Movie review - Up

Up is a great movie, with great animation and story, plus, it's very funny. What else would you expect from Pixar? They keep their perfect record here with one of their best movie to date. It is rating PG in many countries, probably because it deals with losing a loved one near the beginning and some dogs that are, well, bad dogs... Grrrr! Nothing really frightening, but very young kids may be in search of comfort on a few occasions.

Most of the movie is quite funny for the whole family. The theatre I was in, at Montreal's AMC, was packed and there was a lot of kids. But they didn't bother me during the movie, as I rarely heard them. That's a good indication that they must have been captivated by the movie. Of course, since there is a 3D version of this movie, that's the one I saw. It's well done and not too much "in your face", as some other movies are. It gives it depth, rather then throw stuff at you. I think as movies matures in their use of 3D, this will become the norm. If you can't see it in 3D, or don't want to, I'm sure it will be as enjoyable in 2D.

The story is that of Carl, a boy who dreams of adventures and who meets a girl, Ellie, with the same dreams who becomes friend with him and who he later get married to. They always want to get to live a big adventure, but life doesn't always let you do these thing, when you become responsible adults. As they grow old, the adventure seems less likely to happen. When his wife dies, Carl is alone and old. One day, something happens and he gets to live his adventure, for himself and in memory of Ellie. The way it happens is absolutely unreal, but this being an animated movie, we can forgive that little detail. As it can be seen in the trailer, Carl attaches a lot of helium-filled balloons to his house, which then simply floats away.

So get the whole family and go see Up, in 2 or 3D. Everyone will find something fun in it.

All the previews before the movie are in 3D (I assume they show the 2D versions with the 2D version of Up...) and shows that this is more then just a trend. As movies gets competition from big screens TV and surround-sound systems at home, movie studios must find a way to keep people going to movie theatres. 3D is one way to do this. Expects more movies to be in 3D in the near future. One of the preview was a teaser for Toy Story 3, opening Summer 2010.

Finally, as it is the tradition with Pixar movies, we get a short film before the main feature. Also in 3D, Partly Cloudy is a fun animation which answer the question "where do storks get the babies they deliver from anyway?". Very funny as well.

Movie review; Burn After Reading

When I saw the trailer for Burn After Reading, it seemed like this would be a fun movie to watch. And it was! Very funny, from beginning to end. It is written & directed by the Coen brothers, Ethan & Joel, has a very good story and a great cast. The main characters are played by Brad Pitt, George Clooney, John Malkovich, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton and Richard Jenkins, as well as J.K. Simmons and David Rasche in smaller but very funny roles.

The humour is often a little dark, mixed with violence, but I found it very funny and laughed out loud several times and particularly in the last scene. I can't remember the last time I saw a movie that ended with everyone in the theatre laughing so much during the last few minutes.

The basis of the story is that a gym employee (Pitt) gets his hands on a CD that contains documents from a CIA agent and decides to blackmail him, although he only sees it as a normal reward that is due to him and his partner (McDormand) in the transaction that will possibly follow. The CIA agent (Malkovich) sees it as pure blackmail and doesn't like it at all. What follows are misunderstandings, drama, back-stabbing, fights, conversations and of course, comedy.

The trailer is a good indication of what this movie is about, but unlike some other movies, there is still a lot of situations & jokes that are not revealed, so there is a lot of surprises to be seen. Once again, leave the kids at home and rent them a Disney movie while you watch this one.

Movie review; Tropic Thunder

I usually never go see war movies, unless it's Sci-Fi or a comedy. Tropic Thunder definitely falls in the later category. Very funny movie, starring Ben Stiller, Jack Black & Robert Downey Jr. Three different actors, but they work great together. Nick Nolte, Brandon T. Jackson and Jay Baruchel also have a strong presence and Tom Cruise has a fairly short role, but it's much more then a cameo. Talking of cameos, there are many short ones in this movie, so don't blink!

I laughed a lot during this movie. It's about actors that are sent in a jungle to experience more realistic conditions of war, so they can better understand their roles. Of course, they get stuck in a much more real war then they intended. It's a movie within a movie type of scenario at the begining, but 'their' movie is no longer going on, until the end of 'our' movie, but they think they are, at least most of them... Did I lose you? Many very funny situations, some of them a bit controversial in real life, but let's face it: Who would expect a politically correct story from this?

Regarding Tom Cruise, you have never seen him like this, I guarantee you that! Actually, with the heavy makeup, he's hardly recognizable. If I didn't knew he was playing that character, I just might have not noticed he was in the movie until I would have seen his name in the credits.

There is some violence, but mostly in a humourous way, of course, strong language and mature subjects. Not a family movie, you have been warned. But if you are mature (at least legally), like to laugh and haven't seen it yet, I think you will enjoy Tropic Thunder.

Jack Bauer in 1994

If you like the show 24 and you remember 1994's computer technology, you're going to find this College Humor video very funny! Things sure have changed...

Click here for the "24: The Unaired 1994 Pilot" video.

Movie review: Shoot 'Em Up

When I first heard of this movie, I wasn't really interested based on the title. Then, I learned that it starred Clive Owen, an actor I really like. Then, I also learned that it wasn't that serious. In fact, within the first few minutes of the movie, it was said that he killed a man with a carrot and cut the umbilical cord of a new-born with a bullet (BTW, he does!). Now, that's different... So I did go see the movie and it was a great ride!

