Change Your Image
PopSixSquish
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Essential info:
-Animal fanatic. My favorites are dogs & fish/aquatic critters (especially tropical fish and rays/sharks.) Many favorite breeds of dog (& cat, horse...) I adore dog shows and other sports.
-Unabashed mega-fangirl. Animation-obsessed Disneyholic & Pixarphile. Love movies, TV, music, musicals/theater, reading. Game of Thrones, Hunger Games, My Little Pony: FiM, Pokemon, Star Trek, Harry Potter, etc. 80s baby/90s kid for life.
-Likes/interests: The paranormal/supernatural/occult, games & recreational sports/activities, shopping, art/design, nature, plants (& fungi ^^)/gardening, learning, science, history, culture, vintage/retro/antique/nostalgic/classic/old-timey things, colors, holidays, list-making (esp. loooonng ones of favorite things in various categories), writing, water, houses/decor, names, scary stories, dance, thinking/fantasizing/daydreaming, FUN, awesomeness
-Lover of toys & miniature things; collector/packrat. Vast amounts of Lisa Frank, "In My Pocket" animals, plushies, figures, ponies, Beanie Babies, Funkos, Peeps, Polly Pockets, candles, stickers, ornaments, PEZ dispensers, Pokemon cards, fast-food toys, key chains, pins, buttons, bags, books, wearable stuff, etc.
-Big goal: Travel. I love trips. And I just dream of traveling for weeks, months, even years at a time, having nearly every kind of adventure there is to be had. All of it; everything. (Especially...all around the US & Canada, all around Europe, Australia, Japan, island-hopping...) I don't necessarily even care whether it's by RV, motorcycle, bicycle, car, or foot.
-Took SCUBA lessons/own gear
30 (DOB 7/18/87), F.
American "Euromutt" (Irish, German, Hungarian, Polish, & Italian ancestry)
Red hair. Green eyes. 5'5". Astrological & personality types: Cancer. Rabbit. (Very specifically: 3rd-decanate Cancerian [Leo cusp] with Taurus moon & Leo ascendant; Fire-element Rabbit "Looking at the Moon" with Dragon ascendant. I know some sign descriptions can be totally inaccurate for some people, but mine tend to be...usually pretty good for the most part.) INTJ. RLOEI (close to RCOEN.) Ravenclaw (Slytherclaw?)/Horned Serpent. More left-brained, but pretty balanced in that sense.
Alter-ego: Lucy Ricardo (to name only one ;)
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
Domino (2019)
-spoilerful- Well, at least a solid 7-8, at any rate...?
I'd seen the less-than-stellar reviews for this evidently frustrating- and difficult-to-get-made film, but I couldn't not see it after looking forward to a movie teaming Jaime Lannister and Melisandre with her real-life delightful Aussie guy known as Guy. And then I felt I should boost its rating since those three pop it above-meh. Suspenseful and emotional. With other actors it'd likely be mediocre at best.
It starts with Nikolaj's police officer, Christian, responding to a 'domestic disturbance' call (which, ho boy, was sure domestically disturbing) the day he's forgotten his gun at home, then leaving his partner & friend Lars downstairs with the suspect, who slips out of his cuffs and slices Lars' neck before escaping out the window. (Lars winds up in a coma before dying.) The suspect is captured by the CIA, but he's after a terrorist who'd murdered his father, and that's how the whole crazy case gets underway. Christian pursues him with Carice's officer, Alexandra. Let me just say that she should be in absolutely everything ever, as a performance from her could salvage anything. #1 all-time favorite, easily.
(Is this truly one of her best films overall? Definitely not, which is why this score doesn't feel exactly right, but I'll confess to overrating a bit in this case.)
These seem like roles in which it'd be pretty easy for them to see/project a lot of themselves--except that whoa, turns out Alex was carrying on a 3-year affair with Lars that he never revealed even to his closest friend. They had truly loved each other, and sadly he'd therefore been about to leave his also-older, devoted, disabled wife Hannah. Plus Alex is also carrying his child but not showing yet, so there's that. If not for Lars' marriage, it would've been a beautiful relationship, and Alex is a right ball-busting hero nevertheless.
