Up

So finally Up makes it to British shores, only four and a half months after it debuted in the States. Of course it was an entirely commercial decision as its release coincides with the school holidays. Obviously someone at Disney somehow missed those seven weeks in July and August when school traditionally celebrates summer, and so this is an autumnal treat for us lesser people.

Anyway, bitching aside, was Up worth the wait?

You're damn right it was!

Now I realise that most people are probably fed up hearing reviewers wax lyrical about Pixar. They're probably sick of hearing about the incredible computer animation. They've probably had it up to here (I'm gesturing to my neck) hearing that they are the best storytellers working in mainstream cinema, animated or otherwise.

Sadly for you you're going to hear it all again. I'm sorry but it can't be helped.

You see Up is yet another incredible Pixar moment. The studio's down period of Cars and Ratatouille (and if that's your down period then, man, you're doing something right) has now been placed firmly behind them thanks to WALL.E and now this. After a couple of films that moved away from their tried and trusted buddy formula, Up sees it return. Only this time the buddies in question are a septuagenarian and a chubby boy scout. They team up after a mishap sees the latter, Russell, stuck in Carl's house, which has taken off for Venezuela after he attached hundreds of balloons to the roof. Add to the team a talking dog, thanks to a special collar that reads his thoughts, called Dug and an exotic bird called Kevin who looks like it should be found dancing at the back of a routine on the Muppet Show and you'll be starting to get why people go on so much about Pixar's creativity.

It's one of those films that works for all ages. The kids will love how colourful and funny the whole thing is. It looks stunning and the character designs are a charm. They'll love Dug, a ridiculously cute dog who thanks to his collar is able to articulate his thoughts. Sadly for a dumb dog they tend to involve squirrels and the fact that he's pointing at something. It's also very exciting, the house vs. blimp sequence is one of the best action scenes you'll see this year. It comes as no surprise that this comes from the same director as Monsters Inc., whose door factory sequence is one of Pixar's finest moments. For the grown ups it's very poignant and genuinely moving. At the heart of Up is a love story that transcends life and death and I defy anyone not to tear up at certain moments.

In fact Carl's story may be some of the finest writing to come from the studio. The opening sequence of the film is simply incredible, showing his life from small boy to old man in about five minutes. It also deals with some very adult issues about death and pregnancy. It's brave, but it makes Carl feel all the more real and in a story about an old man they are things that need to be addressed. Indeed only Pixar and Studio Ghibli would have the guts and the panache to pull off an elderly hero in what is meant to be a kids film.

Up is yet another triumph for a studio that seems to struggle to do things wrong. You may be sick of hearing it, but it really can't be helped. Pixar are the best filmmaking studio working today and Up is further proof. And if you don't laugh, cry and generally feel all warm and fuzzy then you're dead inside.

There, I said it!

13 Days Of Hallowe'en: A Reminder

Just a quick reminder to be afraid. Be very afraid as on Monday Splice's 13 Days Of Hallowe'en begins.

Thirteen films in thirteen days all leading up to All Hallow's Eve.

Old, new, DVD, cinema, internet, TV, Western, European, Eastern, low budget, big budget, cult, mainstream. There's much variety in the choices and the reviews will be similarly varied. Most are being viewed for the first time so the reviews shall be genuine reactions to the films. Some will be written, some on video, some will feature live Twitter sessions.

Each day will see a post announcing the film being viewed with the review to follow afterwards.

How many will be viable Hallowe'en night viewing? We'll have to wait and see.

Remeber, in Splice no one can hear you scream. Oh, wait, we want to hear you scream. Bugger!

Free DVDs: The Motorcycle Diaries

Always looking to give readers a wee heads up on stuff i pass on this info from a email i recieved today.

Sunday's (oddly enough) Sunday Times is giving away a free copy of the movie The Motorcycle Diaries. Pretty decent of them i am sure you can agree, they also have in the travel section a guide to recreating the journey of Che in the movie. Think i would be just happy with the DVD though.

I do love how they describe these things as free, its not really free you have to apy for a big heavy Sunday Paper full of sections you never and will never, ever read, but when its a decent flick this is a small price to pay. Actually, with this papaer i think the sport section is pretty decent.

Anyways

Heres a trailer:



Remember if you miss it on the Sunday you will get it on ebay no probs.

Like Looking In A Mirror

Here's the poster for the new remake of Fame:


Notice how it looks a lot like the poster for another terrifying film from this year?


Funnily enough Drag Me To Hell is what every bloke who's bird's forcing him to go see the Fame remake is thinking.

13 Days Of Hallowe'en

Starting on Monday 19th October is Splice's 13 Days Of Hallowe'en. Basically it's just looking at a ton of scary movies in the run up to Hallowe'en (the 13 day time period chosen purely because I'm a cheesy hack).

