Pixar's Up is a very sad and painful movie

I saw Pixar's "Up" on Monday night. I saw it in 3d on the DLP screen at the AMC16 in Woodland Hills. I did not write about it immediately because I wanted to give it a bit of time to digest in my gut and gestate in my mind.

After several days of consideration, I am largely in agreement with the critics. It is another Pixar classic. However, it is not my favorite. It is certainly not as good or entertaining as Wall-e and The Incredibles. The Incredibles was the most fun I ever had watching a movie. Wall-e was an unexpected scifi masterpiece, and also a weepy sentimental romance between two robots. I loved both aspects of Wall-e. This could be the most unlikely combo of affects since the original Blade.

I should mention, in passing, that if you had told me before I saw Blade that I would love a move about a black vampire, biker, Samurai, martial artist, who killed bad vampires... I would have told you you were crazy. That is the most unlikely combo of affects ever to work in the history of film.

But I digress. Back to the subject of Up.

Up is a movie about a nice, shy, somewhat grumpy old man whose dearly beloved wife has died. He was a shy and nerdy kid. He had the good fortune to meet his soul mate early in life and live long number of years with her. But now she is dead, and he is grief struck.

Carl Fredricksen is driven by grief throughout the course of this movie. Everything he does in the first half of the movie is motivated by grief. He bitterly regrets not doing all the things he and his beloved wife Ellie always wanted to do during their lives. He regrets that she died with wishes unfulfilled. He regrets that they died without children. It's wrenching as he reads through her childhood diary titled "Stuff I am going to do" and he knows she never did it.

As a result of this... and a little something else. He launches his airborne house on an adventure to Paradise Falls, South America. This phase of movie follows a pretty crazy acid-trip, dream logic. This clashes with the first 10-15 minutes which are realistic montage. Like most, I believe this opening 10-15 minute sequence is the most powerful portion of this movie. It is pretty close to flawless, and pretty overwhelming.

The remainder of the movie is less perfect. Along the way we run into dogs who talk with the aid of computerized collar, dogs who fly biplanes, dogs who cook and serve human diners, etc. This is not unprecedented for a cartoon, but it feels weird in the context of this motion picture.

Ultimately, on this road-trip, Fredricksen is letting go of the past, and embracing the future. He dies to the past, and is reborn to the future. Like a snake who must shed his skin and harden a new one, Fredricksen has to cast off the trappings of his former life so he can construct a new life without Ellie. It is happy and good that he succeeds. It is painful to watch along the way.

On the way a childhood hero is unmasked as a bad guy, Carl usurps control of the hero's mantel, he lets go of the house he lived in with Ellie for all those years, planting it where he said he would at Paradise Fallse South America.

So, how do I rate it? It's an A- effort. Its good. Damn good. But ultimately, it is too sad to be much fun. They front load the pain too. You get the "Dumbo's mom in jail" scene pretty early in this film. I don't know about you, but this one hit me like a ton of bricks... Real unexpected like. From that moment forward, the shadow of death and grief overhangs every second of this film. It is not until the very end that you are sure Mr Fredricksen has made the transition to a new stage of life.

Mr. Fredricksen is one of the lucky ones. Most old men die within a month of their wives, if the wife goes first. That says a lot about men. If you know that much, you know what kind of pain this shy old man is going through.

Many critics commented that this is Pixar's funniest comedy. I have to take issue with that statement. I deny that. I didn't find it very funny at all. The audience cackled with laughter throughout. I found it surprising--if not untoward--that they would laugh so freely given the extremely somber theme and tone set by the first 10-15 minutes. Perhaps they did not comprehend the theme of this movie. That is common, and happens often enough.

I found the situations humorous at best. At best, I laughed out loud twice. Mostly when Doug achieved victory over Alpha.

Ultimately I would rate this movie no higher than 4th place on my list of favorite Pixar movies. The Incredible still beats out Wall-e by a quarter-point. Ratatouille takes 3rd place. Then we can talk about Up.

