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I recently re-watched one of my favorite Wes Anderson movies, Moonrise Kingdom, which prompted me to dive down a deep, dark hole of image searches on the internet. During my frivolous search of hipster GIFs & Tumblr posts, I stumbled upon an old website posting that dissects the various meanings, interpretations, innuendos, & subtle nods behind Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola‘s popular film. After reading that old post, I started thinking about my own interpretations of this film.
I have seen this movie countless times, & each time I watch this movie, it makes me think of the storyline in a weird way. Over time, I have gathered some rather strange thoughts regarding this movie, but it still has not deterred me from watching it again. Here, I will try to gather all of my crazy thoughts in the movie’s chronological order…
SAM SHAKUSKY’S GRAPHIC WATERCOLOR PORTRAITS
Just like Bill Murray‘s character Walt Bishop asks, I also ask the same question: “What the hell am I looking at?!” No, seriously. Why is a 12-year old boy painting nude portraits of a girl/woman getting into a bath tub??? Also, just like Walt Bishop, I also wonder if Suzy sat for this portrait. (Probably not, but it looks suspiciously realistic to her image.) I love Sam‘s watercolor paintings of landscapes & city buildings, but What-The-Face is he doing sending Suzy a portrait of a bathing naked lady?! That’s both sweet & weird.
SUZY BISHOP’S CAT
GIF not accurate to the timeline of the movie, but it was the best MK cat image I could find.
What’s up with Suzy‘s cat? I mean, why’d she have to bring along her cat when she’s trying to run away from home…& then she only brought one box worth of kitten chow tins? That’s not going to sustain the cat for any period of time. Plus, the cat’s going to slow those kids down with all of its extra weight (& baggage). This cat serves no purpose on this adventure. Not to mention, the cat totally gave away the whereabouts of the runaway kids with its discarded kitten chow tin.
THE SCOUT & HIS CANOE
How does a 12-year old kid steal a miniature canoe & load it up with some fishing tackle, 10 pounds of sundries, 2 bedrolls, & an air rifle all by himself in the middle of a full boy scout camp at night, without being detected? I’ll admit the kid’s got real determination to run away with the love of his life. Let me tell you… I was in a girl scout troop for 3 years, & we never accomplished nearly as much outdoor achievements as field mate Sam Shakusky. This kid has some cajones to quit his troop, & serious skills to sneak off with a boat load of camping supplies. (No pun intended.)
KIDS WITH GUNS (NOT LITERALLY)
Look at these deadly scouts with homemade weapons! Isn’t that a tad bit excessive just to recover an escaped scout member? I mean, who says “If we find him, I’m not going to be the one who forgot to bring a weapon?”? Sam is harmless. He’s only carrying a pellet gun fer chrissake! The worst he could do would be to shoot his eye out (right, Ralphie?). Why are the other kids bringing hatchets, hunting knives, hammers, & a crudely made mace? Also, what kind of scout master allows 12-year old boys to randomly carry such sharp & dangerous objects? (Aren’t these kids still supposed to be using safety scissors? Haha!)
THE KIDS AREN’T ALRIGHT
Why are these young (unsupervised) kids playing a game of chicken, with real weapons no less, in the field of a deserted forest? This is the kind of stand-off that could rival any John Wayne shoot-em-up cowboy western. Then again, things get even more intense when all of the “Lord of The Flies-y” boys decend in mad chaos toward the young lovers on the hill. The stand-off comes to a head & there are a few unfortunate casualties. Please be warned that things get graphic & gorey at this point. It has been reported by multiple sources that when this movie was released, many movie goers got really uncomfortable by the next occuring events. For one, a dog gets shot in the neck by a stray arrow & dies. Then, one of the scouts gets stabbed in the lower back with a pair of lefty scissors. Although those scenes in a PG-13 rated movie are horrific in their own right, that’s not what got audience members cringing in their seats. No. It was the graphic scene when Sam, looming over the poor scout dog Snoopy, unceremoniously pulls & removes the very bloody arrow from the dog’s neck. If you ask me, that’s kind of being too specific in detail for a PG-13 rated movie.
