Uncategorized

http://blacknerdproblems.com/bnp-goes-to-the-movies-disneys-christopher-robin/

There’s an old saying that goes , “You can’t go home again,” but that didn’t stop Disney from trying with Christopher Robin, the live-action film based on A.A. Milne’s classic Winnie the Pooh book series. The movie asks its audience to take a trip back to a time before your childhood was swallowed up by student loans, jobs to pay the rent, and other grown up things. But is the destination worth the journey?

The film opens up at a young Christopher Robin’s going away party in the Hundred Acre Woods, the magical land where Christopher’s friends Winnie the Pooh (voiced by Jim Cummings), Tigger, Piglet, Eyeore, and others live. The gang is celebrating their friendship with Christopher before his parents ship him off to boarding school and away from the magical door that links Pooh’s world to his.

The analogy of losing one’s childhood is driven home in a montage (because there’s always a montage) of Christopher’s slow march to adulthood. There’s the mean boarding school teacher, the death of his father (and the obligatory “You’re the man of the house now” line), fighting on the front lines of World War II, Christopher meeting his future wife Evelyn (Hayley Atwell), the birth of their daughter (Bronte Carmichael), and so on.

With the montage out of the way, a middle-age Christopher (Ewan McGregor) is a beleaguered company man toiling away at at Winslow’s Luggage. Times are hard following the war and the wealthy just aren’t going on vacations anymore, which means fewer sales of Winslow’s signature product.

Christopher’s boss, the self-involved son of the company’s owner, tells Christopher that the company must cut expenses by 20 percent or risk massive layoffs. He demands Christopher work through the weekend to come up with a plan, causing Christopher to skip out on a family getaway for the umpteenth time.

It’s hard not to feel bad for adult Christopher Robin. On the one hand, Christopher’s priorities are so out of whack that his wife tacitly suggests a trial separation due to his absenteeism.  On the other, his close-knit direct reports – including a brotha with a perm more depressing than Eyeore – will lose their livelihoods in a blink of an eye.

However, that fact is never mentioned to Christopher’s family, something I imagine would have garnered him more understanding from his wife. But the audience is basically asked to ignore this glaring fact so that the story can progress forward. I guess.

Somehow the magical door to the Hundred Acre Woods reappears, Winnie the Pooh passes through into London – a place where stuffed animals do are not supposed to talk – and the other stuffed animal friends eventually follow. Christopher reconnects with his childhood and comes to realize that the most important things in life are family and being happy, not work and deadlines. More amazingly, Winnie hasn’t developed diabetes despite decades of gluttonous honey consumption.

Christopher Robin works best when highlighting the conflict we all go through as we grow up and lose touch with the child we used to be. The film also does a fantastic job of juxtaposing the reality of our past with that of our current.

For example, Christopher’s grown up London is full of muted greys and dull browns compared to the vibrant colors of magical Hundred Acre Woods. It clearly reminds the audience that the children we were are still within us, deserving of all the love and happiness this world has to offer.

But the film falters when it tries to tell a cohesive story with a clear mission. Parts of the film dragged because some scenes didn’t seem to serve any purpose other than as reminders that Winnie & Co. are just so adorable. However, some of those scenes did reinforce that Eyeore really needs to speak to a professional regarding his chronic depression. Seriously, he needs help.

Al-in-all, Christopher Robin is cute enough to see alone or with kids (they’ll love it) at a matinee. But you’ll probably want to skip the full-price showings.

You can join Christopher Robin Pooh and the rest of the Hundred Acre Woods in this tale by Disney now in theatres.

 

 

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The post BNP Goes to the Movies: Disney’s “Christopher Robin” appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.

August 5, 2018

BNP Goes to the Movies: Disney’s “Christopher Robin”

http://blacknerdproblems.com/bnp-goes-to-the-movies-disneys-christopher-robin/

There’s an old saying that goes , “You can’t go home again,” but that didn’t stop Disney from trying with Christopher Robin, the live-action film based on A.A. Milne’s classic Winnie the Pooh book series. The movie asks its audience to take a trip back to a time before your childhood was swallowed up by student loans, jobs to pay the rent, and other grown up things. But is the destination worth the journey?

