Up Up and Away

Up's a comin'

Its official. Pixar are my favourite movie makers at the moment. I can't think of another film* other than Up (perhaps James Camerons Avatar in 3D!!) that I am looking forward to more. This new poster has a dog in it. Apparently its a marvel in animation as well as comedy. Bring on the dog, and apparently the squirrel, I say!

* Peter Jackson's the Hobbit doesnt count as it is 3 years away :(


"Hey folks, Harry here... Ok, this isn't a film about a squirrel... as far as you know... but those of us that were at BUTT-NUMB-A-THON X... we feel differently. It is all about the squirrel. Not that we saw one. Not yet. But this will be one of the best films you see this year. Well, at the very least one of the best first halves of a film you see this year. Haven't seen the second half yet, but I bet it is amazing. This latest poster introduces us to a new character. A dog. That dog is AMAZING. So amazing because they allow the dog to still be a dog, while also being amazingly communicative."
from www.aintitcool.com

Up trailer

God, I love me some Pixar! :)

Up

As you know, Pixar can do no wrong in my eyes. And after the amazing WALL*E comes the teaser to Pixars next film - Up. I did a post in April on the basic story line. Click the tag marked "Pixar" and you will find it.

Anyway, here's the teaser trailer for Up! I will be following this one closely!

WALL*E review

Actually, its almost not funny how good this movie is! After all the hype, the spoilers I wished I hadn't seen, and universal frothing at the mouth from film critics - I was really worried that it wouldn't live up to all the hype (think Harry Potter and Star Wars)

but WALL*E just blew me away! Chaplinesque and near dialogue free (for at least half of it), how did Pixar have the balls to attempt that? The rubbish strewn Earth looks stunning! Not pretty - its a giant ball of garbage - but the detail and the backgrounds are just immaculate. God, this film looks good!

And its that other Hollywood staple that I am not too fond of, The Love Story. And with 2 robots, one of which looks like the Short Circuit robot. But its believable and touching. How did that happen? Its a classic boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy tries to get girl back. But, boy! What a clever way of doing it! Throw in some a sub-plot involving malfunctioning robots, some clever social observation, and some impeccable visual gags - and you've got WALL*E.

After the courtship of WALL*E meeting EVE on Earth, and EVE is taken away from WALL*E, the action moves to The Axiom - mankinds last refuge. A luxury liner where, after 700 years, the human race has become so fat and so dependant on robots that they cannot even get out of their hover-chairs. When one fatty falls out, he rolls on the floor like a baby, until a helper robot put him back in his chair. So sharp and pointed observations about obesity and mans reliance on conveniences? From a rated U movie? Nice

The final part of the movie is just a pure joy. I won't even hint how it plays out. Other than to say I had tears in my eyes! Bloody hell, Pixar. Its just a bloody robot!

And watch out for M-O. The funniest and cutiest robot there ever was!!

12/10!! God, I love Pixar!

Tropic Thunder

This is a movie I am very excited about. An action-comedy full of some of the best comedy actors around. It has a brilliant premise of a bunch of primadonna Hollywood stars making a Vietnam war movie when the director decides to drop them in the middle of a real war zone to make it look more real - without telling his actors!!


There are 2 trailers here. Watch the first teaser one. This gives a great set-up of the movie. Then watch the Redband trailer (the X rated one). This one really shows where they are going with it. It looks brilliant and I cant wait for this!! Robert Downey Jr is a god! :D

And a final little something for the weekend. WALL*E spotted in LA. Class!!!!

Wall-E Spotted in LA! from Blink on Vimeo.

I Love WALL*E

I really do!




Wall-E Vacuum Vignette (Trailer) - video powered by Metacafe
I'm sure I mentioned it before.

WALL•E Meets A Magnet Vignette
Uploaded by WallEMovie

Coz its going to be the movie to beat this year, I reckon!

WALL-E v/s Hula Hoop
Uploaded by DrMalo

I heart WALL*E & Pixar!

Pixars WALL*E and Up

I could not be more excited about Pixars next one WALL*E! With Ratatouille being one of the best films I saw last year, Pixar are batting with one hell of an average. I have read about Pixars next one for 2009 called Up, and it almost made me cry with what they want to do with it.

But WALL*E looks amazing, touching, and just looks cool as fuck! God bless ya, Pixar.

UP comes out May 29th, 2009 and will be Pixar’s first 3-D movie. Lasseter said that all Pixar and Disney Animated movies from BOLT onwards will be made to release in Disney digital 3-D. Lasseter loves 3-D. He says even all of his wedding pictures were taken in 3-D he loves it so much.

UP is directed by Pete Doctor (MONSTERS, INC) and Bob Peterson and follows the most likely adventurer… Carl… a 78 year old man. He’ll be voiced by Ed Asner and is a grumpy ol’ bastard who walks on a cane that ends in four little legs, each one has a tennis ball on the end, like you’ll see at nursing homes.

