Julie & Julia

If this movie doesn't make you want to cook your way through a cookbook, I don't know what will.

I saw this movie a while ago and decided to refresh my memory on it last night, and it's absolutely inspiring, just that level of dedication. Makes me want to sit down and do something for a whole year.

I really sympathized with Julie, and I liked how the movie handled her flaws realistically. I do not think she should have held Julia in such high regard because she ended up disappointed toward the end of the movie, but she was able to pick herself up and finish what she started.

Maybe I'll start a year-long project now... that is not food-related because I cannot cook at all. Bye.

Creepy as All Get Out...

My sister has been watching a lot of Miyazaki films lately, and when I went home for Thanksgiving Break, we talked about Spirited Away because we watched that movie quite a few times in our childhood. I think it was on almost every other Saturday, and we watched it most of the times it was on because there wasn't a lot to do in the evenings at my dad's house.

And as a kid, it was horrifying and fascinating all at once. Everything about the setting in the beginning was eerie, like you knew something bad was going to happen to them. And then when her parents became pigs, I really felt for her because I thought, "Wow, it would be horrible if my parents were turned into pigs." And No Face eating people? And the giant baby? Maybe that giant baby throwing a tantrum is where my immense dislike of children comes from.

But I'm able to look back on the times I was scared with feelings of fondness because it was good movie. It didn't keep you scared, and the character development was solid. There were moments of calmness and whimsy mixed throughout the scary stuff, so it had a nice balance overall. If it had been nothing but scary, my sister and I probably wouldn't have watched it that many times.

I Want Candy!

You're not Willy Wonka!

Well, this blog is ridiculously late.

Anyway, Willy Wonka is a really quirky little film. I'm personally a bigger fan of the newer one since I watched the newer one first (blasphemy, I know), but I appreciate the older one all the same. Gotta love Gene Wilder's performance in that.

My favorite scene is probably the boat with the dark tunnel since it was partially improv. None of the actors except Gene knew they were going on such a wild ride, and then Gene started singing, so the fear on everyone's face was completely genuine.

Brilliant.

And of course, a movie about candy is bound to be enjoyable.

Also, both this blog and my last one for this class contain references to songs, and if you get them, I love you forever.

Godzilla! Comin' to your town!

If I can make a reference to a song I like, I'm going to make that reference. Don't judge me.

So, Godzilla. My sister sure does love this movie. A LOT. I mean, she's never seen all of the original all the way through, but she's seen a few of the other adaptations, and she was almost Godzilla for Halloween, except her costume didn't arrive on time, so... needless to say, she almost killed me when I told her I was watching it for this class.

For what it was, I thought Godzilla was a decent movie. The bad effects were actually pretty hilarious and some of Godzilla's faces were adorable. Did anyone else notice how he just, like, swatted all the telephone lines out of his way like he was a small child padding at a stuffed animal or something?! So cute. If Godzilla was smaller and less destructive, I would probably keep him as a pet.

Lain? Is that you???

Letter to Momo was a very cute film. I liked it a lot, especially the demon characters. I've always been fascinated with demons and their representation in Japanese media. It's interesting to see the designs for them in different films and comics.

But the thing that immediately stood out to me, which no one will understand because nobody else has seen this series (probably), was Momo's character design because of how similar she looks to Lain from Serial Experiments Lain. Obviously, there are drastic stylistic differences, but her hair, eye color, and even one of her outfits... they're all incredibly similar to Lain.

Eh??

I also noticed that the dispositions of the two girls at the beginning of their series/film were nearly the exact same. Both girls are very shy and withdrawn from other people and find it difficult to make friends.

As time goes on, distinct differences between their personalities develop. For example, Lain makes friends but then closes herself off from them and becomes more hostile. Momo, on the other hand, opens up and becomes friendlier. Also, Serial Experiments Lain is a sci-fi while Letter to Momo is more of a fantasy. And the ending of Lain is not NEARLY as hopeful as the ending to Momo, but there are definitely some parallels there.

But there are many similar parallels in plot as well. Both girls hurt someone who is close to them. (Lain hurts her best friend Alice, and Momo hurts her mother.) Both girls have someone watching over them (Momo, demons; Lain, government officials, even though she initially thinks these government officials are out to harm her). Both girls get the chance to rectify their past mistakes, though how they go about it is very different. Both girls do something with good intentions and get in trouble for it. (Momo tells her mother the truth about the demons, only to be accused of lying. Lain erases the memory of all of her friends except for Alice, thinking that Alice will be happy she still has her memories. Spoiler: Alice is completely miserable and confronts Lain about it.)

So, yeah, that's what I was thinking about the whole time I was watching the movie. I thought, "Wow, this pretty much IS Serial Experiments Lain if that series was happier and a fantasy instead of a sci-fi." Except not really... But you know... oh, well.

*sweats nervously*

Casually blogs on the last SAW right before the next SAW, as usual, hahaha... Please don't be mad at me, Leeper. ;;

SO ANYWAY, on Sunday, we watched The Waitress, and I really liked it. I love how she related different pies to different situations in her life and came up with ingredients that fit her mood. That was an interesting aspect of the movie. Like Leeper said in Intro to DMA, sometimes you have to pick the medium that's best for telling your story, and Jenna's was pies.

