What Is Making Us Happy

The weekend is for catching up on the best stuff you missed. The Pop Culture Happy Hour Newsletter is here to help steer you in the right direction. It's a perfect companion for your Friday that'll help set the stage for your weekend Sign up now at npr d. org slash newsletters. The Spicable M franchise has made billions of dollars at the box office and it's spawned a second gigantic franchise with a series of movies starring those chattering yellow, pill shaped odd balls known as the Mions I'm Stehven Thompson, here to talk about minions and Monsters on NPR's Pop Culture Hay Hour is Rihanna Cruz. They're a freelance music and culture journalist. Hey, Rihna. Hello, Stephven. Oh boy, we're gonna do this. You st by. Also with us is former host of Slate's Internet culture podcast, ICYMI and former pop Culture Happy Hour producer, Candace Lim, Hey, Candace. Hello So nice to see youa buddy. For those who don't know the Minions' backstory, their're silly little yellow chatter boxes who've existed since the dawn of time with the express purpose of supporting the worst villains around. But they're not villainous in and of themselves in part because they have a habit of accidentally killing the various ogres and masterminds they're trying to serve is the third minions movie and another prequel, this time set in nineteen twenties Hollywood. Their hijinks make them natural silent film actors, but as talkies take over, they struggle to stay relevant until one of them ends up conjuring some cute but deadly monsters using a dead wizard's old spell book Minions and Monsters is in theaters now. Rihanna Cruz, I'm gonna start with you. What'd you think? I loved it. That's right. To the surprise of nobody the minions are here to save cinema. You are our minions correspondent and our jackass correspondent and I feel like the two orbit each other like a binary star. Oh, absolutely. They're kind of the same movie, if you like but jokes and Pat falls. And a tight ninety minutes. Yeah, exactly, exactly. I mean, minions of monsters, What's not to love, you know, if you like Buster Keaton, if you like Orson Wells, if you're a fan of the movie the day the Earth stood still. Somewhere, Orson Wells absolutely just turned over in his grave. And he said, Turn on the Duty Flair. I gotta watch this movie, Minions and Mster. Absolutely. It is rife with references. I love a reference, you know, in a movie I think I'm one of those few people that References can sustain a film, a ninety minute one specifically. and I was laughing the entire time. I was really chuffed watching the minions. I mean, I love the minions, you know. This movie is a love letter to cinema. I laughed, I cried. Minions of monsters. It cried. I did because I love movies. Cinema can do that to you, Stehven. I'm a big crier It made you cry. I love movies. I was sitting in the theater presence of flickering images on the screen. Or like the romantic friendships that have persisted through the like history of Hollywood, Henry and James, they invented Cinemol. Exactly. All timers, All timers there. I don't know. like as soon as the movie started You get the Edward Moybridge, a man riding a horse, and the minions are right there in the clip.. Right immediately, I said, oh, this is a movie made specifically for me. Film lover who loves the minions. and watching through, it was just a riot. I thought it was really clever, honestly. I feel like they threw a lot at the wall but I liked everything that they threw And I think there's enough in there for people that are not six years old to love. Okay, how about you, Candace? Yeah. Stehven, of course I agree. I love this movie. so I actually have had a very fraught relationship with minions ever since they first came out in the first desespicable Me movie. I was like, they're so corny, they're for millennials who can't let a hot topic go Nap. As I approached that age now, I was like, o, no, no, no, no, I get them. They represent my people. And so I had weirdly high expectations for this movie and guess what? it beat them. This movie is better than I expected. Eactly. And I think on a very surface level, it's just because It like reminded me how playful and like visually satisfying minions as an entity is. and I was very locked in. I didn't know where it was going and that intrigued me. It was mystique. I loved it I just think that there is actually something beautiful about this film, which is that they make this conjecture that cinema was shepherded by these two minians named Henry and James, who were essentially a buddy comedy, their best friends. and I looked at them and I said Dam Ben Affleck, like that's Mackmore and Ryan Lewis. That's Ledon McCourtney like this you know, the great duos throughout history. Yeah. Yes. Eactly. this is what that's about. And so I loved it. Even though it I will admit, there is a lot. They do throw a lot at the wall and I could take away one or two things I'm happy, guys. I loved it. Stehven, your face, as me and Candace were both talking, tells me you have a differing opinion. And by the way, during Rianana's run, Stehven takes a huge chug of that