Up

Up
Voiced by Edward Asner, Christopher Plummer, Jordan Nagai, Bob Peterson & John Ratzenberger

The tenth film released by Disney/Pixar with its minimalistic title, "Up" does just that - brings a simple, ordinary life into the unbeleivable. Carl Fredricksen (Edward Asner) is a lonely, grumpy, and sad old man who has kept his property the same for decades, even though the contemporary, skyscraping battles unconditionally against him. He - like every human being - has a story, and his story is told in a ten to fifteen minute montage of his life and his amazing, exuberant wife, Ellie. This chonological mostly-silent section of "Up" takes the audience on a roller coaster of ups and downs. Carl and Ellie were in love the second they met, when they were kids, and always had high hopes of living a beautiful life together, a life of adventure. Yet, all doesn't go as planned, which is life, but Ellie and Carl make the best of what they have. Now a widow, Carl has nothing. Or so he thought.

Pete Docter's script is full of heart and soul, while we watch a grandiose adventure of a lifetime with the hero being a box-shaped senior citizen. Carl's life reaches new heights as he escapes the city in search of Ellie's dream land - South America. And he doesn't take a plane; Carl flies by the only thing he's ever known: balloons. Thousands and thousands of balloons. However, when a pudgy boy scout named Russell (Jordan Nagai) accidentally comes along the ride, Carl is forced to face the facts that this persona of the grumpy old guy is just that - a persona.

Talking dogs, crazy species of birds, and Carl & Ellie's life long hero ensue our story, but the heart of it remains through all the craziness, which is why I will forgive Pixar for selling out a bit with their dog dogfight just to gain membership in the 3-D club. "Up" is another of Pixars amazing line-ups teaching children and adults that life's too short, to love, and to live.

Grade: B+

And just for fun, I'm ranking the 10 films produced by Pixar starting with my favorite:
1. Toy Story
2. Finding Nemo
3. Ratatouille
4. Wall-E
5. A Bug's Life
6. Monster's, Inc.
7. Up
8. The Incredibles
9. Toy Story 2
10. Cars

Best of 2008: Top 10 Motion Pictures

Looking back at the past few years of reviewing film, 2008, quite frankly, has been the best year since '02 (Adaptation, The Hours, Chicago). The movies of the past twelve months have hit me in spots only rare cinematic masterpieces do. At times, a cast or a single driven character took the movie by storm and captivated me entirely. In other cases, films that struck me at first, died out, and others grew on me like the annoying, nerdy girl in high school who turns out to be hot. The creativity of this year was wonderful to watch and the performances were even better.

I could probably release my top 20 and feel perfectly fine with every selection, yet I will keep it so you can count all of them on both hands.


10. Man on Wire

The greatest and most masterful aspect of "Man on Wire" is its ability to be about a man who crossed the World Trade Center towers in the '70s without being about September 11th, and yet, it is about that horrible day in 2001. Never mentioned, the film illuminates the brilliance and incredible height of the towers, the curiosity, the fear, the idea of danger. Phillippe Petit is one of the most entertaining storytellers I've ever seen. The man who walked on the wire for nearly an hour, shocking America, shares a story of love, hope, and dreams. He's the most inspirational man ever. The dramatizations of the night they snuck into the towers perfectly design their story onto screen. Excellent, excellent documentary.

9. The Dark Knight

Although, in my mind, "The Dark Knight" kind of lost its flavor over the past few months, it is one of the best movies I've seen in a long time. Not only does Heath Ledger brilliantly and psychotically bring new life to The Joker, but the rest of the cast is spectacular as well. Christian Bale is stark and stoic as Batman, Maggie Gyllenhaal initiates a certain intelligence Katie Holmes didn't capture as Rachel, and Aaron Eckhart dove into the doppelganger that is Two-Face. The script is great, Nolan's directing is equally excellent, and the entire feel of the film is beyond any of the superhero flicks. But, it's all about Ledger. Always.


