Oh, Rats!
7/17/07
I so wanted to like this movie. I have had a long standing loving relationship with Disney (to this day The Little Mermaid reigns supreme as one of my top ten favorite movies). They have always impressed me with the characters, humor and pictures. No matter how doubtful I was, Disney (and now Pixar) have never disappointed me. Closeted superheroes? Fabulous! Talking cars? Hysterical! But I will admit that my skepticism ran a little deeper when I heard their latest animated feature was about a rat who loves to cook, but since it was Pixar I gave it a chance. I'll be honest, I just couldn't stomach the sight of all those rats scurrying around the streets and restaurants of Paris. This time it was to Pixar's detriment that they create such lifelike and realistic characters. The rats reminded me of my nightly experience in the subway on my way home and the local news when they are reporting that another restaurant doesn't meet health standards.
The movie tells the story of Remy (voiced by Patton Oswald), a French rat who has a special sense of sniff. He is able to tell exactly what it is any edible item just by smelling it. When this talent is first discovered, his father employs him to smell all items the pack eats to ensure that no one consumes a poisoned morsel. But this role bores him and he wants to do more with food. He ventures into the kitchen of the woman's whose house he and his friends have infested and comes across a cookbook by famed French Chef, Gusteau (Brad Garrett). While searching for flavors that would help create delicacies he wakes the old woman who discovers the rodent and a shooting spree eventually leads to the escape of Remy's extended family. In the course of the great escape, Remy is separated from his family and finds himself outside the famed Gusteau restaurant.
Haunted by the ghost of Gusteau, he watches the hustle and bustle of the busy restaurant kitchen and is entranced by all the creating below. One young cook, Linguini, catches his eye as he throws whatever is in arm's length into the pot. After falling into the kitchen below he tries to salvage the soup. During this soup-resuscitation, Remy is caught by the young restaurateur and when they realize that they can help themselves, a new friendship is forged and a new cooking team is created. Working together they bring Gusteau's flailing restaurant back to it's five-star status. Their ultimate goal is to impress relentless food critic, Anton Ego (voiced by the irreverent Peter O'Toole). O'Toole's performances are always mesmerizing, and even in animated form his turn as the animated maniacal food expert is no exception.
Ultimately this Disney-Pixar collaboration stays true to form, having the final message being about friendship, family and being true to one's self. However, despite the cute comments and impressive animation I couldn't sympathize with Remy, no matter how cutesy they drew him. If anything, Linguini was the character who garnered the most sympathy from this reviewer. I wanted to see him succeed and wished he could do it without the help from his verminous pet.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry's newest challenge
7/11/07
I will always go see a Harry Potter movie. I love the whimsy and the magic that the movies create. The music alone is enough to transport me a world of witchcraft and wizardry. Isn't that so much about movies are meant to do? Take you away from reality? Let you enjoy a few hours of pure escapist entertainment? That is precisely what keeps me coming back. The fifth installment of the Harry Potter series is no exception. In the Order of the Phoenix, Harry finds himself in a much darker world of magic where death seems to be everyone's mind.
This movie, while by author J.K. Rowling's own insistence, is not meant to mirror any current political goings-on, does have some heavy moments where the students are forced to live in a Hogwarts under the control of Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton in a role scarier than the Dark Lord himself), a member of the Ministry of Magic. She moves through the school seemingly innocuously as she clicks her pink heels on the cold stones of Hogwarts, her pink poncho flowing through the wind as she ascends the stairs to her office adorned with cat-plates and pink curtains. She imposes rules and regulations, she is watching the every move of the students, and her interrogation and punishment practices all seem to be just over the edge into the realm of cruel and unusual, something not unfamiliar in today's world.
These movies have been able to achieve something not many film-from-book adaptations have been able to do. For myself and everyone I have spoken to, these movies have taken the images my mind creates while reading the books and directly transports them to the silver screen. It is for that reason I never want them to end. However, as far as movies go, this being adapted from an 800-page book Phoenix could have been well on its way to being an 8-hour movie. To compensate for that, director David Yates was able to shrink it down to a cool 2 hours 18 minutes So while it's great for the numbers-guys in the corner offices who have deemed movies over a certain length unmoney-makeable, the fans lose out. The story felt stilted, as though you could tell that something was missing. There was such a profound lack of context in that even for someone who has read all of the books thus far, the story was a bit confusing and difficult to follow. Furthermore, so much of what makes the Harry Potter series is how relatable the school sequences and the social interactions are, and yet so much of that has been deleted. For example, in the book the students are so preoccupied with studying for their O.W.L. exams that it hinders from their magical practices. In the movie the significance of the O.W.L.'s are grossly neglected.
