Hoppy Easter

When you add a bunny who wants to be a rocker and an evil chick bent on Easter domination, what could possibly go wrong? Not much because Hop is a hilarious movie about the Easter Bunny. A genre that really has never had any real representation in Hollywood, Hop explores the life of the Easter Bunny. The story is about a bunny named E.B. (whose initials stand for, you guessed it, the Easter Bunny) who is forced to fulfill his family destiny and become the new Easter Bunny; however, all E.B. wants to do is become a rocker. When E.B. realizes that his father, the current Easter Bunny, will not allow him to pursue his dream, E.B. decides to runaway from, coincidentally, Easter Island (the Easter Bunny's home much like that of the North Pole for Santa). E.B. befriends a lazy "young" man named Fred O'Hare, played by James Marsden (Enchanted, X-Men, and Hairspray), who cannot maintain a job. When Fred accidentally hits E.B., the two begin to realize that they both need each other. The real humor of this film comes from Carlos, the evil chick who is determined on becoming the Easter Bunny. From his overweight look to his witty dialogue, Carlos will stop at nothing to become the Easter Bunny. The movie does have some weak points. For instance, the scenes where only the live actors are on screen do not captivate the audience, and we think it's a bit far-fetched to believe that James Marsden is supposed to be a man in his 20's. The human dialogue is mediocre at best, but still maintains the enjoyable factor for kids and families. Let's face it, were we ever going to get provocative dialogue from a family friendly movie? I think the answer would be no. All in all the movie is enjoyable and has some funny moments, thanks to Carlos and Phil, Carlos' naive and dimwitted henchman. Voice talents include: Russel Brand as E.B., Hugh Laurie as the Easter Bunny, and Hank Azaria as both Carlos and Phil. Hop is a great Easter film that thrills children or the child at heart. 

This movie receives 7 Mendy's.

CHECK THE BOOKS!

Mildred Pierce, the five part mini-series from HBO,  is the story about a woman who kicks out her cheating husband and realizes that she is going to have to be the one to take care of her family during a depression era Glendale, CA.  After kicking out her husband she begins to realize that whatever little money she and her husband did have, does not compare to what she is getting without him.  In an act of desperation she decides to go back to the workforce; however, during the Great Depression there are no jobs for housewives.  She inevitably lands a job as a waitress in a diner, a definite decline in her social status.  Social status means everything to Mildred and her daughters.  One daughter in particular, Veda, blames her mother for her father's departure and grows to resent Mildred.  Veda begins to resent Mildred even further once she finds that she is a waitress.  In order not to disgrace her daughter, Mildred lies to her saying that she only took the job to learn how to run her very own restaurant.  After Mildred discusses this with Veda, Mildred inevitably opens her own restaurant called "Mildred's Place."  Without going too much more into detail about the story, Mildred does open her restaurant, but with much sadness and heartache.  Mildred's story spans that of 10 years and the latter portion of the story deals a lot with her relationship with Veda.  Veda, the selfish and spoiled brat, does not respect or show any compassion towards what her mother gave up so that Veda could have a better life.  The ending will leave you speechless and wondering how things could have spiraled out of control.   Mildred is played by the ever beguiling Academy Award Winning® actress Kate Winslet.  Kate portrays Mildred with compassion and pride, but it is Mildred's pride that gets in the way of her success.  Winslet's portrayal is flawless and inspiring for anyone with children or dealing with a difficult situation.  Winslet does what she does best, there are ample nudity scenes in this performance that move the story along.   Guy Pearce, most recently seen in The King's Speech as King Edward the VIII, plays the role of Monty, the aristocrat who has lost everything and becomes, as he puts it "Mildred's paid gigolo" perfectly.  The chemistry between the two of them works well on the screen.  Other notable actors in this mini-series include: Evan Rachel Wood, as the vile older version of Mildred's daughter Veda, Academy Award Winner® Melissa Leo, as the hysterical know it all next door neighbor, and Brían F. O'Bryne as the cheating husband.  This mini-series is one of the best that I have seen in awhile.  The passion and vulnerability that Winslet gives in her performance is the things that legends are made of, which is what she is quickly becoming.  Anyone who could give a performance showing compassion towards the "daughter from hell" and successfully do so is truly an accomplishment.  Mildred Pierce is truly an experience to be treasured for years to come.  Unfortunately if you do not have HBO, you will have to...(a) go searching online or (b) wait until it comes of DVD or Blu-Ray or (c) buy HBO.

