LIKED
– Pixar films, at this point, are either an A+ (Wall-E), an A (Ratatouille) or an A- (Cars). On this scale, Up is a solid A – not quite reaching the peaks of Pixar but definitely not one of their “lesser” efforts (where “lesser” is something just about any other filmmakers would kill for). Ed Asner’s voicework fits his character perfectly (and if you don’t at least sniffle in that first ten minutes, what are you made of?) and the little kid character steals just about every scene without feeling forced. The second great summer film of a thus-mostly-starved 2009.
– Panic Breakout is really only fun the first one or two times, but what a one or two times!
– Finally got around to reading Jennifer 8. Lee’s The Fortune Cookie Chronicles and really enjoyed how a treatise on the history of modern Chinese food could serve as commentary on globalism, cultural mutation, immigration, racial attitudes, appropriation and reconcilation. Fascinating, and also brings with it a number of “oh, must try that” food ideas.
DIDN’T LIKE
– Mental is a terrible case of medical-procedural-by-the-numbers, pretending to be daring because it’s dealing with mental illness, but come on – using special effects to make schizophrenia more exciting is both overdone and tasteless. Chris Vance, in the lead, is particularly ill-equipped to handle his role; of course, even if he were a great actor, he’d still have a boring “look I’m kooky and nontraditional for no explicable reason” character to deal with, but he’s not a great actor; half of his work feels like a weak Hugh-Laurie-as-House impersonation minus the balls that makes House so interesting.
– “The Princess and the Dragon” expansion for Carcassonne? Oh my god, is it bad. Mutates one of the best board games of all time into an unrecognizable, not very-fun mess. Avoid. Do not get this expansion.
– Man, what a terrible set of audition episodes for So You Think You Can Dance this year. I went back and speed-rewatched the most recent set of Australian audition episodes for a comparison, and then last year’s Canadian and American auditions, and it’s not just me; this year’s American auditions focused more on jokey bad auditions that were supposedly funny much, much more than average, and the American show is the only one that still even bothers to show many bad auditions at all; in the Aussie and Canuck versions you can literally count the number of joke auditions on one hand, which ironically makes them funnier because they stand out in sharp relief to all the really great dancing. I’m honestly a bit nervous about this season now because I can’t help but wonder: did they not have enough good dancing to showcase?
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The more Carcassonne expansions that come out, the further it seems to get from the core game. Inns & Cathedrals and Builders & Traders (and River 1&2) seem to be enough for me.
I can only think of a couple board game expansions that actually improve on the original game, if only because really classic games tend to be very simple at their core and expanding on that is unnecessary. The best example of a good expansion is Knights and Cities of Catan, because it solves one of Settlers’ biggest problems by making it possible to expand “up,” in a way, as well as out, so getting your roads cut off by another player doesn’t completely take you out of the game.
Okay, that’s more than enough words on board games.
Also I think Cars deserves something lower than an A-. Yeah it has beautiful landscapes, but they also gave Larry the Cable Guy a central role.
Yeah, they gave over an insane amount of screentime to the jokey and frankly mean-spirited “Dance Battle” on the last audition show, and that was just the cherry on top of the sundae of a really bad set of audition shows.
“The Tower” is the only Carcassonne expansion I’ve got, and the best thing about it is the little cardboard tower you can stack the game tiles in.
The Princess and the Dragon was exactly what my friends and I needed to add a more cutthroat and open-ended dimension to an otherwise entirely too insular game. Now instead of everyone building their own quiet little areas of the board, everything could potentially be up for grabs.
I bumped Up mentally to an A+ about halfway through the film when they pulled off that sucker-punch and reminded you that the kid was a human being, not a walking source of comic relief.
I’d rank Ratatouille above Wall-E, to be honest. Wall-E kinda loses over multiple viewings, while Ratatouille just gets better.
Gotta second the ranking of RATATOUILLE over WALL*E. I can understand why one would prefer one over the other, and while I adore both as brilliant films, RATATOUILLE just resonates with me more and more.
Also, MGK, I’d be interested in your thoughts of DRAG ME TO HELL.
Dudes! I would like to put on the table a resolution to add the first 10 minutes of UP to the list of movie moments it’s ok for straight men to shed a tear over (putting it in the company of the “Soopermannnn” moment in Iron Giant, and the “death” of Spock in Wrath of Kahn).
Would anyone like to second the motion on the floor?
I don’t know about Up (haven’t seen it yetSQUIRREL) but I’ll second the motion when it comes to “suuuuuperman” in Iron Giant. Gets me every time.
Wow good call, Panzer… Like supergp, I haven’t seen Up, but yeah, I hear it’s good from friends, and that superman part gets me every time as well…
Not to be steriotypical, but what about the death of Mufasa in Lion King?
…”death of Mufasa in Lion King?” Not a tear.
Optimus Prime, either from Transformers The Movie OR his first death in the comics: yeah, I need at least five minutes to collect myself before I can do anything else.
The badging scene also got my eyes watery. My mom will cry at UP, I have predicted it.
Thanks for the Carcassonne warning, I’ll pass it on to the game-purchasing friends.
Ok, I’m not a straight man, but Mufasa’s death in Lion King gets me every time.
OK, saw UP, and cried. Ditto the gf.