Movie Review: Ricki and the Flash

Ricki and the Flash
Clinica Estetico, LStar Capital, TriStar Pictures, USA, 2015. 

Let's check some films that the readers of this site have suggested. 

Ricki (Meryl Streep) is a rocker stuck in the 1980s. Although she is living her dream, her band the Flash has seen its better days and plays in small bars. Ricki's day job is being a cashier and she's skint. When her daughter Julie (Streep's real daughter Mamie Gummer) divorces and gets a nervous breakdown she needs to go meet her ex-husband Pete (Kevin Kline). Pete is living in a nice house with his new wife. Rock life has been Ricki's main priority so she is estranged from Julie and sons Josh (Sebastian Stan) and Adam (Nick Westrate). The sons have different lifestyles than their mother (she's a Republican), green/leftist Josh is getting married and Adam is gay.

Pete and Ricki

Julie

Ricki makes progress with Julie but Pete's wife Maureen (Audra McDonald) drives Ricki away. Ricki's boyfriend Greg (Rick Springfield) wants to deepen their relationship but Ricki feels that she has messed up her life. So making up with the past is the way to go. Finally Ricki shows the uptight wedding guest's how to rock. It was amusing to see the the shocked faces of the wedding guests when the band started to play.

Emily (Hailey Gates) and Josh

Ricki and Greg

Meryl Streep sings adult oriented rock songs well and shows again her versatility. The soundtrack has good classic rock and some pop cover songs. The character of Ricki (Streep) was inspired by scriptwriter Diablo Cody’s rocker mother-in-law, Terry Cieri, so there is some personal touch in the story. But there are some things that prevent this from becoming one of my favourite Meryl Streep films. The comedic drama is well acted but has quite traditional redemption plot so no surprises here. Emphasis on the word comedic as the marketing tried to market this as a comedy although this is clearly a drama with some funny moments. Rick Springfield is also a fun rocker but it is a pity that the rest of the Flash, with many musicians from famous bands, have only minimal roles so the story is more about Ricki and less about the Flash. Generally it is a warm-hearted film with enjoyable dialogue. Still I think that the slice of life style approach does not fully work here as the other characters do not fully use their potential and somehow the story feels incomplete. We do not learn much about the family members of Ricki except that one kid is neurotic, one is gay and one is green. Still it is very watchable thanks to Meryl Streep's performance and music.

Rating: Good

Starring: Meryl Streep, Rick Springfield, Rick Rosas, Joe Vitale, Bernie Worrell, Ben Platt, Peter C. Demme, Jim Roche, Alexa Klienbard, Keala Settle, Joe Toutebon, Big Jim Wheeler, Brooklyn Demme, Eamon O'Rourke, Aaron Moten, Adam Shulman, Kevin Kline, Chinasa Ogbuagu, Majora Carter, Gus Halper, 'Sister' Carol East, Cherise Boothe, Mamie Gummer, Bill Irwin, Ripley Sobo, Lucy Owen, Sebastian Stan, Nick Westrate, Hailey Gates, Josh Tobin, Carmen Carrera, Li Jun Li, Gabriel Ebert, Lisa Joyce, Jimmy Kieffer, Scott Ripley, Kelsey Didion, John Dreher, Suzanne Lenz, Scott Vicari, Desi Domo, Eliza Simpson, Audra McDonald, Emily Cass McDonnell, Cynthia J. Hopkins, Em Grosland, Charlotte Rae, Beau Sia, Jeff Biehl, Victoria Haynes, Joshua Elrod, Tubten Rabten, Anna Robertson, Tony Costa, Christopher Tierney, Isabella Way, Leah O'Donnell, Erin Mullin, Trevor F. Salter, Mason Ames, Katherine Crockett, Jos Demme, PigPen Theatre Company, Renée Albulario, Leasen Beth Almquist, Barbara Christie, Semar Ghebremichael, Chris Giarmo, Lawrence Goldhuber, Andrew Haserlat, Perri Lauren, Will Mann, Mayumi Miguel, William Ryall, Chinaza Uche, Alain Van Beaux, Nicholas Ward, James Young 

Director: Jonathan Demme

Shameless Pile Keeps on Growing: My New Furry Pals

It has been busy two weeks, and I haven't had much time to watch movies. So let's show some popular culture themed (or not) mascots and plushes that I have managed to find in thrift stores (except for Piggy) during the passing year.

