Stream of the Week- Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

There are so many things to do and problems to fix within the span of a normal day. Well, I suppose for most people there aren't too many problems, but most people are not Delysia Lafosse.

Miss Pettigrew is an out of work governess who stumbles upon the job of social secretary to Miss Delysia Lafosse. In her first meeting of Delysia, Pettigrew finds herself quickly thrown into helping solve many of Lafosse's problems by helping cover up the comings and goings of her lovers. Delysia has the odd problem of being involved with three men for three very different reasons. There's Nick, who owns the flat you see, and Philip who is some sort of producer or other, and then there's Michael the passionate pianist. Delysia sees opportunity in each of these men and uses her charm to get what she wants and needs out of them, while simultaneously pushing away the ones she really loves. Her flippant nature and immature behavior quickly land her in the worst sort of troubles, which Miss Pettigrew handles with ease as she gives the best advice she has to young Delysia. Along the way she is asked to interfere with another affair between one of Delysia's friends and her fiancé, Joe. Miss Pettigrew does as she is told, but in the end will not stand for the games played in love, when she knows how short and sacred life is.

Delysia is a sensational character who you want to constantly be around and then scold all at once. She is careless and quite unrestrained, but underneath her girly appearances she is a heartfelt larger than life character who really just wants to be loved and important. Amy Adams plays Delysia in a most beautiful and fun way. This may be my favorite part she has played thus far. Miss Pettigrew in contrast is very sensible and moral in her ways. She knows what is right, and though she is sometimes daft she always seems to know when to use her knowledge to help. The two girls combined put on a fun whirlwind of a show which can suck an audience right into London with them.


All of Miss Pettigrew's adventures take place in the span of merely a day. All their loves and triumphs, failings and misfortunes all happen within the span of a day. It brings into question the true quality of one's life. Are we wasting our days if we do not accomplish as much as two silly London girls do in 24 hours? Watch. Learn. Love.

Capture of Culture- The Elephant in the Living Room

We live in a world where everything is readily available to those with the money for it. Do you want a pet lion? We can get you one of those. Do you want a 14 foot anaconda? I've got one out back for ya. We consume, we want, and we take. That's how the world works, and as a free nation I think perhaps us Americans take such liberties too far and endanger the lives of those around us.


There is an entire subculture that deals in the buying, selling, and raising of exotic animals as pets. The Elephant in the Living Room explores both the emotional attachment that owners cultivate with these pets, and the implications of these animals escaping from their homes. This documentary takes the viewer to Ohio where we meet both Terry and Tim. Terry owns two full grown lions named Lambert and Lacie. He's raised Lambert from cub to full grown male and has had Lacie for 3 years to be a companion for Lambert. Though they seem tame to Terry, these lions have the power and ability to kill anyone on any given day. After they escape from their enclosure and attack cars on highway 23, Terry is forced to move them into a horse trailer on his property. While in the trailer, Lacie has 4 cubs. Terry's pride is growing too large for him to handle just like many other exotic pet owner's collections. Tim is a safety officer from Ohio that deals with the capturing and placement of these exotic animals that escape from homes and stores. He's dealt with tigers, cougars, and snakes of all sizes over the past 34 years. It's his job to subdue these creatures and place them in licensed facilities. Tim is an animal lover and advocates for their safety as well as the safety of his neighbors and friends in his Ohio residence.

The Elephant in the living room takes viewers around the country via new clips of animal attacks  to show the dangers of the so called domesticated animals. Snakes crawl into cribs, and cougars attack the little neighbors. It's everywhere. As one of the officers says "they are in every town in America." I may not expect a full grown elephant to run through my backyard, but with the trade of exotic pets increasing, it could happen. The film makers also get to go inside exotic auctions and trade shows where dangerous animals are sold to the highest bidder. The biggest problem with these shows is that these animals are often sold when they are still young. Tiger cub here; baby monkey there. 2 years later when these animals are full grown the owners don't know what to do with them. They release them "into the wild" or try to get rid of them via exotic animal classifieds. It's irresponsible. There wouldn't be as much of a problem with keeping these animals in captivity if they were just taken care of responsibly. There are establishments with the proper training and licenses that care for big cats and 15 foot snakes, but because novice owners just let their pets out in the wild, these establishments are filled up to the brim with rescued animals.


