MY MOVIE SHELF: Out of Sight

The Task: Watch and write about every movie on my shelf, in order (Blu-rays are sorted after DVDs), by June 10, 2015.  Remaining movies: 172  Days to go: 171

Movie #205:  Out of Sight

Out of Sight is a coming together of greats. Everything great about director Steven Soderbergh is here, from his stylized aesthetic to his inventive nonlinear heist structure and the great performances he pulls from scores of interesting actors. Everything great about writer Elmore Leonard is here (the movie is based on his novel), from the interesting characters to the snappy dialogue to the sparkling chemistry and thrilling plot. Everything great about George Clooney (as Jack Foley) is here, from his suave, effortless charm to his no-nonsense confidence to his playful sex appeal. And Jennifer Lopez (as Karen Sisco) is at her very, very best in this film. Selena might’ve been her breakout, and she has certainly stalled as any kind of successful actress after the Gigli bomb (or the Maid in Manhattan bomb) (or the Monster-in-Law bomb) (or whatever), but she is phenomenal in Out of Sight — calm, cool, collected, enigmatic, assertive, outspoken, powerful, a force to be reckoned with, and absolutely the sexiest she has ever been, no lie.

Jack Foley is a bank robber, but the nice kind. He never uses guns, for example. As the movie starts, we see Jack leave one building in a fit of anger and frustration, notice the bank across the street, and go over to rob it as a way of calming himself down. He’s very smart, very methodical, and very courteous. He robs the teller almost entirely on wit and charm and only gets caught because his car won’t start. He winds up at Glades Correctional in Belle Glades, Florida, where he escapes with the help of his oft-times partner Buddy (Ving Rhames), and where he meets Karen Sisco, US Marshall, for the first time.

Karen is at Glades by chance, winds up witnessing the prison break by several Cubans, and is confused and then abducted by Jack and Buddy when Jack emerges from the escapee’s tunnel wearing a prison guard uniform. (It was a top-notch plan, if not for her presence.) They put her in her trunk, which Jack climbs into as well, and Buddy drives them off safe and sound. This is Jack and Karen’s meet-cute, where they spend a car ride locked in a trunk trading thoughts and feelings on movies and other minutiae. They have a lot of chemistry, but it doesn’t stop Karen from trying to do her job and foil their getaway. She only partially succeeds, however, and the rest of the movie chronicles Jack and Buddy’s working toward their big score up north and Karen’s constant pursuit of them, all while the two would-be lovers contemplate a life in which they could maybe take a time out and explore these ever-increasing sparks of theirs.

Soderbergh is known as an actor’s director, and it’s easy to see why with the amazing performances he gets out of not only his leads, but every single supporting actor (and even those with cameo roles) in his films. I love Don Cheadle, and his work here at Maurice “Snoopy” Miller is almost unrecognizable in terms of his total immersion into the role of a vicious, irredeemable criminal. Whether it’s murder or grand larceny or just throwing a fight, Snoopy has no qualms, no conscience. Meanwhile national treasure (and seriously one of the funniest character actors of our time) Steve Zahn — as screw-up stoner thief Glenn Michaels — is dopey and ditzy in the best possible ways, plus he manages to accomplish 90% of his acting through the wearing of a ridiculous headband. There’s also Albert Brooks as Ripley, who manages to look even dumber with hair than without, and Dennis Farina as Marshall Sisco, Karen’s dad, who is as no-nonsense a detective as she is but who is also so loving and accepting of her. Pile on top of that great small performances from Luis Guzman (who can’t believe magicians use fake legs), Catherine Keener (as Jack’s adorable ex-wife), Michael Keaton (as Karen’s FBI guy squeeze), and even Samuel L. Jackson as an inmate with a history of leaving custody, and you have a film chock full of surprising and entertaining performances. Honestly, every single one is a delight (even Isaiah Washington pre-Grey’s Anatomy as Kenneth who likes to tussle, and early era Viola Davis as his sister Moselle). That’s not an easy thing to pull off, but Soderbergh is a whiz at it.

