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The Rabbi's Cat, a review by Danae Cassandra

The Rabbi's Cat  (Le chat du rabbin)Overview:
Based on the bestselling graphic novel by Joann Sfar, award-winning filmmaker (Gainsbourg) and one of France's most celebrated comic artists, THE RABBI'S CAT tells the story of a sharp-tongued feline philosopher brimming with scathing humor.

Algeria in the 1930s is an intersection of Jewish, Arab and French culture. A cat belonging to a widowed rabbi and his beautiful daughter eats the family parrot and miraculously gains the ability to speak. Along with the power of speech comes unparalleled sardonic wit, and the cat spares no group or individual as it skewers faith, tradition and authority in a provocative exploration of God, death, lust and the search for truth. Rich with the colors, textures, flavors and music of Mediterranean Africa, the film embarks on a cross-continent comedic adventure through colonial Algiers and under vast Saharan skies in search of a lost Ethiopian city.

My Thoughts:
This is a charming, unique film, following a cat who gains the power to speak after eating a parrot. Yum yum. Rabbi Sfar, his master, seeks to keep the cat from the company of his daughter, whom the cat loves, so the cat resolves to learn to be a good Jew so that he will be allowed to stay in her company. Yet the cat cannot reconcile his own knowledge with strict Judaism, leading to conflict with the senior rabbi and very humorous conversations with Sfar.

The film skewers the blind obedience to religion and tradition, condemns fundamentalism, while still showing the tolerance and understanding of Sfar and his Muslim best friend to be unusual, and the search for a utopia of peace and acceptance futile in the face of human nature. Yet we are still shown that humans must not be filled with violence and hate and xenophobia, even when most are.

If the two halves of the film do not exactly seem to blend well, and the first is distinctly better, it's still quite a good film and well worth watching. The warning here comes that, despite its rather funny trailer, and the humor of the film, it delves into some pretty serious critique. Don't take the animated medium to mean this is a film for kids - they won't get the jokes and a lot of the message will go over their heads. Aim for a teens and up, and it's better if you know a bit about Judaism and Jewish culture and history to get the most out of the film. With that said, I found it to be a fun film but it needs the right audience.

Bechdel Test:  Fail

Overall: 3.5/5

(From Off Day Alphabet Marathon on April 9th, 2015)

Red Water, a review by addicted2dvd

Title: Red Water Year: 2003 Director: Charles Robert Carner Rating: R Length: 92 Min. Video: Full Frame 1.33:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround Subtitles: Chinese, English, French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Thai

Stars:
Lou Diamond Phillips
Kristy Swanson
Coolio
Jaimz Woolvett
Rob Boltin
Langley Kirkwood

Plot:
Dive into this carnivorous adventure when a massive man-eating Bull Shark takes over the quiet waters of the Mississippi.

Nobody knows what or who is leaving behind mangled remains on the banks of a Louisiana River until it is revealed that there is one breed of shark that can live in fresh water - a giant carnivore, stalking the living under the surface.

Now, as workers search the river for a source of natural gas, and criminals are hunting a buried treasure, it is up to a small group of hunters to find and destroy the murderous beast, bent on killing anything that leaves the shore...

Extras:
Scene Access
Bonus Trailers
Closed Captioned

My Thoughts:
Decent movie for what it is... but I didn't care for the way they made this one. It went from horror movie to a crime/action flick... then they brought back the killer shark to bring it back to horror when it was convenient to do so. And then it wasn't so much back to horror as it was more crime/action plus no more then a touch of horror. So I guess basically I came out a little disappointed as it turned out to not exactly be what I was expecting. Though I do like both lou Diamond Phillips and Kristy Swanson.




Count:
Movie Count: 90
TV Ep. Count: 49 I Made It! (10/20)
Other Count: 8 I Made It! (10/15)

(From Month Long Horror/Halloween Marathon: 2010 on October 26th, 2010)

Tom's Random Reviews, a review by Tom

Title: Welcome to the N.H.K.!: Collection Part One
Year: 2006
Director:
Rating: NR
Length: 300 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78
Audio: English: Dolby Digital Stereo, Japanese: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles: English

Stars:


Plot:
Some people's lives get stuck in a rut and others go through a few rough patches. Sato's life, on the other hand, seems to be going to hell in a hand basket filled with cheap takeout dinners! Between dropping out of college, never going outside and living on a diet of internet porn, Sato's slowly turning into a human fungus. But what if it's not his fault? What if it's actually a dark and sinister conspiracy on the part of the television networks? And what if all those adorable images of cute anime girls are actually part of an insidious plan of brainwashing designed to turn viewers into jobless, social recluses? Can Sato overcome the horrible plot that has been hatched by the nefarious N-H-K? Will he fight for his future, get a job and even meet girls in order to counter this evil organization? The battle is on in Welcome to the N-H-K!

Extras:
Scene Access
Trailers

It started of really strange and I was not sure if I would like it, but it got better and better. Originally I had planned to only watch this first volume now and the second volume much later. But now I am really curious how it will continue, so I probably will watch the second volume soon.

#	Episode	Rating
01	Welcome to the Project!
02	Welcome to the Creator!
03	Welcome to the Beautiful Girls!
04	Welcome to the New World!
05	Welcome to Counseling!
06	Welcome to the Classroom!
07	Welcome to the Moratorium!
08	Welcome to Chinatown!
09	Welcome to a Summer Day!
10	Welcome to the Dark Side!
11	Welcome to the Conspiracy!
12	Welcome to the Off Meeting!

(From Tom's Random Reviews on January 13th, 2010)