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Just two quotations from Pushing Daisies that shouldn't spoil anything but make me happy. They're funnier with context, but I think they're probably funny even on their own.
"You know what, I'll be in the kitchen rationalizing my panic attack."
"Signals are like nuts—mixed is better. Who wants all the same kind, right?"
Fanboys
I liked what I'd heard about this movie, and especially the epic tales of the moviemakers' fight to keep the cancer storyline when the studio bosses insisted it was too downbeat. They won. That's a good thing, really, because if they'd taken that out, this movie would have nothing to recommend it, pretty much.
There are lots of in-jokes. Some are actually funny. There are lots of cameos. Most are actually funny. (I thought the one with Kevin Smith too offensive to be funny, though if Krod Mandoon taught me one thing, it's that my standards just aren't all that high.) I am embarrassed to admit I missed Carrie Fisher--I should totally have recognized her before BH exclaimed and then backed up the scene for me.
It's not a terrible movie, but I expected something on the order of Gamers: Dorkness Rising. Gamers made me happy. Fanboys made me glad it was over. I found the stereotypes really offputting. Trekkers were unattractive and took abuse both from the movie and from the main characters. The main characters were mostly not that attractive, either, in any sense of the word. If I'm having trouble rooting for the guy with cancer, something is wrong with the movie. Kristen Bell was almost the only bright light in the movie, and she reduced the sexism and misogyny somewhat.
Glad we got it on Netflix and didn't pay for it at the theater. Your mileage may vary substantially; I know some fen loved this movie. Not me.
Up
A word of warning: we got fifteen solid minutes of Disney previews, so if you go see this one, you might actually aim to arrive late. I'm not sure I will recover from what I saw. I'd heard rumors about The Princess and the Frog, the first Disney cartoon with an African-American heroine! Hold the cheers. The frog prince is turned into a frog by a witch doctor, I think in New Orleans (but I could be wrong about that). I do believe that was the start of this afternoon's headache. I also saw mind-numbing previews for movies about animals, movies about kids, movies about princesses, and some combinations thereof. I weep for today's children. I am so glad Small Child did not clamor to see any of these movies that I can't tell you, but I'm sure soon enough she will.
Okay, now that I've got the preview out of the way: one of my friends said Up made her cry. It's allergy season here in Florida (which it is 365 days of the year; 366 in leap years), so I went in with pockets full of tissues. I used up half my tissues in the prologue to the freaking movie. You have been warned. (That's where most of the rest of the headache came from. Small Child is responsible for the remainder.) Of course, I am a sap.
Aside from crying at the opening, and sniffling at other bits, I thought it was a really good movie. This really is a movie that parents and kids can watch together! Up is actually in many ways totally a guy film, I realized just as I'm writing this paragraph, but it's brilliant. You know the premise, right? You don't need a review. You've probably been inundated by previews and ads, as I was.
It's better than the preview, way better. It's funny. There are jokes for kids and jokes for adults (but not the kind you have to cover their eyes or ears for, just the kind they don't get). The animation is glorious. (I didn't see it in 3D, which gives me--you guessed it!--a headache, and I'm not sure how fully I'd appreciate the animation if I'd seen it in 3D.) I don't have much else to say about it. If you're at all inclined, or even sitting on the fence, go see it.
"You know what, I'll be in the kitchen rationalizing my panic attack."
"Signals are like nuts—mixed is better. Who wants all the same kind, right?"
Fanboys
I liked what I'd heard about this movie, and especially the epic tales of the moviemakers' fight to keep the cancer storyline when the studio bosses insisted it was too downbeat. They won. That's a good thing, really, because if they'd taken that out, this movie would have nothing to recommend it, pretty much.
There are lots of in-jokes. Some are actually funny. There are lots of cameos. Most are actually funny. (I thought the one with Kevin Smith too offensive to be funny, though if Krod Mandoon taught me one thing, it's that my standards just aren't all that high.) I am embarrassed to admit I missed Carrie Fisher--I should totally have recognized her before BH exclaimed and then backed up the scene for me.
It's not a terrible movie, but I expected something on the order of Gamers: Dorkness Rising. Gamers made me happy. Fanboys made me glad it was over. I found the stereotypes really offputting. Trekkers were unattractive and took abuse both from the movie and from the main characters. The main characters were mostly not that attractive, either, in any sense of the word. If I'm having trouble rooting for the guy with cancer, something is wrong with the movie. Kristen Bell was almost the only bright light in the movie, and she reduced the sexism and misogyny somewhat.
Glad we got it on Netflix and didn't pay for it at the theater. Your mileage may vary substantially; I know some fen loved this movie. Not me.
Up
A word of warning: we got fifteen solid minutes of Disney previews, so if you go see this one, you might actually aim to arrive late. I'm not sure I will recover from what I saw. I'd heard rumors about The Princess and the Frog, the first Disney cartoon with an African-American heroine! Hold the cheers. The frog prince is turned into a frog by a witch doctor, I think in New Orleans (but I could be wrong about that). I do believe that was the start of this afternoon's headache. I also saw mind-numbing previews for movies about animals, movies about kids, movies about princesses, and some combinations thereof. I weep for today's children. I am so glad Small Child did not clamor to see any of these movies that I can't tell you, but I'm sure soon enough she will.
Okay, now that I've got the preview out of the way: one of my friends said Up made her cry. It's allergy season here in Florida (which it is 365 days of the year; 366 in leap years), so I went in with pockets full of tissues. I used up half my tissues in the prologue to the freaking movie. You have been warned. (That's where most of the rest of the headache came from. Small Child is responsible for the remainder.) Of course, I am a sap.
Aside from crying at the opening, and sniffling at other bits, I thought it was a really good movie. This really is a movie that parents and kids can watch together! Up is actually in many ways totally a guy film, I realized just as I'm writing this paragraph, but it's brilliant. You know the premise, right? You don't need a review. You've probably been inundated by previews and ads, as I was.
It's better than the preview, way better. It's funny. There are jokes for kids and jokes for adults (but not the kind you have to cover their eyes or ears for, just the kind they don't get). The animation is glorious. (I didn't see it in 3D, which gives me--you guessed it!--a headache, and I'm not sure how fully I'd appreciate the animation if I'd seen it in 3D.) I don't have much else to say about it. If you're at all inclined, or even sitting on the fence, go see it.
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