Film ratings [15/16]

“You! Yeah, you in the suit! Take a shower, hippie!”
— Carl Fredricksen

Carl Fredricksen is one of the most endearing characters in recent film history. He’s a grumpy old and eccentric man who loved his wife beyond everything. And he hates people who bother him. (Who doesn’t?) It also helps that Fredricksen was partly based upon Spencer Tracy, and who doesn’t love Spencer Tracy! To make this paragraph even more erratic, Fredricksen reminds me of a censored, older version of Cartman. “Take a shower, hippie!” Who doesn’t hate hippies and who doesn’t automatically refer to people who annoy them as hippies?

Now, to get back on somewhat of an understandable track, Up is yet again a masterpiece by Pixar Animation Studios. They keep on producing works of art, regardless of subject matter. I’m telling you, Pixar could make an animated film about tumbleweeds and it would be a tour de force. People would weep, cheer and praise it.

To be honest, the basic premise that lies beneath Up is incredibly boring and unoriginal. It has been done a million times before, and will be done a million times after. Yet it’s still a masterpiece; how come? Well, first of all, making the main character an elderly man works for the film’s genius. Where Hollywood is always searching for young characters to attract the money-spending youth, Pixar picks a main character of considerable age. The Hollywood Youth has no way of connection with a character with this much live experience. Nevertheless, it works. The identification process may not occur, but Pixar goes for endearment, a grandfatherly connection and just sheer entertainment loveliness.

Second, it’s the little things that count. Where Pixar excels is telling a story, any story — how lame and tired it may be, Pixar knows how to tell it. The broader premise isn’t important here, but what is of essence here are the details. Fredricksen’s life story, Russell’s overeager banter¹, the dogs, the place they go to for their adventure, et cetera.

I have a bit of criticism left for Up though. While the film is great, it forgets a lot of small specifics. For example, the age of the villain, Charles F. Muntz. The difficulty of him designing so much great inventions in such a desolate place. Russell essentially being kidnapped; also, where are his parents? Not to mention that the film works wonders with time. However, I’m willing to forgive Pete Docter for all of this, without precedent.

These Old Broads

I had only one reason for wanting to watch These Old Broads, an ABC television film that eared in 2001 and was written by Carrie Fisher. Dame Elizabeth Taylor, it being her last acting performance to date, and considering her personal health, probably her last performance ever.

Overall, this is a film with more acting legends together on screen than … I don’t know how to finish that, but there are a lot of silver screen legends in this film: Shirley MacLaine, Debbie Reynolds, Joan Collins, and of course, to a lesser extent, the writer herself, Carrie Fisher. Imagine this: Carrie Fisher is the daugher of Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher, who divorced Reynolds in a highly publicised affair to marry his “mistress” — Elizabeth Taylor. I’m not sure how much tension there was on set, but I can only say, “awkward!”

Taylor’s performance is mellow and, already being hit by her deteriorating athleticism and health, she’s “bedridden” for most of her act. Yet, without really straining herself, Taylor is still able to attract my every attention. Man, this woman is beyond legend. I cannot even criticise her performance, because, well, it’s Elizabeth Taylor. What do you want from me?

If this had been a major motion picture production, the film could’ve turned out a great comedic drama. I’m not even sure how they were able to hire so many great actresses within a television film’s budget. But somehow they did, and, considering that probably their whole budget went to their respective salaries, the television part definitely shows. The art setting is awfully campy (though that’s exactly why I liked it), the story should have used a rewrite, the direction is very general and neutral, and the supporting cast acts like a bunch of drunken monkeys.

Still, I loved it. For all its campiness.

Yor: Hunter From the Future

Blue cavemen, a nuclear holocaust, the killing of a dinosaur with just one blow, Yor appearing out of nowhere whenever it pleases him, sand mummies, a prehistoric future, and multiple genocide (with extinct civilisations springing back into action for no good reason and then again being murdered).

Can you spell “leg·end·ar·y mess”?

Silkwood

Believe me, I liked Silkwood. Mike Nichols’s directed Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? for Christ’s sake, and The Graduate and Working Girl (what?) and Closer, and … You get the point, right?

However, I liked the screenplay less than the acting and the direction. I do understand that Nichols’s probably wanted to tell more than just the controversy and also wanted to document Karen Silkwood’s life. Still, it seemed to me as though the film was constantly drifting between wanting to be just a biopic and wanting to be more — a want for speculation.

Nobody knows what exactly happens, and there’s vagueness everywhere when it comes to Karen’s life, but showing that on screen is less fun than it sounds. The speculative looks of characters are there, but nothing is done with it. It’s left to the audience to interpret and analyse it, which I have nothing against if we weren’t also busy interpreting and analysing her personal life. Pick a path to follow and stick with it, would you?

300

Re-watched it — still hated it. Period.

Film ratings

Film	Studio	Grade	Stars
Kathy Griffin: Straight to Hell	Bravo (NBC/U)	8.2
Deliver Us From Evil	Lionsgate	8.4
A Beautiful Mind	Universal Studios	9.2
Kathy Griffin: Allegedly	Bravo (NBC/U)	8.2
Kathy Griffin: Everybody Can Suck It	Bravo (NBC/U)	8.1
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room	Magnolia Pictures	7.4
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning	New Line Cinema	5.3	—
Madea Goes to Jail	Lionsgate	7.5
These Old Broads	ABC (Disney)	8.5
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?	Warner Bros.	9.5
W.	Lionsgate	8.0
Silkwood	20th Century Fox	8.5
Death Becomes Her	Universal Studios	7.4
Yor: Hunter From the Future	Columbia Pictures	3.0	—
Quarantine	Screen Gems	4.2	—
Poseidon	Warner Bros.	6.9	—
Up	Walt Disney Pictures	9.6
Roger & Me	Warner Bros.	8.0
The Banger Sisters	Fox Searchlight Pictures	6.9	—
300	Warner Bros.	6.3	—