Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

There are few movies that I am less inclined to see than the "tearjerker."  I have nothing against tears or jerking, it's just...well, why watch a sad movie, when there are explosions to be had?  Sadly, I did watch Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (not ...Uncomfortably Close, as I have often misquoted the title), because it was nominated for 2011's Best Picture Oscar.  While I am not a big fan of sentimental films, the book this is based on was written by the author of Everything Is Illuminated, which is a decently weird movie.  Maybe there is something more than sad in this film...?  Maybe...?

Oskar (Thomas Horn) is a weird kid.  You might think that he is autistic or something, but apparently the tests came back inconclusive.  Anyways, he's a weird kid dealing with some heavy tragedy.  Oskar's natural weirdness makes it difficult for him to deal with the real world, much less other human beings.  Luckily, his father (Tom Hanks) understands him and goes to great lengths to get Oskar out of his shell.  For instance, dad gives Oskar frequent quests, where Oskar must follow the clues to a hidden treasure of questionable value; Oskar has fun and employs critical thinking while his dad makes sure he interacts with strangers and faces other vaguely autistic fears.

...Like touching the floor --- it's lava, you know...!

Then, everything goes pear-shaped.  Dad is, by a fluke of his schedule, caught in the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001, which Oskar refers to as "the worst day."  He calls home several times, but his wife (Sandra Bullock) isn't home and Oskar can't bring himself to answer. Dad dies.  A year later, an increasingly isolated Oskar stumbles across a key amidst his late father's belongings.  Believing this to be part of one of his scavenger hunts, Oskar decides to scour New York City for information leading to the destination for his mystery key.  You can't just figure out what a fairly anonymous key goes to without introducing yourself to a few dozen random strangers, though, so Oskar forces himself out of his shell to unlock his father's final puzzle.  In the meantime, I think we can all assume that he'll discover something more symbolic and puppet-stringing, right?

Look, I don't have a particular problem with stories that use September 11th as a backdrop.  It's emotionally inflammatory, but I understand that there are a lot of good stories that revolve around that date.  Honestly, I doubt that World Trade Center and United 93 are great films, but I respect the need to make them. In a way, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close is a lot like Bruce Springsteen's The Rising; it may not necessarily be about September 11th, but it certainly is flavored by it.

September 11 is one of those moments in history where you are supposed to remember where you were and what you were doing when the shit went down.  Personally, I was lucky enough to be in college at the time, catching the early action on morning television, before being stunned with my friends in a dormitory common room.  For the record, I still went to all my classes that day, although there weren't many that were worth attending that day.

It's not your fault, Max

Once you get beyond the emotional mindfuck that comes from a plot that deals with senseless tragedy, you might find yourself focusing on the actors.  Thomas Horn is the main character, and I completely understand if you found him irritating; he isn't exactly autistic (he's somewhere on the spectrum, though), but he's very peculiar and odd enough to stick out, even in New York City.  I can't say that his peculiarities bothered me, but I understand if they bothered you.

Okay, that tambourine irritated the shit out of me

Tom Hanks was essentially what you want Tom Hanks to be in this movie; he was the perfect dad --- loving, clever, understanding, and demanding all in one Oscar-winning doughboy.  This is the most likable I have seen Hanks in almost a decade.  Sandra Bullock played his loving wife, who balances mind-numbing grief with plot twists bold enough to almost make you think she isn't the worst parent in NYC.

Reading your kid's diary doesn't make you a good parent

Max von Sydow gave a great performance as Oskar's helper/possible relative; it wasn't too difficult of a role, but he made the lack of dialogue seem irrelevant, which is the benchmark of a good actor in a gimmicky role.  Viola Davis and Jeffrey Wright also played key small parts, and they were as good as you should expect them to be in supporting roles.  In other words, "very."  The only small role that confused me was John Goodman as the abrasive doorman; he was fine, but I was surprised to see such a fine actor in such a bit part.  I was not, however, surprised to see Chris Hardwick playing a funeral director; I love the guy, but he's not much of an actor.