Mildred Pierce receives 10 Mendys!        

I'm parched, could you get me a glass of water?

After much anticipation, one of the few movies that I was excited to see was finally released (and no I'm not being sarcastic).  Water for Elephants is the story about an elderly man who reminisces about his past working for the Benzeni Brothers (basically the poor man's Ringling Brother's Circus) and what happens when he develops a love affair with the Ring Master's wife.  At first when you see that Robert Pattinson is the male lead, you are either going to think (1) "OMG I love him as a vampire and I want to be Bella to his swan," or (2)" R-Patz, the vampire with the misaligned nipples?  No thanks."  I have to admit that he did a nice job when he isn't gazing creepily on a woman in order to drink her blood.  Pattinson does deliver a solid performance.  Reese Witherspoon, as the vivacious Ring Master's wife, doesn't disappoint, but doesn't overwhelm the audience in this role.  One could not help but think that the great Kate Winslet could have brought her "assets" to the table in this role, but all in all Witherspoon plays the role of a tease perfectly.  However, Christoph Waltz playing the diabolical August seems to be typecast in the sinister villain role.  This worked for him in Quentin's hit Inglorious Bastards, but in this particular movie it is dull because we have already seen it before.  It is not to say that he doesn't do a good job, on the contrary, he is an exceptional actor, but the role seems to be the same.  One hopes that he will be able to break away from this "villainous character"; however, on the other hand one could argue "if it is not broke, why fix it?  He did win an Oscar after all for playing this type of a role."  I must be honest when I say I have NEVER liked circuses and this movie confirmed why I do not support them.  If you are a circus fan, that's great, but for those of you like me who hate animal cruelty, please be warned that they do mistreat the animals with cruelty.  The mistreatment of the Benzini animals is the driving force of this movie and moves the plot along.  Luckily Pattinson's character cannot stand the mistreatment done by Waltz's character.  There are some moments that are graphic, but it does show the reality of how animals were and are treated in circuses.  The movie was quite enjoyable and I would not hesitate to see it again.

Water for Elephants receives 8 Mendys!

Me-OW!

At first glance one could think of this movie as a live action Lion King, but after the movie begins it turns out it is a live action Lion King (minus a singing warthog)! The movie chronicles the life of two of Africa's most famous cats - the lion and cheetah. The movie prompts the question "can these two families co-exist harmoniously?" Without giving too much away to answer this question, it is a Disney movie (so you do the math to figure it out). After visiting South Africa and seeing these animals in their natural habitat, I can honestly say that life is not as simple as Disney makes it out to be. Clearly the movie aims to make the harsh reality of life in the Savannah more appealing to a younger demographic; however, the movie does bring into light some deep topics for families to discuss. One tough moment, in particular, was when when the hyenas attack the mother cheetahs and her fuzzy cubs. All in all, the movie does chronicle moments of the great circle of life and showcases these majestic animals in their Kenyan natural habitat. What wins me over on this movie are the baby lions and cheetahs (who really steal the show). Their adorable and innocent attitude towards life makes us wonder how anyone or anything could want to hurt and destroy these animals. The message of earth conservation really hits home. Also, stay for the credits and read the animal descriptions - they're pretty funny!

The movie is a must for the animal lover at heart. Go and bring your family and talk about what goes on in the wildlife because out there life is anything but "easy." 

This movie is awarded 8 Mendys!

Lady Gaga's Born This Way Analysis

Lady Gaga’s “Born this Way” video clocks to about 7.5 minutes, and I (Tara) think there is more to the video than what people give Lady Gaga credit for. Gaga herself wrote the script and treatment for the video, while famed British fashion photographer Nick Knight directed, along with choreographer Laurieann Gibson, and Nicola Formichetti, who styled the video. The journey into Lady Gaga's space-age utopia opens with an inverted pink triangle filled with a city skyline (a heavy nod to Fritz Lang’s German masterpiece Metropolis) and a unicorn. Why a pink triangle? Well, under Nazi Germany, every prisoner had to wear a concentration camp badge on their jacket, the color of which categorized them into groups. Individuals who were sexual offenders (including homosexual men) had to wear the pink triangle. Therefore, Gaga is using the pink triangle as a symbol for gay rights. In case you've been living under a rock, Born this Way is about gender equality gay rights, and unity, so no surprise there. Gaga greets us in the first few seconds saying, “This is the manifesto of Mother Monster.” She is obviously channeling Fritz Lang's 1927 film, Metropolis. The futuristic landscape of the video is comparable to the film. Lang’s Metropolis depicts a futuristic dystopia in which there is a split between two social classes. In the movie, an android named Maria (a copy of a real-life girl) is used to incite a revolt among the worker classes. This isn’t the first time that Lady Gaga has recreated images from Metropolis—David LaChapelle shot her for Rolling Stone as an android against the famous skyline in 2009. (picture below)

