Mock Squid Soup: What Princess Mononoke Does in the Shadows

MOCK! and The Armchair Squid are proud to welcome you to Mock Squid Soup: A Film Society, meetings on the second Friday of each month. This month, each of us is choosing another society member's movie to review as listed in The Mock Squid Soup Film Library.  I watched two such films this past month.  Princess Mononoke was first reviewed by angryparsnip.  What We Do in the Shadows was first reviewed by Cherdo.

Title: Princess Mononoke
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Original Release: 1997
My Overall Rating: 4 stars out of 5

via Wikipedia

When I arrived in Japan in 1996, I had never heard of Hayao Miyazaki or any of his movies.  That all changed once the promotional campaign for Princess Mononoke hit full throttle.  Posters and trailers were everywhere.  Once released in July '97, the movie shattered all previous box office records, becoming the highest grossing film in Japanese history, a distinction it only held onto for a few months before Titanic hit theaters.

The story is set in medieval Japan.  While defending his village from a cursed boar, Prince Ashitaka is bitten and infected by the same curse.  He leaves to find a cure in the western lands.  A wondering monk tells him the Great Forest Creature may help him.  While on his quest, Ashitaka gets caught up in a conflict between San (aka Princess Mononoke), a human woman who lives as a wolf, and Lady Eboshi, the leader of Irontown.  Ashitaka is stuck in the middle between the forces of nature and technological progress, a prominent theme in Miyazaki's work.

Society member Toi Thomas reviewed the movie, too.   In her reflection, she asked why at one point is San drinking blood from the wolf goddess Moro and I think I can explain it.  Moro has been injured in battle and I think San is sucking out the blood (not drinking it) in order to treat the wound.

Miyazaki's films have been a major part of our Family Movie Night tradition from the beginning.  I wouldn't say Princess Mononoke is my favorite story among them, or even in my top five.  But visually, I think it is Miyazaki's most impressive work.  As I have written before, I believe the anime master is at his best with landscapes and Princess Mononoke's are particularly breathtaking.  There were a couple moments in our most recent viewing when I'm pretty sure I sighed audibly in appreciation.  The musical score by Joe Hisaishi, a longtime Miyazaki collaborator, is also used to especially strong effect in this film.


Title: What We Do in the Shadows
Directors: Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi
Original Release: 2014
My Overall Rating: 4 stars out of 5

via Wikipedia

Or perhaps Princess Mononoke is a vampire.

What We Do in the Shadows is a mockumentary about four vampire housemates in a Wellington, New Zealand suburb, struggling to navigate 21st century society. Viago (Taika Waititi) is an uptight, neat freak, the Felix Unger of the crew.  Vladislav (Jemaine Clement) is a few centuries older and was, at least in his heyday, quite powerful.  Deacon (Jonathan Brugh) is the young rebel at 183 years old - if Viago is Felix, Deacon is Oscar, with a kinky side.  Petyr (Ben Fransham) lives in a stone coffin in the basement.  He is an 8,000 year-old monster, reminiscent of Nosferatu's Count Orlok.

Matters get complicated when Petyr turns one victim, Nick, into a new vampire.  Nick can't help blabbing to everyone at the clubs about his new status which, of course, brings heaps of trouble to the house.  Nick does, however, have a very nice human friend Stu who quickly endears himself to the household.  He's especially helpful in getting them up to speed on technology.

The film's a lot of fun, plenty of Christopher Guest-esque humor.  It's vampires so there's lots of blood.  This squeamish viewer had to turn away from the screen a few times but I toughed it out.  There's a band of werewolves in town, too, which allows for some wonderful Twilightesque rivalry banter.  The movie would fit well in either a mockumentary or undead-themed film fest. 

Trivia challenge again for October!  Pick your own movie to share.  Post three clues on Friday, October 7th.  Post your reveal and review on Friday, October 14th.  Meanwhile, please visit my friends today:

State of the Blog 2016

It was a stressful year for this blogger.  The stress manifested itself physically and painfully in late May when I got shingles, an old man's disease that saw fit to hit me at 43.  It was a wake up call, an occasion to step back and take a good hard look at my life.  Stress, unfortunately, is frequently unavoidable in life.  I am a teacher, a notoriously stressful profession.  While it is possible to remove and reduce some anxiety-inducing elements, the important thing is to manage stress as it comes.  That's relatively easy to do during the summer months.

