My Week In Movies - Pixar Does It Again

Up (2009) Anybody who has seen a handful of Pixar films knows that they are special. They just are! They are beautiful, they are funny, and they are (mostly) touching. Even though Up is essentially about an old man who ties enough balloons to his house to fly himself to South America, it's probably the most down to Earth and easy to relate to story the studio has made. Up manages to stage a tear jerking moment in the first eight minutes of the movie. It's handled in such a way that younger kids probably won't know what's going on, but older viewers will have a hard time holding back the tears. The fact that a movie, yet alone a cartoon, can pull this off in the opening minutes speaks volumes for how smart and crafty the Pixar filmmakers are. The movie is funny, heart warming, full of action and adventure and even thought provoking. It might not be filled with lovable cute characters like Monsters Inc. or Toy Story, but I'd have to put it near the top of my list of favorite Pixar films.


Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009) What really blew me away about this funny movie was how clean and PG it was. It's basically an action film and there's some very mild risque humor, but I was amazed at how the film had nothing that I felt was inappropriate for my 3 and 5 year old to watch. The violence is kept to a minimum, the language is very tame, and the bad guys were never too bad. My kids (and the rest of the family) loved this movie. While a majority of the situations are far fetched, it's loaded with plenty of slapstick comedy and Kevin James' gentle humor that had all five of us laughing out loud at various times. This movie was a hit earlier this year when it surprisingly grossed over $140 million at the box office. It's not because this is a great movie, it's because it's a good movie that is clean and is fun for the whole family. I hope Kevin James' sticks with this winning formula because his next movie Field Trip sounds like it could be hilarious!


The Hammer (2007) Here's a small independent movie that was put together by Adam Carolla. You probably know Carolla from The Man Show or Love Line or as Jimmy Kimmel's good friend. I really started to become a fan of Carolla's when I started listening to his morning radio show out of L.A. via iTunes. When his radio station switched formats and dumped his show, Adam took to Podcasting and now has one of the most downloaded podcasts on iTunes. In many ways, the Podcast is better than the radio show and he may just revolutionize podcasting. Anywho...he talks about this movie that he made alot, and the movie didn't get a fair shake in distribution and he's always talking about how well received the movie was but no one has really gotten a chance to see it. Thanks to TiVo and HBO 17, I caught an airing of this charming little comedy. Carolla plays a carpenter who gets talked into getting back into the ring and making a bid for Olympic boxing glory. It's not a silly slapstick comedy as you might imagine, it's actually a sweet little story with a romantic subplot that turns out to be surprisingly effective. Adam is right...this IS a really good movie that deserves to be seen by more people. Hunt it down and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.