Inklings // January 2025

 Hi, friends!

How are you all doing? Right now I would be very involved in school except I'm sick (don't worry, I've been watching BBC's Pride & Prejudice so I'll be well in no time). 

Instead, I'm going to join in Heidi's Inklings! I haven't been able to participate since August and while I've come up with ideas for the other prompts I never got around to post them. To start off the year strong I'm linking up today with the activities!

How it works:

    1. At any time during the month, on your own blog post a scene from a book or film that matches the prompt, including a link back to the original post in your post.

    2. Leave a link to your post in the comments section of the monthly post and she'll post all your links with the next prompt.

Click HERE to see all of my past entries, and click HERE to see all of the entries for this month! January is kicking off with the following prompt:

A scene at sunrise

I originally had a different scene in mind, but I couldn't get rid of the nagging feeling that there was a scene with character A showing character B something at sunrise. And I became very attached to whatever scene this was. With perseverance, I finally thought of it!

My pick for this month is a scene from The Book of Life (2014), which has the bonus of being animated and sunrise art is lovely.

I love this movie in more ways than is probably healthy.

Spoiler alert: this scene happens about 60% of the way through, so while there is still a lot more fun that happens afterwards (I'm stopping talking about it right before drama goes down), if you haven't seen this movie you might want to skip this post. Or you can enjoy the gorgeously animated pictures. It's your choice.

Manolo asked Maria to meet him at the bridge and when she gets there she finds a path of candles. The beginning notes of a song float through the air as the walk across the bridge is accompanied by "Can't Help Falling in Love" performed by Diego Luna's gentle voice.

What Manolo wanted to show Maria is how the first rays of light make San Angel glitter. 

"What you're feeling, that's how I feel every time I'm with you..." 

And then everything goes downhill. Good times.

Thanks to Heidi for hosting! Has anyone else seen this movie? Are there other animated movies that you love for their sunrise illustrations? Are there other movies where characters show each other the sunrise?

Thanks for reading!

Chloe the MovieCritic

Inklings // June 2024

Greetings, friends!

I hope you're having a good June in all accounts! I'm closing out this month with filling out the prompt from Heidi's Inklings!

How it works:

    1. At any time during the month, on your own blog post a scene from a book or film that matches the prompt, including a link back to the original post in your post.

    2. Leave a link to your post in the comments section of the monthly post and she'll post all your links with the next prompt.

Click HERE to see all of my past entries, and click HERE to see all of the entries for this month! That second link is where she gave the following prompt:

An archery scene in book or film

Which, mwahaha, if you don't know, archery is one of my favorite things EVER. I've been obsessed with Robin Hood since I was about 6. Archery is the reason Hawkeye is my favorite Avenger and Legolas is my favorite of the Fellowship. So, of course, I immediately wanted to do a scene from Robin Hood but the problem is...there are a lot of versions. Including both film/tv show adaptations and books, I have 10+ versions under my belt.

To shake things up then, we're going with one of my favorite Pixar movies. Which claims a spot because ARCHERY. 

My pick is from the movie Brave (2012). This scene happens early on in the film and could possibly be called the inciting incident? I won't talk about spoilers for the rest of the film.

First, some context and the set-up: Three clans come with their first born sons to compete for the hand of Merida, the daughter of Lord Fergus. Merida is less than thrilled about these Highland games until she learns that she gets to choose the sport that these three lads will compete in.

Ahem.

Now onto the scene itself.

Fergus: "It's time."

Elinor: "Archers, to your marks!"

Fergus: "Aye, archers to-to-to your marks!

Elinor: "And may the lucky arrow find it's target."

While Elinor is saying this, Merida grins, looking at her own arrows as she subtly kicks them farther under her chair. We see each of the archers step up while the crowd reacts.

Fergus: "Oi, get on with it!"

The first archer---the son of MacGuffin---barely pulls back on the string and the arrow almost misses the target.

