Christopher Robin and New Amsterdam...
Nov. 18th, 2018 09:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkat1. Saw the flick Christopher Robin not to be confused with the bio-pic Goodbye, Christopher Robin about A. A. Milne. This was a live-action fictional take on the "character" of Christopher Robin in the "stories of Winnie the Pooh" by A.A. Milne and E.H Shepard that Disney adapted for animation. I haven't seen the bio-pic, so can't comment on it. Not a huge fan of bio-pics generally speaking, have yet to see one that doesn't fall into all the traps and bores me silly.
That said? Can't say this was all that much better. It's a kid's film, that is rather innovative in how the Winnie the Pooh characters are brought to life. They use old style stuffed animals. Worn stuffed animals...that look like they were made in the 1920s and 30s. And the stuffed animals are rather charming, also voiced by seasoned actors such as Jim Daniels (who always did Pooh and Tigger),Capadali, Toby Jones, and Brad Garrett. Haley Atwell plays Robin's wife, Ewan McGregor plays Robin, and Mark Gatiss, the bad guy, Winslow. It's sort of similar in plot to say Mary Poppins and Hook -- which is about a man who works too much, spends no time with his family, and his talking and animated stuffed animals manage to remind him about what is really important in life. And it's long past time -that he took a holiday. Clearly an American problem, other countries have no problems with this concept -- Americans however, do. It's a tad ironic that it is a Disney film, since Disney isn't exactly known as being a great employer in this respect.
Most of the film is spend with the wacky stuffed animals, but they don't do anything new and if you've read or are familiar with the Pooh stories -- it steals heavily from them. Robin has a secret entrance through a tree in his backyard to Pooh's world which seems rather vast and quite lovely. A forest with heather and grassy meadows. And he is tasked with helping Pooh reunite with his friends, loses his important work papers, and said friends come to his world to get them back to him. What's a nice twist -- is everyone sees the talking stuffed animals when they pop up in the real world, not just Christopher Robin.
It's an okay movie. Not sure it was worth $5.99 rental for on demand. Glad I did not see it in the theater at $15. Didn't seem to be all that long though. Did find the theme/message to be a tad cliche.
2. It's a cloudy gray day here this morning, although been flirting with that all weekend. So could become pretty and blueskied by afternoon. Most of the leaves have fallen from the trees and everyone is blowing them into piles to be removed.
Since fall came rather late this year, it wasn't all that pretty. By the time the leaves turned they fell. And many were sort of a burnt umber.
We've had an unusually damp Summer and Fall. Not to mention a weirdly warm one to start and then all of a sudden -- it got cold. Mother Nature I think is laughing at us.
3. I've made it all the way through the first five - six episodes of New Amsterdam -- which I'm enjoying. The cases of the week get resolved each week. It's not focused on the sex lives of its characters/doctors the way that Grey's Anatomy is -- and is far more realistic. But, we don't really delve into the lives of the nurses or support staff either -- which makes some sense since the focal point is the medical director and his staff or the head attendings on his staff. The series is adapted from a non-fictional memoir - Twelve Patients - Life and Death at Bellevue Hospital
The television series changes the names of the characters and the hospital, and to a degree fictionalizes it. But the medical director, Max, does have throat cancer. And the series does blend it's patients stories with social implications -- rather well actually. It does some things that surprised me.
For example in an episode in which they had to have twelve donors in order for a liver organ donation chain to work...one of the donors opts out because she's a mother and estranged from her brother. She also doesn't believe he'd do the same for her. Instead of spending most of the episode trying to talk her into it, without appearing to coerce her (which of course they would be) and is done on every other medical series I've seen to date, they pursue other options. And in an undocumented immigrant and his daughter, find the answer. This hits on the undocumented immigrant issue without going overboard. ICE doesn't appear -- because it's a huge public hospital and they treat everyone and ICE isn't called in these situations. And they take care of it, without making the whole episode about ICE (which Grey's did). Instead they focus on the liver transplant issue. I wouldn't say that it doesn't tweak the emotions, it does, but I found it less eye-rolling obvious about it - which is something I can't say about all the other medical dramas on television.
The hospital for the most part does resemble an inner city hospital. It's dirty in all the right places, and chaotic.
The acting and casting as stated in previous posts is rather stellar. I'd watch it for the cast alone. One of the better cast dramas on network television of late. So too is the direction, which is seamless, and for the most part the writing flows.
There are bits and pieces I'd change or tweak here and there. Max's dancer wife is beyond beautiful. And the writing skews a bit too much towards heart-warming sentimentality, but other than that it's good.
