Mock Squid Soup - February 12, 2016 - Chef

So if you read my wife's post on her website, Hungry Enough To Eat Six, (she has been giving me updates on the number of folks who have tried clicking over from her site to see my comments) you'll know the movie we watched this month is the Jon Favreau vanity project from 2014, "Chef".

Currently #526 on my flickchart list

After directing the first two Iron Man movies and producing the third, along with both Avengers movies, Favreau had, what I've often heard referred to as, "F you money."  I am not writing that in a dismissive way.  He had enough money to get this movie made.  He had an idea, researched it, wrote, directed, produced, and starred in a movie he truly believed in.

And it is not a bad movie.  It's just not my sort of movie.  It was enjoyable.  The soundtrack was fun.  But the movie is flat.

SPOILERS FOLLOW FOR A TWO YEAR OLD MOVIE FOUND ON NETFLIX

For me, the gist of the movie is as follows:  a relatively happy chef, Favreau, working at a dream job, suddenly realizes he is somewhat stifled creatively working for Dustin Hoffman.  This comes to a head when a food critic is dismissive of his current work.  The chef gets disproportionately upset by this, sleeps with Scarlett Johansson, and flies to Miami with his ex-wife (Sofia Vergara) and their son to rediscover what he loved about cooking.  Once in Miami, Vergara has her other ex-husband, Robert Downey, Jr., bankroll Favreau's mid-life "crisis" and allow him the chance to reconnect with his son.  The movie ends with the critic returning to visit Favreau and bankrolling a NEW restaurant for the both to run....and Favreau remarries Vergara.

Aside from a scene where the son burns a sandwich and is, at first, somewhat dismissive of the burned sandwich, this movie is relatively free from strife.  There is no real change to any of the characters.  The movie feels like it is missing its second act.  There is no conflict.  Every misstep by a character is rectified almost instantly.

I was also bummed because by trimming some of the language, this would have been a great movie for our "Family Movie Night".  I love the things my son and I share in common and those parts of this movie resonated for me.  But I can't share the movie with him because it was unnecessarily crass.

That being said, I'm late posting this and Nan and I just came back from our current favorite activity, drunk grocery shopping, so what do I know.

Mock Squid Soup: February 2016: Three Clues

Here are my three clues for this month's movie!

1)  Of the first ten actors credited in this movie, eight have had roles in movies based on comic books or comic strips...but this is NOT a comic book movie!

2)  The writer and director of this movie is credited with directing three major comic book movies...but this is NOT a comic book movie!

3)  The star of the movie (who also wrote, produced, and directed the film) says this film was loosely inspired by the owner of the Kogi Korean BBQ food trucks of Los Angeles.

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The Armchair Squid and I are proud to present Mock Squid Soup: A Film Society!

This month, everyone gets to throw a movie of their own choice into the pot.  The week before our gathering, on Friday, February 5th, everyone is invited to post three clues about his/her movie for others to guess.  Our next regular meeting is Friday, February 12th.   No need to sign up twice.  The Squid used the same link list for both.  If you are interested in joining us, please sign on to the list below.

This is a Blog Hop!

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1. The Armchair Squid	2. Cherdo on the Flipside
3. Birgit	4. Hungry Enough To Eat Six
5. What's Up, Mock?

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Mock Squid Soup: November Entries

I have fallen off the blogging wagon and am not following through on the theme for this month's hop.  I am not a good blogging co-host.

Instead, I will share ALL of the movies I watched last weekend.  I spent last week in Doha, Qatar visiting some schools and attending an education summit.  The flight home allowed me to watch ALL of the following movies.

My current flickchart rating is under each image. I currently have 1,209 movies on my flickchart list.

Only The Prestige and The Social Network were repeat viewings.  All the others I was seeing for the first time.

#754

#105

#47

#75

#104

 If you have seen this, you know it opens with a stunt on an airplane.  This was what I was watching as our plane took off!

#466

 If you have seen the marketing for this one, you know it is an earthquake movie.  Watching it while experiencing turbulence added to the effect.  I can't say it made the movie better.

#39

That's it!

This is a Blog Hop!

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1. The Armchair Squid	2. Birgit
3. Musings of a Creative Writer	4. A Space Blogyssey
5. Cherdo on the Flipside	6. The ToiBox of Words
7. MOCK!

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Mock Squid Soup - August 14, 2015 - Sleepless in Seattle

I am sitting in the last day of class and received a text from Nan that we forgot to do our posts!

I think everyone figured out I watched Sleepless in Seattle.  It was a big favorite, due to the soundtrack, to watch in the video store back in the day.  Last week, I put it on while I was starting to set up my classroom.

It does seem to be both a relic of its time but still holds up well enough to be enjoyable.

And now I must get back to class!

This is a Blog Hop!

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1. The Armchair Squid	2. Cherdo on the Flipside
3. Birgit	4. Two Square Dogs
5. The ToiBox of Words	6. Hungry Enough To Eat Six
7. MOCK!	8. Musings of a Creative Writer

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Mock Squid Soup: August Trivia Teaser

>cough cough<  This blog is a little dusty...let me turn on a light.  

Ahh...that's better.  Let's see...the last post was...June 12?!?!?  Holy cow!  Well, I'll pretend nothing has happened!

It is time for this month’s gathering of the Mock Squid Soup, hosted by the Armchair Squid and by myself! Today, we provide 3 clues to keep you on the edge of your seat! Next Friday we will share our movie choices and reviews. 

1.  Despite being a romantic comedy, the two leads share less than 2 minutes of screen time together.
2.  The lead actor won the Academy Award for Best actor for another movie he starred in the very same year!
3.  At one point in the movie, the male lead does an impression of a different actor, who starred in a  1957 film, clips of which feature prominently throughout the movie.

There you go!

This is a Blog Hop!

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1. The Armchair Squid	2. Cherdo on the Flipside
3. Birgit	4. Two Square Dogs
5. The ToiBox of Words	6. Hungry Enough To Eat Six

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