partylikeits2003

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So what next?

There are a few films I didn’t get to, that I may come back to eventually, who knows. But here they are, so you know my final rec’s:

X2: W-Men United, Bruce Almighty, Kill Bill Vol. 1, Secondhand Lions, Holes, The Italian Job, Brother Bear, and Return of the King.

And don’t be glum, even though 2003 is over and done with. There’s lots to look forward to in 2004: One of my favorite shows of all time, LOST, will begin in September. Nicholas Cage will take us on a new adventure in National Treasure. The first SpongeBob SquarePants movie will come out in July. Tom Hanks will spend a lot of time at the airport in The Terminal. Ciara will drop her debut album ‘Goodies’. Spiderman 2 will keep the hero movie momentum going. And Mean Girls will give us all a definitive (and as yet unsurpassed) teen movie experience. 

2019 is sure to be an interesting year, too. I’m going to see Escape Plan this weekend, and am pretty stoked about the Lego Movie and How to Train Your Dragon sequels coming in February. I wonder what people will be talking about fifteen years from now?

See you at the movies : )

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Epilogue Continued

Everyone has their ups and downs. Last year people were packing the theaters to see Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle with Jack Black in a starring role, and this year people are allegedly walking out of Will Ferrell’s Holmes and Watson. They’re both still around, and they’re still at it. Andrew Lloyd Webber even made School of Rock into a Broadway musical. I haven’t seen it, but I hear it’s good.

Elf’s other leads have been in some fun movies: Bob Newhart’s been in showbusiness a while, but in 2004 he was in The Librarian: The Quest for the Spear with Noah Wyle. It kicked off a very fun film and TV series on TNT. James Caan, who has also had a long successful career, can also be seen in the utterly charming Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs films. And among his 385 acting credits, Ed Asner voiced Carl Fredricksen in Pixar’s Up.

Zooey Deschanel is the one who kind of vanished for me. Yes, I got around to seeing (500) Days of Summer just for my love of Joseph Gordan-Levitt, but it wasn’t really my thing. I have a hard time seeing her as anyone but the blonde cynical Jovi; I haven’t seen her TV show except for the Brooklyn Nine-Nine crossover episode, and I don’t think it’s my thing, either. Sort of like, how, after seeing and loving Stardust, I wondered what happened to Clare Danes. She pretty much stepped away from movies and has been on Homeland ever since. But if you want to see Zooey in something else that’s out of the box, check out 005′s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, where she plays Trillian (formerly Tricia McMillan), Arthur Dent’s ‘the one that got away’ (far, far away).

It feels right to end this on Jon Favreau: five years later he was laying the foundations of the MCU by filming the incomparable Iron Man. He’s still working for Disney, racking up the awards for 2016′s The Jungle Book and preparing to (hopefully) wow us with the CGI Lion King this summer. He’s making a Star Wars TV series of some sort, too, and I can’t wait to see how it turns out. Maybe RDJ will have a cameo... 

In the new year, I hope everyone, including all of the people of the internet not reading this blog, find lots of fun movies to watch, both new and old.

[partylikeits2003]

Epilogue

Yes, it’s 2019 and not exactly 15 years later anymore, but it’s technically the Tenth Day of Christmas, and I can’t leave out Elf, right?

When I was in college, this was everyone’s go-to movie at Christmastime for dorm gatherings (we were a wild bunch). USA Network would also have at least one Elf weekend, where they would show it every night at least once. I have seen it over a dozen times, but it’s still filled with such whimsy and cheer and bizarre antics that it never gets old. Rotten Tomatoes has been doing some ‘a look back’ type articles lately, and they did at least one mentioning Elf at its 15 year anniversary. IMDb had an interesting video interviewing Jon Favreau and Will Ferrell asking about it, a little while back, so I’m not the only one who looks back on it fondly. 

It’s a combination of the cute world at the beginning where Buddy sticks out like a tremendous sore thumb, and his time in bland, dreary NYC where he sticks out even more, that makes it so fun and endearing. My favorite parts are Buddy at the department store driving the manager crazy (our old friend Faizon Love, from the Fighting Temptations! He’s hilarious here) and when he shows Jovie the highlights of the city, helping her see it with fresh eyes. I’ve only been once, but one of the highlights was going through the Lincoln Tunnel, just like he did!

There’s something for everyone here, for me, who is not a big Will Ferrell fan (his other ‘03 film, Old School, does have its merits) and all your family and friends. Same goes for School of Rock: it had a Rotten Tomatoes article recently, too, and was on TV over Thanksgiving weekend. My Dad stopped scrolling through the guide and we watched the last third, where his identity was revealed and the kids go on the ‘field trip’ anyway, to compete at the Battle of the Bands.

What fun, off the wall stories 2003 gave us: an elf adrift in New York City, an irrepressible wannabe rock star becoming a substitute teacher to make a few bucks. A fish out of water Christmas rom-com. A washed up guitarist tricking a bunch of prep school kids into competing with him at a local rock battle. But everyone learns valuable lessons, Christmas was saved, faces were melted, and a good time was had by all.