Last year's choice of movies was a quickly cobbled together affair a week before the event (you can check them out by clicking on the Halloween link at the side over there in the post label section). This year the list is thirteen films which cover a more diverse scope of the horror genre. Most of them are films I haven't seen either so this list is going to be a guide on which films are thumbs up or down for your Hallowe'en night viewing.

To shake things up further the ways in which the films are viewed will vary (DVD, TV, YouTube) and the review deliveries will do so as well (written, filmed, live Twitter session).

So join us from Monday 19th October for almost two weeks of chills, or if most of the films are shite, a cheap jump caused by a cat pouncing.

Things Learned From The Movies Part 2

Population Control...

It is acceptable to murder foreigners, but only if you are American and are "on a mission".

Ruud at TIFF 2009 Part 3

Woke up refreshed on a Saturday morning having had a stunning nights sleep. Got the tram in as usual but never thought it out properly as becuase it was the weekend there was next to no traffic on the roads and I ended up downtown in record time. Instead of getting the subway i decided to walk up Yonge Street since it was a nice morning.

So, the shift was pretty standard, as is becoming clear to any readers out there. It is very interesting watching people coming in and out the library however. Latin Journalists come in and generally take out the Spanish language films, makes sense considering their readership i suppose, Festival reps from around the world fly through titles twenty minutes at a time, they must watch them with the fast forward on or something, all the time looking for the type of films that could appear in the festival in their neck of the woods. There are guys i assume are in acquisitions at their respective company, weedling through the films looking at twenty minutes or so looking for something wiht commercial value or what not that they could buy and distribute. Or maybe thats not what they are doing, its not my job to ask but i cant help but be curious. Must be something like that.

What i can say is that some of these folks engage you in conversation from time to time and its always good to talk to people who clearly know their films and love their films, its both inspiring and gratifying.

At some point during the shift, I dont know whether i came out during the conversation or what as i almost missed it, we (the three of us) were offered the chance of a ticket to a red carpet screening which is essentially a premiere with stars of the film and such like at it. As i say i almost missed it as my boss who offered it up asked for a final time before she left and i had no idea what she was talking about. She explained again and I thought why not it will be interesting if nothing but no doubt it will be pretty damn cool too and so took the ticket off her hands. My decision on what film to see that day had been made for me and i was happy of that, plus i wouldnt have to use a token meaning when i finished i would now have three sitting unused!

I should probably mention what film it was that i got a ticket to, heres a photo

I have absolutely no idea why this photo appears length wise as i definitely took it horizontally, my hands dont work that way either, but the upshot is yes, i was going to the premiere of the new Hugh Hefner documentary called Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel at the Visa Screening Room in the Elgin Theatre. Oh, and he was there! The director too and Shug's 3 girfriends were there, it was a big bag of excellent all round.

So here is what happened according to me, with a bit of a review thrown in for good measure. This being my first actual screening at the fest (Steamboat Bill Jr not withstanding) it was a different experience to going to the cinema as normal. The filmaker and star on show being one thing but also other aspects are different. It all begins with a Festival representative getting up and introducing the film, then the director, a lady called Brigette Berman, got up and said some stuff (introductions and nice stuff bout Mr Hefner mainly), all new things to me but all good. Then with introductions over, the movie started.

You know what, its really good. Its a little overlong at just over two hours and lots and lots of stuff is skipped over without much of a mention, his first and second families for instance, but on the whole its very very interesting. There is so much i just didnt know abot the man they call Hef. If I am honest my knowledge about him was that he was a bit (a bit is a slight understatement) of a shagger who ran a magazine. Now this could be because i have never gave him much thought beyond the shagging loads of women thing and the whole multiple girlfriends at the same time stuff, i am sure if i had actually took time to think it would have dawned on me that running magazines is kinda hard work and to run one fo the most successful and popular magazines in the world is the work of someone special, but hey, i have never got my mind beyond the shagging.

What he was was an actual activist who fought for civil rights (in his own way of course) both for black people in America and also for women believe it or not. Using his media platforms, both in print and TV at the time he put black people on the map, jazz musicians, actors, singers, you name it. He gave black activists a voice in his magazine. He also stood up for Hollywood types tarred by the commy brush during the McCarthy era. He was also a bit of a genius becuase he did all this while building a magazine up to be what it is and at no time really give up any of the reigns on it, even now. I was shocked and amazed. There is lots of excellent people as talking heads and really it could have gone on forever as he is, to say it again, so intersting!

