earth is amazing. Let me just start by saying that. So much cute and breathtaking beauty. Now a tiny step back.
earth is a British-American-German documentary kind of film. It was apparently made in 2007, but not released until this year in North America. The film follows, through the course of the year, three families: polar bear, elephant, and humpback whale. Of course there are many other animals in the film as well.
As there is no real plot to speak of I don't have too much to say about the specifics of the film. It is so incredibly visual. I will say that if you are worried that James Earl Jones is going to be telling you that global warming is evil and we are all killing the planet for the entire film, stop worrying. I think global warming, or climate change, was only specifically mentioned three or four times.
One of the things I kept thinking during, and especially after, was how amazing it would have been to film all of the amazing animals. It seem as though they played a very observatory role and did their best to not interfere with any of the animal life. It clearly took a lot of time and money to put the film together, but I think it was well worth it. I very much recommend this film as it is gorgeous to watch, gives you some interesting facts (like, the boreal forest contains 1/3 of the world's trees [I think I remembered that right]), and is only 90 minutes if you have a short attention span.
earth gets three kernels - wide audience appeal and overwhelmingly beautiful.
UP (seen in 3D). The short before the movie Partly Cloudy was really good. I've never seen a short in the theatre before. This was also my first 3D movie experience.
The story is about an elderly man, Carl, who shared a dream, with his now deceased wife, to fly their house to a far away land that an explorer (Charles Muntz) claimed to have been to when they were children. Carl finally decides to go for it and begins to fly his house. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, a boy named Russell comes on the journey with him.
The two actually reach their destination and come across some unusual things. The first being this strange large bird (the reason Muntz returned so he could bring it back and prove himself to be not crazy) that Russell names Frank. The second are dogs that can speak thanks to a collar they wear (one that Muntz invented). One of these dogs, Dug, helps Carl and Russell. As for plot I will leave it at that, cause I am not sure I can explain it any better.
I will say that the dogs were awesome. Very much how I imagine dogs to be thinking and to hear it verbalized is great. Carl and Russell's friendship is also great to watch.
I felt like they could have maybe done more with the 3D, but I guess it is good they weren't relying on it to hold your interest.
UP gets three kernels - really good story; funny and heartfelt.
So I fail at posting lately and what seems like a really long time ago I saw two movies which I will now post. They will be brief and without much detail. Sorry.
I Love You, Man is about Peter Klaven (Paul Rudd) and his quest for a best man-friend. Peter has always been friends with the ladies, but not really any guys. When he gets engaged, Peter realizes that he has no one to be his best man. His search ends when he finds Sydney Fife (Jason Segel). Sydney is the kind of guy that wears UGGs with shorts and a wife-beater to walk his dog on the beach where he refuses to pick up the dog's poop. He is very unlike Peter in most ways, except for their shared passion for the band RUSH. That's right, there is a ton of Rush in this movie. Their friendship has its ups and downs, but ultimately they work things out.
I must say that I really enjoy Paul Rudd. Especially when he is awkward in a very endearing sort of way (like Mike on Friends). At one point he gets up the courage to call Sydney to set up a man date and the message he leaves is so wonderful. It is how I feel everytime I try to leave a phone message for someone. I also really enjoyed the brother (Andy Samberg). The married couple that faught all the time (the husband, I just realized, is Pete from Friends...huh) and the slightly crazy single friend (who totally could have been played by Kristin Wigg) were also enjoyable.
There were parts which were more awkwardly inappropriate rather than funny, for me anyway, but overall it was pretty good.
I Love You, Man gets two kernels - pretty funny, but not the best thing since sliced bread.
