If you like food and would like to see the world of food- literally- then this is the movie for you! This animated world is oh-so vibrant and colorful.
But beyond color, and beyond food, this is a story of an young man( flint Lockwood), who is an underdog trying to fight the dominant (Chester V)who wants to control a new island. In this new island, Chester V makes it seem like food creatures are villans. Fortunately, with the help of his closest friends and family( his father is marvelously done by the Great James Caan)- Flint discovers that the foodanimals are truly innocent.
Discover Flint’s journey in this great move. Take a break from studying and see tacodiles, peanut butter and jellyfish, wildabeets and so much more!
Author: LitaPitasMusings
I love big dogs, movies from the 1930s-1960s, I am a "girly -girl-feminist" and I love fast food.
The Butler Review
This is a movie.. that is beyond words for me– it encompasses so much depth.
This is a movie which is about race relations, class, family, father-son relations, and gives us a peak into the nation’s house- the White House. It is truly an American story- showing both the worst in this country and the best in this country. This story can only really be told in America.
-Race Relations- First and foremost, this is a movie about the effect race had on one mans life. Cecil Gaines was a man who witnessed his mother led off to be raped on a plantation and his father shot( all because he say ‘eh’ in protest to the sharecropper who raped his wife)- all within the same day. This was a boy who had never been to school but had learned how to serve White people (never giving his opinions about race, but talking about nonpolitical things the the wealthy preferred)- and learned to work hard. This is how he went from plantation boy to a butler in the White House. How one can make this journey in not even half his lifetime- is beyond me. But what Cecil learned from his journey from the plantation to the White House was: 1)Don’t speak up to the White man- even if he is wrong 2) You get more in life by being subservient rather than protesting.
-Family- Both of these would be a far cry from his son who was a rebel- but not a rebel without a cause. No, in fact his son was one of the rebels who was the freedom riders. One of the images which would make an everlasting impression in my mind are when his son and the other freedom riders are on the bus and the bus rides into an Alabama town where the KKK are very much alive. In fact, as the bus pulls into this town.. it seems like it goes into a flaming cross. The fires emanating from that cross.. have a very visceral effect in my mind. This is Lee Daniels’ and the cinematographer’s work at its best. But as was aforementioned, the son’s rebelliousness and the father’s subservience often clash.
But with time both father and son seem to have respect for each other’s ways of protestation. It should be noted, that though each man comes to respect each other, one person who tried to bridge the gap between them sooner was Cecil’s wife, Gloria, played by none other than Oprah Winfrey. She did a remarkable job of showing a housewife in the 20th century who glowed in the fashions during that time as well as a woman who was devoted to her family. Although without a focus outside of the house, at times she was too devoted and was hence in a drunken stupo. But eventually, she too found strength out of alcoholism.
– The White House-The White House was another interesting entity which this movie highlighted. This house is known as the house which one identifies immediately with presidents. But presidents may stay here for 4- 8 years. But it is the workers, who sometimes work in the White House for more than three decades. And when we all ooh and ahh at the inauguration for 2 hours on television, the staff changes the oval office for the new president. I for one, had no idea that this happened! Many of us, also view the White House as the epitamy of democracy, but it is not always the case. In the movie it was revealed that for more than 25 years of Cecil’s tenure, the Black employees made about 40% of what the White employees did. It wasn’t until Reagan was in office that the policy changed.
-In sum, this is a movie that is great for so many U of M students to see. Next time you sit in your race and ethnicity class; or an American history class; decide whether or not you should participate in DP Day, do the semester in Detroit, or even attend a lecture on race relations- perhaps this movie will add to the food for thought for any of these events.
Please go and see it at a theater close to you-ASAP!
5 out of 5 stars
Preview for The Butler
If you would like to see a movie regarding race relations in the 20th century; an insider look into the White House; father-son relations; furthermore, family dynamics; and take a journey through the milestones which defined the culture and feel of 20th century America- then this is the movie for you.
If you are also interested in seeing seamless acting and scenes which concreticize the verisimilitude of the medium of film, then I suggest that you see this film, THIS weekend! This is a film that should be witnessed on the big screen.. especially a certain bus scene where the buses pull into KKK country. Please go see it!
Review for the Sapphires
I will say that this has been one of my favorite movies of the year. I suppose the main reason it becomes my favorite is because it does such a good job mixing light-heart-ed comedy and depth!
This is about 4 young girls who want to become a girl band. This is by no means an easy feat for any group so young. But this is an universal story among many who are young. After all, I am sure a lot of us know at least one person who started a band in their garage!
