The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is along awaited celebration and display of films. It is located on Museum Row in what was the May Company Building across the street from the Petersen Automotive Museum. The Petersen has a new exhibit, Bond in Motion, which will be covered later. The museum opened on September 30th and you can reserve tickets making reservations on the academymuseum.org website. Once you enter the gate that is on the side of the museum on the Fairfax Avenue side, you have to show your vaccine card, and then go to another table, to scan your ticket for two wristbands. Entering the museum, there is the first floor of the Stories of Cinema exhibit, which has the Spielberg Family Gallery. It has mostly screens showing various films. Past it is the museum store which has a number of Studio Ghibli merch; books, t-shirts, and paper goods. There is a cafe to the right and the staircases to either side are blocked off.
Jaws model, Academy Museum, photo by the author.
I had missed most of the exhibits on second floor since I was really drawn to the third floor, Inventing Worlds and Characters, exhibit. This had at the left hand side by the escalator and elevator, animation. There was artwork of Looney Tunes and Bugs Bunny on the wall, next to it is some animation cels from the anime film, Akira (1988). In the center is maquettes, reference statues, for animation of Bugs Bunny, Elsa from Frozen (2013), and the faces of Kubo swirling around tiny sticks from Kubo and the Two-Strings (2016). Farther down the left wall is a section on Frank Thomas, one of Disney’s Nine Old Men, looking at how much emotion he drew into the lines that make up Doc in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) was just stunning as well as artwork of panels from Bambi (1942). There is also the animation desk of Frank Thomas. Next on the back wall is the work of Pete Docter including beautiful panels from Up (2009), the opening story of Carl and Ellie. Plus, some concept artwork of Frozen. There is a display of Avatar (2009) and Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) figures, and the Dinosaur Input Device from Jurassic Park (1993).
This leads to the next section, Encounters, which has the Okoye costume and spear from Black Panther (2018). Next to her is the R2-D2 suit, I liked seeing that the paint is kinda chipping off of some parts, and behind him is the C-3PO costume, it was interesting to see the wires and black ribbing. On the other side is the head of the Alien! It is the head appliance from Alien (1979), very freaky like a human skull, almost like an ancient Aztec idol, with a long curve with tubing. Behind it is a spacesuit from 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). This was amazing because I didn’t think anything remained from that film. Behind it is the large model of the Aries-18 lunar landing shuttle also from 2001. On R2’s row is the E.T. animatronic from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982). Then, the amphibian man prosthetic suit of the amphibian man from The Shape of Water (2017). At the end of the row is the Vid-Phon prop from Blade Runner (1982). There is a room with a screen showing classic sci-fi. To the side is the incredible metallic robe of Dracula from Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992).
Kira animatronic, Academy Museum, photo by the author.
Against the right hand wall are props of the Cobblepot Mansion and a matte painting from Batman Returns (1992). Next to it is some bowl, dishes, and cutlery props and ends with the Gourmand Skeksis from Dark Crystal (1982). To the left is a display of the Landstrider puppet head from the same movie. There is something soft in its yellow eyes and then unusual with the catfish-like barbels on the side of its face. Then, we have the gruesome, battered head of the Terminator, he is not having a good day, from Terminator 2. The animatronic head of Kira from Dark Crystal is amazing. Next, there is a display of an orc head from Lord of the Rings. On the fourth floor, suspended, is the 25 foot long Jaws made from the original mold! The Hayao Miyazaki exhibit opened with the museum on September 30th and it will last until June 5th of next year. It is on the fourth floor. I would advise anyone to go many times. You are reminded many times not to take pics or video in the exhibition. Many times I felt that cell phone burn at some amazing sights that I wanted to capture, but this is just special and must be experienced.
You enter and it is a curve of greenery (cardboard), but it feels like you falling into Studio Ghibli world. Then, there is a table with imageboards (with beautiful watercolors) and production cels of My Neighbor Totoro (1988) and I gasped! The table next to it has artwork from Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989) and I just went wow! This was room to room, artwork to artwork, just a walk in Wonderland. All of the Studio Ghibli films, except the other studio properties, were there; Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Spirited Away, all the way to The Wind Rises (2013). There were screens showing the movies and areas like some goats standing next to an animator’s desk, a cushioned area to see the sky, the Mother Tree from My Neighbor Totoro which has a glowing, green tree, magical, a model of the house in Totoro, and a statue from Spirited Away. I could spend all day just in that area and didn’t want to leave. There is so much more to the Academy Museum, but that will have to be covered with other trips and articles.
#AcademyMuseum, #Akira, #KuboAndTheTwoStrings, #FrankThomas, #PeteDocter, #Alien, #2001ASpaceOdyssey, #BladeRunner, #DarkCrystal, #Jaws, #HayaoMiyazaki
No comments:
Post a Comment