Liter dite coe ' he's like, I gota prep I'm not here to yuck anybody's yum. If you love this franchise and if people listening who love this franchise or who have kids who love this franchise, clearly too devotees of this franchise are here to tell you that this is in line with the quality of the other films. It's the best one yet. I do think so. I do think so. That's interesting to me because I thought Minions's Rise of Grew. I came in as a minions skeptic as somebody who had seen the despicable M movies and felt that the minions were more like cilantro, right? Like they're seasoning, they're not necessarily what you want to build an entire film around. It's a lot of the same thing. And I thought Minions's Rise of Grew had this kind of visual style to it and brought in different characters and let the minions at times be supporting players in their own movie a little bit. And this definitely centers them And For me, I just I wasn't as down with it. I did enjoy, as Rihanna described, a lot of the like efforts to retrofit them into early cinema. I mean, as soon as you're seeing the minion, you know with the man on the horse and that stuff like one of those minions is going to take a rocket to the eye. like I see where this is going. I club for me, references without necessarily new jokes on top of them It's not really my particular flavor. You know, but at the same time, I mean, who am I to argue with two devotees? I did find myself constantly thinking about the Minions's canon and how this kind of differs from the Minions's canon because I had a whole conversation with our wonderful producer, Liz Metzker before we were taping because I was like In minions, parentheses twenty fifteen, we learned that the minions were like trapped in an ice cave from the eighteen tenens to the nineteen sixties, but now we have minions In the twenties Apparently, this is a different tribe of minions, which I'm sorry, people, raises the question of where the minions went in the nineteen thirties and forties. See, but Pier Co Fan, the director, has said in interviews that the minions did not serve Hitler and this is a different tribe, right And I like the fact that the minions though are just on a side quest in this movie. That's what I want out of the mininions movies to be honest. and that's what I think lacked a little bit in Minionss The Rise of Grew is that I felt like the plot was too loty for lack of a better term. you know, I think there was a little bit too much happening a little bit too much effort was put into making the minions fit into this larger story that they had crafted. And I like how this movie is minions focused because I do come to these movies for the minions. I don't come for anything else. I come for the little short yellow guys to say funny stuff, like sorry That's just what I'm here for. And that's why I like this movie because it's literally minion sideide quest movie. This is what I've always wanted from the desespicable M franchise. Yeah, it's funny because you guys had mentioned Jack As. I actually was thinking a little bit about sccary movie that came out this summer. And how that is a movie that uses references, I have to say it kind of in a similar way. Like in this movie, they're doing shot by shot Citizen Cane And I loved it. Scary movie, they're referencing get out. And I think the critique there was kind of just that they're making references but not making a point with it. And I'm not gonna to sit here and say like the minions are making a point when they reference modern times. This is revolutionary cinemy. Exactly. But I think it's because they are now entering Srekdom of knowing that they are ironic and they are they have a cultural cache of stupidity And they are able to rise one inch above that stupidity and be like, watch me because guess what? The Citizen Kane little parallel, they actually did it quite amazingly. It was actually quite beautiful. In terms of things in this film that I will say are questionable in terms of timeline and whatever. boy. I mean, Stehen, did you wantan to talk about the feminist of it all? the suffragetes of it? Oh my gosh I majored in journalism and history in college and my history major was furious. This movie is set in nineteen twenty seven And for absolutely no reason, there's a whole subplot involving a suffragette. Right. Whose work has been done for her by this point? Did news not get to LA that seven years earlier the nineteenth Amendment was ratified? I hope somebody got fired for that blunder. You know, I seriously I sat there like, why are my arms folded This is Mions movie know. I know. And the thing is like that entire plotline also involves. Okaykay, I will say there's another critique of this movie that I wonder if anyone else cares about, which is there are actually like too many monsters in this film, too many villains. In some of the marketing you've been seeing, there's like this orange blob with a bunch of eyes. I didn't know what That was Irene And basically Irene is what I would describe as like a collab between Orange, Julius and Sarah V. Lotion. They don't really come until the very end of A three. I could