It contains some great light-hearted story lines. There is the sister who dreams of kissing a boy in her dreams; there is the story of the youngest, whom the mother won’t let out of her sight; then there is the story of the father who won’t let any of them out of their sight-especially with a “Gubber” ( white) man; then there is the story of the oldest sister who serves as the “mama bear” of the group- but who cannot be the leader in singing; then there is the light skinned outsider of the girl group who is still seen by some with suspicion.
But as the above paragraph indicates– there is a lot of heaviness in some of those classic light- heart-ed elements you might find in stories of people.
The mother and father not only want to let their daughters out of sight because they are young- but because they are entering a war zone in Vietnam! In addition, the Aboringial Australians are quite hated by the Whites in Australia. A taxi never waits for them. Nobody ever claps for them at a concert-except for one naive White boy. And the outsider of the group Mel, didn’t become an outsider necessarily out of her own volition. She became one do to the cruel entity of Australia’s past- The Stolen Generations. This is when Australian authorities stormed into Aboriginal households to steal. Not to steal gold, money, goods ( as Lovelace’s character naively asks) but their most precious resource of all- the children. Well, the fair skinned children. So Mel was kidnapped and years later she came back for her mother’s funeral in the Aboriginal community- where she said, ” You know you guys could do so much better if you properly fished these waters.” Some in her community, especially her cousins in the girl group- hold that against her. Of course her Mama bear cousin Gail.. eventually gets in a fight with her about it.
Some other interesting twists to this story are that you often hear about Black young girls in the US who started groups in the 1960s. That’s what the Supremes were about. Martha and the Vandallas. The Dreamgirls musical. The Dreamgirls movie. Even Whitney Houston’s last movie-Sparkle was about that. But when do you hear about other Black ethnicities wanting to start a group like that. I have never heard of one such group in the 1960’s coming from England. France. And until this, oceania.
On top of that this movie tackles some other cultures. These girls are going to an Asian country to perform for American men. The movie, didn’t make this a big issue but I thought that it was interesting that they didn’t experience any discrimination from any Viets while they were there. I was also surprised that they didn’t experience more discrimination from the Americans . Except for one scene, there wasn’t any discrimination that the girls faced from White men. I would even say, that some of the Whites had crushes on them! Even the Blacks didn’t question them about their Blackness or made an issue about how they were “different” blacks.
But in perhaps the greatest moments come from the race-bending that happens in this movie. Or rather I should say the race-bending lines. These girls started out mostly singing county and western music. Then White Dan Lovelace says Country and western sings sad music an about a struggle. But soul he said was about struggle, but the people who sang about it, owned and conquered the soul. It was powerful hearing his explanation. I should add that Chris O Dowd’s acting made this character’s performance really seem like he understood soul. The way he got into it.. it exuded soul through the screen.,, as if soul had a texture. I will add, that it was funny seeing him trying to explain a genre of music that many might not associate with his race. I say kudos to him, because music belongs to everyone and everyone in does music is inspired by this colorless entity! The girls however question how he knows all this, and he says, I have afro blood in me. I am not sure he did though… but there were definitely many other racial and ethnic bending.
In sum, this is a good movie to see since it has many typical family situations, light-heart-ed comical lines combined with a deep history of a rarely heard of ethnicity in the US. So please see it. Please take a break from finals and go see it. If you are graduating.. go and take your parents to see it! I will say that this a great movie to end my artscene year with. I have loved writing this year as an artscene writer.critic. Thank you all the readers who made this possible.
Preview for the Sapphires
If you are in the mood for something funny yet has pockets of in depth issues, than this is for you.
The Sapphires is a movie about 4 young aboriginal Australian women who wish to form a girl group in Australia- in 1968. During this time, especially in Australia, this is never heard of.
After failing a contest ( where the audience ended up voting for a White singer.. who really couldn’t sing well).. they seek out Dan Lovelace.. the contests emcee- who gets fired.
They ask him if he would be willing to be their manager and take them to Vietnam, where they would all get paying gigs to perform infront of the American troops. Well.. they do end up going.. What happens? Well, you need to find out for yourself!
If you need a study break, want to hear some good music, see members of an ethnicity rarely portrayed in cinema ( ahh.. how many of us remember seeing Aboriginal Australians in any movies? Ok well maybe the Baz Lurmann movie Australia.. that’s about it); see a war happening; romance, youth, changing times.. well, then this is the movie for you!
Review for Django Unchained
This was a movie which alleviated my stress when I left. Seriously. I was bit stressed all day raising money for dance marathon- a day before the marathon! So I was a bit wary about seeing this movie that I heard I was controversial- to say the least. I thought it would elevate my stress level! But I kid you not- when I left I had a giant smile on my face.