8. Milk
The reason only James Franco made my best supporting actors list and not any of the other "Milk" men (Josh Brolin, Emile Hirshe) is because, although they gave stellar performances, this film is about Harvey Milk alone. Sean Penn is the driving force in Gus Van Sant's epic tale of human rights and human relationships. Whether you're straight, gay, bi, transgender, black, white, Latino, Asian, or even if you have three legs, "Milk" will tell you one thing, and one thing only: understand each other - beyond differences - so that we might one day live in a peaceful world. With Harvey's assassination, we're not even close to that world but Dustin Lance Black's trying, I guess.


7. Wendy and Lucy
The first film on my Top 10 that didn't have a chance after I saw it, "Wendy and Lucy" will spawn great things after you give it some time. The script, the directing, the acting appears so simple and two-dimensional to the eye, but the more you brood the more complicated the story of Wendy (Michelle Williams) and Lucy (her lost dog) becomes. It's so short and concise, that it leaves nothing behind to criticize. Williams literally becomes that random girl walking through town, a town focused on themselves (save the security guard), focused so much on money. The town, representing America, allows this girl to starve, without shelter, without help or love. She's alone in her quest to find her dog, the only soul who knows.


6. WALL-E
With an opening half-an-hour of sheer Chaplin-inspired comedy and an Act 2 and 3 with a message for children and adults of the 21st century to get up off your asses, "WALL-E" locks itself in one of Pixar's best. Reversing the dominant male/female roles, WALL-E, our protagonist, falls madly in love for Eve, the aggressive, but kind, robot in search for plant life on Earth. The beauty of "WALL-E" lies in silence. Hardly any dialogue, the script explores the visual essence of words, taking us back to a time of music, motions, and faces. It's nostalgic and genius.


5. The Wrestler
Darren Aronofsky tackles the art of a realistic film - and achieves it fantastically and depressingly. Compared to his other films, "The Wrestler", a lot like "Wendy and Lucy" spawns a feeling of truth within you. Desperation never looked so horrible and fantastic. Mickey Rourke, like Sean Penn, travels through the movie, rediscovering himself as a performer and human being. It's soulful, raw, and intense. His relationships are shattering, and old one with his daughter (Evan Rachel Wood) and a new one with his favorite stripper (Marisa Tomei). His portrayal of the rundown professional wrestler enlightens us on growing old and striving to stay young. Follow your dreams, even if they kill you.


4. Rachel Getting Married
Yes, I gave this movie a "B" when I first saw it. A "B"! And now, it's #4. How does this happen? I'll tell you. After I left the quite hostile crowd who saw "Rachel Getting Married," I was annoyed with some scenes, but discovered that the annoyance was ignorance. Long, drawn-out, and exceedingly faithful to itself as a scene, the reception party to Rachel's wedding was unlike anything I had ever seen - hatred forced itself through, but I then found originality and credibility in a scene of life, a scene of real people in a time where the color of your skin or the way you wear your glasses has nothing to do with anything - a scene of purity, marked with Anne Hathaway's Kym. With all the distractions of race, religion, or simply clothing choices, her character is the one we notice and the characters notice as well. It's about her, as it should be. The story, hitting me in a more personal level than I expected, is about a family dealing with the death of their son and the daughter who is to blame, if you see it that way. Hathaway's remarkable performance deserves an Oscar - though I'd rather Kate - and Rosemarie DeWitt is impeccable as Rachel. I only wish I saw the film for what it is right away.

3. Let the Right One In

One of the most innovative, simple, and intriguing films of the year, the Norwegian work of art "Let the Right One In" crosses a boy-girl love story with vampire hunger. The excellence of this film is not that it fits with the horror genre (though it does), but that the horror, gore, and blood isn't what it's really about - that's all a mere backdrop, a motif of its true nature. A boy, picked on at school and with divorced parents, meets a strange girl, one who doesn't wear anything to warm her feet from the snow, one who is completely entranced by a Rubric's cube, one who's stomach aches with hunger. She's a vampire and her father (or who acts as her father) must kill to let her feed. The visual and special effects are spectacular, gruesome but without the blurring effect that most horror films use nowadays. It's barely possible to see any of the gore in them because the camera shakes so much. "Let the Right One In" treats the horror of itself with intensity and appreciation. Certainly the best horror film I've seen in years - maybe ever - "Let the Right One In" deserves its #3 spot, and shouldn't have been excluded from the foreign film race in the Oscars! Bastards.

