Hot Takes On Film

  Willow (1988-US) Ron Howard directs this classic sword and sorcery fantasy film about a young farmer who takes on the task of protecting a baby who was prophesized to destroy the evil queen. I just love this film . I have seen it many, many times. Is it the kind of film that wins awards? Nope! Does anyone really care? Also, nope! It is one of the most satisfying films out there. It’s like Hot Chocolate on a cold winter’s day. Val Kilmer and Joanne Whalley make a very dynamic couple. Veteran Actor Warwick Davis is so compelling. It is really well paced. Howard is a master of pacing. He also likes to get the audience invested in characters and then gives them a finished ending. I do believe that is why his films are so addictive. Disney plus did a sequel series which I loved but apparently nobody else did and it was cancelled. Unfortunately, Kilmer was not in it. I would loved to have seen him reprise Madmartigan regardless of his health issues. So Kilmer if you are reading this, “we l

  Welcome to #FantasyJune. For those that have been with me for a bit you will remember that January was #SciFiJanuary. I wrote a bit about what SciFi actually is and essentially the big takeaway was that SciFi and Fantasy are opposite sides of a very similar coin. Whereas SciFi is all about science including the softer sciences. Fantasy is all about magic and what is not explained. What makes a film fantasy or SciFi hinges on what drives the story. Using a computer in a fantasy film does not make it SciFi and talking about religion in a SciFi does not make it fantasy. I submit that these two genres can’t mix. It’s like oil and water. When I see platforms such as Amazon or Netflix classify a film ScFi/Fantasy I get annoyed. It’s one or the other. So here are the subgenres that I will be discussing. Religion This is a tricky one and will ultimately lead to arguments. For many, religion is explained so it’s not magic. For others, just having an element of religion makes it fantasy. Dune

  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 not

  #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 mothe

  Frozen ( 2013 US) Its #FemaleFilmmakerFriday and todays entry is this Billion (with a capital “B”) dollar franchise from Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck. A Princess was born with super powers she has a hard time controlling. This is not a hidden gem that got overlooked. A good chunk of the planet has seen this film so I won’t go into what its about or if its any good. You probably have a good idea by now if you like it or not. However, what I love to talk about in this film is what Lee & Co didn’t say. I originally saw this in theaters with my daughter like every other parent. On the way home we had so many unanswered questions. Why isn’t Elsa a card carrying member of the X-men. She created sentient ice creatures. She had some serious powers going on. How would a queen like this shift the balance of power in Europe and other places. The implication is that it took place in the mid 19th century. The kingdom would not need an army just round the clock guards on Elsa and food tasters.

Treasure Planet (2002 US) Obviously based on the Robert Lewis Stevenson novel Treasure Island. Disney brings to life (sort of) this adventure story about finding hidden treasure in space. I really feel like this film is one of Disney's underappreciated animated films. I'm a space opera fan and its hard to find stories in that genre that haven't been so "done". Don't get me wrong I like franchises like Star trek and Stargate but its fun to find a new story. This is your standard Disney fare so don't expect something that is groundbreaking. Except it has a steampunk vibe to it. It's not steampunk but there are a few similarities. Disney was not big on taking risks back then. Michael "stay the course" Eisner was CEO at the time. He was all about satisfying stories. Bob "if it aint broke" Iger was president so between the two output was pretty standard. Having said that it's just fun to watch. Joseph Gordon-Levitt leads an all-star

 Soul (2020 US) Pixar brings us this sweet story about a middle school band teacher who has a near death experience and then must figure out the meaning of life.  Yeah they really go there with the meaning of life theme. Jamie Foxx leads an all star cast as Joe Gardner. I loved the animation in this especially when Joe Gardner plays the piano. Animators painstakingly logged the exact key being played in the music and recreated it  visually. The result is pretty stunning. Soul was nominated for many awards including Oscars. I love the color work in this telling a story of its own. Each plain of existence has it's very distinct color pallet. Pixar consulted with an internal cultural trust made up of Pixar employees of color. The result is a multidimensional story with layered and complex characters. I really loved it but you will need the tissue box and not because of a tragic ending. It's just so darned sweet. Find it on Disney Plus for now and available to rent on most streamin

 Raya and the Last Dragon (2021 US) Raya goes on a quest to find the last dragon and save humanity. Its #FemaleFilmmakerFriday and todays entry is this kid friendly film from animator Ami Thompson with a writing credit from Adele Lim (Crazy Rich Asians). I particularly loved the animation from Thompson especially color. Kelly Marie Tran voices Raya and did a great job. I do feel bad for her though. Disney had originally cast Cassie Steele to play Raya but changed their mind and cast Tran. However, Tran knew that she was second choice and felt a bit awkward. Speaking of awkward, Awkwafina voices the dragon. I'm a big fan of hers and she didn't disappoint. This is a film you can watch with your kiddos and enjoy it too. Find it on Disney Plus. 