The film opens up at a young Christopher Robin’s going away party in the Hundred Acre Woods, the magical land where Christopher’s friends Winnie the Pooh (voiced by Jim Cummings), Tigger, Piglet, Eyeore, and others live. The gang is celebrating their friendship with Christopher before his parents ship him off to boarding school and away from the magical door that links Pooh’s world to his.

The analogy of losing one’s childhood is driven home in a montage (because there’s always a montage) of Christopher’s slow march to adulthood. There’s the mean boarding school teacher, the death of his father (and the obligatory “You’re the man of the house now” line), fighting on the front lines of World War II, Christopher meeting his future wife Evelyn (Hayley Atwell), the birth of their daughter (Bronte Carmichael), and so on.

With the montage out of the way, a middle-age Christopher (Ewan McGregor) is a beleaguered company man toiling away at at Winslow’s Luggage. Times are hard following the war and the wealthy just aren’t going on vacations anymore, which means fewer sales of Winslow’s signature product.

Christopher’s boss, the self-involved son of the company’s owner, tells Christopher that the company must cut expenses by 20 percent or risk massive layoffs. He demands Christopher work through the weekend to come up with a plan, causing Christopher to skip out on a family getaway for the umpteenth time.

It’s hard not to feel bad for adult Christopher Robin. On the one hand, Christopher’s priorities are so out of whack that his wife tacitly suggests a trial separation due to his absenteeism.  On the other, his close-knit direct reports – including a brotha with a perm more depressing than Eyeore – will lose their livelihoods in a blink of an eye.

However, that fact is never mentioned to Christopher’s family, something I imagine would have garnered him more understanding from his wife. But the audience is basically asked to ignore this glaring fact so that the story can progress forward. I guess.

Somehow the magical door to the Hundred Acre Woods reappears, Winnie the Pooh passes through into London – a place where stuffed animals do are not supposed to talk – and the other stuffed animal friends eventually follow. Christopher reconnects with his childhood and comes to realize that the most important things in life are family and being happy, not work and deadlines. More amazingly, Winnie hasn’t developed diabetes despite decades of gluttonous honey consumption.

Christopher Robin works best when highlighting the conflict we all go through as we grow up and lose touch with the child we used to be. The film also does a fantastic job of juxtaposing the reality of our past with that of our current.

For example, Christopher’s grown up London is full of muted greys and dull browns compared to the vibrant colors of magical Hundred Acre Woods. It clearly reminds the audience that the children we were are still within us, deserving of all the love and happiness this world has to offer.

But the film falters when it tries to tell a cohesive story with a clear mission. Parts of the film dragged because some scenes didn’t seem to serve any purpose other than as reminders that Winnie & Co. are just so adorable. However, some of those scenes did reinforce that Eyeore really needs to speak to a professional regarding his chronic depression. Seriously, he needs help.

Al-in-all, Christopher Robin is cute enough to see alone or with kids (they’ll love it) at a matinee. But you’ll probably want to skip the full-price showings.

You can join Christopher Robin Pooh and the rest of the Hundred Acre Woods in this tale by Disney now in theatres.

 

 

Are you following Black Nerd Problems on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr or Google+?

The post BNP Goes to the Movies: Disney’s “Christopher Robin” appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.


August 5, 2018

“We Didn’t Think It Was Gonna Get This Serious” With A Co-Sign From Drake, The City Girls Plan To Take Over The World

https://madamenoire.com/1035136/city-girls-talk-new-album-and-co-sign-from-drake/

There were literally think-pieces dedicated investigating what women were behind the names mentioned in Drake’s summer anthem, “In My Feelings”.  Folks damn near risked their lives and driving records attempting to go viral on social media with an accompanying dance …


August 5, 2018

Things We Saw Today: The Original Star Wars Trilogy is Frozen in Carbonite/Turner Broadcasting Deal

https://www.themarysue.com/star-wars-turner/

David Prowse in Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

Ever since Disney announced that it would be launching its own streaming service in 2019, fans have been excited to find all their Star Wars content in one place. That is, until it was revealed that Disney does not have the streaming rights to the original trilogies. In 2016, Disney sold the TV broadcast and streaming rights for the first six films to Turner Broadcasting. Now, Turner won’t sell the rights back, and their contract lasts until 2024.

star wars

I’m sure the folks at Disney find their lack of a complete Star Wars collection disturbing.

