Quickie: Rio movie trailer and poster

From the people who brought us just 1 decent Ice Age movie, and 2 (soon to be 3) crappy ones, comes Rio. The trailer looks great and it has some great voice talent like George Lopez and Anne Hathaway. It has a similar design to that of Disney Pixar's Up. Especially the forest scene. Any who, check it out for yourself and let us know what you think.

Guest Review: Albert D.: "Up"

Pixar doesn’t know how to stop making great movies. This isn’t one of their greatest, but it still kicks everyone else’s butt in animation.
I didn’t know much about the movie until I actually saw it. Their trailers didn’t really explain the plot other then there was a house, and it was going up! But that didn’t stop me from continuing to support Pixar. I can’t stand it when a movie has such little content that the trailer needs to show every single thing about a movie in order to draw some freaking appeal. It' pathetic. But I guess you can’t blame trailers, because so many movies come out now a days, it’s hard to choose what to watch and what not to watch.

"Up" was a different movie then Pixar usually makes. It drew tears of sadness, and tears for joy. Pixar really took animation to a new level to touch a person’s emotions. Carl Fredrickson, “the old man”, recently lost his wife and begins a new chapter of his life to pursue a dream they both had on his own, and finds a little help on the way. Mr. Fredrickson was living in a world beyond his own, and was soon being forced into a retirement home. He decides there’s nothing left for him now but to finally get away to a place he and his late wife had dreamed of their whole lives. All he needed was a compass, supplies, thousands of balloons, and the little piece of paradise in South America. His sidekick is an 8 year old boy named Russell, who is trying to help Mr. Fredrickson in order to receive his wilderness explorer "assisting the elderly" badge. Along the way he finds help from a curious pet bird, and a brave talking dog. They battle to help the bird, who Russell named Kevin, get back to her babies against a man named Charles Muntz that Mr. Fredrickson used to idolize as a child. Charles Muntz wanted to prove to the rest world that he was the ultimate explorer and the rare bird named Kevin was the missing link to prove it. He’s protected and cared for by a crew of talking dogs.

Like I said this movie was extremely entertaining, just not one of Pixar’s best. It’s hard to top movies like "The Incredibles," or "Ratatouille," but it's still amazing in its own right. It had very little dialog, like "Wall-E," but way more of a human element.
The other thing I like about Pixar movies is that they appeal to all ages. Most movies can’t do that. Most movies really focus their attention on a specific genre of people, whether it's a chick flick, comedy, action, or drama. Pixar, on the other hand, really packs a punch and includes a little bit of everything. Movies like this one really show that animated movies are going to stay in high demand, and more and more companies are going to follow in Pixar’s footsteps.

I guarantee you're going to leave the movie theater saying one word, “Squirrel!”

Hangover wins the box office again, poor Eddie Murphy.

The weekend estimates are in and the AP announced that The Hangover was again the winner at the box office this weekend. Just like last week, The Hangover took first and Up, took second. The Hangover is closing in on $200 million before the summer is over and cost a reported $31 million to make! That's a nice profit I'd say. The Denzel Washington, John Travolta action/drama, The Taking of Pelham 123, came in third place with a respectable $25 million.

But the spotlight was not on the winners of this week, it was on poor Eddie Murphy. Imagine That opened to a whopping $5.7 million; and drew criticism from its own studio. Eddie Murphy is an idiot. ORRR, his agent is the worst agent in the history of the history of the industry (yes I wrote in the history of twice on purpose). Why the flip does he constantly try to make these idiotic, meaningless family movies. Meet Dave, The Haunted Mansion, Norbit, and the biggest movie loss in history... Pluto Nash! Those are just off the top of my head; I bet I could IMDB a few more. Fire your agent Eddie! And stick to the shtick! Some of you will understand that.

Here are the rest of the top ten this week:


1. "The Hangover," $33.4 million.

2. "Up," $30.5 million.

3. "The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3," $25 million.

4. "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian," $9.6 million.

5. "Land of the Lost," $9.2 million.

6. "Imagine That," $5.7 million.

7. "Star Trek," $5.6 million.

8. "Terminator Salvation," $4.7 million.

9. "Angels & Demons," $4.2 million.

10. "Drag Me to Hell," $3.9 million.

Matt: "Up" Review

Gather 'round, kiddies!
It’s time for Uncle Matt’s better-late-than-never review of Disney/Pixar’s “Up.”

The movie starts off introducing us to Carl- the old man you see in the trailers- as he sits in the theater as a little boy and watches the latest news on his idol, the explorer Charles Muntz as he takes off to “Paradise Falls,” a beautiful wilderness in Argentina, and vows to return only with the mythical bird he claims to have discovered, the “snipe.”

