MY MOVIE SHELF: Night at the Museum

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: 182  Days to go: 183

Movie #195:  Night at the Museum

When you say you grew up in New York, most people assume that means the city and fail to realize there’s this whole giant state as well. I wasn’t as far away from Manhattan (while still being in New York) that I could’ve been, but back when I was a kid (when speed limits were lower and even major highways had fewer lanes), it took about seven hours to get there from where I grew up. I don’t know exactly, because the only times I went to (or through) New York City from my hometown were a couple times with my mom when I was really young, by tour bus, and again when I was eighteen, by train (but that was during a blizzard, so it took us forever — we didn’t reach our final destination of Washington D.C. until 3 A.M. and we left Syracuse, because our flight had been cancelled, at 1 in the afternoon). I’ve been to the city a few times as an adult, but mostly my memories of it start and end with those two or three single-day tour trips my mom and I took when I was still a little kid. We went shopping, rode up to the top of the World Trade Center, saw Cats, ate gross Manhattan Clam Chowder that made me puke, and visited lots of museums. My favorite, unsurprisingly, was the Museum of Natural History, where that big blue whale hanging from the ceiling was the most majestic and amazing thing I had ever seen.

Night at the Museum takes place in the Museum of Natural History. It’s a mostly fun little movie, though a bit slow and stilted in places. Yes, Ben Stiller (as night guard Larry Daley) can grate and sometimes the comedy devolves a little too much for my tastes, but I still hold a lot of love for this film, and I’m almost positive it’s due to that giant blue whale. It only makes one appearance, spraying Cecil (Dick Van Dyke) with its blowhole, but I adore it just the same.

The basic premise of the movie is that divorced dad Larry is a screw up who can’t hold a job and is constantly getting evicted, disappointing and upsetting his son Nick (Jake Cherry), who is really starting to look up to his mom’s fiancée Don (Paul Rudd, wearing four hundred phones on his belt like a douche). As a last-ditch hope, Larry gets an interview at the museum (Stiller’s awesomely funny mother, Anne Meara, plays the employment agency representative) to be a night guard. Larry gets the job — replacing outgoing and aging guards Cecil, Gus (Mickey Rooney) and Reginald (Bill Cobbs) — but finds out on his first night that a mysterious Egyptian tablet belonging to King Ahkmenrah (Rami Malek) brings everything to life at sunset. Chaos ensues, naturally, as everyone from Teddy Roosevelt (Robin Williams) — who has it bad for Sacajawea (Mizuo Peck) — to a skeletal T-Rex to a bunch of Neanderthals start roaming the halls and wreaking havoc. Even the tiny little diorama figurines, led by Jedediah of the Old West (Owen Wilson) and Octavius of Ancient Rome (Steve Coogan), start warring with each other and with Larry. There’s also a gross Capuchin monkey named Dexter who likes to steal keys and pee on things. On top of all that, there’s a secret plot to steal the tablet and other items from the museum that Larry must foil, in addition to keeping the displays under control and not losing them to the dawn (when they will turn to dust if they are outside the museum), and still manage not to get fired by museum director Dr. McPhee (Ricky Gervais). It’s a lot.

Like I said, Stiller tends to grate on me, but a lot of the supporting characters are truly great. The old guards, in particular, are fantastically spry, especially belligerent and pugilistic Mickey Rooney. The T-Rex that acts like a dog is also a lot of fun, and while most of Octavius and Jedediah annoy me, I really like the intercut scene where they flatten the van’s tires and the end scene when they jam to some music in a remote control car. Most notable, though, is how restrained but still utterly charming and funny Williams is as Teddy Roosevelt. He seems to perfectly embody the legend of the 26th president, or at least our modern idea of him, and is a steadying force against the wacky antics of literally everyone else. However, there is one wacky antic I unabashedly love, and that’s Brad Garrett voicing the Easter Island head, because that dum-dum wants some gum-gum.

In general, Night at the Museum isn’t a franchise I’m overly fond of, which is why I don’t own the sequel (despite thinking Amy Adams does a jolly good Amelia Earhart) and have little interest in the third movie coming out later this month. But this first movie is special to me, owing almost entirely to a little girl’s memories of her favorite New York City museum and that gorgeous big blue whale.

MY MOVIE SHELF: Music and Lyrics

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: 187  Days to go: 188

Movie #190:  Music and Lyrics

When making a movie about a song — even tangentially about a song, or about songwriters or about pop stars or similar — it’s crucial that the movie has successful music. Crucial. Critical. Like in That Thing You Do!, if the song is going to be heard over and over again, then it must work as a plausible hit song. In Music and Lyrics, this is also true, only more so.

Alex Fletcher (Hugh Grant) is a former ’80s pop star, the Andrew Ridgeley in a Wham!-like music group. (Hilariously, Scott Porter AKA Friday Night Lights‘s Jason Street is the George Michael in this duo.) A favorite of pop diva superstar Cora (Haley Bennett), Alex is tasked with writing a new song for her next album titled “Way Back Into Love” Unfortunately, Alex is no lyricist and through some fortunate coincidences winds up enlisting Sophie Fisher (Drew Barrymore) to work with him.

Alex sings several Pop! songs in the course of the film, as part of his fading star lifestyle of theme park performances, and all of them work as former soft rock hits of the 1980s — the signature song, especially (“Pop! Goes My Heart”), is catchy and fun and perfectly cheesy, fulfilling everything it needs to be. You hear it and you believe it was a teenage girl’s favorite song once upon a time. You watch the spectacularly goofball music video and are transported to the time when those videos were all you saw on MTV. It’s incredibly successful.

On the other end of the spectrum, Cora’s music needs to feel current and leading the pop culture charge, musically. While the film undoubtedly mocks these songs — lovingly, the same way it does with the Pop! songs — it also exemplifies everything about the young female superstar stereotype that magically doesn’t date the film or the “new” music even though it came out almost eight years ago.

There are also smaller songs Alex writes specifically for Sophie, first to convince her she’s a lyricist and finally as a climax to the fledgling romance. The first little ditties, where he just plays around with her lyrics, are sweet and charming, but also compelling in their way. The last is everything a big romantic moment in this type of movie has to be: touching, authentic, personal and sweet. Grant and Barrymore have a lot of lovely chemistry as a romantic couple, each supporting and lightly teasing the other’s neuroses in the very best ways, and seeming to really enjoy each other. Their payoff in the song he writes for her feels earned, and it warms my heart.

The most crucial song in the movie, however, is “Way Back Into Love,” the song they write for Cora. Sung, in all or in part, several times throughout the film, it never feels overdone or overplayed. The lyrics are meaningful and heartfelt while still being youthful. The melody is pleasant and memorable. It simply works on every level, and that’s no small feat. Even the ridiculous Cora-fied version with the orgasm sounds and the hip hop stylings feels like some remix that could potentially happen in the current landscape of pop dance music. (Make of that what you will.)

Music and Lyrics also features strong supporting performances by Kristen Johnston (as Sophie’s sister and Alex’s biggest fan) and Brad Garrett (as Alex’s manager), plus fun cameos by Aasif Mandvi (as tone-deaf doorman Khan), Glee’s Matthew Morrison (as a Justin Timberlake-looking assistant to Cora) and Campbell Scott (as handsome douchebag Sloan Cates). It’s just a fun, good, solid romantic comedy that never got the love it deserves (and I honestly think about the line “inspiration is for amateurs” at least once a week).

I think I might go watch it again.

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?