BLAST FROM THE PAST!
ANIMATED
Fred, 9, my consultant on kids' movies, nailed it. "Pixar never disappoints," he said after seeing Up, the latest offering from the animation studio that previously gifted moviegoers with Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Wall-E and more. Fred got that right. Up, the story of a crusty codger who goes aloft on an extraordinary adventure after attaching a giant bouquet of helium balloons to his house, is pure delight from start to finish.
Carl Fredricksen (Asner, who's perfect) planned for decades to go exploring in South America with his beloved wife, Ellie. Now a widower and faced with moving to an old-age home, he instead takes off on that long-delayed trip. Unbeknownst to him, there's a pint-size stowaway aboard: Russell (Nagai), a Wilderness Explorer scout set on earning a badge for "assisting the elderly." The evolution of the friendship between these two, along with Carl's enduring love for his wife, imbues Up with a strongly beating heart. Early on, a montage shows the long arc of Carl and Ellie's marriage, poignantly—and wordlessly—illustrating how life's everyday shared moments (housecleaning, meals, a picnic) end up mattering the most. I challenge you not to tear up.
Alison Lohman, Justin Long, Lorna Raver | PG-13 |
SCARY FUN!
HORROR
Who says a director can't go home again, especially if that home is a haunted one? Sam Raimi, the talented director of the Spider-Man series, made his early name with creepy chillers (1981's The Evil Dead), and he giddily returns to the form with Drag Me to Hell. Equal parts funny and frightening, this entertaining tingler is about Christine Brown (Lohman), a bank officer who denies an ailing old lady (Raver) an extension on a home loan. The woman curses Christine, who starts suffering demonic visions. Knowing that her very soul is at risk, she seeks help from her doubting beau (Long) and spiritual seers. Hell is scary, but also wonderfully wacky. My favorite line: A hallucinating Christine yells at a coworker, "Get your filthy pig knuckles off my desk!"
>• He's been Hollywood's go-to grouch since The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Now Asner, 79, voices Up's cranky hero.
FANS RECITING HIS CLASSIC MTM LINE "I HATE SPUNK!" I hate that! It's almost as obnoxious as when I was doing the show. People would come up to me and say, "Why don't you treat Mary better?" And I'd say, "Get the hell away from me!"
NO SMOOCHING Not being kissed enough makes me grouchy. You can never have too much love in life.
MAINTAINING HIS IMAGE People expect me to be a grouch. So I give it to them. But really I'm soft inside.
>HOT NEW STAR
• Is this 32-year-old tough guy the next great Aussie superstar?
HE WAS ALMOST JAMES BOND He was on the shortlist to play 007 in Casino Royale before Daniel Craig won the role. But don't feel bad for Worthington: After his high-impact turn as a cyborg in Terminator, he'll be the lead in Titanic director James Cameron's special-effects extravaganza Avatar, due in December.
HE WORKED AS A BRICKLAYER Before winning a spot at the drama school Mel Gibson and Cate Blanchett attended, "I built houses," he has said. "I never had any intention of being an actor."
HE'LL KICK BUTT IN HOLLYWOOD "Here's the thing: Australians fly 15 hours to get here, so we're not going to waste our time. We're coming here to make an impact."
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