have taken them out. I could have taken them out to be honest. Well, the film is called mininions and Monsters, and the monsters don't even show up until halfway through. But there's so many monster. I think there's two things about that though. One is that I've been watching a lot of the older Toho Godzilla Kaiju movies and there are so many monsters in them that serve zero purpose. They come in and out, they have no backstory. They're just there to like cause havoc for a few scenes and then leave. Minions and Monsters is for all intents and purposes a Kaiju movie in that regard. And that's part of the reason why I loved it. part of this larger ode to cinema that they're doing in the way that the story is structured, very Godzilla coded in my eyes. second I think that like the movie exists in this kind of scatterhot timeline where everything is kind of same I don't know. like there really is no timeline distinction here. Like I don't really mind that the suffragettes are there. Do I think it was random? Absolutely. But also there's like a Merlin type character conjuring monsters And it's on the same timeline because that's the inciting incident to get them to go to Hollywood. So You're putting too much weight on the timeline of the mans. when I think really, it like is just the animators doing literally whatever they want and that creativity you could see come through. And also, last thing, the fact that the big Bad villain is a ball of slime I think is really smart Lo key because it's kind of positing that Cinema is the antidote. to You know, the consumption slime AI slop. Yeah. Right. Like the consumption, slime, A I slop economy that we find there something. That's me big braining about It know, but you're onto something. 'cause first off, Ranna, I think what you're trying to say is actually Pierre Cofin said, The suffragettes, their work is never over. He's right Femin movie. Number two, when I looked at the title Minis and Monsters, I really genuinely thought, o, they're going to say that the real monster is the industry of film and TV. And weirdly, you're right. They're saying, no, no, no, no, it is the thing that will save us. Right because I think like you know, we live in this era, especially with the young children this movie is designed to serve in a way where Nido the little like balls of slime that people can like hold and grasp Those are like the king of entertainment, right for children of a certain age This movie is saying that actually what you really need to do is link up with your homies and engage in communal creativity Don't give in to, I don't know, the slime worars. I'm very passionate about this, but I saw that in the movie. Yeah, you should be. This is definitely the summer in which I see AI commentary in everything from backrooms to Toy Story five I am very impressed with what you have managed to read into this film. I think what this film does continue in terms of trends that I've seen play out over and over again in movies I've seen this summer is this kind of IP extension where you just reach a point where the movie is just supposed to be a fun hang with characters you've seen before and that it doesn't necessarily have to fit into this like larger ranking of these points in the franchise's history, and conversation that we had around Toy Story five, where I just ultimately was like, I don't care how it ranks next to one, two, three, and four. I'm just happy to revisit these characters. And if you're happy to revisit these characters, same goes for the latest iteration of Scary Movie, the same goes for the same latest iteration of Jackass. know, where we've talked about all these different films that have come out this year. this film is ultimately perfectly fit canonically with the other despicable Me and Minions movies, not necessarily, but if you're into these characters, it's a fun hang. Yeah. I think there are two things I am like deeply impressed about when it comes to this movie. First off from like a marketing perspective I really think this film does a good job of being like the Dwayne Derock Johnson of like four quadrant marketing of like There's eight year holds behind me I' like so excited. There's me chronically online meathead loving this. And then there's like old guys next to me being like, I remember when the talkies were silent. This is my jam. And I'm like, wow, like you really did that. All these are these people one hundred fifteen years old? LA is different. LA W is different, Steven. they're at the grove and they're ghost. But the other thing is I can't believe I'm giving them credit for this The Minions and Monsters movie does a really good job of acknowledging the Minions' place in the film industry while acknowledging how we got there and its history. And what I really mean by that is there is a scene Where they become the most popular actors in town and they like become paparazzi famous or getting like, you know stuffed animals made out of them. And I'm like, that's literally what happened in twenty ten when the first despicable me came out. And I'm like, there's a medenace, there's a self awareness while acknowledging the, you know, safety lastast and the singing in the rain that came before. And I'm like, you can't say they don't know their history Good job. I can see that, Candas. I think there's Thank you so much. A meta commentary happening. for sure. