Movie Night Preview: Minions and Inside Out
October 28, 2015
On Thursday & Friday, October 29 & 30, Student Activities is hosting back-to-back Movie Nights in the LaHaye Event Space, featuring two, outstanding animated movies, Inside Out & Minions. Each movie will be shown twice (8 & 10 p.m.) on their respective nights, Inside Out on Thursday the 29th, Minions on Friday the 30th.
Inside Out is a beautiful movie, one that is well-deserving of the accolades* it has already received, and one we will hopefully see as Best Picture nominee at next year’s Academy Awards. It is the story of Riley, an 11 year old girl in the middle of significant changes in her life resulting from a family move from Minnesota to San Francisco and all of the difficulties that come with it. Her life action is guided by the primary emotions in the “control room” of her mind, represented by Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust. Casting for each of these emotions is outstanding, with Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith (from The Office), Lewis Black, Bill Hader, and Mindy Kaling voicing each, respectively. Though all five actors are excellent, it would be difficult to find two better voices than Lewis Black for Anger and Phyllis Smith for Sadness; their tone and persona carry over nearly perfectly to their on-screen characters. As for the movie itself, it is a colorful, vibrant, and imaginative handling of the complexities of human thought and emotion. What makes the movie so special is that these complexities are woven seamlessly into a deep and easily relatable story, never letting the complexity overpower or distract from the narrative. It is a powerful picture of virtue and the strength of the family without any sap; it is an honest dealing with the realities and difficulties of life. Though there is strength to all of the characters, the interplay between Joy and Sadness is one of the things that sets Pixar’s movie making apart. This content of the movie is well worth the time as a study or evaluation, yet it has tremendous power and value in its visual artistry and emotional depth.
Minions, on the other hand, is nothing more than slapstick fun and silliness. Please, someone tell us what is wrong with this. You already know you like Minions in general. You know what they’re about. You know you want to understand their gibberish, and perhaps even enjoy bananas as much as they do. But does the story of a movie like this, or the voice actors in it, matter a great deal to you? How much of a difference does it make to know that Sandra Bullock is the voice of Scarlet Overkill, or that Jon Hamm voices Herb Overkill? Geoffrey Rush as narrator: how do you feel about that? We’ll answer for you: fine. You feel fine about it, because the only voice that really matters is Pierre Coffin’s, the voice of the Minions. No matter who the other actors are, ultimately you know that Kevin, Stuart, and Bob are going to smash each other with various blunt instruments, they’re going to have their butts out, and they’re going to scream mostly nonsense and sometimes real words like “papaya” and “La Cucaracha”. In short, you know you’re going to laugh at their voices, their faces, and their jokes that, for some reason, have and will always be funny.
Of course, all showings of these movies are FREE, and we’ll have lots of FREE popcorn and reasonably-priced snacks & drinks for you. It’s yet another great set of Movie Nights, featuring Inside Out and Minions, brought to you by Student Activities.