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

Star Trek

Star Trek
Starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Eric Bana, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, Anton Yelchin, Simon Pegg, Winona Ryder & Leonard Nimoy

From an outsider's perspecive, the renewal of the "Star Trek" establishment beams into gear with fun, excitement, thrills, and a excellently written script. Director J. J. Abrams installs some of his usual Felicitian/Lostian love triangles into the mix as well as proving that his ability to create a high-class summer hit is well beyond the living room tube.

Obviously, being a galaxy-questing story, "Star Trek" makes use of its weaponry and action; yet, unlike the "Star Wars" fleet of films (talking about the Episodes I through III), "Trek" becomes more than just cheap thrills and spills. The scene where Sulu (John Cho), Kirk (Chris Pine), and some other guy zoom down and parachute onto a platform of some drill that's breaching the atmosphere and earth of a planet is startlingly intense.

Although Zachary Quinto has been born to play Spock, Chris Pine as the roguish, angsty, and not to mention completely hilarious James T. Kirk steals the show. Pine's portrayal of a could've-been Luke/Anakin Skywalker doesn't mope and throw out cheeseball lines like Mark Hamill, and he doesn't whine like a little baby as Hayden Christensen so annoyingly did in Episodes II and III. Pine creates Holden Caulfield gone badass for himself - and it works.

With all this comparing and contrasting to "Star Wars," "Trek" can't live up to one thing: the dark side. Vader and all the other Darths make "Wars" a symbol of good and evil, God versus Satan, "Paradise Lost", "Romeo & Juliet". It's Shakespearean. "Trek's" badguy, played by Eric Bana, is a sideshow compared to the rest of the film, and in no respects comes close to the evil encompassing "Wars", but like I said, that's really the only part.

Oh, one more thing - I like Quinto better than Nimoy, and WTF Winona? Can't headline a movie anymore?

Grade: B+

January to June - 6 Months, 1 Sentence

My Bloody Valentine: 3-D

Completely pointless, "My Bloody Valentine" will leave you bloody for bringing your valentine to such a complete suckfest.

Grade: F






Friday the 13th

Some scenes and scare-sequences were actually directed well and I loved how the movie starts 30 minutes into it, but the ending killed it for me alongside the mediocre acting.

Grade: C-





Coraline

Great story, but the animation or whatever its called made me want to puke the same kind of puke "Ren & Stimpy" made me hurl.

Grade: C

Two Lovers

An excellent, dramatic piece of film at a time in need of quality acting - thanks to Phoenix, Paltrow and Shaw.

Grade: B+

Watchmen

Waaaaaaayyy too much information for a movie and waaaaaayyyyy too much Manhattan junk.

Grade: C-






The Last House on the Left

This horror flick puts the evil in people, both psychopaths and vengeful parents, and pushes the boundaries of the word "squeamish".

Grade: B-






I Love You, Man

When this comes out on DVD, have a mandate with your guy friend by watching the Rudd/Segel chemistry that matches the compatibility of DiCaprio/Winslet; and if you're a chick, let your guy have his mandate, and you can probably join in too.

Grade: B





Knowing

I hate Nicholas Cage and anything he's made since 2002's "Adaptation."

Grade: D+







Observe & Report

Rogen really shouldn't do a movie by himself without a team of highly qualified funny people (a.k.a. James Franco or Leslie Mann) because Anna Faris didn't get enough screen time to hold his weight.

Grade: F





X-Men Origins: Wolverine

How many times can we watch Sabertooth and Wolverine run at each other before having a glorified cat fight?

Grade: D+






Angels & Demons

Better than "DaVinci Code," but there's too much vital information that's left out from the book.

Grade: C+






Drag Me to Hell

Kind of hated it, kind of liked it - it was scary, funny, annoying and sardonically masterful.

Grade: C+