American

It Is The Winner

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There are so many Christmas movies and so little time. I mean there are country Christmases, urban Christmases, California Christmases, Alien Christmases. It goes on and on.

For me, this season the winner is Last Christmas on HBO.

This is the best, most fun movie I watched all the way through and only stopped once. Child of the 1980s that I am, it won me immediately with the George Michael music throughout the movie. And this cute little film from the UK reminded me why I love his music which set a certain type of mood for the film.

The well written script tells me the story in a manner that keeps my interest by making me wonder where it is going. Our main character is Kate, a young woman living in the UK with her parents and sister, all of which have immigrated from Yugoslavia during the critical time of Brexit. She is living the life of a normal twentysomething.

Emilia Clarke is so good as Kate, she is annoying. The first 40 minutes of this movie, I wanted to punch her myself. I was yelling “Girl, get a life!” Then the very charming Henry Golding shows up at Tom and starts me to wondering. First of all, why would someone like him be interested in a girl who wears an elf costume? I didn’t find this to be one of those ordinary Christmas stories.

The Emma Thompson plays Kate’s mother which gives you a glimpse into why Kate is so crazy. Thompson’s character is this older woman who has immigrated to the UK has lots of fears about it. She is a doting mother, but none make you hate her. Michelle Yeoh plays Kate’s boss who goes by the name of Santa and also gives you moments to giggle. Both women characters have that thing that happens after you turn 50 when you say whatever you think to the twentysomething in the room, like “that’s stupid.”

The screenplay was written by Thompson and Bryony Kimmings who were inspired by George Michael’s song Last Christmas. I enjoyed how they chose to tell the story. It was cheeky, funny, corny and endearing.

I like the story because of the set up. It doesn’t do anything that I don’t expect. It slides a few things in, like the Christmas shop that sells odd Christmas ornaments like the baby Jesus with a full set of teeth and a smiling donkey or a Christmas tree made from baby cabbages.

The thing I love is that it takes me one step deeper than most movies like it. It explains why. Life is full of people who do dumb stuff. Once you know why they do it, it changes everything. For that, this movie will go on my list of movies I will watch over and over. And Henry Golding is hot.

There Is Fire

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It was 1 am. It was episode 5. Should push play or go to bed. I mean it was the pandemic so no real reason to early rise.

I didn’t even want to see the show originally because it sounded corny to me. I mean put together a diverse and inspirational gospel choir. How ridiculous. I mean gospel choirs can’t be done like American Idol or the Voice. Let’s keep somethings sacred.

Then the first auditionee opened her mouth and it gave me chills.

I was wrong.

Voices of Fire, produced by Pharrell Williams and his uncle Bishop Ezekiel Williams, documents their journey to produce this choir in Hampton Road, Virginia. Like many of those shows that audition people to sing, there are long lines and colorful people. 

Bishop Williams shares his vision to build a choir that is black, white, Asian etc, creating a melting pot of people like Jesus talked about.  He said when all of those people come together it would draw other like-minded people. It allowed them to give incredible testimony.

Bishop said people might not listen to him preach a gospel message but would sit down and listen to a song that carries the same message. He said music transcends racial divides and cultural boundaries.

Bishop and the judges started out looking for unicorns, people with extraordinary talent and stories.

They found them.

I was inspired. I was encouraged. I was blessed.

I watched people from different cultural backgrounds sing songs that caused me to lift my hands, rock from side to side and sing with them. I thought if the power of the spirit of God was this strong weeks after it actually happened, I can imagine what it felt like in those rooms.

One evening when you need a pick me up. Check this out on Netflix. It will bless you.  And I can’t wait for them to come to town.

A Life Ahead Review

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I am intrigued by Old Hollywood, so when I heard Sophia Loren had made a new movie, I had to see it. I remember her in House Boat with Cary Grant and Arabesque with Gregory Peck. I wanted to know if the 80ish actor could still bring the magic of movie making. This time her leading man would be a12 year old boy and would sex appeal work at her age?

The story all by itself drew me in. An older Jewish woman took in a Muslim child.

A Life Ahead tells the story of Madame Rosa who takes in children from the streets of her Italian town who have lost their parents. It follows the life of a 12-year-old Senegalese boy called Momo as he manages his life on the streets. In the opening sequence, Momo robs her.

Normally, bad teens get on my nerves because many writers allow them to do terrible things and get away with it. Momo gets to reap a little of what he has sown. It makes him a better person. As he adapts to life in Madame Rosa’s house, he discovers that there is an alternate way of living.

My favorite scene is when Momo, played by Ibrahima Gueye keeps his promise. This spoke to me in that it exemplified how showing someone how to live different is a better teacher than just telling them. Gueye is very convincing. There are nice moments but also a few sad ones as we watch Madame Rosa age.

The Italian language film was directed by Loren’s son, Edoardo Ponti, A Life Ahead and ison Netflix. The movie is dubbed in English, but the beautiful scenes and fun characters make up for it. Before this movie, the last movie Loren made was Human Voice in 2014. This movie was much better than I thought it would be. Loren was very beautiful at 86. The mother son team created a product that I could watch again and again.

What Are You Consuming?

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The pandemic is giving us more time with our inner thoughts. What is filling your head? What about your soul?

As you consume all of the things around you, how are they leaving you? Are you full? Are you empty?

The Bible tells us what we consume is what will come out of us in times of trouble.