Year five at Hogwarts does offer a glimpse into a new stage of life for Harry, Hermione and Ron. In Phoenix, the hormones begin to rage and the friendly relationships begin to morph into something else. Ron becomes more protective of Hermione as his feeling towards her leave the Platonic realm, and Harry finally garners up enough courage to do something about his year-long crush on Cho. We are also introduced to a number of new characters, one of whom I would be remiss not to mention. Luna Lovegoode (Evanna Lynch) is my new favorite Harry Potter character. Whenever she's in a scene she completely steals it from the other actors. Her distant demeanor and loony behavior is addictive and Lynch was a great casting choice for the quirky teen.
The climactic ending of the movie is the most exciting moment, not only in this chapter of the saga, but that of all the films. The special effects of the showdown between Voldemort and Dumbledore have the audiences on the edges of their seats, the theater was rumbling from both the sound effects and the heavy score. But ultimately the movie left me wanting more (which may have been its exact goal). I wanted to see more Voldemort, more Hogwarts, more Dumbledore, more professors, more ghosts, more Draco, more magic and frankly, more Hermione and Ron. This is probably the most Harry-centric film, focusing on his inner demons and the connection with Voldemort, so in order to sort that out, the rest of the players tend to get neglected. I definitely, though, left the midnight screening feeling satisfied. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix delivered what I expected it to deliver. Magic, mystery, a great story, fantastic performances, special effects that are beyond compare and an excitement for the upcoming book and all future movies.
7/11/07
I will always go see a Harry Potter movie. I love the whimsy and the magic that the movies create. The music alone is enough to transport me a world of witchcraft and wizardry. Isn't that so much about movies are meant to do? Take you away from reality? Let you enjoy a few hours of pure escapist entertainment? That is precisely what keeps me coming back. The fifth installment of the Harry Potter series is no exception. In the Order of the Phoenix, Harry finds himself in a much darker world of magic where death seems to be everyone's mind.
This movie, while by author J.K. Rowling's own insistence, is not meant to mirror any current political goings-on, does have some heavy moments where the students are forced to live in a Hogwarts under the control of Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton in a role scarier than the Dark Lord himself), a member of the Ministry of Magic. She moves through the school seemingly innocuously as she clicks her pink heels on the cold stones of Hogwarts, her pink poncho flowing through the wind as she ascends the stairs to her office adorned with cat-plates and pink curtains. She imposes rules and regulations, she is watching the every move of the students, and her interrogation and punishment practices all seem to be just over the edge into the realm of cruel and unusual, something not unfamiliar in today's world.
These movies have been able to achieve something not many film-from-book adaptations have been able to do. For myself and everyone I have spoken to, these movies have taken the images my mind creates while reading the books and directly transports them to the silver screen. It is for that reason I never want them to end. However, as far as movies go, this being adapted from an 800-page book Phoenix could have been well on its way to being an 8-hour movie. To compensate for that, director David Yates was able to shrink it down to a cool 2 hours 18 minutes So while it's great for the numbers-guys in the corner offices who have deemed movies over a certain length unmoney-makeable, the fans lose out. The story felt stilted, as though you could tell that something was missing. There was such a profound lack of context in that even for someone who has read all of the books thus far, the story was a bit confusing and difficult to follow. Furthermore, so much of what makes the Harry Potter series is how relatable the school sequences and the social interactions are, and yet so much of that has been deleted. For example, in the book the students are so preoccupied with studying for their O.W.L. exams that it hinders from their magical practices. In the movie the significance of the O.W.L.'s are grossly neglected.
Year five at Hogwarts does offer a glimpse into a new stage of life for Harry, Hermione and Ron. In Phoenix, the hormones begin to rage and the friendly relationships begin to morph into something else. Ron becomes more protective of Hermione as his feeling towards her leave the Platonic realm, and Harry finally garners up enough courage to do something about his year-long crush on Cho. We are also introduced to a number of new characters, one of whom I would be remiss not to mention. Luna Lovegoode (Evanna Lynch) is my new favorite Harry Potter character. Whenever she's in a scene she completely steals it from the other actors. Her distant demeanor and loony behavior is addictive and Lynch was a great casting choice for the quirky teen.
