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milliemitchell
Reviews
The Man from Toronto (2022)
Laughed A Lot, Original Story, Some Goofs & Stereotypes
Not a big fan of Kevin Hart or Woody Harrelson, but watched anyway and really enjoyed the movie. I laughed a lot and often. Hart plays a guy who messes up all the time, never succeeds despite numerous ideas because he can't follow through. A silly thing like printer toner running out causes him to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and he gets involved inextricably to Harrelson's professional assassin's big money job. Harrelson's character, known as "the man from Toronto" drags "Teddy" (Hart) along with him as he attempts to get his big payoff despite Teddy's effects. He needs him, so he can't kill him, and a Buddy connection develops. It plays out with some great surprises at crucial moments. Two script blunders are pretty offensive and the reason I didn't rate this with a 9 - one is using the stereotype of destroying something identified as very precious just to see it destroyed. Ugh. Second was the creation of a passport to get Teddy back in the US from Puerto Rico. Ugh. Puerto Rico IS IN THE US. Makes me wonder about the education of the filmmakers, crew, producers, Hart, Harrelson ... and ponder, was it deliberate? To make a point? To whom was such a point important?
The Blue Umbrella (2013)
A very moving short film
I know this is animation and we're supposed to be dazzled, but I had the opposite reaction. I did love it, I do marvel at it, but it's so well done I allowed myself to believe it was real. That's the goal, I think, of this kind of animation work, this advancement and it was so advanced beyond what we've come to expect I said YES and went along with it. Of course, I know the truth ... but my 7-year old nephew who watched it with me did not think it was animation. For him and for children, inanimate objects can come to life, they can have faces, they can have drama. So I watched from his perspective and it was marvelous.
I hope this kind of work continues and becomes so accepted that audiences will stop talking about the technical and come back to the story. (Or as much.)
I will note that in my opinion, the storytellers worked very hard to prevent any decision of male or female for their humans. There was only one moment when I thought "that's a woman" -- otherwise, it could have been two men, two women, one of each ... I wonder if people are assuming male/female because of the colors of the umbrellas and boots? Or because the umbrellas' faces have been rendered with choice of male/female? Then again, that's ME making an assumption, that long eyelashes and coy looks are female. And that's not necessarily so!
As far as the idea of coupling it with MONSTERS UNIVERSITY, I think it's a great idea. As I said, I watched it with my nephew and he has watched it over and over and over again, making my purchase of the DVD even more worth its value than if he was just watching an obviously animated movie. I'm happy for him that he also got a smaller packaged gift of suspension of disbelief.