2. Slumdog Millionaire

Is it realistic? For the pessimist in me - no - but being the optimist I tend to be, the plot of "Slumdog Millionaire" is meant to be if fate allows. That aside, this film goes beyond anything I've ever seen before; the beauty of each shot transcends the word beauty with colors bursting through the screen, vibrant cinematography, angles, trains, the Taj Mahal, and the Latika smile at the train station. So youthful, the cast doesn't strive to outshine with lead performances, but rather embraces the age of the characters, separating yet linking themselves to the younger characters of the same name. Danny Boyle's direction in "Slumdog" is pure and utter genius. I can't say enough about the power he holds in each take, emotions wring out of them, from hilarity to melancholy, violence to love. But the real reason for "Slumdog Millionaire's" topping my 2008 list is because it ends happily surrounded with such grief and sorrow. It doesn't conclude with sap or with tragedy, it perfectly seizes love, hope, and happiness and allows the audience to feel good.

1. Doubt

Beyond the reaches of Miller's "Death of a Salesman," Sophocles' "Oedipus Rex", Albee's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?," or even Shakespeare's "Hamlet" - all plays I have studied, analyzed, and taught - John Patrick Shanley's 2005 "Doubt, a Parable" is the most perfect play I've ever read. One can understand how nervous I was to see Shanely's cinematic interpretation of his Pulitzer- and Tony-winning masterpiece when it was released in December. However, my nerves were settled once the film began. A beautiful, delicate adaptation from stage to screen, "Doubt" is one of the finest films of the year. Though it contains minor flaws, on screen the story thrives, the words clutch throats, and the acting is beyond superb. Honestly, this ensemble comes close to defeating Elizabeth Taylor and Co. in "Virginia Woolf?" for the best cast ever award in my books. They were unstoppable, unreachable, and pitch-perfect. Viola Davis brings forth a single, gut-wrenching scene that captures the complexity of doubt. Amy Adams layers Sister James with about a dozen layers, each more complicated than the next, from naivete to decisiveness. As Father Flynn, Philip Seymour Hoffman steals the audience's hearts while we struggle to believe him - a feat only he can achieve. And then there's Meryl. Other than Sophie Zawistowski in "Sophie's Choice," her Sister Aloysius is Streep's best performance to date. No-holds-barred with a domineering facade that holds much pain and compassion deep inside, she certainly deserves her third Oscar this year. "Doubt" will be the film of 2008 that was not nominated in the Best Picture category and will have people flabbergasted about this snub in years to come - "Doubt" needs time to settle in.

Before December & January - Top 10s of 2008 (Jan to Nov)