And Guy Pearce was great as the CIA guy whose only scene with the other two leads is the final one.
The terrorists are, of course, the most despicably evil people imaginable, so it stinks that they're based on real ones rather than just cruel comic-book villains.
The climax sees Alex & Christian foiling an attempted bombing of a bullfighting ring (possibly the people who find entertainment in watching bulls be terrorized and killed for sport aren't the worthiest of rescue, but Alex saves the bull and thus herself too, so yay.)
The film is on the shorter side for the action/suspense/thriller/crime genres, and if there really is an hour of extra material (more action, expansion?) that was cut for some reason, I would like to see it. But the storytelling is efficient and didn't necessarily *need* a ton more; it has the basic essentials.
Komt een vrouw bij de dokter (2009)
Get ready to bawl like a baby for absolute eternity...
Not gonna lie: NEVER have I had such difficulty watching anything. The experience was emotionally devastating and actually physically painful. Never would I have dreamed I could see a film worse than Steel Magnolias, Beaches, Fried Green Tomatoes, and My Girl combined...and yet here I am, having just seen this one. I am not okay. I am utterly destroyed. My ginger excuse for a soul has been crushed, wrecked, shattered, pulverized (I wish I were exaggerating what a mess this made of me.)
The power to have this effect derives from the leading lady; Carice is truly a phenomenal actress. I've become a huge fan of hers. She makes you believe everything. She makes you feel EVERYTHING. Deeply. She can say SO MUCH without even speaking a word. She catapults this script, which is basically an automatic recipe for "heartbreaking," to absolutely heart-annihilating. She herself has a singular beauty as well as a natural aura of purity, innocence, and goodness that helps with parts such as this. (That there's still so much more tremendous talent within that teeny-tiny frame of hers--musically, for instance--could almost be infuriating were she not so lovable.)
It also seemed extraordinarily unlikely that she'd have the "deep," difficult-to-access veins & arteries that the script said Carmen has (I mean, she's a veritable twig), but I guess the particular ones they needed were...*shrug*
Seriously...Carmen's frequent vomiting had me feeling nauseous--NOT because I'm squeamish about that (I'm not; the needles are what normally bother me), but due to the empathy she engenders. Heck, the whole final third or so of the movie had me feeling that way (and, needless to say, just sobbing uncontrollably and pausing constantly to dry out.)
The premise is nearly unbelievable with this casting and writing, actually. If this Carmen is your wife, how on Earth does the desire to be with anyone else ever even enter into your head at all? If she falls gravely ill, how is your only thought not to be her constant loving support & caretaker as you fight the disease together with everything you've got? The main plotline here is harrowing enough; the secondary one that involves Stijn running back and forth from her to a club to another woman...it's incredibly maddening, and altogether it's murder. He never abandons her entirely, but you can't stop thinking furiously and desperately of how much better she and their daughter deserve. Even trying to look at it as "He can't handle the torment and needs to escape with someone who isn't sick," I cannot begin to justify his behavior--particularly since he was *always* a disgusting adulterer. From the very start, she should've had someone with the loyalty, integrity, fortitude, and pure love to stay by her side through thick and thin. He was simply unworthy of this extremely over-tolerant woman. That he always came back to her (for as long as he could) doesn't excuse his cheating. It merely makes him a somewhat better husband than he could've been. The whole thing hurts so much it's hard to think about. Would I watch this again? Oh man. More like, "Could I bear to?" Just thinking about it, or listening to the Kane song from it ("Love Over Healing") gets me going all over again. I get that hollow ache. So if I wanted to torture myself that way, I'd have to gather all my strength.
