Thoughts on Backlash

March 4, 2015March 4, 2015 | Rachel's Reviews

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about fandoms and backlash. When I was growing up (back in the old days of 1980s…) most kids got a lot of their identity from the things they liked and didn’t like. I loved The Little Mermaid. I knew every scene, song and wished I could be like Ariel. Then in high school I loved Les Miserables. I saw it in New York, watched the 10th Anniversary Concert special over and over again. It was great! I loved Jewel, Simpsons, REM and Clueless. I saw Jurassic Park 6 times in the theaters. My friends all saw Titanic over a dozen times and I was annoyed by it but it wasn’t a big deal.

In college it was Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Pixar, Jane Austen, Norah Jones, romcoms and Jane Eyre that caught my attention.

Back then I may have gotten a little bit of backlash from friends and family who were sick of my talking about Ariel, Les Miserables or Clueless but none that I can really remember. My sister loved Star Wars and had 7 or 8 life size cutouts lining the hallway to her basement room. My brother loved skateboarding and movies in general.

What I’m getting at is growing up you were allowed to have your fandoms and love something not really being challenged about it.

I kind of miss those days…

Now being a fan of something is very different. You aren’t allowed to just love something but are confronted with loud voices who hate, criticize or are ‘sick of’ everything you like. It turns you from a fan into a defender which isn’t nearly as much fun.

I’ve even seen a contrast between when the Twilight books first came out in 2005 and the fandoms of 2014-2015. I feel the Twilight books were allowed to simmer longer and most people didn’t really start hating on them until the 2nd movie came out. I actually liked the first 2 Twilight books and saw them as kind of a guilty pleasure but the 3rd entry I didn’t care for and wasn’t a fan of the movies. Still, I didn’t feel a need to lambast people who liked them (which was most girls I know).

But now in 2014-2015 fandoms aren’t allowed to simmer but boil over in a manner of weeks. Something like Lego Movie or Frozen is loved by many people but seemingly overnight hated by just as many. It kind of leaves you feeling like ‘wait this was so much fun and all the sudden it’s not…’

I saw it with Guardians of the Galaxy, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Interstellar and Boyhood. The period fans could gush over these movies was very brief.

I also have the strange personality that doesn’t get sick of things like others. It has often happened that I’m still riding high on something while my friends have gone sour and like I said the souring happens so quickly now. It really can be kind of discouraging.

Now I am far from innocent on this trend. In the past I didn’t really care that everyone thought Rushmore was a classic and I didn’t really care for it or that I didn’t think Goodwill Hunting was all that great. I could just let it go.

But in the last year or so I found myself in the department of naysayers with Birdman. I really did not like it and found myself bothered by its popularity. Why? Well, in that case I thought it wasn’t just a harmless film like Lego but that it had some harmful depictions of women, rape and female sexuality. It bothered me it got so much praise. I also felt a little bit this way about Breaking Bad which is not a favorite of mine. I grew to despise the mere mention of Walter White and his meth business.

Perhaps part of it is a defense mechanism? After seeing films I like nitpicked to death and criticized it is natural to want to retaliate when I’m on the other side of the conversation. Perhaps it is just the way things are? Most of the time I try to keep my mouth shut but not always.

But either way I am going to try harder to let people enjoy their movies. If they like it that’s great. I always want people to have a good time at the movies. That doesn’t mean I don’t express my feelings in a reasoned and concise way but I’m determined to let other people have their favorites as well. If someone hates what I like that’s ok. If they like what I hate that’s great!

Being a member of a fandom is fun. It’s exhilarating to be a part of something bigger than yourself. It’s fun to bond with people who love the same things you love. I get that with Survivor and the fan group I’m a part of but its harder than it used to be.

If others can’t respect that and are going to troll around saying mean things than so be it. I’m just going to be more conscious of the trend and try to support the things I love more than criticize things I don’t. Join me!

Let’s at least agree to let kids decide what they like and not give them grief if you think it is ‘overhyped’.

Say no to backlash and yes to being movie fans again!

I’m also over the whole angry critic shtick and feel it is partly responsible for this behavior. Everyone is trying to be the Nostalgia Critic and it has gotten very old. What wasted energy. At least NC used to be funny (rarely is any more IMO). A lot of his copycats are just angry, mean-spirited and negative.

Oscar Reactions

February 24, 2015March 4, 2015 | Rachel's Reviews

“Cinema is far too rich and capable a medium to be merely left to the storytellers.”
―Peter Greenaway

So the Oscars came and went last night and for the most part I was really bummed out. I did horribly on my picks so hopefully none of you went off my ballot…(I think I got 9 right). I know it is the Oscars and they usually screw it up. It is just a stupid awards show but at the same time it feels good as a film lover when films you love get recognized.

