“Mommy Milk Cafe,” or when misunderstanding is a choice

Ever sat in a public place and felt like someone was watching you? Like a stranger was talking about your appearance and behavior? Well, of course. You live in the age of the internet, after all. You live in a time where every aspect of your life is cataloged, put on display, and discussed. As such, people feel like they know you. They feel like they have the right to judge. But do they? Or are they, in so doing, actually just creating unnecessary conflict with people that they don’t even know? These questions, and more, are at the heart of Sara States’ “Mommy Milk Cafe,” a play I had the pleasure of watching via Facebook Live last night.

Starship Troopers (To Infinity Retrospective)

Welcome, citizens, to the To Infinity Retrospective, a series created in preparation for Star Wars 9. On the first day of each month, a different Space Opera will be reviewed. And it is your civic duty to read them all. This month, we’ll be covering the 1997 action-satire, Starship Troopers, a film as dense with subtext as it is with blood and boobs. Would you like to know more?

Maniac (2018 Miniseries)

In an oddball future, a future where you can avoid paying for things by listening to a certain number of ads, and where tiny robots patrol the streets, looking for poop to scoop, two broken people enter an experimental drug trial. One, Owen, is the neglected, schizophrenic son of a wealthy Manhattan family. He is being forced to lie under oath to prevent his brother from going to jail. Another, Annie, is a selfish, mean-spirited drug addict, who still feels guilt over having contributed to her sister’s death. Owen is there for the money. Annie is there for the drugs. But regardless of why they came, the head of the program, Dr. James Mantleray and his partner, Dr. Azumi Fujita, are confident that their drugs will solve ALL, yes, all, of their patients’ personal problems. But what happens when the computer administering the trial develops emotions and begins messing with the process? James and Azumi will be forced to bring in the former’s awful mother, whom the computer is modeled off of, while the patients will have to contend with a series of strange visions and increasingly surreal simulations.

Sorry To Bother You (2018)

In an alternate reality Oakland, Cash Green is a regular dude, struggling to get by. With no money, and few prospects, he takes a job in telemarketing, where he quickly learns that he’s far more likely to sell products if he uses his “white voice.” Doing so allows him to climb the corporate ladder, eventually getting promoted to the position of “power caller,” meaning he gets to sell weapons of mass destruction to dictators. All this success puts him into conflict with his girlfriend, Detroit, and co-workers, Sal and Squeeze, who want the telemarketers to unionize, and fear that Cash is selling out. Things only get worse when the head of WorryFree, a company that turns people into slaves by forcing them to sign life-long contracts, comes to Cash’s door with a frightening proposal.

Rango (2011)

When his terrarium is dropped in the Mojave desert, pet chameleon and wannabe actor Rango is left stranded. Upon the advice of a wise Armadillo named Roadkill, Rango makes his way to the Old-West town of Dirt, where, through his quick wit and “superior acting method,” he is able to convince them that he is a tough, gunslinging drifter. This impresses the town’s Mayor so much that he appoints Rango the new sheriff. This delights the latter, and, for a time, he lives in the lap of luxury, feeding off the adulation of the townsfolk. But then, as it always does, reality sinks in. Dirt’s water supply is running low, and, one night, Rango unintentionally helps some thieves steal the reserves. So now, if the town is to survive, he must stop talking the talk, and start walking the walk. Can he, though? Is he up to the task? Well, you’ll just have to watch the movie to find out.

Black Mirror (Seasons 1-3)

What if you could build a man, based on his social media posts? What if you could watch memories, like movies, on a screen? What if a signal was sent out that turned half the world into passive spectators, and the other half into murderous hunters ? These questions, and more, are what get asked and explored in Black Mirror, a British anthology series that’s streaming on Netflix. Each episode features a different cast, a different story, and a different reality. But all feature the recurrent motif of technology, and a dry, nihilistic sense of humor. The series might best be described as half science fiction, half satire.

Hot Fuzz

Greetings Loved Ones! Liu Is The Name, And Views Are My Game.

Explosions, quips, and buckets upon buckets of blood, these are just a few of the things found in Hot Fuzz, a satirical cop film directed by Edgar Wright. The story of Nick Angel, a London Police Officer way too good at his job, the film chronicles his reassignment to a remote village in the British countryside, his interactions with the local community, and his attempts to solve the mystery surrounding a number of suspicious deaths. This is a movie that I’ve heard about for years. Everyone I’ve ever talked to ever has stated that this is one of the greatest cop spoofs ever made. And now, having seen it, I can kind of understand why. Kind of.

See, the movie is funny, and it does do a great job of sending up old buddy cop films from the 80s and 90s, but there are points where it gets excessive. And I don’t mean it gets excessive in that it takes its jokes too far, or becomes mean-spirited. What I mean is that, the filmmaking itself–the editing, the cinematography–is just plain over-the-top, and gets kind of annoying after a while. There are numerous points in this film where the director will try to make something mundane, like Nick doing paperwork, look awesome. He’ll include lots of cuts, a booming baseline, and crazy, over-the-top lighting to make it seem more dramatic. The thing is, all the constant cutting, coupled with the flashing lights and loud music, actually makes these scenes kind of hard to watch. There were moments where I actually had to close my eyes because of how much it hurt to look at the screen. On top of this, the movie is only a minute over the two hour mark, but you really feel that minute. The final fight scene in this movie is almost 30 minutes long, and it just gets exhausting to watch after a while. There are so many points where you think it’s ended, but, oh no, the filmmakers had to throw in one more joke, one more homage. By the time it’s all over, you’re breathing a sigh of relief. Which is sad, because the first half of this movie was really awesome. The jokes were constant, and really funny. There were lots of cameos by British actors I love, like Broadchurch’s Olivia Colman and Underworld’s Bill Nighy. And, as you might expect from the likes of Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg, the dialogue and writing were both very strong. I just think the film went too far in the third act, and that kind of diminished my enjoyment of the picture as a whole.
So, in the end, I do think Hot Fuzz is a funny, clever send-up of old buddy cop action movies. However, it does go a little overboard towards the end, and that could act as a deterrent for some. Still, I have to applaud the number of times it made me laugh, as well as the homages and cameos. So, in the end, I’d say Hot Fuzz is a solid 7 out of 10. Not the best, but still quite good.