Introducing… West of Greatness!

July 12th 2023 was the only time in the past year we’ve published a post that was actually written by us. It might actually be the only post we’ve written in the last two years. This blog, which we’ve had since 2012, is far from what it used to be. Traffic has decreased. Visitors have decreased. Sponsors have decreased. Why? We could blame the introduction of newer forms of video based social media. We could blame plenty of things. The truth is simple… we just haven’t put effort into it. We haven’t prioritized it. We’ve been busy. Maintaining a home in the harsh climate of New Orleans isn’t easy. Alana/Fit has a very demanding corporate career, as well as some hobbies she loves, including writing, book clubs, and playing rugby. As for Chris/Hungry/me… I’ve been working on something a little absurd.

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Apr162019

Mia and the White Lion (Movie Review)

“I really hated the movie, but I liked the message at the end.” That is what I told Alana when we left the theater at Universal City Walk. We just saw Dumbo a few days ago and were planning on either seeing Shazam or Hellboy. With our AMC Stubs A-List, we try to go to the movies as often as possible. Even though we love fun blockbusters, most of our favorite movies end up being smaller releases like Jiro Dreams of Sushi. I’m a sucker for anything related to nature or animals. When I saw they were playing Mia and the White Lion, I ldid a bit of research to find out more. The description gave me Life of Pi vibes; I had to see it. (I know Life of Pi had a tiger and not a lion.)

Jun112017

#9 Greatest Movie of All Time

We are moving and grooving with our Top 10 Movies of All Time! Today brings us to our #9 of the best movies ever. If you missed last week’s, you can find #10 here. Want to know the brains behind the list? Take a peek here. What intriguing movies will make #9 today? Let’s find out!

Kai – “Drive”

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Mar152017

A Closer Look into Kedi

Kedi was an absolutely beautiful movie. The soundtrack was so well-integrated with the content of the film that you barely even noticed it was there. The acting was delightful because it was all about people being genuine. What makes that so interesting is the fact that it was set in Istanbul, where many of the viewers of the film probably haven’t been. The camera work and editing highlighted the stunning visual prowess and character of the city and its inhabitants. The most important citizens of Istanbul were the human and feline populations that seem to get along so naturally.

Kedi makes you think about our relationship with what Americans would call stray cats. They probably wouldn’t identify them as feral or alley cats because it’s just not the most common terminology among the general public nowadays. There’s a very negative connotation and feeling in many parts of our country about cats being out and about in the streets, but after watching Kedi one might wonder, why?

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Jul042013

Sunday Movie Review: Epic

This movie was part of our double-feature last Sunday, paired with World War Z. Quite different movies, I know, but we enjoyed both! I’m not sure whether the order we saw them in was right or not. On one hand, World War Z left us a lot to think about (seeing it second). On the other hand, maybe if we finished with Epic, I wouldn’t see zombies in every dark spot of the room. Anyways, onto the movie!

Epic was a surprisingly star-studded cast with names like Beyonce, Colin Farrell, Josh Hutcherson, and Pitbull (even though I strongly detest Pitbull). The voices and emotion from the voice-actors fit the film perfectly and I’ll say that they chose right…well, maybe except Pitbull.

It opens up in the middle of a sad moment—a late-teen’s mother’s death so she visits her father, tucked away in the middle of the woods. And he definitely belongs there. He’s as bizarre as they come—a true oddball. He’s obsessed with tracking the so-called existence of tiny people in the forest. And well, turns out he’s right (not really spoiling it, you’ve seen the trailers).

This is more than just a story of little people fighting bug people (although, on the surface, it’s perfect for kids in this way). There are many intertwining themes and I’ll start with one: protecting the earth. The “leaf people”–the protectors of the forest– as they’re called are constantly on guard against the bad bugs—the “decay.” They fight to the death to protect what matters, nature and the future of nature. This dedication of protection reveals to the audience how important protecting the earth really is (and brings it home). Besides, their battles are wicked fun, using hummingbirds and other fun parts of nature to defend what matters most.

Another strong theme in this movie is the rekindling of the father-daughter relationship. MK (the heroine who gets turned from human to a little person to help the forest) feels abandoned by her father because he tucked himself into the work of finding these people and thus, his family took the second shelf. It was fun to see the development of connection from bewilderment and disappointment (from MK’s point of view) to understanding and love.

Epic is a truly fun movie with plenty of themes for adults to enjoy. It also has a great soundtrack with beautiful visuals. Fit gives it a thumbs up! Go leaf people! Enjoy this movie to help the earth stay hungry and fit!

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Dec312012

Cinema 2012: the Movies We Watched this Year

Throughout 2012, there were a healthy amount of movies that Alana and I saw in theaters. Even though tomorrow is the last day of the year and we might see a movie (Les Miserables, most likely), this post comes now.