The climactic ending of the movie is the most exciting moment, not only in this chapter of the saga, but that of all the films. The special effects of the showdown between Voldemort and Dumbledore have the audiences on the edges of their seats, the theater was rumbling from both the sound effects and the heavy score. But ultimately the movie left me wanting more (which may have been its exact goal). I wanted to see more Voldemort, more Hogwarts, more Dumbledore, more professors, more ghosts, more Draco, more magic and frankly, more Hermione and Ron. This is probably the most Harry-centric film, focusing on his inner demons and the connection with Voldemort, so in order to sort that out, the rest of the players tend to get neglected. I definitely, though, left the midnight screening feeling satisfied. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix delivered what I expected it to deliver. Magic, mystery, a great story, fantastic performances, special effects that are beyond compare and an excitement for the upcoming book and all future movies.
Friday, July 06, 2007
Sicko
It will make you sick
7/6/07
In Michael Moore's newest piece investigative documentariansm he investigates the state of American health care. The film goes deeper, however. What he is really asking is, how can a country, which claims to care for the tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free, treat them with such indignity and lack of respect? As the movie admits to in the beginning, it is not going to be about the thousands of citizens who cannot afford heath care. It won't focus on those who have to choose which finger they will be able to afford to reattach. Rather, it will be about those who pay out of pocket hundreds of dollars per year in insurance fees and yet, when an emergency occurs or a procedure is needed, their claims will be denied based on a plethora of excuses the insurance companies invent. He explores how people suffer and have to make impossible decisions to try and stay healthy. How doctors are praised for denying care and procedures if it saves the insurance companies. How people have gotten sicker and have even died because their health insurance refuse to pay for something which they claim to be experimental. All the while the audience sits in the theater in utter shock and awe at how such atrocious occurrences happen in what we consider to be a great country. The movie offers tremendous laughs, usually at the expense of the politicians and the state of our health care. The laughs are usually uncomfortable chuckles as the audience realizes how so fundamentally UnAmerican it is to deny care to those who are sick, and yet, it seems to be happening on a scale that no one could have ever imagined.
The next piece of the film focuses on the government elected officials who squashed any attempts to socialize the medical system. No one is safe from the menacing insurance companies who are willing to buy out anyone who wants free health care for everyone. Moore successfully links the current lack of national health care to the Red Scare, where socialism equals EVIL! He explains that the Republican politicians crush any attempt to socialize health care because it is akin to communism and everything to which "American Ideals" are in direct opposition . Moore, in his infinite liberal wisdom skews the film in a very leftist direction to ensure the viewers think as he wants them to.
In the next part of the movie he actually travels to other countries, which, like America, pride their Democratic government and yet allow national health care to strive. In England, France and Canada, health care is public and the system seems to be successful. The people are happy and cared for, the doctors are living the high life and they all look at America with shock that that is not the case across the pond. However, in this exploration it is strikingly clear how he does not interview the "other side." He does not explore any downsides to Nationalized health care - such as the "optional" treatments that Americans tend to have access to which these people do not.
The final piece focuses on the 9/11 rescue workers who are still suffering from maladies incurred while saving lives. What Moore documentary would be complete without a mention of 9/11 and how the American infrastructure screwed up there? Moore introduces us to workers who have neither been able to afford nor receive medical care for their post 9/11 injuries. In a related note he makes it clear (through official testimonials) that the terrorist detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba receive top notch care, most of which is never seen by law abiding citizens. He takes the workers to Gitmo to try to obtain some of this care. I'm sure you can guess what happens as they approach the compound. In the end it is the Cuban doctors and nurses which are able to provide the care for these American Heroes who have been neglected by the very country they risked their lives for. Again, it is not explained how Americans were able to receive this care from the Cubans because they are not citizens of Cuba.
