Film Reviews This Weeks Releases Pixar reach a new metro Arts & Entertainment life In Town This Weekend Carl Murray In 1997, spacecraft Cassini- Huygens was launched to transmit data from Saturn back to earth. Tonight, Professor Carl Murray shares its results, spectacular images and also news about this weeks remarkable discovery of the planets new ring Tonight, Trinity College, Fitzgerald building, College Green D2, 8pm, 5 to 7. Tel: (01) 847 0777. www.astronomy.ie Newton Faulkner Despite criticism that his new album If This Is It strays too far from Faulkners humble acoustic beginnings, the British singer- songwriters sophomore record topped the iTunes charts last week (its now at No.7) Tonight, The Academy, 57 Middle Abbey Street D1, 7pm, 25 (returns only). Tel: 0818 719 300. www.newtonfaulkner.com 2019 AC: After Copyright Lively debate about file sharing, illegal downloads and the new Broadcasting Act that also hypothesizes how our creative landscape might look in ten years time. Sharing her views is Anna Troberg, whose Swedish Pirate Party has a seat in the EU parliament Tomorrow, Maldron Hotel, Smithfield D7, 1pm, 10. Tel: (01) 671 7828. www.darklight.ie Book Now Top Gear Live Is that testosterone and burning rubber we smell? It can only mean one thing the return of Top Gear Live. Yes, Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, James May and the Stig are roaring back into Dublin this December 3 to 6 for motoring high jinx including rally car stunts, extreme street racers and flashy pyrotechnics in the nightly theatre show theres even a car which changes colour. Also on offer are 4x4 demonstrations on a purpose-built assault course, a hall of fame of iconic and future classic motors, trading stalls and, should an AeroMax not feature in your future, hot, recession- proof tips from Clarkson himself on how to help your car get through its next NCT... Dec 3 to 6, RDS, Merrion Road, Ballsbridge D4, various times, 65 to 165. Tel: 0818 719 300. www.topgearlive.ie PLANET CELEB Welcome To The World Of Kevin Federline Dancer/model/actor/rapper/wrestler/what- evah, Fed-Ex is best remembered for his failed marriage to Britney Spears. If Kev ever dreamed of being big in Hollywood, recent pics suggest he already is; a shoo-in for the role of The Incredible Bulk, his mighty moobs and matching muffin top prompted Perez Hilton a chap with a (love) handle (or two) on such issues to label him K-Fat. Could this be a result of a generally slobbish lifestyle? Former landlords who are demanding around 75,000 in allegedly unpaid rent seem to think so, citing discarded cigarette butts, graffiti and a broken beer dispenser on the barbecue island among the horrors they claim turned their once-beautiful home into a trashed spit- stained dump. No mention of empty KFC buckets, Krispy Kreme cartons or pizza boxes. Did the man often vilified as white trash occasionally put at least some of his out for collection, then? Keith Barker-Main Love Happens (12A) Running time: 109min Goodbye Solo (no cert) Running time: 91min Zombieland (16) Running time: 87min Up (G) Running time: 107min W e dont ever do things by formula. We want things to be original, we want things to be fresh. Something you havent seen before. So declared John Lasseter, director of Toy Story, creative head of Disney and co-founder of Pixar Animation Studios (Ratatouille, Finding Nemo) when Metro spoke to him earlier this year. And youve certainly never experienced anything quite like Up. No one but Lasseter would have the guts and vision to greenlight a cartoon where the lead is a bitter, 78-year-old widower who uses a Zimmer frame (very marketable not). Meet Carl Fredricksen, a retired balloon seller who faces eviction from his home until he decides to take it with him. Youll not experience a more magical moment in cinema this year than the literally uplifting scene where Carls house rises into the blue sky, buoyed up by a rainbow of umpteen helium balloons. His destination: Paradise Falls, South America. His unlikely companions: a chubby boy scout, a big, zany bird and a talking dog called Dug. With crazy surprises around every corner, Up is an adventure brimming with delights for all ages. Its warmly character-based humour feels closer