Merida, to her father: "I bet he wishes he was tossing capers."

Fergus: "Or holding up bridges."

Both chuckle. Elinor slaps at them for not taking this seriously.

Next archer---son of Lord Macintosh---is super dramatic with getting ready. Complete with hair flip and everything. 

It's a nice shot, but it doesn't quite hit the red. Which leads to a bit of a meltdown.

Lord Macintosh: "At least you hit the target!"

Young Macintosh starts screaming and wacking the bow on the ground.

Merida: "Oh, that's attractive."

Young Macintosh throws the bow over the crowd and people wait when it disappears until a hand pops up with a voice saying. "Got it!" and the crowd cheers again.

Merida: "Good arm."

Fergus: "And such lovely, flowing locks."

Elinor: "Fergus!"

Fergus: "What?"

The final archer---son of Lord Dingwall---pours out his whole quiver while trying to get one arrow.

Every time he points it at the target the arrow drifts away. 

The king finally has enough. 

Fergus: "Oh come on! SHOOT!"

The boy looks in surprise at Fergus as he lets go. The arrow hits the middle of the target. 

There's some celebration of crude types. Elinor and Fergus are staring wide-eyed. 

Fergus: "Well, that's just grand now. Guess who's coming to dinner?" (Which I just realized could be a reference)

Elinor: "Fergus!"

Fergus: "By the way, I hope you don't might being called Lady---" 

He looks over to meet the face of a dog instead of his daughter.

Merida: "I am Merida, first born descendant of clan Dunbroch."

Elinor: *stands up, muttering* "What are you doing?"

Merida tries to shoot but she's having trouble with the dress she was jammed into.

Elinor: "Merida!"

Merida: "Curse this dress!"

Elinor: "Merida, stop this!" 

The queen hurries down off the dais but isn't able to stop her daughter.

Elinor: "Don't you dare release another arrow."

Elinor: "Merida! I forbid it!"

Talk about epic. As you can guess with the movie poster, there's a lot of archery in this film but this scene is my favorite. Top tier archery is splitting an arrow.

Though, should we count how many times Elinor says the names of her husband and daughter?

Thanks to Heidi for hosting this! Thanks to all of you for reading this! What is your favorite scene in this movie? Have you ever called someone "wee lamb"? (I'm totally going to start that now)

Chloe the MovieCritic

Movie Review: The Pirates! Band of Misfits (2012)

 Ahoy, mates!

Step aboard my ship as I write out this review! We will be waging war with the high seas, so hold on and enjoy!

My guarantee: On ALL of my reviews there are NO spoilers unless I give you warning. This is spoiler free!


The Pirates! Band of Misfits (2012):

Also known as The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!
Based on: The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! - by Gideon Defoe.
The Pirates are happy with their rooting and plundering, except they haven’t had any luck lately. No matter, as they have more important things to attend to, like the Pirate of the Year competition which they hope the Pirate Captain will win! Their chances are looking slim next to the others, so they decide to get more gold to show how impressive they are. After looting a ship that turns out to be only a science expedition they run into Charles Darwin who recognizes the Pirate’s “parrot” to be a dodo! He makes the case that Polly could gain him back some prestige in the Scientist of the Year awards. The Pirates agree to help him in order to get enough gold to win the Pirate of the Year competition. Everything seems to be going well, but is the tide about the turn?

Genres: Animated, Adventure, Claymation.
Length: approx. 88 minutes.
Script: 9, blast! I can’t remember if there were any bad words and swearing or not. I’m giving this a tentative score of 9 because of that.
Crew: Directed by: Peter Lord & Jeff Newitt. Written by: Gideon Defoe.
Starring the voices of:
Hugh Grant as The Pirate Captain.

Martin Freeman, Brendan Gleeson, Russell Tovey, Anton Yelchin, Ashley Jensen, Al Roker, & Ben Whitehead as his crew.

