Appetite for Cinema

Note: This review was intended to be post yesterday. But do to some complications, I was not able to be posted. My apologies if you notice I say Wednesday instead of Thursday at some point. With that said, let’s continue…

Hello my lovely readers and welcome to another delicious edition of Appetite Wednesday, where food and movies are praised. This week I’m going to be looking at one of my favorite films of all time and highlight some of the best food moments in it. “The Joy Luck Club” is a film that studies the relationship between mothers and daughters, while also exploring and showcasing the contrast between Chinese and American culture. The stories that the mothers share are moving, if got gut wrenching. All of them have undergone a terrible tragedy, and in many ways still hold guilt for past mistakes. They live with a desire to raise their daughters in a life better than the one they knew, and live without the pain and regret they carry.

Food is often a strong representation of a persons culture and background. In fact, for some countries, like Italy and France, food is seen as way of life or a piece of art that can inspire people. In “The Joy Luck Club”, food is perhaps the element that most strongly represents the Chinese spirit. Each of the main women are either great cooks, or have the privilege of eating great prepared cuisines. And each dish, whether it be Chinese or American, savory or sweet, old or new, say something about the characters and their stories.

pThere are many scenes in the film that involve food and it’s difficult to explain each one in detail. But I can certainly say that each scene says something about the characters, whether it be presented by the food itself, or is simply a scene in which food happens to be involved. Some of these scenes include:

1) A mother and her daughter eating rice together, and seeing how the mother gives up some of her rice so that her daughter can grow strong and healthy.

2) A wife baking a chocolate peanut butter pie. A treat that she would often make for her husband when they were dating…now she makes it as a last effort to save their marriage.

3) A young woman inviting her fiancé to a family dinner, only to unknowingly embarrass her and her mother (like insulting someone’s cooking without even realizing it…)

4) A daughter being humiliated by her frenemy and her mother, while partaking in a delicious, best quality, crab dinner.

5) A young man enticing a girl by sensually eating a slice of juicy watermelon.

That’s only half of what is seen in this film, and the descriptions themselves are not enough to give it justice. Considering how this is one of my favorite films, I will be making a review to f this in the future. For now, these moments are what I want to address and honor. If You haven’t seen “The Joy Luck Club” yet, but are curious about it, then I highly recommend that you do. It’s a beautiful film about the love between mothers and their daughters, and the struggles and perseverance of woman, young and old.

https://www.change.org/p/julian-lennon-make-new-beatle-movie-about-john-and-cynthia-lennon

Hello my lovely readers and fellow Tumblr buddies!! A few months ago, I posted up a long winded story about my fascination for The Beatles and my love of John and Cynthia Lennon. I explained how I wished Cyn’s story about her life with John should be made into a movie, seeing how it’s so beautiful and important to Beatle history. I was surprised and pleased to see how passionately people responded to the post. With a little help from my friends (teehee 😁), I eventually started a petition see to if people really wanted this movie to exist. I’m pleased to say that many people do share the same feeling.

My good friends @idonteatcornflakesisitonthem and @instaant-karma have been managing/leading the growth of the petition. Their passion and hard work has really paid off and I couldn’t be happier with the results. Other friends, @cynthialennon-daily and @i-amsavilerow have also been amazing help. It’s been a fun journey so far, and I hope it keeps going.

But despite creating the petition and all, I never officially shared the link here in my Tumblr. So I decided to fix that little detail and share it now. To my Tumblr followers, I don’t know how many of you are Beatle fans, rock n’ roll fans, or music fans. But I encourage you to give this petition a chance and sign it. John Lennon’s life was more than just Yoko Ono and The Beatles. In the life that he shared with his first wife, there’s a deeper and greater understanding of this man and his genius as a rockstar. And there are simply no words to describe how beautiful Cynthia Lennon was. She was a lovely, kind, gentle, caring woman, who loved John all her life. It’s a shame that few people know of her story, or have chosen to forget it. But it deserves to be told and remembered by Beatle fans.

So please, don’t just like like this post. Don’t just share it either. Make a change, a REAL change, by signing the petition. I would rather you guys signed this petition, than me getting more Tumblr followers. It will show that people care about this story and want it to see it be told.

Note: There might be some spoilers in this. If you haven’t seen this movie, I suggest you do before reading this. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!

Hello everybody and welcome to another tasty edition of Appetite Wednesday!! Once again, I’m taking a look at another Don Bluth movie. Next to “The Land Before Time” and “An American Tail”, “All Dogs Go to Heaven” was the other Bluth movie I watched a lot of as a child. At the time I didn’t really consider the deeper themes and messages that were being presented in the film. I simply liked it for its songs and fun animal characters. Looking back at it now, it’s interesting to see how dark Bluth and his crew went in order to tell a rather grownup story about morality and redemption.

