Up.

Again, a Pixar movie that I almost let pass me by.
My excuse, here, could have been "Wall-E was so good, they can't do that twice in a row". Not that they haven't done that in the past, mind you (Toy Story 2, Monsters Inc. for me). So well yes they can.

When it took 1/2 of Wall-E to make me shed a tear, it took Up only 10min. Just for this opening, presenting a perfect life in little moments, the movie could just be the best of the year. Simply amazing. And although the movie kind of climaxes emotionally here, the rest always manages to juxtapose extremely serious scenes with pure Tex Avery-style slapstick. Cry & laugh are just seconds of one another. It's a very difficult balancing act but they just manage to pull it off easily.
And with that tone set right, you can just have a stupid bird called Kevin, talking dogs, it's fine, it all works. It's all funny, well paced, well used (no fart joke here).
And the action packed final could stand amongst the best "summer blockbusters" scene of the year.

You could argue that on the whole it's yet another buddy movie with a mismatched pair of characters and it's true that the movie does follow the blue prints of the genre. Yet, the context, the themes change everything in my view.
Because at its heart, Up is finally a fairly children-unfriendly film. Loss, nostalgia, all these are difficult to empathise with if you haven't lived a little.
But as such, I don't care, I'm an old git already, screw the kiddies. :p

Another stand out for me here was that it was the 1st movie I watched in 3D. Initially I wanted to refrain myself until Avatar comes out, in order not to spoil anything of the experience that it promises.
But with Up available in 3D, how could I say no? And having seen it, I'm actually glad that I did. Because it's not a "3D effect" movie with lots of "in your face" moments. So it was very interesting to see how 3D can enhance a "standard" picture. Because it does. It gives real depth to the picture, which is stupid to say because that's exactly what 3D does, but the addition is really striking.
That final action scene just gives vertigo as a consequence. I can't imagine what a Spiderman movie could do with this...

So yeah another addition to the great movies I've seen this year. What a year indeed...

Play it simple.

2 posts in a day wouhou! ;)

I read a very interesting interview of Spike Jonze on AICN earlier and beyond the fact that I'm dying to see Where The Wild Things Are, he made a comment on music that I found quite interesting.

Talking about his composer: "He was working with these world-class musicians from the New York Philharmonic, and saying, "Play it simpler. Play it like a fifth grader." "

It's true that you can write a very simple melody, but if you have an experienced musician, he'll play it with all his technical skill. So it actually make it SOUND simple, you also have to play it simply...

Might seem obvious, I think that's an interesting thought.

Gamer.

Yet another "late" review.

I tend to get lots of ideas on things to write and not actually take the time to write anything. Hence the pretty much "cinema review only" content of late.

Anyway, I went to see Gamer back in September and here we are.

That's my 3rd Neveldine/Taylor film in the year (after Crank, 1 & 2). So I kind of know their MO now: they don't do art and they know it. But although they tend to go into B/exploitation territories, they manage to put so many ideas in their thing that maybe it sticks as more than it "should" be. If you compare this and Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror, they share quite a lot of points (most notably blood, guts & boobies). But while the Rodriguez's Grindhouse look at the past, they bring it right up in the present.
I guess there a a lot of direct-to-DVD pictures that do that as well, but N/T do that in their own flamboyant way...

Gamer could feel like a more "serious" movie than Crank, yet they stay true to their formula. It's less hectic, but they put a lot of crazy ideas and I have to say they hit their targets right on the nail, bending just a little our own gaming / social networking world...

As for the rest, it's all ably crafted, I quite like Gerard Butler as an action hero. And Michael C. Hall is in a type-cast role but does it perfectly.

And there's a brilliant dance scene!

1 disappointment could be that they could push the social commentary further. In a sense I wish it could have been more than a souped up B-movie. But then again would it work if it took itself seriously?
It's still worth a look.