Top ten films of the decade (2000-2009)

10. The Departed (2006)

Directed By: Martin Scorsese

Starring: Jack Nicholson, Leonardo Dicaprio, Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg

This is the best remake of the 2002's Hongkong thriller starring Andy lau and Tony leung. Scorsese, my favorite film director , succesfully adapted the film into american movie rooted in Boston. It chronicles infiltration between the law inforcer and the very people they are after. Matt Damon plays the tricky villain, and Dicaprio plays the the good guy who is in undercover as the mob member. Jack Nicholson plays the head of the mob. This star-studed picture really is one of the best crime-gangster mean-street genre that Scorsese pioneered more than three decades ago in 1973. Within the information and disinformation, you are not really sure what's coming and by that fashion this thriller drama pumps your heart pounding harder than most action-driven movies. With the usual Scorsese style of extreme violence and foul languages, this movie is most definitely not appropriate for those under the age of 20.

 

09. Casino Royale (2006)

Directed By: Martin Campbell
Starring: Daniel Craig, Eva Green

This is the best James Bond film so far. Daniel Craig gave the performances that no other actors that play Bond can compete up to this point. He is cold and bloodthirsty, yet he is warm and compassionate. When there is chasing and fighting sequence between Bond and his enemies you are almost made believde that you don't want to be at the other end of the strike. The title Casino Royale actually refers to a spoof comedy in the 1967 which is also a James Bond film but in a comedic tone. Now the title is used once again to refer to a casino in montenegro where Bond must meet his nemesis to battle the evil using his black jack skill, a benefit skill in addition to skill to terminate life and to conquer women. Too bad the follow up of this wonderful picture is Quantum of Solace which is not nearly half as entertaining. 

 

08. Catch Me If You Can (2002)
Directed By: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Leonardo Dicaprio, Tom Hanks

A con man film inspired by a true events in 1960s in which a teenager Frank Abagnale Jr posed as a doctor, a lawyer, and a pilot in order to bamboozle and steal a lot of money from the people he works for. This is one the most charming performances by Dicaprio playing a tortured teenager a victim of a broken family and must do whatever he thought he could to bring his family back together once again. Tom Hanks is also entertaining playing the a bit-goofy FBI agent who is trying to catch Frank. A lightweight drama of this caliber is also a proof that Spielberg is a brilliant versatile filmmaker of our time.

 

07. The Lord Of The Rings trilogy (2001-2003)

Directed By: Peter Jackson

Starring: Elijah Wood, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen

A great epic adapted from great book written by a visionary story teller and brought up to screen by a brilliant filmmaker. There is no doubt that LOTR is one helluva epic fantasy with beautiful tale and great visual achievement and always keep you unpatiently waiting one year before you can enjoy the continuation of the journey and the battle of the middle earth.

 

06. Kill Bill (2003-2004)

Directed By: Quentin Tarantino

Starring: Uma Thurman, Michael Madsen, David Carradine

The proof that Quentin really loves movies is vividly painted in every frame of this movie. The best revenge movie mixing western cowboy and far east martial art can never feel so realistically enjoyable if it were not because of Quentin’s vision of how an action film should be in order to be engrossing, enjoyable and of course becoming one of the best films of this decade. Uma Thurman gave of her great physical performances that almost no other female actress can beat. She is sweet but she can also be deadly. You gotta think twice about screwing her up ’cause she really will stop at nothing to get you. This is also David Carradine’s last feature presentation before his tragic death last year.

 

05. Avatar (2009)

Directed By: James Cameron

Starring: Zoe Saldana, Sam Worthington.

James Cameron proved again that he really is the king of the world. After a huge and successful Titanic, we would think that Jim is running out of juice to make a movie that is nearly as great as the love story about sinking ship. But we thought wrong. Avatar has just broken the record of Titanic by becoming the number one picture of all time worldwide in terms of boxoffice sales. The environment-friendly theme mixed with recollection of Jim’s knowledge about all science fiction stories he read in the past. The result is a magnificent picture that is one of the best films of this decade.

