Bryce Zabel's MOVIE SMACKDOWN!

Away We Go (2009) -vs- Juno (2007)

THE SMACKDOWN. Did you ever have to make up your mind? Both "Away We Go" and "Juno" are about those decisions that come from life that can't be fudged, postponed or ignored. Even though both films involve pregnant leads who aren't married to the fathers of their unborn, there's more here than childbirth.  Each film lets us see a big life question presented in a way that shows there isn't always a "right" answer. Sometimes life forces us to choose. To pick up on one and leave the other behind. Well, we have to choose now, too. Should we go with the the couple of thirtysomethings who have to decide where to make their stand with a new baby; or the teenage girl who has a "go-no go" decision to make about a baby of her own and the boyfriend who's in way over his head?

THE CHALLENGER. "Away We Go" comes from the same director who gave us "American Beauty," Sam Mendes. The common thread in his work between these two films is the sharply drawn characters he finds living in an America he doesn't seem to like all that much. Written by the married couple of Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida, it tells the story of Burt and Verona -- who aren't married and are muddling through their lives knowing the clock is ticking, not biologically, but socially. Depending on who you talk to they're either nice or narcissistic, but either way they feel like their peers are getting along better than they are, they know something's wrong and they still haven't quite grasped what to do about it. When Burt's parents (Verona's are deceased) announce that they are moving to Belgium and, thus, won't be around to see their grandchild born, the young couple decides to hit the road, looking for a place that will have the right vibe to start their family (and, hopefully, their new & improved lives). Then it's planes, trains and automobiles as the story bounces from Arizona to Wisconsin to Florida and finally lands in what, for them, is supposed to be the land of Hope. Along the journey, they run into a lot of parenting advice and all kinds of disappointing people.

Up (2009) -vs- Wall-E (2008)

The Smackdown.  A year ago on this very site, a small, garbage-collecting robot named "Wall-E" dethroned the king of computer animation, Pixar's beloved "Toy Story." The film found gigantic success, being hailed by critics, winning the Academy Award for best animated feature and receiving a nomination for Best Screenplay. "Wall-E" transformed the genre and pushed the limits of innovation and creativity.  Now, a year after its historical upset, "Wall-E" stands ready to defend its title against the newest of Pixar's animated giants, the high-flying adventure story "Up." Headlining opening night of the Cannes Film Festival, a feat never before accomplished by an animated feature (let alone an American one,) "Up" and its cast of elderly men, children and talking dogs (you heard me) have entered the world of cinema at full steam, their focus fixed solely on taking our favorite robot's crown. Will "Wall-E" have enough strength to put down its first challenger, or will his reign prove a short one? Let's find out!

The Challenger.  "Up" tells the story of Carl Fredricksen, an elderly balloon vendor who once dreamt of adventure with his wife Ellie, but now resigns himself to sitting on his front porch while the world moves on around him. In order to keep a promise he had made to his Ellie a lifetime ago, Carl decides to leave the world behind and relocate their home to the mythical Paradise Falls in Venezuela, the last known origins of Carl and Ellie's childhood hero, adventurer Charles Muntz. His plan - to lift their home out if its foundation by thousands of colorful balloons and sail through the heavens to his Paradise Falls. However, what Carl doesn't plan for is to accidentally take Russell, an energetic young boy scout, with him on his adventure. Nor does he plan to be thrown into the middle of a battle for a mysterious giant bird known as "Kevin," a conflict that has the potential to jeopardize his promise to Ellie.

Sunshine Cleaning (2009) -vs- Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

 Let the Sunshine In 

The Smackdown. When I first saw it, I thought "Little Miss Sunshine" was a true original. Now, from the same producers apparently, comes another film shot in New Mexico, with a precocious kid in the center, Alan Arkin as the outspoken grandfather, a dysfunctional family that ultimately rallies around each other no matter how weird or hard it is and the word "Sunshine" in the title. But "Sunshine Cleaning" is no clone either. It's strong enough to step in the ring with the champion and throw a few hard punches of its own. Both are a breath of fresh air (well, the air in "Cleaners" can get a little putrid) because the only super-heroics are done by damaged people just trying to get by.

