The Hundred-Foot Journey is a wonderful film that shows that while we as nations and races may still be divided, we can come together in a great many ways. One of those is a very simple one – food. Hassan Kadam has one passion and goal in life: to cook. Playing an important role in his life, his mother was responsible for teaching his to smell, taste, and prepare the ingredients. His family’s restaurant was quite famous, and brought a great many people to their tables because of traditional culinary masterpieces. Yet a political upheaval resulted in riots, and the restaurant was left in the wake of the resulting madness.…
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Off the Shelf…’Muppets Most Wanted’
There are few things human beings simply cannot live without – food, water, shelter and, every few years or so, a Muppet movie. While we were weren’t entirely fond of the gang’s last outing, this sequel is the sure-fire jolt to the funny bone fans have been patiently waiting for. More credit where it’s due, director James Bobin worked out all the kinks and seems to know where to take things from here on in. To quote a certain frog, Yaaay!!! The Muppets are a very self-aware bunch which, among a laundry list of criteria, is part of their charm. As such, the film starts right on the heels…
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Off the Shelf…Disney’s ‘The Pirate Fairy’
Walt Disney Home Entertainment’s The Pirate Fairy is another excellent installment in the Disney Fairy series. Whether or not you have enjoyed any of the previous Tinker Bell movies, you are really in for a treat with this installment. The Pirate Fairy is the best of the Disney Fairy series to date. It’s difficult to know what to expect in a title that is released directly to video. Yet this latest fantasy based offering from the Mouse House is a pleasant surprise – you probably won’t expect how enjoyable this little film is. Watching it with young ones will easily prompt a repeat viewing and this has enough charm that…
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Off the Shelf…’Saving Mr. Banks’
A spoonful of sugar, as they say, helps the medicine go down. In the case of Saving Mr. Banks, John Lee Hancock needn’t any help coaxing people to eat up his charming quasi-biopic. But still, that idea of needing something to sort of grease the rails to get a job done really captures the spirit and the idea of the entire film itself and does make the film so much more palatable. On the surface it’s fun to see the crotchety British writer thumb her nose at Disney’s candy-coated empire, but there’s so much more to it than that. Now Saving Mr. Banks, despite the appeal and allure of one Walt Disney (played…
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Off the Shelf…’Frozen’
Awards season sure was kind to Walt Disney’s Frozen and that’s because it is so deserving of all the praise. This clever and hilarious throwback to the princess films of the past was a huge hit in theaters but it also managed to snag some praiseworthy Oscars for “Best Animated Film” but also “Best Original Song” at the 86th Annual Academy Awards. Chris Buck’s endlessly delightful film really helps carry the torch for the studio’s new direction while staying true to the Disney legacy. Tangled and Wreck-It Ralph, even Bolt to some degree, were solid attempts at Disney getting into the CG game but Frozen has shown the world that…
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Off the Shelf…’The Jungle Book’
If you were to peek into the famous “Disney Vault” you might be overwhelmed with the plethora of titles the Mouse House has to its name. Moreover, a cross-section of the legendary studio reveals a myriad of success and skill at spinning and reworking all manner of titles ranging from Shakespeare to Hans Christian Andersen to The Brothers Grimm. With more than 50 features (more if you count their various labels and distribution arms) The Walt Disney Company, simply put, is king of animated interpretations and adaptations. 1967’s The Jungle Book is a feature inspired by Rudyard Kipling’s book of the same name. It is one of their older titles,…
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Off the Shelf…’The Fifth Estate’
Bill Condon’s first post-Twilight film bites off more than it can chew, but it’s difficult to say whether that’s because of the subject matter – being the origins and rise of both Wikileaks and its controversial founder, Julian Assange – or because of the production’s unavoidable biopic bent; even at the tender age of only seven (which amounts to light years on the web), Wikileaks can already claim a rich, storied, complex history, so much so that two hours feels scarcely enough to scratch the surface of its conception or paint more than a sketch of Assange. So where, then, does The Fifth Estate go wrong? Like so many biopics,…
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Off the Shelf…’Drug War’
Should Johnnie To’s name hold no special meaning for you, consider correcting that immediately by introducing yourself to the veteran Chinese filmmaker’s work through Drug War. Apart from being handily available through Netflix’s Instant service, the film happens to be great, so strong in fact that it arguably holds a position of high honor in his decades-long career; it’s a combined symbol of his talent and vitality, and one of the most ruthless films of 2013 that you probably missed. (In the interest of full disclosure, I only caught up on Drug War myself following New Year’s, but man do I wish I’d seen it before December’s voting deadline.) Drug…
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Off the Shelf…’Starter For 10′ (Not-So-Secret Santa Edition, #2)
(Note: as with my vicious, no-holds-barred takedown of the appallingly bad Showdown in Little Tokyo, this Off the Shelf entry is extra special. That’s because it’s also part of the Cinematic Katzenjammer’s Not-So-Secret Santa Swap blogathon, which this time around is a bit more seasonally appropriate. For my swap, I was given the chance to talk about Starter For 10, a movie which did not make me want to pour boiling gravy into my eyes; it’s charming and fun, plus it has all the British people in it. Thanks to the illustrious Nick Powell for setting this whole thing up.) You’ve probably seen Starter For 10 before. By that I…
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Off the Shelf…’Frances Ha’
Culturally, Frances Ha almost feels like Noah Baumbach issuing a challenge to all listless twenty-somethings stubbornly fixated on spending their time finding themselves: get found already, dammit. Throughout his career, Baumbach has showcased a knack for capturing the unbearable sensation of being emotionally unmoored, and across his entire filmography, Frances Ha – lyrical, succinct, rapturously authentic – may display that talent better than the rest. Think of it as a quartet of Girls episodes mashed together into an eighty minute bonanza of comic incident, if you must; the film is set in New York, and focuses on the travails of a young, white, up and coming female struggling to make her dreams come…
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Off the Shelf…’Monsters University’
In the prequel to Pete Docter’s monster hit (yes, pun very much intended) Monsters, Inc. this new story takes us back to the beginning, to a time before Mike Wazowski and James P. Sullivan were the very best of friends. It’s an interesting decision to take to expand on the mythology of this world but also one of the smartest moves the studio could have made. Going the prequel route (the first for Pixar) allows them to expand on and explore more of the film’s most lovable characters. Now for a studio devoted to and known for innovation and originality to take a step back might seem odd or like they’ve…
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Off the Shelf…’The Little Mermaid’
Walt Disney Studios can stake their claim on a myriad of things, one of which is having some of the very best Blu-Ray transfers out there. Adding to their growing list of re-released classics getting the HD treatment is The Little Mermaid. This adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen‘s iconic and timeless story is one of the studio’s gems and nearly defines what it means to be Disney – it’s colorful, creative, engaging, emotional, funny, fanciful and perfect for fans of just about any age. Many times, Disney pics are near Herculean productions that necessitate the skill of not one but a duo of directors at the helm. Enter Ron Clements…