Here's happy-looking Gingerbread Man from "Shrek."

Mr. Bean in pajamas, Blossom of The Powerpuff Girls, Ewok Wicket W. Warrick and Dora the Explorer.

There can never be too many Barbababas.

Here are some characters created by Finnish children's author Mauri Kunnas. Sleepwalking Mr. Hakkarainen and Martha from Doghill.

Spongebob Squarepands and Patrick seem to have fun.

On the other hand Asterix, Scotty and Elmo seem to have a small grudge.

Some gaming themed toys: Fruit Ninja- mascots, Angry Birds Piggy (movie version) and Wario.

And as a happy coincidence Sharky found his mother, Mommy Shark.

Clowns seem to be in fashion so here's Clown Smurf and Krusty the Clown.

And because it's Halloween here's also vampire Count Von Count.

Movie Review: The Search for Weng Weng

The Search for Weng Weng
Death Rides A Red Horse, Turkeyshoot Productions, Australia, 2007-2013.

There are a lot of rumours about unique and tiny action star Ernesto de la Cruz a.k.a Weng Weng (1957-1992) who according to the Guinness Book of Records was once the shortest actor. Nowadays the title belongs to Ajaykumar from India. Weng Weng was even rumoured to have been a real secret agent and taken part in infiltration missions. 

Weng Weng

B-movie enthusiast Andrew Leavold became obsessed with Weng Weng's films and traveled to Philippines to find out the facts about Weng Weng. He interviewed film historians and people who worked with Weng Weng, including director Eddie Nicart, editor Edgardo 'Boy' Vinarao and jovial actor Franco Guerrero. Also the only living relatives are interviewed. 

Eddie Nicart

Edgardo 'Boy' Vinarao

Franco Guerrero

Weng Weng is described as a lucky guy. The first of his popular films were small roles in "The Quick Brown Fox" (1980) and "Da Best in Fa West" (1981) starring comedian Dolphy but his career started already in 1976. He liked watching Karate and Kung Fu movies and started practicing martial arts. But he was also lonely and although his movies made money he didn't see any and he died as poor as he was born. Still he was happy to be an actor and to work with the leading ladies. He was also a brave stunt man, making his own stunts. His big breakthrough were the Agent 00- films. "For Y'ur Height Only" was the second in the series and the first movie of the series is considered a lost film. 

The producer Peter M. Caballes, who was Weng's guardian, and script writer Cora Ridon Caballes spent the money earned from the movies and Weng Weng did not get salary. Caballes' were friends of President Ferdinand Marcos, and Weng was a regular visitor in the President's Palace. The Marcos family supported Cinema Arts, and used the entertainment to cover the corruption and human right violations. It was quite crazy in the movie business of the Philippines at that time. Imelda Marcos is interviewed also. She hosted Manila Film Festivals to showcase the artistic films of the country, but the low brow films of Weng Weng were the only films that were sold for the foreign audiences and Weng Weng suddenly became an iconic Filipino actor. Many people were not comfortable with that. Still Weng Weng's popularity in the Philippines may also have been high partly because his innocent looks made him resemble Santo Niño, Child Jesus. The popularity also gave rise to Weng Weng impostors. 

The documentary tells Weng Weng's story that is quite tragic but also warm and delightful. Sometimes fact is stranger than fiction and so it was also in the Filipino movie industry. In the end fans from around the world express their fandom.

Rating: Very good

Starring as themselves: Tikoy Aguiluz, Roy Arabejo, Tilman Baumgaertel, Don Gordon Bell, Celso Ad. Castillo, Beth Chai, Teddie Co, Rez Cortez, Roland Dantes, Celing de la Cruz, Editha De La Cruz, Nick Deocampo, Dolphy, Jim Gaines, Peque Gallaga, Eddie Garcia, Franco Guerrero, John Kater, Andrew Leavold, Marrie Lee, Ed Lejano, Maria Isabel Lopez, Anthony Maharaj, Imee Marcos, Imelda Marcos, Pia Moran, Eddie Nicart, Daniel Palisa, Dante Pangilinan, Rusty Santos, Henry Strzalkowski, Bobby A. Suarez, Edgardo Vinarao, Weng Weng (archive footage)

Director: Andrew Leavold