Highs-

There were some highs of the extremely long telecast (honestly next time make it an hour and get this done more quickly!).

1. Lady Gaga singing Sound of Music and Julie Andrews coming in was the highlight of the night. I didn’t realize it was the 50th anniversary of Sound and have now ordered the 50th anniversary bluray which comes out next month. Sound of Music is my favorite musical and I was shocked to hear Gaga have such classical pipes. Who knew?

2. All the musical numbers were ok and at least brought some energy to the show. I particularly liked Everything is Awesome from Lego!

3. John Legend and Common were very good singing Glory from Selma but I thought it was strange they used their real names for the award. They don’t do that for the Grammy’s or any other award or any other part of their music? Kind of odd.

4. I was happy with all the acting winners even though I haven’t seen Still Alice (I can only handle so many depressing movies at once guys!). They all are deserving winners. I was especially happy for Patricia Arquette as she will go down as my favorite Mother in the movies ever.

5. I was also happy to see Grand Budapest Hotel win so much but it should have won best original screenplay. Birdman’s script was nothing special. I also didn’t think Imitation Game was the best adapted screenplay of the year but the winners speech was great. I think Wes Anderson deserved it for GBH’s script.

6. We all knew Kaguya and Song of the Sea weren’t going to win and if Lego wasn’t going to be included than I am thrilled Big Hero 6 won. I like How to Train Your Dragon 2. I gave it an A. However, I think out of the 3 mainstream Big Hero 6 had more heart. I connected more with it emotionally and it is more creative with its cityscape and characters. The fact is I’ve seen movies that look and feel like Dragon and Boxtrolls. They are both great but I’m super happy Big Hero 6 won.

Lows- oh boy there were a lot.

1. Neal Patrick Harris can be so great. I’m a huge fan of him on How I Met Your Mother and he’s great hosting the Tony Awards. But I think he may have gotten the HIMYM finale writers to write the jokes for the Oscars because they all fell just as flat. Not one joke worked. In fact, most were really awkward like when he bothered seat fillers or appeared on stage in his underwear. Also the belabored unfunny bit with the predictions box was terrible.

Here’s what you do Oscars- have a 1 hour show where you give the awards for acting, best picture, animation, music, costumes, effects and screenplay. Have a couple montages a combined number that showcases every song and your done. 3 and 1/2 hours was brutal.

2. I sincerely don’t understand the Birdman love. It is a well made movie and Keaton is good but for it to win director, script and picture is baffling to me. I don’t get how nobody else seems to see how misogynistic and predictable it is? Characters like the critic are so poorly written and completely unbelievable. Honestly out of the 8 nominees it would have been my 7 out of 8. People said Boyhood was overrated but I think Birdman is very overrated.

I guess it makes sense for Hollywood to love a movie about how hard it is to be in Hollywood, how tortured and difficult it is to be a star but why the rest of American moviegoers championed it is a mystery to me…Boo!

3. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes got the shut out last night which was easy to do because it was only nominated once for visual effects. I loved Interstellar. It’s one of the best sci-fi movies I’ve ever seen. But come on, as great as Interstellar looked we’ve seen visuals like that before. Just last year we had even better space visuals in Gravity. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes created whole characters that were not there and made them come alive. They were flawless visual effects. Andy Serkis should have been nominated and I thought Gary Oldman was terrific in that movie (I will never forget the scene where he finally loads the battery in the ipad and can see photos of his dead family. So powerful). Sigh…

4. Citzenfour wins- It disgusts me anyone would award a film even mildly praising Edward Snowden (and then she did in her speech too). He has hurt our national security and put people’s lives at risk. America is a weaker less secure place because he thinks he knows what is best and he twists his recklessness and ego into supposed honesty.

I rarely agree with President Obama but even he said about Snowden:

“If any individual who objects to government policy can take it in their own hands to publicly disclose classified information, then we will not be able to keep our people safe, or conduct foreign policy.”

4. The Boyhood snubs really bummed me out. And it’s not just because it took 12 years to make. It is a movie about LIFE and all the small things that make up a person. It’s about the journey of adolescence and how you become who you are. I honestly think we will look back and wonder what the heck were they thinking? Kind of like when Saving Private Ryan lost or the way we see American Beauty as a bunch of pretentious nonsense now. I think Birdman will not hold up like Boyhood will.

I can see film students for years studying Boyhood and the small moments of authentic conversation. Scenes like when Mason is in the photography lab with his teacher. That is so authentic to life. I think if we all could be a fly on the wall we would realize how many small voices are championing us along the way. Again I quote…

“Cinema is far too rich and capable a medium to be merely left to the storytellers.”
―Peter Greenaway

It makes me sad so many people missed what was special about Boyhood. Why does every movie have to be the same? Not every book tells a story. Some are random, some teach us, others are poetry and others are art. I think movies should be granted the same license to take on differing forms and purposes.

