Tag: child abuse

FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM

fantastic-beasts-and-where-to-find-them

Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston) has the Hermione role and Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) has the Potter role as a defender of Magical Beasts.

FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM

Film Review by Marlene Ardoin

The “Fantastic Beasts” magical clan in New York does not have the warmth of its English, “Harry Potter” counterpart.

It does not feel like 70 years back in time, rather like 70 years ahead of time. The United States does not have the castles and New York definitely does not have the English countryside. I think it should have started in England, just for reference.

Eddie Redmayne staring as Newt Scamander has the Potter role as a defender of Magical Beasts. In 2014, he starred as Stephen Hawking in “The Theory of Everything” and in 2016, Redmayne starred in the biographical drama “The Danish Girl,” which I could not get out of my mind while I was watching this movie.

What I would have liked to see was Newt capturing those beasts, in England and in other countries, then going to New York. It is not clear why he is going to New York. Why not just go straight to Arizona to release his creatures?

Katherine Waterston staring as Tina Goldstein, has the Hermione Granger role, but is a sorry version of her. Tina is a failure as an auror. She lacks the intelligence, pluck and inventiveness of a Hermione. She looks less powerful and she is less powerful. I would have liked to see her blossom into her power.

I found it hard to believe that Tina could have held onto Newt, without his polite co-operation. This is a very lop-sided partnership.

Turns out, Tina has a sister, Queenie Goldstein (Alison Sudol), who usurps all the sex appeal, beauty and heart, in her role. Too bad she prefers non-magical folk as possible suitors, Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler).

Queenie seems to appreciate Jacob’s appreciation of her cooking. Okay, this is playing it too traditional. They keep Jacob around because he is so likeable?

Toward the end of this story, the magical beasts lose the focus. Now, we need to pay attention to magical children who have been abused by non-magical folk. Harry Potter was abused, but he never became a monster.

To tie this story together, Newt could have tamed this child, just like he does his magical beasts. That would have tied this story together better for me.

Are they a magical clan in New York, or vampires in New York? I was left with a very cold, disappointed feeling.

Screen-writer, J. K. Rowling, seems to suffer under the pressure of trying crank something out. I like it when she is adventurous and really knows and loves her territory.

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11/28/2016 # Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

THE ACCOUNTANT

the-accountant

Dana (Anna Kendrick) watches in amazement as the accountant, Chris (Ben Affleck), solves a complex problem.

THE ACCOUNTANT

Film Review by Marlene Ardoin

Ben Affleck breaks the geek mold in “The Accountant” as an autistic, mathematics savant. If you know anything about high functioning autism, you may find this an interesting human study.

One of the things that doctors are very careful not to suggest in autism is that it is not caused by poor parenting. This film, however, is very politically incorrect.

In this film, our main character (Ben Affleck as Christian “Chris” Wolff) and his normal brother (Jon Bernthal as Braxton “Brax”) are deserted by their mother, and their colonel father has child abuse badges on his uniform.

The accountant, Chris, has the typical autistic focus and detail orientation, which suits him to a career as an accountant. And, thanks to his father, both brothers develop exceptional abilities in the self-defense arts.

Autistics are famous for feelings disconnect, so it is not surprising that Chris and his brother, equally share this quality, when it comes to killing or hurting others.

Chris’s skillset suits him for working with some pretty shady and powerful types. The world he creates for himself is as a loner, who needs to recover from human interaction and who can disappear at a moments notice.

Autistics are blunt and honest to a fault, and so is our accountant, Chris. His blunt communication style gives rise to many humorous moments in the film. The climax of this film is also such a moment.

His odd behavior is accepted by a sweet, Mid-West couple, who are very grateful for his tax help. They humorously discover his other skills, when he takes up their invitation to come to their property to shoot.

There is romance in this film. Anna Kendrick, of the Twilight film series, plays an accountant, Dana Cummings, who discovers a discrepancy in the books. Chris is called in to track it down. She expresses amazement of his focus and skill.

Our accountant, Chris, responds to kindness. Because of his tendencies, I found their relationship very similar to the vampire series, Twilight, very romantic and very dangerous. I loved the scene where Chris slowly closes the door, as he watches her sleep.

After doing a little research on autism, I discovered that many famous individuals and NFL players have autism. Amadeus Mozart, Charles Darwin, Thomas Jefferson, Michelangelo, Andy Warholl, and Albert Einstein, were all famous autistic adults.

