Movies Of The Spirit - Page 18 of 19 -

CAPTAIN FANTASTIC

Captain Fantastic family

A single father, Ben (Viggo Mortensen), with his six children, is Captain Fantastic.

CAPTAIN FANTASTIC

By Marlene Ardoin

A single father, Ben (Viggo Mortensen), with his six children, navigates his way around the death of his bipolar wife in the best possible Buddhist way.

We find that he and his wife, a former attorney from a wealthy family, have home-schooled their children in an isolated wilderness. Both parents were very critical of society. The children have been groomed to be athlete fit, healthy, intelligent, analytical, well-read, creative, independent, survivalist, brave and self-sufficient individuals. If the world as we know it fell apart tomorrow, this family would be ready.

It is a clash of two schools of thought on raising the next generation, in which neither school is totally without flaw. We gradually realize that this father has given it his all. But, having to carry on alone, in the midst of his grief, almost unravels him.

The death of his wife forces him to reenter the real world. The close knit family discovers that they are not in any way, shape or form, prepared to live in the real world, as we know it.

As they observe the new found world, they encounter sick people, fat people, and beautiful girls smoking cigarettes, kind people, and people with different beliefs, old people and gullible people. It is sort of like Prince Buddha coming out of the palace walls for the first time in his life. It is a shock.

I would have liked to have the husband’s family and background filled in. He is obviously very intelligent and free-thinking. How did he get that way? Who were his parents? And, how did he meet his wife? And, the ultimate mystery is what caused his wife’s bipolar condition? From my research, I find that it rarely occurs in childhood, but develops in adulthood. Is it caused by brain chemistry or by built up inner emotional turmoil?

His wife’s mother, Abigail (Ann Dowd), is compassionate enough, but her husband, Jack (Frank Langella), seems to blame his son-in-law for everything.

Everyone is in a fragile state due to the circumstances with plenty of blame to go around. But, by being so opinionated, he creates more strife than can be borne by the children’s father, Ben. And, Jack is forcing the children and Ben to make a choice. I think I know what caused his daughter’s manic depression.

The real core of this story is the emotional shift of full-force sympathy for the young father, Ben, as he and his children navigate their grief and bring closure to everything in the Buddhist way. They choose love and truth.

Bipolar disorder slideshow

http://www.webmd.com/bipolar-disorder/ss/slideshow-bipolar-disorder-overview

Noam Chomsky

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noam_Chomsky

Buddhism

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism

Captain Fantastic Circle in the woods

8/2/2016 # Captain Fantastic

THE LEGEND OF TARZAN

The Legend of Tarzsan - Tanzan and Samuel L Jackson

Samuel L. Jackson lures Tarzan (Alexander Skarsgard) back to the Congo.

THE LEGEND OF TARZAN

By Marlene Ardoin

Like America, Africa was exploited horribly. “The Legend of Tarzan” highlights this truth with the fascinating story of an infant raised by a female gorilla. This fantasy somehow reveals the truth, but with a far more joyful outcome.

It was not just the slave trade, but the exploitation of ivory trade, trophy trade, diamond trade and every other kind of greed. Unfortunately, these evils are still a reality of today. If only Tarzan could come to the rescue.

Our story opens with the handsome, refined Tarzan (Alexander Skarsgard) sipping tea in an English mansion, looking up and saying, “No”. This image of him contrasts radically with the Tarzan who is unleashed later in the African part of the story. His American wife, Jane (Margot Robbie), insists on going on the journey with him.

Samuel L. Jackson plays a mercenary, who is sent to lure Tarzan back to the Congo. Jackson finds himself ill-equipped physically to keeping up with a Tarzan and the other natives. All he has is a gun, which won’t help him much if he is stranded in the middle of a lush and very dangerous jungle.

Christoph Waltz plays a corrupt merciless Belgian captain sent by King Leopold of Belgium to find diamonds and control the region. In other words, he is King Leopold’s stooge.

And, the part about a King Leopold of Belgium is a true fact. Leopold II (9 April 1835 – 17 December 1909) was the second King of the Belgians, chiefly remembered for the founding and exploitation of the Congo Free State as a private venture.

Leopold extracted a fortune from the Congo, initially by the collection of ivory, and after a rise in the price of rubber in the 1890s, by forced labor from the natives to harvest and process rubber. Under his regime millions of Congolese people died; modern estimates range from one to fifteen million, with the consensus figure climbing by around ten million.

Why do they need Tarzan to come back to the jungle? Apparently they cut a deal with one of the chiefs, who wants Tarzan dead for killing his son, who killed Tarzan’s gorilla mother, in an initiation rite of passage.

