Review: Inside Out

Been a bit absent recently not gonna explain why life just happens thats all. But I really wanna talk about this film, as its a Pixar and we all know and love Pixar yes we do, and its fascinating because its a Children's film with themes and messages that kids won't understand and I'm not talking about dirty jokes. 

Those of you who don't know, Inside Out is essentially about Mental Heath and how the human mind works. That already is very big and heavy for a kid to understand, but I think kids are more intelligent for what they're parents and teachers give them credit for. The plot is about a girl called Riley and is just an average kid with two parents who love each other, and she loves Ice Hockey, hates Broccoli. She is moved to a new town, at the start of the film in her mind she has her emotions: Joy (Amy Poehler), Anger( Lewis Black) Sadness (Phyllis Smith) Fear (Bill Hader) and Disgust (Mindy Kalling). all control Riley in certain situations like if she's playing Ice Hockey she's happy and Joy takes control.

They also take control and organise all the memory orbs, a memory orb is a prominent moment of your life well in this case Riley's so for example it could be her first Ice Hockey game, because Ice Hockey is one of her passions. Until one day Sadness touches on of the orbs and Riley associates it with being sad. It just teaches kids about mental illness and how the minds work, and I love that as its important for not just kids but everyone to learn about emotions and empathy for what people are feeling and respect those thoughts in which we are indifferent to and such. 

It also has the witty dialogue Pixar are known for that fits well with both age demographics with kids and adults. I love that Pixar incorporated both the serious side to growing up and the fun and happy side to it aswell. Its got the wonderful talent from Mindy Kalling who was in the Office, and Amy Poehler who both are so funny and witty already as they are comedians, to put them in an animated film and they just riff is brilliant, because they can add so much to the character and make it 10 times more lively. I also love the differences between Mom and Dad's emotions with Mom its very attentive to what Riley's actions are and how she speaks. Dad on the other hand is up with the fairies and as soon as Mom looks at him he just panics and agrees. 

I love this film so much and I'm so glad Pixar made it, not because its wonderfully done with the animations and all that, but with the story arch and what it shows to everyone as its important to understand empathy. Some of the other characters in the film are brilliant aswell, like Bing Bong Riley's old imaginary friend, he is the best and so funny, and adorable. I also love how important he is to Riley as it shows you should never forget about your childhood best friend regardless whether you still talk to them or not. 

                                                       
You need to watch this film if you haven't seen it, because its funny with it being very mature as it tackles with emotions and the human mind. Because feelings are complicated and to put it in such a simple but also being witty about it, is very impressive. Its such a great film as Mental Health is getting better and much more support its wonderful to have a story like this to exist. 

Peppermint Friday Review #26: Sullivan's Travels

I hope you enjoyed Wednesday's post as it was nice to talk about something abit different for a change, and appropriately it was uploaded on International Woman's Day which wasn't planned at all by the way. Anyway we're gonna talk about an Actress and one of the best films ever I think, and it needed to be a Peppermint Friday Film to talk about, I couldn't just do it on any other day.

To put it short this film is about filmmaking, John Sullivan played by Joel McCrea is a Director who has done well, and made some money from the films he's made, but is creatively dissatisfied with the films he's made and wants to make some real gritty drama instead of the comedies he's making. The studio he works for wants him to make a film that is very much the same genre and style of film. John decides he wants to see the world at first hand so he becomes a tramp and bumps into a struggling actress called as in the film 'The Girl' who is played by Veronica Lake.  

The dialogue of this film is just brilliant, I love how witty they are and the quick humour of them both. Veronica Lake is such a beautiful woman and an amazing actress, she is a woman who I admire greatly and her portrayal of an actress who has struggled and has found it really hard the fact that she has this sense of humor is amazing and so classy and sultry she is a woman who I think we should all aspire to be. One of my favorite bits of the film and its turned into a classic line for varies films, TV shows, Theatre alike and that's when they're in the car and he goes 'What could go wrong?' and suddenly they're in prison together.

Joel McCrea is brilliant, he's an actor I've only seen in one film and that's this film, but despite that he's a good actor and I love the chemistry between him and Veronica Lake it's like an old married couple, and that's something I love in romance I like the witty, fun atmosphere with it, instead of it being all serious all the time as it's nice to have a bit of yin and yang. The character development from Joel's character is something I love, I love that he is so relatable because creative people are very erratic at times, its about changing things up all the time.

 Sully I should call him, at the beginning he is very frustrated with what he's doing, he wants to create gritty realism that has dirt underneath its fingernails, throughout the film he wants to deal with real trouble by being a tramp, he meets a beautiful girl who is struggling as an actress and is seriously thinking about going back home. She brings light to him and he brings light to her, and you all know already how much I love witty, cleverly written comedies with added genres and themes of anything. 

