{"id":810,"date":"2014-04-30T22:39:31","date_gmt":"2014-04-30T22:39:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tenkmovies.com\/?p=810"},"modified":"2022-09-24T19:45:37","modified_gmt":"2022-09-24T19:45:37","slug":"diana-had-a-selfish-giant-and-kept-her-a-secret","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/tenkmovies.com\/?p=810","title":{"rendered":"Diana had a Selfish Giant and Kept Her a secret"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Selfish Giant<\/a><\/em>\u00a0(2013)<\/p>\n

When Arbor and Swifty are suspended from school, they begin collecting scrap metal and selling it to Kitten, a local dealer. When he notices Swifty’s affinity for horses, Kitten allows him to work with several of his. A jealous Arbor steals some scrap from Kitten to sell elsewhere. When Kitten finds out, he forces Arbor to steal a dangerous high voltage wire as punishment and Swifty is electrocuted after Arbor cuts the wire.<\/p>\n

This is a melancholy film about the effects of poverty and the prison\u00a0it creates. The premise is simple: children trapped in poverty are more likely to turn to a life of crime.\u00a0 This is true for poor black children in Baltimore, Maryland<\/a>\u00a0and poor\u00a0white children\u00a0in northern England. \u00a0These kids need more than the educational opportunities offered at typical schools.<\/p>\n

Is it humane to teach math and\u00a0grammar\u00a0at school while ignoring the reality\u00a0of a home life where children are\u00a0struggling to find enough food and pressured to provide income\u00a0for their families?\u00a0 Wouldn’t it be better to teach them how to function in\u00a0a civil society, how to make money, or how to handle electrical wires?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Diana<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Diana<\/a><\/em>\u00a0(2013)<\/p>\n

This film focuses on the romantic relationship between Princess Diana (Naomi Watts) and Hasnat Khan<\/a>\u00a0(Naveen Andrews).<\/p>\n

Andrews is best knows as Sayid Jarrah<\/a>, while\u00a0Watts is an accomplished actress in such diverse films as\u00a0The Ring\u00a0<\/em>(2002),\u00a021 Grams\u00a0<\/em>(2003),\u00a0King Kong\u00a0<\/em>(2005), Eastern Promises <\/em>(2007), and The Impossible <\/em>(2012).<\/p>\n

Savaged by the British press and never given a US theatrical release, this movie was a better than I expected. It’s a\u00a0decent exploration of the tribulations of being famous, but over simplifies the story into a soap opera and reminds me of a Lifetime<\/em> movie: Diana loved Dr. Khan so she used Dodi Fayed<\/a>\u00a0to make him jealous.<\/p>\n

The rushed ending has a different tone from the rest of the film.\u00a0\u00a0 It’s like with ten\u00a0minutes to go, the producers knew\u00a0they needed to get to\u00a0Diana’s death and sped things\u00a0along.\u00a0You can tell the filmmakers wanted Diana and Khan to be together and feels like they forgot\u00a0the movie was based\u00a0on a real person and had to shoehorn in the facts to make it\u00a0work. Shockingly, director Oliver Hirschbiegel was able to bring more pathos and sympathy to a\u00a0film about the last days of Adolf Hitler<\/a>\u00a0than one about the People’s Princess.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Her<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Her<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>(2013)<\/p>\n

After his divorce from childhood sweetheart Catherine (Rooney Mara), Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix) buys an operating system with advanced artificial intelligence he names Samantha (Scarlett Johansson) and begins a relationship with her.<\/p>\n

For once, Joaquin Phoenix comes across as a normal guy, which after the disaster of I’m Still Here\u00a0<\/em>(2010)\u00a0is quite an accomplishment.<\/p>\n

Scarlett Johansson debuted in the infamous Rob Reiner bomb North<\/em> (1994), which earned a zero star review from Roger Ebert<\/a>\u00a0.\u00a0 Her career choices since in\u00a0Lost in Translation <\/em>(2003), Match Point <\/em>(2005), The Prestige <\/em>(2006), and as Black Widow<\/a>\u00a0in the Marvel Cinematic Universe<\/a>\u00a0have redeemed the early misfire.<\/p>\n

Amy Adams is great as Amy, Theodore’s human\u00a0friend and possible future lover. She’s come a long way from \u00a0“The Hot Girl”<\/a>\u00a0in The Office<\/em> to one of the most respected and dependable actresses in Hollywood.<\/p>\n

Rooney Mara doesn’t do much as Twombly’s soon to be ex-wife.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0After a\u00a0small, but memorable\u00a0role in The\u00a0Social\u00a0Network <\/em>(2010)\u00a0and a leading role in the American version of The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo\u00a0<\/em>(2011)\u00a0everyone thought\u00a0she was destined for stardom, but it hasn’t materialized yet.<\/p>\n

Olivia Wilde doesn’t do anything for me, but she’s fine as a blind date for Theodore.<\/p>\n

As Theodore’s coworker Paul, Chris Pratt demonstrates the charisma which led to his meteoric rise from waiter at a Bubba Gump Shrimp<\/a>\u00a0in Hawaii to Star-Lord<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Despite only directing four feature films, Spike Jonze’s style, a sort of postmodern<\/a>\u00a0magical realism<\/a>, has become synonymous with a quirky, bemused worldview.<\/p>\n

I love the subtlety of\u00a0this version of the not so distant future: the reversion to 1940s\u00a0fashion, a company which produces personalized handwritten letters for people too lazy or not creative enough to write their own.\u00a0 In world of Siri<\/a>\u00a0and Cortana<\/a>, the evolution of operating systems \u00a0to individual people feels like a natural progression.<\/p>\n

Theodore Twombly’s love affair with his operating system \u00a0suggests we don’t fall in love with people, but with our own ideas of who a person is.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  The Selfish Giant\u00a0(2013) When Arbor and Swifty are suspended from school, they begin collecting scrap metal and selling it to Kitten, a local dealer. When he notices Swifty’s affinity for horses, Kitten allows him to work with several of his. A jealous Arbor steals some scrap from Kitten to sell elsewhere. When Kitten finds… Continue reading Diana had a Selfish Giant and Kept Her a secret<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[58,123,160,417,572,578,597,603,687,706,708,738],"class_list":["post-810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-progress","tag-amy-adams","tag-biographical-films","tag-chris-pratt","tag-joaquin-phoenix","tag-naomi-watts","tag-naveen-andrews","tag-olivia-wilde","tag-oscar-wilde","tag-romantic-comedy","tag-scarlett-johansson","tag-science-fiction","tag-spike-jonze","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/tenkmovies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/tenkmovies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/tenkmovies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tenkmovies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tenkmovies.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=810"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/tenkmovies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12863,"href":"http:\/\/tenkmovies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810\/revisions\/12863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/tenkmovies.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tenkmovies.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tenkmovies.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}