04. No Country For Old Men (2007)

Directed By: Coen Brothers

Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin

A story about a drug deal gone awry, and one man is trying to take the advantage out of the situation but found himself trapped in to mouse and cat chase between him and the people who want to claim the money back. This madman, played insanely convincing by Javier bardem, was the cold-blooded killer

who would never stop until either the hunted of himself was killed. This very powerful thriller is the Coen Brother's best film since the 1996's Fargo which is also about coincidence and something gone awry. The ultimate scene which is also inconclusive or should i say open to your own interpretation, is the typical signature of the directors. I found that No country of old men despite of its slow pace (also typical of the Coen Brothers) is a very intensely heart pounding thriller of this decade.

03. The Dark Knight (2008)

Directed By: Christopher Nolan

Starring: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger

In world of prevailing gruesome injustice, one man decides to take the stand to fight them. Batman is rebooted in 2005 with an awesome upgrade after a disaster 1997 film Batman & Robin. It is the great vision of Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer who bring our lovely crime fighting superhero back to the big screen which was one of the most awesome films of 2005. The sequel was even better, with that memorable evil villaint the joker played by the late Heath Ledger who died untimely, was definitely one of the drive of this film. He is omnipresent even when he's not on the screen. His menace really thrilled us throughout the film and his terror really turn our head upside down. The plot is awesome the story is great, the action was heart pounding and the drama is thrilling. WIth the supporting casts who play equally convincing, the picture albeit set in a fantasy world really has root in our real world especially because batman doesn't really have superpower. He counts on great technological devices and gadgets to fight injustice and crime of Gotham city. You can't possibly disagree with me if i put this film as one of the best films of this decade.

02. There Will Be Blood (2007)

Directed By: Paul Thomas Anderson

Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Dano

This movie is about Day-Lewis performance. If it were not due to his involvement, it won’t be on this list, hell it won’t even make the cut for the 10 best film of 2007. His electrifying performance was uncanny and unbelievable. He plays a lonesome oil tycoon who cares about nothing but his wealth. He would stop at nothing to accomplish more wealth even it that means he has to take lives. The extent to which his character would dissolve to society was not clearly defined but that's what makes the film and Day-Lewis's performance (for that matter) is so good as hell. Paul Thomas Anderson (PTA) once again proves that he is not just another filmmaker. He is, much like Tarantino, a generation VCR director who gain his movie-making skill not by going to school professionaly, but rather by watching literally thousands of VCR  in his teenagehood. The result is a master of filmmaker who as also equally excellent in writing his own script be that original or adapted.

01. Minority Report (2002)
Directed By: Steven Spielberg

Starring: Tom Cruise, Colin Ferrell

I have trouble of sleeping for nights after the first time i saw Minority report. This is not a horror flick, but the look of our future 50 years from 2002 really disturbed my state of mind. There is no sense of privacy left for us in society despite our safety is according to the film is more guaranteed by virtue of precogs who can see the future by gathering networked information which is digitally processed from raw data using advanced complicated technique and then generate the images out of the information . The advance technology show-off cannot get any better in other films this decade than in this very film. Spielberg's execution of film-noir style much like those of Hitchcock classic was perfectly blended seamlessly with the futuristic background. This is a very dark thriller with a setting in the future of our own world as we live it today, it is really an action-thriller futuristic drama if you like. The "Who's the killer" theme usually wears us off pretty easily, but not in this film.  This is one of the greatest science fiction film of this decade and of course is my choice for the best film of the decade 2000s.