TIDAL INLETS ARE THE NEW MAKE-OUT SPOTS
Does nobody care, or even notice, that these barely pubescent, adolescent teens are running around on a secluded beach in their underwear? Well, it’s not the Blue Lagoon, & Brooke Shields isn’t lying on the beach with her hair not-so-subtly covering her tits, but still. It’s super weird that these tweens are hanging out in their underwear with absolutely zero eff’s given. That’s not all…
Sam makes Suzy a pair of earrings using sharp fish hooks & some fishing tackle. Then he proceeds to pierce her ear without even disinfecting/cleaning the hooks. That sounds like a recipe for an infection if you ask me. Then…
Suzy has visions of grandeur…believing that kids with no parents lead more interesting lives. Sam immediately sets her straight about the lonliness of not having any familial structure. They may be adolescent youths, but they sure get real deep & somewhat philosophical when they chat. They even profess their love for each other.
SAM & SUZY SITTING IN A TREE…K-I-S-S-I-N-G…
When I was 12, I had barely gotten out of the “boys have cooties” phase. I was just starting to learn about kissing on the lips & holding hands. I had no real experience with kissing boys. Yet here these two love birds are, discussing the ins-&-outs of French kissing! (No pun intended, again.) According to Suzy, the tongues touch each other. These kids are becoming way too mature at such a young age, & they are weirdly too good at first-time French kissing. But wait, there’s more!
Sam pulls Suzy closer while they’re slow dancing on the beach, but lo & behold…Sam’s got a boner. Wait, this IS supposed to be a PG-13 rated movie, right? So, why are we talking about pre-teen boners? Well, naturally that’s what happens when you’re going through puberty & you’re in love. But, does she mind? No. She likes it. (Ew, gross.) Don’t worry though, this isn’t a one-sided deal here. Sam gets to cop a feel too. (Double gross.)
NIGHTY, NIGHTIE
The young lovers are asleep in their cozy bed chamber, wearing nothing but the skivvies they they danced in the day before, only to be awoken by very concerned parents, scout troop, & lone police captain. Here comes dear ol’ dad, ripping the tent right off like a nasty band-aid.
And so, we’ve reached the end. The two little love birds have tied the knot. (Not legally) All is right in the world, except for the biggest storm New Pensance has ever encountered, along with severe lightning strikes, & some harrowing rescues atop a church tower. Yet, after all that excitement, like all other Wes Anderson movies, this too must come to a happy ending.
Today’s song of the day:
A teenage American-British girl while visiting her father, is thrown into London society during the “Debutante Season”.
This past month, while my aunt was vacationing at our house, we watched a ton of classic movies from the 50s a& 60s. One of those movies was called The Reluctant Debutant starring a very young Sandra Dee, Rex Harrison, Kay Kendall, & a dashing & also very young John Saxon. Murder, She Wrote‘s Angela Lansbury also makes an appearance in this movie.
My aunt & I were talking about Sandra Dee & how my aunt idolised her as a teenager living in Taiwan. This prompted me to search for a Sandra Dee movie for us to watch together. I felt like Gidget has been watched too many times already, so I settled upon this one (as mentioned above). I was mostly interested in this movie because I had read in the movie summary that Rex Harrison was going to be portraying Sandra Dee’s father in this movie.
Most movies from this 1950s era really intrigue & interest me. I love the fashion that the girls & women wear, & I love all of the tiny, speedy, zippy little sports cars the actors drive in all of the movies. For example, I just adore the little yellow convertible Audrey Hepburn drives in the movie How To Marry A Millionaire. She just zips & zags along the busy streets of Paris with Peter O’Toole in the passenger seat with a look of sheer panic on his face for the daredevil way she drives her tiny little auto. In this movie (The Reluctant Debutante), some of the clothes & dresses Sandra Dee wears is so pretty, I wish I could pull of wearing clothes like that, but other times the outfits make her character look younger than she should be in the movie.