And, famous autistic athletes include Michael Phelps, Terry Bradshaw, Pete Rose, Bruce Jenner, Magic Johnson, Jackie Stewart, Babe Ruth, Michael Jordan, Nolan Ryan, Jason Kidd, Greg Louganis, Andy LaRoche, Alex Trevino, Derek Lowe, Scott Eyre, and Tom Gorzelanny.

I found “The Accountant” to be very thought provoking and entertaining.

Famous autistic people:

http://autismmythbusters.com/general-public/famous-autistic-people/

Diagnosis, Causes & Symptoms of autism:

https://www.autismspeaks.org/family-services/tool-kits/100-day-kit/diagnosis-causes-symptoms

10/18/16 # The Accountant

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

SPOTLIGHT

Spotlight, Child victim, Boston Globe

Breaking story in Boston Globe 2002, priests molesting children.

Spotlight, reporters with new editor.

Liev Schreiber as Marty Baron, the new editor, listens to reporters.

SPOTLIGHT

By Marlene Ardoin

Spotlight is also about diversity, low income children. One of the Best Picture Oscar nominees, Spotlight shows us the process of investigative reporters of the Boston Globe 2002 breaking a story of Catholic priests molesting children in their city. To be fair, this was not about all Catholic priests, just a few bad apples. But, those bad apples did plenty of damage and turned out to be more than originally suspected.

This film points out another example of where the weak are victimized by the strong. I assume the sexual exploitation of children from poor families by priests, started out small, then gradually grew to staggering numbers, worldwide. If the gatekeepers do nothing to stop it, it grows.

The children of poor families were easy pickings. Unfortunately, the vetting of priests was not very thorough at that time. And to be fair, the Catholic Church does a lot to help the poor, probably more than any other religion. Even today, the first thing one would suggest to a homeless person is to check with Catholic Charities.

The consequences of the victimization is heart rendering in this film. What resonated with me was the point that when you take away faith in religion from the poor, they are left without any kind of support system. What they turn to instead of religion is alcohol, drugs and suicide.

What the gatekeepers did at that time was to move the offending priests to new parishes, whenever problems were revealed. As a result, the priests had no feelings for or bonds with the communities that they served. I do not understand how anyone who has received religious training could do this. Why did they become priests in the first place? Was it a cover for their perversion?

The 4,392 priests who were accused amount to approximately 4% of the 109,694 priests in active ministry during that time. The report stated there were approximately 10,667 reported victims (younger than 18 years) of clergy sexual abuse between 1950 and 2002.

When sexual scandals involving Catholic priests in the US came to light in 2002, the Philippines media began reporting on abuses by local priests. In July of that year, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines apologized for sexual misconduct committed by its priests over the last two decades and committed to drafting guidelines on how to deal with allegations of such offenses. According to Archbishop Orlando Quevedo, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference, about 200 of the country’s 7,000 priests may have committed “sexual misconduct” – including child abuse, homosexuality and affairs – over the past two decades.

Stanley Tucci as Mitchell Garabedian, attorney, stood out for me. He was characterized as a bit of a character, but I would characterize him as noble. His clients were the victims, the poor families. One of the last scenes was of him greeting such a family in a kindly, upbeat manner, which was endearing. He was a priest in attorney clothing.

Liev Schreiber as Marty Baron, the new editor, also made an impression on me. He carried a persona of a do not mess with me, quite, but deadly, intelligent boss, who was not afraid to go to battle. Apparently, the molesting priest story got lost in the machine years earlier, but he saw the merit and the value to the paper’s readership, who were largely Catholic. He was raised Jewish, so the Catholics had no one to manipulate.

Mark Ruffalo as Michael Rezendes, reporter, Michael Keaton as Walter “Robby” Robinson, reporter, and Rachel McAdams as Sacha Pfeiffer, reporter, all did excellent work in their roles.

The story this film tells was a paradigm changer for the world. It came right after the 9/11 disaster, and changed how the world viewed children. The countries most affected included the USA, Canada, UK, Mexico, Belgium, France, Germany, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Tanzania, Philippines, Austria, Norway, Poland, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Slovenia and Sweden, to name a few.

3/8/2016 # Spotlight