2021-02-28

Tom & Jerry Movie Review : A Fun, Nostalgic Trip

Review: Jerry takes up a tiny spot at the prestigious Royal Gate Hotel in New York City and begins to create havoc. No reputed hotel wants a rodent around, but when new employee Kayla (Chloe Grace Moretz), is tasked with getting rid of the little fellow, she finds herself outwitted. Amidst this mouse problem, the grand wedding of Preeta (Pallavi Sharda) and Ben (Colin Jost) needs to be planned and executed. There’s pressure on the hotel staff and owner Mr DuBros (Rob Delaney) along with deputy manager Terrance (Michael Pena), certainly add to that. So, when Kayla comes across Tom, she enrols him to help her with Jerry.

For the 80s and 90s kids, the beloved cartoon series invokes a strong sense of nostalgia. Director Tim Story captures that classic feel in this live-action animated film, by featuring the animated characters as modernized renditions of the 2D cartoons. It does a massive favour because it immediately takes you back, thanks to the animators. The toons' whole appeal was the creative ways these frenemies would go at each other, resulting in slapstick at its best. This film’s broad storyline tries to flesh out some of the human characters. It helps that Chloe Grace Moretz is generally likeable, and her charm is on full display as Kayla, the new employee trying to impress her bosses. Michael Pena brings his distinctive style to Terrance, a stickler for his distinguished property's old school values. Colin Jost and Pallavi Sharda both channelize influencer couple cheesiness as Ben and Preeta, though there’s more going on there. The real heroes are, of course, Tom and Jerry who never miss an opportunity to get into their classic spats, and yet, somehow, still manage to look out for each other in their own ways.

The film struggles to keep your attention as it switches between the human drama and the slapstick comedy with the animated characters. It’s a difficult juggling act, and some scenes feel a bit too stretched out. Still, it doesn’t take away from the sheer enjoyment of watching the beloved duo get up to their mischief. ‘Tom and Jerry’ isn’t deep or complicated, but it works as a fun, nostalgic trip that will enthral kids while bringing back childhood memories for the adults.

OWLS: ANGEL BEATS: RELIVING YOUR DEAD DREAMS. LITERALLY! (OWLS OCTOBER BLOG TOUR)

Hi everyone! It is that time again, where I write my monthly OWLS post. If you aren’t aware, OWLS is a group of anime bloggers whose mission is to spread respect, self-awareness, and other positive themes using anime and pop culture as a medium. We promote acceptance of all individuals regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion and disability. We emphasize the importance of respect, kindness, and tolerance to every human being!

Our theme for October is “Dreamers.” Here is the prompt:

“What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore–
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over–
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?”
-Langston Hughes

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https://sites.google.com/view/postmortem-indavidea/

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Due to recent events that happened in September, this month’s OWLS topic will be on “Dreamers.” Every individual has a goal or ambition that they devote their whole life to with passion and courage—whether it’s landing your dream job, traveling, or finding the love of your life. However, there are those who spent their whole life working towards a dream but it was cut short due to an unexpected occurrence. Those people are left only to dream and wonder about the possibility.

This month’s topic will be dedicated to these characters in pop culture entertainment. We are not going to focus on the individuals that achieved their aspirations but instead, we will focus on characters that weren’t able to. We will explore what happens to characters who had their wings forcefully cut off as well as those who gave up before they even started their journey. We will also discuss what it means for “a dream to be deferred.”

For this post, I decided to write about one of my all-time favorite anime series. Ever. Angel Beats. *(Warning: This post will contain major spoilers!)*

The story of Angel Beats revolves around a group of high schoolers who attend a school… but… they are all dead. Every “student” there is a teenager or young person who has passed away in real life. The school is acting as a type of afterlife or purgatory. The students don’t really understand why they are there, including the main character Otonashi. They are aware that they are dead, though.

Angel Beats Whole Class
The whole “class.” The main character is the orange-haired one on the right, behind Yui.

Many of them have different reactions to being in the afterlife. Some are confused. Some are complacent. Some are angry, like Yurippe, who decides she is going to fight against God because she believes that he is cruel and unjust. However, all of the students have one thing in common.

They had a tragic life. They all died while they were still young, all with unfulfilled dreams and wishes. As the story goes on, the purpose of the afterlife school becomes obvious: it’s to help the characters gain closure. For them to relive a small portion of their lost dream, even if it isn’t quite what they imagined. They realize that if they move on from this place, they will be able to try to achieve their dream again in a different time and form, in a different, new life.