But i suppose therein lay the problem for me, it could definitely do with a trim, the points it makes are made regular and the stuff it skirts over is amazing. Maybe, a trilogy could have been commisioned, Part 1: Playboy, Part 2: Activist and Part 3: Rebel but who would bother witht he other two if one is called Playboy? You would just watch part 1 three times surely!

So afterward the credits rolled a few chairs were brought up on stage and Hef, Berman and the intrduction guy took seats to field some questions from the audience (photo below is my view from way back on the balcony, i had a chance to go on the floor and for some reason i never took it, idiot) it was a shambles really i thought, mainly due to the fact that Hef seems to be deaf as a post now and to me he seemed frail. Its odd because even though i know he is an old man, his persona in the public eye is such that he pertetualy seemed to be a man in his fifties or sixties. what i saw that day was a old man however, stark contrast to the guy talking in the film in his own house. I would maybe stretch to say that this may be the last we see of Hef in the public eye, thats how frail an old man i felt he seemed. The reason incidentally i thought it was a shambles was becuase whent he questions were asked the TIFF guy would repeat them to the hard of hearing Hef but would shorten them so the context of the question would be lost and so Hef would be lost and end up just talking about something else. Maybe not so much Hef's fault as I may have made out.



Lets be honest, it was cool as anything seeing someone like Hefner in the flesh, i mean if this film makes it to the cinema chances are i wouldnt go, in fact the time i would be getting to see this film would be 10o'clock on a Sunday night on channel 4 or something, myself! So i thank my lucky stars for the opportunity that presented itslef that day. Also i may have mentioned (without checking further up) that he was there with his three girlfriends whoa re all smoking hot, not that my photo does them justice however. lets just say that TIFF gave me a peek at Hef and his chicks and i adjourned home a happy man.



Incidentally, i searched about for a trailer for the film but found this instead, its the shambles that was the after film Q&A. Worth a look.



I will finish up with what i wrote on facebook after i got home full of beans from seeing the film plus Hef live and in colour:

got a freebie to premiere o hugh hefners doco film today, was pretty good. hes an interesting man & could be argued he did more than most 2 pave the way 4 the world today ie obama in white house. sadly it was slightly overlong & no enough tits from 2000s on show, more 60s, 70s and 80s boobs. anyway, review aside, i want2 say that heff & his burds were there watching too, so i saw hugh hefner today! so that was cool

I am class in a glass.

Adventureland

Working when you're young's shit int it? Slaving away at some nothing job for amounts you could make rummaging under the sofa cushions isn't the way to spend your free time. Yet to buy that illicit booze or whatever substance you need to forget that you do a shit job that self same shit job is essential. But working in a funfair, that would be a cool way to spend your summer, right? Turns out no. It's just like any other shit job.

That's the central conceit of Adventureland. Instead of the setting being mined for endless jokes it's really just the place that brings the characters together. It could just as easily have been set in any workplace like a supermarket or a fast food place with some jokes needing changing, but that's all. But that's not the only dummy that Adventureland's pre-release hype sells you. If the trailer is to be believed it's an uproarious comedy from the people who brought you Superbad. Actually it's just that film's director Greg Mottola, who's also on writing duty here, and it's really more of a character based comic drama than out-and-out guffaw fest.

In fact for a comedy there aren't that many laugh out loud moments. Instead Mottola has created quite a gentle, leisurely little film. It has its moments, mainly thanks to Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig's funfair owners, but for the most part the laughs are pretty subtle. Adventureland instead chooses to focus on its story of of young love, hopes and dreams and how real life tends to get in the way. In that respect it's a film that'll ring true to anyone who ever made grand plans only to see them dashed.

It's hardly an original story then and sadly it's told with characters who are in the main kind of unlikeable. Of course the main reason for this is probably that they're all teenagers, with all the arrogance, idiocy and whining that tends to entail. So basically Mottola has written a pretty believable bunch. As for the actors portraying them there are some fine, even surprising turns. Jesse Eisenberg convinces as ambitious James. Ryan Reynolds as randy handy man who once jammed with Lou Reed (but doesn't seem to know Satellite of Love) Connell is equally so. Looks like when he's not playing opposite Sandra Bullock in will they-won't they (of course they will) Rom Coms there's a pretty decent comic actor in there. Kristen Stewart does something similar to what she did in Twilight, a broody, confused teen lass. The difference here is that instead of playing a badly written, horrendously calculated teen aspirational character who at once is world wise and confident, yet also shy, awkward and confused, here she's just the latter set. She's playing a realistically fucked up young woman and as a result her performance clicks. Whether Stewart is able to play anything else may be debatable but here she works. Best of all though is Martin Starr. Mottola's best move was recruiting his Freaks And Geeks alumni, and themore major roles he gets the better. Sadly he's destined to be typecast as "geeky friend".

