{"id":88,"date":"2014-03-13T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-03-13T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tenkmovies.wordpress.com\/?p=88"},"modified":"2021-03-02T17:10:51","modified_gmt":"2021-03-02T17:10:51","slug":"a-little-bit-of-drinking-a-little-bit-of-grass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/tenkmovies.com\/?p=88","title":{"rendered":"A little bit of drinking, a little bit of grass, and a tiny thumb"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

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

Kate (Olivia Wilde) and Luke (Jake Johnson) are coworkers at a Chicago brewery.\u00a0 Despite their obvious compatibility and attraction, they’re only friends because Kate is dating Chris (Ron Livingston), while Luke is in a relationship with Jill (Anna Kendrick).\u00a0 As Kate and Luke grow closer, their relationships are tested.<\/p>\n

Director Joe Swanberg claims he was inspired by Paul Mazursky’s\u00a0Bob <\/em>& Carol & Ted & Alice<\/em> (1969).\u00a0 Both films are character studies about relationships where the desire to possess what we don’t have means neglecting the beauty in what we do have.\u00a0\u00a0However, Mazursky’s movie is wrapped up in sexual politics, while Swanberg’s movie seems content to be a movie.<\/p>\n

Swanberg is a pivotal figure in the development of mumblecore <\/a>which features low budgets, nonprofessional actors, and improvisation. In this movie, the improvisation made the film more real, like I was watching Anna Kendrick, Jake Johnson, and Olivia Wilde hang out. The drama was heightened because the characters were genuine and likable.<\/p>\n

Of course, any film with Anna Kendrick is guaranteed to be half-decent. She’s an amazing talent with an already impressive resume: the\u00a0Twilight<\/em>\u00a0films,\u00a0Up in the<\/em> Air (2009), Scott Pilgrim vs. the World <\/em>(2010), and Pitch Perfect <\/em>(2012).<\/p>\n

This is a perfect companion piece to\u00a0Enough Said <\/em>(2013). The latter film is like a spiritual sequel, with divorcees in their 40s dealing with the same issues as the 20-year-olds in this film.<\/p>\n

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\"Grass_1925\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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Grass: A Nation’s Battle for Life<\/a><\/em>\u00a0(1925)<\/p>\n

I don’t particularly like the other early\u00a0ethnographic documentaries<\/a> I’ve seen: Nanook of the North <\/em>(1922) and\u00a0Chang <\/em>(1927). \u00a0However, this film about the\u00a0Bakhtiari tribe<\/a> in\u00a0present day Iran<\/a> was insightful.<\/p>\n

Directed by Meriann Cooper, who would go on to direct King Kong<\/em>\u00a0 (1933), this is a fascinating look at how an ancient tribe of people survived into the early twentieth century. \u00a0It’s a little heavy-handed and there’s a paternalistic\u00a0“look at the backwards natives” vibe, but considering it was produced in the mid 1920s \u00a0it’s fairly progressive.<\/p>\n

If you’re interested in Eastern culture, this is something you need to see.\u00a0 It’s a little boring, but the cinematography is stunning and holds up well almost one hundred years later.<\/p>\n

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\"391px-TomthumbPoster\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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tom thumb<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>(1958)<\/p>\n

This musical adaptation of the\u00a0English myth<\/a> is silly and campy, but the Academy Award winning <\/a>animation and stop-motion sequences are incredible, Russ Tamblyn’s energetic performance as the diminutive Tom is enthralling. and Terry-Thomas and Peter Sellers are hysterical as a pair of villainous thieves.<\/p>\n

I was unaware of the film until I found it on\u00a0Turner Classic Movies<\/a><\/em> during their\u00a031 Days of Oscar programming<\/a>, but I’m glad I found it; this fun film is a perfect way to introduce young children to older films.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Drinking Buddies\u00a0(2013) Kate (Olivia Wilde) and Luke (Jake Johnson) are coworkers at a Chicago brewery.\u00a0 Despite their obvious compatibility and attraction, they’re only friends because Kate is dating Chris (Ron Livingston), while Luke is in a relationship with Jill (Anna Kendrick).\u00a0 As Kate and Luke grow closer, their relationships are tested. Director Joe Swanberg… Continue reading A little bit of drinking, a little bit of grass, and a tiny thumb<\/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":[66,111,231,278,420,522,564,568,597,631,695,725,761,779],"class_list":["post-88","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-progress","tag-anna-kendrick","tag-best-special-effects","tag-documentary","tag-fantasy-films","tag-joe-swanberg","tag-meriann-cooper","tag-mumblecore","tag-musical-films","tag-olivia-wilde","tag-peter-sellers","tag-russ-tamblyn","tag-silent-films","tag-stop-motion","tag-terry-thomas","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/tenkmovies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88","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=88"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/tenkmovies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11697,"href":"http:\/\/tenkmovies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88\/revisions\/11697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/tenkmovies.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=88"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tenkmovies.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=88"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tenkmovies.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=88"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}