McFarland

For one reason or another, this film is known as McFarland, USA  within the United States. In Canada it is simply know as McFarland.  However you title it, what it contains is an excellent film.

While this film chronicles the tale of the true story of a cross country running team from McFarland, California.  I connected with the story due to my experience as a very Caucasian, red-headed Canadian living in California.  I was an outsider in a foreign land with a foreign culture.  In McFarland, USA; Kevin Costner is that foreigner.

McFarland is a small town in the California desert.  It is a town that is over 80% Hispanic and it is a farming community.  The town is a fundamental part of this film.  There is a divide between the educated teachers and the tough-as-nails farmers/produce pickers.  There is a fear between the Hispanics due to culture, language and even food.

I experienced this division and fear when I was a missionary in California.  When I first arrived in California, I felt out of place.  At my first meal I was given a plate of food without cutlery, only tortillas.  I couldn't even figure out how to eat.  The fear was real.

My fear turned into a love for Hispanic people once I embraced their culture and involved myself in their lives.  Coach White (Kevin Costner) went through the same experience.  

The film depicts Coach White as a man looking for redemption and he gets it. (Whoops, spoiler alert!)  What I really enjoyed about this film was the display of Latino culture and how it is fun and beautiful, (dancing, food, mothers forcing food on you) as well as dangerous and foolish (gangs, violence).  

What I learned from this film is that there are positives and negatives from all cultures.  I also learned that embracing the positives make for some of the most memorable experiences in your life.  I constantly recall my times living among the wonderful Latin people.  So much fun.  So much love.  So much food!

I really liked the vibe of this film.  It is a cookie-cutter Disney sports movie and it makes you feel good at the end.  Aside from this film, I would also suggest other sports films that Disney has produced, such as: Million Dollar Arm, Invincible, and Secretariat.  There are also some older classic sports films like The Mighty Ducks and Angels in the Outfield, but you should probably avoid the sequels.


I have a sentimental/emotional connection to this film so I will rate it accordingly.

I categorize this film as:

Sentimental

Shows how we should get along

A clean, classy film

3.5/5 Stanley Cups. Just simply enjoyable.  I liked it.

Format: Netflix

Viewing Period: broken up into 2 or 3 parts on a Saturday.

Inspired me to: Eat Latino food and practice speaking Spanish.  I love it!!

Top Gun

Top Gun

Easily the most memorable family trip to the cinema in my youth was to see a film that was 20 years old.  The year was 1997 and Star Wars was being re-released in a "special edition".  My entire family went to all three of the trilogy films and we even brought along our neighbor who had not yet seen the movies.

It was a special occasion where I could watch some of my favorite films on the big screen and bask in the aura of Star Wars.

Big films are meant to be seen on big screens.  In the past the only big screen in town was the local cinema, but nowadays television screens a at least 40 inches wide and many homes have built in theaters so that a cinematic experience can happen withing the wall of your own home.

I feel there is one thing missing from the home-viewing experience and that is: atmosphere.

My local theater is an old, single screen cinema that was originally built in 1924.  It has a balcony, decorative lamps on the walls and my personal favorite: a curtain over the screen.  The Joyland Theatre in Strathmore, Alberta is a place where I love to see movies and their popcorn is better than any Cineplex that I have visited.  It is an important piece of our community and I'll support it as long as awesome films are show on the curtain-covered screen.

This past week I was introduced to a group in Strathmore that is perfect for me.  It is an low-key club called the Strathmore Film Club.  The concept is simple: get together once a month and watch a classic film on the big screen.  This month we voted on the films of Tom Cruise and Top Gun won the vote.

I do consider myself a big movie fan, a cinephile of sorts, but I had never scene this classic Tom Cruise film.  I'll admit that I have been skeptical of Cruise due to his "heart-throb" status in the 80s and 90s, as well as his crazy antics in the 2000s.  Within the past couple years I have found an appreciation for his ability to entertain the audience no matter what.  He is the master of entertaining films.