David Tennant as Charles Darwin.
Imelda Staunton as Queen Victoria.
Jeremy Piven as Black Bellamy.
Salma Hayek as Cutlass Liz.
Brian Blessed as The Pirate King.
Lenny Henry as Peg Leg Hastings.
Mike Cooper as Admiral Collingwood.
David Schneider as Scarlett Morgan.
Tom Doggart, Sophie Jerrold, Sophie Laughton, Peter Lord, Kayvan Novak, & David Schaal provide additional voices.
Costumes: 6, there is a time when someone is sitting in a bathtub but not wearing anything for a few minutes and though we don’t see anything, it’s still inappropriate and not particularly funny. There are low costumes, too.
Animation: 9, I’m partial to claymation so I like it a lot. I think it’s a unique and fun style! I like how all of the characters were made to look.

Animation by: Aardman Animations.
Music: 6, not “bad” but not memorable in any way. It does capture the “piraty feel” in places.
Music by: Theodore Shapiro.
Quotability: 7, nothing really comes to mind except this:

“It’s treacherous villainy! It’s villainous treachery!”

Content: 6, there is crude humor involving pirates, drinking, suggestive things, and killing. I thought it was a little vulgar in places, but from what I read of the book (2/3) it is tame. It’s mostly suitable for kids, who are the main audience.
Originality: 8, I wouldn’t go overboard and say I’ve never seen anything like it, but there are some fun elements.
Good For: anyone who likes claymation, families.
Age Range: I’d say the range for this movie is about from 8 up, but when you get to a certain age you might just be bored of it, which is understandable. It depends on the person.
Overall Score: 7.

Worth watching?: Yes, actually! You might’ve thought that this review was going downhill, but there was a kernel of gold hidden within. It had a really good message which I’ll talk about that more in a minute.
Will I watch again?: If I had nothing else to do, then maybe. Or if I was sick. Actually, this seems like it would be a very good movie to watch if you are ill because it will make you laugh and feel better!


For the blogathon:
This is my second entry in Hamlette’s We ❤ Pirates Week! You won’t want to miss plundering the list of participants HERE. 

I’d had notes on this movie for awhile so when Hamlette announced it I jumped aboard ship immediately!


I had originally planned to review the book, too, and compare the two, but 2/3 into the audiobook I gave up because I couldn’t stand it anymore. You see, it’s just that I highly dislike satire. I have a really hard time understanding it and that is not my kind of humor at all. My sister said, “I told you so.”

I had gone into the book expecting it to be a fun and cute romp with pirates like the movie but instead was given nothing but cruelty and parody and satire. Not my kind of thing at all. From what I read, the plots hardly matched up! Therefore I was surprised by this little introduction from the Pirate Captain:

“...You see, there’s a good chance that in your more enlightened times of hover boards and A-semetrical haircuts, a daring theatrical impresario will have decided to adapt my exciting adventure with scientists into some sort of morion picture to be exhibited at your local zoetrope club. Probably, you will notice how the motion picture contains a number of differences from the book you are now listening to. I would like to reassure you that this is not because of any sinister plot to rewrite history, it’s simply that certain things are better suited to the page than to the inside of a spinning metal drum. For example, it may be that the villain in said motion picture is Queen Victoria rather than the diabolical bishop of Oxford...

“...And perhaps the motion picture contains an entire plot to do with me owning a dodo, which is obviously a ridiculous and unlikely flight of fancy. Though I would very much like to own a dodo instead of our idiot parrot, Gary, who is frankly, a nuisance. But, rest assured, that in both zoetrope display and book, my beard is still luxuriant, Black Bellamy is still a fiend with eyes of the darkest pitch, and there’s still a good bit where a chimpanzee gets dressed up in a waistcoat, and most importantly, at no point does anybody mistakenly think it is somehow inherently funny to “talk like a pirate”....”

The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! - by Gideon Defoe.