Pete Doctor called it a “coming of old age story.”

The movie opens with Carl as a young kid in the ‘30s. They showed us this opening with storyboard reels. Carl is a chubby kid, arm in a cast and he makes friends with an adorable ball of energy named Ellie.

She wants to follow her hero explorer out in the wilds on adventures. She wants to show Carl something, but makes him cross his heart and swear he won’t tell anyone. He does and she shows him her adventure book. A scrapbook with clippings from her explorer hero, a guy named Muntz.

She says when she gets big she’s going to go where he went. She’s going to South America (“It’s like America, but south,” she says matter of factly). She has drawings of waterfalls and says she’s going to live there some day. It’s a place called Paradise Falls.

The rest of the pages are blank and she says she’s saving them for all the adventures she’s going to have… the only problem is she doesn’t know how she’s going to get there. Carl has a balloon in the room and she says, “That’s it! You can take us in a blimp! Swear you’ll take us!” She makes him cross his heart. “Good, you promised. No backing out!”

Carl is wide-eyed, clearly in love with this girl, in love with her spirit and enthusiasm. He barely speaks.

We get a montage now. No dialogue, just music. Ellie and Carl get married. They’re happy together. Carl sells balloons as they build their house. The years go by. They’re still young and playful. In love. They have picnics, look at clouds and see different shapes. Eventually Carl points out one in the shape of a baby. From here on out she sees nothing but babies in the clouds and smiles.

Carl awkwardly smiles as well.

Then we see them sitting in the doctor’s office. It’s dark and grey. Ellie has her face in her hands, crying as the doctor shakes his head no.

She sits in their front yard. She’s sad. Carl comes to cheer her up. He brings her the old Adventure book and she smiles again.

They make a Paradise Falls jar and put money and coins into it. The pile starts to grow but a series of events happen over time. Car tires blow out, the coin pile decreases. They put more money in it and Carl has his leg in a cast and the money decreases. The roof blows off in a storm, etc.

Now they’re elderly and the Paradise Falls jar is empty, forgotten. Carl loving looks at his elderly wife doing the daily chores. She’s happy, but you get the feeling that he’s sad for not giving her what he promised her. He looks at the crayon drawing of Paradise Falls she had in her adventure book and makes a trip to the travel place.

He has two tickets to South America. He hides them in the picnic basket and takes her out on a picnic. He makes it to the top of the hill. She doesn’t, collapsing halfway up. He runs to her.

Next we’re in a hospital. He’s very sad. She pushes her adventure book to him and makes him cross his heart. He does.

Next we see him slouched, wearing a black suit. He’s surrounded by hundreds of balloons… if I remember right they all had her name on them.

This sequence was already heartbreaking in this early form.

Carl lives on a few more years before his house is threatened by impending construction. So, he ties thousands and thousands of balloons to his roof with the intention of sailing to South America and bringing Ellie, in spirit, to Paradise Falls.

He apparently can steer his house with his weathervane.

But he has a stowaway when he makes this journey. A chubby asian kid named Russell, a boy scout trying to get his last merit badge, one for assisting the elderly.

They make it to S. America, but just before they get to where they need to go they crash and thrown from the house. The house starts to float away and just before it’s out of reach, they grab on to a garden hose and keep it from leaving them.

Neither of them can climb back up to it, but they don’t want to leave it, so they each tie a line to themselves and traverse the South American jungles pulling the house behind him like a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon for the last 15 miles.

They showed us a test piece, with temp sets and character models and it looked really funny. Carl was short and squat, with his tennis-balled cane. Russell is whining. He’s tired. Carl is short with him and Russell falls over dramatically, but the balloon keeps him from doing much more than floating up and down. He ends up dragging forward on the ground, where he sees a bug and gets excited. He unclips himself and runs after it.

Carl looks back and sees he’s the only one tethered. He calls after the boy, getting no response as he’s slowly lifted up further and further and further until he’s out of frame. A bird squaks and he grumbles. There’s a tussle we don’t see and his cane drops to the forest floor.

They announced that the villain will be voiced by Christopher Plummer and that was it for their UP presentation.

The Incredible Hulk and WALL*E

Oooo, looks tasty. And Tim Roth as the Abomination!! Cant wait.

And Pixar have finally shown a proper trailer for its new CG flick WALL*E.


It look phenomenal! And possibly might even make me tear up a little lol

Nine minute clip from Pixars "Rattattoille"

Good old Pixar. Everything they touch turns to gold. Why? Because they care about story above all else.

Pixars next flick, about a talking rat who wants to become a top Parisian chef (as you do), looks amazing and touching, as usual.

This is a pair of clips from the upcoming movie, introduced by the director Brad Bird (The Incredibles). Toy Story 2 is one of my all time favourite movies, and Pixar have never done a bad one in my opinion, with A Bugs Life and The Incredibles being two films I also love.