Movie

Documentary Review: Knock down the house June 5 2019

So recently I had watched a documentary called Knock Down the House. It’s a documentary that follows campaigns of women who want to take office. They show the relations that they have with people and how they built their trust. The women that they follow are Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Amy Velila, Cori Bush, and Paula Jean Swearengin. I think the people that would watch this are people who invest into politics and how they had gone to the point that they are at.

The documentary shows the struggles that these women had gone through for their campaign. I think it shows that it takes a lot of effort to run campaign and to run for office. I knew about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, but I did not know the rest of the women that were in the documentary. I learned more about the people running and what had motivated them. There hadn’t been many camera angles but it emits the feeling that you are with them as they talk about what motivates them.

I think I would recommend it to some people if they were interested in learning more about politics. One thing I disliked is that they had started to interview them towards the end when people had started to vote. I would like to see the progress from the beginning. I liked how some of the issues that had reactions from the women in the documentary.

Documentary Review: Street Food June 4 2019

I had just watched two episodes of the Street Food documentary. The documentary shows street vendors and their stories on how they had gotten well known. I would think that foodies and people who like to see other cultures would like to see the show. They usually have one vendors that they focus on and then they would have small segments where they showed other vendors.  I think the documentary highlights the effort it takes to make street food and what they had to overcome.

Sometimes street food could have a negative connotation to it since it not a building and more outside and mobile. The documentary attempts to change this mindset by sharing some stories about the relation between regulations and street food. The woman from thailand explains that the government had called the Street vendors leeches. She then tell her story and how she had worked hard to help make the business become very successful. Personally I had only known about the existence of street vendors in other countries

I had not known the history behind some of the food that they serve or what relations they had on other people. I hadn’t known that It would take a lot of effort to create business off of street food. I expected to see the different types of food that they would serve. I had also expected to be some story around the street vendors and how they came up with their recipes. I think I question that I had while watching this was why the people they focus on in the documentary had a sad moment and had turned to cooking.

In the first episode of Street Food they go to Bangkok, Thailand and the woman explains her story with some segments of other vendors. She explains that she had wanted to work hard since she was a kid. She had originally worked as a seamstress and then the place burned down. She then worked with her mom and had started to cook, originally her mom didn’t want her to cook but she had insisted she would. The woman wanted to cook faster so that there wasn’t a line waiting for her mom. She then had started experimenting and had created some dishes that she is now known about.

In the second episode of Street Food they go to Osaka, Japan. Osaka had been well known for its food and has a saying about eating. There is guy who had told his story with some segments of other vendors. He had originally had a sad childhood when his mom died at the age of six and his dad started drinking. He had worked other jobs and had saved up for his dream of running a street food business. He saved up to 100,000 dollars but then his dad died. He then spent 65,000 dollar for his funeral and tombstone. He then started his business with only 35,000 left to create his business.

With every transition to the other people they have this simplistic design with a image and the name of the person or their business. They have many angles of the person having fun and entertaining people. At the end of the episodes they have shots of all the peoples foods. I like how some of the shots on the documentary relate to what the person is talking about. The images of the documentary had seemed sharp and seemed aesthetically pleasing.

I think that documentary was very interesting overall. I think that some of the  transitions seemed very smooth. I learned that they had gone through a lot to be at where they are right now. I like the shots they have of the dishes towards the end of the documentary it shows the food that they had been talking about. I think I would recommend it, but I don’t think that I would watch it consistently.

Movie Review: Rim of the World May 29 2019

The movie that is being reviewed is Rim of the World by director McG. The movie is based on these four kids trying to save the world from aliens. The movie was released in 2019 and is about 1 hour 40 minutes. The theme that shows up in the film most often is to overcome faults. The purpose i think of the movie to entertain and also teach a lesson about overcoming his fears. The type of genre that this movie falls into is a sci-fi young-adult fiction

In the beginning of the movie it starts off with an astronaut for what I assume is being attacked by aliens. After that scene they introduce the three kids named Dariush, Alex, and Zhen Zhen they provide a bit of background. They go to the camp and go on a trip to canoe but they find the character Gabriel. They meet with an astronaut in a crash and told to give them the key to give to Dr Fielding at Jpl. They go through these challenges an run ins with alien and characters to finally arrive at Jpl. They find Dr Feilding dead and have to activate the system “Excalibur” themselves with the instruction of a general and save the world.

The overall feeling that I had about the movie is that it was Ok I found it kind of confusing. I thought that they had not provided Gabriel or Zhen Zhen that much background information. It only later that we find out more towards the end of the movie. For example the fact that Zhen Zhen was an orphan is later reveal when they give up and tells that she is an orphan. I think that acting was ok, but I think that they could’ve written it better. I also notice they keep shaking the camera in action scenes to make you feel like your in that scene but it doesn’t have that effect.

Overall I think that they should’ve added more development on the characters in the story and more purpose. For example Lou in the jail cell had been released only to come back and try to steal the key he then dies. I think that they could have written it better and make the viewer more attached to the characters. I would rate this movie a c tier I think that the animations were interesting. I think that there was a lack of information of the beginning of the story and towards the end.