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.

I would never have thought that my reflection on Transformers 2 would be superceded by something so quickly. I just stumbled across, what I personally feel, the trailer to what is quite possibly going to be one of the most beautiful documentaries ever made. You can view the trailer here. Please watch this trailer either now or after you read my thoughts.

When I read the brief synopsis of this film I was instantly touched. The film follows three American senior citizens who take time out of their lives to greet and thank troops returning from their trips of war. The film is described as turning into “a moving, unsettling and compassionate story about aging, loneliness, war and mortality”. These concepts, the notion of compassion towards troops and the loneliness of aging are fascinating to me and things I often think a lot about. But it wasn’t until the shot of an old man, limping with frailty, holding a post for support, alone in a airport arrival gate…seeing this I just felt so much raw emotion. And I could feel that this would most certainly be an experience I would want to go on. As the trailer progresses and the enormity of the emotion involved with the story, it smacked me like a sledgehammer seeing the tears well in the eyes of the old guy named Jerry. And the tears were knocking at my door as well.

There are three of these “troop-greeters”: Bill Knight (aged 87 and to the left of the picture), Joan Gaudet (aged 75, middle, duh) and the aforementioned Jerry Mundy (right in pic) at the ripe old age of 74. What really touched me about Jerry’s story is that – and this is taken from the film’s website – the reason he greets the soldiers is to put a smile on their face, as this helps him cope with the tragic loss of his son. The fact that a man can go out and try to make other people happy when he has every fucking right to just turn his back on the world and drown in his own misery is something I find absolutely beautiful. And towards the end of the trailer, as the tears well in his eyes, the goosebumps and wells in mine, really struck a chord.

Bill Knight sounds like a man that could spin a yarn over a few beers and truly make you feel proud of being American. And I am saying this based purely upon my experiences of having a beer with some of our diggers on Anzac day. The nationality is irrelevant – it is the selfless-ness of his actions that is universal. Bill served as a marine in World War 2 and saw the lack of appreciation for the troops returning from Vietnam and vowed to never let that happen again. His dedication to greeting the troops is so high that his own life takes a back seat. This includes his rapidly deteriorating health – he was at the airport to greet on the day he found out he had cancer. What an absolute fucking inspirational man.

Joan Gaudet is the mother of the film’s director, Aron Gaudet. Age had taken its toll on her body and after devoting her life to her family, she was now alone. Five years ago she found out about troop greeting and has been as devoted to this cause as she was her own children. She welcomes them as a mother, grand-mother and fellow, thankful, respectful and loving HUMAN. This is what astounds me. Sometimes I think that the human race does not deserve the luxuries that living can bring; then I see examples of the purest and most genuine people. It is truly touching.

What I reckon will be the most heart-breaking element to this film is the fact that whilst we get to know these three most remarkable people, we also will see them challenged by their own confronting and challenging issues. Jerry with his need to face the loss of his son and unexplained heart problems – heart-broken anyone? Gee fuck. The more I think about this guy and what he is going through and the look on his face…the more I am moved to tears. Fuck. Bill, who has been diagnosed with the big C word, yet still makes his way to the airport, defiant to the end. As his jumper says, Not as lean, not as mean, but still a marine. Not only is he facing health battles but he has armies of debt seeking creditors coming at him from all directions. And Joan, who forever says hello to the troops, greets them back into the open arms of their families and far too often the closed minds of those who ignore their sacrifice. Now she has to face one of her ultimate tests – saying goodbye to her grand daughter who is flying off to Iraq.

With these three incredible people’s stories I hope that this movie can show to people that the issues of mentioned earlier – war, mortality, loneliness, etc. – are powerful enough to cross all cultural boundaries. It should not matter if you are for or against the wars we are fighting, but the fact of the matter is troops deserve to be treated with respect, be shown recognition and be welcome. I hope to whatever deity is listening that no lefty anti-war dooche bags grab a hold of this and use it for their own agendas. To me this movie is not entirely about war – it is about three remarkable human beings restoring my faith of humanity through an unsettling, challenging and ultimately rewarding story.