I adore Rex Harrison in this movie as the doting father & loving husband who’s often caught between doing what his wife says & making his daughter happy. I love how Rex’s character is sort of a goofball (funny) around Kay Kendall’s character (his character’s wife), yet he still shows his tender “dad” side to Sandra’s character. Kay Kendall plays the role of stepmother-who-competes-against-other-debutant-mothers perfectly. Kay’s character is always competing with her cousin (played by Angela Lansbury), who is trying to throw her daughter a coming-of-age announcement, debutante party. So Kay‘s character, who is always trying to out do her cousin in their social group’s popularity, tries to announce her stepdaughter’s coming-of-age in the debutante arena just to get her time in the spotlight. It’s so funny how the two cousins keep trying to throw each other off by giving misdirection & misinformation, only to end up with things working out best for the children they’re both trying to keep apart.
My all time favorite part of this movie was the blossoming romance between Sandra Dee’s beautiful & sensible character & John Saxon’s handsome & bold character. Even though Sandra’s stepmother is trying to keep her away from John’s character due to an alleged scandal that he was supposedly involved in, the pair still find time to spend together getting to know each other & really build up their romance. Rex Harrison’s fatherly character is absolutely hilarious at these times because he also sort of falls into a bromance crush with John’s character due to their mutual love of music & playing the drums. The husband side of Rex’s character wants to make his wife happy by keeping John’s character away from his daughter. Yet, he wants to make his daughter happy by allowing her to go out with John’s character. There’s a lot of comedic eavesdropping that gets foiled every time the nosy parents are discovered, but that doesn’t take away from the tender & sweet scene of Sandra’s character slowly & coyly seducing John’s character to sit with her on the couch late at night so they could steal kisses in the dark. The sweet moment when Sandra’s character promises to wait for John’s character while he attends a family funeral in Italy. Then, they are so excited to see each other again, & that’s when the relationship really starts to bloom. The couch kissing scene was my all time favorite from the whole movie. It made my heart do rapid flip flops.
When at first Kay Kendall’s stepmom character thought John Saxon’s character was a boy with a past that would ruin her stepdaughter’s reputation, I was not surprised. I knew she would have preconcieved opinions about him based on the seedy rumors she’s heard through her social circle. Then, throughout the movie, when John’s character continues to hold his head up high & prove himself to be a fine, well-mannered gentleman, I really hoped that he would prove Kay’s character wrong once & for all. In the end, he proved himself to be worthy of Sandra Dee’s character’s love. He proved without saying a single word that he was the boy Rex & Kay’s characters wanted for their daughter all along. I just loooved the shocked look on the stepmom’s face in the ending scene, when the butler announces John’s character as the high titled Italian duke with the heir to a huge family name & fortune. I was cheering at the TV screen that entire time. I loved the happy ending that was all wrapped up in a neat little bow. It was a perfect conclusion to a short & sweet classic movie.
Well, that’s all I have to say about this movie. I would totally watch this again & again. It was such a fun, light-hearted, romantic movie that fills my heart completely. Until the next reveiw, cheers!
Today’s song of the day:
I love to watch movies. Oldies, newbies, you name it. I’ll probably watch it, or at the very least try to watch one time. I really have to thank iTunes movie rentals & Netflix for helping me expand my movie genre interests, & for urging/pushing/encouraging me to watch movies I would have never thought to watch on my own, like various foreign movies for example. Also, my aunt has been vacationing at my house for the past month, & almost every night after dinner we’ve been renting classic/oldie movies from my cable provider’s On Demand movies list. It really got me thinking about all of the movies I’ve watched in my life & how would I categorize them.
My taste in movies is a little bit all over the place. I’m not a dedicated fan to just one genre, or movies from a certain decade. Most of my family & friends are super into current blockbuster movies, & also pop culture movies (usually ones that have some sort of connection to San Diego Comic Con). I love all sorts of movies, from 50s/60s classics, to musicals, to foreign, to box office bombs, etc.. (I guess you could say that my haphazard taste in movies is the same as my mixed taste in music genres.) Many times, I’ll mention my interest in a movie that would get my friends & family to scratch their heads. OK, so it’s mostly Jian that says I’m weird for liking certain movies. Here, I’m going to explain these such movies, these “guilty pleasure” movies that I don’t like to talk about with other people. Having to explain why I like these movies to most other people…well…it’s just too much for me to say in one blog post, so I’ll just get on with it then.