People look at every movie as having to entertain you when it doesn’t need too. People make the same criticism of Fantasia. That it is boring and has no story. Ridiculous. Fantasia is trying to inspire you with art and music. It’s not trying to tell you a story but give you something beautiful to contemplate. Boyhood is trying to get you to think about your life and that has value.

I just think people need to go into different movies with different glasses. I don’t watch Schindler’s List and Star Wars with the same mindset, looking for the same things. I don’t watch Tree of Life and Monty Python with the same perspective.

If you only like movies for entertainment sake than you miss out on so much. It makes me sad.

I found myself thinking yesterday of the amazing documentary Hoop Dreams. This follows 2 inner city boys for 5 years as they dream of basketball stardom. It is a movie about LIFE and how our dreams can both haunt and inspire us. Movies like Hoop Dreams and Boyhood have high value but they require some effort on our part.

Most of the sublime movie going experiences of my life require effort. Last night the academy had a chance to recognize a film that took on life but required some effort on the part of the moviegoer and went instead for the story of how hard it is to be a star…It makes no sense to me.

I guess it’s appropriate because in 1994 Hoop Dreams wasn’t even nominated for Best Documentary. It’s so silly.

I think Roger Ebert’s thoughts on Hoop Dreams apply to Boyhood:

“A film like “Hoop Dreams” is what the movies are for. It takes us, shakes us, and make us think in new ways about the world around us. It gives us the impression of having touched life itself…

Many filmgoers are reluctant to see documentaries, for reasons I’ve never understood; the good ones are frequently more absorbing and entertaining than fiction. “Hoop Dreams,” however, is not only a documentary. It is also poetry and prose, muckraking and expose, journalism and polemic. It is one of the great moviegoing experiences of my lifetime“

I’d say the same thing about Boyhood and just like Hoop Dreams holds up 31 years later because it is about life and human experience so will Boyhood because even if the trappings change, growing up is never really that different.

I wish I could talk to Richard Linklater and tell him how much his movies have ment to me. If you are out there Richard thank you! My life is better from watching your movies. How many people can say that about watching Birdman?…

I guess at the very least the Oscars got me to see a lot of movies I probably would not have otherwise seen, so there’s that. Thanks for the great year of films 2014 (Btw I am going to post an updated best and worst list now that I have seen more of the 2014 movies) .

What did you guys think of the Oscars?

My Grading Rubric

February 16, 2015February 18, 2015 | Rachel's Reviews

Hey guys! I thought I would just do a quick post explaining how I come up with my grades and what they mean.

The first thing is there is a difference between my regular film grades and my Disney Canon reviews. If I was judging the Disney Canon on the same level as other films I would give even more A’s (I gave 22 as it is). The fact is I like something about all of the Disney Canon movies (yes all). So for example, Peter Pan got a C+ on my Canon review. I also just gave The Pirate Fairy a C+. Clearly the original Peter Pan is better than the Pirate Fairy but you can’t look at it that way. Peter Pan when looked at in comparison with the other 54 films in the Canon is a C+- meaning I think it is right in the middle. This is why it got #32 in my ranking.

For another example, The Hunchback of Notre Dame is certainly better than Pirate Fairy despite it getting a D from me. Again, the D is in comparison with the other Disney Canon films. For me Hunchback is on the lower end of the spectrum. Same thing with Pocahontas, Pinocchio, Bambi. All would get much higher grades if I was comparing them to the general films.

The same is true for my Scrooge Month reviews. I didn’t give grades for those reviews but my praise is in context within the 37 films I saw not movies as a whole. I love Christmas Carol so much nearly every version would get a decent grade. I hope that makes sense.

This is why it is important to read the review not simply look at my score. I try to be as clear as possible about the strengths and weaknesses of all the films I tackle. There may be a film which doesn’t ring as special to me but in reading the review you may think it sounds like your type of film. For instance, I often read reviews of Christian films where the criticisms the writer gives actually sound like strengths in my worldview and preferences.

Another point to quickly bring up is I try to only review films I have at least one nice thing to say about. If they are total garbage it isn’t worth my time. I know some people like those kind of reviews but I personally am kind of sick of the ‘angry critic’ shtick, and I don’t think I’m particularly witty at writing those type of reviews. This is why you will rarely see an F on this site. The one exception is the Disney Canon and other Disney releases such as Maleficent. Given this is a Disney focused blog I will post reviews of Disney’s rare F’s.

But when I’m trying to decide what grade to give a film here is what I take into account.