This documentary leaves room for you to call your own opinion on the subject. They show both the love and affection one can have for the animals and the power that they can use when they are aggressive. It's important to know what it is your dealing with when faced with such tales.

Stream of the Week- Clueless

In the spirit of Prom week in my hometown, I bring to you the 90's cult classic- Clueless.

Cher is a 16 year old Barbie LA girl who spends most of her time in popular crowds leading the way through fashion trends and high school romances. Her life is complete. Mostly. There is something missing, but Cher seems unaware of the voids in her socially led drama known as life. She quickly finds herself engrossed in missions to help the "less fortunate" around her. She gives makeovers to unsuspecting teachers and adopts a new girl into her clique as a side project to fix. In her trials, Cher finds that she has made this new girl, Tai, into a plastic person. Almost a carbon copy of herself. In her confused state, Cher realizes that she too is Clueless.


I'll be honest- there isn't much substance to this film. They all talk like the stereotypical "valley girls" and parade around in ridiculous 90's plaid. Their "dire" situations and troubles are nothing compared to the world surrounding them, but they do seem to be aware that there is a world out there beyond the mall. In their own small ways. Josh, Cher's ex-stepbrother (yes that exists) watches the news and though Cher quickly changes the channel every time, the reference stands. The protagonist goes on a journey of self discovery, and that's enough of a story to enjoy. Sometimes it feels like the writers and filmmakers are making fun of the culture, which adds to the impact of the movie. I'm not saying this film will change your life, but it will keep you entertained.

Much like Mean Girls, this film has a following. Mostly they are 90's kids who can stand there and quote important scenes. These scenes, however, are made more memorable by the cast rather than the clever wording. Alicia Silverstone plays the leader Cher. She comes across as genuine and sweet, though perhaps misguided. Her best friend Dionne is the role of Stacy Dash, and Tai is played by one of my personal favorites Brittany Murphy. Together, the three girls have an unstoppable enthusiasm which will get you into their accents before you can try to hold back. Their crowd seems cliquish, but not in a threatening way.


It is important to acknowledge this film's entertaining qualities and wide spread success in its culture. It's fun and that's what movies should be. Not all of the films can be Schindler's List.

Capture of Culture- The Sweetest Sound

This is the story of a man named Alan Berliner and the 12 other people on the planet who shared his name.


Alan Berliner sees his name as his property. The very thought that he had to share his name with 12 other people seemed wrong to him. What makes them Alan Berliner? Are they better at being Alan Berliner? What do they have in common? What do they disagree on? Who is Alan Berliner? Much of Alan's research was just to collect these 12 other Alans and unite them to discuss the significance of all being named Alan Berliner. All Alan Berliners from 13 different families, with 13 different sets of parents and 13 different lives. Alan Berliner had a lot of digging to do, but eventually he ended up in a room full of 13 Alan Berliners. The 13 Alans were all white and mostly Jewish. What was the meaning of having such names and how did they all end up that way? Alan interviewed his family on the meaning of the name and the importance it held. He asked random people what they thought of their names all in the hopes of understanding why there were repeats in names. It all seemed to mean a lot to him that there were 12 other people he had to compete with to keep his identity as associated with his name.

The most interesting thing about this film is the editing- specifically, the sound editing. Alan likes to layer audio on top of other layers in order to create a confused muddle of words to create impact to match the visual experience. For example, when searching for other Alan Berliners he used all the audio from his interviews with the other Alans to create one response to the simple questions such as "Is Alan Berliner a male name or a female name?". To which 13 Alans all responded at the same time with "male". He also likes to add sound effects with motion on the screen. For example, as his niece is playing ball on the screen for every bounce on the pavement a clicking sound effect is added. For collections of pictures or shots that are quickly shown a steady beating sound effect is added with each change of image. It's the little things like this that really add to the overall effect of the film.


