REVIEW: Onward

Lucy Leave a comment

While I hadn’t heard much buzz about this movie, I’d say it was pretty good! Disney/Pixar does a good job when they’re not making the 10,000 sequel to something. It was a classic, heartfelt story of how an adventure could bring two opposite people together.

The first thing that I loved about this were the voices. These included Chris Pratt and Tom Holland as the main characters, as well as Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Octavia Spencer. Chris Pratt is one of my favorite actors, and both he and Tom Holland definitely made their characters interesting and unique, which can be hard when you are just a voice. The familiar voices also helped me enjoy more of the movie as well as feel comfortable right away.

One of my favorite things was the relationship between the two brothers. One was incredibly shy, and the other was as outgoing as can be, and they generally clashed. But as they continued on their adventure, their relationship slowly evolved into mutual respect and friendship. And this was not totally in a blatant way either, which made it all the more astonishing when the younger brother realized that his sibling had been taking care of him the way his dad would have all along. I loved this “twist”, if you will, because it really supports the idea of an unconventional but still complete family, and was certainly a tear-jerking moment.

The only things that I have to say I did not like were the lack of humor and the role of the manticore. Chris Pratt is a very humorous actor, and Tom Holland can be pretty funny as well. I feel that they did not use this to its full potential, and that the movie could have been a lot funnier overall, all though it did have its moments. I also thought that the manticore was a bit overplayed and cheesy, and seemed like an easy insert for the boys to magically have what was needed, and to be in the right place at the right time. I thought that the whole journey with her and the mother was a little pointless, and only served the purpose of taking up time. I think this movie unfortunately missed out on having a great soundtrack, because Disney/Pixar often does a great job of that. I saw a lot of moments that could really have amped up the song quality to make the movie even better.

The last thing I wanted to touch on was the character of the older brother. He was obsessed with a particular game (Dungeons and Dragons style), and was originally portrayed as annoying and a nerd. However, he is accepted and even a hero at the end, which I think was an important message to send to kids who are perhaps teased for their more nerdy tastes in school. I loved how he was passionately, unapologetically, happy and proud which made him a great role model.

Overall, I thought the movie was well made and unique, mostly because of the different characters and the final twist of the younger brother’s discovery and the final scene with the dad. While it wasn’t a standout for me in terms of great Disney/Pixar movies, it certainly was enjoyable. And it was definitely better than a 4th sequel to the Troll’s movie.

REVIEW: The Cactus League

Aria Gerson Leave a comment

To baseball fans, MLB’s annual spring training is almost romantic. After a long winter without baseball, spring training finally marks the sport’s return.

Emily Nemens’ novel The Cactus League digs into the darker side, the hopefulness of baseball’s spring training replaced by a cast of characters all struggling in their own way.

The book reads less as one overarching story and more as a series of interconnected character studies. Each chapter focuses on one person connected with the Los Angeles Lions baseball team during its spring season in Scottsdale, Arizona. Each story stands on its own but focuses on a central thread: how the divorce of star player Jason Goodyear happened. Goodyear’s fall from grace is revealed bit by bit from the perspectives of those around him before finally telling it from his perspective.

The Cactus League is a baseball novel that clearly understands baseball. The game scenes are realistic, and more importantly, the book has a good grasp on baseball’s social scene. Many who have a connection to baseball are part of the story — the aging batting coach, the high-powered agent, the rookie fresh out of college, the “cleat-chaser,” the baseball wives. Each character has a vice and all are somewhat unlikeable, yet their individual arcs were compelling enough to keep me reading.

I was able to figure out (for the most part) what was going on with Goodyear halfway through the novel. It was unclear if that was the intention or not and the heavy-handed foreshadowing did detract a bit from the intrigue. That said, the character development for the other characters was strong enough to stand on its own.