But I digress. This movie does have its dark moments, but it also has a lot of light hearted scenes to balance out the tone. And wouldn’t you know it, it involves food! Teehee!!! One of the movies most cutest moments involves the main character, Charlie B. Barkin, teaching a group of puppies how to share a slice of pizza. Now if you’ve been following my page for a long time, you know that I LOVE pizza! There’s nothing more delicious than this cheesy delight. And I think it’s adorable that this movie takes the time to introduce these cute puppies, and have them go crazy over pizza. It’s a perfect combination. Puppy + pizza = BRILLIANT!!!

The pizza scene is also a musical number. Now in all honesty, as much as I love pizza and puppies, it does seem like a waste to have a song that does nothing to move the plot. I mean, the song is all about learning to share. Even as a kid I remember being kind of bored by this song. Perhaps the only thing this song does is make Charlie a slightly more likable character. His interaction with the puppies show that he has a soft side for kids, he just needs to let it out more. This makes sense, because immediately after the song, we see him and Anne-Marie get into an argument that seems to genuinely upset him. So if anything, it helps us as viewers to prepare ourselves for Charlie’s change from a unredeemable character, to a hero of some sorts.

Another scene that is lighthearted and incorporates food is when Anne-Marie goes to see a friendly couple. After Charlie steals a wallet from them, she decides to return it. The couple is so taken aback by Anne-Marie’s sweet nature, they let her in to have breakfast. They make her homemade waffles and give her orange juice. The couple, named Kate and Harold, are meant to reflect the life Anne-Marie really wants. Being an orphan, she wants nothing more to have a family. Kate and Harold represent the parents she dreams about having. Of course, they do end up adopting her in the end. But this scene helps us to imagine the life Anne-Marie could and eventually will have once she has found that perfect home.

Also those waffles look absolutely delicious. I love it when animation is able to make food so desirable, even when you know it’s not real. The way how the waffles are toasted up, and the way Anne-Marie digs into them, makes my mouth water up all the time. And whenever I eat waffles, I think of this scene.

Video Title: Gonzo singing “Act Naturally”

Hello everybody! Well, since I just recently made known to my Tumblr buddies that I’m a Beatles fan, I want to also mention I’m a huge Muppets fan too. Next to Disney and Don Bluth, Kermit and the gang were a big part of my childhood. I loved watching their movies and of course, I remember watching “The Muppet Show” on Nick-At-Nite. The memories I have of them are sweet and I love them to bits!

But just to touch on The Beatles again for a second, I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who liked my initial post of John and Cynthia. That was the first time in a long time that posted something up on my Tumblr, and I didn’t expect so much positive response. Thanks to you all, you’ve helped expand my page and gain more followers. I honestly can't thank you guys enough.

So I decided to do something special for you all. Seeing how today is Ringo Starr’s birthday, I figure I congratulate him by sharing this video of my favorite Muppet singing his rendition of “Act Naturally”. Might as well kill two birds with one stone, and share a video that combines two of my favorite things. I hope you enjoy it! And happy birthday Ringo!! God bless you and may you live for many more years!

Note: This review may contain some spoilers. YOU’VE BEEN WARNED!!!

Hello everyone and welcome to Appetite Cinema! And for this Throwback Thursday, I proudly present: Nickelodeon in the 90’s.

Ahhh Nickelodeon… Good old Nickelodeon… What happened to you?!? It appears that growing up in the 90’s is one of those special privileges that a select few get to enjoy. I was blessed to be a 90’s kid (although sometimes I wished I had been born in an earlier era). Oh, it wasn’t always sunshine and lollipops. Teletubbies, Barney the Dinosaur, Furbies…those are the things I rather forget. But as far as Nickelodeon was concerned, that was probably one of the biggest highlights of the 90’s for me as a kid. Since its creation in the 70’s, Nickelodeon has given us a variety of shows and movies to enjoy. Some are not so great, and others not so bad. And for many of us, watching these shows/movies made us happy and filled us with awesome nostalgia. And for this week I’m looking at the very first Nickelodeon original movie, “Harriet the Spy”.

The movie was an adaptation of a children’s novel of the same name. Written by Louise Fitzhugh in 1964, the story focuses on 11 year old Harriet M. Welsch, who aspires to become a writer. Her nanny, Ole Golly, encourages her to observe other people, so she can write down her thoughts about what she sees. This gives Harriet the brilliant idea of creating a “spying route”, in which she begins to secretly observe the life of her neighbors, classmates, and friends. Everything she sees is written in her private journal. However things begin to go downhill for Harriet when her nanny ends up leaving. Her distant parents are of no comfort to her. To make matters worse, Harriet’s classmates and friends read her private journal, and are extremely hurt by the truthful, yet harsh words that were written. They decide to make Harriet’s life a living nightmare, constantly sabotaging and bullying her. However, Harriet ends up fighting back as well, becoming extremely vengeful. The chaos of the whole situation leads Harriet to make some important life decisions, two of theme centering around friendship and honesty.