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. These films are nothing if not self aware Well, I think we can agree But this is a film that is in theaters now s the greatest wom in theaters, what are you talking about, Stehen Up next, what is making us happy this week? Now it's time for our favorite segment of this week and every week. What's making us happy this week? Rihanna Cruz, What do you got? I know I just went on this long tangent against slop and how slop is infecting our content that we consume But unfortunately, I am tapped into Love Island. I haven't watched it prior to when the boys were introduced to Casa more where the couples get split up and the production brings in a bunch of new bombshells to tempt the guys into abandoning their current couple. I was very anti love vland prior to that and now I am hooked. I am watching it Every night out of the week, except for Wednesdays because that's when we don't get any new content. I mean, you're eventually going to run out around the year three thousand five hundred I have a lot to catch up on, Stehven. I am very tapped in. I see it as a sociological experiment.. I'm watching how normal people move about the world and it scares me And I can't look away. It's like a train wreck. I've turned other people onto it too by explaining it that way. My little brother, who has no interest in watching any content, but chess videos on YouTube, is now watching Love Island every single night with me and my partner.. So I think what's making me happy this week is in fact, Love Island. Trinity and Bryce forever That's all I wanted to say. Binity momoment, absolutely. So that is Love Island USA streaming on Pacock. Thank you, Rianna Cruz. Candace Lim, what do you got M me happappy is actually from Paw Patrol the Dinno moovie. Hold on, hold on, stand the line, stand the line You really did not know what you were gonna say there. I know. So the Backhet boys, yeah, they have made a song for the movie, Paw Patrol the Dino Movie. And it's written by a Chirin and Saavin Kotcha. Wow. Savin worked on a bunch of like Ariana Grande songs, He wrote what What Makes You Beautiful by One Direction. And basically they have put together a song and it is called Bottle U By the factory boys, I need you guys to listen to R know. Yes Take this moment Sake this home guys, is that not a hit? Is that not an absolute vgar? You put Son with a boy band and it's over. Yeah let's out. Yeah, we're so back. This song is it's so funky and it's kind of like on the edge of Bruno Mars without falling into uptown fununk territory and it kind of does remind me of like Fll Williams and how some of the songs he made for those despicable mee soundtracks were like you wayay too good for no reason. Like sometimes when I hear Double lifeife from desespicable Me four, I'm like, whoa. Whoa. I mean, I'm also hearing a little bit, I mean, not to do the inevitable backackstreet Boys and Snc comparisons, but I'm definitely getting Justin Timberlake Troll's movie soundtrack. Exactly, Eactly, exactly. So yeah, that's what's making me happy. bottleled up by the Backstreet Bys. Awesome. Wow Thank you, Kandace Lim. You're welcome. So this is going to be a hairpin turn from the Backstreet Bys. We're heading into a holiday weekend that celebrates all things American. So naturally, what is making me happy is a French Canadian duo that plays truly weird, mostly instrumental art rock music while clad in giant Papier Miche, Masks Ranna is pumping their fist right now. Last week, the band Angine de Poitrine became one of the most unlikely artists ever to crack the billboard albums chart. when both of their albums, volume one and volume two made their debuts. Here is a little sample from volume two from a song called Mata Zigglak The word of mouth on Anngine Du Poitrin is still spreading. If you have not seen this band's performance on KEXB that's kind of gone viral, I highly recommend it. It's so theatrical and silly and weirdly hypnotic. If you are like Folding socks. Listening to Anngine de Poitrine is going to make that so much fun. It's rock and roll, it's weird art, it's so fun. That's Anngine de Poitrine and their new album, Volume two And that is what is making me happy this week. If you want links for what we recommended, plus some more recommendations, sign up for our newsletter at npr dot org slash pop culture newsletter This brings us to the end of our show, Rianna Cruz, Candace Lim. Thanks so much for being here. Thank you. Thanks so much for having us. I feel like this was a very spirited conversation. Sirited spiritual. Exactly what we need for the minions really is. This episode was produced by Liz Metzker, Huffopathima, and Mike Katsiff, and edited by our showrunner, Jessica Reed Plloum in provides our theme music. Thanks for listening to Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR. I'm Stehven Thompson and we will see you all next week