This isn't Stephen Daldry's first Best Picture-nominated film, you know.  He made The Reader and The Hours, not to mention Billy Elliot back in the day.  For some reason, though, I feel the need to justify Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close as an Oscar contender.  This is, without a doubt, a well-made film.  There is nothing technically flawed in this movie.  If you have studied film style, you will find EL&IC a cornucopia of established film styles.  And yet...and yet...this is kind of a dull film.

Don't get me wrong.  Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close will make you cry.  I you don't weep, your heart is made of ash and you probably rape penguins for fun.  That doesn't make this a great film.  Instead, it feels a lot like a well-made simulation of human emotion.  The story is a little drawn out and more than a little obvious, but the pacing is excellent and the gradual reveals are expertly done.  At the very least, it makes sure to hit as many broad emotional marks as it can; if you have a strained relationship with your mother, then consider this the reason you call your mom crying this year.  If you are on solid ground with your parents...well, you might as well give them a call, since the inevitable zombie apocalypse is on its way, anyhow...

I happen to have a pretty solid relationship with my parents, so that little guilt trip didn't make Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close strike a chord for me.  Is this a great film?  Absolutely not.  It is a very well-acted and well-directed Lifetime movie of the week.  The loose connection to a tragedy makes it seem more relevant, but the key to this film is that "the worst day" shouldn't influence every single day.  I completely understand if this movie hits home for you, though, since it does strike some very basic chords.  However, if you are lucky enough to A) not be directly affected by this tragedy and B) not fight with your parents, then this film will not provide the Oscar "oomph" you may be expecting from a nominee.

Toy Story 3

I really don't know why I put off seeing Pixar movies all the time.  I have enjoyed every one I've seen, and they have made some of my absolute favorite animated movies of all time.  When Toy Story 3 was released, I decided I was going to definitely see it in the theaters.  I didn't.  When it was released on DVD, I decided to pick it up (with a coupon from Disney's website) on Day 1.  I think I ended up watching it around Day 110.  Maybe I just have to be in the right mood to watch a kid's movie.  Maybe I heard everybody saying "It was so good, but so sad...!"  Whatever my reasons for waiting, I have finally seen Toy Story 3.  I shouldn't have waited so long.

If you're unfamiliar with the Toy Story series, here's a brief summary.  Your toys are alive.  You might not notice it, but when you're not looking, all the toys in your home move around on their own, talk, play games, and live their own mini-dramas.  The human in Toy Story is Andy.  We watch his toys come to life.  And now you're caught up.

Toy Story 3 picks up several years after Toy Story 2 ended, with the characters having aged in real-time.  Woody (Tom Hanks), Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen), and their friends still belong to Andy (John Morris, the same kid from the first two movies), but Andy is seventeen now.  He's getting ready for college, and hasn't played with his toys in years.  When it comes time to pack for school, the toys fear that they will be thrown away or donated to a day care center, like so many of their fellow toys have been in the past few years.  After being pressured by his mom to pack up or throw out his belongings, Andy finally decides what to do with his toys.  He packs Woody in a box that is going to college with him and tosses the others in a trash bag; Andy intends to place the bag in the attic, but the bag is accidentally thrown away instead.  The toys are taken to the dump, and the next two hours is filled with the sound of Don Rickles crying.

A much better Oscar promo than I would have expected from Disney.

