Ahhh, cinema...

Needless to say, I was busting to go to a movie theater, seeing as how I've been weening lion cubs, and exploiting ancient African cultures over the last eight weeks. But today, I dedicated myself to a double-feature...and I am so glad that I did.The first film was Sex and the City. I'd read many scathing reviews, touting it as too somber, and dark. That the film had lost its fun and resulted in a cacophony, so to speak, of melodramatic emotions. I personally liked the tone of the film. I think it was an honest film about how love can exhilarate, delight, and consume but at the same time ache, scar, and even deprive one of their own personal needs. I found the film funny, sometimes a bit more slapstick than the show, but still funny. The only qualm I had was with Miranda's character. They escalated her far above the bitch scale. At the end of the series, her heart had warmed-up and she was less of a curmudgeon, and with the film we were at square one again. A character should always remain as such, and not become a characature...there is a difference. I did find, however, Miranda and Steve's reunion on the bridge to be the most poignant scene of all.The clothing was phenomenal, as was the look, and artistic design. We'd already learned, with the final season of the show, to accept that Carrie dawns clothing far-above her price range and this trend continues with the film. But it's part of the escapism of the series. We wouldn't want to see her in anything else but the latest. All in all, I was more than pleased with the film and I'll admit that I cried a few times. But hey, I'm a fan. Sue me.My second feature was Pixar's newest Masterpiece, Wall-E. Basically, I cried from the beginning to the end. It was so painfully beautiful that one can't help but become over-emotional. It's slightly a polarizing film, however, because it's animated. I fear that the audience will enter the film expecting a film about a clutzy robot who cleans up trash, but will encounter once in the theater that the film is so much more than that. It has the gentle quality of a Charlie Chaplin film, where there is no real dialogue or sounds besides the music (though Wall-E does make R2D2-like sounds) for the entire first chapter of the film, but there is a very clear tone and message. The earth has been reduced to a barren wasteland, with piles of garbage so high that they challenge the surrounding sky scrapers. The air is so thick with smog, that there is a labored, and colorless gloom that spans the sky. But Wall-E knows no different, and unfazed as he conducts his days as usual, he becomes enchanted with the human world that once existed there and collects "artifacts" that inspire wonder and amusement in him: feelings so innocent and simple, that it's heartbreaking that we, who still live amongst these artifacts, do not see.Wall-E's fascination with the film 'Hello Dolly' is more so an allure to that that is jovial, and exuberant than an interest in musical cinema. We see Wall-E's loneliness echoed here, and how he longs for the existence of someone besides himself and his only friend, a cockroach. It's then that he meets a robot far-superior to his making, and falls in what he understands to be love. Though these characters are (as cliche as it sounds it's true) robots, the audience can't help but recognize the humanity in their courtship. It's tender, fearless, and real.The second chapter of the film takes Wall-E to space where he discovers the remnants of the human race, now reduced to large piles of consumption: so gluttonous that they've lost the ability (or the will) to walk. They are so lazy that they drink their food, and do not notice the things that happen further than that which occurs in front of their noses. Needless to say, the film has a strong message in regards to our world's consumer issues, and how we are the masters of our own inevitable demise. It's sad, and true, and scary to see. This portion of the film relies more on dialogue and a bit of slapstick, but it has a Kubrickian sensibility to it--where robots rule, and we acquiesce to their superiority.The last chapter of the film, however, is nothing more than sheer magic as we experience the strength, the will, and love exhibited both by humans and robots alike, straining to survive.Wall-E is heart-wrenching, an eye-opener, important, and it's sweet innocence lingers long after you've left the theater. I could not fight my immediate emotional response to the film because we are living in a time where there is such a delicate balance between what could be and what will be. As Albert Einstein once said, "It is appallingly obvious that our technology exceeds our humanity." Wall-E poses the question: wouldn't it be better if our humanity exceeded our technology?