Week 44 is 2004.
It came down to 3 choices I have seen before:
Miracle. Wonderful movie telling the story of Herb Brooks the coach of the 1980 USA hockey team. I turned it down because..boy it seemed, to me, it takes a loooong time to get to the payoff at the end. 2 hours and 15 minutes. It seemed to crawl. Still 4 out of 5 Mickeys just because I love the story.
National Treasure. Nicholas Cage is kind of dopey/smart in this, if that makes sense. It is the perfect part for him. I liked the movie. Needed some editing. It is harmless. Again 4 of 5 Mickeys.
I decided to go back to PIXAR and choose The Incredibles.
The Incredibles has always been in the middle of the pack for me in the list of PIXAR films.
Directed by Brad Bird, I am not going to go far into the plot, I am hoping you know it already..just say it follows an adventure of a family with superhero like powers.
Great voice work as always:
Craig T Nelson as Bob (dad)-Wonderful
Holly Hunter as Helen (mom)-Beyond wonderful
Spencer Fox as Dash (son)-just ok
Sara Vowell as Violet (daughter)-fantastic
Samuel Jackson as Lucius (Family friend)-wonderful
Jason Lee as Buddy-You need a good bad guy to make this work and..I hated him..so it worked.
Brad Bird as Edna E Mode-ok stole the movie a bit
One of my problems with the film in the past has been that the movie did not move along very quick. It is an hour and fifty five minutes and it always felt that way. This time it did not seem that way. I have noted in the past, when watching a film, subconsiously you watch it taking in your life and and where you are now, time and place. You can not help to bring that with you. I was thinking maybe it did not seem to drag because now I am watching it without my son and my concern was he would get rammy. Now I watch it on my own and it seems to flow well.
I have to mention the score, maybe the best PIXAR score ever. Michael Giacchino. It had a Bond jazzy feel to it. Which made me think I was not watching a superhero movie but a spy thriller. Just great.
Just a couple down notes. I felt Dash looked very "plasticey". The baby scene at the end was really creepy and odd, and you leave the movie thinking..what the heck was that. It is too bad that is at the end.
I watched the 2 disk collectors version, some extras to point out. On disk 2 the making of part one is good because it shows day to day wackiness at PIXAR. Deleted scenes and bloopers I always like..but here..just ok. My favorite is an interview with Sarah Vowell. She is just so odd..and wonderful at the same time..love her. I always love people who beat to their own drum if it does no harm to others.
Here it is:
Fun and not so fun facts:
Jason lee voiced his part in 4 days. While Craig Nelson did his over 2 years.
Edna is based on the great costume designer Edith Head.
Lily Tomlin was considered for Edna but after hearing Brad she said you do not need me.
This is the first PIXAR movie not to have a Pizza Planet Truck. However John Ratzenberger is here in a small part as an Underminer.
Well The Incredibles get 4 and a 1/2 Mickeys from me, which is a step up, in the past I would have given it four. Which left me thinking this is ripe for a sequel, but they decided on Cars 2 first. Really?
Now for Wreck It Ralph. It is important to note this movie has some real scary parts. I would say under 9..may be to young.
The main leads John C Reilly (Ralph), very good and soft. When I saw the trailer I thought the voice would not work but it surprised me, it did. Sarah Silverman (Vanellope) annoying but I think she was suppose to be. Jack McBrayer (Felix), pretty much playing the same person he plays in 30 rock. Jane Lynch (Calhoun) great voice, annoying, and not needed in the movie.
The movie was better than I thought it would be. It is a little Toy Story, a little Monsters Inc., and a little Alice In Wonderland. I am not a gamer so I am sure there were a lot of inside jokes I missed. The movie seemed to lack rythm and I could not put my finger on why. Very jumpy, scene to scene. Maybe if they cut out the Calhoun part it may have helped.
It had a wonderful short involving love and a paper airplane before the film. It was back and white and was great. Oscar worthy that is for sure. Now I saw the 3D version, I am not sure if the short is shown before the regular version. As for the 3D, again adds nothing. Save your money unless the short is shown only before the 3D version. My fellow readers can help me out with that.Wreck It Ralph gets 4 out of 5 Mickeys, better than I thought.
Well to next week
Again thanks for your time.