The fall will be another matter.  I'm taking on new and modified professional responsibilities this year.  While I'm taking on the added load for solid, practical reasons, stress is inevitable, especially as I continue to juggle family and personal schedules, too.  Learning to manage the stress will be crucial to my mental and physical health.  Shingles can come back - 7-10 year intervals, is what I've heard.  Having a less stressful life seven years from now seems like a reasonable life goal.  Adding more responsibilities now is probably not the best strategy but it's a long-term goal.  My life is likely to look quite different seven years from now.

So, what does any of this have to do with the blog?  Well, it's going to be tough keeping up with The Armchair Squid this fall but it's vitally important that I try.  The blog is, in itself, an escape for me and it is also primarily a chronicle of the other things in my life that I do strictly for fun.  Maintaining the hobbies will be crucial and the blog provides incentive and encouragement to do so.  That said, time will be precious.

Fortunately, I devoted some time this summer to getting ahead on things.  My Clone Wars posts are all set through November so Tuesdays are good to go.  I shall do my best to keep Fridays humming along with The Cephalopod Coffeehouse, Mock Squid Soup and miscellaneous family adventure posts.  It is likely, though, that posts will be on the shorter side for a while.  I want to keep my hand in the game and keep in touch with all of you.  I shall endeavor to do my best.

Mock Squid Soup: September 2016 Blog List

MOCK! and The Armchair Squid are proud to present Mock Squid Soup: A Film Society!

Next meeting is Friday, September 9th.  As announced last month, the plan for this month is for each participant to pick someone else's movie from our ever-growing society library.  I maintain a list of those movies here, also to be found on my page list as "Mock Squid Soup Film Library."

The signup list:

Mock Squid Soup: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

MOCK! and The Armchair Squid are proud to welcome you to Mock Squid Soup: A Film Society, meetings on the second Friday of each month.  Last week, society members posted three clues as to their chosen film for the month.  Today is the big reveal.  A reminder on my clues:

1. This film is one of a very popular series.  The original book series essentially saved the print media industry.  No, I'm not exaggerating.

2. It is the first film in the series to address the pain of romantic love.  Not mere jealousy.  Pain.

3. One of the actors in the film passed away early this year.  Universally revered as a supremely talented performer, he had impressive stage credentials in addition to his varied screen roles.  In this movie, in particular, I was struck by how beautifully he moves.

Drum roll please...

Title: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Director: David Yates
Original Release: 2009
My Overall Rating: 5 stars out of 5

via Wikipedia

It's been a Harry Potter summer at our house.  Our daughter, now twelve, had avoided the Potter books to this point.  This is a girl who loves fantasy, too.  Nearly every book she reads falls into that genre.  For whatever reason, Harry didn't spark her interest.  But this summer, she decided to read the entire series and so she has, The Cursed Child included.

To encourage this endeavor and to share in her experience, we have watched each of the movies as she finished each book.  Before this summer, my wife and I had only ever watched the first five films so the last three were new to us, too.  Generally speaking, I feel the first five movies decrease in quality as they go but the series finishes very strong, indeed, beginning with #6: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.  All credit goes to director David Yates.

I've loved Harry Potter from the first book.  My wife and I read it aloud to each other in our apartment in New York, trading off chapters.  While it doesn't quite match The Lord of the Rings or other classic series for florid language or sophisticated world building, the Harry Potter series brings a fresh angle to the genre.  We get a ringside seat as the principals go through the all-too-real transformations of adolescence.  The stories' progressive darkness matches an increasing maturity and sense of responsibility for Harry.  By the time we get to book #7, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, we have grown to love Harry and his friends in a way we are not always afforded with other characters in other stories.  We have watched them grow.  We have seen their joys, their pains, their insecurities.  We know, for instance, that as brilliant a wizard as Harry is, he's a terrible date and he was, at times, quite an obnoxious teenager. We also have grown to love Hogwarts, a place where we know our dear friends have felt safe.  We mourn as they do when it comes under threat.  Deathly Hallows is actually the most traditional fantasy adventure of the series: a team of adventurers on a quest, desperate to fight off the forces of evil.  And yet it's so different from other such adventures.  It is shrouded in a deep sadness that wouldn't be there if not for everything that has come before.