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The first step is the hardest lol

Elf (2003) Dir. Jon Favreau

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That never gets old...

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So where are they now? Still definitely in the public consciousness. Where all of the libraries around me only had one disc available of Sinbad, they have a combined 24 for Finding Nemo. It was the #2 movie of 2003, bringing in $940 million worldwide on a $94 million budget. They received 4 Oscar nominations and won for Best Animated Feature. It’s currently #166 on IMDb’s Top 250 list. Want to meet the characters ‘in person’? They even appear in some incarnations of Disney On Ice, which you can find clips of on YouTube if you’re curious to see how they get the fish to skate.

The kid who voiced Nemo, Alexander Gould, played Shane in Weeds from 2005-2012, otherwise Ellen has been doing her thing ever since, and not much has changed. I thought the sequel was visually excellent but that the story was a letdown, and far too dark. My favorite part was Dory’s new octopus friend, and watching him move around so fluidly onscreen was a real treat. The animators didn’t let me down. And if you love all things Pixar, you’re probably aware that Toy Story 4 is coming in 2019, and rumor has it that in 2020 we’ll be getting something brand new. Fingers crossed.

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A side-by-side comparison of the lighting, color, and texture differences in the original and its sequel.

Finding Nemo (2003) and Finding Dory (2016)

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A very helpful school of fish

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whatahypocrisy:

spakka fish ~o-

We found Nemo... and another chance to admire the vibrant color choices and tiny particles artfully floating around. It still looks fantastic all these years later.

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Dory talking to whales while showcasing all of the tiny particles the animators put in to make the seawater look realistic. Amazing.

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So it just felt right to transition right over to Finding Nemo, and compare two very different animated films that came out within months of each other. And I don’t even have to do a Where are they now? because they just did a sequel, Finding Dory, in 2016 (although I may do a mini cast update at the end).

This is my favorite Pixar film after WALL-E (I love anything about space). It’s because of the zany cast of characters and the strong actors behind them (What if Ellen and the tiger from Doctor Dolittle went on an adventure? But as *fish*!) and because of the stunning animation. The difference between Sinbad’s computer animated water and Finding Nemo’s couldn’t be more stark. I remember behind the scenes shorts on the Disney Channel back then talking to animators about how they did it: they showed a tank of water with glitter and sand and whatnot mixed in, and they used that as a reference to show a realistic ocean the characters would be swimming through. Very cool, and lots of thought and effort to make water look different than it had in any previous animated film.

It was fun because we got to see our heroes go on an epic quest and meet lots of colorful characters along the way. It was moving because it told us to never give up, and that it’s okay to let go and watch as others spread their wings, knowing that they can always choose to fly (or, in this case, swim) right back to you.

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You tell him, Dory : )

Finding Nemo (2003)

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Sinbad: Where are they now?

Brad Pitt went back to his old crew for Ocean’s Twelve in 04‘, and has been in plenty of things since. He had a brief cameo in Deadpool 2 as Vanisher, and last year was in a military comedy called War Machine that was disappointingly not an Iron Man spinoff. In 2019 he and a whole bunch of notable actors will be in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and a sequel to World War Z is in the works.

Catherine Zeta-Jones joined BP in Ocean’s Twelve as his love interest and formidable adversary; their scenes together are really funny. In 2017, she played Olivia de Havilland in Feud: Bette and Joan, which I only saw part of but really enjoyed. Her next show, Queen America, actually starts this weekend, and has her coaching beauty pageant contestants hoping to one day be Miss America. I suggest checking out 2013′s Side Effects, a really fantastic thriller from Steven Soderbergh, if you wanted to see her more recent-ish work.

Michelle Pfeiffer blew us away in 2007 with both Stardust and Hairspray (two of my favorite films) and did an excellent job in 2017′s Murder on the Orient Express. This year, right after her 60th birthday, we saw her join the MCU as Janet Van Dyne in Ant-Man and the Wasp, and it will be interesting to see what her part will be in next year’s mysterious Avengers 4. She’s also going to play a queen in 2020′s Maleficent 2, so we certainly haven’t seen the last of Michelle.

Joseph Fiennes was in American Horror Story: Asylum, and played Fred Waterford in The Handmaid’s Tale. Dennis Haysbert is also recognizable on TV, from his iconic role as President Palmer on 24 to this summer’s Reverie, and of course those Allstate commercials that make the most of his deep, soothing voice. Timothy West, who voiced King Dymas, played King Francis in Ever After 5 years earlier in ‘98, and was in a movie called We the Kings this year. I’m sensing a pattern...

Sinbad’s less prominent crew members have impressive resumes: voicing Jin is Raman Hui’s only acting credit, but he went on to direct Shrek the Third and became the animation director for the How to Train Your Dragon spinoff series, Dragons. Conrad Vernon has done lots of voice work for DreamWorks, including the Gingerbread Man in Shrek, and Jim Cummings, a voice acting legend, has 540 credits to his name; I’m sure you’d recognize him as the guard from Aladdin, among a ton of other roles. They really got a great team together for Sinbad, and I hope people rediscover it on Amazon and keep the legend alive.

