2 heartstring favs for the 90s dad, Robin Williams

For my next fav, I’m gonna have to showcase one of my most beloved fatherly actors, Robin Williams.

Oh captain my captain…

He had both a comical and charming side — he was the Genie, and a Tarzan, the psychiatrist who cared, and the father who just loved his children.

First up:

Mrs. Doubtfire

This movie is a testimonial to the spectrum of feels you could have for a dad just trying to connect with his post-divorced family.

Robin Williams knows how to target children with his epic sound effects and hilarious laughter. His character is bashful and entirely himself.

I love the bizarre quality his hair dresser, Harvey Feirstein, plays in bringing out an awkward but accepting spirit when the character, Daniel Hillard, becomes Mrs. Doubtfire.

No matter how weird Mrs. Doubtfire got, you understood him as if you were his child, and your love for him completely shadowed his flaws.

Also, what happened to this girl, Mara Wilson? She rocked in Matilda, and their father/daughter relationship had serious good chemistry.

 

And for the second heartstring, Ryan has some words:

Good Will Hunting

Robin Williams was a comedic genius undoubtedly, and his comedic roles, especially as the voice of Genie from Aladdin will always be near and dear to me. However, I was a huge fan of his dramatic work as well, and my favorite all-time role of his was Sean Maguire from Good Will Hunting.

As a down-to-earth therapist who tries desperately to bring out the best in Matt Damon’s underachieving character Will Hunting, Williams made the role of Sean Maguire his own, and it earned him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

There are many scenes throughout the movie where Williams showcases his talent as a dramatic actor, but no scene encapsulates him more than the famous “park bench scene.”

It is one of, if not the best scene from the movie, and you learn everything you need to know about Williams’ character in only four minutes.

Sure his comedy was great, but in my opinion, this was Williams at his best. RIP to some truly great talent.

He was able to embrace curiosities in his acting, whether it was cross-dressing or fighting a lion. He still exists in my childhood, my dvds, and movie history forever.

I’d like to plant an apple tree for this man to share with generations to come.

 

N. Korea through Vice’s very human lens

My name is Julia and I love documentaries. My ideal station for movie watching is in bed, on my laptop, lights dimmed, notepad out. I’ve written documentary reviews for Franklin and Marshall’s college newspaper, maybe you recognize my column No Pudding Tonight… but I seriously doubt you would. 😛

North Korea has always been my Never Land. When I was younger, I saw a night picture of Earth from space, focused on the Eastern hemisphere. I didn’t know there was a N. Korea, but I saw it had no light. It became a mysterious black hole in my mind, and I wanted to know who lived there and why.

                                                                                                                                                  _____

Vice takes a fresh approach to the cultural content of today’s world, integrating falsities of American assumptions with the reality of everyday life. N. Korea is a truly fascinating place, with, what I would argue, the most unique population in the world.

It all started with a basketball game. Kim Jong-un loves basketball, and Vice wanted a way of snagging an interview with him, so they went ahead and took on the project, “The Hermit Kingdom: Diplomatic Basketball.”

Every so often N. Korea goes into a nuclear uproar of intense strangely-translated threats, they get a media spotlight in the West for a week, and then they go back on the global back-burner of human rights violations and torrential famine. This documentary was made during one of those tense moments in N. Korean news, and the friendships that were born from it are twisted yet inspiring.

Naturally, Dennis Rodman and the Harlem Globetrotters were on board.

At first, none of the crew knew what to expect, and you can see their fear from the moment they arrive. N. Korea is known for its isolated tours passing very specific monuments, and you can pick out practically the same dozen natives in any gallery of photographs from this country. They don’t let many N. Koreans see foreigners, and it’s near impossible to venture off the tour.

They eventually get around to the game and discover The Supreme Leader has gone all out on this event. An absolutely packed orderly stadium, with the country’s top young athletes standing in a single file line on deck for Vice’s amateur pick up game.

The whole trip was meant to give attention to N. Korea’s youngsters, but of course the Globetrotters were met by the tallest N. Koreans in the country. Dennis Rodman did the greeting and pleasantries.

After the game they have a formal dinner party off camera, at which point Dennis Rodman bonds with Kim Jong-un 4 lyfe. No kidding, the basketball legend declared that he has a personal friendship with N. Korea’s dictator, totally separate from his citizenship to the U.S., and considers their relationship distinctly unrelated to any political ties.

