Sorry for the long pause between articles – I managed to establish a decent pace there for a while, but the past few weeks have been a bit of a personal rollercoaster, so I haven’t really had the time or inclination to put any bloggable thoughts together. Obviously this needs to change – I’m grabbing the bull by the horns and wrestling my way back into this blog with some reviews!
Before I start – I should mention that we switched internet providers (Yay Teksavvy!) and got rid of Rogers, because they reneged on the contract we originally signed and dropped our download cap to an unreasonably low number. I wrote them a letter and they replied, claiming that it was a service to customers who wanted more options. (Like the option to pay the same amount for half the data) So they’re gone now.
All of this to say that now we have enough bandwidth for Netflix! Yay! Lots of movies to watch!
Les émotifs anonymes – Super cute! - This french film follows a master chocolatier who’s paralyzed by her shyness, and her boss who has the same perplexing problem, as they fall in love. It’s an adorably awkward romantic comedy with excellent acting and lots of laugh-out-loud dysfunction punctuated by little moments of tenderness and sweetness. Very cute film that Natasha and I enjoyed watching together.
Saved! – Underwhelming – We thought this dark comedy about a pregnant Mary at an overzealous Christian school might take some daring risks, but while there were a handful of hilarious moments it quickly devolved into an after-school special. It felt as though the writer set up all the punchlines (a long-haired, bearded carpenter saves her from drowning in a pool, etc), but the film crew were afraid to commit, and where they could have pulled some real zingers they kept trying not to step on anyone’s toes. Ultimately, it ended up in middle ground that was mildly offensive and not that funny. But it was nice to see Macaulay Culkin again!
Tron: Uprising – Neato! - Disney XD’s big-budget animated Tron spinoff explains some of the backstory before Tron: Legacy, in a weirdly proportioned and kindof groovy 2.5D animation style that I’ve never seen before. The stories are pretty mature for a Disney property, and the cartoon is full of neat action sequences that put the movie to shame. I especially like a few of the characterizations – I felt the villainess Paige’s complex backstory was particularly intriguing. Sadly, I’ll never get to see it play out, since Disney cancelled it after season 2. The first episodes are worth watching though, and listen for the familiar voices of Elijah Wood, Paul Reubens, and Mandy Moore bringing the citizens of Argon City to life.
Babies – Beautiful! – A stunningly shot, wordless documentary following the first year of children from around the world. If anything, it reinforces the idea that babies are pretty invincible – every time that poor kid from Mongolia showed up on screen Natasha and I would cover our eyes, as he stumbles from one dangerous situation to another. I’m not sure how much dirt the Namibian baby ate, but he’s exploring the world with his mouth and apparently it tastes wonderful. 
By comparison, of course, the San Franciscan and Tokyo kids might as well be space babies – coddled and removed from any kind of interaction with the natural world. It’s an interesting study in contrasts!
Source:
http://lunarbovine.com/blog/2013/12/everyone-loves-reviews/
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