Still Going Strong with 10 Days to Go. Maybe I'll Make it to 400
Film 368
"Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels"
a film by (written and directed): Guy Ritchie
starring: Jason Stratham, Jason Flemyng, Dexter Fletcher, Nick Moran, Steve Mckintosh
This is a bit of a reminder that Guy Ritchie used to be great at what he did (after the TV commercials, of course), before he fell in love with and married Madonna. He made this film in 1999, and then he followed it up with another excellent film, starring Brad Pitt (re: "Snatch"). Ritchie is a Londoner and he pays homage to his lovely, yet lower-life peeps in this complex caper-type film that almost plays itself like the best of Tarantino mixed with the comedy of the Marx Brothers. There's violence. There's comedy.
The plot seems a bit simple, but I couldn't help but get lost many times as it played out. Eddy (Moran) is a poker play who is bankrolled by 3 of his friends in a high-stakes game with Hatchet Marry (Moriarity), a gambling kingpin. Eddy runs up an enormous debt with Harry, and his enforcer threatens the gang if they don't pay up. Eddy and his friends overhear neighbors, who are planning to rob a rich drug dealer. Somebody else, named Barry the Baptist, is planning to steal two antique shotguns, which end up in the hands of Eddy and his friends, as well as the drug money. There's almost far too many characters in this story, which doesn't help you stay focused, unlike Tarantino's excellent film that kind of follows the same premise- "Reservoir Dogs."
It's definitely a fun film, as long as you can follow it. Ritchie almost forces you to pay attention as he continues to throw things like wrenches and other characters into the mix. You can't really make sense of the plot and you don't necessarily care about the characters, but I don't think that's really the point. It's a controlled chaos type of movie, where the plot drives the film and the characters.
..........................................................................................
Film 369
"Despicable Me"
starring: Steve Carell, Jason Segel, Russell Brand, Julie Andrews, Will Arnett, Kristen Wiig, Miranda Cosgrove, Dana Gaier, Elsie Fischer
I'm convinced that Pixar cannot make a bad film and "Despicable Me" is yet another example in their catalogue that they can continue to make highly entertaining, funny, heartfelt films that reach all audiences (kids and adults, alike).
The "hero" in this story is actually a fascinating villain named Gru (voiced by Steve Carell) who wants to be everything a decent James Bond villain would be. He is clearly driven by his desire to be named the World's Greatest Villain; but also (and what I loved the most, which added depth to his character) is that Gru is clearly driven mostly by his desire to be loved by his mother, who has never really taken an interest in his attempts to flatter her with his abilities (re: to design and build his own rocket ship or with his ambition to go to the moon). And then, another layer to his character is that he doesn't really want to hide the fact that he's a bad guy: he freezes people in line at Starbucks, he pops kids' balloons, and most importantly, his lair is in the basement of his darker colored home among all the other bright white suburban homes in his neighbor. Oh yeah, and he has minions. Wanting to impress his mother (voiced by Julie Andrews), Gru is upstaged by his nemesis, Vector (voiced by Jason Segel), who steals the Great Pyramid. And so, Gru develops a plan to use the Shrink Ray in order to steal the moon and he is cheered on, of course, by his little yellow exercise-ball Minions.
The filmmakers take a risk by turning the villain into a hero, but they do it masterfully by introducing 3 adorable little girls- who are orphans- to open up Gru's heart and make him see things differently. At first he adopts them in order to use them in his plan to break into Vector's home/headquarters, but of course, like the Grinch, these adorable and cute little girls grow on him and they use their little girl magic on Gru to turn him into the hero he is pretty much destined to be, which makes "Despicable Me" one of the best animated films I've seen.
I absolutely love this film and want to watch it again and again.
......................................................................