As it turns out, Tarzan and his wife are welcomed back to the Congo, not only by the animals, but by a specific African tribe, where Jane grew up.

This story keeps getting better and better. It has a magnificent cast, gorgeous scenery, amazing animal footage and a very warm-hearted story. And, I promise, it has a very, happy ending.

The Legend of Tarzan - Leopold II of Belgium

Leopold II of Belgium

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_II_of_Belgium

7/13/2016 # THE LEGEND OF TARZAN

THE MEDDLER

The Meddler, Susan and Simmons

Susan Sarandon rides with J.K. Simmons.

The Meddler, Susan and Rose

Lori (Rose Byrne) is uncomfortable with mom’s help.

THE MEDDLER

By Marlene Ardoin

Susan Sarandon, as Marnie, is more of a fairy god-mother, than a meddler. A good meddler’s motivation comes from a place of love, and a bad meddler comes from a place of criticism or envy. Marnie is a good meddler.

We get a step by step how-to-get-over the death of a doting husband. Marnie’s husband has made sure that she has more than enough to survive on her own, but Marnie is a natural giver. And, now we know the secret of a great marriage, two-way, great giving.

Marnie relocates from the east coast New York area to the west coast Los Angeles area.

What is so delightful about this film is watching Marnie gradually open to a new way of life, new friends, and learning how to fill the void of her recent solo life. Anyone who crosses her path is sure to feel the force of her great big heart.

At first, her daughter, Lori (Rose Byrne), is uncomfortable with her presence, but when mom gradually builds a new life for herself, the tables turn as Lori begins to miss her mother’s unconditional support and love.

Marnie’s god-mother recipients include an elderly woman in the hospital who is unable to speak, a young black boy in a computer store who shows her how to use the new phone, a lesbian couple who have a young daughter, and a divorced cop (J.K. Simmons) who gets his chickens to lay eggs by playing them music.

We also get treated to watching her open herself to the possibility of male attention. She clearly knows the difference between love and lust. The demonstrations of both are humorously presented.

This is a warm-hearted story.

As a group of elderly, middle-class females were leaving the showing, I overheard them wondering if the lesbian couple had any lesbian friends? I hope that is not the only takeaway that they got from this movie.

7/11/16 # The Meddler

WARCRAFT

Warcraft , swordfight

Lothar is a knight who has sacrificed everything to keep the Kingdom safe.

Warcraft, half-blood

Garona Halforcen, a strong-willed half-orc survivor caught between the Alliance and the Horde.

WARCRAFT

By Marlene Ardoin

“Warcraft” combines every beautiful stroke of fantasy as it tells a tale of how two perfectly evolved people use their strengths to bring peace and sustainability to the world. Think of “Lord of the Rings”, “Harry Potter” and the Bible intertwined with each other.

From “Lord of the Rings”, “Warcraft” gives us a (spoiler alert) protector wizard type, who becomes corrupted.

From “Harry Potter”, we have magicians who use magic to extract the life force from one being for another, leaving death and destruction in the wake. Also, we are shown parents who are willing to sacrifice their own lives for the survival of their child. Love is a major theme.

These characters weigh the greatest good in their decision making. For example, a king is willing to sacrifice himself for the future peace and survival of his kingdom.

From the Bible, we have a mother who sets her baby adrift in a stream, swaddled in a basket, just like Moses.

“Warcraft” also reminds me of the Prince Valiant series. The humans depicted are very medieval and handy with swords. Even when confronted with the mighty Orcs, who are three times their strength and size, they fight with fearless honor, just like David and Goliath.

And, fantasy is not true fantasy without beautiful, strong women. Paula Patton as Garona, who is half human and half Orc, teaches us compassion and tolerance for those not like us.

What I love about fantasy is its ability to present touchy topics that are too painful to look at in any other way. Likewise, we get to try out different emotions like courage and honor.

Warcraft opened with $26 million in North America and $280.5 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $306.5 million, against a budget of $160 million. It was China’s biggest two-day box-office premiere ever, opening with $156 million. What is it that other countries see that we do not?

6/20/16 # Warcraft

MAGGIE’S PLAN

Guy wants to capture the moment with Maggie.

John and Maggie communicate, sort of.

MAGGIE’S PLAN

By Marlene Ardoin

“Maggie’s Plan” is about the complex world of modern sexual politics, which is getting more and more complex as we speak.

Greta Gerwig stars as Maggie, who is beginning to feel her biological clock ticking, with no soul mate in sight. She insists on love, but no one has matched her expectations, so far.

