I'm not seeing it until tomorrow, but I've successfully avoided all previews of it. I'm told the early reviews are fantastic.

word on the street (ok, in the industry trade rags), is that yes, it is fantastic, but that it hasn't "tested" that well and that there are concerns re: the "dark" message/story line (not gonna say anymore b/c i don't wanna spoil anything for bruce) and disney has lowered it's opening weekend projections/expectations (orig in the $75m+ range, now in the mid $50m's).

based on what i've seen and read, i want to see it...

I'll wait for it to come to the theater pubs. Cheaper admission, and beer beats 9 dollar admission any day.

Holy cow. It's really really really good.

Couldn't wait til tomorrow, eh, Brus-ay?
~M

I might see it again today!

A group of 8 of us were watching bands on Fountain Square tonight. Someone used a phone to see it was playing at Newport on the Levee at 9:50 PM... Around 9:30, the TANK shuttle appeared - and fresh off a vacation to NYC, it occurred to me that we should just hop on that. So three of us basically agreed, and excitedly said goodbye to the rest in seconds and raced to the shuttle.

I really want to see this one.

It does look interesting, and it'd be nice to see Pixar do something with a slightly darker tone, but when I see the trailers for it, all I can think of is...


...weren't any of the Pixar people alive in the 80's?

Yeah, Stanton said he didn't realize the similarities until it was pointed out to him. He just modeled it after a pair of binoculars or something.

Is it appropriate for a 2 1/2 year old? Of course we will be taking her to a kid filled theater and not waiting until later as we normally do to avoid a kid filled theater.

I'm going today!!!! I can't wait to see this.

Oh, and Bruce...who was in that group of 3? My future husband, perhaps.

Deb, I think it's visually appealing and a lot of the visuals/comedy are on a strange level very slapstick that should play well to your daughter, but entertaining enough for an adult as well. It's G.

Amanda, sadly it was not him. It was a different group - remember, I have friend groups that scorn my OTR friends! The only one they like is Michelle! (Mainly because she's the only one that's met them!).

I did love this movie! I will say though, that the kids around me (and i do mean ALL around me) seemed to get bored and restless. it may just be a bit too long for the 2-4 year olds. But for grown ups...definitely entertaining with little bits of comedy that i don't think kids get. Like the twinkie...come on, that's just hilarious to me!

And Bruce, you need to get rid of your anti-OtR friends and stock up on a bunch of Kevins. j/k well, half kidding anyway. I'll let you guess which half i'm kidding about.

And I thought you were going to say because she's a hot mama with a cray-eay-eay-zahy island vibe!

Fantastic to most, but not these pundits.

This shit's funnier than all the HP hooplah!!

Seriously, do these idiots never truly wonder about such things as just why we do use as much styro as we do? I think it's a natural thing for a kid to ask and would be happy at the chance to have a conversation with my kid (if I had one) about it.

I can't wait to catch it!

Cher

My god. Can't we just lock those people up somewhere and make them watch Heaven's Gate on a constant loop for the rest of their lives?

nah, really punish them, make it a rotation of heaven's gate and ishtar.

Actually, I suppose it would be more ironic to subject them to something that would offend them personally, rather than just be a terrible movie. Dogma, anyone?

If we're nice, we could loop in Waterworld, Howard the Duck and Cabin Boy to mix it up a little!

i'd love to be a "fly on the wall" in some of these hollywood "pitch" meetings.

i'm assuming it must be something like...

producer: "umm, i'd like to remake mad max, but this time, on water. hell, i don't have a plot or script yet, but i've got kevin costner and he'a a big, BIG star...i should, maybe, be able to pull it off for a couple of hundred million or so. whaddya think?"
studio head: "oh man...that's a great idea. kevin costner, WOW! he's a big, BIG star! i mean, he's bank...let's do it. and hey, don't worry about that pesky budget stuff, or all that script and plot stuff, i mean...you've got costner, right? he's a big, BIG star! just go make the movie, it'll be just fine. hell, give kevin $40-50 million if you need to, aww hell...here's the studio's checkbook, do whatever you need. hell, you can even build an airstrip to fly kevin in and out of the set if you want to. i mean, he is a big, BIG star!"
producer: "thanks dude, it's gonna be great. oh...by the way, it might take 4-5 years to get it finished, is that cool?"
studio head: "hey, no probs, take your time and do it right. it's a killer idea... were gonna get rich!"

and years later, somebody pitched "norbit," ..."WOW! eddie murphy?!?!?! playing all of the roles?!?!?!...he's is a big, BIG star!"

surely, there can't be much more to them than that, considering the crap that gets released. and you should see the screeners that we get for the "real" crap that actually gets made and never theatrically released. it's amazing, they are far worse than anything mentioned above (except for maybe, norbit ).

Whoa now, Freddy! I watched Howard the Duck damn near every day as a wee little child. And it may have been a crappy movie, but i freakin' wore that VHS out! No talkin' about the Duck... (and just for the record, i'm now singing the AMAZING Howard the Duck song and shaking my tail feather!)

Actually, Greg Pollowitz and Jonah Goldberg were quoted way out of context at the link above. Full quotes below (taken from here and here):






I really enjoyed WALL•E myself, but Pollowitz makes a great point. It's inherently hypocritical of Disney/Pixar to make an eco-themed film that will inevitably be accompanied by a bazillion WALL•E-themed tchotchkes, most of which will probably end up in landfills within five years.

That said, I think the story was great and compelling given the relatively limited dialogue. And I got all misty-eyed at the end.

Thanks for posting those links, but it all STILL comes down to us ... the consumer ... how about practicing constraint?

I got my WALL*E watch for free!

Funny how I gleefully accepted it! I'm wicked dumb!

Take it easy cowgirl ... I, for one, LOVE Cabin Boy!

And SHAKE those tail-feathers ... get down with your bad self, as the kids say.

Yeah....BS! Its called laziness and he got caught. He just doesn't want to admit it.

EDIT: Yes, I was kind of being funny there, but I still wonder....ya know?

Bruce Lachey, you are neither wicked nor dumb, nor any combination thereof. Who can say no to that little robot face?

Cher, I agree that it's up to the consumer to embrace the take-home message of the film and reduce needless junk accumulation. And three cheers to Pixar for presenting that message in an engaging way. But I do think there were a couple conservative skeptics with a valid point about Disney's contribution to the problem its film warns against, and I didn't want them lumped in with the bat-shit crazies. That's all.

I too wonder how the meetings between the Pixar and Disney people went when it comes to the marketing garbage talks. Do you think the Pixar folks just threw their hands in? Pixar in general seems to get it.

With so much money being made from toy sales, I doubt the topic was even breached, IMO.

Agreed. Cash trumps integrity and responsibility. Just ask anyone who's worked at a radio station in the last 10 years.

Great movie. Especially after few climbs and with some pizza and beers!

Doh! I kept thinking this was the Happy Walleye Day and I thought it was something like the 1st day of trout season...

mmmmmm.... trout.

"bat-shit crazies"