Top ten films of 2009

10. A Serious Man (B)

Ethan Coen and Joel Coen direct this subtly funny yet a serious depiction of a man and his relationship with his religion and people around him. The dark comedy is one very special and unique presentation this year especially because it was played by a lot of  unknown actors and also the prologue is a nice touch. But the ending was too inconclusive even by the Coen Brother's standard. Starring: Mike Sthulbarg. Directed by: Coen Brothers

09. Bad Lieutenant (B+)
A story about a crooked cop dealing with his problem of drug addiction and his ambiguous cooperation with the outlaw to make extra money ilegally in a dillapidating city of port call of new orleans after the katrina disaster. Not a movie for everyone especially due to its criminal-fueled theme. The movie is a loose adaptation of the 1992's version played by Harvey Keitel as the rogue detective but that version directed by Abel Ferrara has a stronger sexual content. This one has more violence and drug content. Nicolas cage plays very convincingly as the degrading detective who despite of his reckless and abusive behavior over his position can getaway with those illegalities and come out promoted. Starring: Nicolas Cage,Val Kilmer, Eva Mendes.Directed By: Warner Herzog

08. Inglourious Basterds (B+)

A come back of the super genious master of story-telling , Quentin Tarantino in a revised lesson of world war II history in a spagetti western style with stylish action violence that surely quench my thirst of awesome classy action adventure drama film. The downside is too many unnecessary dialogues among the characters which i am not nearly engrossed by as i was for Pulp Fiction. Starring: Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz. Directed by: Quentin Tarantino.


07. The Informant! (B+)
A very engaging and engrossing dark comedy of the year with a brilliant performance by the bloat Matt Damon, this movie tells an odd based on true story of Mark Whitacre PhD, a top level executive at Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) corporate who whistleblow the illegal price fixing practice of is company to the FBI when he himself embezzle money from his company. The man suffers from bipolar disorder of manic depression which impede him from telling the truth and distinguish the real world reality from the reality he created himself. Matt Damon performance was uncanny. Too bad he missed the award, probabaly because it is too comedic rather than a preferred dramtic role. Starring Matt Damon, Scott Bakula. Directed by Steven Soderbergh.

06. (500) Days Of Summer (A-)

One of the best romantic comedy of the decade. It tells a very honest story how skewed a perspective of viewing lightning-can-strike-only-once kind of love with let's-have-fun kind of "love". I love it... truly honest. Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Joey Deschanel. Directed by: Marc Webb.

05. The Hangover (A-)

A very funny comedy about Vegas trip gone awry. Not a typical bachelor party holocaust, it is smart and entertaining form the beginning until the end. If you like American Pie when you're 20, then defenitely you're gonna love this film on your 30s Starring: Bradley Cooper, Justin Bartha. Directed By: Todd Phillips.

04. Up In The Air (A-)
With a clever theme and smart plot, this is the most personal and most honest film of the year. The film cannot be released at any appropriate time to depict U.S' most difficult financial times. Thanks to clever direction from Jason Reitman, the same person behind Juno (2007), this is one of the most embracable dialogue-oriented movie about life, job and being connected with people. The peformances are also well done. Starring: George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick. Directed By: Jason Reitman.

03. Up (A)

A very uplifting "Married-Life" sequence at the beginning alone has escalated this animated feature up into the sky amidst all other live-action movies despite of its children friendly theme, most adults will actually love this film than children do. Directed By: Pete Docters.

02. The Hurt Locker (A)

The best film about Iraq war. A very subtly intense drama that bring me back to the memories of such similar theme movie like Black Hawk Down in 2001. Only, this one is twice better. More human element of the movie. I can't nearly believed that this male-driven drama thriller was directed by a woman. But I have my two thumbs up for her work here. Starring: Jeremy Reiner. Directed By: Kathryn Bigelow.

01. Avatar (A)

There is no question that this is one of the best science-fiction movies of this decade. The groundbreaking visual effects and other technical-related accomplishment has eclipsed Titanic as the highest grossing picture of all time in the box office. It breaks the record that no other film has done in the last 12 years. Both films directed by the same man, James Cameron and he really has proven that he is the king of the world of box office once again. This is a must see picture of 2009. If you choose to see only one film in 2009, this is it. Starring: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana. Directed By: James Cameron.

Review Bodyguards And Assassins

Bodyguards and assassins centers around a period in china's revolution in history when the Tang Dynasty collapsed and China was in a movement to tear down feodalism. Sun yat sen was one politician figure involved much in such movement. The movie was about protecting him by creating a diversion in order to protect his secret meeting in British occupied Hongkong in 1905. Then the movie gives us some fictional tale of ordinary people who live in the era surrounding that historical event.

