"Up"

We went to see the midnight showing of "Up" last night. Oddly, there wasn't a Pixar short with our showing, though I had heard that "Partly Cloudy" would be running with "Up". I don't know if it wasn't shown because it was the midnight showing, or if our theater just isn't showing it, or what. I'm anxious to see if it is showing other places, though, since we usually enjoy the Pixar shorts.


I had heard a few reviews of "Up" and knew the basic plot, but had avoided actual spoilers. Having heard the basic premise of the movie, I knew to expect a few sad parts. I didn't expect it to be as sad as it turned out to be. I spent a large part of the movie trying not to cry. It was horribly sad! It might not bother everyone as much as it bothered me, but the movie hits on two of the things that I find saddest. . .

Spoiler the fact that time slips away so quickly and the loss of a much loved spouse, both of which I find heartbreaking. Spoiler

But there were lots of funny bits as well, and overall the movie left me feeling happy. We were smiling and laughing when we were walking out to the car afterward - I didn't wander out sobbing or anything - but thinking about some parts of the movie are still making me a little bit teary today.

The movie was really beautiful. It was presented in 3D, and I wasn't sure at first if that was going to be a good thing. I always love the look of Pixar movies and I worried that the 3D would take away from the visuals. It didn't seem at all gimmicky, though, and added to the look of the film rather than being distracting. And it was very well done - often I spend most of a movie adjusting my 3D glasses or getting a headache from the 3D, but I actually forgot I was wearing the glasses during "Up". The 3D effects were realistic looking but still subtle enough that I didn't just focus on that aspect of the movie as I sometimes do with 3D films.


The 2 main characters were much more likable than I expected from the previews. I especially liked Carl and had not expected to at all - I somehow thought that he was just going to be a stereotypical grumpy old man, but he was much better than that. Dug and Kevin were wonderful, too, and the fact that they were so funny helped to counteract all the sad parts. None of the characters were quite what I expected before seeing the movie, but after seeing it I wouldn't change any of them.


And of course as with most Pixar movies, there were cute details throughout the movie and during the credits. In the credits, some of the badges are quite unusual, to say the least!


I will certainly buy "Up" when it comes out on Blu-ray, and will probably see it once more while it is still in theaters. It was a great movie! Just be warned that if you are the overly emotional, "mushy" type like me, you should plan to bring lots of tissues with you.

Star Trek. . .

. . . was amazing! The best movie I've seen in quite a while. It's a great reboot to the series and overall a really fun movie. I'm looking forward to seeing it again to catch all the little details I missed the first time. I definitely think it will appeal to Trekkies, but I also think people who have never seen anything "Star Trek" before will also enjoy it. Actually, The Kidd has never seen any of the movies or shows before - clearly we are bad parents for allowing him to miss those till now - and he loved the movie. Said it was one of his favorite movies ever.


The actors all did great jobs of staying true to the feel of their characters but not just imitating the previous actors. I was sort of afraid that Kirk would just end up being one long William Shatner impersonation but Chris Pine did a really good job. There were moments where he was very much like the Kirk we used to know but he never seemed forced or cheesy.


They couldn't have found a better Spock than Zachary Quinto. He was perfect.

Everybody else was great, too. Chekov irritated me a little bit but then the real Chekov irritated me, too, so that's no suprise. But there wasn't anybody who stood out as a bad casting choice - they all fit together quite well I thought.


There was one thing in the movie that I suspect will bother Trekkies - one inconsistency that I think doesn't work with the established Trek universe/timeline. Everything else works well, though. And really the one thing isn't a huge deal and might not be as much of a problem as I think it is - I'm not as up on my Trek history as many people are. And the movie doesn't have to follow the established history for the Trek universe (and they do a great job of explaining why they don't have to follow the established storylines), so most changes don't matter. This one thing, though, isn't explained and feels a little bit like an oversight. (To those who have seen it - it involved them knowing about something before they should have. But there is one way that it would make sense and I might have just missed that, so I will pay more attention to that part when we watch it again.)


My one real complaint was that I would have liked more Bones and Scotty. But that's not a criticism based so much on the movie, because the movie seemed well balanced. I just loved listening to Scotty and would have liked to hear more of his accent. And of course I really like Karl Urban and would have enjoyed seeing more of him in Star Trek. ;)


They mentioned Slusho, which I was thrilled by. (By the way, if you watch "Fringe", did you notice that Walter was drinking a Slusho the other day? I did - I saw the top of his drink and was saying "That really ought to be Slu. . ." when they panned down slightly and I saw the top of the logo and screamed "It is! It's Slusho!" at the top of my lungs. Caradorn and the cats did not appreciate that.)


There were lots of little nods to Star Trek fans and I'm sure I didn't catch all of them. I'm anxious to see it again. I would love to go back today but that might seem excessive. Maybe tomorrow instead. :) And we will definitely be getting it on Blu-Ray the day it comes out. This is one of those movies that I can see myself re-watching often!