As for the unicorn....in medieval times, the unicorn was a symbol for the relationship between Virgin Mary and Christ. In this sense, it serves as pure love and immaculate conception. Lady Gaga even described the process of recording “Born this Way” to Vogue saying: “the gates just opened, and the songs kept coming. It was like an immaculate conception.”

Her headdress, neck regalia, and wardrobe are an ode to her dearly departed friend and frequent source of inspiration, Alexander McQueen. This look is part of his last collection, where he used Gaga as his muse.

Other things to notice: The stars are shaped like a uterus! A faint rainbow of gay pride emits underneath Gaga as she spreads her arms. The same rainbow can also be seen at 7:00. Gaga is also signaling her role as “Mother Monster” in that she is ready to die and be reborn for her Little Monsters seeking refuge from various forms of discrimination. 

The most striking image, however, is Gaga’s birthing scene. This is reminiscent of Salvador Dali's “Geopoliticus Child Watching the Birth of the New Man." Dali’s painting features a figure emerging out an egg-shaped globe (strikingly similar to “the vessel” at the Grammys) from North America, while an androgynous figure stands with a scared child, watching his birth. Gaga wishes for a race built upon the equality and celebration of all different people, regardless of sexual orientation, gender, race, etc.

Next, we're told that a "birth of magnificent and magical proportions" took place on G.O.A.T., or Government Owned Alien Territory. 

A gooey birthing scene takes place that is an interpretation of what Gaga thinks the “mitosis of the future” will look like. Biology class will remind you that mitosis is the process of a single cell dividing into two identical cells. In Gaga-land, this is symbolic of the "two ultimate forces" in humanity: Good and Evil. In both forces, Gaga is literally birthing a new race. The “V” imagery is blatantly referencing none other than Gaga’s woman parts. Not to mention, butterflies (my guess a monarch?) are flying out of her loins. The butterflies may be a sign of the metamorphosis and freedom that her utopia would possess.

Gaga pushes for a race which “bears no prejudice, no judgment.” While the new race she's pushing for sounds like a good one, the image we see is somewhat troubling; we see the birth of Evil. Bodies writhe on top of each other in a scene of the underworld that has a resemblance to Michelangelo's Last Judgment.

This birth gives rise to the Evil Gaga—sitting atop her trademark lightning bolts. On top of these, she delivers a huge gun – ouch! The gun functions in the video as it would in reality, taking away life. This sort of evil strips Gaga of her beauty, leaving her as a skeleton, zombie, or ghost.

There’s also definite visual homage to Madonna's "Express Yourself" video, which everybody needs to get over because Gaga idolizes Madge and vice versa. Also, they’re BOTH borrowing from Fritz Lang. The last five minutes of the video are less symbolic than the first two-and-a-half. Gaga and her background dancers are barefoot and primal. She dances in minimal lingerie and swims in goop. Even made up as a skeleton, Gagaloo manages to look amiable. She wears a suit in yet another “Express Yourself” nod, playing with the notion of gender and grabbing her crotch like Madonna, while rocking her famous high ponytail. Alongside ghost/skeleton Gaga is Zombie Boy, Rick Genest, a Canadian model who tattooed his face and body. Yes, those are all permanent tattoos. Gaga signs off with explicit tributes to Michael Jackson and Madonna. The awesome combination of Michael Jackson, Madonna, and Lady Gaga just might equal a unicorn, which is exactly what we see riding off into the metropolis. This time, though, the pink triangle around it is right side up, the way it was meant to be. Gagalupe signs off with a burst of bubblegum, the idea of which came from Zombie Boy Rick Genest. Apparently, Genest decided to tattoo his body as a zombie because, as a boy, he chewed obscene amounts of Bazooka bubble gum and liked the tattoos that came within the package. He always applied the tattoos and liked the look so much, he decided to make it a part of who he is.

As a whole, I think you're on the right track baby. Paws up!