What Goes Up

I was privileged enough to see this film with one of the producers tonight in Las Vegas. I went with some trepidation as I had heard from my DIL, who's the producer's niece, that while she thought the first cut was good, it had some issues. And unfortunately, I am very critical when it comes to movies due to my writing background.

I have to say I was truly amazed at the quirkiness and depth of this story. Yes, it did have some issues. There were places where I would have liked to have more in-depth characterization, there were places I thought the pacing was slow. The acting was good and dead on with what characters had on their plates. And in all honesty, this is the type of movie that comes out of the blue and ends up a cult favorite. It is that good in some strange way.

Maybe part of this is because I can remember this week so well myself. I was just out of college and worked for Lockheed. We were on top of the world and it just came crashing down on us all that Thursday morning. I can't imagine having the whole week being that bad. LOL!

Then again, maybe it's the part about being adult enough to understand when you've done something wrong yet there is no way to ever take it back. I remember this lesson well.

Or maybe, it's just that the misfits are so true to life that I can empathize with what is going on in their lives. I know that I would have been devastated if my favorite teacher had died during my high school years no matter what the cause.

Still, it would have been worse if said teacher had committed suicide. I was angsty enough then to have wondered if it were my fault in any way at all.

Adding all these elements up, you have one heck of a story that can appeal to the masses. I have to say, I liked it.

'What Goes Up' written and directed by first timers Jonathan Glatzer and Robert Lawson, is not a perfect film but it is by no means a terrible film either. At current the film has received 145 votes and has a score of 4.8, well that's just ridiculous and in the review below I hope to explain why.

The Film starts off with much promise, Steve Coogan's acting is superb and the rest of the cast do a very good job too. For the first hour this is a very good film, it's deep, engrossing, and imaginative as it sets up for what seems to be a powerful and emotive story with an interesting array if characters and some brilliant cinematography. I found myself truly captivated, the integration of the Challenger disaster was done very tactfully and we frequently get some wonderful shots from Space that I really liked. However, about an hour in it starts to lose pace followed by a slight loss of direction as the main character, Campbell Babbitt, undergoes a sudden change that really doesn't suit and is poorly developed. The film then goes the same way as Campbell becoming a bit annoying and awkward at times. By the end I found myself feeling a little disappointed as it had thrown almost all the potential it had shown early on, settling of a generic and uninspired end.

All in all 'What Goes Up' is OK, great in parts whilst boring and unoriginal in others, yet, for all its faults I liked it. It may not be perfect but come on people, even 'Little Nicky' has a 5/10 and trust me this is much, much better than 'Little Nicky'. The first hour and brilliant cinematography ensure that 'What Goes Up' is not a 4.8, it's a film defiantly worth watching and one I would happily recommend.

6/10

This movie is hard to describe without possibly wrecking the viewing experience, but as this is not for everyone, I will try to talk around it, without giving away too much. At its core it is a strikingly realistic mystery, involving the death of a special education teacher. The people in this story are misfits, realistically portrayed, but very unusual people. Taken in total their strangeness makes the entire situation feel unreal, as real things often feel when you know enough of the truth about them.

Do not expect the people and events in this story to make some statement about people or events in general. This is about specific people and specific events. Do not look for comedy or jokes here. Do not expect a great deal of violence or a high body count. Though the sexual activity of some of these people may be disturbing to some viewers, do not come looking to see a lot of naked bodies, this is not a skin flick. In short, this is not designed to appeal to any mass audience, leave your expectations at the door - whatever they are - they are very likely to be disappointed.

The excellent script, by Jonathan Glatzer and Robert Lawson, leads us through the discovery that a mystery exists, why we should care about finding out the truth, who are the people involved, and what is the truth about them and their role in what happened. Marvelous direction by Jonathan Glatzer and an extraordinary cast (including Steve Coogan, Hilary Duff, Josh Peck, Olivia Thirlby and others) produce an almost flawless film. Makes me really wonder why 9 out of 10 critics gave this film negative reviews. I think that says something about why so many terrible movies keep being made.

If you are wondering why anyone should bother with this movie when it only concerns what happens to a bunch of misfits that you might not relate to - the answer is that this movie is about the nature of truth. How illusory, how dangerous, and how hard to deal with, truth can be. It is about how difficult finding out the truth can be and how careful one must be with what one finds out. Actions have consequences and real truth is seldom purely good, or satisfactory or pleasing, and one must always filter what they reveal to others lest they do more harm than good.

Perhaps that is why so many do not care for this film - it is not going to leave you satisfied or pleased, do not expect to feel like cheering afterwards, but if you want to see something that may give you something to think about this film is well worth your time.

Great introduction to movies by Jonathan Glatzer, this movie told us a story that is unique and bizarre about a small town teacher who has recently died and those around him that was affected. As one of the students quotes every Action has a Reaction and that is what drives this movie forward.

Olivia Thirbly and Josh Peck give us what we have come to expect from these young rising stars, Steve Coogan and Molly Shannon did not disappoint on most accounts, however I feel as though Hilary Duff needs to attune herself more proper to these roles. She is making the right steps into a direction out of Disney and I feel this will be an experience that will help her develop her acting talents for future roles.

The premise of this movie is very interesting, it revolves around the death of Sam Calallucci a teacher of misfit students who all felt very "in love" with him because he allowed them to be themselves. This makes me wonder why they decided to change the title of the movie from "Safety Glass" to "What Goes Up" I think the latter had more commercial appeal but the first title seemed to bring out more emotion. This was a very character driven movie however some should have been touched upon a bit more such as Josh's character but a movie can only be so long before boring its audience.

All in all I enjoyed this movie, it did have some weak links in acting and minor problems in its story which could have been written tighter if that wasn't what was the aim then some things should be left for interpretation in a more fashionable way.

8/10

~XTC

I really thought this film was made with an honesty few teen centered films usually possess. Intriguing performances and slightly surreal situations make the film well worth the watch. Coogan is delightfully flawed and the surrounding cast truly resonates. Although I was prepared to be distracted by Hilary Duff, I thought she shined brightly and held her own quite well. The truth is that most filmmakers when tackling tougher issues as ones presented in What Goes Up tend to talk down and diminish their audience while the makers of this film seem undaunted by the regular Hollywood mission of going for cheap humor and glamorized sexuality. There is a gravity here that hangs like a thick cloud over this cast and I suspect this movie will be looked upon later as having more layers than it would initially seem.