Two short reviews:
1. Up was grand. The opening sequence was sheer, unmitigated brilliance, and the rest of it was warm, funny, entertaining, and memorable. Pixar is what every other multi-billion dollar production company should be: Endlessly talented, good-hearted, and shamelessly unsatisfied with anything less than greatness. Pixar will fill my children's shelves with great works of cinematic art.
Go see Up. It hasn't been, and still is not fair to think of this film as a "for kids" movie. You know the kind. Movies with talking animals and formulaic, predictable plots. Preachy, stupid movies that are immediately forgettable and probably make the kids to whom they speak dumber with each viewing. Up, in true Pixar form, is a movie "the whole family can enjoy." It's about an old man who attaches tens of thousands of balloons to his house and floats to South America. And it has a fat little boy trying to earn merit badges. There are, in short, no reasons not to see this film.
2. I went to see Drag Me to Hell last night. I'm not a horror movie kind of person. The genre is typically replete with the kind of pornographic violence and gratuitous sex that mature adults (one of which I hope to eventually become) should routinely and gleefully avoid. But then it was rated PG-13, which means that the sex and violence would necessarily be truncated at least to some degree, and then it got over 90% on Rotten Tomatoes. And it starred Alison Lohman (Matchstick Men, Big Fish, White Oleander), who I sort of love very much.
So I saw it. And it was silly. And stupid. And gross. And really, really fun. Of course, it helps to have a delightful, attractive girl clinging to you during the scary parts. But even if I hadn't been fortunate enough to be in that particular circumstance, I'm sure I would have had a good time.
ALRIGHT.
As far as this lil' blog goes, I think I've decided, finally, how I want this thing to run (this may not mean much--I have a bad habit of gross inconsistency when it comes to blogging, but...anyway).
There will be a new post every Monday and Friday for sure. Wednesdays will be up in the air. I may or may not post. But you can put money on Mondays and Fridays (please do not use actual money).
Also, I update Lasers, Bagels, and Other Abstractions fairly regularly, so check that one out when you get a chance. It's fun, I promise. I refuse to set a schedule for it, though, since I think that would fly in the face of its principles (yes, it has its own.)
Baby Having
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From the time I was very small, I was terrified of childbirth. I had seen
enough screaming ladies on TV to know that it would be the worst experience
of my...
5 years ago
I'm commenting on your blog. Yay blog comments! This is a counter to your Up argument because I find myself somewhat less enthralled with Pixar's latest venture than it seems the rest of America is. To me Up was less mature - complete with obnoxious talking animals (a fleet of army dogs about as clever as I imagine the fleet found in Beverly Hills Chihuahua to be). The characters were semi-developed with lame plots. I speak mostly of the villian. In all his years of sitting in an awesome jungle and having fantastic adventures, I find it really anticlimatic that his goal is to find a bird to clear his name. His plot doesn't seem to fit his setting. And Carl Frederickson - gotta love him - but his plot too falls short of its potential. In a setting where the adventure is endless and he can have these great adventures with his wife, all he wants to do is move his house accross a gorge. What I'm saying is - they set up an awesome setting and an awesome plot, but I don't feel like it lived up to its potential. If you make a movie that takes place in space, you can't have the plot centered around a pillowcase. Up felt like level one of an awesome video game. Too bad we don't get to see the REAL adventures that could take place in Paradise Falls.
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