(via ArsTechnica, image: 20th Century Fox)

  • Facebook to launch Facebook Dating feature that no one asked for instead of preventing fake news and protecting our data. Cool cool. (via TechCrunch)
  • The Legal Geeks put on a mock court martial for Poe Dameron. I find him guilty … of being a smoke show. (via io9)
  • The head of FX blames Marvel for canceling Donald Glover’s animated Deadpool series. (via A.V.Club)
  • Calling all film purists: Netflix is going to debut a “calibrated mode” in Sony TVs that allow you to watch movies as the directors intended. (via /Film)

What are you seeing this weekend, Mary Suevians?

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The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—


August 5, 2018

Queen Sugar Recap: Here Beside the River

http://blacknerdproblems.com/queen-sugar-recap-here-beside-the-river/

Season 3 / Episode 10, Here Beside the River / OWN

Bad As It’s Ever Been

This episode begins with Nova standing at a podium, reading from the chapter of her book she’d written about Ernest’s depression. As she reads about her family–her mother dying when she was nineteen, her father fighting to farm his land and what his wife’s illness and death did to him–we see the rest of the family in a montage under Nova’s unrelenting voiceover. And, well, it doesn’t look like folks are doing so terribly well.

Charley is watching Prosper, the latest victim of the Landrys’ misery, decline physically while he stays in her home. Ralph Angel is looking over the paperwork Darla gave him, still broken at the prospect of having to fight her for custody of Blue. Meanwhile, Micah has not stopped freaking out that the fire at the plantation is going to be traced back to him and his friends. Violet’s dealing with a butterfly-shaped rash on her face, a tell-tale sign of a lupus flare, and Darla’s….

Wait. What the hell is Darla doing, sitting in a car in some desolate part of town watching an alcoholic wander by with a shopping cart? Is she trying to score? This isn’t how we’re going to resolve this conflict, is it? Reactivate her addiction to get her out of Blue and Ra’s life for good? I hope that’s not where this is going.

Watch It Burn

The arson at the plantation is still big news in town. At school, Keke and Micah are talking about it. She feels like the fire was disrespectful–if someone was going to burn something down, why not the big house? The girl’s got a point, but of course the fire was an accident, and she has no idea Micah was there. When she dips out with her friends, Micah meets up with his. Turns out Ant got a visit last night from the police. He says he didn’t tell them anything, but the cops must know something if they’re showing up at his crib.

Charley has called a meeting with Colton Landry, Sam’s son, at what looks like a private club. He’s dismissive right out of the gate–telling her that whatever she has on him, his wife already knows. And furthermore, he’s a Landry, not a Boudreaux; she’s got five minutes. But Charley came very prepared. She wants all his shares in Landry Enterprises, which comes to 10% of the company. He offers to pay her double whatever he thinks she’s paying his mistress because he still doesn’t get it, which is when Charley hits Colton with the truth: She has evidence he’s been using a shell company to launder money for his old fraternity brothers. This isn’t just an embarrassment like his philandering. This is a federal crime that would bring scrutiny to every nook and cranny of the family business and ruin his father. He offers her half his shares, 5%, but Charley did not come to play with these bros. She wants all his shares. “You can take your daddy down, or I can take you down. Your choice.” Damn, Charley.

Problems All Around

On the farm, Ralph Angel responds to a knock at the door and finds two women from the Department of Children and Family Services on his porch–escorted by a sheriff. They’ve come out for a surprise home visit after receiving a complaint–but, of course, they won’t tell Ra who made it. One woman sits in the living room interviewing Blue about his life with his dad–what he had for breakfast, whether his father usually wakes him up in the morning to get ready for school, that sort of thing. Ra is in the kitchen with the other social worker, fuming, especially since they won’t tell him who made the complaint. When she asks him about his criminal record, he loses it. “Who said I’m not a good dad?” It’s a tense moment, with the officer ready to flex if Ralph Angel does anything, but Ra sits back down.

Violet is at her house working when Hollywood comes through to take some pies for delivery. She notices that he seems distant and distracted instead of his usual self. A bit later, Violet’s assistant mentions that she’d read Nova’s essay about Ernest that was published in The New Yorker. Vi hasn’t read it and takes a look at a copy. Uh oh. I had a feeling she wouldn’t be excited about Nova disclosing her family’s business like this. There are things we don’t talk about, and mental illness–depression–is one of them. It’s a problem.

All photos credited: Skip Bolen / Copyright 2018 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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