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I agree 1,000%! The voice, the hair, the schemes... such a great character : )

Eris is one of my all time favourite animated characters. It’s been 13 years since I first saw this film and I am still utterly transfixed by the way they animated her. She is absolute heaven.

Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas

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Side Note: Animation

Sinbad came out in kind of a transitional time for animation. Even as the Academy finally acknowledged the value of the art form and created the Oscar for Best Animated Feature in 2002, the landscape was changing: studios were moving away from the beautiful, moving 2D films that had captivated us in the 90s and were on the verge of making everything in 3D. After sequels to Peter Pan and The Jungle Book, Disney announced that its last 2D feature to be released in theaters would be 2004′s Home on the Range.

It was a dark time. I’m not trying to drag anyone here, but seriously: no one is going to try to cash in on remaking Over the Hedge, Chicken Little, or Monster House. Bee Movie and Barnyard won’t be bringing on massive waves of nostalgia. By the late 2000′s the other studios were at least catching up to Pixar, with Kung-Fu Panda in ‘08 and How to Train Your Dragon in ‘10. Disney also went back to classic princess stories (thank Walt) with The Princess and the Frog in ‘09, and Up came out the same year. The slump was over.

But even before the studios left 2D behind completely, they had been incorporating computer graphics into their traditional films. Disney was pretty subtle, just using the technology to enhance their hand-drawn scenes: the ballroom scene in beauty and the Beast and Aladdin’s cave of wonders, the wildebeest stampede in The Lion King and the Hun Army running down that snowy slope in Mulan. As the technology improved they looked for more ways to use it, like making Tarzan really seem like he was hurtling through the jungle as he jumped and slid from tree to tree. 

What I had forgotten until re-watching Sinbad this week was that, while they hand-drew all of the characters, the ships, cities, and high seas were all 3D computer animation, which is a bit jarring to the modern eye. I generally like the character design here, reminiscent of Dreamworks’ Road to El Dorado from back in 2000, but the 3D elements look dull and dated in comparison. They’ve moved from a subtle enhancement to the majority of the visual elements, and it’s been a surprising disappointment, since I remember really enjoying the movie when I saw it in theaters. The biggest let down is how they animate water, which appears quite often (it’s in the title). That’s always been a difficult element to get right, making it one of my base criteria for scoring animation in my head. But the dynamic characters, and the creativity of the various places they visit throughout their journey, still make for a great visual adventure. It was nice to see Dreamworks to take the traditional route one last time; who knows, maybe 5, 10 years from now, this will considered vintage and they’ll try again?

Side Side Note: Okay, I just remembered that Madagascar came out in ‘05, and feel like I should acknowledge that it was a bright spot in this hit-or-miss era. My Dad always thought it was hysterical, and would even watch the Penguins of Madagascar TV show from time to time. I have rarely seen him laugh so hard, and have to give credit where credit is due.

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Sinbad: What’s it about?

So Sinbad (Brad Pitt) is an adventurer/seafaring thief who sails around Jack-Sparrow style with his crew of lovable misfits. When he runs into an old friend (Joseph Fiennes), his past starts to catch up with him, and as he heads of on a voyage to make things right, he has to figure out how to heal old wounds and decide what he wants for the future. This is all made more difficult by Eris, the Goddess of Discord (Michelle Pfeiffer), who has chosen Sinbad to be a pawn in her pursuit of power and chaos.

I think the voice cast is excellent: Pfeiffer as the smooth and sinister Eris is especially amazing, along with Brad Pitt as the carefree hero who has to reevaluate his priorities. Catherine Zeta-Jones as Marina, his old friend’s fiancée who joins his quest, is also solid, and the supporting cast backs them up really well. Eris is definitely the highlight, though: her way of speaking, the fluid animation of her character, and how her hair and clothes constantly swirl around as if she were underwater, or outer space (which she often is). She’s an incredible villain, well designed and well executed, and her character is at the heart of the chaos that changes the other characters’ lives.

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Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas

So since this is one I hadn’t seen in a long time, I to get my hands on a copy, especially to reacquaint myself with the film’s unique visual style. And since it’s not on Netflix, I requested a copy from the library. Because of my location, I have access to three counties’  worth of libraries, and a good thing, too, because I found out that between them all, there is only a single DVD of Sinbad for checkout. So I went on the waiting list for a few weeks, and finally have it in my possession. I’ll do my best not to scratch it.

Why the scarcity, though? Am I the only one who cares about this movie anymore? I mean, it’s not the best movie ever, but it’s really fun and exciting; I guess it was too mature to make it onto the classics for kids list, and the visuals are stunning but rather dated, which I’ll get into later. But a Dreamworks film starring Brad Pitt seems like it would have more longevity. This will be a fun one to break down.