Barbie Movie out of the Box

Sometimes I feel compelled to write a review of a film even if it's not a film festival film that I have been accredited to review.

This film was a ride from beginning to the end.  Talk about getting Barbie outside of the Box.  This film is not what you think it would be.  It's a spectacle as you would imagine,  think La La Land and Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory mixed with Hidden Figures and Erin Brocovitch.  

This is the case with the new BARBIE movie Directed by Greta Gerwig.  

There are dance sequences, loads of crazy sets, crazy fashion and oh so much diversity.

Starring Margo Robbie as stereotypical Barbie and Ryan Gosling as Ken.  After seeing them you can't really imagine anyone else performing those roles.  Margo is the perfect mix of vulnerability, intelligence and fun.   Ryan Gosling is clueless, over the top and extra.

The cast is rounded out with Simu Liu the other rival Ken to Ryan Gosling and the 3rd Canadian in the film is Michael Cera who is sensitive and neglected Allan.  His character was so funny.

The casting of this film was perfection with the following cast members and cameos with:

• Kate MacKinnon as Weird Barbie who tells Barbie to go to the real world.
• John Cena pops up in a spectacular ensemble as Ken.
• Dua Lipa pops up every now and then but I won't say as what.
• America Ferrera is the Mom who tries to save Barbie.
• Will Farrell is the CEO of Mattel.  As you can imagine his usual hilarious self.
• Rhea Perlman is the inventor of Barbie
• Helen Mirren isn't even seen and she adds so much to the film.

This film is spectacular, hilarious and thought provoking.

The sets were mostly real and it really looks like a Barbie world.

The thing I enjoyed the most was the dialogue.  Fast and smart with lines you will take away with you for a while.

America Ferrera's speech on what it's like to be a woman is epic and should be shown to every teen girl.

You can certainly tell that Greta Gerwig had something to say that was decades in the making and she really put everything into this film.   

It's most definitely a female director perspective and I don't think anyone else would have made it the same way.

I went with a group of friends and one Ken who didn't like how Ken was the bad guy in the film.

It takes a searing look at patriarchy and who male privilege has ruled the world.

The screening I went to was like nothing I have ever seen before.  There was pink everywhere and so many people wearing shoes they could barely walk in.   My friends and I all wore some pink and I wish we had a shot of all of us.  We weren't over the top but a nod to Barbie.   Someone asked to take a photo with us after the movie.  We should have asked them to take one for us... didn't think of it at the time.

We did take photos in the Box installation at the theatre.  There was a long lineup of people waiting to do selfies.  We split up into 2's to get our pics in so mine was with my friend Lisa.

This was the most popular Marketing I have ever seen at a theatre.   People came to be seen and experience this movie.

The fact that Barbie is over 60 years old now shows how many generations connected to Barbie.  Even if you never had a Barbie you know all about the legendary doll.

I haven't had that much fun at a movie in a very long time if ever.  I even had to sit by myself because I waited too long to get tickets and it was almost sold out by the time I did a week before.   The people on either side of me were also really enjoying it.

I really hope Greta Gerwig gets a bunch of Academy Award Nominations because this film was truly original, entertaining and filled with so many things to think about.

I want to see more films like this and less guns, and car chases and murders.   

I like to go to the movies to have fun and escape the stress of life.  This is the kind of film that suspends all other thoughts of anything but what's happening on the screen.

I don't do ratings but I would give it 9 Barbies.

 Watching the film is like going to an amusement park.  What a ride.

Why the Writers and Actors strike is important for everyone.

The Writers Guild of America (WGA) and Screen Actors Guild (SAG) have now joined the picket lines forming an Alliance against the people that hold their life's work in their hands and this is history making in progress.

Why you should care about this strike?

1. This kind of strike hasn't happened in 60 years.

2. This is a crossroad in time to change that might change the future of the entertainment industry and have a ripple effect on other industries.

3.  The majority of writers and actors do not make a proper living wage because they are essentially gig workers.  Not all of them are million dollar plus talent.  That is a small percent.

4. This could affect change in other industries besides the entertainment industry.

5.  Human rights and sustainability.

I have a Union permittee for Makeup although I do not work in film for my living I am trying to finish a documentary independently.  Although this doesn't stop me from making films it will still affect me in ways that don't connect to the actor/writer strike.   I am a part of a Union but in the Ontario Public Service so I know how important it is for Unions to fight for the rights of the workers.

In this case the fight is about more than just money, benefits or working hours.  It's about the right to make a living with your talents and likeness.  It's about the studios trying to save money by being able to use someone's likeness over and over without having to pay the actor and a crew to show up on location.  Sounds great for a studio but remember the ripple effect if an actor is "cloned" in a film or series.   There won't be the following jobs or industries that also make a living from film/tv productions.  

Here are some of them.