Let me ask you this question: Who is the biggest movie star in your lifetime?  I am willing to bet that said "Tom Cruise".  There is no one like him.   Take a look at his filmography.  He has a mere 36 credits of completed spanning from 1981 to 2016.  That is 36 years.   In contrast, Brad Pitt has 72 credits from 1987 to 2015.  That is 29 years.  Cruise only does big movies.

That's enough gushing about Tom Cruise because I will now finally talk about Top Gun.  Perhaps I have been blabbering on about theaters and actors due to that fact that I did not particularly enjoy the film.  Top Gun is a product of its time.  It is such a classic film that it is now cliche.  It is similar to how Casablanca has so many quotable lines, but Top Gun is just a montage of cliches and sexual-tension-filled stares.

Is Top Gun still watchable?  Oh yeah.  Just to watch the amazing camera shots on board the F-14s is worth the price of admission.  Tony Scott new how to make an entertaining film.  But I felt for every success he had there was a downside.

The film has charming characters, but the most charming dies in the middle of the film. (That didn't need a SPOILER ALERT tag did it?  The film is 30 years old.)  

It has great music from the 1980s, but the score is too synthesized for my liking. 

It has a fun love story, but I did not find the girl very attractive. (My apologies of Kelly McGillis)  

Val Kilmer is cast as an a pseudo-antagonist, but he seems to be the more straight-laced by the end.

I was just torn by the film.  So much good, but so much that bothered me.  Plus, I'm not a macho guy that has an ego the size of the Atlantic, but the pilots in Top Gun have to be.

The bottom line?  I was entertained and I got to see it on the big screen, but I'll never watch it again.

I categorize this film as:

Full of great camera angles

A classic 1980s film
Never going to see it again
Signature Cruise (it is still Tom Cruise's #1 associated film on IMDB.com)

3/5 Stanley Cups. It is well made and I enjoyed parts of it, but it is not my type of film.

Format: In the Joyland Theatre

Viewing Period: One time through with minor disruptions due to the DVD skipping.

Inspired me to: Join the Navy!  No, not really.  But I appreciate Tom Cruises more recent films more now.

9 to 5

9 to 5

During the winter holidays and weekends, my family was notorious for spending our time inside watching random movies from the 1970s and 1980s.  We would go into D&E video (recently closed, RIP) and choose 6 movies for 6 nights for 6 bucks.  These were never the new releases, these were the older films that time and popularity had forgotten.

For one reason or another the films that I distinctly remember watching during this period featured actor Dabney Coleman.  He is the actor that I saw in many films on those cold winter nights.  One that I am most fond of is 9 to 5.

This film is one of the first that I enjoyed with my parents.  It also holds a special place in my family history because it was the movie my parents went to on their first date.  Needless to say, it's a sentimental favorite for me.

This film has a lot going on.  You have a newly single mom (Jane Fonda) who is trying to fit back into the work force, a long-time supervisor that is the true reason for the company's success (Lily Tomlin) and secretary (Dolly Parton) that is blatantly sexually harassed by her boss. The boss is a character that dare you to not hate him.  Although he is perfectly portrayed by the aforementioned Dabney Coleman, he quickly gets under your skin and earns the title of "sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot".

The film took me back to another time when smoking was ubiquitous and men saw women as objects.  It shows the transition from this era to one that is flexible and accommodating.  A new era where women get promotions according to their merits, yet pay is still not equal.

This film is fun, funny and witty.  It has a great title song and one of the best pot-smoking scenes that I have seen. (I haven't seen very many, to be fair).  I really enjoyed 9 to 5, it and it put on display an era that seems so foreign to me now and it did so in an entertaining manner.

I categorize this film as:

Nostalgic

Enjoyable

Fonda-tastic! (Jane Fonda is great as an awkward divorcee)

4/5 Stanley Cups. Worth watching and keeping in your collection of films.

Format: Netflix

Viewing Period: One time through, I think.  I was watching kids at the same time.

Inspired me to: Never become a sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot.  :)

Also to make a difference at my workplace.  Nothing big, just the small stuff.