I couldn’t fathom how this little note could be so accurate to something that was so different. The answer: Gideon Defoe, the author of the book, also wrote the screenplay. I’m very pleased with all of the changes that he made, which is such a rare thing for me to say.

If you haven’t experienced either then you might wonder why I’m so surprised so I’ll explain. The book is supposed to be full of humor for the sake of humor. It showed pirates as resembling real pirates with killing and cruelty willy-nilly. That’s not what I want to talk about, as this is Hamlette’s We ❤ Pirates Week! We want to talk about why we like them!

So why do we like pirates, and does that change from the book to the movie for any reason?

Yes, it does change. In the book it’s all about what the next adventure is, whereas the message of this movie is family. None of the pirates are actually related, but they are a crew and work together through it all. I think that is one of the many charms fictional pirates bring us, a camaraderie to bring them through the hardest storms.

“What is the best part of being a pirate?” Well, that’s exactly what is answered in this movie. Maybe memories and companionship are the real gold.


Thanks to Hamlette for hosting! Make sure to check out the participants HERE.

Thanks for reading! Has anyone else seen this? What is your favorite claymation movie? Why do you think that we like pirates so much?

MovieCritic

Movie Review: Ratatouille (2007)

Good February day to you, readers!

Today is February 2nd, a day commonly thought of with an animal mascot. Iʼm going to review a movie about that very same animal, the rat!

Just joking, thatʼs my little sense of humor kicking in. Today is Groundhog Day, not Rat day, yet I am still choosing the rat. Iʼm sorry, one year I will actually focus on the groundhog! For now, there is a method to my madness. We are coming to the end of a year. I know that youʼre thinking Iʼm a little late to the game (youʼre not wrong), but the year that Iʼm referring to is the Lunar New Year! This was the Year of the Rat, and on February 12th we will enter the Year of the Ox. I am by no means an expert, but I thought that reviewing a movie with a rat would be a fun thing to do and I could connect it back in!

Did I mention that one of these rats cook? If that sounds odd to you, then keep reading.

My guarantee: On ALL of my reviews there are NO spoilers unless I give you warning. This is 100% spoiler-free! Reading this wonʼt give away the ending or any of the twists!

Ratatouille (2007):

“Whatʼs my problem? First off, Iʼm a rat.”

Remy is different from the other rats because he values what he eats. Food calls to him in a special way that no one else understands, not even his big brother Emile, though Remy tells all of this to him anyway. When their colony is found out Remy gets separated from the other rats and is alone in Paris. He pretends that he is talking to his favorite chef who gives him advice. After an encounter with a human, Linguini, they are both in a tough position. Together they realize which one of them can cook and which one canʼt. They come up with plan, a crazy one, but will it work? The sous-chef Skinner is suspicious of them, but can they avoid detection while Linguini keeps his job and Remy gets to fill his dream?

“Anyone can cook!”

Genre: Animated, Family.

Length: approx. 111 minutes.

Script: 9, I wrote down that there is one bad word, but itʼs not notable.

Crew: Directed by: Brad Bird & Jan Pinkava. Written by: Brad Bird, Jan Pinkava, Jim Capobianco, Emily Cook, Kathy Greenberg, & Bob Peterson.

Starring the voices of:

“We are artists, pirates!”

Patton Oswalt as Remy. “A cook makes, a thief takes.”

Lou Romano as Alfredo Linguini.

Ian Holm as Skinner.

Peter O'Toole as Anton Ego.

Janeane Garofalo as Colette.

Peter Sohn as Emile.

Brian Dennehy as Django.

Brad Garrett as Gusteau.

Will Arnett as Horst.

Julius Callahan as Lalo & Francois.

James Remar as Larousse.

John Ratzenberger as Mustafa.

Teddy Newton as Lawyer.

Tony Fucile as Pompidou & Health Inspector.

Brad Bird as Ambrister Minion.

Stéphane Roux as TV Narrator.