Even in these early few minutes of the film, Pixar has already done a wonderful job capturing the look and feel of a 1940s-ish America in the video of Muntz, from the voiceover narration, to the streamlined blimp the adventurer pilots with his team of trusted mutts.

Early on in the film, we are shown a magical montage of Carl and his childhood friend and future wife, Ellie. We witness their life together, from their marriage, to their jobs together (Carl sells balloons to children at the zoo Ellie works in), to evening picnics under a tree, to Ellie finding out she can’t have children, and finally to Ellie’s death and Carl’s loneliness.
This entire sequence is done just beautifully and entirely dialogue-free with music gently flowing throughout to perfectly compliment both light and dark moments. It’s arguably the greatest sequence of the film.

The rest of the film is pure nonstop comedy till the end.
Russell, a cute, chubby boy, is introduced trying to help Carl in his old age in some way so that he may receive his “Assisting the Elderly” badge and be promoted to the rank of Senior Scout with his Wilderness Explorers group. He ends up “assisting” Carl as they both try to physically move Carl’s house to Paradise Falls to fulfill a lifelong promise Carl had many to Ellie when they were both children (hence the balloons and flying house).
They, of course, only face newer and bigger challenges the further they advance along their journey, which include a giant bird, talking dogs, and some shady (and dangerous!) characters.

Russell is voiced delightfully by newcomer Jordan Nagai, and Carl’s vocal work is performed “to the T” by none other than Ed Asner. Muntz is voiced by the perfectly evil Christopher Plummer.
The movie visually looks great. All the animation is nicely fluid and the textures are kept fairly light, similar to “WALL-E.”

Nothing in the film is too scary to take younger children. It has it’s sad, darker moments here and there but the majority of the film is definitely side-splittingly hilarious.
The story twists and turns you into some unexpected places, never disappointingly, and shares a very important life lesson in the end.

I saw the film in 3D, which is a real treat. Theaters are still holding 3D showings, so go catch it while you still can! The $2 dollar difference in price is worth it.
I also watched it in 2D and it’s still just as fantastic.
Definitely don’t miss out on watching “Up” in theaters, especially if you don’t have a mammoth-sized screen at home, because the visuals are deserving of a screen as large as the adventure in the film!

Go see this gem.
I highly recommend it.

-Matt

P.S.
Movie buffs should keep an eye (or ear, rather) out for John Ratzenberger, who voices a character in every major Pixar film. See (or hear) if you can recognize him in this one!

CORRECTION: "Up" is NOT this weeks champ

This rarely happens in Hollywood, but the estimates were wrong closing out Sunday's box office weekend. Monday's final tally on the weekend's movies proved a shift in the number one spot. This week's box office champ is "The Hangover" by a mere 1 million over "Up". I'm going to take a guess and say late Sunday showings are to blame for 'Hangover's jump to first. Either way it's going to be fun to see both movies.

"Up" is this weeks champ... again!

Hello folks and good morning on a beautiful Monday. Looks like "Up" is the little movie that could... or big budget movie that could, either way. "Up" is the champ again this week at the box office which isn't a huge surprise. The movie had great numbers last week and the word of mouth and positive reviews are all to blame. This week, we had a couple of new comers to the top ten, including "The Hangover" and "Land of the Lost". "The Hangover" did very well for its first week out. Being that it earned an "R" rating, 40+ million is very good. Number three this week was the less than successful "Land of the Lost". I love Will Ferrell and love Danny McBride even more. You don't know who Danny McBride is just yet, but for all you HBO fans, remember this name: Kenny Powers! 'Land' had poor reviews and is a remake of the tv show by the same name, decades ago. I haven't seen it yet, so I don't want to give a full review, but to be honest I don't have any real desire to watch this film. The rest of the top ten are listed below... see you shortly.



1. "Up," $44.2 million.

2. "The Hangover," $43.3 million.

3. "Land of the Lost," $19.5 million.

4. "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian," $14.7 million.

5. "Star Trek," $8.4 million.

6. "Terminator Salvation," $8.2 million.

7. "Drag Me to Hell," $7.3 million.

8. "Angels & Demons," $6.5 million.

9. "My Life in Ruins," $3.2 million.

10. "Dance Flick," $2 million.

Quickie: UP reviews are stellar!

The reviews for the new Disney Pixar film, "Up" are stellar. Over at rottentomatoes.com it is currently at a whopping 98% approval. It looks like Disney Pixar has got another success under it's belt. I personally am looking forward to watching this film and pretty much anything else Pixar throws at us. Who's willing to start a petition for an Incredibles 2?

Ps... a side note about Incredibles, it seems there is a knock off in the works over at Dreamworks Animation Studios... are there seriously no more good ideas out there that we must rehash every film ever made? Argh!