Here are the 30 movies that we saw in theaters this year, basically in order. There were plenty of movies that we saw out of theaters as well; the first one that comes to mind is actually Kung Fu Panda 2. Also, we just recently watched Safety Not Guaranteed. Throw Alana’s first time seeing Nightmare Before Christmas and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation to that list.

It’s funny because we’ve already seen so many of these movies, but this was the year of the re-release in 3d, or at least it feels like it.

I’ll just throw a few words about each movie, some we did actual reviews for and others didn’t make it in time.

Beauty and the Beast 3d: Arguably my favorite animated movie, and feature film, of all time, it’s easily in the top ten if you ask me any day. We had seen The Lion King re-release last year and this was a no brainer. Alana had to stop me from singing along throughout the movie. It’s always in the discussion and usually the front runner for favorite Disney movie of all time.

The Grey: It was about Liam Neeson and wolves so we had to see it. Plus, I love snow and the cold. This movie was such a let down with an awful anti-climatic ending and a series of ridiculous deaths. The scenery was beautiful and the soundtrack was intriguing though.

Star Wars Episode 1: Phantom Menace 3d: Even Alana’s hatred of the new trilogy couldn’t keep us away from this one. It’s my favorite of the new trilogy because of Qui Gon, Darth Maul, and Duel of the Fates, thank you John Williams. The 3d felt non-existent but we enjoyed it being loud and large.

The Secret World of Arrietty: Continuing the streak of seeing anything related to Hayao Miyazaki whenever possible. It’s not one of his classics, but that still ranks it as an amazing movie. We loved it, the soundtrack was out of this world good.

Jiro Dreams of Sushi: Arguably my favorite movie of the year and the simplest one at that. I love sushi and Japan and Jiro Ono is the master of serving the finest. This was a masterpiece, perfectly put together with the most amazing images. We got sushi outside Lincoln Center right after it.

The Hunger Games: We did not enjoy this one even though one of us read the book prior and one didn’t. Obviously Alana read it. Mainstream trash in my opinion, although there were a few good special effects, costumes, and performances… Stanley Tucci.

Wrath of the Titans: It was nowhere near as good as the first one but Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson, and Ralph Fiennes did the best they could to convince. It was too over the top, Bill Nighy, but my love for Greek mythology left me with a smile at the end. There was just so much more they could have done, recast Gemma Arterton as Ao, so it was the worst thing a movie could be, disappointing.

Titanic 3d: Smiled throughout the whole film. The 3d wasn’t very good, but Celine Dion and this movie on the big screen made for a great time.

Cover of "Titanic (Three-Disc Special Col...

Classic story

Avengers: Being a big comic book nerd and having seen all of the movies leading up to this one, we were thrilled with this movie. Great casting Thor and Captain America, finally getting a good Hulk, Joss Whedon is a genius (See Firefly), I could go on for a long time. Alana bought it the day it came out on blu-ray and we watched it that night.

Men in Black 3: I love this series and Will Smith is great. This movie had such great witty humor in it, we were laughing, we were biting our nails, we were just loving it. It had a better story than the second one and potentially the first. It was a fun movie.

Snow White and the Huntsman: I actually was really looking forward to this one based on the trailer but I didn’t have huge expectations because I didn’t want to be disappointed and it hit home just right. It wasn’t amazing but it was good. I enjoyed it thoroughly although a second viewing is questionable.

Brave: We enjoyed seeing this one in Chicago while going across the country and it was just a nice movie. I’m not a huge Pixar fan so it was definitely one of my top choices from them, but it was the ancient lore of the world they created in it that made me like it so much.

Beasts of the Southern Wild: We saw this one at the FOX lot in Los Angeles and it was amazing. The little girl who plays the lead gets my breakout actress of the year award, and arguably best female lead of the year. The cinematography was perfect. In a league with Jiro in terms of quality.

Ice Age Continental Drift: A fun family movie we all saw together for free again at the FOX lot. I didn’t see all the prequels but it was clever enough and fun enough to deliver well… enough.

The Dark Knight Rises: It was good, I enjoyed the ending no spoilers, but it doesn’t live up to the hype for me. I haven’t been too crazy about the series despite having a long history with Batman. People can call me crazy but I have my experience and I enjoyed Michael Keaton’s movies the most, although these have some great qualities.

Ruby Sparks: A really cute creative movie that made us smile a lot. We enjoyed it when we all saw it at FOX. Great showing from independent movies this year, really.

Resident Evil Retribution: This was the MOST disappointing movie of the year for me. I see the Resident Evil movies for my birthday every year and they always are garbage, but this was the worst by far. They tore the actual story line apart and threw away everything Capcom has done for the last near twenty years.

Hotel Transylvania: Cute, about what we expected from it. Good cast of voice actors, but nothing special got across from this one. No amazing messages, it was just blah.