It's been a while since i watch a mandarin film (The last one is in 2004, Kung Fu Hustle). When i saw that this film was playing in the cinema, with no further hesitation, i went to check it out. Turn out to be a very funny movie as i laugh several time on some scenes. That said, the movie is suppossed to be serious because of the nature of its subtle dark tone that involves history of revolution in china. It is indeed a serious action drama. So what to laugh about?

Ok. Here is the list of scenes i thought hillarious:

1. when Donnie yuen's character recklessly went on one-to-one collision with an ample horse.
2. when the tallest man character was able to resurrect himself despite of having been stabbed with knives several times from many directions in his body.
3. The appearance of actor Leon Lai as the beggar. I thought this was so extremely funny, because when i was little with friends and brothers, i persistently said things about Leon that he might just be the poorest (financially)actor in Hong kong due to his underappreciated style and appearance. So this scene is sentimental for me .
4. The main villain's character exposing his dreadful vengeful yet tickling face when he is about to summon his throwback to his enemy.
5. and many more

There were several things which i though to be ridiculous in our world nowadays but might be so common back then. One of them is when the businessman "buy" his collie a woman to marry. All and all, i think the movie is ridiculous despite of its serious intention to chronicle back an important historical event. It did make me laugh, however i was not supposed to, because this is indeed a serious drama. So , it's a mild thumbs down from me for the movie.

"Bodyguards And Assassins", a Media Asia releasing is unrated by MPAA, but containing gory action violence. Running time: 105 minutes. Two and a half stars out of Four (C+).

-Mulyadi Tjoa, MIS Officer @ P.T. Freeport Indonesia-

Review Avatar

James cameron is a director of vision. Ever since he made movies, his movies were always about human's interaction with technology. He was an inspired film-maker who left his job as a truck driver about three decades ago after amazed by Star wars films. His overachiever attitude in the filming location drawn subtle hatred from his fellow crew and casts. Nevertheless, the result is always breathtaking. From terminator, aliens, true lies and of course the oscar-winning Titanic, jim never show a bit crack in unseriousness in making movies. He always push the envelope when it comes to leveraging groundbreaking technology in cinema. His latest narrative feature, Avatar is one of the most anticipated movie of the year. I just saw it and i thought it was magnificent though inherently not without flaw.

It chronicles human in a not-a-distant future living in a place called Pandora where human race try to claim the land from to the native Na'vi. Several human race were sent through a "projection" in a machine called Avatar in order to blur with the natives only to have them changing side due to symphaty and one of them falls for a beautiful na'vi woman The movie has recently pick up golden globes nomination for best picture and best director for Jim, and now it is considered to be a front runner for best picture and best director in oscar race next march. It is a rare achievement for a science fiction genre. Watching Avatar is like experiencing somthing new because nobody has ever leverage the technology Jim uses solely in the purpose of filming this film. He even stated that sharing this experience with other people is how the business will slowly show success. "When people have an experience that's very powerful in the movie theatre, they want to go share it. They want to grab their friend and bring them, so that they can enjoy it," Jim said. "They want to be the person to bring them the news that this is something worth having in their life. That's how Titanic worked".

Avatar is so luxurious in its picture. The gung-ho surrounding its implementation of technical aspects of the film especially the special effect and the groundbreaking stereographic projection to create a live felt motion picture is once again justified itself that he would never have to care too much about others' negative doubt. I admit that the story and plot itself is actually not too compelling but cameron was able to concoct a reality on the big screen that matters. This is the man who in a way has surpassed a lot of many master director in Hollywood like Stanley Kubrick, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg in creating a magical masterpiece that is not just another popcorn flick like Transformers which i hate.... so much due to its perpetual "pots banging" and the ineptitude of its director to create an extravagant masterpiece like Avatar.

"Avatar" a 20th Century Fox releases, is rated PG-13 for intense epic battle sequences and warfare, sensuality, language and some smoking. Running Time: 160 minutes. Four Stars out of Four (A).