1. Camera crew
2. Lighting crew
3. Sound Crew
4. Makeup Artist
5. Hair stylists
6. Catering
7. Prop houses 
8. Local businesses for florals, food, clothing, greens, rentals
9. Post production
10. Administrative staff
11. Accountants 
12. Lawyers
13. Musicians

you get the picture... I could go on.

AI is not perfect and basically pulls from already recorded knowledge and is only as good as the information that it is given or the person operating it.  It can't make up original ideas and content would be affected.

How would you like it if you posted your image to social media and a studio lifted that image and put it into a film as a character and made a slight change and you were not notified or compensated.  That's what could happen to you and the actors.

In the writers case they will just put in some details and let Chat GPT or whatever create a script that might be a copy of something else and could be boring and at the least not very original.

This strike is important to get right because it's the future of the writers, actors and the industry as a whole.  Currently with the strike on production has come to a halt so all the people working on productions can't work.  Industries that supply the productions aren't making money.  Theatres and streaming and networks aren't going to get new content.

It will also affect me in September when the Actors usually come to the Toronto International Film Festival.   My job is to escort the films Entourage around the building at the festival.  No promotion allowed means no actors that will be there and no publicists, photographers, videographers, film festival staff and most likely a reduction of ticket sales for TIFF.   Although Tiff is International it's the big celebrities that attract patrons from all over the world to buy tickets to the festival.   They will still be able to have a festival because it's only SAG/AFTRA but it will be most likely reduced similar to the pandemic days of the festival.   My team did not do the lockdown years of the festival.

So that's just the tip of the iceberg.  Yes you won't have anything to watch and lots of people won't make money.   So what?  Well what is your job?  Your industry could be affected by the ripple effect of the economy or what's really important is the replacement of your jobs because the Corporations choose AI over hiring human beings.  

Look at the war in Ukraine which is being fought with sophisticated weapons which are AI driven.  Not that we want people to go back to the battlefields but that's where a lot of this started.

The automotive industry uses more and more AI each year.   I am not saying technology is bad as a whole but there are consequences to the use.  Think of what happens when the power goes out?  What about the time when Rogers Communications whole network went out for a day.  What happens when an autonomous Uber vehicle fails.

Technology fails just as much as human error.  How many times has your phone or computer failed?  

Yes technology can be used in dangerous situations or remote areas or to reduce repetitive injuries but in the wrong hands it can also have a huge negative affect.

I have been watching a lot of news stories and listening to podcasts and watching documentaries and when the people that were the ones to create some of these technologies start waving a cautionary flag you have to stop and take notice and think about future decisions before they are irreversible.

Some films to check out:

1. IRobot
2. Minority Report
3. Artifact Girl
4. Megan
5. Her
6. Ex Machina
7. AI Artificial Intelligence
8. The Social Dilemma
9. Unknown Killer Robots
10. Code Bias
11. Black Mirror
12. Replicas

I had a little fun with the image to show how the image can be created and just sub in anything.  How will you know if anything is real?  I just used emojis for fun but this could happen with anyone's likeness and made to say or do anything.

Does this not make you think about freedoms, privacy, human rights, power, going too far?

25 Favourite Documentaries 1977-2023

 25 of my Favourite Documentaries - Sorted by Year

While working on my You Know Harvey Documentary a lot of things have been coming up including style, structure, storyline and message.   I started compiling a list of documentaries that have stuck with me.  There are not a lot of war films or violent ones,  I stayed in my lane of Food, Film, Stuff and the things that I am interested in.

I am not going to give you the synopsis.  I want you to do a little digging to see if you can find any of these films and decide for yourself if you are interested in them.

They are not listed by preference but I sorted by the year they came out from oldest to recent.

These films reflect the themes of Food, Celebrity culture, Image, Health, Environment, Music, Illness, Corruption and Comedy.   Hopefully they will touch you and stay with you too.

TOP 25

1977 - Pumping Iron   2002 - BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE   2004 - SUPER SIZE ME (2004 2006 - AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH   2008 - ANVIL! THE STORY OF ANVIL (2008) 2008 - FOOD, INC.   2010 - INSIDE JOB   2010 - Teenage Papparazzo   2010 - JOAN RIVERS: A PIECE OF WORK  2011 - BULLY   2013 - 20 Feet from Stardom   2015 - AMY   2016 - STRIKE A POSE   2017 - Modified   2017 - WASTED! THE STORY OF FOOD WASTE    2018 - Believer   2018 - Game Changers   2018 - Larger than Life: The Kevyn Aucoin Story   2018 - Sharkwater Extinction   2019 - Mistify: Michael Hutchence   2021 - ROADRUNNER: A FILM ABOUT ANTHONY BOURDAIN   2021 - VAL   2023 - Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields   2023 - Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie   2023 - Wham

TTC: The Terrible Commute

 THE TERRIBLE COMMUTE: July 6, 2023

Days like today is why I still have a Blog.   I need a space to rant when everything seems to go wrong.