Film 370
"Fame High"
starring: Brittany Hayes, Grace Song, Ruby McCollister, Zak Rios
directed by: Scott Hamilton Kennedy
This is a documentary that follows 4 high schoolers during one of their years at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, which I'd never heard of, but now, after research I've discovered it's quite a prestigious high school, that is perhaps one of the original charter schools in the country, which really pushes teenagers to their very best to become stars in their focused field (be it: theatre, dance, music, or something else), with the same curriculum as any other high school, but a concentration in one of the arts, in order to either help the teenagers get into an even more prestigious college in the country, or if they desire, into a professional career right after high school.
Notable alumni include:
Ray Bradbury, Charles Bukowski, John Cage, Dustin Hoffman, George Takei, Mel Torme, Jenna Elfman, Josh Groban, Taran Killam (SNL), Christina Milian, Anthony Anderson, Este/Danielle/Alana Haim (of one of my newest favorite bands...HAIM)
The documentary was made been another alumni of the prestigious high school, which I think was one of the major reasons why he was allowed inside the halls and walls of the school (because otherwise I would think the administration wouldn't let someone into their "secret" society). His story follows 4 teenagers (2 freshmen and 2 seniors) as they deal with A) trying to be "average" teenagers, discovering themselves and wanting to have "normal" lives and B) dealing with their own struggles of success, disappointment and failures within one significant year in their lives.
Zak is a jazz pianist who is forced to relearn and adapt to the school's teacher's expectations, while also continuing to please his overbearing father, who seems to be living vicariously through his son's teenage years, pushing him beyond what should be comfortable. His father can never really see that he is responsible for his son's missteps and failures in his Jazz course where he is trying to join a Combo class but is demoted to the Improv class, because he cannot seem to focus on his studies. His dad has him doing all these extracurricular activities to fine-tune his pianist skills, but really it is having an adverse effect on his studies.
Ruby is another freshman, a girl, who clearly wants to enjoy being a teenage girl. She wants a boyfriend. She wants to be an actress. She wants to experience all the things she thinks she deserves as a teenage girl (re: kisses, hangouts, etc). She actually leaves school for 3 weeks to be an understudy in a play she never gets to perform in and struggles emotionally because of that experience. Her parents are actually two former actors and she is clearly pushed into the profession in order to please them, whereas I would think, knowing the profession, her parents would want to shield her from the disappointments and struggles of acting. Although, Ruby does seem to really enjoying acting and gets pleasure from it. You just hope she doesn't quickly become jaded from it all.
Senior, Grace Song is a Korean dancer with very strict Korean parents with traditional Korean values who push her very hard to be successful, but also do not see dance as a valid career path. Regardless, they want her to be the best (ultimately to become a dance professor at Juillard). Grace is not allowed to date or have a boyfriend, but, being a teenage girl, she defies her parents and shares her high school experience with a boy also at the school.
And then there's Brittany, another Senior, who is in the music department. She is clearly a very talented musician. She moved to L.A. with her mother, leaving her dad and home in Wisconsin in order to hopefully have a better life for herself. Her parents have made sacrifices for her, but she is a bit selfish. She begins to focus on upstarting her career (re: auditioning for an Unsigned Artist showcase at the House of Blues), and misses a lot of school days (10) and lets her grades suffer which might hinder her ability to graduate, in order to maybe have a career before graduation. Her story is interesting to follow because of the facts that her parents made many sacrifices along the way and Brittany seems very focused on herself, like most teenagers are at this stage in their lives. She has the opportunity to attend LIPA (a music school in Liverpool) and by the end you find out what she is able to do in order to become successful.
Ultimately, you feel very happy for the 2 seniors because their stories are successes, and you also wonder how the 2 Freshman will be able to survive the rest of their high school careers. I really enjoyed the film, perhaps because I'm an educator and I have always seen the value in arts as a way to better a child's academic success. But also, because I harbored feelings and intentions of wanting to be an actor and/or writer myself, but I never pushed myself past a comfort zone and my parents never did it either. But, hey, my life has turned out rather well, regardless and I've been able to enjoy writing as a hobby.