They Have Ways of Making Me Talk, Apparently

I had the weirdest dream while we were in Florida . . . and I usually have odd dreams, but this one was strange even for me. As with most of my dreams, it was extremely realistic even if the subject matter wasn't terribly likely to actually happen.


I dreamed that I was at a house by a lake. I've had lots of dreams that took place at this house, which is odd since as far as I can remember I've never actually been there in real life. Usually the things that happen there aren't good. In fact, I don't think I have ever had a good dream that took place at the lake house. In almost all the lake house dreams I'm there with a bunch of other people. Usually the group of people is made up of random people I know from different parts of my life - high school, college, vacations, places we go on a regular basis. I always recognize everyone in the dreams, though they don't always act like their real-life counterparts.


In this dream, most of the people were at the house together and they didn't know I was there. I think I got there late, or maybe I was trying to surprise them by showing up unexpectedly, but either way they didn't realize I was lurking outside and they all started talking about me. The first really strange thing was that they all had Russian accents. Then the things they were saying didn't make any sense. They were asking each other if they had found out anything new, and wondering if I had cracked yet. Apparently they were Russian spies and they were trying to steal information from me. They were also complaining to each other about having had to put up with me for so long, and sympathizing with each other for having to pretend to like me.


I stood by the window for a while and listened to them, and then one of them - my friend Jack, who I've known since we were in junior high - walked over and looked out and saw me. We just stood there for a second looking at each other and then I asked him if it was true. He said that it was, and told me it would be easier for me if I would just tell them what they wanted to know so they wouldn't have to hurt me. I told him that nothing I knew was worth a twenty year long plot to weasel information out of me, and he pointed a gun at me and said that there was no point in lying about it and I would talk soon enough. I turned to run away and then I woke up.


I was sad when I woke up, and I'm not sure which part was worse. The fact that everyone I knew disliked me and just pretended to be my friends in order to steal information from me or the fact that my real life isn't that interesting. I think both things are pretty sad, actually. One thing is for sure - if I ever end up at that lake house in real life I will be running away as quickly as possible. It is not a good place for me!

Home Again

We survived the band trip! I ended up being well enough to go, so we left Wednesday afternoon to head toward Florida. Caradorn and I were running a bit late, and when the buses left at 1:00 we were still at the vet dropping Stitch off to be boarded. We weren't too worried about it, though, since we knew which way the buses planned to go and thought we could easily catch up with them. We were wrong! Those bus drivers must drive race cars in their time off, because they kept the buses going upwards of 80 mph for most of the trip. Fortunately they also stopped at rest stops fairly often so we did eventually manage to catch up to them.


We got out of Rocket City just in time. Wednesday evening they announced that schools would be closed on Thursday and Friday because of the Swine Flu. One local band had their trip cancelled that night. Another band was on the buses leaving town Thursday morning when they got the call to turn around and come home. I felt terrible for those poor kids! Fortunately we didn't have to turn back and after spending Wednesday night in Valdosta we got to the Magic Kingdom on Thursday afternoon.


The band managed to hit all four parks plus DisneyQuest while they were there. Caradorn and I tagged along with them most of the time. We weren't officially chaperones since we were driving the emergency vehicle and needed to be able to leave with anyone who was sick or injured, so we needed to stay close to the band but we did have a bit of freedom. We had promised The Kidd that we would also let him have some freedom from us on the trip. So we mostly kept our distance from him, though he did seek us out a few times. Caradorn and I skipped DisneyQuest while the band was there and went to Sweet Tomatoes and played mini golf instead. The rest of the time we shadowed the band pretty closely, though we did head over to MGM while they were on Pleasure Island and DTD since I'm still not ready to stop boycotting yet.


Saturday we did play hooky for a while so we could go see Blondie performing at Epcot. While we were there we also swung by the Velcro show to see Snoopy and we went to see if Judy at the Global Gecko had any new carvings that we just had to have. Then we grabbed lunch and headed over to MGM for the rest of the day. That night was the Festival Disney awards ceremony. The kids were disappointed that their bands didn't score as high as they had hoped (or as we had expected) but they still had fun. They especially enjoyed "Mulch, Sweat and Shears" who performed at the awards presentation. And we were pleased to see Gabby from the Adventurers Club appearing as Mia Mulch.


Sunday morning we all got up bright and early and headed toward home. The drive was a ridiculous comedy of errors. The buses spent the first half of the drive going 80 to 90 mph, and then crawled along at 50 for a while because they were too far ahead of schedule. The buses kept making extra stops because they were trying to kill time before meeting up with replacement drivers. At one point we had to stop so the kids could spend a while hiding in a Kohl's store because of severe weather. By that point a few kids had started getting sick. Then we had to detour through Birmingham because the drivers were afraid that flooding had washed out one of the roads they had planned to use.


I was beginning to think we would never make it back to Rocket City, but finally we did. . . 16 hours after we left Orlando. I'm still so tired - I'm just trying to get through today so I can get some sleep tonight. And still, even though it was an exausting trip, I would like to go back. Caradorn and I will be going back by ourselves this summer while The Kidd visits my parents, and I am looking forward to it. For now, though, it's nice to be home!