Maggie has managed to get a good education, and she has launched a career that she can feel good about, helping others get their product ideas off the ground. One of her clients has developed a doll that reveals the internal organs. We see Maggie helping her client make the presentation for financing.

With warnings, yet support from friends, Maggie decides to move forward with giving birth on her own. And, she is very meticulous about finding a gene donor who matches all her criteria. She appears to be far more motivated towards having a baby, than towards finding a mate.

Her perfect match is a pickle entrepreneur, Guy (Travis Fimmel), who studied mathematics just for the love of it, and who enjoys ice skating. Maggie likes his pickles, his philosophy, his ice skating, and his excellent health, but does not take his offer to just have the baby naturally. She wants him to put his semen in a jar.

Maggie is wary of intimate relations, and for good reason. As the story progresses, she meets an unhappy married man, John (Ethan Hawke), who is married to a successful writer, Georgette, played by Julianne Moore.

John has chosen Georgette, because he also wants to be a writer, and Georgette, has chosen him, because her biological clock was ticking. Two children later, he does not feel supported enough by Georgette. I really hate to make this analogy, but it appears that John is living off both women, in return for his sperm.

Emotional naiveté, vulnerability and just plain letting down her guard steers Maggie’s plan way off course.

She is not one to just settle in the wrong groove. Maggie’s solution is brutally honest, yet compassionate. It is hard admitting that she has made a mistake, but Maggie’s final plan involves getting out of that mistake with the highest good for all concerned. This film is well worth the time.

6/8/2016 # Maggie’s Plan

LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP

Love and Friendship - Lady Susan Lady Susan (Kate Beckinsale)

LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP

By Marlene Ardoin

“Love and Friendship” reveals a decidedly unromantic side of Jane Austen as she reveals the ferocious ego of “Lady Susan,” whose only virtue is her penchant for neglect.

We find that Lady Susan (Kate Beckinsale) has just been widowed and has a daughter, Frederica (Morfydd Clark), tucked away in a boarding school somewhere.

I say that Lady Susan’s virtue is neglect, because her neglect is probably what saved the temperament of her daughter. Austen does have such women in her novels, but rarely as the main character. “Lady Susan” was written when Austen was 18 (around 1794) and was not published until after her death.

Lady Susan also has a special genius for manipulation. She is very attractive for a woman with a marriageable daughter, and she knows it. Her best line in the film is “too old to manage, and too young to die.” She is referring to men, but she could also be referring to herself.

I understand how such a woman during that time period could be created. She is a beggar, who seeks to be supported by others. During that era, men were the providers, property holders and the decision makers.

Lady Susan, on the other hand, is too intelligent to be managed. She prefers to set goals. Neither men, nor other women, can defend themselves against her intellect and cunning stratagems.

I also noted a slight resemblance of one of the suiters to Colin Firth’s Mr. Darcy, but that is where the resemblance ends. Tom Bennett as Sir James Martin is not a Mr. Darcy. Pride and gullibility are not the same qualities.

The ending to his film will leave you with your mouth wide open in “I didn’t see that coming” expression. Lady Susan maneuvers affairs with two younger men, Lord Manwaring, and Reginald De Courcy, yet somehow, her daughter does end up married to a suitable mate, and so does she.

6/7/2016 # Love and Friendship

HOLOGRAM FOR THE KING

Hologram for the King, receptionist

Tom Hanks gets the run-around by Saudi receptionist.

Hologram for the King, dinner

Culture shock begins with dinner.

HOLOGRAM FOR THE KING

By Marlene Ardoin

Tom Hanks, as Alan Clay, communicates the feeling of overwhelm as an American executive during the recent financial meltdown in the global market. In fact, he even has a panic attack. His personal fallout includes a disintegrating marriage and the loss of his home. He feels unable to control his circumstances.

He was formerly a Schwinn bike executive, until that business fell to the global competition. His company thought that outsourcing the manufacturing of Schwinn in China was a good idea. He explains that China learned how to make a good bike in the process, and developed their own brands to compete at a much lower price.

So, we arrive in Saudi Arabia with our executive, who is now representing a hologram company. He must deal with jet lag, culture shock, and a nasty cist in the middle of his back. This is all building the stage for his stage-four panic attack. The cist could represent what has been festering inside him that has now positioned itself in the unreachable part of his back. It is like the piece of straw that broke the camel’s back.

His pain causes him to reach out to two Saudi individuals, the broad-minded taxi driver (Alexander Black) and the out of place, female Saudi doctor (Sarita Choudhury). They both rush to his side in the midst of his panic attack.