- Ever since I was a young teenager, I’ve been extremely fascinated with Drag Queens. I don’t even know how I got introduced to the whole world of Drag, but once I learned about this style of entertainment, I’ve been a fan ever since. The first movie I ever watched with predominantly gay main characters was To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything Julie Newmar. As a wide-eyed teen, I didn’t understand the stories behind the gay characters at all. All I cared about was that there were straight guys, acting as gay men, dressed in women’s clothes. I mean, I was excited to see Patrick Swayze dressed as a woman. (It’s waaay cooler than Dustin Hoffman dressing as a woman.) Of course, there is a deeper meaning behind this movie, & I totally understood the hard times these characters had to face after watching this movie a second time. I love the stay strong spirit behind this movie, & the fact that a whole town can turn their bigotry frown upside down, & learn life lessons on tolerance & acceptance.
- OK, I’m more of a “Tom Hanks in an action role” kind of gal, rather than a “Tom Hanks in a romantic comedy role” girl. However, this movie gets my heart fluttering every time. Maybe it’s because Meg Ryan is so cussing cute in this movie. I seriously envied her sweet character owning a small generational mom-&-pop bookstore in the heart of the big city. Yes, falling in love with a guy you’ve only IM’d with on the internet is creepy, but I like how they get to really know each other first before seeing the other person’s face. It’s like a relationship version of The Voice. Also, I think it’s cute (albeit outdated) when they chat with each other online & send each other regular emails. Nowadays, people don’t email or write to each other. It’s all texting, emojis, animated GIFs, & dick pics. My favorite aspect of the movie is that Tom Hanks’ character & Meg Ryan’s character really get to know each other before they find out they’ve been anonymously chatting with each other online the whole time. The part where Meg Ryan tells Tom Hanks that she wished all along that he would be her online crush gets my heart fluttering every time I watch this movie.
- When I mention to people that this Japanese cult hit is one of my all-time favorite movies, they either automatically scratch their heads from not recognizing this movie, or they just don’t understand why I love a movie with so much blatant & extreme gore/violence. This movie was not made with the intention of being overtly gorey or violent. This movie was made to convey a serious social issue in Japan. During the time of the movie’s release, there were many teenagers who were expressing apathy towards their elder generations, & were showing their lack of respect to their elders. These youth were becoming increasingly lazy & disinterested in changing the environment around them. The adults were fed up with the younger generation. So this movie got everyone’s attention. What would you do if you were put in a “kill or be killed” situation that you had no way out of? Would you save yourself, or would you band together to help your friends? Would you wake up & change your situation/environment? One such character in this movie, who had a chip on his shoulder from being shuffled around in foster care, was once a lazy apathetic teenager coasting through high school, but rose up & fought for the greater good of his fellow classmates. He fought to avenge the death of his best friend. He fought to protect the girl that he loved who had a pure, kind heart. He fought to avenge the unnecessary deaths of his fellow classmates. He rose up & fought to change the course of his life, to change his situation, to change the environment around him & not sit idly by while the world kept spinning without change. This movie really made me fall in love with the actor Tatsuya Fujiwara‘s acting. He is such an incredibly talented actor, & he amazes me every time I watch him on the big & small screens.
- In my community (a.k.a. my circle of friends & family) it is taboo for me to express my interest in the actor Jamie Dornan. I get laughed at every time I talk about him. So, I keep my interest in Jamie Dornan super private. Many moons ago, Jamie Dornan acted in this movie set in a pretty little town in Belgium, where his character (pretended to) was learning about his family’s lineage, & trying to broker a deal with a professional racing bird breeder. This was a pretty casual, lighthearted, romance genre movie, which is kind of a different direction for this actor. There were no heavy military storylines, or action-packed love scenes, or thrilling cat & mouse chases. This movie was just good, clean fun to watch…& just to see a younger Jamie Dornan act in something that didn’t involve evading the police, serial murderings, war & guns, or bondage & spankings. I will declare here & now that I’m a huge fan of Jamie Dornan. I really enjoy his acting style/skills, even though I don’t really find his American accent appealing or believable, & often sounds forced. Also, I will “Plead the Fifth” on whether I find Jamie Dornan physically attractive or not. I try to not focus on that when I watch his movies or TV shows. He’s more than just a pretty face with 8-pack abs & rippling biceps, you know.