Actually, no.  The toys escape the trash bag, find a box heading to the daycare center, and hop in.  Woody tries to convince them that they actually belong in the attic, but nobody is listening.  They feel rejected, and they want to be played with (the innocent kind), so that is where they want to go.  Woody argues that they all belong to Andy, and need to be there for him, in whatever capacity he needs.  While they are arguing, the box is packed up and taken to the day care center, with Woody and the gang inside.  Once there, they are met with an enthusiastic welcome from the day care toys, led by Lots-O'-Huggin' Bear (Ned Beatty).  Day care seems absolutely perfect; there are no owners to tire of the toys and throw them away --- when the kids grow up, new kids come in.  They are guaranteed hours of play time in the day, and hours of unsupervised night time.  It's the perfect life for a toy, right?  But what about Andy?  Aren't they still his toys?  Is it more important for the toys to be with Andy or each other?  What should happen to old toys when their owners grow up?  And why are the day care toys hiding from the incoming toddlers?

It must suck to own shirts that are more awesome than your tattoos

There are a ton of characters in this film, and many of them are voiced by recognizable actors.  Of course, there is the core duo of Tom Hanks and Tim Allen, for starters.  As usual, they bear much of the narrative load, and Hanks once again handles most of the drama.  And, once again, they do great jobs.  Joan Cusak and Ned Beatty have the next biggest roles, as the cowgirl Jessie and Lots-O', respectively; I thought Cusak was fine, but Beatty did a very good job playing both sides of his character.  The rest of the cast included Don Rickles, Estelle Harris, John Ratzenberger, Michael Keaton, Whoopi Goldberg, Timothy Dalton, Bonnie Hunt, R. Lee Ermey, as well as the voices of some of the animators.  The voice acting was very good, but it was missing a staple of animated movies.  Where was the obvious comic relief?  Aside from Spanish Buzz, I can't think of any character that didn't have depth, and that shows how different Toy Story 3 is from just about every other animated movie out there.  This isn't a cartoon that is showing off how goofy a comedian can sound (sorry, Robin Williams); this is an ensemble piece that has well-known actors playing smaller parts for the greater good.

Pixar tends to rotate its directors around on every project.  Someone who is a supervising editor on one movie may co-direct the next,and do a little bit of editing on the next; basically, if you watch enough Pixar movies, you're going to see the same names popping up over and over.  This is Lee Unkrich's first solo outing as a director (and only the third solo director credit on any Pixar movie) after three successful co-directing runs, and he has a story credit, too.  This is Michael Arndt's second screenplay, and his second Academy Award-nominated screenplay.  Despite the cast of thousands, this is a very personal film, and I believe that having only one screenwriter and one director (both anomalies with animated films) contributed greatly to that.  I thought both the screenwriting and the direction were excellent and the two are responsible for the intimacy and heartfelt effect this movie has on viewers.

You can't pinpoint the source of this film's greatness quite so easily, though.  Yes, the cast did a great job with their voice-over work.  Yes, the story is complex enough for adults and fun enough for kids.  And, yes, the themes of growing up, moving on, and sweet sadness are universal ones that everyone knows (or will soon).  But I think the overwhelming reason Toy Story 3 is so good is its imagination.  Playtime for the toys is seen as a big-budget adventure movie, just like it is in a child's imagination.  The scale of the movie feels so natural and the way the toys navigate around obstacles like locked doors makes sense, and yet you could spend a compelling twenty minutes having the characters figure these problems out.  Toy Story 3 doesn't bother with the small stuff because it has a much wider lens than that.  This is a movie that goes from "horror" of the sandbox to some legitimately scary scenes at the dump.  It doesn't settle for trite morals, like "girls are people, too" (Monsters vs. Aliens) or "be yourself" (Shrek).  Instead, it paints a picture that hits deeper, rings truer, and feels astoundingly real.

Honestly, I wasn't prepared for this film.  I enjoy animated movies, but they usually don't blow me away, and the more I think about it, the more I am impressed by this film.  I would liken Toy Story 3 to Alan Moore's Watchmen; both stories are told in mediums where you think you know what to expect, but both go well beyond the boundaries of what would normally be considered a kid's movie or a comic book.  And the best part of all of this is also the most important: it works as a kid's movie.  A really, really good kid's movie.  What a brilliant idea.