Today was a commute from Hell going home at the end of the day from downtown.

I got on the platform of the St. Patrick subway station just after 4:30pm  Thursday July 6, 2023.   As soon as I got on I heard an announcement of an incident at Eglinton Station.  I already knew there was going to be some inconvenience but I really underestimated the chaos that caused.

After waiting for about 5 min I got on a busy train and my coworker got off at Union.  It slowed and spurted up to Rosedale and then sat there for about 15 min or so.   Then at Summerhill I think we had to get out and go to the opposite side to get a shuttle train or take a shuttle bus.  I went to the other side of the train.   I waited for 3 trains to pass trying to get on one so I could get a seat.  I was carrying my laptop, my purse and a bag of stuff.  Standing for about another 20 min before I jumped on.  Still didn't get a seat.  Then got stuck between St. Clair and Davisville.   Finally got out at Davisville.. They said the same thing,  get a shuttle bus on yonge or go to the other platform to get a shuttle subway train.   I went outside and decided to wait it out for a bit.  I started walking up Yonge and decided to stop and get dinner at Khau Gully.  It's food from Goa I think.  I ordered the coconut chicken, naan breat and raita.   Thought maybe the subway would be clear by the time I finished.  As I ate my dinner,  only people picking up takeout and maybe one couple in the restaurant a half hour later.  I watched as people continued to walk up Yonge street.  After I finished my dinner I continued to walk up Yonge street.  Maybe to catch a shuttle, a Yonge bus,  who knows.   I got up to Eglinton and was able to get on a shuttle bus and got a seat.  Eglinton Station was completely shut down so it by passed.  Thought I was closer to getting home and then of course about 5 min after we left the street the driver announces that Lawrence is the last stop.  Originally the shuttle was only going to York Mills.   I get out at Lawrence thinking I have to take another shuttle to York Mills but luckily a girl told me the subway was back on.    I go down to the subway hauling all my crap and get on but don't get a seat right away.   Finally get a seat at York Mills and was praying that it wouldn't stop again before Sheppard subway.

With all that my journey started from my office at Dundas/University at 4:30 and walked in my door Yonge/Sheppard at 8pm.   9, 200 appox steps later.

Not to mention that I had a rough day with my computer.  After working late to clean up an excel database yesterday it didn't get saved properly to the Cloud and I had to try and do it over again today.

As we are told this past week that we have to go back to the office 3 days a week.   I rarely have much tech issues when I work from home so I was not too happy to be there today.   If this is what my 3 days a week is going to be like I may have to consider a life change.  I need to win a lottery so I can afford to retire.

So let's add a heat wave, rain and nowhere to sit along the way and anyone would get kinda grumpy.

All this was caused by 2 idiots arguing over who knows what at Yonge and Eglinton station.   They argue and one guy pulls out a knife apparently and stabs the other guy while everyone around runs away screaming.   I am not sure on the exact time this happened but it sounds like it affected the subway for many hours.  One guy is in the hospital now and the guy that stabbed him got away so they said on the news.

Here's the problem as I see it.   The City/TTC want more ridership on the TTC so they can get more money.  Employers are telling their workers to go back to work and they still complain that ridership is down but as I see it the subway is packed at peak hours of the day and scattered with homeless people taking up 3-5 seats sleeping with whatever stuff they have and nobody wanting to sit near them.  Then there are other homeless people who walk up and down the subway with a cup asking for money.  Some muttering,  some shoving the cup in your face and some kind of loud and scary.  Do you think they pay to get on the subway to do this?  I think not.  So space is taken up while people that are just trying to get to a fro are harassed, or fearful that at any minute someone will snap and then someone gets hurt or at the very least the commute is extended.

This is a multi-prong scenario that needs to be fixed and I am looking at new Mayor Olivia Chow to push to make some changes to solve these issues.

1.  Treatment facilities needed for mental health and addictions.

2.  Short term housing with support systems in place.

3. Rehabilitation or skilled trades training because we need people to fill jobs in this field and build more housing.

4.  More affordable city so that people don't have to beg or lose their homes and can still eat and buy necessities of life.

5.  Improve the TTC with more frequent service and finish the Eglinton crosstown because if you get north of Bloor and something goes wrong you are stranded because nothing moves any other way.

I am so tired of seeing this get worse every year.  I used to love Toronto and thought it was the best City but I am losing faith and apparantly Celebrities are starting to comment about the inconveniences of this City which will drive down tourism.   We also don't have enough housing for the Refugees that are flooding into this city.  This all makes for a powder keg ready to blow.

I am getting up in years and am not the fittest so it's days like today that make me wonder if living in Toronto is really worth it.