audacious ending -- Darabont's heart was in the right place, and moreso his balls. but the movie that surrounds both his and King's better ideas is clumsy at best and corny at worst, plagued by hammy performances, inert staginess, and an apparent loss as to how to cut the film together without the odd Fade To Black, the sum result of which is a film far too confident in its potential to captivate.

still, just to rub sand in The Strangers' eyes, it must be said that this is a mainstream film with a bold bleakness that still manages to entertain and provoke thought. whether or not it earns the ending is perfectly arguable, but either way those last moments are saturated with desperate love rather than crass hatred, and there's simply no contest between the two, whatever their purpose.