Martin's Musings

If you, like me, thought a movie about singing, dancing penguins was a wacky idea, then you ain’t seen nothing yet. Surf’s Up is a movie about, yes, surfing penguins, and in concept alone it scores big points. I mean, have you seen the trailer? It rocks. So you pretty much know going in that Surf’s Up is not your average animated flick. For one thing, it’s “shot” like a documentary, and features interviews with the cast, grainy “archival” footage, and other hallmarks of the genre. And that all is done so well that you forget there was a team of animators who had to create it all from scratch. And then there are the colors and the surfing “photography,” both of which are really fun and cool and make you want to walk out of the theater, put on a wet suit, hop on a board, and ride a wave. (I’ve done it. It’s cool. Trust me.) So yeah, Surf’s Up is a totally fun movie.

But let’s not kid ourselves, and that is a pun, folks. Surf’s Up is also a very, very kid-friendly movie. The crowd I saw it with was about 50% kids (or at least it felt and sounded that way), and they loved it. They were laughing at the cute baby penguins, and the physical humor, and the silly Chicken Joe character. Which is not a bad thing, of course. It’s just that I wouldn’t say the film was as sophisticated as, say, Ratatouille looks or even Happy Feet was. Sure, the surfing stuff is wicked cool, and the documentary look is really well done, but I wouldn’t put Surf’s Up in any upper pantheon of animated films. And that’s why I’m only giving it a B — a solid B, but a B just the same.

I’m not going to lie: I was pretty excited by the story in Thursday’s Boston Herald about how Regal Cinemas is going to start having selected moviegoing patrons monitoring the conditions in the theaters. Sure, I don’t exactly agree with the methodology (how will they choose the one person to hold the device?), but I appreciate that at least one theater chain is willing to take action against bad moviegoers and will fix things when the presentation quality is off.

I agree with the person in the article who said you take a risk when going to watch a movie in a public place that people will be discourteous or that there will be disturbances. So that makes it difficult to gauge how successful this device will be. I hate when the sound in a theater isn’t right. I’d definitely press the button for that. But would an average moviegoer be as sensitive about that as I am? And if someone behind me is laughing annoyingly, or there’s an intermittent request to repeat a line of dialogue, is that worth alerting an usher? I don’t think so. After all, I’d be more annoyed if I had to explain to an usher why I had pressed the button in the first place. And I’d be even more annoyed if the person behind me was explaining it to the usher. But if it’s nonstop talking or repeated looks at a cell phone, then of course I’ll do it. And an unruly kid who should be in bed instead of at a 9pm movie? Sure, that’s worth pressing the button for too (even if it’s during an animated film).

So I’m excited for this new device and secretly (or maybe not) hope that I’m asked to hold it once or twice. But I’d hate for a normal Sunday afternoon at the movies to turn into Symphony Hall, so I’d try to use some restraint. Which means things probably won’t change at all. And that sorta sucks.

Let’s get a few things straight: In the real world — at least the one that I live in — a schlubby guy like Ben Stone (Seth Rogen) and his pothead friends would never get into a hot club like the one they’re at toward the beginning of Knocked Up.

And said hot club would be much, much more crowded, and populated with hotter people like Alison Scott (Katherine Heigel), an E! producer who should probably be at a hotter club than that.

And if said hot chick were at this hot club (with her equally hot sister), she would undoubtedly be mobbed with guys, and would never — never — give the time of day to a schlubby but good intentioned guy like our friend Ben. (Jeff Wells is so right-on about that.)

Which makes Knocked Up the year’s best sci-fi/fantasy flick. Continue reading →