When air travel is cost prohibitive.... Courtesy avoision.com
After almost 15 years of feature films, Pixar still does not make bad movies. The studio has achieved some of its best moments when its films confront the dichotomy between fantasy and reality in a child’s life. It’s why the unloved toys of Toy Story 2 made for a better film than the first, and why Monsters Inc., in spite of its flaws, was so charming.
And at its best, Up, Pixar’s tenth feature, delivers the same goods. Helmed by Pete Docter, Up shows some influences from the director whose writing credits include Monsters Inc., WALL-E and both Toy Story films. Much like WALL-E, Up’s best moments are its quietest. Carl Fredricksen (voiced by Edward Asner), the movie’s senior citizen hero, is the widower of his childhood sweetheart. The film begins with the Fredricksen’s love affair, which is founded on a mutual adoration of explorer Charles Muntz (voiced by Christopher Plummer), and the moments in which we find Carl quietly reflecting on his love are achingly beautiful. But Carl’s richest characteristic is his sense of adventure, which prompts his decision to float away in his house to his and his wife’s dream destination: Paradise Falls, Colombia—where Muntz disappeared to years ago.
But a sort of boy scout by the name of Russel interferes with Carl’s peace and quiet. The relationship between Carl and Russel is the focus of the film, providing comedy, insight and annoyance. Russel is clearly a character for the kids, but he inspires a sense of parental duty and childlike wonder in Carl. It is the duality of Carl’s personality—his youth and seniority—that make Up special, and Carl one of the year’s most unique and affecting characters (though he’s no WALL-E).
There’s a lot more to the film, including some of the best animation we’ve seen from Pixar (Paradise Falls is a sort of Seussical jungle and just looking at it is worth the price of admission) and an Incredibles-like good vs. evil plot where Russel and Carl must save an endangered bird from the villainous Muntz. Although this plotline serves as a catalyst in changing Carl—making him understand Russel’s youthfulness and overcome his idolization of Muntz—the results are mixed. Some of the humor is just too childish and the action sequences too Hollywood. But these are all forgivable peccadilloes because, in true Pixar form, Up has more heart and soul than probably any movie you’ll see all year. Especially this summer.
Disclosure: The version screened for this review was not in 3-D.
Chapel Hill’s second annual The Club Is Open Festival released its schedule earlier today. The festival celebrates local music, offering four days of great shows in what is often a quieter summer concert schedule with so many large acts hitting up the festival circuit. This year’s festival (July 7-11) includes almost 20 bands (among them Future Kings of Nowhere, Hammer No More the Fingers and Red Collar) and includes five Chapel Hill venues. Proceeds from all shows go to cytunes.org and the Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke.
Check after the jump for the full schedule. (more…)
Ten years ago, McDonald’s introduced the McVeggie. An attempt at drawing in the increasingly popular vegetarian clientele, the idea was novel. The appeal was congruous to when McDonald’s retooled their salad menu post-Fast Food Nation. People wanted to try them–No really, they are good. But like new Coke before it, consumer have proven that change isn’t always what they want. A marketing failure. America’s fast food chain can pretend to be veggie-friendly, but McDonald’s is for meat*.
And much was the same with Nu Metal. Championed by KoRn, the sub-genre exploded in the late 1990s alongside the Latin invasion and a hearty revitalization of bubblegum pop. How these musical styling co-existed is a mystery. An even greater mystery? How 16 million people thought Fred Durst, armed with a DJ and a creepy-eyed guitarist, shouting that he “did it all for the nookie (c’mon) the nookie (c’mon)/so you can take the cookie/and stick it up your (yeah)/stick it up your (yeah)” was worth $12.99 at Tower Records.
“Nookie” epitomizes the paradoxical nature of Nu Metal, a seemingly brilliant idea of combining punk, rock and rap, and is perhaps the sub-genre’s most anthemic tune. Like a bar band on steroids, Durst belts out the lyrics; the song is strangely catchy–you hate to love it it’s so plainly horrific. It represents a great idea gone wrong. But after too many listens, it’s clear that Nu Metal is a bad idea with grave consequences (see: Woodstock ’99). Run DMC and Aerosmith? Great. Rap and rock? Not great. Fred Durst and singing?Almost as bad as a McVeggie.
The Song: I think this song ushered in a whole new genre of music, which I am going to call “Diss Pop.” T-Boz, Left-Eye and Chili spend a tad over 4 minutes creating the blueprint on how to sell records while humiliating the opposite sex. Before Destiny’s Child complained about their bills, before Justin Timberlake told a certain someone to cry a river and before Katy Perry sacrificed any shot of legitimacy, TLC used the one-two punch of “No Scrubs” and “Unpretty” to sell a whopping 11 million copies of Fanmail (remember people, this was pre-Napster).
The Hype Williams-directed video is cool in that pseudo-futuristic way. If anything, it definitely proves that Chilli is the most attractive member of the group. Left Eye, of course, looks crazy. But not in that “street cred” way she was probably going for. More like an actual insane person. Her rhyming is not very good and she dates herself terribly with the line “you as clear as DVD on digital TV screens.” All in all, this song passes the Decade Test, because I still know about 75% of the words. (more…)
Eminem’s has always been one of hip-hop, even America’s, liveliest personas. The “Steve Berman” skit from 2000′s The Marshall Mathers LP highlighted the rapper’s depth: he was topical and controversial for reasons other than drugs, sex and money. Slim Shady defied his unmarketability and became a smash hit. And on “Mosh,” Mathers proved a political backbone that made for one of his most interesting tracks.
In the five years since Encore (and in the years before), Mathers experienced drug addictions and recoveries. So Relapse, Mathers’ first album since 2004, presents the rapper the opportunity to tackle a hard subject and present his best work to date. And on tracks like “Deja Vu,” Slim does. His personal demons become the victim of his lyrical assaults, replacing the Backstreet Boys and his mother. “Underground,” despite a built-in skit/coda to “We Made You,” lets Mathers rudely announce his comeback. He is sharp, ruthless and uncompromising. The track possesses all the characteristics that earned Mathers a place in our hearts; it’s brilliantly homophobic, misogynistic and self-celebratory. Mathers hold a middle finger up to all the listeners and critics, but the song embeds an attack on his days of drug abuse, showing new depth and life to his music. This isn’t rehash.
Unfortunately, much of the album is. ”We Made You” is another one of Em’s arrogant send-up of celebrities. But unlike the likes of “Without Me” and “The Real Slim Shady,” “We Made You” falls flat. The moment is wrong, and his targets (Jessica Simpson, Jessica Alba, etc.) seem arbitrary. This might be the kind of track that he built his career on, but it’s not what he needs to be doing now. ”My Mom” too has its relapse references, but it doesn’t feel any better than any of his other tracks about his mom. It seems like somewhere between sharing the stage with Elton John and winning a plagiarist’s Maureen Dowd’s approval, Eminem went from being “the most evil rapper alive” to the most predictable.
I don’t doubt that Eminem is one of the better rappers to grace us with his lyrical abilities (after all, he did deliver one of the decade’s best albums). But Relapse feels unfocused, and Mathers a bit dated. When Relapse 2 drops later this year, this album might have new meaning. We can hope that will be a better album and companion. But on its own, Relapse isn’t as razor-sharp as the rapper’s glory days.