Don’t get me wrong.. there were times when I was like, “Oh my God!” As one person said as they exited the movie ,” One third of the time, I cried…Another one third of the time I was horrified, and one third of the time I was.. (I didn’t catch what he said).” I was a little shocked at how much violence was in the movie- or rather how some of the characters easily killed others. I was also shocked at how much blood was in the movie. Don’t get me wrong, it was all fake blood which was easily discernible because of the outlandish way the blood volcanoed out of people and how red it was. But it was still a little neck-jerking at times. I was also a little surprised at first when the n word was used and over time I felt a little like-ouch- when I heard it. But I didn’t feel that it was too controversial because we are viewing a period film and if anything it makes the Whites look bad for viewing equal humans in an unequal way. In my humble opinion, I don’t think it makes Blacks look badly- although I am not sure it is easy for many African Americans to witness on the screen how easy it is for Whites to use that word. I am sure it brings flashbacks and negative memories for many.
It also was a “boy” movie in a way (I realize that this isn’t the most feminist way to phrase this..). But I felt that sometimes people who like to see a lot of mock violence, and gore usually go to see the action film genre. And those movies often attract those of the adolescent male species. And by looking at the audience around I can easily say that many of them were well-males.
Now I would really like to address a few of my main reasons why I liked the movie:
#1 I loved Christoph Waltz’s character (Dr. Shultz)-My god what a character. This was a character who was an outsider and seemed to go by his own rules of morality. He used to be a dentist- a role that is often esteemed in society. However, he switches careers to be that of a bounty hunter. It seemed like he didn’t believe in killing people for no reason. That it was wrong to do so. He was also very polite and friendly. But he also had a thirst to annoy people or be hostile to people from the confines of not technically being wrong. For instance, in one of the scenes he is in a saloon with his Django, the bartender runs out in horror of seeing a Black and White person together, and gets the sheriff. The sheriff runs out and gets the marshal. The marshal brings everyone to the town square- and of course everyone has their guns pointed at the saloon. The marshal asks Django and Dr. Shultz to bring themselves out with their hands up in the air without weapons. Dr. Shulz announces as he leaves the saloon, “We are indeed coming up with our hands up and we are unarmed. “ But in his outstretched hand he holds a note of bounty to capture the sheriff, who was going by another name and was a criminal.
The marshal who prides himself in being right and in his capture of Dr. Shultz , has to yield his “high horse” and concede that Dr. Shultz is technically right. I truly believe Dr. Shultz gets a kick from his ability to be “in the right place.” In a way, he wins these battles and he relishes it. He also likes that he can kill people- within the confines of the law! He is still killing- and doesn’t seem to have a moral problem with this- as long as there is proper way to get away killing people.
But I love how this outsider takes a likening to Django. I think he likes how Django is a man of a law- that is a married man. Something which I think Dr. Shultz might be nervous to do. And Dr. Shultz could have stayed out of helping Django since he is a bit of an outsider of society who wanders around killing people legitimately for money. Yet, for whatever reason, perhaps his liking of Django he decides to help him get Brunhilda. Some might say that it was the cultural connection to Brunhilda’s German upbringing and her name of the famous German fable, that attracted him.. but I don’t think that was it. In sum, Dr. Shultz was intriguing and that combined with his suave manners, polite diction was amazing.
#2 I loved, loved so much of the acting in this movie. I thought every character did a good job. The actress who portrayed Sheba was in a minor role, and she played Monsieur’s Candy possible mistress; but she did an impeccable job of portraying that. The actor who played Monsieur’s Candy’s friend who was put to law school by Monsieur Candy’s father also played the chuckling slightly subservient character well. Of course I loved Christoph Waltz’s acting- after all his talent made that character alive. But another actor I thought did an excellent job and unlike Christoph didn’t get as much accolades or awards to back up his acting is Leonardo Dicaprio. Leo portrayed a character whose mentality truly kept the institution of slavery up. But he also was a suave character who could charm easily. I also love how he had three rings on his fingers and always held his cigarette at an interesting angle. But when he was mad, like he could blow up like a firecracker! I though perhaps his urbaneness and his cruel ways came well together.. especially when he brought up the skull of Ben ( the slave who raised him) and how he pointed at every different part of Ben’s skull and tells some “scientific story of submission and a slave’s tendency to not fight is rooted in 3 dents in the section of the skull related to submission ( which by the way is ridiculously false..) “ Truly an excellent acting job!
The one major complaint that I had was seeing the portrayal of women in this movie. Brunhilda doesn’t say much, but mostly goes through suffering, at other times looks pretty, and at other times faints. A maid on an earlier plantation named Bettina seems to act doll like. A few of the other maids wear stiff tutu liked skirts and one has a huge bow in the middle of her head- so the women even look doll-like! Even Monsieur Candy’s sister just smiles and looks dumb. Perhaps what I said earlier about how this movie is a boy’s movie, can now have duality in that meaning!
But other than that, it was amazing!
