Hot Takes On Film

  Bad Moms (2016 US) Three women of comedy push back on the perfect Mom archetype. Clearly this was a story meant for the busy Mom struggling with modern motherhood. It was meant to hit back on societal pressure to do certain things. It was supposed to be hard hitting. It missed the mark. I would have gone so much further because the pressure or demands are intense and really needs to lambasted. Christina Applegate and Jada Pinkett Smith star as the pushy Mom antagonists. Wow! they were weak. Not their fault though. I’ve met Moms like this and I just ignored them. The real dangerous pushy people are in power. So much harder to ignore and no real mention of those crazy ass MF’s in this film. My version of this film would ruffle so many feathers. I’d be soooo canceled. I’ve had to set some boundaries with certain people before and I was “firm” about it. People don’t like being told “No”. I would have loved to have seen a firm No to the right people but nope. I wasn’t real thrilled wi...

Diary of a Mad Black Woman (2005 Republic of Tyler Perry) Tyler Perry stars as the colorful matriarch of a family keeping them all in line. This is Perry’s first film and this is the first in the Madea series. Madea would go on to make many more films making Perry a quadrillionaire. Madea is very maternal making this a film you would want to watch with your Mom or even take notes. Perry does a great job being maternal and being funny. It’s a great character. No wonder this franchise has made so much cash. Perry is based in Georgia which has not gone all Darth Vader level anti-trans/drag probably because of Perry. JK I have no idea but I do know Perry holds a lot of power. Last I heard he is negotiating buying BET. He rescued a prince and princess. He even flew a gospel choir on his private jet to serenade his god-daughter on her baptism. Perry is quite a guy and it really comes across in his films. Although, the story is actually a relationship drama about Madea’s granddaughter and her...

  Greener Grass (2019 US) It’s #FemaleFilmmakerFriday and todays entry is this absurdist black comedy skewing suburbia. Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Lueeble write and direct this feature film based on their short film (based on Greener Grass by Paul Briganti?). Wow this is weird. It’s absurdism and they totally get it. If you have lived in suburbia with children you will get it too. I lived in suburbia with kids. Every damn event was pot luck and whatever organization your child belongs to has several a year. Oh and your child wants to attend ALL of them. There was one where a certain Mom would take my dish and hide it. So I go to pick up my dishware and the food is all there . It wasn’t that popular, she says. Hmmm, how to make this work for me. I bring food that I can serve for dinner. Bring potluck dish: check. Dinner for days: check. So basically I brought dinner for us for days knowing that she will hide it. It worked for awhile until one year she wasn’t there and all my food is go...

MA (2019 US) Octavio Spencer stars as a middle aged woman trying to relive her troubled youth by letting local teens party in her basement. Things go wrong. This has been labeled horror and there are certainly elements of that but I would call it more thriller than horror. Rotten Tomatoes has this at 55% and I do think that’s a bit unfair. It has an element of being uncomfortable as Spencer takes the audience on a journey through her baggage. You, as the audience, know its clearly a bad idea to allow these parties but also just wrong and you can’t look away from the coming train wreck. The film has been criticized for not being provacative enough especially with regard to race. Yeah it could have been trippy AF but director Tate Taylor is not required to make it so. It’s up to the director and that’s the story Taylor wanted to tell. For every person who says it should have been more provacative there are just as many who say otherwise. So what does a director do? Tell the story you wan...

  Bambi (1942 US) A fawn struggles in the forest after his Mama dies. Based on the book Bambi: A life in the woods by Felix Salten. I saw this movie too young and was scarred for life (this and Jaws). So parents don’t let your kids watch this too young. Why so traumatic? It was 1942. That’s how things were in 1942 and parents did not shelter kids back then. I read an interesting article from the Israeli Times suggesting that the story was an allegory for the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe but specifically in Austria and Hungary in the early 20th century. It does make sense considering the history of Selten who was from Austria and experienced the rising anti-Semitism first hand. Watch it again. You can’t unsee it. TBH I’m surprised that the famously anti-semantic Walt Disney didn’t pick up on this. Maybe he just saw this as a way to torture children. Who knows. He’s dead and not sure we will ever know what he was thinking. Too bad there was no Twitter back then. I’m sure he would ...

  #MotherMayI. Its May already. This month we will be looking at mother themed films. What I love about themes like this is that it crosses genres a lot. I will focus on films with the mother archetype. It doesnt have to be the main theme just front and center. I love how so many are in the horror genre. What does that say about motherhood? I am terrible in the horror genre space but I will do my best. The archetype is generally bonded with their child, she is female or female identifying but not always. She makes decisions for her child but not always good ones. This is where the archetype can go really wrong. She is nurturing and trusted but that can go wrong too. We are drawn to this archetypes even as fully realized adults. We still need to see her. Here is a brief list of genres that I have seen this theme Horror SciFi Drama Comedy Thriller Animation Fantasy Even Noir Yeah that’s a lot I know. What’s funny is that sometimes, not all, we don’t even realize we are looking at a m...