Top 10 Movies

1. The Dark Knight

2. Happy-Go-Lucky

3. WALL-E

4. Vicky Cristina Barcelona

5. Rachel Getting Married

6. Iron Man

7. In Bruges

8. Australia

9. Appaloosa

10. Funny Games

Top 10 Actors

1. Colin Farrell in IN BRUGES

2. Javier Bardem in VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA

3. Hugh Jackman in AUSTRALIA

4. Ed Harrs in APPALOOSA

5. Robert Downey, Jr. in IRON MAN

6. Lee Pace in THE FALL

7. Christian Bale in THE DARK KNIGHT
8. Steve Coogan in HAMLET 2

9. Daniel Craig in QUANTUM OF SOLACE

10. Ryan Phillipe in STOP-LOSS

Top 10 Actresses

1. Sally Hawkins in HAPPY-GO-LUCKY

2. Anne Hathaway in RACHEL GETTING MARRIED

3. Angelina Jolie in CHANGELING

4. Nicole Kidman in AUSTRALIA

5. Rebecca Hall in VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA

6. Naomi Watts in FUNNY GAMES

7. Scarlett Johansson in VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA

8. Meryl Streep in MAMMA MIA!

9. Catinca Untaru in THE FALL
10. Ellen Page in SMART PEOPLE

Top 10 Supporting Actors

1. Heath Ledger in THE DARK KNIGHT

2. Robert Downey, Jr. in TROPIC THUNDER

3. Eddie Marsan in HAPPY-GO-LUCKY

4. Michael Pitt in FUNNY GAMES
5. Brandon Walters in AUSTRALIA

6. Viggo Mortensen in APPALOOSA

7. Jason Butler Harner in CHANGELING

8. Joseph Gordon-Levitt in STOP-LOSS

9. Tom Cruise in TROPIC THUNDER

10. John Malkovich in CHANGELING

Top 10 Supporting Actresses

1. Penelope Cruz in VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA

2. Rosemarie DeWitt in RACHEL GETTING MARRIED

3. Amy Ryan in CHANGELING

4. Abbie Cornish in STOP-LOSS

5. Clemence Poesy in IN BRUGES

6. Ari Graynor in NICK & NORAH'S INFINITE PLAYLIST

7. Debra Winger in RACHEL GETTING MARRIED

8. Alexis Zegerman in HAPPY-GO-LUCKY

9. Renee Zellweger in APPALOOSA

10. Olga Kurylenko in QUANTUM OF SOLACE

WALL-E, Hancock, Wanted, & The Dark Knight

WALL-E
Voiced by Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Fred Willard, Sigourney Weaver & John Ratzenberger

Honestly, Pixar can do no wrong. Even "Cars," my least favorite of the Pixar lineup was really good. "WALL-E," full of compassion, humor and a new hope for a better future, clocks in as one of the mega-animating companies finest. The computerized artwork is so advanced and intricate that it will blow you away. The story is one for the books as well: a classic passive character trying to reach his dreams... love. Awww isn't it cute? The originality factor is the fact that he's a robot created with much inspiration from E.T. Oh yeah, it also has an environmental plug. Very timely.

Grade: A


Hancock
Starring Will Smith, Charlize Theron & Jason Bateman

"Hancock" is a fun, comical twist on the recently crowded superhero film genre. Smith and Bateman bring the movie to life - it would be horrible without them - and Charlize is hot as ever. However, it was predictable. Too predictable. But fun!

Grade: B-


Wanted
Starring James McAvoy, Angelina Jolie & Morgan Freeman

With a cast like this, the movie is badass enough. But throw in some crazy effects and stunts and it just adds to the pot. It was kind of like a melting pot of "Fight Club" and "Lucky Number Slevin," and it holds onto some of the philosophies in Dotoevesky's "Crime & Punishment"; if you kill one, you're saving many. However, compared to an action film like the one below, I prefer real effects and stunts rather than the popular computer animated ones, but the end was great because main characters die.

Grade: C+


The Dark Knight
Starring Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine & Morgan Freeman

Christopher Nolan brings Batman back with many familiar faces from "Begins" and a few brilliant new ones. (Yes, this review is going to rave about Heath Ledger's monumental depiction of The Joker.) The film surpasses Nolan's first take on the Batman series by a long shot. It's powerful, emotional, dark and full of exploding hospitals, flipped 18-wheelers, and intense "social experiments." Two-and-a-half hours seems short for this non-stop thrill ride. The script is smart and allows one-sided characters such as Two-Face to come to life.

Bale, once again, brings us a Batman that is not a hero, but a keeper of Gotham. Eckhart makes us hate Harvey Dent for being the perfect man, someone everyone loves and the mob hates. He's better than Batman. But the character transforms so perfectly into Two-Face that it's scary. Gyllenhaal, faced with a feat of playing a role someone has already played (Katie Holmes), does a fine enough job as Rachel Dawes and is really stunning in the film. The fate of her role is surprising and unforgettable as well. And totally necessary. Then there's Oldman who allows Lieutenant Gordan to be the least stoic of characters in the film, allowing the audience to breathe a bit. Caine and Freeman are excellent as usual, though not as note-worthy as the performance by Ledger.

Heath Ledger will win an Oscar as The Joker; mark my words. This performance is raw, uncontrollable, creepy beyond all words, demented, so dead-on funny, and in every sense: perfect. Every time he was on screen I was captivated, and every time the scene shifted away from him, I wanted him back. He allowed himself to embody so much freedom with the role, and when an actor does that, he or she is unstoppable.

Even though it only released three days ago, I've seen "The Dark Knight" twice (and will probably see it again) and it is ranked as one of the best films I've ever seen.

Grade: A