Want to Keep Danny DeVito Drunk and on TV?

Then don't go see his movie, Deck the Halls. Create a horrible shame spiral that results ina boozed up Devito stumbling upon his tiny feet from talk show to talk show, before he inevitably throws up all over Tyra Banks during another one of her "Panty Parties". Instead, I would recommend going out there and supporting a really great movie: Darren Aronofsky's The Fountain.

I know some people will simply look at this movie and think it's just a "space movie". But it's more than that. In fact, the Sci-Fi aspect of this story is only just one small facet in a much larger tale about love, death, life, loss, religion, and science. And it has something for everybody: a little bit of action, a pinch of sci-fi, a dash of art film, and whole heaping helpings of a powerful love story.

Darren Aronofsky has made only two films prior to this, Pi and Requiem for a Dream, which I have both enjoyed. Well, I didn't exactly enjoy Requiem for a Dream -- I can't even watch that movie more than once a year or else I'll end up slitting my wrists. But it is technically proficient, wonderfully acted, and amazingly powerful stuff that is able to stir so many strong emotions while watching it. Hell - Aronofsky is able to get a very good dramatic performance from Marlon Wayans. MARLON "LITTLE MAN" WAYANS, people! You gotta give this man a chance! And Pi was a cool debut that had no budget but was able to be infinitely spooky and create a great icky vibe with some powerful visuals and cool performances.

The Fountain is one of the few movies I've seen in my lifetime (i.e. that were in theaters in my 24 year lifespan) that really has left me mulling over what I've witnessed for weeks after seeing it. I've spent hours going over the entire movie, not just because of its multilayered plot, but also because of the emotional repercussions and moving symbolic imagery Aronofsky uses. There are images, lines, and moments from that movie that continue to come back to me throughout the days after seeing it -- and the impressive thing is that they still pack their emotional punch.

A lot of credit has to go to Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz. I always liked Weisz as an actress, and in fact have a bit of a crush on her (she's adorable!), but in this film she is able to run a very wide emotional gauntlet from a strong monarch masking her panic and her love to a weak and infirmed woman who unabashedly bares all of her insecurities and fears. But the surprise is Jackman, who I've never really seen act before. I mean, he put on the stupid wig and awkward American accents in the X-Men movies, and I've seen him in a couple of Romantic Comedies (horrible, horrible, horrible Romantic Comedies...ugh), but he's never really shown much (perhaps he displayed more talent in The Prestige, but I missed that one when it came out). Here though, even more than Weisz, Jackman is called on to display a very wide range of traits and emotions, all while portraying three different versions of essentially the same character. He is able to be brave and cruel and hurt and angry and sad and blissful in the span of a few scenes, and yet does a great job in each capacity. Still though, that Wolverine movie is going to be shit. Mark my words.

And lastly, a huge amount of the feel of this movie is due to Aronofsky's musical collaborator Clint Mansell, who scored both of Aronofsky's previous films. Mansell, working with the Kronos Quartet and Mogwai, creates a stirring score that really conjures up all sorts of meaning and emotional responses, even in its sparing notes and recurring tropes. I've been listening to the score for a few days, and it is a great piece of music that haunts the mind and the heart long after the final note has been played.

So I beg everyone to go see The Fountain. It's really important that when a great, smaller film like this comes out, people rally around it and support and prove to the studios that audiences actually like to think and like when movies are original pieces of art that affect our heads and our hearts. This movie will move you -- most people in the theater, including my girlfriend, was crying at several points throughout its short 96 minute running time. And even if you don't like it, I guarrantee it will provoke some sort of emotional reaction and at least a long debate about what you just saw - which is way more than you could ever expect from Deck the Halls or Santa Clause 3.