I found this documentary entertaining, not because I was curious about the name Alan Berliner, but because Alan Berliner made me want to learn about Alan Berliner. Everyone of us has Googled our own names. Goodness knows there are hundreds of Sarah Everetts out there. I wonder what it would be like if we all got together for dinner sometime.


http://alanberliner.com/

Stream of the Week- Broadway Idiot

As the professionals say, no one would think to cross the raw and reckless rock and roll of Green Day to the main stage of Broadway. But someone did. And they did that. And it was kind of a big deal.

American Idiot was originally an album released in 2004 by the extremely popular group Green Day. Their success was incredible as they taught the rebels about the hypocrisy of modern world and the vulnerability of the naïve. In 2010, American Idiot was opened as a Broadway show by a group of people who can either be defined as evil geniuses or psychopathic fans. Their success was astounding and their relationship with the members of Green Day hit all new heights when front man Billie Joe Armstrong stepped in to play the character of St. Jimmy. In April of 2011, American Idiot closed. This film shows the deep behind the scenes of the making and production of American Idiot as a play. They attempt to dive into the meanings behind Armstrong's words and elaborate on the trials of turning a concept album into a story worth watching again and again. And again. And again.


It is an accepted fact that thousands of hours of work go into a show for Broadway. What is not so widely understood is the creative science that goes into producing the images and feelings that are achieved on stage. The choreography is carefully crafted to match the emotion of the music. The set is specifically designed to utilize all aspects of the stage. The music is written and rewritten until it perfectly encapsulates the direction of the moment and the show as a whole. This documentary begins to touch on those processes while also showing the rise and success of the actual stage show intertwined with the history of the band.

You don't have to be a fan of Green Day to enjoy this film. You don't have to like musicals. But you do have to appreciate the hard work of dedicated individuals as they attempt to accomplish a lofty goal. You cringe at their failures and rejoice in their triumphs. The work of a director is never done until you leave that movie still contemplating the film you have watched. And they are still working when you come back to the film 3 weeks later still humming the songs and relating to the people explored in the documentary. That is why films like this exist. I'm not saying this because I am obsessed with this film, because I'm not. I liked it a lot, but I'm not going to eat, sleep and breath this for the rest of my life. I'm saying this because like the work put into this show, you have to appreciate the thought, blood, sweat, and tears that go into every inch of film of this movie.

Page to Screen- To Kill a Mockingbird

"When enough years had gone by to enable us to look back on them, we sometimes discussed the events leading to his accident. I maintain that the Ewells started it all, but Je,. who was four years my senior, said it started long before that. He said it began the summer Dill came to us, when Dill first gave us the idea of making Boo Radley come out." - Chapter 1 of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

It's a sin to kill a mockingbird. At least that's what Scout was told. All they ever do is sing. They don't cause any harm to anyone or bother anybody. It was a sin, but Scout saw many a mockingbird slaughtered by the prejudices set in the Great Depression Era of the south in a little town called Maycomb. Scout was 6 then, and her brother Jem was ten. They lived for the summer and muddled through school until they had the freedom that those three months of sun brought them. In the summers Dill would come and visit. He stayed next door with his Aunt Stephanie and together they had many fine adventures and games. Their greatest exploits were the ones that revolved around getting Boo Radley out of his house. Boo Radley was a monster who ate cats and squirrels. The rumors and stories surrounding Boo Radley were numerous and horrific only because people didn't know what to think of the big man who was so different from them. While they tried, and mostly failed, to get Boo out their father, Atticus Finch the lawyer, was working on the case of Tom Robinson. Tom was a black man wrongfully accused of raping a white woman. His case was very much doomed from the beginning just because of Tom's skin color, but Atticus took it on anyway. He was like that, Atticus was, he believed in the defense of truth no matter the odds. He fought bravely against the prejudice that he faced with his case. He was hated by many for his defense of an African American. Boo was hated too because people were afraid of him. Scout saw many mockingbirds fall. All they ever did was sing.