She tolerated his adultery...when she knew she'd soon be gone she told him she didn't want to know any more details, just for him to be happy with whatever woman he chose...he invited Rose to her funeral...she was an unimaginable angel (must've been an easy role for CvH in that respect), and the very definition of Deserved (Infinitely) Better. She deserves someone who loves her fully and would never once resent her, or act as if caring for her is a chore that she's lucky they're willing to do. It's understandable that a caretaker couldn't be at her side at absolutely every single moment, and that a spouse would need to escape occasionally-but never into the arms and bed of another. Rose turns out to be an equally despicable person, believing there's some validity to her affair and actually attempting to guilt Stijn for being apart from her, aware that he has a young daughter and a severely ill wife.
I feel a desperate need to rewrite this film to include a self-insert sort of role--that of poor Carmen's bff, who berates that dirtbag for his adulterous ways, kicks his cheating rear to the curb, and takes such excellent care of her that she survives. (Carmen may accept his behavior but she does not--especially while her friend is ill.) Just flood her with pure, unparalleled love and support. He was never worthy. Maybe he'll learn something from the experience and become a changed man; maybe not. The new character will be what Carmen deserved, bringing her to and from the hospital and staying with her and taking care of her and making sure *everything* possible is done to save her, as well as making sure Carmen knows how loved she is. (Of course it must end with remission and finding a faithful, totally committed man who knows how to love somebody and is worthy of her. ^^ Yay! There we go. Good stuff. I can feel my soul reconstituting as we speak.)
Jackie (2012)
No mere chick flick
What a beautiful, affecting story. Twin sisters from Holland, raised by gay fathers, travel to the US to help out the injured birth mother they've never met. One is serious, uptight, hardworking, career-obsessed; she has issues to work out with the misogynistic, belittling boss who undervalues her. The other is sunny, fun-loving, optimistic, family-oriented; she has issues to work out with her controlling, infantilizing husband. (Yeah, a bit of a Twilight Sparkle/Pinkie Pie dynamic.) The former has never let herself waste time wondering about their "womb," while the latter has always had a bit of an obsession with her visions of their American hippie mom. Yes, there are rotten male characters (on top of the boss and husband, the sisters get assaulted by a despicable group of men outside a tavern), but they're balanced by good ones, and the movie doesn't shove any ham-fisted or misandrist messages down your throat. It's 'feminist,' not obnoxious.
The film is carried by excellent performances from the three leading ladies. Carice is truly an extraordinary gem every single time--she's impossibly beautiful AND irresistibly adorable ("cuteiful," I daresay), crazy-good at acting and emoting, graceful, dainty, etc. Her natural wide-eyed innocence and vulnerability can also seep into a character just enough to render her more sympathetic in moments where perhaps the same role, filled by another actress, might not be. Everything she's in is simply so much better than it would be without her. Jelka holds her own alongside her sister and Holly. And Holly? Is every bit as great as you'd naturally anticipate, in the role of the mother who's definitely not what anyone expects. I found myself wondering whether these characters might in any way connect with the van Houtens' real-life personalities and relationship.
It's a journey of self-discovery, bonding, learning, love, and growth, and things develop quite interestingly as we learn more and more of Jackie. The drama is amped up by such debacles as running out of gas in the middle of the desert, a terrifying snakebite, being attacked by rapists, the sisters' personal problems, and so on, while the end takes an unforeseen turn. I'd have liked it if both sisters got to do karaoke, since Carice sings wonderfully as well, but that's not an inherent quibble with the script, which gave Sofie her own rewards. (And I will say that Jelka's voice is particularly well-suited to country.)
This is also the kind of film whose glorious scenery and RV theme spark in me nostalgia for family vacations and road trips, and stoke my own sense of wanderlust. It's gorgeous and should definitely be on people's watchlists.
Cinderella III: A Twist in Time (2007)
Better than expected.
The box claims it's got "more magic, wonder, and suspense than the original"--I knew there was no way that could be. But like Cinderella II, this "midquel" of sorts is semi-enjoyable, and not a TOTAL atrocity.