A+ Had a top notch viewing experienced. Flaws were few and far between, as good as it gets.

A One or two minor quibbles but loved it

A- 3 or 4 minor quibbles but loved it

B+ Maybe a scene didn’t care for or character but overall loved it.

B Really good movie if not perfect

B- Strong movie, really enjoyed it but several aspects didn’t care for.

C+ Above average. Strong recommendation if imperfect.

C Average film. Didn’t love it, didn’t hate it

C- Mild recommendation but major flaws

D Really did not care for it but a few strengths. Still worth a watch

D- Hated it but liked one or two scenes

F Hate it. Don’t waste your time.

The fact is I love movies so I’m not inclined to be super critical. It’s just the way I see things. I think you also have to consider what the filmmakers had to work with. For example, I was pretty praiseworthy of Flintstones Christmas Carol. Does that mean it was a masterpiece? Heck no but I do feel like given huge limitations what they came up with was pretty clever, so I give them some props for that. I’m going to be much harder on a movie like Maleficent or Brother Bear because they had every resource and potential to be great and squandered it. The same is true with the recent SpongeBob Movie. It should have been awful but they were creative and made it pretty good. I give them props for that.

I try to not let nostalgia come into play but if I do I will state it openly in the review (another reason to actually read the review not just look at the grade). If there are other mitigating factors like high expectations or a difficult audience which effect my enjoyment I will talk about that in my review.

My grades are also a fluid thing because my opinions are not set in stone. I may be tough on a film one year but when approaching it at a different time in my life really respond to it (Atlantis is a good example). I actually think that is a good thing to be open to seeing films in new ways, with a new perspective.

In the end, I try to be fair and keep an open mind. I want to be an advocate for film because I believe movies are the great storytelling device of our era. A lot of bloggers seem very negative and quick to judge rather than praise. I take the opposite approach. Praise first, criticize last. I guess that doesn’t make me a very good ‘critic’ because I’m not. There are of course movies I completely hate but they are few and far between and usually I won’t blog about them. Recently I was interacting with a friend and he seemed to feel such vitriol and anger over certain popular movies it surprised me. When this happened once it was understandable but when we got to our 4th or 5th conversation with him ranting about how stupid everyone was for liking this movie or that movie, I wondered to myself why not start reading or writing or doing something else that gives you joy? It certainly didn’t seem like the movies was making him happy but to each their own.

I know we can all have passionate feelings about these films and I hope you all know I respect you. I hope you can respect me as well even when we disagree. I am probably a little too free and loose with my A’s but that’s just the way I see the world. Good to have all kinds of perspectives. Never worry about offending me or bothering me and unless your language becomes negative or you are personally insulting me I will engage. I want to talk with you and hear your point of view. There is no right or wrong way to see a film. It is an opinion and they are all valuable. There is a point when we start making the same points over and over again, which is when I will typically call an ‘agree to disagree’ truce. Nevertheless, please comment and thank you for reading my silly thoughts.

As the great Roger Ebert said:

“We all are born with a certain package. We are who we are: where we were born, who we were born as, how we were raised. We’re kind of stuck inside that person, and the purpose of civilization and growth is to be able to reach out and empathize a little bit with other people. And for me, the movies are like a machine that generates empathy. It lets you understand a little bit more about different hopes, aspirations, dreams and fears. It helps us to identify with the people who are sharing this journey with us.”

2014 in review

January 17, 2015 | Rachel's Reviews

Not half bad for starting in August. Thanks for all the support! It’s been a blast!

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 19,000 times in 2014. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 7 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Avengers 2 Trailer Reaction

January 13, 2015January 13, 2015 | Rachel's Reviews

A few months ago I really geeked out over the Star Wars trailer. I still think it is one of the most solid teaser trailers I’ve ever seen. It did what it was supposed to do- it teased us and made the fans excited. Yesterday the Avengers 2: Age of Ultron trailer came out and I watched it with the same eagerness and my response was more mixed.

Avengers is my favorite super hero movie ever. I know, I know most of you would pick the Dark Knight but not me. What I liked about the first Avengers is that it was fun without being stupid. It reminded me of Spiderman 2 (from 2000s). Some humor mixed with great visuals and a terrific villain in Loki. I give the credit to director Joss Whedon who is so good at finding that balance- whether it be in his TV shows like Buffy that have a cheeky self-awareness to them or Cabin in the Woods that both embraced and laughed at horror movie tropes.

What worries me about the Avengers 2: Age of Ultron trailer is it has a Man of Steel feel about it and for me that is a very bad thing. The music is ominous, speeches are deep and profound, backdrops and settings look very CGI’ish. I hated Man of Steel. I thought it was ponderous, preachy, violent, ugly, muddled, and confusing. It had its director Zach Snyder written all over it. He loves making CG grim ponderous movies.