Frankenweenie: Really didn’t enjoy this one as much as critics did, it was the same recycled material Tim Burton has been using for years. Batman was great, Edward Scissorhands was perfect, and Nightmare was a classic, but everything since then, including this, has just been pieces of each.

Pitch Perfect: We loved this movie, I even bought the soundtrack the next day on iTunes and it’s still on my phone. It was predictable but the comedy and performances were good enough to keep us very entertained.

Taken 2: I loved Taken, but this was awful. Huge disappointment. They really messed this one up. All you needed to do was make Liam Neeson be really cool for an hour and a half. Instead you decide to spend half the movie chatting in a car, mansion and hotel with no action at all. Trying to set up a huge ending? Failed.

007 Skyfall: In the running for favorite movie of the year, which says a lot since this year was stacked. Daniel Craig is phenomenal in living up to the man that Ian Fleming actually created in his books. Bond is a ladies man, but he also has a dark side and mysterious past and this movie really focused on that. The action was great, the villain was one of the best ever, it was Bond.

Wreck it Ralph: Not quite a Disney classic, but the nostalgic effect of the characters involved with the smart humor and fun story line made a very good movie. It was very good. I would imagine best animated film of the year, edging Arrietty.

Lincoln: Daniel Day Lewis did a creepy job capturing Lincoln and the movie focused on a subject we feel so strongly about, but it was just very long. I’m sure a few scenes, including when he failed to garner a vote from one man, could have been left out with the same effect. Maybe some people like that scene, but it’s just me.

Rise of the Guardians: Really fun voice acting and the kids probably loved this one. We enjoyed it but it wasn’t anything special.

Fellowship of the Ring: 14 hour marathon.

The Two Towers: We were sick.

Return of the King: We enjoyed every minute of it.

The Hobbit 3d: We loved the lore, the soundtrack, the acting, we loved everything. We thought Peter Jackson cut it off at the perfect spot. But we wish we didn’t see it in 3d Dolby Atmos because the frame rate was just too high and it was so loud it was 4d with an earthquake. We are going to see this one again in the regular showing and I think it will be multiple times better. Can’t wait for the next one.

Life of Pi 3d: Beautiful visuals and captivating performances. It was very enjoyable and something we expect from Ang Lee, who brought us Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.

So, not including all of the movies that we had already seen (Beauty and the Beast, Phantom Menace, Titanic, LOTR Trilogy) we have 25 new movies that we saw in theaters this year. I think it’s time for some awards! (These are Chris, not Alana… sorry she’s at work and has better taste)

Starting with the bad awards! Every movie here gets an award, maybe.

Worst Ending: The Grey

Worst Adaptation: The Hunger Games

Biggest Disappointment: Resident Evil Retribution

Worst Sequel: Taken 2

Longest Feeling Movie: Lincoln

Most Unoriginal: Frankenweenie

Most Blah: Hotel Transylvania

Most Potential Lost: Wrath of the Titans

Best Effort: Ice Age Continental Drift

Animated Honorable Mention: Rise of the Guardians

Feature Honorable Mention: Snow White and the Huntsman

Best Import: The Secret World of Arrietty

Best Animated Feature: Wreck it Ralph

Best Sequel: Men in Black 3

Best Family Movie: Brave

Most Satisfying Release: 007 Skyfall

Best Directing: The Avengers

Most Visually Stunning: Life of Pi

Best Breakout Movie: Beasts of the Southern Wild

Most Captivating Acting Performances: Ruby Sparks

Best in Humor: Pitch Perfect

Best Adventure: The Hobbit

My Personal Favorite of the Year: Jiro Dreams of Sushi

For me, that turns into a top 10 of the year (of 25), that more or less looks like this off the top of my head:

1. Jiro Dreams of Sushi

2. 007 Skyfall

3. The Avengers

4. The Hobbit

5. The Secret World of Arrietty

6. Pitch Perfect

7. Beasts of the Southern Wild

8. Wreck it Ralph

9. Ruby Sparks

10. Life of Pi

Honorable Mentions: Brave, Men in Black 3

And like I mentioned earlier, hopefully we get to see Les Miserables tomorrow night. It will probably crack the top 5 easily, top three maybe, number one potentially. I have a long history with Les Mis and it could really hit me in the right, or wrong, spot. I will be VERY critical based on reading the book in French and English, seeing the Broadway play in New York multiple times, seeing the past movie with Liam Neeson as Valjean, and creating my own arrangements of the broadway soundtrack.

We really wanted to see Cloud Atlas but never got around to it. We, aka I, also had interest in but either missed out or will probably miss out on Argo, Silent Hill, Man with the Iron Fists, and Cirque du Soleil. I’m probably going to try to get Alana to see Django also, but we’ll let you know in a future review post if we see it!