I saw the movie in 3d, meaning I wore the glasses throughout the film. I saw very little pop out of the screen at me. As is always the case, 3d is not well exploited here. Don't bother. See it in 2d.

Drag me to Hell: Okay, let's get this over with.

So I just arrived home after seeing "Drag me to Hell" at the AMC16 in Woodland Hills. What did I think?

Sam Rami got up on his hind legs and pitched one hell of a nasty 185 mile-per-hour beanball right between my eyes, that's what I think. The movie is very well made. It is well written. It steals from some of the best old horror film classics of the 1930s and 1940s. It is well edited. The effects are numerous and photo-realistic. Many of the shots are brilliantly conceived. The editing is excellent. The musical score is good. In short, the technicals are all extremely strong. It is destined to become a classic among those who like horror movies. It is probably the best horror film since Quarantine. This was Sam Rami's attempt to out-do the Exorcist. He was trying to make the scariest movie of all time, but he was trying to do it with a lot of skill and dexterity... in his own style.

Did I enjoy it? Fuck no. Did I find it entertaining? Once or twice. Would I want to repeat the process? Fuck no. Would I recommend it to anyone? Only if you live for this kinda shit. Would I like to show this to my mom? That would have a certain sick comedy value to it. If I had kids 10 or under would I let them see this? Absolutely fucking not! No, fuck no!

First, let me express my shock and dismay that this movie has been given a PG-13 rating. This movie is far more intense, twisted, sadistic and hyper-nasty than a lot of NC17 movies that I have seen. Rami socks it too you right between the eyes at 185 miles per hour... with great sadistic joy. It is also loud; loud enough to damage your hearing in several places. It is far, far, far beyond gross. It is hyper-nasty. Yet, because there are no nipples, no breasts, no ass-shots, no sex, no use of the S word or the F word, no illegal drugs, no tobacco to speak of, they gave this flick a PG-13. Don't take your kids. I pity the 7 year old who sees this flick. He will be brain damaged for life. I have seen hardcore pornography that is far sweeter, nicer, cleaner, more loving, more positive, and with better Christian family values than this movie. A lot of this stuff is over-the-damn-top.

What the hell happened at the Motion Picture Association of America, INC? How the fuck did this one get through with a PG-13? Who fumbled the football? Which Ref blew this call? Somebody aught to look into this egregious error.

Even if you are old enough to gut this one out without damage, it just isn't enjoyable. This one goes down the drain just because it is too damn sadistic to be enjoyed. I got the feeling that a real sicko sadist was at the controls of the camera, trying to torture me. He was trying to entertain himself by trying making me squirm. As the PBS documentary "Torturing Democracy" will teach you, the worst form of torment is to watch some undeserving soul subjected to torture for no good reason. This was Rami's strategy for making you squirm. That I do not appreciate.

On Friday, the Los Angeles Daily News ran an article in which the pitch line said "Sami Rami comes off as such a nice guy. Who knew he was a sadist?" I did not expect that to be the ultimate take-home point of this film, but indeed, that is the ultimate take home point of "Drag me to Hell".

Ultimately I can't recommend this film. In short "Drag me to Hell" is the 2009 equivalent of "Borat" back in 2006. Very critically praised, to hyper-nasty to wear-well with time.

Finally, it should be noted that UP won the box office contest this weekend. It was a landslide. Drag me to Hell finished in third place. UP hauled in over $68 million. Drag me to Hell hauled down $16.6. That is basically a 4 to 1 victory. Call it 28-7 in football terms.

I suspected this would be the result as I made my third failed attempt to see Up at the IMAX in 3d this morning at 9:30am. It was already sold out. So was the 12:00pm showing. Wow... The people have really jumped on Up! Also, Drag me to Hell also has far fewer screens and a far lower per-theater average. Something to be greatful for, I am sure.

I will see Up in the next few hours and report back to you here.

