Roll out the Red Carpet

I was going to jam in my movie recommendations/awards/comments in my book post, and then that got kind of long, so you get another post. Here’s the best of what I watched in 2018:

In general:
2001: A Space Odyssey – This movie does not look like it was produced in 1968. Visually, it could have been made in the 21st century. The pacing is slow, there’s no dialog for the first or last 20 minutes, you listen to The Blue Danube for like, half an hour, and the ending scenes are flat out weird, but it’s all so well done.

Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure – Bill and Ted use a time travelling phone booth to amass a collection of historical figures to pass history class. Is this an artistic masterpiece? Absolutely not, but it’s so stupidly ridiculous that it’s good.

Soundtrack:
Original – Jurassic Park – Two words. John Williams. (And dinosaurs.)

Use of music – 2001: A Space Odyssey – According to Wikipedia, director Stanley Kubrick wanted to use music to create atmosphere and mood instead of relying on narrative techniques to drive the plot. He ended up using Richard Strauss’ Also sprach Zarathustra, Johann Strauss’ The Blue Danube, and pieces by Gyorgy Ligeti and Aram Khachaturian.

Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 1 – The soundtrack (Awesome Mix Vol. 1) is just the right mix of weird/wacky 70s to accompany a bunch of misfits and aliens as they save the galaxy.

Rewatch:¹

Star Wars – Both the original and prequal trilogies. Yes, I’m including all six episodes, Jar Jar, Ewoks, sand, and all.

¹I’m not including any of the Marvel movies as rewatches, even the ones I’ve seen before, using the argument that I fell asleep during every single one except for The Avengers and the first Guardians of the Galaxy.

Animated:
Coco – Similarly to Inside Out, I wasn’t expecting to like this as much as I did. In this Pixar film, Miguel accidentally ends up in the land of the dead on Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead) and needs to figure out how to get back to his family. The animation is what you expect from Pixar and the plot is straightforward but well-developed, even if the plot twist is more evocative of “of course that’s the plot twist” rather than “I had no idea that was coming.”

Marvel Cinematic Universe:
Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 1/2 – After making my way through the 17 Marvel movies before Infinity War, Peter Quill and his really weird gang and their kind of strange adventures backed by their 70s soundtrack win this award.

Musicals:
Chicago – We were supposed to be watching this after our last concert in band one year. We were probably not paying attention and fooling around instead. Chicago is supposed to satirize the criminal justice system, which it does with a catchy jazzy/vaudeville score.

Les Mis – Strong score, cast, set, lyrics, etc. Good adaptation overall.

Guys and Dolls – This is my favorite musical (not musical adaptation) of the musicals I watched this year. The 1955 movie version features Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons, Frank Sinatra, and Vivian Blaine as Skye Masterson, Sister Sarah Brown, Nathan Detroit, and Miss Adelaide respectively. Apparently Sinatra wanted the role of Skye, which went to Brando, and the two of them would not get along on set. Matters weren’t helped by the fact that Sinatra was a better singer than Brando. [Marlon Brando and Jean Simmons’ lack of singing experience is particularly obvious in “I’ll Know,” but they both sang all their parts themselves.]

Also watched: An American in Paris; New York, New York; On the Town; Beauty and the Beast; The King and I; Annie (The 2014 version with Cameron Diaz as Miss Hannigan in her last acting role. She was nominated for the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress. Again, in my opinion, it was one of those so bad it was good things.)

Disney progress: So far I’ve gotten through Snow White, Pinocchio, The Reluctant Dragon, Bambi, Dumbo, Make Mine Music, Saludos Amigos, The Three Caballeros, Victory Through Air Power, Alice in Wonderland, Melody Time, and Peter Pan.