I also really liked it how, throughout the movie, she just kept talking about how she didn't want to have a baby. She was scared of being a parent, and she wasn't happy about her child at all, especially since it was Earl's. I don't think you see that perspective as often as you should. I personally hate children, and I never want to have any, and everyone keeps telling me I'll change my mind. So, yeah, I was a little miffed that she did end up adoring the baby or whatever 'cause it kind of proves everyone I've ever met right, but I suppose it would be kind of crappy if she gave birth to this baby and still ended up hating it. That would probably make a lot of audiences really mad. But I at least appreciated seeing a point of view from someone who also did not want to be a mother, since pregnancy is usually treated as the greatest blessing a woman could possibly receive, and it was not for a majority of the movie.

La Muerte

So, we went to see The Book of Life instead of watching our usual Japanese films on Thursday.

I have to say that La Muerte was my favorite character out of the whole cast. She was especially appealing compared to Maria. Maria was the "strong" female character archetype, and strong is in quotes because she wasn't actually. The art of "show, don't tell" is a very important part of storytelling, but when it came to Maria's "strength," the movie told us and didn't do much showing of it. They told us she was strong and independent and didn't need no man *Z snap* but when it came time to actually show that she could be strong, she went and crumpled into some man's arms. She was the daughter of the mayor, and if she knew kung fu and fencing (which she only demonstrates and mentions when convenient to make us go "ooooo look at how cooool she is"), she could have protected the town herself. In fact, she almost did toward the end by rallying the people together, but only after she spent some time moping and nearly marrying Jaoquin, and at that point, it was nearly too late, and they only really survived because Manolo came back to life and brought the rest of his family with him at the last second.

On the other hand, the movie doesn't tell us that La Muerte is strong. They actually show it--and quite nicely. First of all, she doesn't suddenly gain new abilities when convenient. ("Oh, by the way, did I mention I studied fencing??? No????? Weird. Well, I did, and I'm, like, totally super perfect at it now.") Secondly, she doesn't claim to be independent only to go running to the other dead Lord when things go wrong. In fact, he causes a lot of her problems!! But when she has problems unrelated to him, like dealing with dead people's requests or something, she handles it herself and is extremely reliable, as is demonstrated via many people's recommendations of "You should go see La Muerte! She can help you out!" And in the end, she really does, even almost giving up both the Land of the Remembered and the Land of the Forgotten, doing so without even batting an eye. She is calm under pressure and kind to the children who are supposedly "the detention kids," and Xibalba seems to need her more than she needs him.

In conclusion, why wasn't La Muerte the main character? She was the best and most likable one.

After Life

Original title is original as heck. Don't judge me.

I quite liked the movie After Life. Out of all of the movies about Heaven and Hell and Purgatory, I feel like it brought something different to the table. I've never seen a movie about people who help others transition into the afterlife by recreating their memories and capturing them on film. I thought it was interesting how they were able to capture so many diverse memories with such a low budget and such old film equipment.

(That did lead to some funny jokes about Shiori talking the girl out of Disneyland. "Are you sure you wouldn't want something... simpler?")

I also thought it was touching how the guy at the end finally chose his memory and chose to carry the memory of his coworkers and his feelings when he was with them to the afterlife. At first, I thought, "Oh, no! He's going to forget all about them!" But he didn't. He purposely chose them as his memory so that he would never forget.

Hastily Attempts to Throw a Blog Together

Ahhh, forgive me for being really late!! Where does the time between weeks go?

Last week, we watched a wonderful film called Departures. I thought it was absolutely stunning. There were parts that made my eyes water, especially when Daigo's dad and the lady who owned the bath died.

But I really liked how the relationships in that movie developed. At first, Daigo kept saying how much he hated his dad for leaving the family when he was six, but when he played the cello and had memories of his father, you could tell that he was missing his old man. And then, in the end, after his father's death, you find out that they both deeply cared about each other by the fact that Daigo's dad kept Daigo's rock letter and that Daigo shed tears over the man's death.

I also liked Daigo's relationship with Mika and its ups and downs, but it seems like everything works out for those two in the end and she comes to terms with his profession, so that was nice.

He also makes friends at his job and spends Christmas with them, and it's neat to see them slowly grow closer as the film goes on.

I just really liked how all of the relationships went in that film. All of the relationships were treated with equal importance, which was great, because usually you see romantic relationships being more highly regarded than platonic relationships, but I don't think that happened here.

Vehicle for Friendship

Ah, yes, the age old tale where you throw two people who don't get along very well in a car and make them go on a road trip together. While I didn't think this film was among the best I've ever seen, I did enjoy it. I thought it was funny at times, and I liked watching the characters slowly come to terms with each other and even become friends.

I think the meal scenes were a good demonstration of their friendship. Because Steve didn't know much about food, the meal scenes were less about what they were actually eating and more about how they interacted with each other. Of course, some of their interactions did have to do with food. For example, when they poked fun at the dishes in the French restaurant. However, many of the conversations weren't about food at all. They discussed James Bond, the song "The Winner Takes It All," their families, movie awards, etc.

Meal scenes serve a very important purpose in both film and literature, and I think that purpose is primarily to show character development and interaction, and this movie was really great for that.