The Lego Movie

Dustin: 4.5 of 5 stars Nick: 3.5 of 5 stars Average: 4 of 5 stars (Live canary)

Dustin: The Lego Movie is a 100-minute Lego commercial starring Chris Pratt, Will Ferrell, Morgan Freeman, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett and Liam Neeson. It’s set in a George Orwellian dystopia where everything is “awesome” and everyone follows the “instructions,” blissfully unaware that the evil President Business (Ferrell) plans to super glue them permanently in their perfect state.

Dustin: What’s your take on The Lego Movie, Nick? 

Nick: Since the film is made of Legos it allows itself a unique world where characters from Michelangelo (the artist) to Michelangelo (the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle) try and help a nobody defeat the ruler, also a non-famous Lego. The idea feels like Shrek mixed with Phil Lord’s and Christopher Miller’s eccentric animated piece Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. While the jokes are fast and witty, it gets a little tiring until the plot starts to progress in the last third. 

Dustin: I loved almost everything about this movie. Readers of Joseph Campbell will immediately recognize Emmett (Pratt) as the “Hero with a Thousand Faces.” The story follows Campbell’s outline of the Hero’s Journey so perfectly it can’t be a coincidence. You have the archetypical everyman (Emmett), the call to adventure (finding the Piece of Resistance), the denial to the call (doubting he is the Special prophecy foretold), the literal crossing of the threshold, assembling the team, the vortex into the center of the universe, a (figurative) into the belly of the whale sequence, death and rebirth, an ogre father who needs to be reconciled with. This was literally an epic adventure. 

Nick: Something I loved, but was also the reason for my annoyance, was how all these things that you mentioned are mocked by the characters in the film. This continually happens until the last third. It’s hard to take something and enjoy it when it is constantly mocked. 

Dustin: I appreciated the humor in the movie. I think by the end my face was hurting from me smiling throughout. I don’t mind that the whole Hero’s Journey unfolded somewhat sarcastically. In fact, I think that’s what made me like it even more. They were fully aware of what they were doing and had fun with it. 

Nick: Agreed, it just did too much with being fully aware and not much outside of it. The film is cast expertly with some of the most lively character voicing ever. Morgan Freeman as Vitruvius (Oracle) is tongue-in-cheek itself, but Unikitty, voiced by Allison Brie, was a personal favorite for me. 

Dustin: Morgan Freeman was perfectly cast as the Oracle, another Campbell-esque mentor figure, satirizing the roles he’s played in other movies, such as the Dark Knight series.

So why didn’t the movie work for you until the final act? 

Nick: In the final act the movie starts to push away from it being fully self-aware and starts to at least try and garner some heart. I don’t really want to speak of the surprise, but the idea behind the father and son bonding moment was done well. Though it did end with an unrealistic turn around by the father and an out-of-place notion (Legos aren’t for adults, but for kids). 

Dustin: There are two types of Lego consumers, which this movie is fully aware of: the adult hobbyists who typically follow the instructions and sometimes glue the pieces together and the kids who have more freeform play. The movie nods at both, but seems to be advocating for the latter, which I also found a bit out-of-place. Why would Legos include instructions if they didn’t intend for them to be followed? 

Nick: I actually think adult enthusiasts are the more freeform and kids follow the instructions. As a kid I know I always did and had a damn fun time doing it as well, but now you have competitions where adults try and build the most amazing thing out of Legos where they have no instructions. Though I can believe there are adults who still buy Legos and glue all the pieces together, I’m just happy to say none are my friends! 

Dustin: I enjoyed the whole film. But, like you, I thought the final act is what elevated it above what came before. If the final act had been like the previous two, I would have walked away satisfied, but probably would have forgotten it in a week or two. But the final act, which all I’ll say about it that it’s live-action, is part of what made this film great. I actually enjoyed the father’s character arc and didn’t think it was unrealistic, knowing how even an uptight hobbyist who's OCD about his Legos would enjoy playing with his child more than spending all his time on an introverted hobby. 

Nick: When I say unrealistic I’m going for how the father and son have probably had this exact same conversation before and how the father does a pretty quick turn around within probably 30 minutes, though he’s been telling his preadolescent son all these years to not touch his stuff. While I can let it go and enjoy the film I was just pointing out the unlikeliness of the action. 

Dustin: The Lego Movie is, in my opinion, the best animated family film since Toy Story (is it a coincidence these movies are both about toys?). If I had to fault the movie with anything, it’s that the animation is sometimes too busy. I had trouble following the action at times because there was so much going on at once and too fast to keep up.

Children will enjoy the bright colors and adventure, but there are plenty of in-jokes and themes for parents to enjoy as well. I recommend this to all audiences.

Her + Oscar talk

Dustin: 4.5 of 5 stars Nick: 4.5 of 5 stars Average: 4.5 of 5 stars (Tweety canary)

Dustin: Her is a semi-sci-fi film set in a minority-devoid near-future Los Angeles. It’s about a man’s romantic relationship with his operating system. It stars Joaquin Phoenix as Kip from Napoleon Dynamite and Scarlett Johansson playing against type as a female without a smoking hot body.

What did you think of Her, Nick? 

Nick: She was fantastic! Oh, wait. We’re talking about the movie?

Jonze created a fascinating world (as he always does) that had me in a trance even with the loud, drunk girl sitting next to me who got kicked out with 15 minutes left in the movie. 

Dustin: You were probably right not to follow your date out of the theater at that point.

