Top Three Thursday - Phil Lord and Christopher Miller

Welcome back to Top Three Thursdays, where I pick a favorite film actor, director, producer, or writer from a film opening this weekend, and talk about their life and career, as well as my top three favorite films or projects that they've been involved with! I'm not gonna lie, at first I was thinking of writing about Jonah Hill for his upcoming 22 Jump Street, or Jay Baruchel for the new How To Train Your Dragon. But no, I have one WAY more fun for me to write. Who are they? Why, it's Phil Lord and Christopher Miller!

Wait. Who?

You might not know their names yet, but these two guys are two of my favorite people in the business right now. They might be young, but they're making quite a stir in the film world as some of the best in the business for what they're doing. You love them and you don't even know it. In fact, as directors, they've only made three movies. But all three are just so good, too good to ignore and too good to overlook at all.

Phil Lord (pictured left) is from Miami, born to a psychologist and business owner. Miller, on the right, is from Seattle, where his father is in charge of a lumber mill. They both grew up making short films, both with a love of animation. But the two of them didn't have their fateful meeting until their freshman year at Dartmouth College, apparently bonding over an incident that involved lighting fire to Miller's girlfriend's hair. While studying there, the school published a profile on Miller that caught the attention of Michael Eisner, who had fellow executives offer a meeting with him. In a fateful act of true brotherhood, Miller only agreed to the meeting if he could bring his best friend, Phil Lord. This meeting lead them to a 2 year deal for Disney Television Animation, specifically in development. 

The duo's first major work was Clone High, an unproduced show that was unsupported by Disney and then dropped by Fox. MTV picked up the show, but it was cancelled after a portrayal of Gandhi as a partier lead to hunger strikes in India. Oops. The two worked in various facets of television, though nothing particularly notable before 2003.

But then, the big break came. In 2003, when Miller was 27 and Lord 26, they signed on to write the feature film Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Then they were fired. Then they were rehired. Then they were almost fired again when the film they wrote had a "lack of story". Then they readjusted one character in the film, making a relationship exist that satisfied the head of Sony. They say that it taught them two important lessons - the power of collaboration, and the importance of emotion in a story, even a comedy.

The result was an enormous hit. Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs went on to be a critical and financial success. And thus, I stop talking in this way. Because the only way to describe these two's fabulous film work is to talk about their three major pictures, and why I love them so much. So lets start with the obvious...

3. Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs

I'd be lying if I didn't say I thought of Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs as one of my favorite movies of all time. It's an incredibly witty and clever story, expanding upon the children's book ideas from the picture book to include a before and after, explaining why the food was falling from the sky and following up with what happened after. The characters are hilariously zany and silly, but maintain just enough humanity to connect with in a really fun way. There's just enough emotion to keep anyone invested in this ridiculous story, but it's never enough to detract from the comedy that we all paid to see. It has wonderful references to past and present media, including television and film tropes and actors, as well as hilariously fun slapstick for the kids and Looney-Toons lovers everywhere. And it's an absolutely brilliant parody of disaster movies from the 80s and 90s, featuring the wonderfully clever "Dange-o-meter", a device that measures the danger around them in the conceivable way every disaster movie does, poking fun at national landmark destruction, and pretty damn impressive destruction sequences despite its cartoony look. Mix that all together with a dynamite soundtrack, and you have a film packed with laughs, heart, and fun. There's a reason this is my go to movie. It also has great commentary. There was a sequel that the two wrote the story for, however the screenplay and direction were handled by a different group of people, and while a fun movie, it's definitely not quite as clever. So I don't count it in my mind as one of theirs.

2. 21 Jump Street

Imagine going from a bunch of forgotten unaired TV pilots to a major animated film. And then the next film project being a film adaptation of a classic TV show that would be rated R. That's one heck of a jump, especially with such high profile actors such as Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill, Rob Riggle, Dave Franco, and Ice Cube slated to be in it. But just like the brilliant disaster parody from Cloudy, this film brilliantly parodies both buddy cop movies, high school melodramatic teen movies, and classic action films from the 70s and 80s. Wait, what? You read that right. Somehow, these guys managed to write a story that parodied three completely different classic genres. And did it incredibly well. The story is wonderfully funny, taking punches at its own ridiculous premise and serving as a pretty brilliant update to the classic TV show while still referencing plenty of things from the original series. There's pretty hilarious action work and appropriate camera work to parody the styles from these classic films, and its all tied together with absolutely wonderful performances from Tatum and Hill. Who knew that they could take such a success? I mean, the only thing they could tackle next would be something like, a film idea that incorporated a toy line. But we all know after films like, oh I don't know...Transformers, GI Joe, Battleship, Masters of the Universe, Garbage Pail Kids, Bratz, and Dungeons and Dragons, theres no hope for any good film based off of a toy, right?

1. The LEGO Movie

So basically these guys can do no wrong is what I'm saying. These guys came along and took a movie based off of a toy line, and made something really special. This isn't a copout storyline about a toy character in his own world. No, this is a LEGO living in the world of LEGO toys. It feels like how I used to play with my LEGO collection, superheroes next to ninja turtles next to space men and animals in some strange world of weird zany beauty. It features characters like Batman and Superman, who have screen time enough to be funny and stick to their character type, but never so far that they detract focus away from our lovable main character Emmett, a character who's written with the understanding that he is truly unremarkable. The story fills the kid in our heart with nostalgic joy, featuring scenes of hilarious low quality to match the high quality story telling segments, imitating the lack of resources a child has when making flying ships and vortexes of nothingness. Then it all pays off in a funny, but also truthful and a bit sad, reveal about the nature of the toys being played with. I'd be lying if it didn't bring nostalgic tears to my eyes. Although that might have been from my lack of friends in elementary school leading to my own adventures with LEGO. But that's just what the movie was made for, to tap into our deepest memories of play time and allowing us to miss them just like anyone else. This movie is a masterpiece to me, a beautiful display of comedy, and one of the best animated comedies I've seen in years. I have it preordered, and I can't wait to watch it again and again.

So now here we are, opening weekend for their next big hit, 22 Jump Street! Here's the trailer, and with it my high hopes for a great movie!