The film does a good job of hitting all the points in culture shock of an American in Saudi Arabia. 1) They are given a tent to set up their hologram demonstration that has no Wi-Fi signal, no food and no air-conditioning. 2) He gets the run-around from the receptionist. 3) He discovers that they are not the only culture there to meet the king. A Scandinavian contingent has been waiting for about 18 months. 4) Drinking is not allowed in Saudi Arabia, but somehow, everyone is finding alcohol. 5) Women need to hide their hair and their bodies. 6) Men can have several wives. 7) Anyone who is non-Muslim is not allowed within miles of Mecca. 8) Single women are not allowed to be alone with single men. 9) Only the husband can make a decision to divorce. And, 10) women are not supposed to have an education or a career.

Our beautiful female doctor has two children and is trying to get out of her marriage. It seems that her husband has not paid attention to her for some time. Enter a very stressed-out American, who could really use a little tender attention and love.

The buildings in this film about Saudi Arabia are palatial. Our doctor takes our American to her home by the sea. Because of customs, she has to impersonate a man in order to go swimming with him. This turns out to be an erotic surprise, totally unexpected.

Our American is very social, and his attempts at being friendly eventually are reciprocated. He finds that he can start a new life in Saudi Arabia, and his daughter, who is ever faithful to him, may just get that college education after all.

The king does show up, but only after our American develops the nerve to ask for air-conditioning, food and Wi-Fi connection to his tent.

4/29/2016 # Hologram for the King

DEMOLITION

Demolition, with father-in-law

Father-in-law (Chris Cooper), Phil, pressures Davis (Jake Gyllenhaal) to pull it together

Demolition, with teen

Jake Gyllenhaal, Davis, and Judah Lewis, Chris, learn how to use tools together.

DEMOLITION

By Marlene Ardoin

Jake Gyllenhaal plays Davis, a man dealing with his wife’s sudden death. He can’t quite put his finger on it, but something is off about the event.

He feels that he was married to a stranger. Her last words to him were about using his tools. This triggers a psychosis in him to take everything apart with his tools. He didn’t even know he had tools. His main way of making a living is in big finance, not using tools.

Both physically and psychologically, he begins to examine his life and his marriage relationship.

He communicates his discoveries and frustrations in a series of complaint letters to a vending machine company. While he was waiting in the trauma floor of the hospital, he tries to purchase some peanut M & M’s, but they get stuck in the vending machine.

His series of letters reveal a surprising effort on his part. He is frustrated that he was not able to get his M & M’s, because, we discover that almost everything else in his life was obtained easily and effortlessly.

He discovers in his process, that not only did he not know who his wife was, but her well-to-do parents had even less of a clue than he did.

His wife was their only child, so they wanted to create some kind of a legacy to keep her memory alive. What they come up with as a legacy had no relationship to what their daughter really cared about.

Meanwhile, a female customer service rep, Karen (Naomi Watts), at the vending machine company responds to his letters. She is pulled into his struggle and web of exploration out of curiosity and concern.

She is a single mom with a rebellious teen son (Judah Lewis), who has some questions about his sexual orientation. Clearly, she has a lot on her plate, but her heart goes out to Davis. She is on a different social status, and her life is even more desperate and unexamined than his. He has a lot more money than she, and she does not have any money to waste.

What this film triggers in me is the old adage that an unexamined life is not worth living.

How can one raise a child without having some kind of understanding of who they are? And, the same goes for a marital partner. How can you be married to someone without learning anything about them?

Like, what do they really care about? What makes them come alive? And, what can you do to nurture the best in them?

Davis is open to these questions in himself and proves to be very non-judgmental in his discovery of others.

I have the sense that this is just the beginning of his self-discovery. So far, he has just done what was easy, without much effort on his part. Like Karen’s teen, he is full of self-loathing. He feels dead, without goals, excitement, striving or challenge. He is in the process of rejecting the easy way, which did not serve him, or do him any real favors.

This film concerns itself with truth and love, as each character serves to reveal and nurture one another in surprising ways.

Why just include ones children or ones marital partner, why not extend it to teachers, neighbors, employers, spiritual leaders and political leaders, to name a few possibilities?

4/21/2016 # Demolition

HELLO, MY NAME IS DORIS

Sally Field, accountant, with Max Greenfield, the company’s new art director

13 year old shows Doris (Sally Field) how to use Facebook

HELLO, MY NAME IS DORIS

By Marlene Ardoin

Sally Field portrays what it is like for every woman who is over 40 years old, in “Hello, My Name is Doris.” Usually, after 40 years old, women become invisible. However, that is not the case for Doris. She is very mindful of her personal appearance and personal space. It is not her fault that she is disrespected, not only by her family, but also by her co-workers.