So, why is The Half-Blood Prince my favorite of the bunch?  From a film making standpoint, it's beautifully shot, the only one in the series to be Oscar-nominated for Best Cinematography - tip of the hat to Bruno Delbonnel.  I especially enjoy the scene in the Horcrux Cave.  But more importantly, Year 6 represents a vital moment in the story, the point when all that has seemed secure in Harry's world is threatened: his unquestioning reverence for his dead parents, his friendships with Ron and Hermione, his faith in Dumbledore and the impregnable fortress that is Hogwarts.  By the end of The Half-Blood Prince, the stakes have been raised significantly.  Our young heroes aren't kids anymore.  We can only hope they're adult enough to meet their new challenges.

In the scene that stays with me, Harry finds Hermione sobbing at the bottom of a staircase.  I've been to parties where I found a girl crying on the stairs.  I've comforted enough friends to know the difference between one who is upset by a minor setback and one who is overwhelmed by a deeper pain.  It's the difference between crying and sobbing.  Crying is a momentary fit.  Sobbing is a full-body convulsion.  Hermione is sobbing.

Ron is the reason why she sobs.  It's not just that he's with Lavender, another girl.  It's his failure to recognize how much Hermione loves him.  It's not a crush.  It's love.  We, as readers and viewers, know that Ron is simply too stupid to realize he loves her, too.  But Hermione doesn't know that, not yet.  All she knows is the pain.  It's a human ache that has nothing to do with witchcraft or wizardry.

The actor referenced in my third clue is, of course, Alan Rickman who plays the part of Severus Snape.  The Snape story is the hidden gem of the franchise.  If the film series has a failing, it is the fact that not enough material is devoted to the Snape story, so rich in the books.  Rickman, nonetheless, is predictably brilliant in the role.  I was struck by his movement in this particular movie, odd since for the most part, he doesn't seem to move much at all.  Sometimes, less is more.  There's a moment when he encounters Harry on a staircase, we see him only from the back and in silhouette.  Even without the scenes before it, one would know it was him.  Snape moves like a dancer, all the work done in the legs (which we can't see, because of the robe), the upper body essentially still.  Astaire would be proud.  Even the face barely moves.  Except when it does.  Then it's riveting.  Don't even get me started on the voice.  Rickman died on January 14th of this year, pancreatic cancer.  It was a huge loss for the art form.

I'm so glad there's a new book out, otherwise our Harry Potter summer would already be over.  I'll be sad to leave this world, just as I was after I finished reading Deathly Hallows myself.  I hope The Cursed Child is just the first of more books to come.

Next meeting is Friday, September 9th.  I'll post September's blog list tomorrow.  For September, pick another society member's choice from our ever increasing library to review.  Today, please visit my fellow cinephiles, listed below:

Mock Squid Soup: August's Three Clues

Today, for this month's edition of Mock Squid Soup, all society members are invited to post three hints about their film choice for the month.  All are welcome to guess, of course.  My three clues:

1. This film is one of a very popular series.  The original book series essentially saved the print media industry.  No, I'm not exaggerating.

2. It is the first film in the series to address the pain of romantic love.  Not mere jealousy.  Pain.

3. One of the actors in the film passed away early this year.  Universally revered as a supremely talented actor, he had impressive stage credentials in addition to his varied screen roles.  In this movie, in particular, I was struck by how beautifully he moves.

Any guesses?  Society reviews will be posted next Friday, August 12th.  See you then.  Meanwhile, please visit my fellow cinephiles today:

Mock Squid Soup: August 2016 Blog List

MOCK! and The Armchair Squid are proud to present Mock Squid Soup: A Film Society!

This month, everyone gets to throw a movie of their own choice into the pot.  The week before our gathering, on Friday, August 5th, everyone is invited to post three clues about his/her movie for others to guess.  Our next regular meeting is Friday, August 12th.   No need to sign up twice.  I'll use the same link list for both.  If you are interested in joining us, please sign on to the list below.

Mock Squid Soup: Age of Ultron

MOCK! and The Armchair Squid are proud to welcome you to Mock Squid Soup: A Film Society, meetings on the second Friday of each month. This month, each of us is choosing another society member's movie to review as listed in The Mock Squid Soup Film Library.  Avengers: Age of Ultron was first reviewed by MOCK!.