Angel Beats Otonashi Angel Yuri

I am going to highlight and discuss some of the characters’ dream, focusing on some of the minor characters (because they are my favorite and they deserve some love!). I am going to skip over Otonashi and Angel (the other main character) because their backstories are not revealed until the very end of the series. If you haven’t watched it, I don’t want to spoil the beautiful, heart-wrenching ending.

IWASAWA: HOPE THROUGH MUSIC
Iwasawa is an aloof rocker girl that doesn’t care much about anything but her music. We find out that in real life, her home environment was unstable. Her father was constantly drinking and getting into fights with her mother, to the point where it was abusive. Lost and confused, Iwasawa eventually found an escape through music. It was the only thing that gave her hope. She came to love music so much that she decided to make it her career. She planned on becoming a successful singer, so she could make enough money to move out of her dysfunctional home.

Angel Beaets Iwasawa Gif

But her dream ended too early, cut off by the very thing that inspired it in the beginning. In a drunken rage, Iwasawa’s father hits her with a glass bottle, causing brain damage. She died shortly after in the hospital.

Iwasawa took her love of music into the afterlife. She started a band and continued to play rock music. (The band is called Girls Dead Monster, and you can actually listen to her their music.) At one point, she and the band are able to play on the school stage in front of an audience. Although it isn’t some grandiose rock show in an arena, Iwasawa still enjoyed herself. In that moment, she was able to bring the joy of music to others. For just a small period of time, even if it was just a couple seconds, she was able to fulfill her dream.

From there, Iwasawa “moves on.” In other words, she disappears from the afterlife and goes back to the world of the living, reborn to experience her dream once again.

YUI: EXPERIENCING LIFE FOR THE FIRST TIME
I really love Iwasawa, but Yui is my favorite. That is, one of my favorite characters ever. This is because she is extremely energetic and hyperactive, with a love of music. Not to mention, she has pink hair and an adorable design.

Angel Beats Yui Adorable

Despite her exuberance in purgatory, Yui wasn’t so active in real life. In fact, she wasn’t active at all.

At a yong age, she was almost completely paralyzed. To the point where she had to stay in bed all day. I imagine that most people in that situation… whatever dream they had beforehand… would probably evaporate. What dream can be fulfilled if you can barely move? Maybe if it is something intellectual… but unless there is some kind of miracle, if your dream was, for example, to be a basketball player that dream would most likely not come true.

Angel Beats Yui Paralyzed

In Yui’s case, she was paralyzed at a young age. She didn’t have a concrete dream back then, so it wasn’t like her lifelong dreams were suddenly shattered. But sitting in her bed, unable to do anything except for watching TV, Yui began to have dreams. She wanted to do all of the things she saw on on television, things she was unable to do in her everyday life.

Perhaps the reason that Yui is so hyper is because she was finally able to move freely once she entered the afterlife. No longer confined, she is able to use all of her energy (and dang, does she have a lot). Even with this, however, Yui still wants to do the amazing things she saw on television. Otonashi decides to help her, and they go on a crazy adventure, doing random things. One of the funniest and most memorable moments is when Yui wants to practice doing a wrestling move. Otonashi helps her with all of this, but there is still one last dream she has, one that Otonashi isn’t sure she will be able to fulfill. Yui wants to be a bride. When he hears this, Hinata (my favorite male character) steps in and says he will marry her. Of course, they can’t really get married. But just the thought makes Yui so happy that she is able to move on, all her pent up wishes finally realized.

Angel Beates Yui and Hinata Married

It is incredibly beautiful, and my eyes want to tear up just remembering it.

A LESSON FOR EVERYONE (EVEN IF YOU AREN’T DEAD)
Angel Beats is truly a meaningful anime. It is about moving on and accepting your fate. It’s about fulfilling your dream, even if it doesn’t happen the exact way you expect it to. There are times when your life may seem over figuratively (or literally, at least in this anime), but there will always be a chance to follow youe dream, in some way, or in some capacity. It’s recently happened to me, and has happened to many others as well. The lesson is to not give up hope and continue striving for what you want, even if it isn’t in front of you.