The film starring Gregory Peck was released only 2 years after Harper Lee published her novel. Together, they taught a lesson to readers and audiences across the world. The impact of the story was massive. Harper's words were brought to life by the performances of the amazing actors in the film. Gregory Peck played the hero of Atticus Finch. His performance was astounding as he played the wise, level headed, driven father of the narrator. He embodied the essence of the novel and message. Jem and Scout were also incredible as they gave a performance that would put child actors today to shame. Their innocent nature and curious behavior made for an interesting point of view of the events of both the trial and the events after it.

As always, there are differences in between the two. Characters like Aunt Alexandra and Mr. Underwood never made it onto the screen. Others were references causally like Mrs. Dubose and their school teacher. The storyline of the film didn't really need all those characters to be as prominent. The film focused on the trial while streamlining the events around it to focus on that message. They cut out scenes from the novel that were more about the children growing up so the focus could be on the case of Tom. The villains were better identified and the narration was smoothed over. The film makes one of the lessons of the novel more accessible as it simplifies the story to surround one major event while still referencing the others from the novel.


What the film does lack is the sense of time that all of this took. The novel spans over roughly 3 years as the children all grow up. Scout progresses in school, and Jem grows up and changes. This becomes confusing to Scout. Her idea of Jem would always be the boy who ran to the Radley porch and got his pants stuck under the wire fence in the dead of night. As he grows up, however, he becomes greatly affected by the actions of Atticus almost out of idolizing him. He becomes sensitive to the failures of his heroes and offended by the words of others. He treats Scout as a lesser. This causes internal conflict for Scout. This was missing in the movie. Most likely this was due to the fact that Scout became less of the main character and more of the omniscient voice of the film while Atticus became the main focus of the film.

Novels have the ability to address more than one issue because of their length. No one could sit through the 6 hour film required to tell the story in its prime. To Kill a Mockingbird was as much about racism as it was about class divide, or growing up in a Depression. For these stories it was more important to expand the Boo Radley story, but on film it was easier to condense it because it didn't deal with the trial. But even though it feels condensed, this film and the book are definitely one entity. When you say Atticus Finch, everyone sees Gregory Peck. When you say To Kill a Mockingbird you think Harper Lee. It's just that simple. The one, quite literally, doesn't exist without the other, which is why this is so fantastic.


It's easy to see why this story is still relevant today and still widely distributed. It's read in English classes and watched in film courses today. To Kill a Mockingbird has become a classic and shall remain as such for as long as their are still films to be seen and books to be read.

Stream of the Week- Safety Not Guaranteed

I never thought I would fall in love with a quirky comedy that claims and pretends to be about time travel, but I guess, as they say, there's a first time for everything.

Intern Darius is put on a team to go out and investigate the man behind an advertisement for time travel. The head of the 3 man team is only interested in going to the beach town to hook up with an old girlfriend, while the other intern on the trip is just there for the credit to put on his resume. Darius takes the mission in front of her seriously and immerses herself fully into the time travel experience. Darius answers Kenneth's call for a time traveling companion in hopes of getting information for their magazine article. Both Jeff and Arnau, her coworkers, think Kenneth is just crazy and write him off completely, but Darius believes in Kenneth and his crazy, paranoid behavior. Darius does what no one ever thought she would and falls for Kenneth's obsessive behavior and becomes the time traveling companion Kenneth was looking for all along.


I really enjoyed the sincerity of this film. It makes a point of showing the viewer that the undesirables in life can be the ones who are worth fighting for. Jeff, Darius's boss, goes on this assignment only too hook up with a blast from the past girlfriend for a few days. He remembers her as this tall thin blond "hottie" from high school only to find her matured, red headed, and grown up in the present. He is hesitant to meet up with her after seeing that she's not all he remembered, but he visits her anyway. He quickly finds that she is a beautiful person with many talents and qualities that make her more than just her looks. His inability to see her true person almost cost him the chance of meeting someone he could really love. The same goes for Kenneth. Everyone writes Kenneth off as a nut who runs around thinking the government is chasing him while he pretends that he's going back in time. Darius gets to meet the real Kenneth; the insecure, caring, thoughtful Kenneth that everyone else is missing out on. Yes, from the outside he looks crazy, but once you get to know him he is the sweetest person. These lessons are subtle, but poignant. It helps give the film a little more depth, which is something that many films lack.


