Posts tagged San Francisco
“Babies” Baby’s Home Movies
May 12th
Baby’s Home Movies
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
BABIES is an interesting, sometimes amusing, sometimes fascinating documentary that follows four babies from around the world during the first year of their lives.
The four babies are Ponijao in Namibia, Africa; Bayarjargal in Mongolia; Mari in Tokyo, Japan; and Hattie in San Francisco.
There is no narration, very little dialogue, none of which is translated, and only a few titles to tell us the names of the babies and where they were born.
In other words, this movie is like four sets of home movies called “Baby’s First Year.” On the other hand, who can resist seeing pictures of a sleeping, yawning baby?
We first meet Ponijao in Namibia. She and a sibling are pounding rocks together, and then they get into a fight over an old bottle, which results in some biting and crying. A title says “A few months earlier,” and we see Ponijao’s mother giving birth to her.
We cut to Mongolia and see a pregnant woman exercising in front of a television set while an exercise program is playing, and then later she gives birth to Bayarjargal. A nurse wraps him up tightly, and he is driven home on the back of a motorcycle in his mother’s arms behind his father and young brother.
Tokyo is next, and we see baby Mari while she is feeding, and a cat comes in and joins her.
Finally, we are in San Francisco, where we meet Hattie, and from here on the movie doesn’t show the four babies in order anymore, but instead shows different scenes in the lives of the babies and their activities in their first year.
Consequently, we see the similarities of raising a baby around the world, but we also see the differences, as well as the interesting differences in the four cultures that are represented.
All babies are given baths, but there are differences in the techniques.
All babies have animals in their lives, but there is a vast difference in what those animals are.
And all babies explore their body parts, but there are differences in what they wear, what toys they are given to play with, and how their parents try to amuse them to keep them from becoming bored.
BABIES is “Baby’s Home Movies,” yes, but who can resist babies, who are adorable no matter where they live?
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“Four Christmases” Four Disappointments
Dec 12th
Four Disappointments
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
FOUR CHRISTMASES starts off bad, goes downhill from there with a lot of cheap laughs and easy shtick, and then it even also ends poorly, which all make it the perfect representation for Christmas.
Reese Witherspoon stars as Kate, Vince Vaughn is Brad, and they have been dating for three years with no intention of ever getting married or having children.
They live in San Francisco, and every year at Christmas they have lied to their parents in order to avoid spending Christmas with them.
As Brad tells his friends at one point, “You can’t really spell ‘families’ without ‘lies.'”
However, I am getting ahead of myself: The opening of the film is cheap and bogus, and it is designed to fool the audience more than to lend an insight into Kate and Brad.
So, rather than spend Christmas with either of their parents, they lie to them and tell them that they have to go off somewhere and do charity work, when in reality Kate and Brad are off to some exotic country for a vacation.
This year they plan to go to Fiji, but when they get to the airport, intense fog has caused all flights to be canceled, and they happen to be interviewed live by a local television crew about their canceled plans.
Of course, their parents see them on the news being interviewed, call them immediately, and guilt them into visiting on Christmas. Only problem is, both sets of parents are divorced, and thus Kate and Brad have to make four visits in one day, which adds up to “four Christmases.” Get it?
The four parents are played by Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek, Jon Voight, and Mary Steenburgen, and so we are not dealing with lightweight actors here, just lightweight material.
They visit Brad’s father first, and Kate learns some secrets about Brad that he had never told her. Then they visit Kate’s mother, and Brad learns some secrets about Kate that she had never told him.
Do you see a pattern here?
Yes, in satisfying their parents at Christmastime and meeting each other’s siblings, Kate and Brad learn more about each other, which can either strengthen their relationship or end it altogether.
And the moral of the story is nothing really beats being honest.
FOUR CHRISTMASES is nothing more than four disappointments.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”