The examples I gave are only two experiences out of the many that happen in Angel Beats. Every character has a tragic past, but finds a way to find fulfillment. It is a wonderful and uplifting series. It is also extremely funny, and manages to balance the comedy and tragedy seamlessly. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend watching it, especially with all of the despair going on in the world right now.

HELP SPREAD MORE AWARENESS!
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If you liked this post and want to spread awareness about mental illness or other social issues, please follow the other work of OWLS. Here is the official OWLS blog.

For the full schedule of OWLS’ October blog tour, click here.

The next post in the blog tour is from Hazelyn! Be sure to check it out once it is up.

You can also check out my last OWLS post here and see all of the previous OWLS blog tours here:

2020-12-28

Gal Gadot on ‘Cleopatra’ Casting "Patty Jenkins collaboration"

The release of “Wonder Woman 1984” this week marks the second collaboration between director Patty Jenkins and star Gal Gadot, but it won’t be the last. News broke in October that Jenkins and Gadot are teaming with Paramount Pictures for a new film about Cleopatra, starring Gadot as the Egyptian queen. The casting generated backlash as Gadot is an Israeli actress set to play a mixed race historical figure. The outrage mirrored the whitewashing of Cleopatra in Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s 1963 film by casting Elizabeth Taylor in the title role. In a new interview with BBC Arabic (via The Independent), Gadot defended taking on the role of Cleopatra.

“First of all, if you want to be true to the facts then Cleopatra was Macedonian,” Gadot told BBC Arabic host Sam Asi. “We were looking for a Macedonian actress that could fit Cleopatra. She wasn’t there, and I was very passionate about Cleopatra.”

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“I have friends from across the globe, whether they’re Muslims or Christian or Catholic or atheist or Buddhist, or Jewish of course,” Gadot continued. “People are people, and with me I want to celebrate the legacy of Cleopatra and honor this amazing historic icon that I admire so much.”

Gadot concluded by saying other filmmakers and actors can tackle Cleopatra with their own film adaptations if they have an issue with her interpretation, adding, “You know, anybody can make this movie and anybody can go ahead and do it. I’m very passionate that I’m going to do my own too.”

Hollywood has long expressed interest in mounting a Cleopatra tentpole. Screenwriter Laeta Kalogridis, best known for penning Oliver Stone’s epic “Alexander” and Martin Scorsese’s “Shutter Island,” is working on Gadot and Jenkins’ Paramount movie, which is separate from the Cleopatra film that has long sat in development hell over at Sony. Producers Amy Pascal and Scott Rudin tried to get a Sony film off the ground based on Stacy Schiff’s biography, courting actress Angelina Jolie and directors such as James Cameron, Denis Villeneuve, and David Fincher over the years.

The Cleopatra movie is one of two major tentpoles Jenkins has lined up on her docket following the release of “Wonder Woman 1984.” In addition to reuniting with Gadot for the Egyptian queen epic, the filmmaker will also head to Lucasfilm to direct the “Star Wars” movie “Rogue Squadron.”

2020-12-12

‘Ammonite’ Engrossing Love Story Built on Exquisite Acting | Kate Winslet

**Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan star in Ammonite, directed by Francis Lee. NEON**

A big hit at virtual 2020 film festivals, the British film Ammonite is an uncommonly literate and meticulously constructed dossier on the life of 19th-century paleontologist Mary Anning, as well as a sensitive dossier on the daunting and dangerous consequences of being a lesbian in the 1840s. The second feature by writer-director Francis Lee, who sports a keen fascination for queer period melodramas observed with a sharp eye focused on unlikely characters finding love in ugly, odious places. (His debut feature was the critically acclaimed God’s Own Country, about a gay sheep farmer and a migrant worker.)

There is no historical evidence that real-life Mary Anning ever had a love affair with anyone, much less a woman, but Mr. Lee exercises his right to literary license with a shameless aplomb that is never less than engrossing, thanks largely to Kate Winslet’s exquisite, carefully studied performance as a cold, disillusioned woman cheated from her rightful place as a scientist by men who admired and emulated her, then stole her valuable contributions as their own discoveries. Isolated from the academic community in the brutal coastal village of Lyme Regis, she spent her days climbing rocks and searching the beach for antiquated fossils preserved in ammonite shells, many dating back to Jurassic times—studying, identifying and often selling her finds to tourists in her tiny shop to support her tubercular mother. One day a rich admirer named Roderick Murchison (James McArdle) arrives from London to buy one of her small rocks, accompanied by his sick, fragile wife Charlotte (the splendid Saoirse Ronan), who is suffering from a debilitating illness following the death of their only baby.