Meet the Patels

Meet The Patels

In 2010 I moved with my wife and child to Calgary, Alberta.  When we made the move we did not thing that we would go through much of a culture shock.  Calgary is a large city, but it is still a western Canadian town on the prairies.  We had no idea what was in store for us.

Being two white kids from small prairie towns, my wife and I grew up with our limited knowledge of outside cultures coming from the Chinese restaurants and Taco Bell.  We were pretty limited in terms of cultural exposure, but then we moved to Calgary...

We discovered that a large part of the citizens of Calgary are from India.  I knew nothing about India or Indian culture.  In fact I knew so little that when I was a teenager I completed a small assignment that included researching a country a cooking food from that country.  I was assigned India and I make curried beef.  I was unaware of the sacred nature the cow has in India.  That was a fail on my part.

I have grown up since the curry beef incident and I have learned a lot about Indian culture from co-workers who are from India.  I have become fascinated by the culture, and this is why I really liked Meet The Patels.  

Raj Patel is the subject of this documentary.  We follow his journey to get married and deciding between following his heart and pleasing his parents.  I found Raj's parents delightful, especially his father.  Raj's story was compelling and his decisions were frustrating, but that was part of the lesson that I took from the film.  We cannot control the actions and choices of others.  We can influence, but that is the extent of our reach.

Documentaries are difficult to review.  They are often filled with propaganda and biased opinions that try to sway your thoughts one way or another.  Meet The Patels does not do that.  I think that is why I enjoyed it. The varying opinions of the family members were told, but all in all, this was one man's journey to finding a relationship and it was done with an amateur camera man (as Raj points out at the beginning of the film) and charming animation.

It was fun and eye-opening.  I have enjoyed the experience and don't think I'd watch it again because it is a journey that I've already taken. I'd rather go and have some Indian food instead.

I categorize this film as:

Enjoyable

Charming

Helpful, since it shows you that everyone worries about marriage.

3/5 Stanley Cups. An enjoyable documentary. 

Format: Netflix

Viewing Period: One time through, with a few breaks on a Sunday afternoon.

Inspired me to: Eat Indian food.  I want samosas right now!

Tomorrowland

I remember the first trailer for Tomorrowland.  I was blown away at the possibility of what this film could contain.  My mind was piqued by the art deco style futuristic look at a land that I did not know, but I wanted to discover.

As it turns out, Tomorrowland is only a dim shadow of what it could have been.

I am not saying that this film is bad.  It is good.  It is really good, but there are 3-4 films that could have been made from the glimpses of brilliance that we see throughout the film.

Film #1
The origin story of the film.  A life story that leads up to the 1964 world's fair where a young George Clooney shows his ambition by finding his way to Tomorrowland and is shown to be a great mind amid great minds.

Film#2
The downfall of the utopia.  Tomorrowland becomes corrupt, it changes for the worse, and George Clooney's character is deported for pushing against the establishment that has hobbled the works of progress.

Film#3 The resurgence.  This is the film that we currently have. A savior comes to Tomorrowland to restore the balance and bring it back to its past glory.

Film #4 The legacy.  The new generation of inventors and great minds build up Tomorrowland to make it amazing once again and the encounter new challenges that could deal with other dimensional travel, keeping peace between worlds, or the ethics behind cherry-picking the best minds and taking them from earth.

So we did get a good, fun, adventure film that wanted to teach us about generating our own positivism and goodness.  Unfortunately we got many glimpses of masterpieces without ever seeing one complete picture.  This left an incomplete feeling with me after I saw the film.  It was as though I was shown a bacon and avocado cheeseburger and all I got to eat was the pickle.

But it was really good pickle.

I categorize this film as:

A good film with so much missing.

A strange way of depicting robots.

A good way to pass the time on a Sunday afternoon.  If you fall asleep halfway through, you won't be too disappointed.

3/5 Stanley Cups. So much potential.  Such an underachievement. 

Format: Netflix

Viewing Period: In 3 parts in the early morning hours.

Inspired me to: Go to Disneyland.  I miss that place.

Eddie the Eagle

There is a need in the world for a story that has a happy ending.  Why else would the phrase, "and they lived happily, ever after" exist?