Much of Adventureland works. The pacing may put many off, but given the subject matter, long, boring summer full of work and weed, it's a nice choice. Instead of trying to be gross-out it's actually quite a sweet little film. And its soundtrack is fantastic. A few more laughs, and a better use of the setting wouldn't have gone amiss but as it stands Adventureland isn't too bad a way to kill some time. It beats work anyway.

Ruud at TIFF 2009 Part 2

On to Friday at TIFF, probably should have added in part 1 that the Buster Keaton silent film i watched and enjoyed on day 1 had a live accompaniment which was rather ace.

But Friday, day 2. Ok I am sure these early starts are going to be goof for me in the long run, but getting up at half 5 is no fun for anyone! The snooze button gets pressed a few times as i am decide that showering in the morning isn't for me, not when those ten minutes can be spent in bed i can achieve just the same amount of waking up with throwing cold water in my face for the tap.

I get in to the city centre and up to Sutton Place easy enough, I am actually early again so i wait. All this information is pretty dull i guess, so i will fast forward. The shift today is pretty dull, a whole bunch of posters get dropped off in our wee library and I get a good look through some of them but still my knowledge of titles at the festival is lacking so most pass me by. I did at the end of the shift see my first celebrity however, if i saw her again i couldn't pick her out. Turns out she was on Battlestar Galactica, the new series and the reason she was in the library was that she was getting her photo taken and the place where that was happening is only a few doors along.

Looking through the stars of BG i think it was the actress who played "Boomer" but then i cant see anything in her filmography which would give her reason to be at TIFF. But what do i know at the end of the day.

So this spotting of a celeb happened at the cross over of shifts in the Library, there is two shifts that take the library from opening at 8am through till closing at 8, my shift for the week was the first half which finished at 2pm but the afternoon shift starts at 1.30. This was for a variety of reasons, for one if anyone was late they have 30 minutes grace as the 1st shift istn yet finished, and also if the likes of me or any of my other morning shifters want to see a film and need to dash away earlier then there is someone there to cover this. It works a charm. So it was one of the afternooners who spotted this TV star, this led to another afternooner tell us of his morning shift in the Press Office where he was trying to keep photographers at bay while press conferences were taking place. While he was doing this he inadvertently walked into one George Clooney. Pretty cool I think.

So to clarify slightly, the library is a floor up from the actual press office and on the floor the press office is on is a room which is turned into a room for press conferences. Lets call that the Press Conference room. These Conferences started today (not that I knew about it until the Clooney story came up, he also say Megan Fox too) and run basically all Festival. You, me and anybody can watch these conferences as they are available online here. it would appear that Mssrs Damon, Soderbergh, Bridges, Von Trier, DaFoe and MacGregor were there also. Not only that, Mr and Mrs Bettany were there following their Creation film opening the Fest. All very cool and I saw none.

The Clooney revelation did make me think I should pay attention a bit more when leaving the hotel in case someone is coming in at the same time. So i did.

Red was leaving T.O. that day after having enjoyed a lovely holiday (i surmise) so I met him again at Yonge and Dundas Sq where he was enjoying the end of the noon rockumentary about the Dixie Chicks, think he has mentioned it on another blog post on here. We decided not to wait for the Friday silent film as the film fest takes a wee back seat as embark on a journey that will see him arrive at the airport to catch his flight home to Blighty, and me home to have an early night and hopefully function better as a human being when the alarm goes off in the morning.

I managed it with bells on, i was sleeping before 10pm.

What i missed while in my slumberfest was the Men Who Stare at Goats premiere and The Informant! premiere plus a slew of other films on on the second day, but sleep was far more. The following day i begin my cinema going odyssey with earnest, the vouchers i have accrewed burning a hole in my pocket.

Nic Cage Debt

Turns out one of Splice's favourite* actors Nic Cage is in massive debt. Maybe he felt a duty to personally refund all those punters who went to see The Wicker Man remake.

Failure to pay taxes could see him facing jailtime. Anything that stops anysort of sequel to Bangkok Dangerous is welcome if you ask me.

Of course if he doesn't then he's probably going to have to raise some major cheddar to pay off his creditors. That would mean making a ton of films in as quick a time as possible, suggesting the name Nic Cage being attached to a film means it's less likely to be quality like Raising Arizona or Leaving Las Vegas and more likely to be of the level of Splice's favourite** film of whatever year it was released, Next.

Obviously this situation has to be monitored closely. That pert of our brains that tries to comprehend Nic Cage's success depends on it.

*Sometimes I get my words mixed up, favourite means you think he's an overacting, lucky hack who owes much of his career to who he's related to, doesn't it?

** Favourite in this context I'm trusting means most shambolic pile of bum leakage.