As the film opens, we discover that Doris has sacrificed her life to taking care of her aging mother, who has just passed away. She is in a state of grief and bewilderment of her new found freedom.

In addition, no sooner has her mother been laid to rest, than her long, lost brother shows up with his wife, to proceed to pressure Doris into selling her childhood home and everything in it. The sentiment is to get in on the financial action. This is all Doris has for security, so they also provide her with a counselor, who can aid Doris in the letting go part.

Even in her grief, Doris proves not to be such an easy doormat. She works as an accountant at work, and has been an accountant for many years. She may have a big heart, but she is not a dummy.

Luckily, Doris has great friends, who give her real, emotional support. At this point in her life, her friend’s thirteen year old grand-daughter, really helps to cheer her up, because Doris is attracted to a new employee at the office, the new art director, played by Max Greenfield. It is suggested that Doris is emotionally a thirteen year old, but rather the intrigue, aggressiveness and angst of a teen, than a mature, self-centered narcissist.

Doris is worthy of friendship, because she is a giver by nature. Just as Doris rocks her colorful outfits, she fights hard for her new life.

She is great company at a concert and even opens a Facebook account. To Doris’s dismay, the young art director has a beautiful, young girlfriend, who sings, but somehow, was not present at the electro-pop band concert that her boyfriend attends.

Doris has a lot to offer in a relationship. Doris offers interest, enthusiasm, empathy, fun and passion. Not only that, but she has a home on Staten Island, she cooks, she is open to new experiences, and Doris is open to a great, big change in her life.

If you are a woman, and over 40 years old, I think you might enjoy this one.

4/14/16 # Hello, My Name Is Doris

MIRACLES FROM HEAVEN

Miracles from Heaven - Garner & Latifa

Angela (Queen Latifah) cheers up Christy Beam (Jennifer Garner) and daughter Anna (Kylie Rogers)

Miracles from Heaven - Real family

Real family, Kevin & Christy Beam, with children (youngest to eldest) Adelynn, Anna, and Abbie.

MIRACLES FROM HEAVEN

By Marlene Ardoin

I came away from “Miracles From Heaven” feeling nourished and stimulated at the same time. This film seeks to ask questions as it relates a true story about a 10 year old girl, who is spontaneously healed from an incurable disease. She says that God spoke to her.

The girl is Anna (Kylie Rogers). She is one of three daughters, of a veterinarian and his wife (Jennifer Garner), who operate their new business out of their farm in Burleson, Texas in 2011. Financially, things are tight.

Being one of three daughters probably meant that sibling rivalry was intense, especially being the middle daughter. The question that occurred to me was why did Anna suddenly become ill in the first place? She is completely normal, then suddenly, her internal intestinal system stops communicating with her digestive system. I’m just wondering.

There is no question that she is in serious medical trouble. And, her parents have to decide what they are going to do about it. Anna has wonderful parents. Ironically, the competition is over the mother/father love, which is in short supply for all three children, especially with the new business at their home.

Anna’s father, Kevin Beam (Martin Henderson) seems firm in his resolve to do whatever it takes to manage the financial part. But, financially, things are spiraling out of control. Miracles do start happening. People and events start allowing him to do what is needed. Like the computers going down at the airport, when he is trying to take his two other daughters on a flight to Boston to visit his deathly ill daughter Anna and his wife, Christy Beam.

Christy Beam, played convincingly by Garner, abandons faith in God, in favor of personal will to help her ill daughter. She tries waiting for that specialist to call her, but cannot take the pressure to seeing her daughter in severe pain and in steady medical decline. What she realizes in hindsight, is that she is being tested. Miracles are happening for her as well, but she does not recognize them, while they are happening.

Queen Latifah plays a big-hearted Boston waitress, Angela, who really is an angel in disguise. You never know who is going to be the gate-keeper to your sanity and your well-being. Angela is an angel, the new hospital receptionist is an angel and so is the light-hearted specialist, Dr. Nurko (Eugenio Derbez). They are all Christy’s miracles.

Anna is also being tested. Her roommate at the hospital has cancer. Spoiler alert, Anna passes her test with flying colors.

Speaking of miracles, we haven’t even gotten to the main miracle, Anna’s accident, the hollow tree, the butterfly and God.

Whether you are a believer or not, “Miracles from Heaven” will leave you inspired and at peace.

4/3/2016 #Miracles From Heaven