Minor characters I love are the Head of the studio which Sully works for, he is so patronising towards Sully about him doing something different which I like as he was very cheerful about it, which makes him even more so patronising, but I liked that because it succeeded in what the character set out to do. The butlers were so funny, and relaxed about it, one of my favorite bits of them was when Sully and Veronica were by the pool and fell in twice because they were having quite a heated conversation. They were so 'oh they're in the pool' and I just found it so amusing, during the end of the film when the plot gets thicker and much more deep.

                                                              
One of the cutest and most picturesque screenshot of the film that I love and holds a memory for me is the scene where Sully is on a boat in his hobo gear with a dog, I don't think there's nothing more beautiful than a man with his dog. You should definitely watch this film its so witty and wonderful, with a brilliant cast and its got Veronica Lake in and that's a film made I think. On that note I shall speak to you all very soon, and have a lovely weekend!

Review: Travels With My Aunt

Last week was abit wishy washy, as there was no usual Wednesday post, there was but not the Peppermint Friday way post if that makes sense. I did touch on something I'm really happy that I touched on and thats women in film, the posts I did were both involving Elizabeth Taylor and Tennessee Williams, and I spoke alot about the women in those stories. So we're gonna carry it on and it was a long time coming so thats what we're gonna do. This weekend I watched Travels With My Aunt, with Maggie Smith and Alec McCowen and thats what we're gonna talk about today.

Travels With My Aunt is about a man called Henry Pulling who's mother has just died (Alec McCowen) and at the funeral his Aunt Augusta played by Maggie Smith who says she raised him and not his mother. She has an African boyfriend called Zachery who is waiting for her, she is then received a package containing a served finger who belongs to her true love Ercole along with a note saying they will be reunited with payment of $100,000. Augusta asks if Henry can accompany her to Paris aware that she is has pay ransom, and its just as the title suggests 'Travels with my Aunt'

Firstly it has Maggie Smith in it, so you're immediately gonna enjoy it, plus its Maggie Smith as more of herself than anything you know what I mean if you watched her in interviews particularly back in the day. She's so acid tongue and witty, that's the Maggie that isn't shown that often and thats why I love it so much. Alex McCowen plays the opposite of Maggie Smith's character Augusta, he's shy, straight guy in the comedy. The character dynamic is amazing love how different they are to each other and it makes it so much more funny. The costumes are amazing aswell, love all the clothes Maggie wears in this film, its set in the 70's and that's an interesting and fun era of fashion and film. The fact that Henry is younger than Augusta and he's much more mature is one of the things that makes me love Augusta and Maggie Smith that much more shes's internally youthful.

The minor characters they meet on the journeys are just wonderful, they're such full of colour. Tooley is a firm favorite she's so quirky and adorable one of my favorite scenes was when she was flirting and encouraging Henry to smoke marijuana. She reminds me of Danielle Foussard from To Catch A Thief that cheeky, funny, slightly naughty girl and that kinda character is always fun to me. All the interesting funny peculiar people they encounter are just so brilliant, like the Taxi driver they meet as soon as they get to Paris he's so positive and can't speak that much English its so accurate its hilarious because we've all met someone like that when we go to different countries and its so bonkers you've gotta laugh at it. 

There is a serious side to it in terms of Augusta and the genuine of her being Henry's Aunt as it can be wishy washy, because throughout the film you're questioning whether or not she's his Aunt, but I'd like it to be one of those make of it what you will moments of film and storytelling. Another serious part of the story is, the problem with Augusta's relationships and how she feels about them. I loved that Augusta has that mind of an 18 year old, and doesn't give a thought about long term marriages, and focusing on the hear and now of relationships and flings. I just hope that I'm like that when I'm at that age. Adding that the 1970's of film and I think I've said this before, but its quite a serious era of film I feel it had much more of the dialogue and styles we see now, and I haven't seen that many 1970s films so its a good one to watch of those who haven't seen many. 

                                                                    
If you watched The Lady In The Van or read the review I did #promo then you'll see the similarities of characters in them both. Maggie is a fantastic Actress and if you loved The Lady In The Van then you'll love this film, just think of Travels with my Aunt as a younger version of Maggie in The Lady In The Van. Alec McCowen was amazing in it, just total opposites from each other, and I love that, just found out Alec McCowen past away only a month ago, so RIP. Give this film a go as its so funny with its witty lines, and brilliant Acting talents from Maggie Smith and Alec McCowen.