Title: Avengers: Age of Ultron
Director: Joss Whedon
Original Release: 2015
My Overall Rating: 4 stars out of 5

via Amazon

As I mentioned in last month's Ant-Man post, this was one of two DVDs Mock gave me to watch as homework the week before we went to see Captain America: Civil War.  Overall, I enjoyed Ant-Man more but I was glad to have watched both.  Civil War would have been more difficult to follow otherwise.

Growing up, I wasn't so into superheroes.  They were okay but Star Wars and D&D were much bigger parts of my life.  Getting to be friends with Mock changed all of that.  The man lives and breathes comic books, especially Marvel and especially The Avengers.  Partly out of curiosity and partly in an effort to know my new friend better, I asked to borrow a stash of comics.  He enthusiastically obliged and I have been playing catch up ever since.

We went to see the first Avengers movie together - midnight showing on the first night.  I didn't enjoy the film as much as he did - full disclosure, I fell asleep - but I felt honored to ride shotgun for his personal pilgrimage.  I haven't done such a good job following the movies since, thus the last minute cramming.

Meanwhile, my daughter has, at age 12, unexpectedly caught the superhero bug.  She is partial to the X-Men but is curious about all of them.  So now I'm working on catching her up with the movies, too.

Okay, so back to Age of Ultron.  Upon discovering a new trinket with artificial intelligence, Tony Stark (aka Iron Man) and Bruce Banner (Hulk) plug it into one of Stark's projects.  In so doing, they accidentally create a sentient being, Ultron, who demolishes Stark's A.I. buddy J.A.R.V.I.S. then sets off to destroy all of humanity.

Oops.

All the Avengers from the first movie are back: Iron Man (played by Robert Downey, Jr.), Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner).  They gain some new personnel in the movie, though that would be spoiling (except to say that two of the newbies joined the gang in much the same way they did in the comic books back in the 1960s - yeah, I did my homework! - booyah!).  A few internal storylines are introduced, too: a growing affection between Banner and Black Widow and a growing family for Hawkeye.  His wife, Laura Barton, is played by the uber-talented Linda Cardellini - always happy to give a shout out for Freaks and Geeks alums.

I'd say I enjoyed Age of Ultron more than the first Avengers movie.  Black Widow and Hawkeye got much needed development and I enjoyed all of the new characters.  The depth and personality of Marvel heroes has been a major selling point of the franchise for over half a century and the best parts of the movies honor that tradition.  There is a lot more story to follow but I managed to keep up.  Ultron (James Spader) is not as good a villain as Loki (Tom Hiddleston) but that's a high bar to clear.

Trivia challenge again for August!  Pick your own movie to share.  Post three clues on Friday, August 5th.  Post your reveal and review on Friday, August 12th.  Meanwhile, please visit my friends today:

Mock Squid Soup: July 2016 Blog List

MOCK! and The Armchair Squid are proud to present Mock Squid Soup: A Film Society!

Next meeting is Friday, July 8th.  As announced last month, the plan for this month is for each participant to pick someone else's movie from our ever-growing society library.  I maintain a list of those movies here, also to be found on my page list as "Mock Squid Soup Film Library."

The signup list:

Mock Squid Soup: Ant-Man

MOCK! and The Armchair Squid are proud to welcome you to Mock Squid Soup: A Film Society, meetings on the second Friday of each month.  Last week, society members posted three clues as to their chosen film for the month.  Today is the big reveal.  A reminder on my clues:

- The hero is played by an accomplished comedic actor.  In his first big role, he played a borderline-incestuous love interest in a Jane Austen adaptation.

- The female lead is played by an actress who first came to prominence when her character was stranded on a tropical island.

- The actor who portrayed the villain was also a sleazy politician in a popular streaming series.

Title: Ant-Man
Director: Peyton Reed
Original Release: 2015
My Overall Rating: 4 stars out of 5

via Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki

Over the past several months, I've been playing catch up with superhero movies.  In advance of our going to see Captain America: Civil War, Mock lent me a couple of DVDs to watch in preparation: Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man.  Of the two, Ant-Man was my favorite: a self-contained story with clearly drawn, well-acted characters.

Ant-Man made his first comic book appearance in 1962.  Scientist Hank Pym discovered a serum that allowed him to shrink to insect size.  As we join his story in the film, Pym (Michael Douglas) has fallen out of favor with his own company.  His former protégé Darren Cross (Corey Stoll) is the new man in charge and he's out to replicate Pym's technology.  Pym is worried, justifiably as we learn, that Cross's motivations are less than noble.