Unfortunately many stories that tell the tale of an underdog overcoming adversity are passed by and described as "fluff" for the movie-going public.  Many gems remain hidden due to a lack of appreciation for good, wholesome entertainment.

Let me uncover one of those gems for you:

Eddie The Eagle is a fun, wholesome film that takes an interesting character, Eddie Edwards, and shows how he persevered to make it to the Olympic games.  I found out ahead of time that the film is 10-15% true according to Edwards himself, but I feel that the artistic license that was used to make a better film.  Eddie himself is a part of Olympic Games lore that includes the 1980 USA hockey team and the original Jamaican bobsled team and this film helps you root for the underdog and feel his pain when failure starts to hinder his journey.

Is this Oscar material?  No.  No it is not.  It is a film that was released at a time when the Oscar buzz is over and the summer blockbusters are yet to emerge.  Although I would be selling it short if I didn't mention the action chops of Taron Edgerton as Eddie.  He does a really good job.  I had to watch an interview from the Olympic Games to judge fairly.

 You might find the character of Eddie to be a little odd at first, but he is endearing and you make room in you heart for him.  He is a dreamer and a hero to those who want just a little bit of glory in life.

It makes me feel good just talking about it.  What an enjoyable movie experience!

Note: When you watch the film, there is real footage from the 1988 Olympic Games in Calgary, Alberta.  None of the film was shot in Canada so the setting of the ski jump is not very accurate.

For example:

This is Calgary Olympic Park.

This is not.

I categorize this film as:

A solid film

A fun story derived from a true story.

One the whole family can watch. (although there is a scene where Hugh Jackman's character explains, and demonstrates how to land a jump, comparing it to making love with Bo Derek.  It is accurate, but a little uneasy if watching with children.)

4/5 Stanley Cups. I really enjoyed this film.  There is not much I could say to criticize it. 

Format: The Theater.

Viewing Period: One shot on a Friday night with friends.

Inspired me to: Read about the real guy, Michael "Eddie" Edwards and watch Cool Runnings.

 

The Force Awakens

 

Warning #1 This is going to contain spoilers.  You should have seen this film by now.

Warning #2 This is going to be a longer review, but It doesn't cover an iota of what i want to say.  If you want to discuss more with me about any of the Star Wars films, come on over!!  I could talk for days about it.

I have been waiting to write this review until after I had watched the film 5 times in the theater.  I did this because, back in 1999, I decided that I wanted to watch a Star Wars film 5 times in the theater.  I had grown up with stories about the hype and excitement that was felt around the release of the original films and I wanted to duplicate that feeling.

Unfortunately I had to sit through 5 viewings of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.  I could have stopped after 2 viewings and been satisfied. 

My anticipation of excitement and pride in my claim of 5 viewings was downgraded to a claim of shame.  The film was amazing, but it was good.  The reason we still talk about it today is due to the confusion that it gave us.  Even as a 15-year-old boy I would find myself wanting to be somewhere else while I watched the film, but my determination and bullheadedness won in the end. 

 

I remember a feeling of relief when I left my 5th viewing of The Phantom Menace.  It was partially relief to know that I have accomplished a goal that I have set out to do, but the greater part of the relief was due to my knowledge that I would not have to watch that film again. 

I can contrast those feelings with the feeling that I have now.  I returned from viewing The Force Awakens earlier today and I find that I still want to watch the movie.  In fact, I was very excited this morning in anticipation of my trip to the cinema to watch the same film for the 5th time.

I could talk about what is bad about The Phantom Menace for hours, but I could talk forever about The Force Awakens and how much I enjoy it.

I will be clear, this is not a perfect film.  Even today, as I sat with my popcorn and M&Ms, I struggled with a number of lines of dialogue and plot elements in the film, but as a whole I love it.

The Force Awakens is many films in one.  It is a launching pad for a franchise re-boot, it is a continuation of a well beloved story, it is a tribute to the original trilogy, and it is a course correction after the prequel trilogy.

