So, last week we took a van full of Bavidos and Teagues into Tulsa to watch UP. Several of the family had already seen it, but it was the first time for me. Here are my thoughts.
First, the previews. It seems pretty obvious from watching the trailers on this movie and Night at the Museum 2 that the summer is looking pretty slim in the family features department. I must say I was very interested by the trailer for The Princess and the Frog. Doing a Cajun fairy tale with voodoo practicing bad guys, frogs and gators is an excellent idea. I hope they do a good job of it.
Next, the short. I love the fact that Pixar puts these before their films. Ethan had told me he didn't like the short. Having seen "Partly Cloudy", I have decided that Ethan is a nincompoop. This can easily rival "For the Birds". I'm not going to give anything away (it's hard to talk about a three minute short without giving something away) so I'll just say that it was excellent and will be enjoyed for many years to come.
Ever since seeing the trailer, I have known that UP was going to be the movie of the year. Easily. Only Pixar has the bravery to use an elderly man as the main character. Had any other studio made this movie they would have made the old man crass and rude, but instead Pixar created an amazingly complex character with strengths and weaknesses. His love story is wonderfully, and touchingly, told.
UP contains some of the truest comedic moments in recent memory. Kevin and Doug, a large bird and a bird dog, are wonderful. Kevin is an expanded version of the awkward bird in For the Birds and Doug is a typical loving, stupid bird dog.
What has really surprised people is that, while UP can certainly be enjoyed by kids, it is not a kids movie. It is a very serious study in the topic of death and aging. It carries much more meaning for aging Baby Boomers than 7 year old kids. Nobody seems quite sure what to do about it. When we saw it there were a lot of couples with young children in the theater, and very few, if any, adults without kids. It is going to take a while for people to get used to the idea of animation as medium, rather than animation as genre. If Pixar continues to make films like this, I think people will soon be convinced.
Up until this point, my favorite Pixar movie has been Monsters, Inc. And with every Pixar film since then, I have used Monsters as my measuring stick. So the burning question I tried to answer for a couple days after seeign the movie was, "Is this a better film than Monsters?" And I couldn't answer. I finally decided that they are both wonderful films, but too different to really compare. Pete Docter has given us two of the greatest films of the decade. I can't wait to see what he does next.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Friday, June 19, 2009
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
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I have not coached gymnastics camps for about four years. I've been spending my summers in Taiwan, and didn't have the chance to do much coaching. So this is my first summer in quite some time to coach. I'm loving it.
For years I have wanted to be the TAG level four coach. For various reasons, I have never been able to have that job. Now, the last summer that I work at Gymnastics City, I finally get that job. I have a group of level threes who want to move to level four, plus a couple level fives that I work with each day. In just the week and a half of camp so far I've seen some good improvements. On top of that, I've been working with the higher level gymnasts a fair amount on bars, and I'm really enjoying that.
Another thing I am enjoying very much is posting a new picture every day on my newly created flickr page. It's certainly challenging me to find and take interesting pictures that are worthy of posting.
And now I need to go to bed.
