Adventures in Syberspace

Another triumph from Pixar

This is such a broken record, but Pixar released another unbelievable movie on Friday: Up. It deserves all of the critical praise it has received. As with all of Pixar's movies, it's the story that makes the movie. I don't want to give away anything so I won't comment on the specifics (it's why I didn't fully read any reviews until now). But I'll say this. It's funny, entertaining, not overly cute or silly (like a lot of other animated movies), doesn't rely on celebrity voices to make it good, very touching, and has a powerful message. All I could think about towards the end in (one of) the climax moments is that John Piper would LOVE this movie. Those of you who know who he is and have seen the movie will know what I'm talking about. Go see it. Just stunning. It breaks into my Pixar Top 5.

(Note: we saw it in 2D cause it was a lot cheaper for the six of us but I'm curious about the 3D experience.)

Doubt was robbed.

Imagine this scenario: a movie is released and wins Academy Award nominations for 4 of the actors in the movie (one-fifth of all the acting nominations allotted for just one movie!), plus one for Best Adapted Screenplay (adapted by the playwright/director from his Pulitzer-prize winning play). One would think this movie would be a lock for a Best Picture nomination, no? Well not this year. "Doubt," adapted from his play and directed by John Patrick Shanley, won nominations for screenplay, Best Actress for Meryl Streep, Best Supporting Actor for Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Best Supporting Actress nominations for Amy Adams and Viola Davis. It's certainly one of the best movies of the year, and yet for some reason, it wasn't considered for Best Picture. It seems like that elusive "buzz" is key to nominations, and Doubt didn't get any of the best picture categories in the Golden Globes or other earlier awards, so I think didn't gain the momentum it would have needed to take the 5th spot that The Reader took, and many thought Dark Knight would take.

Though I don't have an explanation as to why, I can tell you that it's a great movie. Phenomenal acting, great writing that continually draws you in, and a story with compelling themes. And all of it told in a way that never feels like it was adapted from a stage play. So I think you should see it, and then tell me what you thought.

Two documentaries of note

Heidi and I watched a couple documentaries in the past week that you should know about. The first and most impressive and breathtaking (a word I use literally here) is called Man on Wire. It's about a 24 year old French wirewalker who in 1974 got a wire strung between the Twin Towers in New York City and walked on the wire for about 45 minutes. It's remarkable enough that he got the wire up there in the first place, which involved impersonating delivery men and newspaper reporters, making fake IDs, hiding under a blanket, and shooting an arrow from one tower to the next with fishing line attached. It's wonderfully done, and a riveting movie. Talk about dreaming an impossible dream. You can watch more clips and trailers of the movie here.

The other one is called American Teen, and it follows the story of 5 high school seniors from Warsaw, IN. As you can see by the poster, they tried to draw the Breakfast Club connection with the 5 students, with the only exception being the Judd Nelson character-- the guy in this movie is a "heartthrob" rather than a burnout. If you have no connection to teenagers (that is, you're not a parent of one, or you don't work with them), you may not be terribly interested. The thing Heidi and I took away from this was the pressure that these students are under. As I told my youth group on Sunday, it's not easy being teen. It felt somewhat forced and manipulative at times, but it was well done, and I enjoyed it. My sister and brother-in-law went to a screening in San Fran this summer and got to meet a number of the students. I can only imagine how this has changed their lives forever, though I'm shocked some of them feel comfortable appearing in public after some of the things they do in the movie.

Pixar does it again

I suppose it's possible that Pixar will make a bad movie one of these days, but it hasn't happened yet. In my opinion, the closest they came to a "miss" was with Cars. Gorgeous animation, but it was a little long, and not as compelling as some of the others. Let me give you my thoughts on WALL·E and I'll close with my top 5 Pixar movies.

I really appreciated the fact that I hadn't seen any trailers for the movie before I saw it. I don't have to with Pixar movies, and with 4 children in the house who I know will want to see it. The thing that sets this movie apart (as with any really good movie) is a compelling story. There's very little dialogue in the first thirty minutes, and it's a very similar feel to I Am Legend: earth is abandoned, save for one cockroach and one robot who is cleaning up the trash. But was I bored by this? Hardly.

