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Flash Movie Review: Strays
ONE OF THE PERKS OF BEING on social media is seeing photos of people’s pets. This would also include the wildlife photos individuals post online. Being an animal lover, I enjoy seeing the variety of pets people have in their household. There is one individual who does a daily post of their dog, who has the most expressive face. When the dog’s owner puts a caption describing the dog’s mood, I would absolutely believe it based on the dog’s face. What really gets me is how the dog looks like he is posing. I do not think any artistic or editing abilities were used to create the photo, they simply are random shots of their day together. This is not the only pet posts that get to me; there are hundreds posted from other individuals. Though some people like to dress up their pets in human clothing, where some produce funny results at the animal’s expense, I per se am not one who wants to dress up my pet. It is the pet photos where they do not need anything to look like they are talking to us, just a cock of the head or expression on its face that completes the “look” for me. IN THE PAST, I HAVE MENTIONED a special dog from my past. This dog seemed to understand what I was saying all the time, except when I wanted him to go lie down, so I could work in the kitchen without constantly tripping over him as he followed me around. He had an uncanny way of knowing what mood I was in, reacting to it in an appropriate way like a friend or family member would do. If my mood was down, he would simply come up alongside and lean into me. Or sometimes, he would wrap his front paws around my arm or neck, like giving a hug, if he was able to reach it. If I was in a good/happy mood, he would want to play or interact with me more than usual. One of my favorite things to do was to look at him and ask if he would like a “doggie massage.” As soon as he heard those two words, he would run up to me, plop down onto his side and wait for me to give him body rubs. It was the funniest thing. With my experiences being around animals, I believe they really can understand or at least sense us; however, in all my encounters I have never come across dogs like the ones in this adventure comedy. GROWING UP BELIEVING HIS OWNER LOVED him, a dog discovers the truth after being dropped off and stranded in a different town, far away from his home. With Will Ferrell (Blades of Glory, Downhill) voicing Reggie, Jamie Foxx (They Cloned Tyrone, Day Shift) voicing Bug, Isla Fisher (The Beach Bum, Wedding Crashers) voicing Maggie, Randall Park (Totally Killer, Young Rock-TV) voicing Hunter and Will Forte (Nebraska, The Last Man on Earth-TV) as Doug; this movie is absolutely not meant for children. It is crude, rude and at times funny. I thought the idea for the story was interesting and surprisingly touching. It just seemed as if the humor got old after a while from all the trash talk and curse words being thrown about. If one can stomach all of this, the special effects are terrific. The dogs looked as if they were really talking and acting out the story. There were a few times I laughed out loud, but for the most part I either chuckled or groaned. I will say, after seeing this film I feel like I will pay closer attention to the dogs I encounter in my life. There was an extra scene during the ending credits.
2 stars
Flash Movie Review: Always Be My Maybe
THINGS STARTED CHANGING AROUND THE 4th and 5th grades. Prior to those times the girls and boys usually played together during recess and after school. I remember when we all came back to school after having the summer off, to start the 4th grade. Something was different I soon noticed. Where we used to do things as a group, there now were smaller groups that had broken off. The girls were not as interested in some of the activities they used to participate in with the boys. They also seemed smarter to me because they usually were the ones to get the highest scores on our tests. I can still picture this one boy during our study time who instead was fiddling with the pigtails of the girl sitting in front of him. She was annoyed and asked the teacher to make him stop. During this time, I found myself in a dilemma. With the girls forming different interests and moving into smaller groups from the boys, I had to split my time between the two. I would hang out with the boys for a while, until they started getting too aggressive in their games or sports; then, I would move over to my friends in the girls’ clique. It became a challenging time for me. DURING MY SCHOOL YEARS I HAD A few real close friends. As we grew up we still maintained a closeness even when we started branching out into different interests. I was spending more time with one friend whose interests closely matched up to mine. Through several years we were there to support each other during the rough patches. I wound up going out of state for college and it was during these years things started to change for me. We stayed in close touch but where we used to get the same reaction to a situation, now there was a difference. It was not until I returned home where I came upon a reason for what I felt was a disconnect. The reactions they were displaying were identical to the way they reacted when we were in elementary school and high school. They were complaining about the same things that took place years ago. I tried explaining if the same reactions were producing the same unsatisfactory results, then maybe it was time to change the reactions. I could see by their expression this fell on deaf ears. Sadly, it was the fork in our road where we grew in different directions. I was reminded of this while watching the two childhood friends in this romantic comedy. IT HAD BEEN YEARS SINCE CHILDHOOD friends Sasha Tran and Marcus Kim, played by Ali Wong (The Hero, American Housewife-TV) and Randall Park (Aquaman, Ant-Man and the Wasp), had seen each other. Could looking at the past bring them forward into the present? With James Saito (Pearl Harbor, While We’re Young) as Harry, Michelle Buteau (Isn’t it Romantic, Sell By) as Veronica and Keanu Reeves (John Wick franchise, 47 Ronin) as Keanu Reeves; this rom-com was an easy watch. The script offered a mixture of family dynamics/traditions with modern thoughts and current topics. I did not experience any laugh out moments; for me, the story simply kept me engaged as the characters went through their paces. However, I did find myself getting amused by several of Marcus’ lines. The connection between him and Sasha came across as real thanks to the acting from Ali and Randall. Also, there was nothing in the movie that surprised me per se, except that I found Keanu’s performance wild. It was just pleasant to sit back and let the story play out in this picture. I would not consider this picture memorable; however, I appreciated the fact it got me thinking about some of my childhood friends.
2 ½ stars
Flash Movie Review: The Interview
The sign in the window that said, “Lost Our Lease” Sale, was what caught your eye. It was just enough of a catalyst to drive you straight through the store’s double doors. I know because I have had the same thing happen to me. The assumption is the prices have all been marked way down to move the products out of the store, lowering the moving costs for the retail establishment’s relocation. If you are like me, you wind up buying stuff just because it is a perceived bargain. Who knew you were peeling potatoes the wrong way all these years; you now had this contraption where the potato would be placed on a skewer and you would turn a handle to make the potato twirl around, while a fine thin blade sliced the peel off the potato. It really did not do a better job than your old handheld potato peeler, but now you had more things to clean up. What did upset you was discovering the store never closed; it signed a new long term lease. So for all the hype there was nothing really satisfying to show for it. THIS is how I felt after running like a crazy person to go see this “controversial” comedy. Let me start by saying Sony Pictures got the largest holiday gift they could have ever gotten–free publicity. With newscasters talking about the cyber-hacking of Sony Pictures, the online threats if this movie was released, the pulling of the film then the smaller release of it; there was news about this picture every single day. If none of this had taken place this movie would have, in my opinion, had a decent opening before fading into the background. Seth Rogen (This is the End, Pineapple Express) played television producer Aaron Rapaport for talk show host Dave Skylark, played by James Franco (Howl, 127 Hours). Discovering North Korean President Kim Jong-un, played by Randall Park (Larry Crowne, Neighbors), was a big fan lead the 2 men to land an exclusive interview with the president. However, the CIA had other plans for them. I honestly do not understand how of all things this film’s story became the biggest focus regarding the hacking of Sony. It turned out the movie trailer showed the highlights because I found most of the humor to be crude and repetitive. The story was a crazy idea that lent itself to becoming a fun satire; there were a couple of parts where I chuckled. Overall this action film was no big deal. I have seen harsher satirical treatments done of Kim Jong-un on television. Without a doubt this whole episode was a marketer’s dream; it almost makes one wonder if the hackers were getting a kickback for all the free publicity.
2 stars
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