RonVitale

Pixar's Up

I had heard about the great reviews for Pixar's new film Up, but I blew them off. I thought it would be a solid film, but I didn't think that I would be in tears 10 minutes into the film! When I first saw the trailer for Up a while back, I shrugged my shoulders and didn't think more about it. I just didn't see how a film about an old man in a house that floated away on balloons could be exciting. Boy, was I wrong.

If there's anything that I learned, it's that the Pixar team knows how to tell a story and they're getting better at it each time. If only the other films coming out in American theaters had such heart and soul as this movie. Up is a story about loss, grief, missed opportunities and hope. It's a film that teaches adults the importance of life and why it's necessary to throw the GPS out the window and go on an adventure. But what about those first 10 minutes that made me cry? (I'm serious in that I was biting my tongue, holding back tears.) The emotional connection of what was being portrayed on the screen contained such power, but in a subtle way. Unlike the heavy "green" message in Wall-E, Up's story is about one man's journey rather than the survival of the human race, but, in a nice twist, it's easy to see how we can all be better people by connecting to those around us--even if it's with a wide-eyed innocent named Russell who just wants to help a little too much.

The joy of this film is that we're taken on an emotional rollar coaster as Carl tries to navigate through the land mines of life. What's so special about this film is that it works perfectly on two levels. My son (who will be six in a few months) didn't see the subtle layers of the film whereas I was a mess. To him, the story was clear and filled with adventure and color. (When Carl's house first floats away by a building with a little girl, the sunlight reflected rainbow of color of the balloons filling her room with vibrance is a beauty to behold onscreen.) When Russell explains to Carl how his father no longer comes to sit on the curb with him after his scout meetings, I was cast back to my own five year old self. Russell has captured the essence of relationships: "My father and I used to sit on the curb counting the red and blue cars going by. I know it sounds boring, but sometimes it's the boring things that you remember." Carl knows all about this--you can see his understanding in his eyes. The hurt is there. And I could identify with Russell as the fact that my own father had never taken me to the movies, or taught me how to play baseball or ride a bike or any of the "boring" things that Russell so longed for with his father. But the essence of the movie is about hope, adventure, letting go and of learning to live again. I thought of this as I put my hand on my son's knee and patted him. His father was there. Circles could be broken, there is hope.

A simple act of taking my son to the movie helped me experience a wonderful film and I was exhuberant in the fact that a good story, about people, can still be made in our glitzy world of 2009. Carl and Russell's story is timeless and integral to the human experience. Isn't it funny how going to see a children's movie could evoke such such hope in the power of the human spirit? Anyone who scoffs at animation needs to sit down and seriously take a second look at Pixar's films as they have become progressively mature film after film. Not only do the CGI effects become increasingly beauitful to look at, but the characters and the storylines are becoming more complex and human. Up is no Toy Story. It is an adult film wrapped in a sweet layer of candy so that children of all ages can enjoy it on one level and then, after its wrapping has been taken off, savored and enjoyed.

For those going with young children, remember that Up is PG and not G. There is some violence and scary scenes for young tots. Keep that in mind as there was one little girl crying at some of the more disturbing scenes.

If you're looking to see a film that's your typical summer popcorn flick, Up isn't it. Rather Up is a heart-warming film to help you rediscover your faith in humanity and, if you look hard enough, you might just learn a little something about your own heart as well.

Thoughts on Fatherhood

I'm gearing up for Father's Day and I've been planning on writing a blog post, but after yesterday I thought I'd take a few minutes to write a quick bit so I don't loose my train of thought. In the last few months, I've learned that five of my colleagues are going to be having children--three will be first time parents. When I talk about being a father, I like to tell some of the outrageous stories that I have--not because I want to frighten them away--but I love to share some of the quirky and amazing events that occur. So let's take yesterday as an example.

I had been invited to attend proclamation at city hall in Philadelphia. Mayor Michael Nutter was going to give a citation to the CEO of the organization that I work for her work on National Cancer Research month. As I am on morning duty with the kids, I got them up early, dressed them (with minimum fuss and crying), dropped them off at daycare and early care and then rushed via the El to city hall. To save time, I dropped my daughter off first and then backtracked to drop my son off so that I could park at a different train station than I normally park at. I arrived 10 minutes early for the event, met the major and all worked out well. I remember self-congratulating myself at how smoothly everything went--that I was able to pull it all off. Good going dad!

Toward the end of the day, my wife calls me and asks if I could pick the kids up as she's in an important meeting that's running over. No problem. I have a plan. I'll take the train home, grill hot dogs outside and my kids and I will have a blast enjoying the warm weather. Again, I'm super dad, right? No big deal!

I leave work, get on the train and pray that it doesn't break down as if it does (while I'm underground out of cell phone range) I'm in big trouble. This has happened in the past but, thankfully, all works out well. I get on my connecting train and look at the time. I'm doing great. I get off the train, head to the parking lot toward my car and start staring at it. It's the right make, model, color but the car seat in the back is different. And as I get closer I realize that there is only one car seat. What the heck is going on? For about two seconds, life, the universe and everything is zipping through my mind as I'm trying to connect the dots. Then I realize: Duh, it's not my car. I look to the left and head off and a sick feeling pops up into the pit of my stomach. I didn't park here. I'm at the station that I normally park at. My car is about 2 or more miles away. I look at the time and see that I need to pick both kids up in 45 mins. I need to run 2 miles to get to the car (in my suit with dress shoes, carrying my heavy bag), get my son and then rush to get my daughter.