...................................................................
Film 371
"Bully"
written and directed by: Lee Hirsch
"Bully" is an important documentary for anyone with children or involved in children's lives to watch and understand, because maybe it will open an adult's eyes to the epidemic that has been around for ages and ages. Bullying. It's an important, hot-button topic. Perhaps one of the worst, most heartbreaking unsolvable crimes in our society. Bullying is often passed off as kids being kids, because adults just don't seem to "get it" even though we are all kids once and had some kind of experience with bullying (I know I did, for sure). How quickly we all forget, huh?
That seems to be the central theme to Lee Hirsch's documentary: how many parents and teachers have no idea what's really happening in the secret society of children. Many bullied children, as shown in one particular boy's case in this film, are embarrassed or scared about being bullied which makes them very reluctant to tell anyone and also because the parents just don't seem to know how to handle it.
The film follows the stories of several children in Mississippi, Oklahoma and Georgia. Two of them committed suicide. Their lives had become unendurable without anyone noticing, or taking their situations seriously enough. I can believe it. The most infuriating people in the film are teachers or administrators who don't know what's happening — or don't want to know, perhaps afraid of bureaucratic difficulties or angry parents.
“Bully” is a sincere documentary but not a great one. We feel sympathy for the victims, and their parents or friends, but the film helplessly seems to treat bullying as a problem without a solution. I can think of one thing that might help. Parents and schools should place great emphasis on the idea that it is all right to be different. Racism and all the other “isms” grow from primitive tribalism, the instinctive hostility against those of another tribe, race, religion, nationality, class or whatever. You are a lucky child if your parents taught you to accept diversity. Teaching prejudice to a child is itself a form of bullying. You've got to be taught to hate.
I'd like to see a fictional story about bullying because I think it would have more of an effect on people than a sincere documentary like Hirsch's. In fact, there's actually a film that stars Brad Renfro from 2001 titled "Bully," which I want to see, in order to compare the two approaches to one of the most sensitive subjects.
"Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels"
a film by (written and directed): Guy Ritchie
starring: Jason Stratham, Jason Flemyng, Dexter Fletcher, Nick Moran, Steve Mckintosh
This is a bit of a reminder that Guy Ritchie used to be great at what he did (after the TV commercials, of course), before he fell in love with and married Madonna. He made this film in 1999, and then he followed it up with another excellent film, starring Brad Pitt (re: "Snatch"). Ritchie is a Londoner and he pays homage to his lovely, yet lower-life peeps in this complex caper-type film that almost plays itself like the best of Tarantino mixed with the comedy of the Marx Brothers. There's violence. There's comedy.
The plot seems a bit simple, but I couldn't help but get lost many times as it played out. Eddy (Moran) is a poker play who is bankrolled by 3 of his friends in a high-stakes game with Hatchet Marry (Moriarity), a gambling kingpin. Eddy runs up an enormous debt with Harry, and his enforcer threatens the gang if they don't pay up. Eddy and his friends overhear neighbors, who are planning to rob a rich drug dealer. Somebody else, named Barry the Baptist, is planning to steal two antique shotguns, which end up in the hands of Eddy and his friends, as well as the drug money. There's almost far too many characters in this story, which doesn't help you stay focused, unlike Tarantino's excellent film that kind of follows the same premise- "Reservoir Dogs."
It's definitely a fun film, as long as you can follow it. Ritchie almost forces you to pay attention as he continues to throw things like wrenches and other characters into the mix. You can't really make sense of the plot and you don't necessarily care about the characters, but I don't think that's really the point. It's a controlled chaos type of movie, where the plot drives the film and the characters.
..........................................................................................
Film 369
"Despicable Me"
starring: Steve Carell, Jason Segel, Russell Brand, Julie Andrews, Will Arnett, Kristen Wiig, Miranda Cosgrove, Dana Gaier, Elsie Fischer
I'm convinced that Pixar cannot make a bad film and "Despicable Me" is yet another example in their catalogue that they can continue to make highly entertaining, funny, heartfelt films that reach all audiences (kids and adults, alike).
