High Flying Bird (2019)

Steven Soderbergh's latest experimentation with iPhone filmography is excellent fun. It makes you think anyone can make a movie, but he has a special vision. You don't realize it, but it's a heist movie disguised as a sports movie. It's a basketball movie that takes place during a lockout. And this is all about the politics of the game, the game on top of the game, if you will. The message is overt and searing, delivered with smart writing and great acting.

The House With the Clock in its Walls (2018)

I describe this as a kid-friendly fantasy thriller. And so it is appropriate that the IMAX screening is preceded by Michael Jackson's Thriller, in new glorious 3D. Michael Jackson is good fun and the transformation scene in 3D is actually really freaky. The whiskers shoot out in 3D!

As for the main event, the movie is well-acted and cutely cast. If you like Young Sheldon, you'll love Lewis. Man, this kid is Sheldon-level weird, a social outcast. His potential friend Tarby is a real stereotypical greaser character. The school is really remarkable in how retro it feels. Cate Blanchett is divine. She really acts like she wants an Oscar no matter what the role is. And Jack Black is perfect for kids movies. He blends just the right amount of humor and charm. The movie is really quite fun overall.

Inside Out (2015)

Much like emotions themselves, this movie is quite complex. Perhaps a little too complex for children, but if you think the target audience is children, then you don't know Pixar, which has consistently made high quality animated films that resonate best with adults who might accompany children to the theater.  Pixar adds to its canon of masterpieces, and perhaps outdoes itself once and for all with this brilliant return to form after a year off.  As always, Pixar finds the right balance between comedy, drama and pure emotion, never failing to illicit a tearful response or two or .several from the audience.

The premise is so novel and creative and clever. It is pure genius.  It is at once a story about growing up, about memories and dreams, and about learning to grapple with our feelings, our emotions and personalities.  And it does so literally from the inside out, telling stories from inside Riley's mind.  It is a story that only the world of animation could bring to life.  It is very beautifully animated.  It uses imagination to envision what imagination looks like.  It envisions an expansive library of memories sitting in storage.

The characters are extreme caricatures, all cast perfectly.  Amy Poehler plays Joy, a hyped up version of Leslie Knope.  Likewise, Lewis Black plays Anger, an extreme version of his own persona.  But it is the character of Sadness voiced by Phyllis Smith that shares the spotlight with Joy, or stands in the shadow of Joy's aura.  I really appreciated Pete Docter's attention to sadness, an emotion for which the child-minded Joy sees no use; but our emotions are complex and sadness is not an inherently bad thing, and the real heart of the film is this interplay between these two characters learning what it means to be sad and learning to embrace it.

I also think that it is great that the main character is a little girl (a la Brave).  Perhaps girls are a little more in touch with their emotions at a young age. But in any case, it is important for girls to see themselves portrayed on screen, and in Pixar's fifteen productions, this is only the second to feature a female protagonist.  And she plays hockey!  Take that, gender stereotypes.

PS. Did you catch the reference to Chinatown? "Forget it, Jake. It's Cloudtown"
PPS. Did you see the film poster at Dream Productions referencing Vertigo?