Now to put a time frame on Twist, understand that it starts a year after Cinderella has married the Prince. Lady Tremaine magically rewinds time to the moment when the Grand Duke shows up with the glass slipper in the first film. Thus the first segment of II, starting right after Cinderella's honeymoon, has already happened in the beginning of Twist, but time is then rewound; the third segment with Anastasia and the Baker happens entirely after Twist; and the second segment, which was the stupid little story about the mice, is completely irrelevant. Got that?
It becomes pretty clear, really. So in Twist, they have built on the second one instead of ignoring it, as I had expected them to do. At least, Twist has an original plot. With the exception of Jacques & Gus' song, and the one at the end, the music in Twist is lame. The whole movie still has that "I'm not even going to try to live up to my original" sequel feel. The animation, while it looks good overall, is actually horrible upon close inspection—so horrible, in fact, that it's absolutely hilarious. I mean, usually I have to slow down and pause the movie to see all the hysterically funny individual frames of the characters, but in this one, I saw amazingly exaggerated, hideous, hilarious things go right by on the screen, though we were obviously not supposed to notice.
Depth is added to certain characters; we meet the King's Queen (albeit in paintings), and discover a truly romantic side to the goofy King. The Prince, instead of being a personality-free, rhino-hating, long-eyelashed nobody like he was in II, is now a really nice, humble, long-eyelashed main character with a less formal and more modern attitude. It's a bit ridiculous, but so is everything else and it makes for some great lines and expressions. What depth there is in this film comes mostly at the part where Cinderella's walking aboard the ship to be banished. Cindy also ends up having to be kind of tough, escape danger, protect Anastasia from a spell aimed at her by her own mother, and foil the diabolical plans of Lady Tremaine involving Anastasia as a 'Twinderella.'
I felt as if they were combining elements from other Disney films, like Tarzan, Beauty & the Beast, The Lion King, and The Little Mermaid. I mean, when the King was showing Stacy the Kingdom I expected him to warn her against going to the elephant graveyard. Since we know Stacy's going to find true love with a baker, we can see why she's portrayed sympathetically from the start. Drizella spends the movie making wisecracks and it seems that she's too greedy and attached to her mum to take the step towards redemption that Stacy has, but she's fully capable of it. It's a bit disturbing to hear Lady Tremaine say "Bibbidi bobbidi boo" so much, but she does, and Stacy lets her talk her into all kinds of trickery before getting her lesson about true love (that it's the most powerful kind of magic there is, that her mom doesn't get it, blah blah.) She finds out she wants true love, but she's not going to get it from the Prince, and she winds up refusing to split him up with Cindy.
The humorous parts: Well, as always the Grand Duke and King are outrageously funny. Now, the Prince is pretty funny himself. Drizella is a repulsive pig (in more than one way—watch her face when Tremaine brushes her hair, please) and Stacy is the worst dancer in the world.
OK, the one thing that angered me about Twist was the one character I really liked from the second one, the one I thought saved it and made it any good. I was, admittedly, pleasantly shocked to see that she'd made it into this movie at all. But Holland Taylor's voice talent was pretty much wasted and it's almost as if they shouldn't have included Prudence at all. I mean, she is drawn completely differently and looks incredibly weird now. Her eyes are no longer green. She disappears before the movie is half over, and doesn't interact with anyone but Cindy. She had basically no purpose and was nowhere near as cool as in the second one. I can only say it was neat to see her in the castle before the time of the second movie. Additionally she revealed that she's supervised for 30 years, offering a clue to how old she is. But anyway, the best couple by far in Dreams Come True was her and the Grand Duke. I didn't expect any more character development in Twist, after all, it's before the point where she dances with him and we see that she's not exactly as she appears to be. It's just that..I don't know, I wanted something more than the absurd scenes they gave her. It's no coincidence that the King threw her onto the Grand Duke at the royal banquet, in that segment it's pretty obvious in the beginning that he and Prudence like each other and do a bit of flirting. I thought we'd at least see them together in one of the portraits at the end. I certainly didn't expect them to be married and having kids or anything because again, this is before they actually hooked up. But, still
I felt Prue was dreadfully underutilized and didn't meet her potential.
Except for the shameful things like that, Twist was worth a watch or two.