Bored, indifferent and no longer sexually interested in any kind of marital intimacy that might produce another child, Roderick pays Mary to nurse his invalid wife back to health in the fresh sea air and goes away, leaving Charlotte behind. With proper food, exercise and long walks on the beach, Charlotte begins to improve, sharing her bed with Mary for warmth and discovering the true meaning of friendship. Lonely and unloved, both women are drawn to each other and eventually their early strained relations turn physical as stoicism gives way to passion.

It’s a calm and precisely measured style of filmmaking devoid of almost any hint of explicit eroticism (one hour and ten minutes before the first kiss). I’m baffled by the reviews I’ve read by critics who confess shock and awe over a couple of love scenes they consider daring. To me, the sex in Ammonite is nothing short of a yawn. The movie is also ponderously slow—the cinematic equivalent of liquid valium. But the two accomplished actresses at the helm balance two sides of a difficult equation exquisitely, exact and admirably immersed in total dedication to their roles, and supported by a fine peripheral cast including Gemma Jones as Mary’s dying mother and Fiona Shaw as a neighbor whose own failed interest in Mary suggests Charlotte might not be her first lover.

Nothing seems arch or unnatural, but there were times when I truly felt the whole thing craved a bit of pace, not to mention a deeper and more profound ending. After an undisclosed passage of time, Mary visits the still fully besotted Charlotte in London and becomes enraged to discover the big surprise she’s been promised is a wing of her lover’s lavish home replete with adjoining bedrooms to deflect suspicion, and a study where she can live and work in luxury and peace, far away from her unrewarding life in the punishing poverty and mud by the sea. Rejected, baffled and heartbroken, Charlotte doesn’t understand why Mary has changed. I may have missed something, but neither do I.

Ammonite has moments of delicacy and beauty, but it’s not a movie for everybody. It leaves you longing for a resolution it never provides. The two women are last seen staring at each other in a London street through the opposite windows of a rain-soaked carriage. Despite Kate Winslet’s masterful appeal, the bewildered Charlotte does not understand why Mary chooses her hard-shelled fossils in ammonite over unconditional love, or why she has finally become the human equivalent of one herself.

2020-12-02

A legjobb 10 magyar film, amelyet meg kellene nézni

A magyar mozi lenyűgöző filmeket készített az évek során, az Oscar-díjas filmek és a neves rendezők olyan műveket készítettek, amelyeket érdemes megnézni. Gyakran az ország legújabb történelmére összpontosítva az olyan események, mint például a holokauszt, valamint a kommunista rendszer alatti élet néha nehézzé tehetik a filmeket. Nézze meg ezt a 10 magyar filmet, amelyet meg kell néznie.

2020-11-11

Verano del 85 "Summer of 85" Reviews Film (Latest Comments) | XieXiemei

Desde el verano de 2003, cuando François Ozon presentó la chispeante sapphic "Swimming Pool" en el Festival de Cine de Cannes, el director francés no ha seducido al público tan descaradamente como lo hace en "Summer of 85", que también se estrenará en Cannes. , antes de que el brote mundial de coronavirus obligara a cancelar la edición 2020. Sin desanimarse, la película se estrenó el 14 de julio en los cines franceses, que se han recuperado más rápido que los de Estados Unidos, con un estreno en festival previsto para San Sebastián en el otoño.

Un relajado flashback del primer amor a tiempos más inocentes, el último de Ozon recuerda la vida no solo antes del COVID-19 sino, lo que es más importante, antes de que el SIDA eclipsara lo que significaba salir del armario (el VIH ya estaba devastando a la comunidad gay, pero no fue hasta la muerte de Rock Hudson en octubre de 1985, pocos meses después del rodaje de la película, que muchos reconocieron la crisis). La nostalgia aquí se ve socavada por la tragedia, aunque ningún virus tiene la culpa en lo que se siente como la respuesta de Ozon a "Llámame por tu nombre", su propio relato efervescente de dos almas que se encontraron durante una sola temporada, y cómo eso dio forma a un la identidad sexual del joven en el futuro.

Internet Movie Database 2020 | XiexieMei

XiexieMei is an online database of information related to films, television programs, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, plot summaries, trivia, ratings, and fan and critical