He returned to N. Korea after the documentary was made for another friendly basketball-related visit, but many were in uproar at his brash actions.

His response after agreeing he’ll never go back in an ESPN interview: “At least someone tried. So that’s how I look at it. You know, I don’t want to be a hero, I don’t want to be this, I don’t want to be that. I just wanted to be, just do happy things and do great things in life. That’s all I wanted to do. That’s it.”

He was bold, and there’s something incredibly awing in his motives. He tried to cut himself from the politics our world is trapped in, and give this stranger a pure connection to the outside, but it just wasn’t possible.

The close of the documentary shows a super crowded playground where the crew decided to jump out of the van and check the place out, a rarity for N. Korean visits. The officials were tense, but the scene itself turned joyful with small children practicing how to spin a basketball on their fingers, and smiles all around.

You can’t erase history, you can only make history. I say kudos to Rodman, and a dozen red delicious apples, for trying to change the world we live in by sharing a slice of humanity.

A little more info for you:

There’s a ton more to discover about N. Korea and its people — check out Vice’s Travel Guide! Every so often the country does a sort of ‘role call’ where if you’re missing from the country the family you left behind can get in… well, a ton of trouble. There are many many escape/return stories out there from migrant workers moving around S. Korea and China for work, but needing to return for this reason.

For the curious, there’s a start! Feel free to leave comments to circulate the informed.

AND ONE MORE THING: I love Seth Rogan and James Franco, for this reason and many others.

 

Princess Mononoke: My Miyazaki fav

Classic anime has a rep for being over-the-top sexy, and oddly absorbing, playing into guilty pleasures of (at least on our side of the globe) the late night male watcher.

BUT there’s another side to anime that Toonami and Adult Swim watchers might have overlooked.

Hayao Miyazaki is among the oldest and most legendary Japanese anime filmmakers, a master in his field, and he’s still chugging them out after 60 years. He’s adapted to the cultural divide between east and west in his most popular movies such as Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle.

Today, I’d like to talk about my personal favorite, one that plays into a much less modern vision of our world: Princess Mononoke.

One of Miyazaki’s best reoccurring themes revolves around nature, and man’s struggle to control the environment.

In this fairy tale-esque story, an industrial town has cropped up in contrast to the hero’s Kokiri-type village, and the pollution, deforestation, and poaching has driven the forest’s most ancient spirits into a feral. A disease spreads among the ancients in reaction to man’s evil as a way of fighting back, but quickly shows how the legends in the forest are willing to die to drive man away.

The two main characters are exceptionally dynamic. The first you meet, Ashitaka, is a warrior inflicted with the ancient forest’s disease while defending his town from a feral legendary boar. After the opening scene’s epic battle, he’s the perfect, ideal, and most honorable warrior you’ll find in any film there is. He’s given a death sentence, and sent on his way to solve the mystery of where the boar came from, vowing to prevent any creature of the like from returning to his home.

The other main character takes some time to understand, and she unfolds as the forest opens up to reveal its secrets to the viewer. She is Princess Mononoke, adopted by the wolf spirit pack, and has a bleeding heart for the forest that Ashitaka takes the time to support.

The artistry of the film is beautiful. It contrasts the dark contaminants of the villainess, Lady Eboshi, who is the epitome of a strong leader with a bad ass musket gun simply trying to do what’s best through the production and labor of her people, with the pure and simple yet mystical forest. There is no real bad guy, because to admit Lady Eboshi is inherently evil is to say man is inherently evil, and the film’s take on man’s connection with nature is far too complex for that answer.

All in all, these apples are the shit. If you’re looking to watch a decent anime with minimal nude exposure (the biggest hottie is Ashitaka, although you get some nice butt shots of the ladies..), Princess Mononoke is down to earth, and confronts age old problems man will always have with the origins of life and respect for what has come before us.

This film carries some specific cultural references to Japanese honor and moral code, but it’s nothing the average viewer can’t understand. You might get weirded out by the gross effects of war and the forest dying — animes tend to exaggerate as much as possible for an eye-popping reaction.

It is a 134 min movie, from 1999, slows down at parts to expose the Miyazaki art, and will give you a taste of what anime is all about without having to stay up past midnight for when the kids’ cartoons turn off.

When you get to this part… you’ll understand

Because I’m that cool… Shhhhhh