Top 10 Blu-Ray releases I am looking forward too

So I thought I would take time out from commenting on our sorry economic state and write a blog entry on one of my favorite subjects: Blu-Ray. For those of you who don't know yet, Blu-ray is everything it is cracked up to be and some. Some ardent DVD collectors are not pleased that there collections are outdated, and some pirates are not pleased that it is difficult to rip and trade these disks, but if you rent them or buy them (and I do both) you will love them. A 622% increase in resolution, extension of the color space, and quantum improvements in the audio stream make the Blu-Ray experience better than going to the theater... If you have a nice large screen... preferably a DLP.

So, as the format is just a little more than 2 years old, many many great titles are as yet unavailable. Since I have faint hopes somebody in the big-5 studios may pass by this page, I thought I would publish my wishlist.

1. The Incredibles: With all due respect to Wall-e, which is a masterpiece, I still think the Incredibles is the greatest movie Pixar has ever made. It is my favorite movie of all time, and it is a damnable shame that this movie is not yet out on Blu-ray. Disney needs to get this out on the double-quick time.
2. The Exorcist: With all due respect to John Carpenter's Halloween, many will tell you that the Exorcist is the greatest horror film of all time. I am in this camp. The Exorcist DVD stinks. Warners did not do a good job on the digital master. This movie has never enjoyed a good release for the home viewer. A major restoration project should be undertaken here, and a reference quality master should be created.
3. The Minority Report: Not a big fan of Steven Spielberg, I hate Tom Cruise and everything he stands for, and I believe Colin Ferrel only gets parts because he is a dirty bisexual bastard who sleeps with anything. With that said, I love this movie. Along with Schindler's List, it is Spielberg's finest work. It is another Philip K. Dick masterpiece perfectly communicated on the screen. I just noted that TBS presented a true HD version of this film this weekend, which means the Blu-ray cannot be far away. Incidentally, the HD master TBS showed looked fantastic. The movie could have been vastly improved by replacing Tom Cruise with Mel Gibson and Colin Ferrel with Liam Neeson.
   
4. Dr. Strangelove: I regard Dr. Strangelove as the greatest film of all time. No equivocations. Sorry Copola, sorry Orson Wells, sorry Hitchcock. Stanley Kuprick is the greatest director of all time, and this was his greatest masterpiece. Can't say enough good things about it. It is also the finest work in Peter Sellar's stellar career. Like so many older films, a major restoration project will have to be undertaken to restore this film and make a perfect reference master. Still, this must be done, and the sooner the better.
   
5. Braveheart: We've been waiting entirely too long for this one. I don't know what is holding up the show. When I left the theater after seeing this one in 1995, I was convinced I had seen the great film ever made. No film ever more justly won the Best Picture award. Time and historical inaccuracy have softened my opinion of this film, but it is still one hell of movie classic. It should be out on Blu-Ray by now.
6. Aliens: Probably James Cameron's absolute best movie. No, the Titanic was not his best. Very chicky and deathy, but not his best. This absolutely should be out on Blu-ray. I cannot believe that such a crowd pleaser was not in the first wave of movies release on High-def. I am stunned that it did not come out on HD-DVD immediately, and I am stunned that it still has not arrived on Blu-Ray.
   
7. True Lies: Arnold Schwarzenegger's finest movie. Also one of James Cameron's best movies, and that is saying a hell of a lot. Can anyone offer any explanation as to why this movie is not out on Blu-ray? I don't think any rational explanation exists.
   
8. Star Wars: I am talking about the original, not all the other stuff. Need I make any case for this?
   
9. South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut. I personally regard this as the funniest movie of all time. Hysterical, pure comedy. Animation of the type Trey Parker and Matt Stone do scales extremely well. so the DVD still looks good when popped into the PS3. Nevertheless, this movie deserves a Blu-Ray.
10. Escape from New York: When I was a young man, there were three science fiction flicks that I liked better than all the others. They were The Road Warrior, and Bladerunner, and Escape from New York. The Road Warrior and Bladerunner have long been on Blu-ray. They look terrific. Escape from New York has not yet appeared. Escape from New York is a grindhouse masterpiece from the greatest grandmaster of the grindhouse: John Carpenter. He's made a lot of my favorite films, but this is close to the top. I would say that only The Thing is better.