- This movie starring Hugh Grant & Drew Barrymore is so cheesy, but I love it’s ability to poke fun at itself…well, mostly it’s Hugh Grant’s aging pop star character. I love the self-depricating demeanor of Hugh Grant’s nearly washed up has-been pop star character. Drew Barrymore is also cute as & an insecure writer working for her sister’s weight loss company. I really enjoy the chemistry between Drew Barrymore’s character & Hugh Grant’s character when they come together to write lyrics for a new pop song together for a young rising pop singer. The young pop singer character is sooo annoying in this movie, but there is truth to her character as so many pop singers today display the same level of self-serving diva attitude. Kristen Johnson’s character is also really cute as the fangirl to Hugh Grant’s character, especially when she finds out that Drew Barrymore’s character (her in-movie sister) gets to work with Hugh Grant’s character. It kind of reminded me of when I was a naiive teenager who was infatuated with my favorite teen pop idol. I’m not quite sure, however, that this movie acurately depicts how difficult it actually is to write song lyrics. You can’t just sit down at a piano with your temporary house sitter & bang out a chart-topping pop love song in a day.
- Cannibal is a beautiful, unconventional romance set in Spain. How’s this for a plot twist? A woman falls in love with an introverted, quiet man who murdered her sister AND ATE HER HUMAN FLESH, all while she is in the midst of searching for said missing sister. I’ll admit, I was attracted to Antonio de la Torre‘s mysterious character from the very beginning. Hey, my paternal grandfather was a tailor & maker of fine gentlemen’s suits. So, when I saw Antonio’s character making men’s suits, that piqued my interest. However, it was his character’s mysterious & meticulous nature that really attracted me to this movie. I’ve seen movies & documentaries that featured cannibalism before, so I wasn’t too shocked to see Atonio’s character casually eating human flesh like a regular pork chop for dinner in one scene. What truly got me hooked on this movie was the fact that even though Antonio de la Torre’s character is killing women, he can’t seem to kill Olimpia Melinte‘s character. He is growing more & more attached to & in love with her as the movie progresses. Even though Antonio’s character lives a very strict & extremely organized life, he still lets Olimpia’s character enter in to his home & into his introverted life. Of course, as predictable movie plotlines go, Antonio’s character does try to keep Olimpia’s character at a distance, not wanting her to get too close to him, both emotionally & investigatively. My favorite scene in the movie is when Antonio’s character invites Olimpia’s character to his vacation cabin/”chop shop” with the intention of killing her (as well), but instead spares her life & ends up sleeping beside her on the sofa in a rare act of intimacy, which is unusual for his character who is mostly emotionally unattached. Of course, as you would expect, Olimpia’s character goes berserk once Antonio’s character confesses all of his serial crimes (including her sister) & his particular culinary appetite, but when Antonio’s character breaks down & emphatically professes his love for Olimpia’s character, my heart melts. Obviously I cannot go around & freely announce that I love a romance movie featuring a murderous flesh eating main character. That’s why this is my secret guilty pleasure movie on Netflix.
