June 8, 2009 at 11:40 pm
I didn’t blog much about UP in the last couple months, and for good reason: I was avoiding any and all trailers, previews, previews, spoilers, you name it. But the lack of posts wasn’t a sign that I wasn’t excited about the movie — to the contrary. Around the house, we were counting down the weeks and days until May 29th!
Despite the recent health issues I’ve been dealing with, the whole McGee clan did manage to get out and see the movie right after it came out. Since both Cari and Sean don’t see 3D stuff too well, we all went to the 2D version.
And out of the four of us, I think I’m the one who liked it the least.
It was good, but not great. The “marriage/life” mini-film at the beginning, showing Carl and Ellie’s life together, was absolutely brilliant. One of the best pieces of Pixar movie-making I’ve ever seen. All kinds of emotion in it, and both Cari and I were crying when it ended. But the emotion didn’t carry over to the rest of the movie for me. I never connected with UP the way I did with, say … Wall-E or Monsters, Inc. or even Finding Nemo.
For now, UP is probably in the middle of the pack among Pixar movies for me. But there’s hope yet: I felt this same way about CARS after the first time I saw that, and have come to like it a lot more on repeated viewings. Maybe the same thing will happen with UP?
March 6, 2009 at 4:37 pm
Less than three months to go until it’s out!
February 22, 2009 at 3:44 pm
As I said on Twitter last night:
January 26, 2009 at 9:49 am
I was gonna post about this last week, but the text of that post would’ve been a lot of %$@!#%$#@ and %$#$@$% like that. Now that I’ve settled down a bit about the Oscar nominations, I can say it much more eloquently:
Wall-E was effing robbed!
Seriously, it was a huge commercial success (something like $500 million overall at the box office) and a critical success — it was the best reviewed movie of the year. So, both critics and the movie-going public say it was one of the best pictures of the year. But, of course, it doesn’t get a Best Picture of the Year nomination from the Elitist A-holes … err, the Academy.
Meanwhile, what was the critical reaction to the five nominees? Here’s what Rotten Tomatoes says:
The Reader — 60 percent
Milk — 92 percent
Slumdog Millionaire — 95 percent
Frost/Nixon — 91 percent
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button — 72 percent
Nice. Not even Dark Knight, which I saw on PPC last weekend and also deserves to be on this list, made the cut.
Prediction: Ratings for this year’s Oscars will be the lowest ever. The Academy is completely out of touch with reality, and the Average Matts of the world just won’t bother watching what’s clearly an art/indie flick awards show.
December 15, 2008 at 10:41 am
TIME magazine (correctly) lists Wall-E as the best movie of 2008. Awesome! Says Richard Corliss:
A dirt-of-the-earth guy hooking up with the ultimate ethereal gal, WALL-E and EVE could be the 29th century version of Tracy and Hepburn, or Seth Rogen and any attractive woman. It hardly matters that the movie is not-quite-silent, when it blends art and heart as spectacularly as WALL-E does.
I’m telling ya … Wall-E for Best Picture at the Oscars!
November 8, 2008 at 8:44 am
This looks super fun!
October 28, 2008 at 10:02 pm
As long as I’m on a Pixar theme, there’s this: A guy named Larry and his wife were part of a small group who saw an early screening of the next Pixar film, Up. Larry shared his thoughts about the movie:
Both my wife and I welled up at a few scenes and there is a memorable montage that depicts a couple’s life together that is so poignant, even the toughest critic will be moved. There are still some very funny moments but this picture really stands on its own and is difficult to compare to its Pixar predecessors.
I already can’t wait for this movie. It’ll be out on May 29, 2009.
October 28, 2008 at 3:42 pm
According to the New York Times, the Disney/Pixar folks are planning to push Wall-E as a candidate for Best Picture at next year’s Academy Awards.
Sweet!
I made my position on this perfectly clear this summer: Wall-E deserves a shot at Best Picture, and if I had a vote, it would be my choice. It’s easily my favorite movie of the year, and I was able to sum up my feelings in a three-word movie review.
Hats off to Disney/Pixar, and here’s hoping it gets nominated and picks up the award, too!
July 12, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Joe Morgenstern of the Wall Street Journal has joined the growing chorus of people calling for Disney to promote Wall-E as a Best Picture candidate at next year’s Academy Awards:
“WALL-E” isn’t just an animated feature; it’s a great motion picture by any measure, and has already been hailed as such — by critics who’ve called it a masterpiece (I’m one of them), by audiences who watch it in a state of enthrallment (which is one notch up from enchantment). In keeping with its singular distinction, Pixar’s latest gift to movie lovers should be a candidate for the most prestigious award, Best Picture, when Oscar time rolls around.
I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed, but you already knew that….
July 8, 2008 at 10:13 pm
TIME magazine asks a good question: Can WALL-E Win Best Picture? Needless to say, I’m rooting for it. But the article lays out the hurdles our little robotic hero will have to overcome:
- No animated movie has ever won Best Picture.
- Academy voters, especially actors, are biased against animated movies.
- Disney/Pixar may not want to spend the money promoting it for Best Picture, due to that bias.
WALL-E is far and away the most well-reviewed movie of the year so far, and it’s incredibly unlikely five other films will come along and get better overall critical reviews. WALL-E is also sure to be one of the highest-grossing movies of the year.
In other words, it has both critical and popular support.
But the Academy would much rather honor artsy-fartsy crap like No Country for Old Men, Crash, and Chicago — movies that appeal to Hollywood snobs much more than something like WALL-E ever will. And they wonder why the Oscars TV ratings are at an all-time low. The critics and people are voting now, and WALL-E deserves a chance at Best Picture.
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