That said? Can't say this was all that much better. It's a kid's film, that is rather innovative in how the Winnie the Pooh characters are brought to life. They use old style stuffed animals. Worn stuffed animals...that look like they were made in the 1920s and 30s. And the stuffed animals are rather charming, also voiced by seasoned actors such as Jim Daniels (who always did Pooh and Tigger),Capadali, Toby Jones, and Brad Garrett. Haley Atwell plays Robin's wife, Ewan McGregor plays Robin, and Mark Gatiss, the bad guy, Winslow. It's sort of similar in plot to say Mary Poppins and Hook -- which is about a man who works too much, spends no time with his family, and his talking and animated stuffed animals manage to remind him about what is really important in life. And it's long past time -that he took a holiday. Clearly an American problem, other countries have no problems with this concept -- Americans however, do. It's a tad ironic that it is a Disney film, since Disney isn't exactly known as being a great employer in this respect.
Most of the film is spend with the wacky stuffed animals, but they don't do anything new and if you've read or are familiar with the Pooh stories -- it steals heavily from them. Robin has a secret entrance through a tree in his backyard to Pooh's world which seems rather vast and quite lovely. A forest with heather and grassy meadows. And he is tasked with helping Pooh reunite with his friends, loses his important work papers, and said friends come to his world to get them back to him. What's a nice twist -- is everyone sees the talking stuffed animals when they pop up in the real world, not just Christopher Robin.
It's an okay movie. Not sure it was worth $5.99 rental for on demand. Glad I did not see it in the theater at $15. Didn't seem to be all that long though. Did find the theme/message to be a tad cliche.
2. It's a cloudy gray day here this morning, although been flirting with that all weekend. So could become pretty and blueskied by afternoon. Most of the leaves have fallen from the trees and everyone is blowing them into piles to be removed.
Since fall came rather late this year, it wasn't all that pretty. By the time the leaves turned they fell. And many were sort of a burnt umber.
We've had an unusually damp Summer and Fall. Not to mention a weirdly warm one to start and then all of a sudden -- it got cold. Mother Nature I think is laughing at us.
3. I've made it all the way through the first five - six episodes of New Amsterdam -- which I'm enjoying. The cases of the week get resolved each week. It's not focused on the sex lives of its characters/doctors the way that Grey's Anatomy is -- and is far more realistic. But, we don't really delve into the lives of the nurses or support staff either -- which makes some sense since the focal point is the medical director and his staff or the head attendings on his staff. The series is adapted from a non-fictional memoir - Twelve Patients - Life and Death at Bellevue Hospital
Using the plights of twelve very different patients--from dignitaries at the nearby UN, to supermax prisoners at Riker's Island, to illegal immigrants, and Wall Street tycoons--Dr. Eric Manheimer "offers far more than remarkable medical dramas: he blends each patient's personal experiences with their social implications" (Publishers Weekly).
Manheimer was not only the medical director of the country's oldest public hospital for over 13 years, but he was also a patient. As the book unfolds, the narrator is diagnosed with cancer, and he is forced to wrestle with the end of his own life even as he struggles to save the lives of others.
The television series changes the names of the characters and the hospital, and to a degree fictionalizes it. But the medical director, Max, does have throat cancer. And the series does blend it's patients stories with social implications -- rather well actually. It does some things that surprised me.
For example in an episode in which they had to have twelve donors in order for a liver organ donation chain to work...one of the donors opts out because she's a mother and estranged from her brother. She also doesn't believe he'd do the same for her. Instead of spending most of the episode trying to talk her into it, without appearing to coerce her (which of course they would be) and is done on every other medical series I've seen to date, they pursue other options. And in an undocumented immigrant and his daughter, find the answer. This hits on the undocumented immigrant issue without going overboard. ICE doesn't appear -- because it's a huge public hospital and they treat everyone and ICE isn't called in these situations. And they take care of it, without making the whole episode about ICE (which Grey's did). Instead they focus on the liver transplant issue. I wouldn't say that it doesn't tweak the emotions, it does, but I found it less eye-rolling obvious about it - which is something I can't say about all the other medical dramas on television.
The hospital for the most part does resemble an inner city hospital. It's dirty in all the right places, and chaotic.
The acting and casting as stated in previous posts is rather stellar. I'd watch it for the cast alone. One of the better cast dramas on network television of late. So too is the direction, which is seamless, and for the most part the writing flows.
There are bits and pieces I'd change or tweak here and there. Max's dancer wife is beyond beautiful. And the writing skews a bit too much towards heart-warming sentimentality, but other than that it's good.
no subject
Date: 2018-11-19 06:41 pm (UTC)A great point! I have the movie on my Netflix queue and wasn't sure if I'd be that interested. I might take it off.
no subject
Date: 2018-11-19 08:56 pm (UTC)It was disappointing. I'd expected more from the trailer. Turns out the trailer is better than the movie.