Especially for Superman shouldn’t it be a little bit fun? We don’t have to stoop to Superman 3 levels (or certainly Superman 4) but a smile every now and then? Is that too much to ask? There wasn’t even a convincing romance in Man of Steel. The product placement was also incredibly obnoxious in Man of Steel. Just all of it I hated. (I realize some of you love it and that is great! I’m glad when anyone enjoys a movie).

A lot of the things in the trailer feel Man of Steelish to me and that has me worried. But Joss Whedon hasn’t let me down yet, so if anyone can pull it off it is him. Fingers crossed!

What did you guys think of the Avengers 2: Age of Ultron trailer? Would love to hear your thoughts.

Michael Bay or Shyamalan?

December 22, 2014December 22, 2014 | Rachel's Reviews

I thought this was a really fun discussion over on the Schmoes Know Podcast (which is one of the best movie podcasts next to the Rotoscopers!). It’s a real Sophie’s Choice. Who is worse Michael Bay or M Night Shyamalan?

They are both insanely bad but if someone put a gun to my head and said ‘you have to watch their latest movie’ what would I pick?
Here are the arguments on both sides.

Michael Bay-
His movies are demeaning to women, they are long, insulting to minorities and full of mindless destruction and explosions. His dialogue is terrible and I really don’t think he has made a good movie ever (haven’t seen The Rock which I’m told is his one good movie). I have seen Pearl Harbor, Armageddon, and all 4 Transformers movies. KMN. Now that I think about it the first Transformers movie isn’t that bad. It’s a fun big blockbuster movie (certainly a million times better than any of the sequels).

Pearl Harbor is especially insulting because it deals with real people, real heroes and reduces them to caricatures and a laughable soap opera romance with some of the worse dialogue I’ve ever heard.

(Language warning but it’s true)

The reason I might place him above Shyamalan is he does have a demographic that he services and that enjoy his movies. Whether I have respect for that demographic is one thing but I can’t imagine any demographic liking Lady in the Water, The Village, The Happening or Last Airbender.

M Night Shyamalan-
He made one good movie, and 2 movies that look good but are very silly. When I got home from my mission everyone was raving about Signs so I watched it and thought it was a very weak and even preachy movie. I did not get the hype. Lamest aliens ever…but it at least has style.

Post Signs they have been astonishingly bad. And I don’t know is it worse to make movies with talent and to try hard and produce junk or to half-bake it and produce mindless shluck? Shyamalan if he let someone else write and set his ego aside could make a good movie. I don’t know if I could say the same about Michael Bay.

But again at least Bay kind of knows his schtick and he makes it where Shyamalan doesn’t even seem to realize he is making crap. He thinks it’s all big and important and that us silly fools aren’t enlightened enough to understand it. You watch interviews of him trying to defend Lady in the Water or The Last Airbender and it is mind blowing. He acts like he is this wounded artist that people are unfairly attacking. I mean have you seen these movies? They are unwatchable films.

Lady in the Water is boring and so full of itself. It’s so awful and pretentious.

I mean The Happening is about the evil wind and the plants attacking people. I guess it could work if you went the B cheesy horror movie route (ala Sharknado) but this takes itself seriously and turns good actors into jokes. Mark Whalberg is so bad in The Happening (he’s apologized publicly for The Happening). Same with Paul Giamati in Lady in the Water (although that movie is not his fault it is bad). And with Last Airbender he took a show that people love and Westernized it, made it incredibly boring and it doesn’t even look good? The special effects are laughable. The fight sequences and the slow motion and the panning shots make me nuts.

In both Lady in the Water and Signs M Night casts himself as these prophet types who are the chosen one’s and again at least Michael Bay (I think) knows he’s making crap.

But he could make a good movie again and his movies aren’t demeaning to women or minorities like Bay’s are? (well not as demeaning at least and it isn’t real people).

I guess I would pick Shyamalan although I think he might be the worse director again because there is not any demographic for his movies. They are just junk. Avoid them both! And don’t get me started on After Earth. It’s right up there with Battlefield Earth in the terd heap.

When Johnny Depp thinks you’re strange M Night you need to take a look at yourself.

I guess it comes down to do you appreciate a pompous artist who tries but makes crap or someone that doesn’t try but makes crap that a lot of people for whatever reason like? One is full of his own genius and the other is lazy. I don’t know. Tough call. May I never be cursed with such a choice.

Nostalgia

December 14, 2014December 14, 2014 | Rachel's Reviews

Watching all these Christmas movies has got me thinking about nostalgia. Often especially during the holidays we can get accused of liking something ‘for nostalgia purposes only’. Everyone is guilty of this for one reason or another, but I often find there is more to the story than the accusation would suggest.