-Mulyadi Tjoa, MIS officer @ P.T. Freeport Indonesia-

Review Inglourious Basterds

If you read my review on the movie "Surrogates", you will notice my anxiety anticipating for the movie Inglourious Basterds, a new film from Quentin Tarantino, one of my favorite Hollywood filmmaker since Pulp Fiction in 1994. This is a movie created by Tarantino where most of its character and events are purely fictional albeit set in world war II, because Tarantino would just love it to bend history only to tell the audiences his own wacky version and also as a template of reason to display a series of stylish action violence. Though the main reason i would avoid this movie is due to Brad Pitt's participation, he turned out to be just alright and though i don't quite like him, he certainly has a gift in convincingly playing psychotic, sassy and wacky characters like those displayed in Twelve Monkey(1995), Kalifornia(1993), and Fight Club(1999) and of course in this film. Now back to Quentin Tarantino. Quentin has an intesting journey to become one of the most notable moviemaker in Hollywood. He didn't actually have a formal filmmmaking education like other common directors. He, Paul Thomas Anderson, Kevin Smith, and Richard Linklater are examples of notable Hollywood directors who develop their skill of moviemaking NOT by attending school, instead they gained it by watching literally thousands of video in their adolescent years. One of tarantino's trademarks is the interesting dialog between the characters, and they are smart ones in most of his films. Things, that we normally know by heart or even unconsciously but never fully realize it, and when the moment of realization is unleashed as the film is unfolded before our eyes, we know that we are experiencing a smart film. Having said that, I realize that there are a lot of people out there (including you) who don't share my views of the importance of having clever and smart lines or dialogs in a movie to be more enjoyable.

Unfortunately, the film while still enjoyable lacked that smart dialogs i was talking about. In this film, they are rather boring, not really interesting and contribute a little part or almost nothing to the plot of the film as a whole. In Pulp fiction, the dialogs seemed random but they are actually pertaining to the story or at the very least they are interesting. Here, Tarantino brutally injects thousands of random outbursts going nowhere. Unlike Pulp fiction where the dialog is as exhilarating as the action, in this movie I can't help myself to uncomfortably move a little part of my body in discomfort due to seemingly never coming action part of the film. But when it did come, I was satisfied, it is typical stylish and gory Tarantino violence (exemplified by the vicious Nazi killer, played by Eli Roth) mixed with stylish action sequences. By the way, Brad Pitt's character in this movie seemed to have more enjoyable lines than the others, they are rather funny in a dark way of course. Not to discriminate, but it is a relief to have Americans character in a film mainly centers around Europeans. One big clap is for Christopher Waltz playing the German high officer, Col. Hans Landa. It was a brilliant performance. Once, Tarantino had a plan to cast Leonardo Dicaprio for this rather eccentric and evil character, but I am glad he canceled it because, despite being a character-based actor, Leo would have a hard time to pull it off like Chris does. He should merit a consideration for best supporting actor award.

Another notable trademark about Tarantino’s films is its female characters. Female characters in Tarantino’s movies are always depicted as being tough, macho, mean, and sometimes deadly. He doesn’t seem to be interested to portray female as a weak, sensitive, and lovely character, instead he would just go ahead and really treat women like men in Tarantino’s world of emancipation. One particular female character, Shosanna Dreyfus, played by the beautiful and sweet French actress Melanie Laurent is an esthetical relief for a film with blood and guts. Despite that, she is a vicious and vengeful young lady who would stop at nothing to accomplish what she wants including terminating the very life of a man who naively had a crush on her. This film contains a lot of violence toward female and it immediately really reminds me of his other movie which I love to death, Kill Bill and a mediocre Death Proof section of The Grindhouse. Unfortunately, they were not strong enough which is understandable since this is a movie based on world war II where level playing field is mostly occupied by men. All and all, this is still a very good movie to see though I am disappointed by the fact that it really could be Tarantino’s masterpiece (like the lines Brad Pitt’s character uttered at the very last violent sequence of the movie) if it were not due to those unnecessary rubbish dialogs in the middle.

