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Cannes 09: Up Review

IGN is blown away by the new Pixar film screening in Cannes.
by Chris Tilly, IGN UK

UK, May 13, 2009 - Up may be Pixar's most brilliant, challenging, complex and well-rounded effort to date, a film that expertly segues between comedy and tragedy, and one that demands classic status, even at this early stage.

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I didn't think Pixar could ever make anything as good The Incredibles. Cars came, and I thought I was proven right. Then Ratatouille blew me away; how could they better that? WALL*E showed me how -- three times. Now I'm reading reviews for UP that all echo the sentiments above.

We've not seen anything like Pixar's string of artistic and critical successes since Disney's run of Snow White, Pinocchio, Bambi, Dumbo and Fantasia. It's a golden age for animated film; let's enjoy it.

I saw the new "Star Trek" movie the other night (yes, I'm a major fan). It was kind of goofy for a while as they're establishing the backstory, but as soon as they get onto the ship, the movie really takes off (so to speak). Exciting and involving. I could get used to these actors!

We rented "Killer's Kiss" from Netflix recently. It's one of Kubrick's earliest films (early '50s), and only a little over an hour. It does seem like he ran out of money and/or time to finish all the scenes, because there are several points of extended voiceover telling parts of the story. You can definitely see his style developing, though. Some really striking shots, and that signature of his where the camera stays still on a shot but the people move around—but it's such a stunning shot and the action is blocked out so well that it doesn't feel stagey. Also a few scenes of surprisingly rapid-fire editing. A bit of hambone acting and dialogue—the story and style are mostly pretty standard film noir—but fascinating as a historical piece.

Star Trek was great

...sure there were plot holes you could drive a starship through and a silly monster chase scene... but the action, the casting, the characterization was all done fantastically in a way made to restart a franchise.

Saw Up! last night (Wednesday night- good time to watch a kid movie if you're not a kid).

It really is a very good film- are you surprised? If it weren't for Incredibles, Ratatouille*, and Wall-E it would be thought of as a great film. If it weren't for Cars the nature and mountain scenes would have looked groundbreaking.

Still, very touching. My new, brilliant, lovely friend said it was the first film she could remember genuinely tearing up in the beginning and the end of a movie.



In U.S. TV:

Everyone watching The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien? Ya gotta love CoCo Christopher! Absurdist humor tempered very slightly by the earlier time slot, it seems to be working.

I loved the Star Trek movie! Yeah, there were plot holes, but I didn't care. So, is it a reboot or is it an alternate history? I wasn't sure?

I liked Drag Me To Hell. The title alone is great...very cheesy, 70's. I love just about anything Sam Raimi does and I'm so glad he went back to horror. I kinda wished the movie was rated R. I imagine he made it PG-13 to appeal to the masses, especially after making Spiderman. But for a PG-13 movie, it's pretty scary...and the last PG horror movie that really scared me was Poltergeist.

I also was surprised that I enjoyed I Love You, Man. I didn't think I was going to like it, but it was very funny.

As for tv, I thought Breaking Bad was very well done. Everyone on that show deserves an Emmy. However, I didn't it needed as many episodes. Some of them were filler shows. I think the show would have been just as good with maybe 9 or 10 episodes, rather than 13.

I watched Dollhouse. It's good, but frustrating to watch. I'm surprised Fox renewed it.

Dollhouse is mildly intriguing so far (three episodes). I intend to stick with it because it's Joss Whedon, and I trust him to make something worthwhile out this.

Early images from Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland look promising:

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Deep kinda looks like Carrot Top. Don't get me wrong, I love Time Burton, but I think Guillermo Del Toro would have made a fantastic Alice in Wonderland.

Saw The Hangover the other night. It's funny, but a bit over hyped. I thought it was cleverly written and the the end credits are an A+.

Up was very touching.

I've been watching the first season of 30 Rock. So much better and funnier then this last season. It seemed like season 3 was all about how many guest stars can they fit into each episode.

So has anybody seen Whatever Works?

Well, I did. And the disclaimer Larry David gives at the start that "this is not the feelgood movie of the year" is disappointingly untrue. Still, the whole thing is a pleasant ego exfoliation for those of us with a huge worldview.