I took my suit jacket off, folded it up into my bag, took the iPod off and started walking fast. Once I was off the main road, I started running. Then stopped when I couldn't breath going up hill so I stopped running and walked. Between walking fast and running, I made it to the car in 19 minutes. I jumped in the car, picked my son up and called my daughter's daycare saying that I was only minutes away.

By the time I arrived at my daughter's daycare, it was 5:54pm. I had 6 minutes to spare (for those of you who don't have kids--it's strongly requested that you pick your kids up by 6pm. You don't want to be late and, if you are consistently, you'll be charged a fee and can eventually be kicked out of daycare).

I came home, made dinner and the following happened the course of one hour: My son spilled his full glass of milk outside, he drew (had never done this before) with a crayon a wonderful picture onto the rug (thank you, Goop cleaner!) and when my wife came home I sat and was talking to her and the following happened.

My wife: "Don't hit the ball this way! Turn around and play elsewhere."

My son: "Sure, mom." (He turns around and starts playing in another part of the yard.)

About two minutes later I was talking to my wife and I had heard this crack of a ball against a bat and a stinging sensation in my face. My son had turned around and by accident his hitting the ball caused it to fly around my wife and hit me in the cheek. Ouch. I wasn't hurt but was damn surprised.

And, in a nutshell, wow, what a day. I'm cutting off here because I'm late for getting the kids up for school. I need to go take a shower and start the day. That, in a nutshell, is parenthood. It's not a typical day, but it's the type of day that can happen. It's not bad or good. It just is. And throughout the day there are thousands of tiny little moments that happen to test you, surprise you and cause you to laugh at the wonder of existence. It's all there. And getting hit in the face with a whiffle ball, too. Happy pre Father's Day!

New Star Trek Movie Review

If I had to choose, I would fall on the Star Wars side between Star Trek and the holy trilogy (let's pretend the Star Wars prequels didn't happen, okay?). I like to set the stage so that everyone understands my point-of-view. I've send every major Star Trek movies, multiple times, and am a big fan of Star Trek: The Wrath of Kahn and a The Undiscovered Country as well as The Search for Spock and The Voyage Home. It's those pesky odd numbered films that I like to ignore.

So in going to see the new J. J. Abrams "Star Trek" last night I had high expectations. The last trailer I saw looked rocking and had plenty of action and some fun, quirky one-liners that I thought would play out on the big screen. But then I saw Abrams on The Colbert Report and he admitted that he wasn't a Star Trek fan and I thought that was a bit odd in that he'd want to make a movie about a series that he wasn't a fan, but I brushed it off.

The film opens with a bang and, if I might say so, the best part is the opening. There's more eye candy there than you can handle. Phasers and ships blowing up and photon torpedoes, oh my! But then the action slows and you're brought through this muddled plot that makes no sense. I loved the introduction of the characters early on, but by the time you get to some really weak writing such as "Hey, I'm stuck here too, isn't it neat that we all happen to be meeting up at once? Just right when we need such special ability?" that I started to lose interest. To make it even more of a bore, a flashback scene with a voiceover explains what the heck has happened so that you can connect the dots. I just shook my head and sighed. Come on. I'm not stupid, but I guess if you have such a weak plot that you need to make certain that everyone gets that you're re-inventing the Star Trek universe and you happen to throw in lots of bad science, contrived plot lines and extremely weak characterizations.

I'm trying to remain vague on purpose but the big baddy (Captain Nero) decides to spend 25 years of his life trying to capture someone. He does and his big revenge is to release this person (what the?!) so that he can live with all the pain that Nero has. Then, late in the film, Nero says something like: "I knew I shouldn't have let him go! Gosh darnnit!" (Well, I added the "Gosh" part.) It's plot holes like that in which you just scratch your head and think: The baddy can blow up planets and he's too stupid to keep his enemy locked up? Are you kidding me?

I could go on and on and on with all these crazy plot holes, but I'm getting bummed. I'm glad that the Blu-ray versions of the original Star Trek films are coming out next week. I'll see them again. Now don't get me wrong. There's some good in these films, but the plot so weakens this film that it's not even funny. Really, it's not. I thought the acting was good, but many of the supporting cast have nothing to do in the film and that's a shame because I would have liked to have seen them work more together. But, I expect the next film will move onward and develop those relationships.

As for the effects, they're top-notch. The sound is immersive (though I wasn't a fan of the score) and there are some great battles. It's just my belief that the best is in the first 15 mins. You never really see anything that matches that throughout the rest of the film. Out of a scale of 1 to 10, I give it a 7 (a 70 passing grade but nothing to write home about).

One last comment: There's a scene in which Bill Hunt of www.TheDigitalbits.com says explains why this film "isn't your father's Trek." I now know what scene he's talking about (it's in the elevator of the Enterprise with two characters). I thought that scene was self-serving and didn't really add much to the story or the plot. Seemed to be thrown in there for shock value as though Abrams is saying, "See, I'm hip! Really, I am." I get it. I really get it, and for the record, it's not hip. Wasn't a shocker for me. Just made me roll my eyes as, again, the connection didn't matter to the story. Just was thrown in there.

But I don't want to end on a low note. Chris Pine as Kirk is a splash of fresh water and I really enjoyed his portrayal of the iconic Kirk. Nicely done! There's a lot to love in this new film if you ignore the lame baddy and the plot. So basically, treat it as a popcorn flick and you'll have fun. It's no "The Dark Knight."