“Inglourious Basterds", a The Weinsten Company and Universal Pictures release is rated R for strong graphic violence, language, and brief sexuality. Running Time: 152minutes. Three and a Quarter stars out of Four (B+)

-Mulyadi Tjoa, Software Developer @ PT Switchlab Indonesia, Jakarta-

Review Surrogates

Ok, here’s the deal. The power went off. There was fire on the power station. Every household in this city needs to take on turns to get the electricity distributed in their house during the fix and hence the power needs to be taken off on turns with allegedly fair schedule. So, off to the movie theatre I went. I was disappointed that the movie Inglourious Basterds hasn’t played yet. It has been playing everywhere on the globe except in few countries including ours. It is one of my most anticipated movies of the year, since it was directed by my favorite filmmaker Quentin Tarantino, the same dude who made Pulp Fiction in 1992 and Kill Bill in 2003. So I have to wait and be satisfied by the now playing features that is this movie.

Well for a start, this movie sucks on so many levels. It sucks on the action, it sucks on the special effect, it sucks on its actors’ performances, and most of all it sucks on its plot. The basic premise is actually quite intriguing. Having an artificial robot taking your form to perform most of your daily activities on account of avoiding unwanted self accident and contamination as well as avoiding ominous threat seems not bad at all, in fact it’s kinda cool. Like Minority Report, I like a movie that projects what future would be like before the audiences, what advance technology would evolve and be probable to exist in the future, what cool gadgets and how they would impact our social layer in a global scale has always intrigued me. If I would not be able to live long enough to see it, at least I can still sense it thru movies. Minority Report does just that and even give us more, unfortunately that’s not the case for Surrogates. The artificial robot is so kinky suggesting that the creator has strange fetishes. But as I sit thru till the end credit rolled, it is not the case. He is just a sick old man with no clear idea as to why he created it in the first place and how it would do any good to the society. Even it does good thing for the society he nevertheless broke his own integrity by trying to obliterate his own brainchild with no acceptable reason. His character is like a stupid psycho creating a great product only to despise it himself and is a reminiscent of the real life Albert Einstein who regret that he found the basic formula for atomic bomb, but at least Einstein would not have defy his own E = mc^2 formula. By the end, all of them robots were destroyed immediately and simultaneously throughout the land of America. In short, the plot is ridiculous.

The action is too standard. Bruce willis is well … just Bruce Willis. The 54-year old actor seems to have hard times to do all the action scenes in front of the camera that I suspect there were a lot of scene where the stunt replaces him. Generally, he is good playing action hero or tough character, so it’s not him to blame but the people behind the movie should dodge the bullet for creating and selling a rubbish entertainment to us and hence insulting our intelligence and self awareness of good movies. On strong point is that the plot seems intriguing at times and hence igniting anticipation for us audiences, but it never really take off and the filmmaker or the screenwriter were not audacious enough to explore the intensively dark side of the society during the said age. So instead of watching this crap, it’s better to watch Minority Report all over again because it is worth your time more to see one great film over and over again than to see a bad one even only for once.

“Surrogates,” A Buena Vista Pictures release, is rated PG-13, for intense sequences of violence, disturbing images, language, sexuality and a drug-related scene. Running time: 104 minutes. One and a half stars out of four (C-)

-Mulyadi Tjoa, Software Developer @ PT Switchlab Indonesia, Jakarta

Review Up

When I was little, like most children I loved animation. Animation, unlike live action feature, escorts your mind into the other dimension. All of what you see do not have any counterparts in the real life, as opposed to live action which presents you with on-again off-again journey to the other realm. As a little child, our mind was not a full fledge awareness machine in regard to what is real and what is fantasy. As we grow up, we tend to appreciate reality more because our sense of thought accrues along with our sense of the real world where we live in. But of course that experience as a little one wanting to take a foray into the other dimension to briefly forget all burdens you get to carry over as responsible grownups in your otherwise mundane life is surely not just a good treat. It is plain necessary every once in a while.

After two great films in a row, Ratatouille and Wall-E in two consecutive years, 2007 and 2008, you would be tempted to think that the next feature from Pixar would be nothing but a turndown despite of the title. In the contrary, Up is with no hesitation simply the best compared to the other two, and the best film I have seen so far this year, and it should merit a serious academy award consideration for best picture not just for best animated feature, which I am sure it will win one. It never cease to amaze me how those folks at Pixar keep creating something original, creative, surreal, great and wonderful such as this one. It is a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful and magnificent achievement not just in animation industry but in the overall movie making. The movie never fails to amuse me in every scene, the scenes are so ubiquitous notwithstanding. It is in the context of the story, these frames of moving pictures add up to a perfect movie that entertains very exquisitely well from the very beginning to the end. With its Disney Digital 3-D format, the movie has a greater and livelier look.

The story began with a small boy inspired to be a great adventurer befriended a quirky little girl of his age. They would play together and swear that one day in their life to explore the paradise falls in the exotic South America and move their club house there. Then it fast forwarded to times they got married, living life together, when the man worked as a toy balloon vendor and his wife as a zookeeper, saving their money so that one day they will have enough ammunition to fulfill their wildest dream, and finally they got older and the wife’s passing before achieving what they have waited for. This 10-minute non dialog scene was very warm, witty and uplifting simultaneously. Later, the 78-year-old widower live his life on his own and it was not until the conflict between the old man with the contactor company that evicts him out of his own property did he realize that it was a perfect time to revive his long lost dream even without his beloved wife. He then tied thousands of highly pressured Helium gas Balloons to firmly flying his house to travel and begin his adventure. Accompanied by a wilderness explorer boy, who accidentally sneaked up on the porch of the cozy house as it flew sky high, he ventured across the country to South America, hoping he can fulfill his late wife dream moving her clubhouse in Paradise falls. Then the real adventure started for this film, and as he is drawn into this fascinating tour, so are we.

“Up” is not just fun to watch it is sweet and uplifting, it reminds me why I like movie so much. There are a lot of elements to cherish in this film. First and the most significant element is that the story is so simple yet so good and wonderful and very original. Pixar’s animation differs from Dreamworks feature in that they never really need to employ cheesy jokes that ultimately worn me off as in the case of strikingly bad first Madagascar film (2005) which eventually programmed my mind to avoid to see any Dreamworks product unless if it were ‘exceptional’, the information of which I can get from the review and its premise in any online synopsis. Ok, let’s stick to this film, shall we? The second element is they really know how to create embraceable characters that immediately steal the scene, which in this case is a peacock-like giant ostrich with colorful furs that does not even have any single human dialog. But its witty behavior attached itself to all main characters pretty seamlessly and even building a sense of omnipresence to the audience. The third element: they know how to make a comedy, a really funny comedy which in this case revolved around talking and sometime vicious dogs who behave like human with normal human expression. There were several scenes where the dogs laugh and it made me laugh to see how perfect they capture that impossibility as I occasionally wonder why real dogs never laugh. And the last but not the least: they understand the drama element plays an important role to the movie, because when technology behind film industry has advanced so much, movies become more tedious and plain dull when the director recklessly inject a ridiculous amount of spectacularly agonizing mindless scenes (like the case of Transformers) with no real intention to tell the audience a good story.

Back to my original discussion about finding your innocent 8-year-old self every once in a while, the late Walt Disney must had been very proud that the company is able to continue his legacy to entertain and conjure up the world of magic to thousands of audiences around the globe. As you see the opening logo of every Disney pictures zooming out this magical world of wonder emulating Disneyland theme park, combined with a music from “When you wish upon a star” song, you know and realize that they are starting up the process of inviting the inner child inside you to experience the world of magic they have beautifully crafted for 90 minutes or so. But why should you let your inner child enjoy this film more than your current self, when, though little children will surely enjoy “Up”, adults will enjoy it even more?

“Up,” A Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation Studios release, is rated PG for some peril and action. Running time: 90 minutes. Four stars out of four (A)

-Mulyadi Tjoa, Software Developer @ PT Switchlab Indonesia -