What is nostalgia? Well, it is defined as “a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations”

So for example I lived for 3 years with 2 roommates in the basement apartment of a house. We had many good times at that house and when I drive by it I am often overwhelmed by nostalgia for that period of my life. Now those friends have married and I don’t see them as much as I would like. It is a time in the past that I miss and look back fondly on.

I’m not a psychology expert. but I think nostalgia is actually healthy as long as it doesn’t make us forget the blessings of the present because we are idealizing the past. I did that once on my mission where I moved to a new area and all I could think about was how life changing the old area was. My companions had to sit me down and say ‘Lafayette was great but we’ve got to work here now in Indy”, which I did and it was awesome!

That said, it is good to be able to look back at our lives and remember the good times. Remember with fondness all the love and happiness we shared, especially if those people have passed on. So nostalgia can be quite powerful and motivating in our lives.

But let’s stick to entertainment. Like experiences, we can also have nostalgia for films. A particular movie meant something to us or is associated with an era or person in our lives, and so we remember it with ‘wistful affection’.

I believe if you enjoy the movie it doesn’t really matter whether it is nostalgia or not. It’s kind of like taking a placebo for depression. If it helps your depression who cares if it is a sugar pill? Better is better. Enjoyment is enjoyment.

The only difference is it is usually impossible to pass on that nostalgia to other people so it can feel frustrating when they do not share your ‘wistful affection’. In fact, it can even seem insulting because the film and the time in your life are so interconnected insulting one, feels like an insult to you and your moment in time.

Here is a funny clip from my favorite show How I Met Your Mother about when people don’t get your nostalgic movies (excuse the bad clip but it will give you the idea)

There is however a distinction I would like to make:

In nostalgia we have 2 kinds of experiences. The first are films that really aren’t good that we have nostalgia for. The second is films that are good and were important to us in the past (probably because they are so good)

For example, many people have nostalgia for Star Wars, Indiana Jones, ET and The Goonies. Those are all legitimately good movies that I remember fondly too. Whereas, say someone has nostalgia for Howard the Duck? That film doesn’t have the same inherent quality of content argument as Star Wars…

Here’s some examples from my life:

Cutting Edge vs Footloose- Both of these films would be considered by me as ‘sleepover movies’. They were the kind of movies my girlfriends and I liked to watch at sleepovers. Other favorites were Dirty Dancing, Fame, Grease, Dance with Me, Bring it On, Save the Last Dance (dancing in general was a popular theme of these sleepovers for some reason). The Cutting Edge is a silly movie that I have nostalgia for. It’s completely predictable and stupid but it’s about the Olympics that I love and skating and there is pretty good chemistry between its stars, but it would definitely be a bad movie I have nostalgia for and enjoy (I have it on blu-ray!).

Footloose on the other hand I also have nostalgia for but I actually think is a good movie. It is well written with an interesting discussion about religion, safety, freedom of choice and some terrific choreography and music. I watched it again not that long ago and was surprised how dark it gets. All that definitely went over my head but I liked it then and I like it now. Definitely a good nostalgia movie.

Beverly Hills 90210 vs Boy Meets World- We were not allowed to watch 90210 when I was a kid because it was considered too adult by my Mom- probably rightfully so. But nevertheless I have a certain nostalgia for it. When I could sneak it I enjoyed it and I enjoy it now even though it is totally soapy and stupid and poorly acted. It went on for like 10 years and especially near the end when I was on my own I really got into it even though I knew it was kind of terrible.

Boy Meets World on the other hand I was allowed to watch and I sincerely think it is a great show. Yes it is extreme cornball but it has such heart, it teaches good messages, has an appealing cast and the acting is not half bad. I love it and I love Girl Meets World, so it’s good nostalgia in my book!

Clueless vs Girls Just Want to Have Fun- We’ve got two more sleepover movies. Girls Just Want to Have Fun is a stupid movie about girls who want to make a dance show (again with the dancing!). But I still enjoy it. It’s charming in its own way and has an appealing cast. Definitely bad but I enjoy it for nostalgia purposes.

Clueless on the other hand is the nostalgia movie of my high school experience, and I think it is one of the best written comedies ever made. It makes me laugh to this day. Things like Cher’s speech on the Haitians and the garden party or the scene where Dion drives on the freeway for the first time crack me up. I have strong nostalgia for it but it is also genuinely a good movie.

