Public service (in the form of a movie review)
It is customary to warn people beforehand, so I will do no different: my little rant – err, movie review – will contain spoilers. For what? For ‘Up‘.
I feel like I should warn people about how depressing and annoying a movie it is: that’s right, don’t let the colourful balloons on the poster fool you! (They fooled me, so I’m speaking from experience).
I heard someone say the first 7 minutes of the movie are alone worth their weight in gold. Thank god we don’t use the gold standard then.
Here are the first 7 minutes – tell me if that doesn’t depress you: they fast forward through the life of a young boy who meets the love of his life, gets married, sees their common dream slip away, grows old and then boom – his wife dies. Wonderful. I cried (yes, I’ll admit it).
What follows is a predictable chain of events (which include violence and blood – you read it right: blood in a Pixar movie) that leads the old grumpy bushy-browed hero to uproot his house with the help of a monster load of helium balloons. An annoying chubby little scout happens to tag along for the ride. I kept on hoping that chubby little scout would fall off the airborne house (or off the big blimp where a lot of the ‘action’ goes down) but no such luck.
Add a LOT of dogs, a chocoholic bird, a mean recluse, and there you pretty much have it.
‘Up’ is a boring, annoying, far too long and predictable downer. Yes, I am happy I made that pun. But it’s true: ‘Up’, a spirit-lifting movie? Right: and my bum, it’s chicken*.
(Image is from here, accompanied by another ‘Up’ review that I applaud – because I agree with a lot of what is said).
*Go here if you have doubts about what I am trying to say.
PS: I will concede the part where the house flies over the city is pretty amazing – so redeeming points for some beautiful images (but they are way too far and few).
Lessons from B movies
*Never trust a man wearing a smoking jacket.
*Never trust a woman wearing clothes that look like they were made by a couturier. She is most likely a scheming hussy. Nice girls knit their own cardigans.
As taught by Brian McFarlane, co-author of this book. I want this book. And just for the record, I knit – so draw your own conclusions about my character.
Must outdo the Death Book
A week from today it is Christian’s birthday.
Last year, I bought him something hard to find that he really liked (and a watch, just because I wanted a back-up present in case he didn’t like the first one. I’m chicken that way).
If you have seen ‘Road to Perdition‘ (Christian and I have and it is one of his absolute all-time favourite films) you might remember in Jude Law’s apartment some crime scene photographs hanging off the wall. It turns out, they’re real – real New York Police Department 1920s crime scene photographs. And they were compiled into a book called ‘Evidence‘. So I tracked down a copy and gave it to him for his birthday (I flipped through first, to make sure it wasn’t hyper hyper gross. Err, maybe not but still really kind of graphic. Anyway).
He opened it and looked through and said ‘What is it?’. So I explained. And then I asked him if he liked it. He thought about it for a second, then said ‘You bought me a Death Book! Yes, I like it.’ He even said it was really thoughtful.
For next week I have something for him and I’m getting really jittery he won’t like it (I get present anxiety just before giving, always). I have been forbidden to buy anything else – he gets really embarrassed by gifts so one is about his limit.
If I am going to openly rebel and spend more money, it has to be on something as good as the Death Book. Or better. I’m in a tight spot (as George Clooney would say in ‘Oh Brother‘): you see, a Death Book is hard to top.
And yes, we have ‘Road to Perdition’ on DVD already. I really am in a tight spot…
Most legendary
My favourites from a series of photos where actors recreated some of their iconic roles, posing in street clothes. I love the seamless paper background, the simple lighting, and how the essence of the characters still comes through so strongly with so few props.
One teeny thing: as psycho and self-righteous as he was in Seven, I think Kevin Spacey might be even more legendary in American Beauty. But rose petals don’t make for as good a photo as a box supposedly containing Gwyneth Paltrow’s head*. Granted.
*I just realised I am totally blowing the ending here: but hasn’t everyone seen this by now, and knows what happens? Come on, it’s been 14 years!
Impossibly cool
According to this, some of my compatriots are. And also Jean Seberg – I agree. Didn’t she look absolutely darling in ‘À Bout de Souffle‘?
The bird
‘I can sum up the film in one word: ‘Caaaaaaa’.’
Christian telling me about ‘The Crow’, that I had never seen until yesterday.
One of my favourite films
Ed Wood, 1994 (dir. Tim Burton).
Possibly my favourite moments in it are:
- When Johnny Depp dressed like a woman and filming illegally on the street screams ‘Police, run!’ and tries to scamper off in high heels
- When him and Martin Landau are watching tv – Johnny ‘And nobody knows what is wrong with the buffalos’, Martin ‘Pull ze string!!’
Classic!
(Via moviesinframes)
There’s a difference
‘It wasn’t a faithful remake, it was an in-spirit rip-off.’
Christian explaining the Eddy Murphy take on Jerry Lewis’s ‘The Nutty Professor’.
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