Overall, The Cactus League was a good read that transported me back to the spring training we missed out on this year. I love character-driven stories so it was really interesting to get inside the heads of a wide variety of characters. At the same time, I wished some of the explorations had been deeper. While the idea of class and what it means to be rich, poor or somewhere in between was observed at length, many of the characters also had preconceived notions about race and gender that I felt were left unexplored. Some of the characters were racist or sexist or problematic in other ways. I didn’t have a problem with that in itself — people in general are often racist or sexist and that shouldn’t magically change in a book — but given the depth with which class was explored, I wanted to see more in the other areas as well.

While most of the book felt only loosely connected, the ending to The Cactus League was the payoff. It brought together many of the characters from the earlier stories and showed how in the cactus league, everyone’s lives were affected by the others and everyone had a different piece of the story. Not every character had their arc resolved, but the ending was a provocative conclusion to the main spine of the story.

REVIEW: Bon Appetit Test Kitchen Variety Show

Nellie Shih Leave a comment

Many of us are spending quarantine making sourdough starters and baking cinnamon rolls, but the chefs at Bon Appetit have been doing it for ages, and continue to do so despite cooking at home. For those of you unfamiliar with the test kitchen, Bon Appetit is the YouTube channel for a food magazine based in New York. The YouTube Channel currently has 5.85 million subscribers, featuring shows such as Gourmet Makes where pastry chef Claire Saffitz attempts to recreate snack foods in the test kitchen; It’s Alive with Brad Leone, microbial food culture enthusiast; Reverse Engineering with Chris Morocco who attempts to recreate recipes through scent, taste, touch, but no sight; and Back-to-Back Chef with Carla Lalli-Music who guides a celebrity through a recipe – while they stand back-to-back.

 

Since the switch to the various chefs’ home kitchens, the new recipes the chefs have filmed have been incorporating more common ingredients. Some of the recent home kitchen videos have included 13 Kinds of Pantry Pasta, Sour Cream and Onion Biscuits, 3 Kinds of Homemade Pasta, and 9 Kinds of Pantry Sandwiches. The chefs are all very charismatic and personable and have, as a result, built a massive fan base (Saffitz is said to have developed a cult following for Gourmet Makes) on social media. Since cooking from home, there’s been an increase in guest appearances by kids and pets – what more could you want?

 

On May 1, the Test Kitchen staff hosted a live fundraiser on YouTube to raise money for the World Central Kitchen. Over the course of an almost two-and-a-half-hour show, BA raised a total of $185,616. The WCK is currently working to distribute packaged, fresh meals to communities in need due to the coronavirus outbreak. The BA staff hosted a Variety Show on Friday night, featuring segments such as a whipped cream speed challenge, a feature on the staff members’ pets, an interview with Ina Garten, a Q&A, and several pre-prepared montages such as a cursing montage, a cutting onions montage, and a best of Brad Leone montage.

 

I was personally a fan of the whipping cream challenge (Chris Morocco took first place by whipping cream in 30 seconds to the point where he could hold the bowl over his head and nothing fell out), Carla’s son being her arms in Front-to-Back, and the pre-edited montages. There was a little bit of inevitable awkwardness throughout the course of the show with internet delays, but various members of the staff got tipsier and tipsier throughout the show, which really added character to what could’ve been a very bland show. There was a live comments feed from viewers around the world that was so active that the BA tech staff had to comment and ask everyone to slow down as they couldn’t keep up with all of the messages.

 

Overall, the show was very entertaining, although a little long as I ultimately decided to join the Lionsgate La La Land livestream instead of watching the last 45 minutes of the show. However, it was clear the staff and the viewers were all having a good time, and, of course, it was all for a great cause. I highly recommend Bon Appetit – they have an endless supply of videos on their channel, and they continue to post multiple times a week. The videos will no doubt make you very hungry, but they’ll inspire you to head to your kitchen and become a pro chef yourself. And you might as well use this time to get into cooking!

 

The donation link for the World Central Kitchen is still up on the livestream recording, and I’ve included it here.

