Let me introduce you to Alexander Rodriquez, 34, from Tennessee. He's a (former) school bus driver who has admitted to raping a 15-year-old student. Not only did he rape her, he kidnapped her, moved her from the location of the assault (a motel), ordered her to lie to police if questioned, and told her during the assault he was trying to hurt her. WTVC Guess how much prison time Rodriquez will be serving? Guess. None. Initially Rodriquez was sentenced to four years, but his attorney, Johnny Houston, argued that the victim had "credibility issues." Distractify Let that sink in for a minute. A 15-year-old girl was taken to multiple locations, raped in a motel room by a man who admitted he wanted to hurt her, and the attorney argued she had credibility issues because the "evidence" didn't support her claim that the oral sex was forced. Did he expect her to have black eyes and a broken nose, or ripped lips, or teeth knocked out, in order to believe that a man more than twice her age forced her, in an unfamiliar place, to do things she didn't want to do? Oh and not to mention Rodriquez had "already served 100 days in jail." He will spend 10 years on probation with a GPS monitor. She will spend the rest of her life processing what happened to her. Again, the victim is re-victimized by the justice system. And the worst part is, this is no longer surprising, at all. She's a 15-year-old girl. Fifteen. Year. Old. Girl. Fuck you Johnny Houston. Fuck you Alexander Rodriquez. Fuck you judge who let this sentence happen. Fuck you all for continuing the culture of rape and rape apologists, and victim shaming and all the bullshit that has failed this girl.
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The Secret Life of Pets turned out to be even better than I thought it would based on the teaser trailers I've been stalking. Max, voiced by Louis C.K., is a sweet brown and white terrier who is absolutely in love with his owner Katie. He has a network of friends in the pets in his building and the one next door (NYC). His life is good. Other than the hours that Katie is away and he pines for her, Max loves everything about his situation. Then Katie adopts Duke (Eric Stonestreet), a huge shaggy brown mop of destruction, and all hell breaks loose.
This is essentially another "find our way home" film with the main characters getting over their initial differences and animosity through surmounting adversity. We've seen these stories over and over and over, and it would be easy to add The Secret Life of Pets to a long line of similar films and forget it. And I've seen some criticisms by viewers who only focused on that aspect of the film. I have to disagree though, as a life long animal lover, a rescuer, a mother and a human with a really twisted sense of humor, this movie was fantastic. There are several lines going through the movie that are all happening at once. Max and Duke are lost and trying to avoid going to pound, where Duke will be euthanized. Gidget (Jenny Slate), Max's neighbor from next door, is trying to rally their mutual friends, and her newfound not terribly trustworthy hawk friend Tiberius (Albert Brooks), to find and save Max who she's starting to realize she's completely in love with. And Snowball the adorable but evil bunny (Kevin Hart) is leading a revolution of "flushed pets" to destroy humanity, while also trying to find and kill Max and Duke for accidentally killing "The Viper." This is supposed to be a children's movie. These are the best kinds of children's movies. The ones that are really written for the adults. I have to tell you, there weren't that many kids in the audience. And I was laughing so hard, my kid told me to stop it. Things that the grownups would enjoy:
The Secret Life of Pets is a brightly coloured, fast paced, romp of an adventure film with some very dark undertones. I did mention the amount of potential death, involuntary snakeslaughter, and attempted homicide right? Lots of death. And a walk over bones. But the kids in the audience didn't seem phased by any of it. They enjoyed the adventure and the gags and I know that the adults that watched it with me enjoyed a lot of the higher level writing. And you cannot watch Chloe (Lake Bell) and not see the true catness of her character. There was so much done with her supporting part that made me laugh I can't even list them all. I've had cats all my life until the last couple of years and she was perfect. The stray cats were one note villains for the most part, but Chloe, she's fantastic. I can tell you that I would enjoy seeing this movie again. It isn't my favorite of the children's animated films from the last several years, but it sure was worth going out to see and I did enjoy it completely. I will own a copy at some point for repeated viewing when I need a laugh. I took myself out to see Ghostbusters last night, and because of timing had to see the 3D version, which was fine.