Pym needs a new guy to wear the Ant-Man suit.  Enter Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), an expert cat burglar with his heart in the right place.  Hank and his daughter Hope (Evangeline Lilly) convince Lang to join the cause.

Obviously, the movie plays a lot with the idea of scale.  For instance, there's a great chase scene on a toy train set - not quite as awesome as the one in Wallace and Gromit's The Wrong Trousers but still pretty cool.  I also enjoyed Lang's training, especially as he was learning about the different species of ants and how to work with them.  Apparently Rudd bought a huge ant farm in preparation for the role.

Rudd's natural comedic instincts also brings something new to the genre.  The humor doesn't feel campy at all with him.  It's also not so much humor that the story feels like a spoof.  It's a nice balance.

Getting back to my clues...

- The hero is played by an accomplished comedic actor.  In his first big role, he played a borderline-incestuous love interest in a Jane Austen adaptation.

Rudd's breakthrough came in the movie Clueless, adapted from Jane Austen's Emma.  

- The female lead is played by an actress who first came to prominence when her character was stranded on a tropical island.

Evangeline Lilly played Kate in the ABC series Lost.   Full disclosure: I disliked Lost intensely, the character of Kate especially.  But to Lilly's credit, she has shown surprising dynamism in her roles since, including this one.

- The actor who portrayed the villain was also a sleazy politician in a popular streaming series. 

Corey Stoll played Representative Peter Russo in Netflix's House of Cards.
 
Next meeting is Friday, July 8th.  I'll post July's blog list tomorrow.  For July, pick another society member's choice from our ever increasing library to review.  Today, please visit my fellow cinephiles, listed below:

Mock Squid Soup: June's Three Clues

Today, for this month's edition of Mock Squid Soup, all society members are invited to post three hints about their film choice for the month.  All are welcome to guess, of course.  My three clues:

- The hero is played by an accomplished comedic actor.  In his first big role, he played a borderline-incestuous love interest in a Jane Austen adaptation.

- The female lead is played by an actress who first came to prominence when her character was stranded on a tropical island.

- The actor who portrayed the villain was also a sleazy politician in a popular streaming series.

Any guesses?  Society reviews will be posted next Friday, June 10th.  See you then.  Meanwhile, please visit my fellow cinephiles today:

Mock Squid Soup: June 2016 Blog List

MOCK! and The Armchair Squid are proud to present Mock Squid Soup: A Film Society!

This month, everyone gets to throw a movie of their own choice into the pot.  The week before our gathering, on Friday, June 3rd, everyone is invited to post three clues about his/her movie for others to guess.  Our next regular meeting is Friday, June 10th.   No need to sign up twice.  I'll use the same link list for both.  If you are interested in joining us, please sign on to the list below.

Mock Squid Soup: The Dish

MOCK! and The Armchair Squid are proud to welcome you to Mock Squid Soup: A Film Society, meetings on the second Friday of each month. This month, each of us is choosing another society member's movie to review as listed in The Mock Squid Soup Film Library.  The Dish was first reviewed by angryparsnip.

Title: The Dish
Director: Rob Stich
Original Release: 2000
My Overall Rating: 4 stars out of 5

via Amazon

The first moon landing has been called the most simultaneously shared event in human history.  On July 20, 1969, people all over the globe crowded around television sets to watch Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin take their first steps on the lunar surface.  It was a crowning achievement for the scientific community, the product of years of hard work and countless centuries of dreaming.  As The Dish demonstrates, the TV audience might have missed the whole thing if not for the effort and good fortune of a small group of scientists operating a radio telescope in Parkes, New South Wales.

Sam Neill and Patrick Warburton star in this remarkable story.  The film is shot on location so we get to experience the actual dish - still very much in use - on an intimate level.  The staff sit on the dish during their smoking breaks as it is raised and lowered.  They practice cricket in its bowl.  The security guard gets spooked by grazing sheep in the fields surrounding.  We are witness to the charms and occasional embarrassments of small town politics as the mayor and his wife play host to both Australian and American dignitaries as the landing nears.  It takes a little while for tension to enter the story but when disaster strikes, it hits hard. 