It came down to 3 choices I have seen before:
Miracle. Wonderful movie telling the story of Herb Brooks the coach of the 1980 USA hockey team. I turned it down because..boy it seemed, to me, it takes a loooong time to get to the payoff at the end. 2 hours and 15 minutes. It seemed to crawl. Still 4 out of 5 Mickeys just because I love the story.
National Treasure. Nicholas Cage is kind of dopey/smart in this, if that makes sense. It is the perfect part for him. I liked the movie. Needed some editing. It is harmless. Again 4 of 5 Mickeys.
I decided to go back to PIXAR and choose The Incredibles.
The Incredibles has always been in the middle of the pack for me in the list of PIXAR films.
Directed by Brad Bird, I am not going to go far into the plot, I am hoping you know it already..just say it follows an adventure of a family with superhero like powers.
Great voice work as always:
Craig T Nelson as Bob (dad)-Wonderful
Holly Hunter as Helen (mom)-Beyond wonderful
Spencer Fox as Dash (son)-just ok
Sara Vowell as Violet (daughter)-fantastic
Samuel Jackson as Lucius (Family friend)-wonderful
Jason Lee as Buddy-You need a good bad guy to make this work and..I hated him..so it worked.
Brad Bird as Edna E Mode-ok stole the movie a bit
One of my problems with the film in the past has been that the movie did not move along very quick. It is an hour and fifty five minutes and it always felt that way. This time it did not seem that way. I have noted in the past, when watching a film, subconsiously you watch it taking in your life and and where you are now, time and place. You can not help to bring that with you. I was thinking maybe it did not seem to drag because now I am watching it without my son and my concern was he would get rammy. Now I watch it on my own and it seems to flow well.
I have to mention the score, maybe the best PIXAR score ever. Michael Giacchino. It had a Bond jazzy feel to it. Which made me think I was not watching a superhero movie but a spy thriller. Just great.
Just a couple down notes. I felt Dash looked very "plasticey". The baby scene at the end was really creepy and odd, and you leave the movie thinking..what the heck was that. It is too bad that is at the end.
I watched the 2 disk collectors version, some extras to point out. On disk 2 the making of part one is good because it shows day to day wackiness at PIXAR. Deleted scenes and bloopers I always like..but here..just ok. My favorite is an interview with Sarah Vowell. She is just so odd..and wonderful at the same time..love her. I always love people who beat to their own drum if it does no harm to others.
Here it is:
Fun and not so fun facts:
Jason lee voiced his part in 4 days. While Craig Nelson did his over 2 years.
Edna is based on the great costume designer Edith Head.
Lily Tomlin was considered for Edna but after hearing Brad she said you do not need me.
This is the first PIXAR movie not to have a Pizza Planet Truck. However John Ratzenberger is here in a small part as an Underminer.
Well The Incredibles get 4 and a 1/2 Mickeys from me, which is a step up, in the past I would have given it four. Which left me thinking this is ripe for a sequel, but they decided on Cars 2 first. Really?
Now for Wreck It Ralph. It is important to note this movie has some real scary parts. I would say under 9..may be to young.
The main leads John C Reilly (Ralph), very good and soft. When I saw the trailer I thought the voice would not work but it surprised me, it did. Sarah Silverman (Vanellope) annoying but I think she was suppose to be. Jack McBrayer (Felix), pretty much playing the same person he plays in 30 rock. Jane Lynch (Calhoun) great voice, annoying, and not needed in the movie.
The movie was better than I thought it would be. It is a little Toy Story, a little Monsters Inc., and a little Alice In Wonderland. I am not a gamer so I am sure there were a lot of inside jokes I missed. The movie seemed to lack rythm and I could not put my finger on why. Very jumpy, scene to scene. Maybe if they cut out the Calhoun part it may have helped.
It had a wonderful short involving love and a paper airplane before the film. It was back and white and was great. Oscar worthy that is for sure. Now I saw the 3D version, I am not sure if the short is shown before the regular version. As for the 3D, again adds nothing. Save your money unless the short is shown only before the 3D version. My fellow readers can help me out with that.Wreck It Ralph gets 4 out of 5 Mickeys, better than I thought.
Well to next week
Again thanks for your time.