The American Film Institute has rolled out its AFI Awards, an annual top ten list of the year’s best films. AFI’s 2009 list includes Coraline, The Hangover, The Hurt Locker, The Messenger, Precious, A Serious Man, A Single Man, Sugar, Up and Up in The Air. I can agree with all of those, however I haven’t seen The Messenger, A Single Man, Sugar or Up in The Air. I was hoping to see the latter, but apparently in the world …
Tag: up
Up is one of the year’s best. The movie runs the smorgasbord of emotions and themes– and while I’ve heard that criticized as a soft attempt to break through the live-action Best Picture barrier while pacifying the masses with fun (IE- a movie that’s not too thought-provoking), I say stop being so cynical. Not everything has to be an exercise in existential misery wallowing. In the mean time, Pixar’s released an animated short from the world of Up. The short …
These are just estimates, but it appears “The Hangover” ($33,415,000) has repeated as box office champ, with “Up” ($30,515,000) coming in a strong second, in virtual spitting distance of the “surprise” R-rated comedy. John Travolta and Denzel came in third with “The Taking of Pelham 123” ($25,000,000), and the top five was rounded out by “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian” ($9,600,000) and “Land of the Lost” ($9,153,000). Paramount Pictures must be thrilled their Eddie Murphy-headlined “Imagine That” …
So Up retained the number one spot at the box office this weekend with a $44.2 million take, giving a Three Stooge slap, bonk and poke to The Hangover (if just barely) and kicking Will Ferrell and Land of the Lost where they might not have deserved it most- right in the pruney. Which goes to prove Andy and Dan are both prophetic. Or good guessers. Or a couple dudes who can simply state the obvious. Let’s go with the …
As you know, both Dan and I (and Tyler Riggs) loved Disney/Pixar’s “Up” that debuted in theaters last weekend. I received an email from our friendly neighborhood Disney rep regarding some interesting tidbits about the movie. Take a gander at the list below and make sure to take your kids to see the show, it’s 1,000 times better than the “Night at the Museum” sequel. Supervising Technical Director Steve May and his team created a canopy of 10,297 balloons to …
Everybody loves “Up” and that was etched in stone over the weekend when theatergoers anxious to see Pixar’s new computer animated masterpiece poured in $68.2 million, knocking “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian” out of first place and dropping “Terminator Salvation” to fourth place. “Star Trek” stayed strong in the fifth spot, with a four week gross of $209.5 million. Frankly, I can’t see “Up” relinquishing the top spot anytime soon, either. I don’t think upcoming releases “Land …
There is a scene in Pixar’s new computer-animated film “Up” where the entire life, from youth to old age, of our grumpy, square-jawed, prune-faced protagonist, Carl Fredricksen (Edward Asner), is played out in a matter of minutes. Accompanied by composer Michael Giacchino’s (“Star Trek,” “Ratatouille”) gentle piano-based score, and without any dialogue, we catch a glimpse of Carl’s simple, stress-free and full-of-love life with his childhood sweetheart, Elie, who, at the end of the montage, passes away. It’s a moving …
At this point, noting that Pixar does great work is like noting sunsets are beautiful or water is wet. After 10 years and a series of films which at their worst are very good, redundant praise almost goes without saying. Still, praise can’t be avoided when year after year audiences are treated to stories from not only the best animation studio since Disney’s heyday, but inevitably some of the best films of their respective years. So let me say, I’ll …
We keep saying it, but that’s only because it’s true: May is unleashing a whirlwind of cinematic fury– intent on booking your Fridays, bank account and eyeballs all month long. Between Wolverine, Star Trek, Angels & Demons, Terminator: Salvation and Up, May has a lineup hard-pressed to be reckoned with. As Up is at the tail-end of the month and the general public doesn’t know much about it beyond a boy scout, an old codger and a sky full of …
Pixar, to date, has been sterling. Even their middling efforts (Cars, as most would say– but I’d disagree) hold to a higher entertainment standard than most films bust months of hump to achieve. The Disney/Looney Toon reminiscent shorts, the cute vignettes shown before the Pixar movie you’re paying to see, are usually equally stellar– just bite-sized. With this year’s Pixar project Up just a few weeks away, Pixar has released a snippet from the short preceding it: Partly Cloudy. If …