Not surprisingly, the real magic comes during the landing itself.  I wasn't even born yet in 1969 but the emotional impact of the moment is transcendent, clearly evident in every face on screen.  The filmmakers had the good sense to include authentic footage from the time period, too.

The movie is sweet, its imagery stunning and its characters charming.  It could certainly hold its own with other space exploration films like The Right Stuff and Apollo 13.  Its lighthearted feel would make for a nice change of pace in that mini film fest, too.

Trivia challenge again for June!  Pick your own movie to share.  Post three clues on Friday, June 3rd.  Post your reveal and review on Friday, June 10th.  Meanwhile, please visit my friends today:

Mock Squid Soup: May 2016 Blog List

MOCK! and The Armchair Squid are proud to present Mock Squid Soup: A Film Society!

Next meeting is Friday, May 13th.  As announced last month, the plan for this month is for each participant to pick someone else's movie from our ever-growing society library.  I maintain a list of those movies here, also to be found on my page list as "Mock Squid Soup Film Library."

The signup list:

Mock Squid Soup: Bounce

MOCK! and The Armchair Squid are proud to welcome you to Mock Squid Soup: A Film Society, meetings on the second Friday of each month.  Last week, society members posted three clues as to their chosen film for the month.  Today is the big reveal.  A reminder on my clues:

- This documentary travels the world from a village in Central Africa to the urban slums of South America to the Orkney Islands and on and on, connecting all of humanity through a passion that has been an important of my own life and certainly the early days of my blog.

- It also takes us on a journey through time all the way back to the origins of our species.  The discovery of rubber by Europeans is a pivotal moment in the story.

- I will be both shocked and delighted if any of you have seen this film or even heard of it.  If you know something of what my family has been up to this past month, you might have a shot at guessing.  I can't wait to discuss it further with everyone and hope I can inspire a few to seek it out.

Title: Bounce: How the Ball Taught the World to Play
Director: Jerome Thelia
Original Release: 2015
My Overall Rating: 5 stars out of 5

via IMDb

Nearly all of my life, I have loved sports.  I love playing, though I am not athletically gifted, and I love watching.  As a kid, I devoured the sports section of the newspaper every morning over breakfast.  Though my enthusiasm has never been in doubt, I have often been curious about the causes of it.  When my team won its first Super Bowl when I was nine, it was as if I had won, too.  All the emotional energy I'd put into rooting for them had paid off.  It makes no logical sense whatsoever and yet I know that millions of sports fans all over the world feel exactly the same way.  Beyond all rational consideration, we stake a claim to our team's triumphs and also its failures.  But why do we care at all?

Bounce explains everything.  The documentary's subtitle, though, is a bit misleading.  The film's thesis is that we play by natural instinct as do many intelligent animal species.  The ball didn't teach us to play but its spherical shape and its not entirely predictable responses to our manipulations inspire our curiosity.    Through expert interviews, animal observations, historical meanderings and sports footage from all over the world, Bounce explores the evolutionary necessity of play as well as the psychological reasons for enjoying the athletic exploits of others.

The movie covers a lot of ground over the course of 76 minutes but a couple of segments were particularly noteworthy.  One was mentioned in my clues last week: the discovery of rubber by the Spanish Conquistadors.  Previously, the European version of a ball was along the lines of an inflated sheep's bladder.  It didn't bounce anywhere near as impressively as the Aztec equivalent.  Rubber changed everything.  The historical implications of the discovery go far beyond sports, of course, but many of the games we know today might never have been invented without it.

Perhaps most memorable of all is the Scottish Ba' game in the Orkney Islands, essentially an all-town mob football game played on the village streets twice a year.  The winning team awards the ball to the day's hero and those who have won claim it as a possession prized above their own children.  Apparently, such games have a long history in Europe though they only survive in remote corners.

We saw the movie during our recent trip to the Green Mountain Film Festival in Montpelier.   While it is unlikely to turn up at your local multiplex, it is available to watch via iTunes, Amazon, Vimeo and Google Play.  I highly recommend it to all, even those who don't share my mania for sports.

Next meeting is Friday, May 13th.  I'll post May's blog list tomorrow.  For May, pick another society member's choice from our ever increasing library to review.  Today, please visit my fellow cinephiles, listed below:

Mock Squid Soup: April's Three Clues

Today, for this month's edition of Mock Squid Soup, all society members are invited to post three hints about their film choice for the month.  All are welcome to guess, of course.  My three clues:

- This documentary travels the world from a village in Central Africa to the urban slums of South America to the Orkney Islands and on and on, connecting all of humanity through a passion that has been an important of my own life and certainly the early days of my blog.

