And we’re back with another Double Feature!
These two have been sitting in backlog forever. Maybe Storks is a newer watch since that was the last rental I had a few weeks ago. I saw The Women over a month ago so if details seem hazy on my end, it isn’t intentional. However, I do want to still write about it. Animated movies and Meg Ryan sounds like a great double feature to me since they are two of my favorite things ever.
The Women (2008)
Director: Diane English
Cast: Meg Ryan, Annette Bening, Eva Mendes, Debra Messing, Jada Pinkett Smith, Bette Midler, Candice Bergen, Carrie Fisher
A wealthy New Yorker wrestles with the decision to leave her cheating husband, as she and her friends discover that women really can have it all. – IMDB
The Women is the centre of what female empowerment strives to be. It has pretty much a complete women cast. In fact, I really can’t remember any men except for perhaps passerbys in the scenes whether they were someone the characters were talking to just a husband or partner mentioned. It is pretty amazing to watch a movie that is done in this particular way since it highlights different types of ladies and their different values and aspirations coming into their own and learning how to be themselves. While I do acknowledge that this movie has many flaws and I actually found it a little tiresome to watch, the cast here does great with the material. It helps that I’m a huge fan of Meg Ryan. I remember really loving Debra Messing before although I’m not sure what she’s doing now and of course Jada Pinkett Smith. There are some smaller supporting roles like Candice Bergen who shows another generation of women as well as Bette Middler who really can do no wrong in my books.
The Women has its moments mostly from these charming women however, it never seems to get above from being average. I think I loved watching the actress more than actually grasping a lot about the story. After a few weeks, the details are a little blurry right now and as I watched it again to refresh my memory, things started coming back to me. It seems that The Women does try to get a lot in there about relationships and friendships of all sorts while also talking about all these women who are trying to embrace who they want to be, whether it is setting a positive image for other women via media (like Annette Bening’s character, Sylvie) or setting a good example about strong women role models for the younger generation (like Meg Ryan’s Mary).
Storks (2016)
Director: Nicholas Stoller (writer) & Doug Sweetland
Voice cast: Andy Samberg, Katie Crown, Kelsey Grammer, Jennifer Aniston, Ty Burrell, Anton Starkman, Danny Trejo, Stephen Kramer Glickman
Storks have moved on from delivering babies to packages. But when an order for a baby appears, the best delivery stork must scramble to fix the error by delivering the baby. – IMDB
Storks came out in a year with a plot that seemed a little odd and far-fetched and it didn’t appeal at all to myself when it was released in theatres. Sure, it looked cute and the idea of storks delivering babies came from the Dumbo days. Plus, I never caught on to Brooklyn Ninety-Nine because I’m not exactly sure I grasp Andy Samberg’s sort of humor. It feels a tad stupid but then I don’t know, maybe I’ve changed as well since I didn’t really like Big Bang Theory before and I do now. However, back to Storks, the moment I turned on Storks, it set the stage that this was a charming and funny little animated film. The voice cast and the characters and the dialogue was amazingly fun. I’m sure if I wanted to, there are holes in the whole story but it highlights so many fun things plus it is geared towards children by the way the talk or address issues. The voice cast is also quite impressive. While Junior (voiced by Adam Samberg) is the main character and its really his character development that highlights this movie a lot, my favorite moments come with Tulip and moments with both Tulip and Junior. Plus, since my friend, Phoebe (aka Starry Traveler’s Road) hangs out quite a bit and she has her little bunbun, the baby in this one reminded me so much of bunbun and I actually texted her to see this movie ASAP.
Storks was a pleasant surprise for me and I think that makes it stand out even more. We had a good many laughs. Its colorful and entertaining. There are some solid jokes and even the more silly ones will spark at least a giggle or chuckle depending on what you like to do. Its never too violent or vulgar or sexual. In fact, its really about the storks and what it means to be a family and to have a family and to not be alone. The courage to do what is right and not let manipulation and sometimes to just follow your nature and instincts. Storks is a ton of fun and definitely worth a viewing.
That’s it for the double feature!
Have you seen these movies?
Tranquil Dreams 