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 …
Category: Reviews
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 …
McG, aka Joseph McGinty, the director of Terminator Salvation, was recently quoted in Entertainment Weekly saying that with Terminator Salvation, he’s ready to be judged by his work rather than his nickname. Of course, that’s exactly how he’s always been judged, it’s just that Charlie’s Angels, Charlie’s Angel’s 2 and We Are Marshall made his nickname a really easy target. Unfortunately for McG, Terminator Salvation isn’t going to improve anything. With the latest Terminator installment, McG proves he’s a stylist, …
Christian Bale (“The Dark Knight”) gained some undesired press this past winter when an audio clip of him having a nuclear meltdown on the set of “Terminator Salvation” aired on TV, radio and spread to every corner of the web. Meltdowns on movie sets happen all the time, so I’m sure Mr. Bale probably felt like he’d been de-pantsed and punched in the netherregions by the public, who months earlier were lauding him for his performance in “The Dark Knight.” …
Andy at The Movies.com reader Porthos sent over a link to the first-ever review of the upcoming movie “The Road.” The trailer just hit the web and we’ve posted a link here, but Esquire magazine, famous for their sexy and artsy shots of “women we love” and their annual (since 2004) crowing of the “sexiest woman alive,” has seen “The Road” and is calling the October 16th release “the most important movie of the year.” Reviewer Tom Chirella can’t say …
Two things I know to be guaranteed as I write this review: “Star Trek” will not hold on to the top box office spot this weekend, and despite Tom Hanks ruffling many a Mormon’s feathers last January, calling them “Un-American” for supporting Proposition 8, those same folks will be lining up in droves this weekend to forgive Hanks as he reprises his role as symbologist Robert Langdon in “Angels & Demons.” The cash and clemency are both deserved, because the …
I am not a Trekkie. I have never dressed up as a Klingon or, for that matter, any member of the U.S.S. Enterprise. I think the phaser is an effeminate weapon that doesn’t come close to sheer awesomeness of the lightsaber or a blaster. Yes, Spock’s ears bug the crap out of me, as such I’ve never said “live long and prosper” and might consider socking someone in the gut who did. Furthermore, with the exception of “The Wrath of …
After a number of screenings, reviews are coming in for this weekend’s Summer Opener: X-men Origins: Wolverine… and they’re pretty much what you would have expected from a crown spoiled by two previous X-Men films by Bryan Singer: slightly worse than middling. Which is fine, considering tracking date knows you better than you know yourself and demands a super high probability that most everyone who likes watching explosions in the dark will see this one no matter what critics say. …