- It also takes us on a journey through time all the way back to the origins of our species.  The discovery of rubber by Europeans is a pivotal moment in the story.

- I will be both shocked and delighted if any of you have seen this film or even heard of it.  If you know something of what my family has been up to this past month, you might have a shot at guessing.  I can't wait to discuss it further with everyone and hope I can inspire a few to seek it out.

Any guesses?  Society reviews will be posted next Friday, April 8th.  See you then.  Meanwhile, please visit my fellow cinephiles today:

Mock Squid Soup: April 2016 Blog List

MOCK! and The Armchair Squid are proud to present Mock Squid Soup: A Film Society!

This month, everyone gets to throw a movie of their own choice into the pot.  The week before our gathering, on Friday, April 1st, everyone is invited to post three clues about his/her movie for others to guess.  Our next regular meeting is Friday, April 8th.   No need to sign up twice.  I'll use the same link list for both.  If you are interested in joining us, please sign on to the list below.

Mock Squid Soup: Sleepless in Seattle

MOCK! and The Armchair Squid are proud to welcome you to Mock Squid Soup: A Film Society, meetings on the second Friday of each month. This month, each of us is choosing another society member's movie to review as listed in The Mock Squid Soup Film Library.  Sleepless in Seattle was first reviewed by MOCK!

Title: Sleepless in Seattle
Director: Nora Ephron
Original Release: 1993
My Overall Rating: 4 stars out of 5

via Wikipedia

Not being a huge fan of romantic comedies, my wife had never seen Sleepless in Seattle before and was not overly enthused by the prospect.  As we awaited the movie's arrival from Netflix, I asserted that such films were in many ways the heirs to the legacy of her beloved screwball comedies of the '30s and '40s.  I'm glad to report that both she and our daughter admitted they enjoyed it.

The story:  widower Sam (Tom Hanks) has moved to Seattle to begin a new life with his son, Jonah.  One evening, Jonah phones a radio call-in show expressing his concern for his sad and lonely father.  Jonah convinces Sam to tell his story on air.  Women across the country swoon including Annie (Meg Ryan), a newspaper reporter in Baltimore.  Annie herself is engaged to Walter, a nice enough guy but their relationship lacks a certain magic.  Annie writes a letter to Sam.  Jonah reads it and conspires with his eight-year-old girlfriend Jessica to bring the cross-country pair together.

I myself hadn't watched the movie in probably 20 years.  One theme I've frequently returned to in my movie posts is how our perceptions of films change at different stages in life.  Some improve with age, others not so much.  I've learned a lot about life and love since the last time I watched.  The night Annie announces her engagement to the family, her mother Barbara tells the story of her first date with Annie's father: "At one point I looked down, at our hands, and I couldn't tell which fingers were mine and which were his.  And I knew."  It's the sort of story I would have thought was cute 20 years ago without truly understanding it.  Now I know.  I also have a stronger appreciation for the character of Walter (Bill Pullman).  He could have been painted as a worthless jerk but he wasn't.  He fell in love with the wrong woman and he bows out gracefully once he knows he's lost her.

I probably would have chosen a different favorite scene 20 years ago, too.  Now, it is most certainly the conversation Sam has with two friends about the movies Affair to Remember and The Dirty Dozen.  I laughed to the point of tears.

One of the movie's strongest selling points, especially in the long term, is its chart topping soundtrack featuring numerous old crooner classics like "As Time Goes By" and "Stardust."  Interestingly, the initial score composer, John Barry, quit when given the list of 20 songs he had to include.  Marc Shaiman picked up the reins and was ultimately nominated for a BAFTA for his efforts.

Trivia challenge again for April!  Pick your own movie to share.  Post three clues on Friday, April 1st.  Post your reveal and review on Friday, April 8th.  Meanwhile, please visit my friends today:

Mock Squid Soup: March 2016 Blog List

MOCK! and The Armchair Squid are proud to present Mock Squid Soup: A Film Society!

Next meeting is Friday, March 11th.  As announced last month, the plan for this month is for each participant to pick someone else's movie from our ever-growing society library.  I maintain a list of those movies here, also to be found on my page list as "Mock Squid Soup Film Library."

