Watching the box office for Avatar (review to come shortly) propel itself to a mere $6Million from Titanic makes me wonder. How can that movie be so popular? In a nutshell I really enjoyed it, but cannot fathom how it has managed to earn over twice as much as perhaps the best film of 2009. Now, it may seem weird to offer my thoughts on Pixar’s latest masterpiece, UP, in the year of 10, but for whatever reason I have only just been able to experience it. And what an experience. The first ten minutes of this movie completely and utterly blew me away, and I had to pause the Blu-Ray to just gather my feelings before we embarked on the remainder. Pixar have truly, astoundingly and wonderfully outdone themselves.

What I love so much about movies is being made to feel, think and share an experience with the actions on screen. What I love even more is when a movie can be so perfectly balanced, so perfectly timed and self-contained that I am left just reminiscing with much, much fondness about the wondrous story I have seen. In many ways I look back at UP with an almost nostalgic feeling; it is as if the film has managed to create within itself a depth of emotion that spans many years. And all this within the first ten minutes! The film opens with a scratchy black and white projection of a story about adventurer Charles Muntz. In the crowd is a wide-eyed little boy named Carl, with an aviator’s cap and goggles over his glasses. The sheer wonder in his face at seeing the world’s Muntz has explored is timeless. This little boy’s wondrous imagination of adventure seems to consume him and he is in his own world. Then he meets Ellie, a little girl who also shares his insatiable passion for adventure and excitement.

What follows is a heart-breakingly beautiful montage of this little boy’s life. This is a close to perfect ten minutes of celluloid (or in this case bits and bytes) that I struggle to find anything to compare it to. It is simply stunning. We follow Carl and Ellie has they learn to love each other and spend their lives dreaming of the one big adventure they have wanted to go on: to travel to paradise falls, like their idol Muntz. The tragic, painfully so, realisation that their every day lives begin to push this dream aside is so amazingly represented as they age that at some point I had to remind myself that these people weren’t real. It was just so well done, so precise.

As Carl and Ellie age, we see their happiness, their shared experiences both good and bad. We see them grow old together, with the constant twinkle of adventure in their eye, but with a growing sense of the inevitable way life seems to pass you by without you being able to fulfill your life-long dream. The first, most beautiful, most stunningly sad and so amazing part of this movie sets the older Carl’s mood in stone. As we see him as we will for the remainder of the movie, Ellie is no longer of his Earth, and Carl casts a tragic figure. Alone and full of yearning to be with Ellie again as well as the horrible feelings of lost dreams, Carl is a man caught in the middle of dreams and reality. What comes next shapes the remainder of the film. But after a start like that, it needed to shift its gears.

The house that little Carl and Ellie used to play in became the house they grew old together in, and now it is under threat from property developers. So Carl hatches a master plan; to float the house to Paradise Falls so he can fulfill their dream to visit. It is such a beautiful notion that the old man would move his house all that way just so he can say to Ellie: there I did it, we did it Ellie. Argh the movie was just so beautiful. While Carl manages to string up a gigantic collection of balloons to carry the house forth, he never expected a little wilderness scout to tag along for the ride. For the most part, the movie plays out with a superb mix of humour, for adults and children alike, with equal parts wonder and adventure, but the one constant that stuck with me was how Carl was just so determined to see his and Ellie’s dream come to life.

Carl and his scout castaway Russell are whisked away on adventure to Paradise Falls. We see them befriend local wildlife, be chased by the minions of some hidden menace and eventually, and yes, expectedly, begin to bond. Now I say expectedly because, well, Pixar make movies for everyone, and they need Carl to grow fond of Russell. It doesn’t happen quickly or easily, but it does happen. And I for one think it was handled so well, so cleverly and so realistically. Carl needs Russell more than he can imagine, and vice versa. Seeing Carl listen to Russell’s confession that he doesn’t see his father much, and the amazingly animated facial expressions, was just mind-boggling.

There were a handful of times during this movie that tears would well in my eyes. Tears of all kinds. The movie manages to strike the chords that many of us have felt in life; that feeling of childhood dreams not being fulfilled and for myself, the feelings of childhood glee, abandon, happiness and innocence that gets lost to the realities of life. I fucking loved this movie.