Some might claim they can be more objective than those of us who have nostalgia for films or shows, but I don’t think that is the case. If I acknowledge I have the nostalgia and can say if it is good or bad despite my sentimental feelings how is that not the peak of objectivity? I am able to look at it and say ‘I love it but I know it isn’t very good’. That is objective! If I tried to defend it as good when it really isn’t than you’d have a point. If I like something on this blog because of nostalgia I will tell you. Like I admitted upfront I was going to have a hard time reviewing Little Mermaid because I am sooooo attached to it and it meant so much to me as a little girl. I still think I was objective but maybe not as critical as I was on things that didn’t have the same personal value. But that is the exception to the rule. Most films I look at with the same perspective and eyes and can objectively say whether I like it for nostalgia or other reasons.

Just to sum it all up- we all have movies that are nostalgic for us when we watch them. They remind us of eras of our lives, particularly childhood and if we enjoy the experience of watching them than who cares? Enjoy watching them for whatever reason you want. Just don’t expect others to experience the same whimsey and delight. Also, there are films we have nostalgia for that are actually good movies and others that are pretty bad. It’s important to see that difference and not discount something merely because it is a sentimental favorite.

Especially at Christmas many of us have nostalgia for It’s a Wonderful Life, White Christmas, Christmas Story and Christmas Carol etc but those are great movies so watch and remember all the good times you’ve had over the holidays with these wonderful nostalgic movies.

I will add too that Perks of Being a Wallflower is the first movie I’ve seen as an adult that felt really nostalgic for me, so nostalgia doesn’t have to be a movie from our past. It could have been filmed in my high school amongst my friends and I LOVE it so much. I saw it at least 5 times in the theater because I kept taking my friends, twice in one week. It spoke to me and excited me in a way no other movie has in years. I think the writing is great, acting great, and the story is so moving, funny, sad, scary, just perfect. One of my all time favorites. Definite nostalgic but still very good movie!

Golden Globes Nominations

December 12, 2014December 12, 2014 | Rachel's Reviews

For those of you that care about awards and recognition the Golden Globe nominations are out and the animated category went safe.

Best Animated Feature- Click on each film to be taken to my review

“Big Hero 6“
“The Book of Life“
“The Boxtrolls“
“How to Train Your Dragon 2“
“The Lego Movie

All these movies are deserving of nominations but I really think Tale of Princess Kaguya belongs in the place of Book of Life. These will probably be the 5 at Oscars and they are all good movies. Four I gave A+’s too so no argument there. I think out of those 5 either Big Hero 6 or The Lego Movie will win. I’m a little surprised Everything is Awesome didn’t get nominated for best song and the music in Kaguya should have been nominated. Joe Hisaishi’s score is one of the best I’ve ever heard. You would think the Hollywood Foreign Press Association would recognize achievements by foreign animation companies not just domestic productions.

Oh well. It does say something about the year when a list that strong is nominated and Kaguya and Song of the Sea is left off (haven’t seen it but heard great things). Kaguya still has a 100% on rotten tomatoes. That is almost unheard of. Usually there is some idiot who detracts from the crowd. Kaguya is a stunning visual masterpiece and it deserves to be recognized. Hopefully maybe the Oscars will nominate it but probably not. I did like Book of Life but it is no masterpiece. Sigh…

So glad to see Boyhood get lots of nominations. Well deserved. A brilliant movie. Richard Linklater should win for best screenplay and director because what he did required vision and was incredibly smart. He didn’t just create a story and characters but he created whole lives. It is a film that sticks with you and makes you examine your life in a new way.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and Guardians of the Galaxy get nothing which I thought were both so brilliant. Boo!!! And I really think that Andy Serkis deserves to be nominated for the great ACTING he does!

Into the Woods has 3 nominations including Meryl Streep who seems to get nominated no matter what movie she is in. I think if she did a tampon commercial it would get nominated, but I am very excited to see that movie because I love Sondheim and I hope it is one fairytale retelling I can buy into. Johny Depp’s presence makes me nervous but the trailers have been good.

Annie got a lot of love which makes me even more excited to see it. It was nominated for best song and best supporting actress for Quvenzhané Wallis. The early buzz for that film has been really strong and I love the trailer.

These awards are total junk so I don’t know why I care but occasionally they get it right and honor the right thing and that is nice to see. This they got some right but some wrong. I guess that is too be expected.

What do you think of the nominations?