The near-future in this film was really well done. I wondered what city it was at first. I thought it might be L.A., but I recognized some buildings as Shanghai. But due to the lack of people of color and the hipster clothing, I figured it might be Canada. It was later revealed to be L.A. It is glossy and spreads out beyond the current L.A. It is not dystopian, and it still feels familiar. 

Nick: All the futuristic elements were subtle from the clothes to the video games. They were all video games that I would love to play, and I don’t play many video games. 

Dustin: One disturbing element of the future though, that seemed entirely plausible just walking around today, is how people are disconnected from each other. They still have social lives, but there are no deep connections. Joaquin Phoenix works as a writer for Beautiful Handwritten Letters, a company that writes personal letters for people. In this world, you can believe someone would fall in love with his computer. 

Nick: I believe that falling in love with an O.S. could happen in our world.

I didn’t even notice the lack of diversity in this film until I read something later. Do you think they were trying to make a statement? 

Dustin: You know, I really can’t figure that one out. One of the reasons I asked myself early in the movie where this was set was because there are so few minorities (I’m not sure that is still a politically correct term). There were a couple Asians, and I think he passed a black man at one point, but the city looked about 95 percent white. Once they eventually confirmed this was L.A., I’m sure there was a reason for it, given how well thought-out the setting was and how subtly they handled it. I just don’t know what the reason might be for this artistic decision. 

Nick: Jonze is a thoughtful filmmaker, but I think it might be already so complicated and such a personally told story from one man’s view that its hard for me to believe that he was making a creative choice, but I would love to find out the reasoning. 

Dustin: This movie certainly got a few neurons sparking in my monkey brain. I thought about what it means to be human. Could a mind without a body be considered human? If Joaquin Phoenix tossed his O.S. (Samantha) into the ocean, would it be akin to murder? 

Nick: I also don’t think its murder because Samantha is communicating with thousands of people at once. So if the one phone is tossed away, that’s not murder, but maybe if the creator of the O.S.s turns them all off then maybe?... Right? 

Dustin: I don’t think so. Eventually I answered my own question and thought, Of course it’s not murder--Samantha’s not human. It’s artificial intelligence, and she is following her programming. The only true emotions are Joaquin Phoenix’s. He’s projecting human characteristics onto a machine, which humans are very good at doing. 

Nick: Which is a hilarious point because Spike Jonze made an IKEA ad with the same idea.

Nick: …same creator with a similar idea, but with a larger scope. 

Dustin: This is my first time seeing this ad. That sort of answers my question knowing now where he’s coming from. 

Nick: I believe it’s all programming based to be emotional. Like you said, it’s a very disconnected world, and the company who makes the O.S.s knows this and is feeding off the loneliness of the current world. Look for it in the future! Even the video games are either wholly interactive or are based on characters doing mundane everyday actions (like what a stay-at-home mother does all day). 

Dustin: Did you feel like this film was some sort of commentary? 

Nick: Of course. A social commentary. It’s quite incredible. If the film wasn’t overly cutesy and felt a little long (could be caused by the drunk girl next to me), then I would have thought this film was perfect. The movie is thought-provoking and it’s highly entertaining with a lot of laughs. It’s a rare combination. 

Dustin: It’s been nominated for best picture. Up against 12 Years a Slave, The Wolf of Wall Street, American Hustle. What do you think its chances are? 

Nick: How many films were nominated? Eight? Nine? Ten? 

Dustin: Nine. 

Nick: Then I’d say 1/9 chance. Which is basically saying it doesn’t have one. It’s between 12 Years A Slave and American Hustle. No other film has a shot. 

Dustin: Should we go on the talk about Oscar pics? 

Nick: Sure. 

Dustin: Are there any surprises on the list for you? 

Nick: Since I’m always pretty deep into film news nothing is really surprising, but the one shock would be The Croods for Best Animated Picture with Monsters University left off the list.

Dustin: I’m surprised Captain Phillips was nominated. I thought it was great and I recommended it, but I didn’t really see it as an “Oscar” movie. 

Nick: I know you didn't. Do you remember after we saw it I said I didn’t really want to see the movie because it felt like Oscar bait to me, and lo and behold it was exactly that! 

Dustin: I remember you saying that. I thought you could’ve been right. Maybe they were fishing for an Oscar nomination, but I didn’t think the Academy would bite.

There are a couple movies I’m surprised aren’t on the list. One was Mud, which might have been my favorite from last year. The other is Fruitvale Station, which I thought was good. It wasn’t one of my favorites, but it was definitely what I thought of as “Oscar bait.” 

Nick: The reason the Oscars and other awards shows mean nothing to me is that the people of the committee who are voting are not forced to see any film. So it’s possible they will never hear about the film. The film company will make “For Your Consideration” releases, which costs them money to send out to the voters, so that they know they had a chance to see the movie. This happened to Moon by Duncan Jones, for which Sam Rockwell should have gotten a nomination, but the company wouldn’t spend money on the screeners.

Joaquin Phoenix always immerses himself in his roles, and I’m probably biased in saying he deserved a nomination, but I also think all the women in Her (Scarlett Johanssen, Amy Adams, Rooney Mara) deserved a nom as well, but Adams got hers for American Hustle, and the Academy HAS to recognize Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts in that one film that hardly anyone I know has heard about. 

Dustin: True dat. I’m don’t even know if Meryl Streep was in anything this year, but I’m sure she’s been nominated, and I haven’t even looked at the best actress nominees. 

Nick: August: Osage County (both Streep and Roberts) is hardly well-regarded, which the Academy never seems to honor actors who are in lesser films unless they are an American Sweetheart (...honorable mention Sandra Bullock).