The final act, with a reveal about Ellie, made the tears appear yet again. The look on Carl’s face when he realises that his one true love, truly loved him too is just so goddamn beautiful it makes me think that the creative minds behind this movie are true story-tellers. I wonder how they would go directing/writing movies with real actors? The way they showed in the montage a light-footed Ellie race to the top of a mountain, Carl in tow and then later showed it in reverse with an aging Ellie now struggling to keep up. The way Carl would always place his hand on Ellie’s painted handprint on the letterbox every morning when he goes to get his mail. The way he looks in shock and horror when a cement mixer backs into it. He has invested so much of his love for Ellie into the mementos he has to remember her. It is just such brilliant story telling.

It is remarkable that I have barely touched on the bulk of the film’s plot, and this is in no way a negative reflection on the movie, its just that the keys for me are how Pixar managed to create such an enjoyable movie with two very emotional first and final acts. I think I said this about Wall-E but I have no idea how they could ever surpass this movie, but I have faith that if anyone can, Pixar can.

Sometimes you might watch a tv show or a movie, and are left feeling like you have in many ways experienced the events unfold first hand. I think its the sign of a good piece of entertainment, especially when it also comes across as so real that there are times when you are bored. Generation Kill is one of those TV shows that manages to documentarise (a combination of documentary and dramatise, patent pending) an event with such attention to detail that you not only get to enjoy watching shit happen but in some ways you learn as well. I must admit that when it comes to shows or movies based on modern military action I require two things: a respectful and true depiction. And this show does that.

Based on a novel by one of the characters, the real life Evan Wright, who was embedded with United States Marine Corps’ 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, the show depicts the initial stage of the most recent Iraq War. When I mention respectful, there is a recurring theme throughout the show, and that is one of a group of young men doing what they were trained to do, regardless of wether or not they understand, believe or care about the ramifications. In many ways, the main characters reflect societies view on the war. Whilst some are keen on killin, others are more reflective and offer a glimpse into one of the more fascinating elements of being in an army. Any show about war that can manage to fill out an entire hour with less than a minute of “action” has to have something balance this out, and that something is the interactions between the batallion.

There are too many characters to reference, however there are a handful that are a constant. Wright was attached to the lead vehicle of Bravo Company which was commanded by Sergeant Brad ‘Iceman’ Colbert (Alexander Skarsgård). Alongside these two were Corporal Josh Ray Person (James Ransone) and Lance Corporal Harold James Trombley (Billy Lush). I am thankful that the internet was able to remind me of their appropriate ranks etc. Oh and speaking of ranks and military jargon, this show was full of it, to the point where I had to rewind and add subtitles to just make sure I followed what the they were on about. This use of jargon added a real sense of realism, but I digress.

Brad is the brainy, reflective yet icey, hence his nickname, character who is often internally struggling to digest and process the happenings around him. His driver, Ray, is carefree funny guy who, despite his seeming ambivelance to it all, is perhaps the most damaged by his experiences. Trombley is the young, naive and gung-ho member, too keen to shoot and inclined not to think. Sitting in their Humvee is Wright, who is often shit-scared but always taking in the action, both out of the guns and out of the mouths of those weilding them. Its an interesting combination of guys, and in many ways feels cliched, however, I guess that is just what happens.

These guys are members of Bravo Company, who are a part of the battalion thing I mentioned earlier. The commander of the battalion was nicknamed ‘Godfather’ due to his almost funny raspy voice. Underneath him were other officers who were painted various shades; some were made to look like complete and utter idiots so detached from reality and drunk on power they were a danger to the company however others were made to look like they were doing their best for their men under the circumstances. The theme of soldiers versus officers, a staple in war movies/shows, was present and accounted for. Sir yes sir.

Its hard to talk about this show because it was both jam-packed with content yet so very light. What I mean is that for every episode where the shit hit the fan, there was a half hour of talking amongst the soldiers. The ending was fantastic, and well worth watching the seven hour-long episodes. I can recommend this to anyone who wants to watch what is basically a re-enactment of the US armies first steps into Iraq. I will most likely end up buying the book too, as I did enjoy the show a lot. Now, where are the good war shows/movies based on Australian experiences?