We discover that Earth is in the shape she's in because of a giant conglomerate called Buy N Large (a swipe at Costco, perhaps?) which has basically screwed everything up. It could become JUST an anti-big company, eco-friendly movie, but it doesn't. It's actually an eco-friendly, social-commentary, robo-romantic comedy, science-fiction movie. And probably the best one of that genre so far this summer.

Michael Phillips' review in the Tribune says it well: "it's remarkable to see any film, in any genre, blend honest sentiment with genuine wit and a visual landscape unlike any other." You should go see it. It's not perfect, and probably not the best Pixar movie, but it's good. And now for The List:

Top Pixar Movies
1. Finding Nemo (the underwater animation is breath-taking, the story is touching, Ellen DeGeneres is hysterical)
2. Monsters, Inc. (funny, inventive, touching, always keeps you entertained)
3. Toy Story (hard to believe this was Pixar's first full-length movie. Groundbreaking animation, funny, heart-warming, great story, several false endings keep you on the edge of your seat. Great lesson on feeling replaced)
4. The Incredibles (compelling story, cleverly done, great lesson on doing what gives you joy)
5. WALL·E (see comments above)
The final four I'd rank in this order: Ratatouille, Toy Story 2, A Bug's Life, Cars
Honorable mention, non-Pixar category: "Surf's Up". The best non-Pixar movie of the past several years. It's a mockumentary penguin movie, featuring Jeff Bridges as a kind of "The Dude" character from Big Lebowski character, plus Zooey Deschanel, Shia LeBeouf, and Napoleon and Rex from Napoleon Dynamite, playing penguin versions of Napoleon and Rex.

Your Favorite Christmas Movie

I want to hear from you! What, in your opinion, is the best Christmas movie? What's the movie that you look forward to seeing once the calendar hits December? I'd like to get some comments, and then I'll let you know mine. You are allowed to leave a couple answers if you like.

A great game, a great movie

First, the game. It's a little silly how good this guy is. At left, he's nimbly leap-frogging the punter who had slipped. And it was nice for him to have the two TDs since his day began foolishly swatting at a punt and losing it, which led to 3 points for the other team. I still can't really believe we won. And for those of you that care, it's time for Adam Archuleta and Fred Miller to think about maybe getting into coaching.

Secondly, a great movie. I saw Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium over the weekend and loved it. I was actually expecting to be disappointed even though a former classmate of mine wrote and directed it. It got some lukewarm reviews, and the trailer didn't really get me too excited for it, so I had low expectations going in. I'm not sure why more reviewers didn't like it. It has a very unique feel to it, and for a G-rated movie, actually deals with some very adult themes, namely death. The movie revolves around the fact that Mr. Magorium (Dustin Hoffman) is dying (he's 243 years old, after all) and decides to give the store to Molly (Natalie Portman). As Heidi said, the trailer makes it look like it's about the store, when it's really about the relationship between Magorium and Molly. With quite a few other things thrown in there too. Do yourself a favor: go see this movie.

New movie from a fellow DePaul Grad

The trailer is out for Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, a new movie written and directed by Zach Helm, who graduated a year behind me at DePaul, and who also wrote Stranger Than Fiction with Will Ferrell. It stars Dustin Hoffman, Natalie Portman, and Jason Bateman, and sounds like a cross between Pee Wee's Big Adventure and Willy Wonka. It looks like a fun movie for kids that adults should enjoy as well. It comes out November 16th.

I see a lot of movies...

And I love 'em all. OK, not really. But that was one of the only funny lines from a movie I really wanted to like, For Your Consideration. The movie was bad, a huge disappointment given it was done by the brilliant people who gave us Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, and A Mighty Wind. But that's not what this is about. I've decided to blog about the movies I've seen recently that I do like. I typically don't waste my time watching bad movies, unless it's something the kids might enjoy (it's hard to find a really good film the whole family can watch together). I watched a movie tonight that literally moved me to tears. Tears were not streaming down my face, but that's not usually the kind of crying I do ever. But if a movie can do that to me, there's a good chance you'll like it too. It's called The Heart of the Game and it's a documentary about a college professor who decides to coach a high school girls' basketball team. Don't worry-- it's way more interesting than it sounds. And Ludacris is the announcer, so how can you go wrong there? I don't want to say too much, but suffice it to say that it's a phenomenal movie, and you should see it now. Every high school coach in America could learn something from this coach, and the movie has a lot to say about teamwork, working hard, doing the right thing even when it costs you something, and it's also just plain entertaining. So go rent it.