The "hero" in this story is actually a fascinating villain named Gru (voiced by Steve Carell) who wants to be everything a decent James Bond villain would be. He is clearly driven by his desire to be named the World's Greatest Villain; but also (and what I loved the most, which added depth to his character) is that Gru is clearly driven mostly by his desire to be loved by his mother, who has never really taken an interest in his attempts to flatter her with his abilities (re: to design and build his own rocket ship or with his ambition to go to the moon). And then, another layer to his character is that he doesn't really want to hide the fact that he's a bad guy: he freezes people in line at Starbucks, he pops kids' balloons, and most importantly, his lair is in the basement of his darker colored home among all the other bright white suburban homes in his neighbor. Oh yeah, and he has minions. Wanting to impress his mother (voiced by Julie Andrews), Gru is upstaged by his nemesis, Vector (voiced by Jason Segel), who steals the Great Pyramid. And so, Gru develops a plan to use the Shrink Ray in order to steal the moon and he is cheered on, of course, by his little yellow exercise-ball Minions.
The filmmakers take a risk by turning the villain into a hero, but they do it masterfully by introducing 3 adorable little girls- who are orphans- to open up Gru's heart and make him see things differently. At first he adopts them in order to use them in his plan to break into Vector's home/headquarters, but of course, like the Grinch, these adorable and cute little girls grow on him and they use their little girl magic on Gru to turn him into the hero he is pretty much destined to be, which makes "Despicable Me" one of the best animated films I've seen.
I absolutely love this film and want to watch it again and again.
......................................................................
Film 370
"Fame High"
starring: Brittany Hayes, Grace Song, Ruby McCollister, Zak Rios
directed by: Scott Hamilton Kennedy
This is a documentary that follows 4 high schoolers during one of their years at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, which I'd never heard of, but now, after research I've discovered it's quite a prestigious high school, that is perhaps one of the original charter schools in the country, which really pushes teenagers to their very best to become stars in their focused field (be it: theatre, dance, music, or something else), with the same curriculum as any other high school, but a concentration in one of the arts, in order to either help the teenagers get into an even more prestigious college in the country, or if they desire, into a professional career right after high school.
Notable alumni include:
Ray Bradbury, Charles Bukowski, John Cage, Dustin Hoffman, George Takei, Mel Torme, Jenna Elfman, Josh Groban, Taran Killam (SNL), Christina Milian, Anthony Anderson, Este/Danielle/Alana Haim (of one of my newest favorite bands...HAIM)
The documentary was made been another alumni of the prestigious high school, which I think was one of the major reasons why he was allowed inside the halls and walls of the school (because otherwise I would think the administration wouldn't let someone into their "secret" society). His story follows 4 teenagers (2 freshmen and 2 seniors) as they deal with A) trying to be "average" teenagers, discovering themselves and wanting to have "normal" lives and B) dealing with their own struggles of success, disappointment and failures within one significant year in their lives.
Zak is a jazz pianist who is forced to relearn and adapt to the school's teacher's expectations, while also continuing to please his overbearing father, who seems to be living vicariously through his son's teenage years, pushing him beyond what should be comfortable. His father can never really see that he is responsible for his son's missteps and failures in his Jazz course where he is trying to join a Combo class but is demoted to the Improv class, because he cannot seem to focus on his studies. His dad has him doing all these extracurricular activities to fine-tune his pianist skills, but really it is having an adverse effect on his studies.
