NEWS: Early Reviews Of The Road and Up Put You On Oscar Watch...

A couple of films that I know I'm looking forward to have screened for critics, and both came out just fine.

Today is the start of the Cannes Film Festival, which means it will be the premiere of Disney/Pixar's Up. However, the film has shown for select critics, and many have called this film the Best Film Of The Year.

Variety: “Depending on what you think of “Cars,” Pixar makes it either 9½ out of 10 or 10 for 10 with “Up,” a captivating odd-couple adventure that becomes funnier and more exciting as it flies along.” … “proves disarming in its deep reserves of narrative imagination and surprise, as well as its poignant thematic balance of dreams deferred and dreams fulfilled.”

Time: “Though it’s not yet summer, we can declare that Up, like WALL-E, will prove to be one of the most satisfying movie experiences of its year.” … “Extending the patented Pixar mix of humor and heart, Up is the studio’s most deeply emotional and affecting work.”

Roger Ebert, THR, Emanuel Levy, and Screendaily also have glowing reviews of the new Disney/Pixar film, Up.

Another film that recently screened, was the much troubled adaptation of the Cormack McArthy novel, The Road.

Esquire had a chance to see the film at a screening over the weekend, and had this to say about the film.

“The Road is no tease. It is a brilliantly directed adaptation of a beloved novel, a delicate and anachronistically loving look at the immodest and brutish end of us all. You want them to get there, you want them to get there, you want them to get there — and yet you do not want it, any of it, to end.”


“A story without guarantees. In every moment — even the last one — you’ll want to know what happens next, even if you can hardly stand to look.” … “You have to see it. Really. You do. Not because it’s grim, not because it’s depressing, or even scary. The Road is all of those things, both acutely and chronically. But there was not a single stupid choice made in turning this book into this movie. No wrongheaded lyric tribute to the novel. No moment engineered simply to make you jump.”

The Road stars Academy Award nominee Viggo Mortensen, Academy Award winners Robert Duvall and Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce and 12-year-old Kodi Smit McPhee. The Road tells the story of a man (Mortensen) and his young son (Smit-McPhee) traveling through a desperate, post-apocalyptic world. The flap jacket on the book describes the setting as “burned America.”

Go see something good!