It’s a Pixar kind of week around here what with a quiz and an Up review. Now, to add to the Pixar madness we’ve got a cute little teaser for the third Toy Story movie, opening June 18, 2010. Story-wise, nothing is revealed in the video, it’s mostly just Buzz trying to one-up Woody on the Toy Story 3 sign – but oh, golly, it is so adorable. And it made me laugh. So, for a little dash of sweetness with which to end your week, read more.
Sometimes a sweet, endearing cast can’t save a movie that’s just destined to be a dud, but even if I know this is a possibility going into it, I am still too curious to pass up the chance to watch some beloved actors. Just this image of Lauren Graham and Jeff Daniels makes me want to see The Answer Man (also known as Arlen Faber), a little movie that will premiere On Demand June 26 and will have a limited release in theaters starting July 24.
The story sounds pretty straightforward: “A reclusive author of spiritual books, is pursued for advice by a single mother and a man fresh out of rehab.” Lou Taylor Pucci plays the troubled man and Kat Dennings and Olivia Thirlby also appear in the trailer. To check it out, read more.
Summer TV was once a wasteland of miniseries and unexciting specials, but no more. Once again, the Summer of ’09 is packed with the returns of some of the best shows on television, the launch of some intriguing new series, and the conclusions to some unfortunately canceled favorites. Here, I’m counting down 10 of the many great reasons to keep your TV on this Summer.
Man! This one hurts a little. Twentieth Century Fox and Lakeshore Entertainment are planning a remake of the 1985 teen movie Girls Just Want to Have Fun. The film starred little baby-faced Helen Hunt and Sarah Jessica Parker as two teenage friends who love to dance and long to make their way – despite, of course, disapproving parents because parents just don’t understand – onto their favorite show: Dance TV.
That part of the news is not too hard to swallow, since everything’s being remade these days. ’80s remakes, remakes, everywhere. But here’s the kicker: according to Variety, “The comedy will be developed as a potential star vehicle for Miley Cyrus.”
So, allow me to amend: this one hurts a lot. Miley Cyrus?! Really?
From the press notes handed out at my screening of Up, I learned that Walt Disney believed that for every laugh there should be a tear, a sort of Newton’s third law of entertainment. If he were around to see this movie, which upholds that “law” to a T, I have a feeling Mr. Disney’s head would swell with pride – and perhaps take him up into the air like one of the many colorful balloons in the movie. See? Up is so fanciful and fun that it has set my own imagination in motion, which will, presumably, remain in motion . . . OK, OK, enough with Newton’s laws – back to my thoughts on Pixar’s latest accomplishment.
“Accomplishment” is the word to use when referring to Up, as you can pretty much go down a checklist of the many things this movie gets right. Colorful and imaginative enough to keep kids’ attention? Check. Genuinely interesting enough for adults? Check. Humor, sadness, action and tenderness – all rolled up together? Check. Astounding, vibrant visuals? Check. What’s not to love about Up? Honestly, not much. To find out what else I did love about it, read more.
The story follows a little old widower named Carl (voiced by Ed Asner) who is determined to keep the house in which he lived with his beloved late wife Ellie while his neighborhood is being reconstructed on all sides of him. He attaches hundreds of balloons to his house and flies away, hoping to find his way to Paradise Falls, a remote South American locale where he and Ellie always dreamed of going and finding adventure. But while he’s in the sky, Carl discovers that a persistently “helpful” young boy, Russell (voiced by Jordan Nagai), took off on the house along with him. Together they reach South America where they encounter some non-human friends: A dog named Dug with a collar that communicates his thoughts and a colorful, affectionate bird that Russell names Kevin. But there’s a problem: Dug’s owner is trying to hunt down Kevin and Russell immediately takes on the challenge of protecting the bird. So, despite Carl’s desire to have a peaceful life by himself at Paradise Falls, he finds himself surrounded by – and suddenly responsible for – a trio of clumsy but well-meaning friends.
To us adults, at times the movie seems downright trippy – but that’s the thing about imagination, isn’t it? Strange, funny things like an elderly man dragging his house through the air above him strike us as the stuff of drug-induced dreams, but it’s actually a scenario that a child might just paint in her head any day of the week. Movies like Up, when done as well as Up is done, take us right back to that childlike place of wandering thoughts and carefree creativity and it is so much fun to be there again.
And at the same time, there’s an adult-like realism in this animated movie as well. There’s death and great sadness and even a little blood. It’s rated PG – not G – and some moments were clearly too scary for some of the more wee viewers at my screening. There are slow-moving, tender moments, too, that probably resonate more with those in the audience who have a bit more life experience. All told, I have tremendous respect for what the makers of this movie have done in creating something so whimsical, so exciting to watch, and so cute but something that also beats with a real heart, with all its vulnerability and love. As Mr. Disney prescribed, Up pulls you through practically every emotion available – but happily, it leaves you in sweet (if a little tearful) contentment.
A lot of the women who end up on TLC’s What Not to Wear are stuck wearing the style of a certain decade, and it becomes Stacy and Clinton’s job to snap them out of it. I’m always curious how these women come to cling to styles of decades past, whether it’s a steadfast commitment to acid-washed jeans or an unwillingness to give up the Doc Martens. But it’s pretty clear how the makeover recipient on tonight’s season premiere came to get stuck in her style rut, considering that, well, she once played Blossom.
That’s right: Mayim Bialik is tonight’s guest! In the episode, she claims she dresses the way she does because she’s a busy mom with kids, which is a totally fair (and true) excuse. However, once Stacy and Clinton dig into her wardrobe, they discover she’s still wearing clothes from her days playing the teenage style icon (or style tragedy, depending on your point of view, but my point of view is that I owned a Blossom-style hat with a big ol’ flower on it).
I was a little skeptical when I previewed this episode. I didn’t want Stacy and Clinton to turn Bialik into a cookie-cutter Hollywood type. Happily, they totally show her how to update her trademark look so that it fits her current lifestyle. She ends up looking cute and age-appropriate, and it’s loads of nostalgic fun.
You can check out a fun clip in which Stacy and Clinton make her do the dance from the opening credits in exchange for keeping an item of clothing when you read more.
More often than not, news of sequels only causes widespread groaning, since we all know most sequels can’t even come close to being as good as the first film. But then there are others – like the possible Zoolander sequel – that are not too hard to imagine. What other movies might lend themselves to fun sequels? I think the eerie Cloverfield easily allows for future movies set in various cities with other menacing threats. And I personally enjoyed Isla Fischer’s Becky Bloomwood in Confessions of a Shopaholic so much that I’d love to see her in the same role again. What do you think?