Chip 'N Dale Rescue Ranger (2022 US) Disney Reboots the Rescue Rangers to rescue Monterey Jack from bootleggers. 90's kids will love this film. It is just chocked full of cartoon and pop culture references and jokes. Some are Disney owned but many are not including the Coke Bear (not Cocaine Bear). You know the cuddly polar bear wearing a Christmas sweater encouraging viewers to buy Coca-Cola for the holidays. One of my favorites is E.T vs Batman. I feel like I'm in the "I can see it" camp. I think this is one of the most self aware films I've ever seen and I'm here for it. Historically Disney has had Zero (with a capital Z) sense of humor when it comes to their intellectual properties. So, I am happy to see them taking a jab at themselves a bit. I'm also happy to see the company let go of their script structure model that's worked well for them fore a century. It's kind of getting old. I don't think they got rights from Nickelodeon to show

 If you are expecting a Disneyfied version of this, don't. The film leans more towards the 1881-2 novel by Carlo Collodi. You know, the one where Pinocchio was hung at the end for being a "Bad Boy".  Although, that did not happen in Del Toro's film, he did not spare the audience of some tough moments. A long time ago just after my daughter was born my husband and I went on a date night. We left our daughter with uncles and went to see Pan's Labyrinth. After the movie I was so traumatized by bad things happening to children, that I had to call and see if my baby was OK. What I noticed moving forward is that Del Toro has something bad happening to a child in all of his films. Even the sexy fish film had a moment of that. What I want to know is "who hurt you Guillermo?" "Who hurt you"? This movie was full Del Toro in all of his glory and trauma. Was it good? It sure the heck was. In fact he won best animated feature at the last Oscars. I love how

Turning Red (2022 US) It's #FemaleFilmmakerFriday and todays entry is this animated feature from Domee Shi. A 13 year old girl turns into a large red panda when she gets too emotional. In case you are wondering it's about puberty and menstruation. OMG this film created a HooHa in the middle aged dude community. It was clearly not meant for middle aged dudes so seriously just move one. Shi got a lot of grief on different sites for this film. I actually read comments. I know, I know that's never a good idea. TBH it was hind of shocking, how entitled and out of touch certain people are. I read one commenter that gave the film low marks and suggested that "if you want a good coming of age story, watch The Little Prince. It does it better". I'm sure that this person also believes that babies come out of the belly button. Don't take a bath or the baby will drown.  Another person suggested the main character was self centered, annoying and smug so she really shou

 Jojo Rabbit (2019 US) a lonely boy in WWII Germany discovers that his mother is hiding a Jewish girl in the attic. Oh and his imaginary friend is Hitler. Written and directed by Taiki Waititi, this dark and biting satire goes there. Waititi refers to it as an anti-hate satire. As I have discussed before, Hollywood is having a hard time putting up new and unique stories. Well if you are like me and would totally be OK with not having another remake or sequel in your lifetime, well here 'ya go. It’s weird and it's different. You get used to it then it gets weirder. Seriously though, the kids imaginary friend is Hitler. What do you expect? The theme is mainly blind allegiance. This poor boy has a lot rattling around in his head that he needs to come to terms with including Hitler. Waititi won the Oscar for the screenplay and now he makes Marvel sequels. Yay for the Oscars. Find it on Hulu or for rent in most streaming.  

 American Born Chinese (upcoming May 25, 2023 US) Variety and other sources are reporting of a new series coming to Disney plus. Off the back of the successful Everything Everywhere All At Once film, Disney + decided to reunite Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan and Stephanie Hsu for this series coming in May based on the graphic novel of the same name. I have no information on whether its good or not but I am looking forward to it. They all seemed to have had a good time together. So sweet. it is reported to have been directed by Destin Daniel Cretton who also directed Shang-Chi. I don't know if he directed all of them or just a few. Here is the trailer.  https://youtu.be/RAeemjfVvM0

 Cruella (2021 US) Well todays the big day. Its the day we find out what went wrong at a live show. Lets take a look at last years hot movies. Emma Stone stars in this origin story Disney movie about Cruella DeVille. Sometimes you watch the Oscars, well a lot of times, and you go "what  the actual F. Not this time. Jenny Beavan won for best costume design. Wow were they right on that one. I cant say I liked the story much for trying to make an evil Disney character likable enough that you're OK with her going on to kill a bunch of puppies. She had "reasons" for being so deplorably evil. Did we really need an origin story here that tries to wash away sins? But oh those costumes. Wow Wow and triple Wow. The Academy did right on this one. I think it was worth a watch right there. Forget about the dead puppies. That dress is so worth it right there. I mean come on, Stinky Puppies?.or...Irresistible Fashion?...There's no contest here whatsoever, Its the fashion. Do yo