I had a lot of fun watching this movie, but be warned it is quite violent, as you probably already figured out. And also funny, very tongue-in-cheek in style. Lots of action and shooting, of course, with a lot of humour too. The story is around a baby who gets chased after, hidden, tossed around, dropped, picked-up and taken cared of as best as possible considering all the bullets flying around. Insane. There's also a great chase & shoot-out scene in parachutes near the end, but the baby missed that one.

Beside Clive Owen, the movie also stars Paul Giamatti as the main bad buy and Monica Bellucci, a prostitute who gets stuck in this adventure pretty much against her will and better judgment... Both do a great job.

So if you like dark humour and action, go see this this movie, it's really worth it!

Movie review: Taxi 4

Taxi 4 is a French movie, written by Luc Besson (better known for The Fifth Element) and of course is a sequel to the three Taxi movies before it. There was an American remake done, also called Taxi, but it wasn't as good as the original French one (as is usually the case, except for True Lies, which was a really good remake of La Totale!).

The franchise is starting to show some fatigue, but I still liked it, with enough new ideas to keep it interesting. There's less car chases and crashes and that may be a mistake, because that's what really shined in the first one. Not everyone will like this movie, but I had a good time.

Movie review: The Simpsons Movie

I've been watching The Simpsons for many years now and I was looking forward to their big screen debut. I was not disappointed! It's very funny. It's like a big episode (bigger size and duration), but I didn't mind paying money to see it, because, well, it's a movie!

And I'm sure there will be more. First, it is very strongly hinted near the end of the movie. The real end, that is, the one after the end-credits start scrolling. There's plenty of little bits during the credits, so if you're the type that leaves as soon as the credits starts, you will not see the whole movie. D'oh! Second, it's making a ton of money.

The short version of the story is: Homer makes a big mistake, the whole family gets in trouble, Homer takes it upon himself to fix his mistake and against all odds, he succeeds! I hope I didn't spoil it for you... ;-)

To be seen by all Simpsons fans!

Movie review: Ratatouille

Can Pixar produce a bad movie? It doesn't look like it! They certainly have another success with this one. As expected, the animation is really good, the story is funny and the whole movie very enjoyable.

This one takes us to Paris, famous for it's good food and rude manners. Our hero, Remy, is a rat with great cooking abilities but have a big handicap to be a chef. He's a rat. Rats and restaurant kitchens do not mix well. In comes Linguini, a boy with no particular talents and gets hired as the garbage boy. Long story short, Remy and Linguini gets together to become an excellent chef. See the trailer for a visual explanation!

I really liked Ratatouille. It's really funny, looks great and even has a few surprises. If you like other Pixar movies, you will love this one. There is also a short animation presented before the movie, about alien abductions, which is very funny as well.

Movie review: Evan Almighty

In case you are not keeping tracks, this is the sequel to Jim Carrey's Bruce Almighty, in which Steve Carell (the US version of TV's The Office) had a part, which is addressed at the start of this movie. Evan Baxter, the news reader, gets elected as a senator, with one of his tag line is to "change the world". Well, here, he gets a chance to do it in a big way.

As can be seen in the trailer, he gets to be the next Noah and is asked by God (played once again by Morgan Freeman) to build an ark. Unlike Bruce, he does not get Divine Powers. But this does interferes with his new job at the senate and causes many funny situations for us. I think Bruce Almighty was funnier, but Carell does a good job in this movie. It felt a bit too much "religious" for my taste, but I was expecting it going in, so I was able to see past it.

John Goodman (TV's Roseanne, Monsters Inc., The Big Lebowski) plays a more powerful congressman who tries to get Baxter to vote in favour of one of his bills and which turns out to be looking out more at his wallet than the people's good. Do I see a morale to this story coming?

Overall, I found it funny, with a few out loud laughs. You have to like Carell's type of humour to really enjoy this movie. The trailer is a really good representation of this movie, so watch it if you need to make up your mind.

Movie review: Shrek the Third

After a failed attempt to go see this movie on Sunday night (I was refused access because I had my camera in my back-pack. Not a video-camera, a still pictures camera...), I saw the newest Shrek after work today.

I liked this movie, which made me laugh quite often. It's not as "fresh" as the first one, but it's still very funny and the animation is top-notch. A movie for the whole family, where everyone will find something to laugh at. The story revolves around the fact that Shrek is next in line to be King, but he doesn't feel like he's up for the task, so he seeks the next heir to the throne, a certain Arthur. Of course, plenty of things happens to make this task harder then it might have been.

Enjoy! :-)

Movie review: Hot Fuzz

I'm glad I finally went to see Hot Fuzz. It is a very funny movie! It's hard to describe it without giving away some of the jokes, but the main idea is that a very efficient and by-the-book London police officer (and don't call him a policeman!) gets transfer to a small town, where his style doesn't quite fit in. Of course, our 'hero' will learn to adapt to this new situation. Or is it the other way around? Anyway, I laughed quite a lot during this movie and so did the other people around me. It's from the same folks who brought us Shaun Of The Dead, so you can have an idea of the type of humour to expect if you have seen it.

I definitely recommend that you go see this movie, but note that there is some violence and coarse language...