- Now, I’m not explicitly saying that I secretly like bondage & domination, or that I’m some pervy voyeur. I love the romance in this movie plain & simple. James Spader plays a cold, dominating, fiery lawyer. Maggie Gyllenhaal plays his timid, wide-eyed, submissive secretary/personal assistant. Just like in the book trilogy that got turned into a blockbuster movie franchise, both of the main characters teach each other valuable lessons on life & love, & also help one another open up their hearts & minds to enrich each other’s lives. Of course the steamy themes make this movie much more exciting & enticing to watch than your average romantic movie, but that’s just a tool to explore the many facts of love & relationships. Also, I remember when I was a kid, I wanted to grow up & become a secretary who typed on a typewriter, answered the telephone, & sent out hand-typed letters from the boss. This movie combined my childhood career fantasy with my adult romantic fantasy. I mean, wouldn’t it be so cool to pick up the phone & say, “Hello. You have reached the office of E. Edward Gray!“
- I love the older works of actress Helena Bonham Carter, like: Lady Jane & A Room With a View. She just looked to fresh faced & angelic in those movies with her wild, curly hair, rosy cheeks, & child-like smile. This movie is one of my all time favorite romance movies. It’s so innocent & pure, & I could watch this movie a hundred times, & it will make my heart litter-patter every time. Having the city of Florence as the main backdrop only adds more charm & even more romantic feeling to this movie. After watching this movie for the first time, I was totally infatuated with Julian Sands‘ character. At the time, I thought he was so handsome, & Helena Bonham Carter’s character was so pretty & sweet. I was cheering for their characters to fall in love with each other from the beginning to end. I sooo wanted Lucy Honeychurch & George Emerson to fall in love & get married. The first kissing scene in the Italian meadow makes me blush fiercely every time I watch it. Also, it makes me so frustrated when George tries to kiss Lucy on the tennis court, & she quickly pushes him away. I wish he could’ve grabbed her again & held her tighter while kissing her more, not to force himself upon her, but to make an unmistakable declaration of love. I would like at least once to be pulled in close & passionately kissed by the man I love.
- This movie is part sci-fi fantasy, part romance. I can’t imagine having my soul so intertwined with another stranger’s soul that I can actually feel what the other person is feeling & to be able to see what they see through their eyes. It also doesn’t seem scientifically plausible, but it does make a cute movie plot. This movie vaguely reminds me of You’ve Got Mail, where the characters interact with each other by talking & getting to know each other before meeting in person, but to be able to talk to each other through telekinesis, that’s a bit weird. However, I do find it kind of cute & cool how the two main characters can see what the other person looks like when they each look into a mirror. I love the initial awkwardness of Michael Stahl-David’s character. Of course there are some obvious themes in this movie such as: the guy who’s down on his luck with a rough past falling in love with the sheltered well-to-do gal. Both of the main characters in this movie have complicated pasts & hard futures ahead, but they both push through those obstacles to find each other & run off into the sunset (on a commercial freight train).
- Okay, I’ve saved the corniest/cheesiest chick flick (or bean flicker, as Jian likes to call it) for last. This movie franchise seems to be getting a ton of exaggerated negative reviews by movie critics & the general male population. However, the diehard fans of the book series seem to genuinely like the movies that have been released so far. This is the one movie franchise I straight up refuse to talk about with my friends & family because they immediately make fun of me for liking any aspect of this franchise (book, movie, or anything related). I don’t even know how to properly describe what I like about this franchise. There are many things. However, let me set one thing straight once & for all. I AM IN NO WAY INFATUATED WITH THE MAIN MALE CHARACTER. No, I do not wish to be swept off my feet by some extremely handsome billionaire to his seductive castle in the sky. My eyes are wide open here, & I know that this scenario is unrealistic & will never happen to me even in a thousand different lifetimes. I have no illusions, or shall I say delusions, here. I understand my reality, but I am a fan of this book series & its story. It’s a great literary escape to a fantasy scenario, & I think the movie adaptations of the books were pretty good considering all of the various restrictions (i.e. time-limit, how many scenes they can cram into one movie without overloading or making them spseem forced, etc.). By the way, I just watched movie 2 out of 3 last night, but I had to wait until everyone in the house was asleep.
Ok, that’s all I’m going to say in this blog post. I hate writing endings to my posts. I don’t know how to properly write a closing note. So, I’ll just say, Cheers!
Today’s song of the day:
![[INSERT PEE-WEE HERMAN DANCE]](https://scontent-iad3-2.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.29350-15/337114765_539454548239260_3651725161502713257_n.jpg?_nc_cat=111&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=8ae9d6&_nc_ohc=syirGF-DpXYAX-RlKEE&_nc_ht=scontent-iad3-2.cdninstagram.com&edm=ANo9K5cEAAAA&oh=00_AfASz0MOlhyvjtl6b3Qp7q7ShnEMyKLvlITSQMZChwBFdg&oe=642B3DBC)
Rabbits & Foxes 
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