“For a Good Time, Call…” Don’t Even Bother
Sep 16th
“Don’t Even Bother”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
For a Good Time, Call… is a small movie that was shot in only 16 days, and it shows.
It also has a subject that not everyone will find appealing, much less amusing, and that shows, too.
And finally, its crude subject is portrayed crudely, and that shows three.
The story is about two women and their mutual gay friend, Jesse, played by Justin Long, whom you will recognize from many other movies, but all he does in this one is embarrass himself.
Or maybe not. After all, he did take the money, assuming there was enough money in the budget to pay the actors for making this piece of crap.
Katie is living in a nice apartment in New York City, but due to circumstances that I won’t bother to go into, she has to get a roommate to help pay her rent.
Meanwhile, Lauren is living with her boyfriend, Charlie, but Charlie is moving to Italy because of his job, and Charlie breaks up with Lauren, saying he is bored with their relationship.
So, when Katie and Lauren tell their woes to Jesse, he says to them, “Why don’t you just live together for the summer and see how it goes?”
Well, when Lauren moves in, they discover that they had met each other ten years ago at a college party, the meeting didn’t end will for reasons that are too distasteful to go into here, and so they immediately don’t like each other.
Then Lauren loses her job, and wouldn’t you know it, she finds out that one of the many jobs that Katie has is as a phone-sex operator, but Katie isn’t making very much money at it.
So, more as a plot point than anything else, Lauren advises Katie on how she can make more money, one thing leads to another, and she and Katie start their own phone-sex business.
Well, Lauren becomes intrigued, and she decides that they can make even more money if they double their operators, and so she starts accepting calls from horny men, too.
Then we have to watch Katie train Lauren, then we have to watch various phone calls that are really unpleasant with cameos from some actors you might know, and then it still isn’t over.
For a Good Time, Call… isn’t even worth the call.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“The Intouchables” Is a Refreshing Comedy
Sep 16th
“Refreshing Comedy”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
The Intouchables is a French comedy with an unlikely subject: a wealthy man who is paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair hires a young black man from the projects in Paris to be his live-in nurse and take care of him.
One thing that is remarkable about this film is that when I saw the previews for it and all throughout watching it, I believed that Dustin Hoffman plays the quadriplegic, and I was impressed with how well he could speak French. Either that or else his lines were dubbed, and I didn’t quite believe that.
It wasn’t until I obtained the credits for the film that I learned that the actor isn’t Hoffman at all, nor is the actress playing one of the staff the American actress Amy Adams, which I believed.
When the movie opens, we see the rich man, Philippe, and the caretaker, Driss, speeding in Philippe’s Maserati, which Driss is driving. The police start chasing them, and Driss says, “Here they come–100 Euros says I can beat them.”
The scene has a funny ending, which is characteristic of the whole movie.
Then we see a flashback to when Driss interviewed for the job, which he didn’t even want at all, but just wanted a signature to prove that he had interviewed for a job so he could continue to receive his unemployment benefits.
However, something about Driss’s manner intrigues Philippe, and he says that Philippe is ready to try Driss out for a month, but he bets that Driss won’t last two weeks before he quits.
You see, most nurses leave the job after one week, because it is so demanding and requires such hard work.
Driss is impressed by the accommodations that he would live in, but the main reason for accepting the job might be Magalie, one of Philippe’s staff that Driss finds very attractive.
And so the rest of the movie consists of how these two unlikely men affect each other, Driss and his exuberance for life breaking through the walls of depression surrounding Philippe and Philippe’s money and status in life showing Driss that Driss’s previous life was going to lead him nowhere.
So, does Driss stay in the job longer than two weeks?
Does he get anywhere with Magalie?
The Intouchables is a very delightful and refreshing comedy.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshot.”
Jaeckle, K9s for Warriors help veterans with PTSD
Sep 16th
The soldier’s heart. Shell shock. Battle fatigue. Over the course of history, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder has gone by many names but one thing has remained the same: a lack of treatment options.
Now Flagler College assistant professor Tina Jaeckle and a group called K9s for Warriors are trying a different approach in the form of man’s best friend.
“When you come home, your dog knows when you’ve had a bad day,” said Jaeckle, who serves on the board of the Ponte Vedra Beach-based organization. “They want to get up in your lap. They want to cuddle. Dogs do that naturally. They’re much more sensitive to these things than humans.”
According to Jaeckle, who teaches sociology at Flagler, it’s that sensitivity to feelings such as fear and anxiety that make them perfect compliments to combat veterans suffering from PTSD.
According to a study by the Rand Corporation, one in five returning veterans suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. One in six will attempt or commit suicide. Symptoms can include hostility, aggression, depression, suicide, paranoia, acrophobia, nightmares, panic attacks, poor coping skills, memory loss and lack of trust.
“My background as a clinical social worker has always been in crisis and trauma. It’s something I educate law enforcement on and first responders,” said Jaeckle. “Right now, (PTSD) is an epidemic and if we don’t figure out better ways to deal with this, we’ll have no idea what to do when all these folks come back home.”
In the K9s for Warriors program, service dogs, which are rescues from local shelters, are trained together with their matched veteran to establish a deep bond that will enable the dog to be able to sense when its owner is in danger.
Three to five veterans at any given time are put up at the facility for a three-week training program where the “warrior” learns the skills needed to train their own canines. The group provides a service canine, training, certification, equipment, seminars, vet care, most meals and housing free of charge.
Service dogs at the facility are trained to respond to these dangers by performing tasks to lessen the distress. Examples of these tasks include pawing or bringing a toy to break a disturbing episode, blocking an unwanted person from advancing too close, reminding the warrior to take medicine or nudging the warrior while thrashing due to a nightmare. Each warrior has differing symptoms, so his or her service dog is trained for his or her specific disabilities.
Sandi Capra serves as director of development for the K9s program, but her connection runs much deeper than that. Her husband graduated from the program in November of 2011.
“This program allows (veterans) to live a more normal life. They can go to shops, restaurants, movies, everyday things you and I take for granted they are no longer able to do due to the overwhelming symptoms of PTSD,” said Capra. “They start to interact with the public and relearn to trust and can become productive members of society once again.”
And since the group’s services are provided free of charge, financial help and volunteers are always needed.
“The cost to feed the warriors while they are in residence and the cost of dog supplies are a large expense for K9s,” said Capra. “Financial help is always appreciated.”
And the local facility and need for volunteers is a fact that Jaeckle says has played well with her students, who have had visits from several veterans who have graduated the program.
“I think there are numerous opportunities for students in sociology and psychology to study PTSD as well as a huge opportunity to help veterans,” said Jaeckle. “We’re talking about current and future trends in psychology and sociology that students can take with them to graduate school.”
For more information on K9s for warriors or to find out how you can help, visit k9sforwarriors.org
Source: Flagler College