It’s interesting that of all the movies that Nickelodeon could have made as their first movie, they decided to create something that had no connection to the shows they had done up until that point. I suppose in one way it was a good idea, since the movie is able to stand as it’s own story, and not be compared to the shows that were being aired at the time. Still, the movie isn’t entirely original, since the book it was based off had been around for years. However, I’m not going to talk about the book because I haven’t read it, and I would prefer to review this movie solely as a movie, and not measuring it’s worth by comparing it to its source material.

With that said, “Harriet the Spy” is quite a lovely gem of children nostalgia. While it’s very apparent that this movie is set during the 90’s, it not necessarily something that keeps me from enjoying the movie. Sometimes when a movie becomes dated, it actually adds to its charm and I think that’s the case with this movie. It’s nice to see a group of elementary children actually play real sports, and not entertaining themselves on video games or iPhones. And it’s nice to see a young girl use a typewriter to write down her thoughts, as oppose to a laptop or tablet. It a nice slice of the past, when technology hadn’t yet reach its peek, and children were still entertained by old forms of fun and games.

With that said, I know there are some who might find Rosie O'Donnell’s presence in the movie odd. This was during a time when O'Donnell would take a variety of roles in movies and television, children entertainment included. Despite whatever opinion one may have of her, O'Donnell’s performance is actually quite good. She does a terrific job playing Harriet’s wise but loving nanny, and her chemistry with Michelle Trachtenberg (Harriet) is delightful. In many ways, their relationship is the heart of the movie and the movie does a fine job of portraying that bond.

But seeing this is a movie aimed for children, what lessons and morals are found in “Harriet the Spy”? I remember seeing Siskel and Ebert’s review of the film and both men gave it two thumbs down. My understanding was that their main problem was how the message of the movie was handled. On one hand I understand the issues they felt, but I also believe they were being too harsh to the movie. Specifically, they didn’t like how Harriet’s parents weren’t the main source of guidance for her when she began to have problems. It was her nanny, Golly, that came to the rescue, and that portrayal of poor parenting seemed to upset them.

Yes, it’s upsetting that Harriet’s parents are not quite as attentive as they should be. But one of the things that makes “Harriet the Spy” stand out from other children’s movie is the slightly more honest portrayal of family life. While most parents are attentive and nurturing, it’s also true that other parents are absent and distant from their children. Harriet’s parents are wealthy and busy, and therefore have a nanny to take care of her. Since her nanny is the one that that’s always present, it’s natural that Golly and Harriet would share a strong bond that surpasses the one she has with her parents. To the movies credit, they do show her parents connecting with her more towards the end, as they make efforts to help her and even understand her better. So while the portrayal of parenting isn’t positive, it’s does try to show that effort is being made to improve upon the relationship between child and parent.

Another issue Siskel and Ebert brought up was the message of the movie and how it’s conveyed. This. I will admit, had me thinking for quite some time. In order to come to a conclusion, we need to ask ourselves this question that should be in the forefront of our mind when watching the movie: was Harriet wrong for writing the things she said in her journal?

The answer: no, she was not. However…failing to deal with her peers anger and legitimate hurt was where she went wrong. Harriet’s journal was a private journal, and thus it was ONLY for her eyes to see. What she wrote wasn’t meant to be mean, but simply a way for her to state things the way she saw them. Keep in mind she’s only 11 and still has a lot of learning to do. While her words can be harsh at times, her intentions aren’t meant to hurt anyone’s feelings. It’s only after the other kids lash out on her that she begins to go down hill. Although their torment on her was painful, her revenge on them is surprisingly even more malicious. And when her parents see how she’s gone completely overboard, it only leads Harriet to become even more aggravated and alone.

So what does Golly suggest Harriet do? First she must apologize, which is obvious of course. But the second step is where it gets tricky and where I tend to disagree a bit. Golly says she needs to lie. Now she does try to explain what she means, like using the example of “someone who makes you a meal that taste bad, but you tell them it’s good so they can feel happy” kind of thing. I don’t necessarily think that’s good advice, because lying is never a good thing, especially when you have to compromise what you believe (which is kind of the case for Harriet). However, since her friends have good reasons to feel hurt, it’s understandable why Harriet may have to humble herself a bit if it means finding piece with them again, which I think is what Golly (and the movie) is trying to get across. It’s not so much that Harriet has to lie, but more so finding other ways to say what she thinks, without hurting anyones feelings in the process. She also helps Harriet realize that she is gifted in a way that will make others feel unsure of her, but that she must always remain true herself. By doing so, Harriet can find the strength to do what’s right.

And thankfully she does. She apologizes to her friends and classmates, and is able to do so without having to lie. Once she’s given the chance for her voice to be heard, she’s able to honestly but kindly make amends with everyone. The ultimate message of the film is that honesty is important, but that it shouldn’t come in the expense of others. By the end, Harriet has learned to manage both friendship and honesty, while remaining true to who she is and holding on to what she loves most: writing.

That’s all for this weeks Throwback Thursday. Thanks for reading as always.