As all Moore documentaries, he does not strive for a journalistic value of unbiased equal reporting. Sicko is very much a one sided argument. There is no mention of how the American health care system does succeed, such as, the level of medical expertise that isn't necessarily offered in other countries. He also doesn't mention the failings of a socialized system or interview those in France or England who find fault in their nationalized system. So take this movie with a giant boulder of salt because Moore does a very good job at finding fault where he wants you to find fault, without giving you the resources to make a truly informed opinion. However, in the end Moore does make a number of excellent points and really does highlight the incredible failing of our health care industry. As usual, Moore is not afraid to go where no other will go. The hope of this film is to mobilize Americans to do something, anything, to change things. To refuse the status quo and insist on better conditions. To be adamant that being ranked #37 in the world for health care in unacceptable. And while Moore does exaggerate to a certain extent (not every Cuban has access to the best health care in the world either), it is all to prove his ultimate point, as Jeffrey Lyons said, "Don't get sick."
7/6/07
In Michael Moore's newest piece investigative documentariansm he investigates the state of American health care. The film goes deeper, however. What he is really asking is, how can a country, which claims to care for the tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free, treat them with such indignity and lack of respect? As the movie admits to in the beginning, it is not going to be about the thousands of citizens who cannot afford heath care. It won't focus on those who have to choose which finger they will be able to afford to reattach. Rather, it will be about those who pay out of pocket hundreds of dollars per year in insurance fees and yet, when an emergency occurs or a procedure is needed, their claims will be denied based on a plethora of excuses the insurance companies invent. He explores how people suffer and have to make impossible decisions to try and stay healthy. How doctors are praised for denying care and procedures if it saves the insurance companies. How people have gotten sicker and have even died because their health insurance refuse to pay for something which they claim to be experimental. All the while the audience sits in the theater in utter shock and awe at how such atrocious occurrences happen in what we consider to be a great country. The movie offers tremendous laughs, usually at the expense of the politicians and the state of our health care. The laughs are usually uncomfortable chuckles as the audience realizes how so fundamentally UnAmerican it is to deny care to those who are sick, and yet, it seems to be happening on a scale that no one could have ever imagined.
The next piece of the film focuses on the government elected officials who squashed any attempts to socialize the medical system. No one is safe from the menacing insurance companies who are willing to buy out anyone who wants free health care for everyone. Moore successfully links the current lack of national health care to the Red Scare, where socialism equals EVIL! He explains that the Republican politicians crush any attempt to socialize health care because it is akin to communism and everything to which "American Ideals" are in direct opposition . Moore, in his infinite liberal wisdom skews the film in a very leftist direction to ensure the viewers think as he wants them to.
In the next part of the movie he actually travels to other countries, which, like America, pride their Democratic government and yet allow national health care to strive. In England, France and Canada, health care is public and the system seems to be successful. The people are happy and cared for, the doctors are living the high life and they all look at America with shock that that is not the case across the pond. However, in this exploration it is strikingly clear how he does not interview the "other side." He does not explore any downsides to Nationalized health care - such as the "optional" treatments that Americans tend to have access to which these people do not.
The final piece focuses on the 9/11 rescue workers who are still suffering from maladies incurred while saving lives. What Moore documentary would be complete without a mention of 9/11 and how the American infrastructure screwed up there? Moore introduces us to workers who have neither been able to afford nor receive medical care for their post 9/11 injuries. In a related note he makes it clear (through official testimonials) that the terrorist detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba receive top notch care, most of which is never seen by law abiding citizens. He takes the workers to Gitmo to try to obtain some of this care. I'm sure you can guess what happens as they approach the compound. In the end it is the Cuban doctors and nurses which are able to provide the care for these American Heroes who have been neglected by the very country they risked their lives for. Again, it is not explained how Americans were able to receive this care from the Cubans because they are not citizens of Cuba.
As all Moore documentaries, he does not strive for a journalistic value of unbiased equal reporting. Sicko is very much a one sided argument. There is no mention of how the American health care system does succeed, such as, the level of medical expertise that isn't necessarily offered in other countries. He also doesn't mention the failings of a socialized system or interview those in France or England who find fault in their nationalized system. So take this movie with a giant boulder of salt because Moore does a very good job at finding fault where he wants you to find fault, without giving you the resources to make a truly informed opinion. However, in the end Moore does make a number of excellent points and really does highlight the incredible failing of our health care industry. As usual, Moore is not afraid to go where no other will go. The hope of this film is to mobilize Americans to do something, anything, to change things. To refuse the status quo and insist on better conditions. To be adamant that being ranked #37 in the world for health care in unacceptable. And while Moore does exaggerate to a certain extent (not every Cuban has access to the best health care in the world either), it is all to prove his ultimate point, as Jeffrey Lyons said, "Don't get sick."
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