☀️ Summer Movie Camp 📽️
How to grow a cinephile
Well, whoops! I forgot to give Ocean’s Thirteen its flowers in last week’s Downstream. Here’s what I would have said about it had I not forgotten to do the write-up before hitting send 🤦🏻♂️
“We didn’t know how good we had it with the Ocean’s trilogy. Steven Soderbergh is a master of making slick, fun entertainment that gives people what they want while still allowing himself to be playful and fun. I have to imagine the third film swinging back toward another casino heist was a reaction to the perceived disappointment of Twelve. (I’m not at the point of being an apologist for that film, but it’s still good.) That film’s reclamation project has left Ocean’s Thirteen with a less vocal fanbase, so let me just remind you — this is film is better than you remember it being.”
Now, on with the show…
We’re past the solstice, and it seems like all schools are out (although I did see a few people in graduation robes on a subway platform this week in NYC) … so it feels safe to declare us fully and officially in summer!
This season, unsurprisingly, conjures up all sorts of associations with the movies from growing up. In the swelteringly humid summers of Houston, I cannot imagine what would be appealing about spending a lot of time indoors in rooms that famously tout their air conditioning. I’m convinced this explains why the majority of my film studies classes were filled with fellow Texans, even in North Carolina — and why Houston punches above its weight in producing great directors like Wes Anderson, Richard Linklater, and Terrence Malick.
One of my favorite pastimes as a child was going to “summer movie camp” at the Meyerland Plaza Cinemas. That building no longer exists, but my memories persist of catching new-ish movies on the big screen at a hefty discount on weekday mornings. The manager of this particular theater also saw a great opportunity to offload leftover promotional merchandise from their storage, so I usually left with exciting door prizes!
I know some phantom version of summer movie camp still exists at chains like AMC and Regal, but I can’t imagine it has the heart and soul of its true ‘90s heyday. It should make an earnest comeback, and not just to wheel out big studio animated movies that parents have already streamed a million times for their little ones. Summer movie camp was a foundational tool of inculcation for me about the value of the theatrical moviegoing experience, and it built a habit that persists to this day. With recent surveys of exhibitors expressing doubts about the viability of the business 20 years from now, we need to build the next generation of attendees who find this an indispensable part of their lives.
Inspired by my own summer movie camp experiences and the great programming of Film Forum Jr. in NYC (which I’ve attended many times as a solo adult, not creepy at all), I curated a list of ten films that I think would make an ideal entry point to create not just consumers but true cinephiles. Parents, make sure you vet these titles appropriately before showing them to your little one. If you’d rather hear something other than Minion jibber-jabber emanating from the iPad for a change, try one of these on for size.
The Circus, Amazon Prime Video, Max, and Criterion Channel
Few things have heartened me in recent years of moviegoing experiences quite like popping into a family matinee of Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times, an all-time favorite film of mine, to find young children rapt by the Little Tramp. The silent comedian understood what so many who use words miss today. People don’t want to be bombarded by a frantic barrage of sound and cuts. They love being pulled into humor that tells a story and uses the body as an instrument to further it. The brilliant tie between form and content is what makes Chaplin such a personal favorite (ahem…)
…but I might start with The Circus for the littlest viewers. It’s the Chaplin feature least dependent on an understanding of the political or social underpinnings to gain full enjoyment. And for the little ones, there’s lots of fun animal-related humor!
The Wizard of Oz, Max
Fun fact: I only watched The Wizard of Oz for the first time through last fall in preparation for Wicked! Like any child of the basic cable generation, I saw bits and pieces of it over the years growing up. But because my mom is still traumatized by the flying monkeys, we usually tapered off before the end. I went many years without knowing what happened at the end when they got to the Emerald City! Anyways, all this is to say, make your own judgment on the flying monkeys … but don’t rob children of their chance to participate in a multigenerational train of young movie lovers who learned to dream from Victor Fleming’s Technicolor marvel. (If you have any doubt, check out the documentary Lynch/Oz on the Criterion Channel to see its enduring influence.)
Little Fugitive, free with a 7-day trial to Kino Film Collection on Amazon Prime Video (also available with select library cards through Kanopy and Hoopla)
I caught this quick little 80-minute gem earlier a few years ago at Film Forum, who programmed it as part of their series on a post-war film renaissance in NYC, and really cannot recommend it enough. Little Fugitive was a key inspiration for the seminal The 400 Blows, leading the way in portraying the perspective of a young child protagonist. The film captures not just little Joey’s story as he spends a day hiding out at Coney Island — it also recreates his sense of scale, sight, and time. Little Fugitive is truly transporting back to childhood, not as a time but as a state of being. It’s a forerunner of countless films that took children seriously, not just as accessories to adult stories but as people perceiving the world in their unique way. May it edify them tremendously.
Time Bandits, Max
“I think I wanted to be a missionary because it’s hard to make the world a better place in some ways,” legendary director Terry Gilliam told me in 2023 ahead of Time Bandits getting a Criterion Collection re-release. “My films are designed to do a similar job. Not necessarily making it a better place, but a place that is confronting a few ideas, unpleasant or pleasant. And the child’s viewpoint is basically the same as the insane man’s viewpoint.” There’s a gleeful insanity to Time Bandits, he’s right, as the young history obsessive Kevin gets to live out a wild fantasy. Along with a group of dwarves, he gets to travel across time to see the places he only read about (to help his companions plunder). I only saw the film for the first time to prep for the interview and wish it had been in my own rotation growing up.