I think it's also important to note that this film leaves a lot of things unresolved. Not everything works out for every character and we don't get a lot of information regarding Kenneth and Darius at the end of the film. For some people this could be unsettling, but it adds to the overall feel of the film.

Capture of Culture- Soldiers of Paint

I never thought that I would be sucked into a film about war reenactments with paintball, but one good documentary, and I'm sold.

Every year in Wyandott, Oklahoma thousands of men and women from all over the globe get together to participate in a paintball battle to reenact the storming of Normandy on D-Day. The battles ensue making teams rack up points by capturing key sites from the battle of D-Day and placing their flags while defending it from the other team. Either side can win. It all comes down to preparation and action on the day. This film follows the 6 month preparation from both teams and the battlefield leading up to the day. We meet the leaders of both sides and learn of their true passion for the game. They build tanks, new weapons, and call in the Calvary with each year. Each move is carefully planned and then, just like in battle, quickly thrown out the window in favor of the "hail Mary" charge against the enemy. The tactics of both sides are incredibly well thought out and downright sneaky, but in the end the only thing they really win is bragging rights. Well that, and 5,000 new friends.


From a technical standpoint, the production crew did an amazing job of giving the audience an easy way to distinguish the two sides from each other. The footage of the Allies attacks was all tinted blue and the German footage was red. Both sides of each skirmish were well covered and it led to a full picture of each event.


The Paintball War is an entirely different culture full of men and women (and in this case even some kids) who are obsessed with adventure, fellowship, and a good time. It is important to examine this types of collectives from our world to see what is so powerful that it can bring together 4,000 people from all over the world to accomplish one simple goal.

Stream of the Week- The Joneses

Let me start by saying this wasn't the kind of film I was expecting, but I am ever so happy with it in its entirety.


The Joneses are a family unit put together for the sole purpose of selling products to their wealthy neighbors through marketing techniques that exploit people's trust and cause jealously. The Jones consists of Steve whose main market are the guys in town, Kate who has all the upscale friends to sell to, Mick the pretty boy who has video games covered, and Jenn the playgirl with a killer sense of style. Together they can sell millions of dollars worth of merchandise in their small town for 1 year before moving to a new neighborhood and starting all over again. Their system is simple yet effective- show the rest of them how great your life is and they will buy it. Steve is a newbie to the system and at first struggles to find his footing. He has trouble distinguishing what is real about his unit and what isn't. Kate is the old pro. She's had 6 husbands before Steve that she's sold with and has finally found herself in charge of a house. As a family they work well at selling their lifestyle until it all falls apart and nothing is what it seems with the Joneses.


I thought the basic idea of this film was incredibly interesting. We don't think about how much advertising has really evolved over the past 50 years, but if we did I believe we would be surprised. Salesmen used to be just those guys on TV or the ladies behind the counters at stores, but now they could be your neighbors. The peer pressure and need to fit in and compete with one's friends is incredibly strong. I think it won't be too long before establishments like this actually exist. Advertisers are always looking for a new angle and what is a better angle than jealously. It can make people do crazy things. It can make people buy crazy things.


I have always enjoyed the easy that David Duchovny has brought to his roles. He is smooth and charming which helps him play a really great salesman. I also found it interesting that he was the only one out of the unit to start to see how destructive that form of life could be. In a seasoned unit filled with pros, he was the only one feeling the impact of their work. Demi Moore is Kate Jones. Her character is uptight without being too bossy, like a nervous first time boss. She comes across as genuine in her performance. For me, though, this movie is less about the neat story and the acting and more about the actually message portrayed. We all want to live luxuriously, but we can't let it get the best of us. Giving in to desires without restraint can lead to a life of pain and hardship, whether that desire be always wanting to one up the neighbors or to always be surrounded by nice things.

Just think about it.