Because I haven't been living under a rock, I've been very aware of the internet hate storm that occurred when insecure men discovered that "the classic" original Ghostbusters would be erased by the addition of a film in the franchise with a female cast as the titular characters. After all they would obviously round up all copies of the original films and destroy them, making only the 2016 Paul Feig version available from this point forward. Oh wait, that wasn't going to happen at all? Huh, wonder what all the fuss was about? The fuss was about toxic masculinity being frustrated by the idea that women can be funny and headline a movie about people catching and destroying fucking ghosts. What's the problem? The cast of this movie is a collection of some of the most talented comics of our time. And Paul Feig has proven himself as an adroit director with credits like The Heat and Bridesmaids. This was all a knee-jerk reaction to the idea that "feminism is ruining everything." No, someone looked at something they loved, got an idea, and ran with it. And it was a pretty good idea. Because hey guess what? Women can be scientists and smart MTA employees and they can kick ass. Anyway, none of that matters now that the film is a thing that exists in the world and I got to see it. I have to admit that I laughed loudly through a large portion of the film, but what really got me was the supporting characters more than anything else. The one-liners and physical comedy were spot on and very referential to the original films. Not to mention the cameo appearances by Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts, and Sigourney Weaver were brilliant and perfect. Things that should make you want to see this film; Chris Hemsworth as Kevin. Kevin is gorgeous. Kevin is also so stupid it makes you wonder how he remembers to breathe. It is mesmerizing how dum this man is. Also clumsy, which just adds to the wonderment. I mean seriously, he's dumb as a box of rocks, and that is mentioned in the film. When he is introduced, the three scientists looking to hire a receptionist respond to him in vastly different ways; Erin (Kristen Wiig) is just overcome with lust, Abbie (Melissa McCarthy) just needs a freaking receptionist, Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon) is really wanting to see what happens if he's around. Speaking of Holtzmann... I want to marry her. Except I've been warned repeatedly in my life that one should never sleep with anyone crazier than they are. And she is bat crap crazy, and just as smart and talented. Go see this movie for Holtzmann! Do it. Worth every screen stealing second. From the great glasses and slouchy wardrobe, to her low voice and curled lip smile, you just know that there's a lot going on there. Leslie Jones was so big and bold as Patty, and the facts that she rattles off about the city and history without skipping a beat show how Patty is an invaluable person to have around. Plus, she brought them a car. A vital piece of equipment for going around New York hunting apparitions. Anyone who is offended by the character of Patty is an idiot. There was no reason in this story line for all four characters to be scientists, and if anything having one of them be someone who knows the area better than all of them together, is an asset. There's even a line in the movie when she falls to the ground after attempting to crowd serf, "I don't know if it was a race thing, or a lady thing, but I'm mad as hell!" So I don't know if the disturbances about her casting and character were those things, but she nails Patty and was a lot of fun to watch. Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig were great and funny, but they really weren't the biggest treats in this movie. Truthfully it's isn't the best movie I'm going to see all summer, but it was good fun and I love watching anything those two do together. I believe the weakest part of this movie was really the villain and the plot. The villain is a creepy little dude who wants to cause an apocalypse because he's been picked on. Boo-fucking-hoo. There just isn't enough there to be compelling. But the effects were cheesy enough to be part of the franchise, the dialogue was witty and amusing and the pace was good enough to keep me interested. There was balanced use of the 3D effects, including a few that made me jump a bit. And the soundtrack was really good with lots of references to the earlier films. All in all, I think this was a lot of fun and definitely a good time and I would easily watch it again down the road. I hope that it does well enough for at least the consideration of a sequel. Mostly because I want to see Hotzmann and Kevin again. I just got back yesterday from a week-long family vacation. I wish I was a person who could afford week-long beach vacations on my own or just me and my daughter and my dog, alas, I am not. But I am blessed to have parents that can give us a break once a year to visit the ocean and the boardwalk and listen to my daughter scream in glee and my dog race to the water's edge.
There was such sadness and horror in the news and I tried to avoid the heartache, but it is unavoidable. All I can say is, as a white woman, my heart breaks and I know I will never first-hand know the feelings of my POC brothers and sisters. As the daughter and granddaughter and neice of police officers, I know that there are good ones out there, but the system is in desperate need of reform. As a human being, I'm just sad. Personally, my dog is going to start chemotherapy soon, my kid is starting camp tomorrow and I will not get nearly enough sleep for the foreseeable future. But, I am continuing to watch GoT from the beginning and I had forgotten that Elyes Gabel had been in the first season. I'm so used to watching him as Walter O'Brien on Scorpion that it took me a moment to recognize him as the Dothraki Rakharo. And in the mean time, I have to plan a 7th birthday party for a wildflower of a child, on no budget and with only about a month. Yay. |
AuthorI'm Kirsten. Some things you could label me with; tattooed, geek, mama, animal lover, weirdo, nerd, writer, movie and TV addict, lazy, ambitious, insomniac, feminist, LGBTQ+. Archives
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