 

 

I love the nostalgia of The Force Awakens.  There were 4 distinct moments in the film when you could audibly hear the excitement in the audience when references were made that pertained to the original trilogy.  These moments were:

1. The reveal of the Millennium Falcon:  As a kid I never really thought of the Falcon as a junker of a ship, but I clearly saw it in this film.
2. The mention of the line: "I've got a bad feeling about this":  This line is said in all 7 of the Star Wars films.  It's a little way for fans to know that the director knows that they exist.
3. Rey's comment about the Kessel Run:  This line was lost in a couple viewings of the film due to laughter from a previous line, but it is my favorite tribute to the original trilogy.  I'm a Han Solo fan, if that wasn't clear by this point.
4. The 3D hologram chess set on the Millennium Falcon:  This is another moment for the fans that showed that the director is a fan as well and was making a movie that was not going to repeat the prequel mistakes.

These moments gave me the feeling of familiarity that I was looking for in the film.  It helped me fall in love with Star Wars all over again.

I haven't even mentioned the new cast.  Daisy Ridley is excellent, Oscar Isaac is great, Adam Driver is evil!  I loved the new characters and I look forward to seeing more of them as the franchise continues.  There are so many stories to tell about each character.

This film awoke my childhood ambitions and playfulness again.  There is nothing more that I wanted The Force Awakens to do than that.  I am more excited for movies than I have ever been.  I look forward to lining up for more Star Wars films each year for the next 5 years... or more.

I categorize this film as:

A well-needed awakening call

Super-Nostalgic.
I want to watch it again and again

5/5 Stanley Cups. I have never had such excitement about a film.  As soon as it ends, I want to watch it again and I want the next film in the series to be here now!!

Format: The Theater.  Once regular 2D, twice 3D, twice 3D AVX.

Viewing Period: 6 weeks

Inspired me to: Talk about Star Wars everyday.  Also to watch Star Wars: Rebels and Star Wars: Droid Tales.

Labryrinth

Labyrinth

Call me old fashioned, but I still find practical effects to be the most convincing form of special effect.  The master of practical effects for me was Jim Henson.  Many think of him only as the man behind (technically below) Kermit the Frog, but Jim Henson was so much more.

Jim Henson saw puppetry as an creative medium that was a unique way to convey a story.  My favorite part of the Henson world is that music was often combined with the puppetry.  So it becomes obvious that Labyrinth,  with it's David Bowie soundtrack and crazy characters, is one of my favorite childhood movies.  I can remember traveling as a family, belting out "Dance, Magic, Dance" until someone in the vehicle got tired of it.

The story of Labyrinth is one that can apply to us in any stage of life.  Sarah, Jennifer Connelly's character is unhappy with here currently situation and feels that life is unfair (a reoccurring theme).  She goes on a journey in a land where nothing is fair and nothing should be taken for granted.  After finding some unconventional friends to help here out, Sarah eventually realizes that her friends are those who she can trust to move her forward on her journey and nothing in life should be taken for granted.  A lesson that we all can take to heart.

Even though I have seen this film numerous times, I watched it in it's entirety and was please by how much I still enjoyed it.  The creepy parts are still creepy, the clothes are still stuck in the 80's, and the journey that Jennifer Connelly's character goes through is still on the cusp of being real for me.

I label myself as a fan of the Science Fiction genre, but my roots are strong in Fantasy.  Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal, Willow, and Ladyhawke are all films that I enjoyed as a kid and for the most part, with the exception of The Dark Crystal, they hold up to my viewing standards today.  Great characters and a good story with metaphorical undertones help a film go beyond a trending style and make it last for the ages.  For me, Labyrinth is a film that baffles me with its puppetry and keeps me coming back for its story.  Besides, we could all use a little time with David Bowie to bridge the gap between fantasy and reality.

Rest in peace, Goblin King.

I categorize this film as:

Positively professional puppetry.

Nostalgic.
Worth the time to watch again.

4/5 Stanley Cups. 

Format: On my phone.

Viewing Period: Over 3 days while in the gym.

Inspired me to: Find The Dark Crystal and see if it holds up.