The Challenger. "Sunshine Cleaning" is a film with death hanging all over it with the intent to instruct us in lessons about how to love life. Rose (Amy Adams) is a single mom, going broke, trapped in a stupid post-high school affair with a kid who needs special attention. Rose is ready for a change and she finds it in a new career -- cleaning up crime scenes. Basically, after the CSI dudes take the bodies and run, she and her sister Norah (Emily Blunt) come in and clean up the mess. Their mother took her own life when they were little kids and, especially for Norah, this brings all kinds of feelings, long suppressed, to the surface.

The Visitor (2008) -vs- About Schmidt (2002)

 The Meaning of (Mid)Life 

The Smackdown.  Middle age is not for sissies. Take it from me, kids. Even those of us who lead fairly examined lives are in for a pretty rough descent as the uphill ride starts heading down the other side of the slippery slope; those unfortunates who’ve been just going through the motions must experience the precipitous bumps and inevitable hairpin turns with precious little cushioning and even less preparation. Two films examine spiritually empty Middle America midlife in two superficially similar sleepwalkers. Recently widowed and profoundly clueless, both men need a big wake-up call and serendipitously find exactly what they need in random encounters with unlikely and surprising foreigners. Which story has more potential power to change your possibly humdrum midlife for the better?

The Challenger.  Depressed, burnout college Econ Professor Vale is a man of surprising action and unexpected passion; while he doesn’t intentionally come to New York on a quest for love and family, deeper meaning and purpose, that is exactly what he finds there. Pulled inexorably into the considerably messy lives of others far less fortunate, we sense that Vale is finally feeling the full force of life and accident. All his years of careful analysis and caution have led him exactly nowhere; he overcomes his residual reticence and gets involved possibly for the first time in his life. His journey into life is the heartbeat of the film; the drumbeat he hears and tries to learn changes his rhythm on a molecular level. The film too works in a quiet and deep way, establishing an elegiac rhythm of simple human kindnesses made large by circumstance, of powerlessness in the face of maddening bureaucratic indifference, teaching lessons of tolerance and love along the way. Vale leaves his empty house and boldly steps out of his own troubled mind -- choosing life, interaction and involvement over isolation, observation, and depression; he becomes a true citizen of the world, no longer a bystander.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) -vs- Forrest Gump (1994)

Separated at Birth?

The Smackdown.  Walking out of "Forrest Gump" in 1994, I remember thinking to myself that they ought to make more films like it.  A decade and a half later they've done just that and it's called "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button."  Both touching films are huge accomplishments in story, direction, effects and general envelope-pushing that owe a common source for their originality to screenwriter Eric Roth.  This time he's gone back further in time from Gump's baby-boomer adventures to Button's that span the years from World War I to present day.  Both leading men are blank-slates who seem to end up (Zelig-like) in the middle of big events where their voice-over is used to lead us through the narrative.  The movies also take place in the South, share a female free-spirit love interest, a strong single mom, and folk wisdom "catch phrases."  Does "Button" build on "Gump" or is it just a pale imitation?  That's the Smack attack here.

The Challenger.  "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" owes its concept to the famous remark by Mark Twain that the best part of life comes at the beginning and the worst at the end, and a short story that F. Scott Fitzgerald made out of it in 1921.  The film takes just the essence, though, and tells a new story entirely.  Basically, it's about a baby born on the day World War I ends who is biologically a very old man and who grows younger day by day.  It's a wonderful "what-if" to contemplate, down to the possibility that Button (Brad Pitt) could meet the love of his life when he's an old man and she's a kid, have a love affair when they're about the same age, and then end up with her as an old woman taking care of him when he's just a child.  The scope director David Fincher brings to the screen is large: from its WWI beginning, the film takes us all the way to modern times and Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.