Films - Up & The Hangover

My internet is FINALLY back. So, that means I'm back to blogging. Lucky you. We saw Up about a week ago and The Hangover last Sunday. I'm going to briefly blog about both of them. The internet's a big place and I've got a lot of internetting to do.



First, Up. It was fantastic. Pixar has completely perfected the combination of funny sweet that turns me into a little puddle of whimpering mush.

The movie begins with about fifteen minutes of backstory on the main character. As a little kid, he idolizes an explorer/adventurer, and he is lucky enough to find a little girl who shares his passion. They share a dream of following in their idol's footsteps to travel to Paradise Falls, in South America.

We follow them through their lives. They fall in love and get married. In a small tragic montage, we learn that his wife wanted to have children, but they weren't able to. They built a very happy life together, but never traveled to South America. He buys some plane tickets when they are getting older, but his beloved wife passes away before they are able to take the trip.

I'm pausing here. Those first twenty minutes were completely touching. Some friends of mine felt like it was too manipulative. I understand the criticism, I just don't agree. It was a brief but necessary set up for us to understand Carl as an old man. Because, you see, for most of the film, he is crotchety and mean, but the audience still needs to like him. That first twenty minutes explains to the audience why he is the way he is, and it allows us to cheer for him despite how mean he sometimes is.

Then he goes on his adventure. He accidentally brings along a little boy scout. I'll forgo giving away the details of the rest of the plot. I'll just say I laughed a lot.

Also, a different friend suggested that Up was actually better than Wall-E, which was the second best movie of last year, BTW. I have to disagree. I do think that Up is a more even movie. The least good parts of Wall-E were not as good as the least good parts of Up, but the best parts of Wall-E are transcendent.

Okay, on to The Hangover. What can I say. It was EXACTLY what I thought it would be. Hilarious, gross, shocking, and wonderful. Also, Bradley Cooper is insanely hot. I'm glad he's finally getting a little bit of buzz. He totally deserves it. He's hilarious, gorgeous and majorly talented. Can't wait to see what he's in next.

Zach Galafinakis was stellar. He also deserves to finally have large roles in mainstream movies. There are some pretty shocking shots during the end credits involving him, so stick around, for sure.

Ed Helms was great, too, but I knew that already.

The movie itself is basically Dude, Where's My Car? There is definitely an intentional homage involving an impounded car and Cleo King. There's no way it was a coincidence that she plays a police office in both movies, and has impounded the protagonists car in both movies. Considering how much I love Dude, Where's My Car? (for anyone who is curious, I'm not sarcastic about that at all; it's a great movie), it makes sense that I loved this.

Delicious screwball comedy goodness.