The signup list:

Mock Squid Soup: That Thing You Do!

MOCK! and The Armchair Squid are proud to welcome you to Mock Squid Soup: A Film Society, meetings on the second Friday of each month.  Last week, society members posted three clues as to their chosen film for the month.  Today is the big reveal.  A reminder on my clues:

- The writer/director is one of Hollywood's all-time superstar actors.  He appears in the film, though in a supporting role.  Interestingly, the actual male lead is a dead ringer for a younger version of the megastar and was nearly passed over for the part as a result.  However, the two are not related.

- The female lead is the daughter of rock 'n' roll royalty.

- The film is the only one I know of that takes place, at least in part, in northwest Pennsylvania.

Drum roll please...

Title: That Thing You Do!
Director: Tom Hanks
Original Release: 1996
My Overall Rating: 4 stars out of 5

via Wikipedia

That Thing You Do! tells the tale of a one-hit wonder band from Erie, Pennsylvania who take the country by storm during one mid-'60s summer.   It's a bit like an inspiring sports story in light-hearted, musical form.  Or perhaps it's The Commitments, gone over with a washcloth.  Whatever it is, it's adorable.

The hero is Guy Patterson (Tom Everett Scott, the Tom Hanks double), a genuinely talented drummer stuck working for his dad at the local home appliance store.  One day, a pal recruits him to sit in with his band for a talent show.  Guy surprises his new mates by upping the tempo at the performance and the magic begins.  First, a vagabond agent discovers the act, then a Hollywood record label represented by Mr. White (Hanks).  The band tours state fairs en route to LA.  As happens in life, some relationships develop while others suffer.

Liv Tyler (daughter of Aerosmith frontman Steve) is Faye, the lead singer Jimmy's girlfriend.  Ms. Tyler's film performances are uneven in my experience.  She flourishes with great material (see Lord of the Rings) but lacks the talent to carry a movie on her own.  Faye is a good role for her.  She and Scott have wonderful chemistry, essential to the successful execution of the plot.  She has a monologue towards the end in a consequential moment with Jimmy that is, frankly, painful.  It's the big clunker line in an otherwise well-written screenplay, not entirely unlike Andie MacDowell's "Is it raining?" disaster in Four Weddings and a Funeral.  But it's not really her fault.  I blame the writer (Hanks again) for that one.

Two scenes have always stood out for me in That Thing You Do!  The first, I will admit, is a strange choice.  I love the scene in which Guy's girlfriend Tina (Charlize Theron) dumps him.  Tina has fallen in love with her hunky dentist but has yet to tell Guy.  Tina and Guy are on the phone engaged in what he assumes is their usual comfortable prattle.  Suddenly bored with their conversation, she hangs up on him.  No explanation.  No further discussion.  She's had enough and she's moving on.  Done.  I love it!  It would be rotten in real life but in the movie, it works.

The second scene is more obvious: the first time the band hears their own song playing on the radio.  My one lasting image from the movie has always been Liv Tyler running down the Erie sidewalk, screaming with delight.  If you wish to see pure joy portrayed on screen, look no further.

For those two scenes alone, I would happily watch the movie anytime.  In many ways, though, the true star is the title song, genuinely catchy.  In the movie universe, it hit #7 on the Billboard chart.  In the real world, it reached a nothing-to-sneeze-at 41.

Next meeting is Friday, March 11th.  I'll post March's blog list tomorrow.  For March, pick another society member's choice from our ever increasing library to review.  Today, please visit my fellow cinephiles, listed below:

Mock Squid Soup: February's Three Clues

Today, for this month's edition of Mock Squid Soup, all society members are invited to post three hints about their film choice for the month.  All are welcome to guess, of course.  My three clues:

- The writer/director is one of Hollywood's all-time superstar actors.  He appears in the film, though in a supporting role.  Interestingly, the actual male lead is a dead ringer for a younger version of the megastar and was nearly passed over for the part as a result.  However, the two are not related.

- The female lead is the daughter of rock 'n' roll royalty.

- The film is the only one I know of that takes place, at least in part, in northwest Pennsylvania.

Any guesses?  Society reviews will be posted next Friday, February 12th.  See you then.  Meanwhile, please visit my fellow cinephiles today: