Up

Director: Pete Docter, Bob Peterson

Starring: Ed Asner, Christopher Plummer, Jordan Nagai, Bob Peterson

Details: USA / 96 mins / U

Release Date: 16 October 2009

Can I preface this by saying that unless you have a heart so jaded that you have no distinguishing emotions; you will shed a tear in the first fifteen minutes of this movie. Needless to say, Pixar have hit the nail on the head again with this incredibly beautiful and uplifting (pardon the pun) story about life and death. Seventy eight year old Carl Fredrickson (voiced by Ed Asner) lost his wife and is in danger of losing his home. In order to keep his hold on his house and therefore preserve his wife’s possessions and memory, he ties thousands of balloons to the chimney, floating away on a mission to fulfill a lifelong dream of finding a remote waterfall in the wilds of South America. However he doesn’t count on eight-year-old Russell, a wilderness explorer who is an inadvertent stowaway. An unlikely and gradual friendship is formed and they continue on their journey meeting many adversaries and friends along the way, my favourite of which is Dug, a very loveable talking dog. Undoubtedly, the driving force behind this movie is its ability to get the audience to suspend their disbelief and really get behind the story. This is a huge accomplishment in these modern times and something Pixar have even failed at before (Cars anyone?). Up however combines some very real issues with some very unreal storylines and the result was celluloid gold.

- Ailish Bracken

Couples Retreat

Director: Vince Vaughn, Jon Favereau, Jason Bateman, Malin Ackerman

Starring: Ed Asner, Christopher Plummer, Jordan Nagai, Bob Peterson

Details: USA / 113 mins / 15A

Release Date: 14 October 2009

Couples Retreat is an almost shamelessly broad comedy that delivers a few laughs thanks to a hugely talented cast, but it just lacks the sufficient edge to be the saucy laugh riot it could have been. When two of their mates emotionally blackmail them into booking a pricey getaway, four couples take advantage of a group rate on a tropical island in order to spend some quality time with each other. But when they get there they realise that it isn’t the laid back paradise they envisioned, and that they’ll have to partake in the island’s strict couple’s therapy, which will force them to look at their relationships a lot more carefully. It’s hard not to be disappointed by Couples Retreat. Vaughn and Favreau are the guys who made one of the best independent movies of all time, yet this is far from their best work. It’s too long, sluggishly paced, and never spends enough time with each pairing to really warm to them. Davis and Favreau have the most interesting relationship out of the four, and the movie is strongest when we first meet them. Playing both the caring parents and bitter husband and wife wonderfully within the same scene, Favreau eats up every single second on screen. Vaughn has his moments, but never really let’s rip the way he can, while Bateman is completely wasted in a bland role as the gratingly pedantic husband. Don’t waste your money.

Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant

Director: Paul Weitz

Starring: John C. Reilly, Josh Hutcherson, Chris Massoglia, Michael Cerveris

Details: US/108mins (12A)

Release Date: 23 October 2009

Intended as an introductory to a longer series, Cirque Du Freak has moments of genuine enjoyment. John C Reilly’s Crepsley is the most interesting human, or vampire, we meet, but his motivations for sparking the shenanigans of the core story are never really addressed, which in turn makes the whole set-up feel like it was based on a whim. Darren Shan is your average 16 year old; good grades, a good big brother and son who stays out of trouble. Enter his best mate Steve. A vampire obsessed wayward soul from a broken home. The boys get wind that a freak show is coming to town and cannot miss the chance to take a closer look. Darren in a backstage wander happen upon a conversation he shouldn’t be hearing, which kicks off a series of events that lead him to becoming a vampire riling the jealous hackles of his mate Steve who always wanted to be one. Are you still with us? Cirque du Freak is a great example of a movie with huge potential that does it’s utmost never to realise it.

The characters are never fully developed and this is most evident with Crepsley who is the central hook of the movie but we know nothing about his past. This theme continues with side characters entering and exiting with no real purpose. Something is always lost with books turned movies, but while Cirque du Freak is well made for the most part, the script needed more work and a clearer focus before cameras rolled. There should, however, still be enough here to distract fang seeking teens until New Moon comes out.

- Sella Loid