The Muppets Take Manhattan, available to rent from various digital platforms
If you want a Muppets adventure that you don’t have to shell for out of pocket, most of the others are on Disney+. However, none of them quite have my heart quite like The Muppets Take Manhattan — which might well be the first movie that helped seed my love of New York City. We need a Muppets revival in the same way there’s been a Sesame Street revival on social media. There’s something delightful about watching the puppets hit the streets of Gotham in the Ed Koch era as they try to shop a Broadway show to a doubtful public. I’m surprised the number of times I rewound to watch Miss Piggy chase down a purse thief in Central Park on roller blades didn’t break our VHS.
National Treasure, Disney+
Here’s one for the budding action/adventure fans out there who might not be quite ready for the PG-13 comic book fare yet. National Treasure looms large in the Nicolas Cage meme-o-sphere, but it holds its own as a genuinely great watch. This trek back through colonial-era America stands to engage young viewers who have a keen interest in history. As the Gates family tries to track down a secret treasure via a map on the back of the Declaration of Independence, the fun ride harkens back to a more innocent time in conspiracy discourse before the Marjorie Taylor Greenes of the world ruined it for us all.
Ponyo, Max
Back in 2023, I asked my friend — and co-host of the podcast Ghibliotheque — Jake Cunningham what Studio Ghibli film he would introduce first to his child.
He responded My Neighbor Totoro as well as Ponyo as the best for young children. I hadn’t seen the latter until this week, so I figured I’d give it a go. Not that I doubted Jake’s judgment, but it’s hard to argue with his assessment of Ponyo. It plays out like the simple but sophisticated fulfillment of a childhood fantasy: What would it look like if our pet goldfish became a human friend? The results are just as delightful as you’d expect, and that Miyazaki touch of whimsy and wisdom makes it more than just pure silliness.
Fantastic Mr. Fox, Disney+ and Hulu
It might not seem odd at first, but soon after being immersed in the world of Fantastic Mr. Fox, you are bound to notice that all the characters are saying the word cuss, used as a substitute for any necessary expletives, with great frequency. In a brilliant stroke of ingenious mischief, Wes Anderson finds a way to tone down the movie without dumbing it down. He takes everything that audiences love about his live-action features – the dysfunctional families, the eclectic music, the geometric shots, the conscious cinematography, and all the quirks – and refuses to surrender to the family movie. Style intact, Anderson makes a movie that audiences will realize isn’t all that different from his other pictures.
Hugo, available to rent from various digital platforms
According to Martin Scorsese, he made Hugo so he could finally show his daughter one of his movies. The legendary TikToker Francesca Scorsese now does him proud by channeling this work that is deeply in love with the movies, their history, and their preservation. A gentler Martin Scorsese here mixes the entertaining with the thought-provoking and moral quite daftly. Hugo (Asa Butterfield), the movie-loving clock-fixer, befriending Isabelle (Chloe Moretz) is one of the sweeter companionships I’ve seen in movies geared toward younger audiences. He teaches her to marvel at the movies too, and soon, their passion and ingenuity will resurrect the disillusioned filmmaker Georges Méliès (Ben Kingsley) from his self-imposed moratorium on cinema after World War I. He grapples with very adult themes in a way that doesn’t insult them by dumbing them down but makes them relatable and understandable in more sentimental terms, so calling Hugo a “kids’ movie” almost seems to miss the point.
The Legend of Ochi, available to rent from various digital platforms
Here’s a newer addition, fresh from theaters, to the children’s movie canon that’s worth putting into your rotation. Isaiah Saxon’s The Legend of Ochi largely follows the model of Steven Spielberg’s E.T., both in story and style. But when I spoke with Saxon earlier this year, I loved hearing about some of his other influences on the perspective informing this soaring family-friendly adventure. His guiding light was author Roald Dahl and the “moral superiority of kids and the insane absurdity of adults,” but the comedic road also ran through the Coen Brothers and Paul Thomas Anderson. Start ‘em young, parents!
For Slant Magazine, I had a great time interviewing Eva Victor — the multihyphenate actor, writer, and director — about their directorial debut Sorry, Baby. Look for it in limited release starting today and watch as it expands toward a wide release in July.
I reviewed another new release today, Hot Milk, for Slant Magazine out of the Berlin Film Festival in February. You can safely skip this one.
You can keep track of all the freelance writing I’ve done this year through this list on Letterboxd.
You can always keep up with my film-watching in real-time on the app Letterboxd. I’ve also compiled every movie I’ve ever recommended through this newsletter via a list on the platform as well.
The new HAIM album is all pretty solid, but I’m especially a sucker for how the lead-off track “Gone” interpolates George Michael’s “Freedom.”
It must be a slow summer movie season when we’re getting big ranking pieces like The New York Times’ poll of the best 21st century movies (gift article) *and* IndieWire’s top 100 films of the decade so far. (Funny enough, a friend and I were discussing this topic just days before!) Hard to argue with the top 2 as being definitional works for the ‘20s.
If you haven’t moved on from Materialists yet, I enjoyed this piece by Jesse Hassenger in GQ semi-seriously positing that it’s a horror movie.
Paid subscribers are getting some magic this weekend.
Yours in service and cinema,
Marshall
delighted to see hugo on this list!! it’s SUCH a gem, i wish it got more love :’)