MOTION PICTURES

Best Drama

“Boyhood”
“Foxcatcher”
“The Imitation Game”
“Selma”
“The Theory of Everything”

Best Comedy

“Birdman”
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”
“Into the Woods”
“Pride”
“St. Vincent”

Best Director

Wes Anderson, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Ava Duvernay, “Selma”
David Fincher, “Gone Girl”
Alejandro González Iñárritu, “Birdman”
Richard Linklater, “Boyhood”

Best Actress in a Drama

Jennifer Aniston, “Cake”
Felicity Jones, “The Theory of Everything”
Julianne Moore, “Still Alice”
Rosamund Pike, “Gone Girl”
Reese Witherspoon, “Wild”

Best Actor in a Drama

Steve Carell, “Foxcatcher”
Benedict Cumberbatch, “The Imitation Game”
Jake Gyllenhaal, “Nightcrawler”
David Oyelowo, “Selma”
Eddie Redmayne, “The Theory of Everything”

Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy

Ralph Fiennes, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Michael Keaton, “Birdman”
Bill Murray, “St. Vincent”
Joaquin Phoenix, “Inherent Vice”
Christoph Waltz, “Big Eyes”

Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy

Amy Adams, “Big Eyes”
Emily Blunt, “Into the Woods”
Helen Mirren, “The Hundred-Foot Journey”
Julianne Moore, “Map to the Stars”
Quvenzhané Wallis, “Annie”

Best Supporting Actress

Patricia Arquette, “Boyhood”
Jessica Chastain, “A Most Violent Year”
Keira Knightley, “The Imitation Game”
Emma Stone, “Birdman”
Meryl Streep, “Into the Woods”

Best Supporting Actor

Robert Duvall, “The Judge”
Ethan Hawke, “Boyhood”
Edward Norton, “Birdman”
Mark Ruffalo, “Foxcatcher”
J.K. Simmons, “Whiplash”

Best Screenplay

Wes Anderson, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Gillian Flynn, “Gone Girl”
Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, and Armando Bo, “Birdman”
Richard Linklater, “Boyhood”
Graham Moore, “The Imitation Game”

Best Foreign Language Film

“Force Majeure Turist,” Sweden
“Gett: The Trial of Viviane Ansalem Gett,” Israel
“Ida,” Poland/Denmark
“Leviathan,” Russia
“Tangerines Mandariinid,” Estonia

Best Animated Feature

“Big Hero 6”
“The Book of Life”
“The Boxtrolls”
“How to Train Your Dragon 2”
“The Lego Movie”

Best Original Song

“Big Eyes” from “Big Eyes” music and lyrics by Lana Del Rey
“Glory” from “Selma,” Music and lyrics by John legend and Common
“Mercy Is” from “Noah,” Music and lyrics by Patti Smith and Lenny Kaye
“Opportunity” from “Annie,” Music and lyrics by Greg Kurstin, Sia Furler, Will Gluck
“Yellow Flicker Beat” from “The Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 1,” Music and lyrics by Lorde

Best Score

“The Imitation Game”
“The Theory of Everything”
“Gone Girl”
“Birdman”
“Interstellar”

Annie Award Nominees

December 2, 2014 | Rachel's Reviews

Today the Annie Award Nominees were released. These awards celebrate the best in animated films. I still say this has been an amazing year for animation. It’s certainly been one of my favorites that’s for sure. I have seen all of the nominees but 2- Song of the Sea comes out Dec 19th, and I will hopefully see it, and Cheatin I must admit I hadn’t heard of but it looks awesome.

Cheatin trailer (this is clearly an animated feature for adults but I’m ok with that. In fact, sometimes I prefer they go all adult instead of trying to make it appeal to kids and adults (ala Hunchback):

Anyway, the nominees are:

Big Hero 6,

The Lego Movie,

How To Train Your Dragon 2,

The Boxtrolls,

Book Of Life,

Cheatin’,

Song Of The Sea (here’s Song of the Sea trailer if you haven’t seen it yet. It looks amazing)

The Tale of The Princess Kaguya.

What an impressive list. I LOVED Big Hero 6, How to Train Your Dragon 2 (even more than original), Lego Movie, Boxtrolls and Kaguya (gave A’s to all 5 of those!). Book of Life I really liked despite some problems (got a B). They are all so different it is tough to compare. But again what a great year especially when you consider no Pixar and some highly entertaining films didn’t even make the list (Mr Peabody and Sherman and Penguins of Madagascar were really fun comedies).

Well, what would you pick to win? I’d be happy with any of them winning but if I had to pick I’d go with The Lego Movie. I know all of you weren’t as crazy about it as I was but this is my blog and my opinion so for me it was the most creative, visually inventive, had heart, showed how kids play, their randomness and fun, and it made me laugh a lot. But I was really moved and dazzled by Big Hero 6 also, so I would love to see it win. Same with Kaguya, which was so beautiful, and The Boxtrolls, which had a great look, and a story that makes kids (and me!) think while charming them. How to Train Your Dragon was an epic adventure and dazzled me from beginning to end. Plus, I loved the flying sequences.

But push come to shove I would still pick Lego Movie. What was your favorite? (And remember there are no wrong answers it’s just an opinion)