1,000-word limit? Bah. I had more to add. Just see entry 57948 on Quittikat's LiveJournal for it.
Babe: Pig in the City (1998)
So good.
Arthur Hoggett is injured within the first few minutes of this movie and is MIA for the rest of it. This turns out not to be so bad after allat least, not for the audience. Because now, Esme gets to take center stage and have her own movie with the little pig. And that's great because she is a bubbly, fun character. She's lively, feisty, motherly, aggressive, honest, righteous, a little gullible, and sweet. She sets out with Babe to save the farm from the bank but unfortunately, they never even reach their destinationand all the action plays out in a strange city where they're stranded and forced to find a place to stay.
Babe gets mixed up with a variety of city animals, some much more pleasant than others, and through all of their escapades, scary, sad, or otherwise, he ultimately winds up teaching the whole lot of them the lessons about simple kindness and courage that we know Babe is already famous for. He brings everyone together with his cute piggy power and by the end, heals both the hurting farm back home and the worlds of those living in the cold and dangerous city. And for those willing to look, the messages of this whimsical, strange film go even deeper.
There are far fewer human characters than animals, but they too are well worth meeting. Esme befriends the slightly eccentric young woman who owns the only hotel around this whole insensitive city that welcomes animals. She's a thin, nervous, timid girl with a tender heart, who cares for her mysterious Uncle Fugly (in the Big Five personality types, I figure her for a definite RLOAN and Esme likely an SLUAI.) All we really know about *him* is that he has a troupe of performing monkeys and he entertains ill children as a clownhe also has a speech problem and his niece is the only one who can understand his mumbles. Kind of like Kenny. (I half expect someone to say to Babe, "OMG! You killed Fugly! You -------!") His death comes before we find out much more, but it is a pretty pivotal event. BTW, I've noticed so many errors in these reviews from people who obviously saw the film once, didn't pay careful enough attention, and forgot or messed up details. Like, why is there a question of whether Fugly dies or not--don't you remember his niece saying "...my Uncle Fugly on his deathbed?" There ya go.
At any rate, the film only has one true villainHortense, the nasty lady who lives across the street from the hotel and is responsible for having all the strays Babe's brought in for sanctuary taken away in a very cruel manner. The landlady had tried to create a safe haven for animals and friends, but ultimately found that she could not do that in this cutthroat city. Of course, the finale is a heroic rescue scene in which everyone does their part. It involves Esme bouncing around for quite some time and ruining a very fancy dinner party in Fugly's old inflatable costume, which is the only thing she can wear after her own dress has been destroyed by former chaos. Among many, many other things, Babe saves two newborn chimpanzees and earns the respect of an old, embittered orangutan who ends up transferring his loyalty to Fugly, onto Esme.
For all of the darkness this movie's accused of, it has a happy ending if I ever saw one. By the end, Esme and the landlady have clearly bonded; they work out a deal for the future that is perfect for both of them. They rent out the hotel (and it becomes the loud and obnoxious Dancelands, which should please Hortense even more than living across from a menagerie of vacationing animals). The money saves the Hoggett farm. All of the animals, from the monkeys to the poor assortment of down and out, needy strays who showed up to take advantage of Babe's hospitality to the landlady's pets to the random hotel animals who I guess have just been abandoned by their people and now need to be placed, move to the countryside and take up with the farm animals (at least for a while.) Miss Floom, the hotel landlady, now has nowhere to go-but Esme isn't about to leave her all alone. She brings her home and, I gather, practically adopts her as well, on the peaceful farm--a place to which she is infinitely better suited. From the ending I gather that she's now living either with or near Esme and Arthur, filling the role of the sort of daughter they never had (given how distant and disconnected the Hoggetts are from their own child in the first film, and what a wretched brat their granddaughter is.) Reading such things into the movie makes me appreciate it all the more; as different as it is from its predecessor, it enriches it a great deal.
I have to say that Babe: Pig in the City is one of the finest sequels I've ever watched. I get new things out of it on every single viewing.