 

Also, here is a photo of my Bon Appetit cinnamon rolls. I’m quite proud of them. I followed this recipe but didn’t have any dates, so I used the filling from this recipe.

PREVIEW: Onward

Lucy Leave a comment

This Disney-Pixar movie premiered in theaters on March 6th. Now available on Disney Plus, the movie features teenage elf brothers, voiced by Chris Pratt and Tom Holland. The brothers go on a journey filled with magic and fun to spend one last day with their father. However when their mother realizes her sons are missing, she embarks on a journey as well, to find them and bring them home.

I find that most Disney-Pixar crossover movies turn out to be some of my favorites (examples: Cars, Wall-E, Up, Coco, and many others), so I am optimistic about this one as well. And it got fairly good reviews on IMDB, Rotten Tomatoes, Facebook, and Google. I will let you guys know how it is as soon as I can convince one of my family members to watch it with me!

Reminder- the movie is available on Disney Plus: https://www.disneyplus.com

Enjoy!

REVIEW: Dave

Lucy Leave a comment

Although it certainly had its flaws, Dave was one of the funniest shows I have have seen in quite a while. I don’t think I have laughed out loud this much at a show since watching The Office!

One of my favorite things about the show was the acting (or real personality) of Dave, the main character. As the show is meant to be based on his real life, I think he was mostly just acting as himself, which was a hilarious, obnoxious narcissist with big ambitions. While the supporting characters were also very well rounded and funny, he definitely stole the show. My favorite part was the episode where he met all of the different producers, and presented his future plans and view of his own brand. While he was totally confident, the presentations were absolutely ludicrous and hilarious, which follows with most of his other shenanigans during the show. However silly and inappropriate he was, when he actually freestyle rapped during the show I was very impressed. I (and I think others) tend to forget that although his main genre is satire and dumb songs, he is actually quite a good rapper and can show up when challenged.

I also was impressed by the relationships between different characters, as they were well developed even between side characters. I really felt invested in almost every character we met on the show. The lewdness and ridiculousness of the acting or writing style made it easy for the characters to seem incredibly real. It also felt more relatable than most shows I watch about teens, which feature actors way over the age of the people they are supposed to be playing, as well as ridiculously high stakes and serious drama. This show just felt more casual and realistic.

Dave also did a great job of addressing several societal and personal issues throughout the different episodes. The show dealt with the struggles of someone with bipolar disorder, relationship problems, issues in the music industry, and even lightly brushed on racial issues towards the end of the season. But they weren’t in a fake or overdone way, they were more gently dealt with in the way that they really should be in real life.

The one thing that did bother me about this show is the way they ended the season. It seemed as if the writers did not know what to do with a lot of the loose ends, and when the show ended I sort of sat there like “What? That’s the end? That doesn’t make any sense.” In fact, I assumed there would be something after the credits because it just seemed like the show cut off. It ended before resolving the many problems Dave was having in his personal life, and it did not even resolve what was going on in that particular episode. I also wish they hadn’t tried to make Dave look like a decent guy after what he had done to his girlfriend, as well as the racial issues he had stirred up and not really absolved for. Hopefully he will get his punishment or backlash in the next season.

Overall, I would definitely recommend Dave to anyone who enjoys modern rap, lewd comedy, and interesting, real characters. I really liked this show, and I can’t wait for the next season to be released!

PREVIEW: The Dutch House

JM Leave a comment

Looking for something to read? New York Times bestseller The Dutch House by Ann Patchett, released in 2019, tells the story of a brother, sister, and a house in Elkins Park, PA over the course of five decades. It has garnered its fair share of critical acclaim, including as a New York Times bestseller, a New York Times Book Review notable book, and one of TIME Magazine’s 100 Must-Read Books of 2019.

The Dutch House is available from Literati Bookstore online (https://www.literatibookstore.com/), as well as in eBook format from Barnes & Noble or Amazon. Also check to see if your local library offers eBook borrowing services through OverDrive or a similar platform!