to Wallace And Gromit than the sassy likes of Madagascar, where the animals all talk like theyre voiced by world-weary New York sitcom writers. Not that Up is dumbed down on any level. Adults be warned: you will need hankies throughout, starting with an emotional wringer of an opener whose wordless beauty even rivals Wall.Es. The first 3D animated feature to ever launch the Cannes Film Festival, Pixars tenth movie is undoubtedly a work of art but what truly makes it glow is that its a timeless story about love, and has obviously been made with tonnes of the stuff. Larushka Ivan-Zadeh 16 metrolife Friday, October 9, 2009 If youve seen the poster, youll know that: a) this stars Jennifer Aniston and Aaron Eckhart; and b) sometimes, when you least expect it... love happens. Its so bland it borders on parody. Its also quite misleading. The main theme of Love Happens is grief. Widower Burke (Eckhart) is publicly A- OK! in fact hes making a fortune out of self-help books and nationwide tours aimed at aiding the bereaved, while a TV slot glitters on his horizon. Privately, however, hes hitting the vodka to cope with his wifes death and feels guilty about exploiting it. Potentially, this is an interesting portrayal of a conflicted, grieving man. The contrast between Burkes public and private personas is intriguing. But someone, somewhere, decided this needed romance, and it needed Jennifer Aniston as quirky florist Eloise. (I dont know much about flower arranging but Im pretty sure you dont do it like that.) In some scenes, Aniston wears the trousers, refreshingly arranging surprise dates and turning the tables on Burke by psychoanalysing him. But Aniston and Eckhart feel miscast. The film is rarely funny but it is moving thanks to a welcome concluding scene between Eckhart and his father-in-law (Martin Sheen). Love Happens is watchable if youre sentimentally inclined but its identity crisis is hard to ignore. Anna Smith US filmmaker Ramin Bahrani appears to be breaking his own mould as he trades social realism on the mean streets of New York for an intimate drama in his North Carolina home town. But, like Man Push Cart (2005) and Chop Shop (2006) before it, Goodbye Solo deals with the lives of the working-class majority without ever drifting into patronising or worthy territory. A relentlessly upbeat Senegalese cabbie called Solo (non-actor Soulymane Sy Savan) meets a troubled, fiercely private old man called William (former Elvis bodyguard Red West) in the back of his cab. True to his culture, Solo feels obligated to help him. As the pair touchingly begin to connect, the films heart begins to beat: not in a mawkish, sentimental way but with attitude, humour and hope. Zena Alkayat Groaning with tongue-in-cheek movie references, this enjoyable comedy horror feels like its written by Quentin Tarantinos geeky nephew. Set in a post- apocalyptic future where mad cow became mad person became mad zombie, its most cunning (and original) move was pairing an anally retentive, virgin milksop (Jamie Bell-a-like Jesse Eisenberg) with Woody Harrelsons studiedly eccentric, hard-drinking, Twinkie-obsessed redneck to form an unlikely buddy partnership. Cue splatter set-pieces and self-conscious jokes galore as the duo team up with a streetwise sister act (Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin). The narrative lags in places but there are memorable high notes, namely a genius cameo by the ever marvellous Bill Murray as himself. Top moment: when Murrays asked if he has any regrets, he pauses then sighs: Only Garfield The Movie. LI-Z The hoTTesT TickeTs in Town We have two pairs of Gold tickets to see TOP GEAR LIVE Dec 4 at the RDS, noon For a chance to win, e-mail your answer to the question below to life@metroireland.ie by noon today with Hot Tickets in the subject line. With your answer please include your name, address and a number where you can be contacted between 1pm and 3pm. Strictly one entry per person; entrants must be age 18+. Q. Who is currently at the bottom of the leaderboard in Top Gears Celebrity Laps? A Jimmy Carr B Alan Carr The winner of yesterdays tickets to see David Gray is: Mark Beddis index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html24.html25.html26.html27.html