Hot Takes On Film

  #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

 Mary and the Witches Flower (2017 JP) A young witch finds a broom and a flower that makes her a witch. In a wonderful cross between studio Ghibli and Harry Potter comes this anime inspired glossed over gem from newly formed Japanese animation Studio Ponoc. If you recognize the art there is a reason for that. Several employees including critical animator  Hiromasa Yonebayashi , left Studio Ghibli to form their own company. This is their first endeavor. Yonebayashi directed this and boy howdy does it look like Spirited Away. Even has a very similar tone. Well that's because he was key animator for Spirited Away. Apparently, Miyazaki was none too happy about this whole drama. The team at Ponoc went to Ghibli with a print of the film to show their former colleagues and Ghibli studio head Miyazaki refused to watch it. He just said, "I'm not watching that". Needles to say if you like studio Ghibli you will like this or more if you like Spirited Away you will like this. Fin

Alita: Battle Angel (2019 US) Based on the Manga Gunnm by  Yukito Kishiro . A cyborg in the future enters a brutal game to fight corruption. To be clear Manga is not for everyone. Rotten Tomatoes has this at 63%. However, clearly people liked it because it made bank at the box office. James Cameron, Laeta Kalogridis and Kishiro teamed up on the screenplay with action director Robert Rodriguez directing. It runs like a Manga: good news for Manga fans and not so good news for people who really don't get it. What I liked about it is the mixing of animation styles with live action: CGI and motion capture. The True Detective Mahershala Ali plays the baddie in this and as usual kills it. I don't know why I thought he had passed and was pleased when I looked and discovered that he had not. Sorry Ali, you look great. Long story short; if you like Manga you will like this. If you don't you won't. Find it on Hulu and for rent on most streaming.   

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

 Shrek (2001 US) Its #FemaleFimmakerFriday and today's entry is this now classic animated kids film directed by Vicky Jenson and Andrew Adamson. An Ogre sets upon rescuing the princess from a tower guarded by a dragon. If you are interested in going to see Dungeons and Dragons you will find there is a similarity to Shrek with D&D being just a bit more mature and live action. Jenson was not the first choice of director in charge of story. Kelly Asbury was first choice but departed to work on another film. Jenson and Adamson had their work cut out for them as a lot was going wrong including their star Chris Farley had passed away. Jenson was in charge of story and she was tasked with finding the right tone and story for the film. She did great and the film won an Oscar for Best Animated Feature. You can clearly see her influence on the film: for instance the princess does not really need rescuing. When I first saw that I was like, "wow! I didn't know they could do that?&

 Kubo and The Two Strings (2016 US) A young boy must tap into his inherited abilities to defeat an evil that has plagued his village for some time. I just love stop motion animation and one thing I know having actually done it is that it's bloody hard. The process can make you want to crawl up into your safe space and watch reruns. But you just have to put on your big girl panties and get on with it. I did a short which was roughly 120k frames to manage. Wow! though the team on this did great. Of course they had more expensive tools and other resources than I did but still. I love how much Director Travis Knight spent on backgrounds. The detail work on that will most definitely blow your skirt up or at the very least your baggy shirt or may be some socks. So just lock down your clothing when you watch this. I love the script which talks about generational trauma and healing. The littles won't get that though. To them it will be a fun adventure movie. It has quite an all-star ca

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