Ruby is another freshman, a girl, who clearly wants to enjoy being a teenage girl. She wants a boyfriend. She wants to be an actress. She wants to experience all the things she thinks she deserves as a teenage girl (re: kisses, hangouts, etc). She actually leaves school for 3 weeks to be an understudy in a play she never gets to perform in and struggles emotionally because of that experience. Her parents are actually two former actors and she is clearly pushed into the profession in order to please them, whereas I would think, knowing the profession, her parents would want to shield her from the disappointments and struggles of acting. Although, Ruby does seem to really enjoying acting and gets pleasure from it. You just hope she doesn't quickly become jaded from it all.
Senior, Grace Song is a Korean dancer with very strict Korean parents with traditional Korean values who push her very hard to be successful, but also do not see dance as a valid career path. Regardless, they want her to be the best (ultimately to become a dance professor at Juillard). Grace is not allowed to date or have a boyfriend, but, being a teenage girl, she defies her parents and shares her high school experience with a boy also at the school.
And then there's Brittany, another Senior, who is in the music department. She is clearly a very talented musician. She moved to L.A. with her mother, leaving her dad and home in Wisconsin in order to hopefully have a better life for herself. Her parents have made sacrifices for her, but she is a bit selfish. She begins to focus on upstarting her career (re: auditioning for an Unsigned Artist showcase at the House of Blues), and misses a lot of school days (10) and lets her grades suffer which might hinder her ability to graduate, in order to maybe have a career before graduation. Her story is interesting to follow because of the facts that her parents made many sacrifices along the way and Brittany seems very focused on herself, like most teenagers are at this stage in their lives. She has the opportunity to attend LIPA (a music school in Liverpool) and by the end you find out what she is able to do in order to become successful.
Ultimately, you feel very happy for the 2 seniors because their stories are successes, and you also wonder how the 2 Freshman will be able to survive the rest of their high school careers. I really enjoyed the film, perhaps because I'm an educator and I have always seen the value in arts as a way to better a child's academic success. But also, because I harbored feelings and intentions of wanting to be an actor and/or writer myself, but I never pushed myself past a comfort zone and my parents never did it either. But, hey, my life has turned out rather well, regardless and I've been able to enjoy writing as a hobby.
...................................................................
Film 371
"Bully"
written and directed by: Lee Hirsch
"Bully" is an important documentary for anyone with children or involved in children's lives to watch and understand, because maybe it will open an adult's eyes to the epidemic that has been around for ages and ages. Bullying. It's an important, hot-button topic. Perhaps one of the worst, most heartbreaking unsolvable crimes in our society. Bullying is often passed off as kids being kids, because adults just don't seem to "get it" even though we are all kids once and had some kind of experience with bullying (I know I did, for sure). How quickly we all forget, huh?
That seems to be the central theme to Lee Hirsch's documentary: how many parents and teachers have no idea what's really happening in the secret society of children. Many bullied children, as shown in one particular boy's case in this film, are embarrassed or scared about being bullied which makes them very reluctant to tell anyone and also because the parents just don't seem to know how to handle it.
The film follows the stories of several children in Mississippi, Oklahoma and Georgia. Two of them committed suicide. Their lives had become unendurable without anyone noticing, or taking their situations seriously enough. I can believe it. The most infuriating people in the film are teachers or administrators who don't know what's happening — or don't want to know, perhaps afraid of bureaucratic difficulties or angry parents.
“Bully” is a sincere documentary but not a great one. We feel sympathy for the victims, and their parents or friends, but the film helplessly seems to treat bullying as a problem without a solution. I can think of one thing that might help. Parents and schools should place great emphasis on the idea that it is all right to be different. Racism and all the other “isms” grow from primitive tribalism, the instinctive hostility against those of another tribe, race, religion, nationality, class or whatever. You are a lucky child if your parents taught you to accept diversity. Teaching prejudice to a child is itself a form of bullying. You've got to be taught to hate.
I'd like to see a fictional story about bullying because I think it would have more of an effect on people than a sincere documentary like Hirsch's. In fact, there's actually a film that stars Brad Renfro from 2001 titled "Bully," which I want to see, in order to compare the two approaches to one of the most sensitive subjects.
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