Costumes: N/A, itʼs animated and everyone is wearing standard clothing or cooking uniforms, so it doesnʼt count. If I was being picky (which I usually am but am not feeling like it today), I would say that there is one scene where someone isnʼt wearing a shirt. 

Animation: 10! Pixar almost without a doubt always receives a 10 for this category. They specialize in creating these masterpieces which have outstanding stories, but are carried so well through stunning animation. The rats arenʼt gross, but the way they are drawn gives them character! Also, all of the people are really unique. But, my favorite aspect goes beyond this. Have you ever wondered what "taste" looks like? This movie gave the feeling of tasting food a visual!

Animation by: Pixar animation studios.

Music: 10, again, absolutely marvelous. This story all happens in France and that is woven in the music really, really well!

Music by: Michael Giacchino (heʼs a genius!).

Quotability: 10! I wrote down really random things as my notes, but that goes to show you that this whole movie is chockfull off good lines. One that my sister says to me all the time (with the perfect accent!) is:

“Should I be concerned about this? About you?”

Notes: Chef Thomas Keller was consulted during the making of this film and came up with the recipe for the famous ratatouille dish. My family has made it and it is delicious. This movie also has bonus features of a Pixar short (Lifted) , and another short called My Friend the Rat, so stick around for those.

Oscars won: 1: Best Animated Feature Film.

Content: 8, there are dead rats, stealing, death, a suggestive line, kissing, and a scene where someone is intoxicated (one of the funniest scenes, but I digress). I won't reveal all of the scene, but one of my favorite lines is, "If you're gonna name a food, you should give it a name that sounds delicious.", and everything that comes before and after.

Originality: 10! This is one of the most unique plots that Iʼve ever seen, yet it works. Itʼs incredible. A rat who wants to cook? I love it so much. It shows you what itʼs like to have a passion for creating and to go after your dream! It is beautiful.

ʻ“Yeah, it was as bad as we remembered.  It just went out."

“Did you taste it?”

"Yeah, of course. Before he changed it."'

Good For: Anyone who is alone, anyone who loves food, families, anyone with big dreams.

Age Range: This is perfectly acceptable for all ages. As a bonus, from young to old anyone will probably love this! It is relatable to all ages and has good messages, not just for kids.

Overall Score: 9.5!

Worth watching?: I have never regretted watching this movie in all the times that Iʼve seen it. It never gets old and I always get something new out of it, whether itʼs understanding the story more, appreciating the animation or score, or finding new lines to quote on a daily basis.

Will I watch again?: This is one of my sisterʼs favorite movies, so definitely. I canʼt tell you how many times Iʼve already seen it, and I canʼt tell you how many times I will see it again!

Bonus thoughts:

“If you focus on what youʼve left behind you will never be able to go ahead.” 

Pixar creates wonderful and magical films. Something that I love about this movie is how it takes place in the real world. We see everything from Remyʼs perspective as heʼs our narrator and we see him talking to other rats, but he canʼt talk to humans. Every once in a while it switches for one second to a humanʼs point of view and all we hear from the rats are squeaks. Something about that communication barrier adds to it and makes you almost believe that something like this could happen. Could animals have dreams of greatness like we do?

I love all of the characters! Colette is amazing. If you ever wondered it there is a fictional character who I am like, it's Linguini, with a dash of Emile. Probably more than a dash. Remy is the perfect character to root for! Anton Ego is iconic. The whole time when I last watched it I kept really hearing Peter O'Toole's voice distinctly and kept telling that to my sisters. They would then tell me that they knew that. The characters are all so well rounded, not a single one is lacking in any way!

Like all Pixar movies, the messages are what hit home. Watching this you know that everyone has a job that is important, and no one is "just a garbage boy".

Fin

Thank you for reading! Have any of you seen this movie? What about any other movies involving rats? Favorite cooking film? Enjoy six more weeks of winter!

MovieCritic