The tone of the movie is light, but also foreboding and wary. There’s a lot of hesitancy between what Jack and Karen feel for each other, what’s prudent, and what they can reasonably expect out of their attraction given their completely different lives, but in the end it’s actually heartwarming the way Jack and Karen’s fatalistic attitudes toward their futures don’t prevent them both from looking out for the other — Jack emptying his gun, Karen shooting him in the leg — and keeping each other safe. It’s as if they know they can’t call time out right now — and alter-egos Gary and Celeste have no chance of making things work — so they wait to find a better time. And, hey, it’s a long drive to Florida.

MY MOVIE SHELF: Finding Nemo

The Task: Watch and write about every movie on my shelf, in order (Blu-rays are sorted after DVDs), by June 10, 2015.  Remaining movies: 265 Days to go: 260

Movie #112: Finding Nemo

The hardest thing to animate, I think, would be water, and yet Finding Nemo, taking place in the ocean as it does, is full of animated water, and it is exquisite. The first time I saw the film in theaters, I was so distracted by a floating piece of jetsam behind Marlin’s (Albert Brooks) head, I jumped straight out of my chair when it cut to a close-up of Bruce (Barry Humphries). But aside from just that one moment, the entire movie is a gorgeous display of undulating, glimmering, gravity-defying water animation — both above and below the surface. The water has real life and authenticity to it, in all its varying textures and motions. That aspect of the film alone is hypnotic and awe-inspiring.

Finding Nemo was the fifth feature film release from Pixar, and another example of Pixar’s stellar quality of storytelling and filmmaking. Their movies are touching and heartfelt and beautifully rendered, with characters that, be they toys or bugs or monsters or fish, are three-dimensional and intriguing and effective. They are characters to care about and relate to. They are excellent and important films, and I love almost all of them.

To be truly effective as a “children’s” movie, it’s crucial to also appeal to parents, and Finding Nemo is definitely that. Kids love the suspense and the drama and the humor, but adults also love the cleverness and the story of a father who will go to the ends of the earth for his son. He’s overprotective, but through the eyes of a parent who has lost so much and who wants more than anything for his son to be alright, and though it is heartbreaking at times, his overprotectiveness of Nemo (Alexander Gould) is also understandable.

Beyond the story of a parent’s love, however, Finding Nemo is a story on multiple levels of the strength and power of friendships. When Dory (Ellen DeGeneres) and Marlin meet up, she’s clearly the kind of personality that is friendly, outgoing and helpful despite perhaps not being all there. And though she irritates Marlin (an irritable guy in general), others are drawn to her and drawn to helping her — the sharks, the school of impressionist fish, the sea turtles, the whale. She’s just likable, but she’s also fiercely loyal and loving. Her bond to Marlin is strong, and though she has absolutely no personal interest in Nemo’s fate, she accompanies Marlin on his quest to find him. There isn’t a spirit more generous than Dory’s.

By the same token, though, the aquarium fish are also deeply committed and loyal to Nemo. They take him under their wings, protect him, teach him strength and help him grow. They’re the friends you meet when you leave the nest, the ones who build you up and encourage your independence. Gill (Willem Dafoe) is a mentor and a role model, both for his wisdom and his own conquered disability. Peach (Allison Janney) and Bloat (Brad Garrett) are protectors and co-conspirators. But in the end, it’s Nemo’s own ingenuity, built from the friendships of his aquarium-mates, that saves him and reunites him with the ocean. And that same ingenuity, strength and verve then save Dory from a fishing net.

Finding Nemo is about relationships, but also about growth. In their separate journeys, Marlin and Nemo both grow tremendously — Marlin into a more trusting and settled parent, and Nemo into a stronger and more confident individual. In ways that something like the Toy Story trilogy takes three movies to develop, Finding Nemo successfully matures its characters in a single film (Finding Dory doesn’t come out until 2016, so we’ve yet to determine what journeys our characters will face).

It’s also, easily, one of the most delightful and engaging films ever made — animated or not. It’s light and clever and touching and a whole lot of fun. Kids and parents alike are entertained by it and fall in love with it and share it over and over and over again with each other. My little girl loved the drama, as she does, getting all caught up and exclaiming “Oh no!” every time something suspenseful happened (particularly with the anglerfish). My son loves Bruce (“Fish are friends, not food.”), and still owns his Bruce plush he got at Disney World seven years ago. The oldest girl loves Dory, as everyone should. And my husband likes when all the aquarium fish escape in their individual bags, reach the ocean and say, “Now what?” Personally, my favorite part is when the lobsters speak in Boston accents, but to each his own, y’know?