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Jimmy Doolittle and the Art of Chinese Cuisine

Monday: A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935)
           This is one of the early film adaptations of the Shakespeare classic. The Duke of Athens is getting married. As part of the celebration they will have a play performed. We see the idiotic actors preparing for the play. We also meet the young lovers. Hermia is in love with Lysander. But she is engaged to Demetrius, who is loved by Helena. Hermia and Lysander run away into the forest. Demetrius follows them and Helena follows him. The fairy king and queen, Oberon and Titania, are quarreling. Oberon is jealous of Titania's love of a changeling. He asks Puck for some help getting a magical flower. The juice of the flower is placed on the eyes of a sleeping person. Whoever they see first they fall in love with. Puck finds one of the actors and uses magic to give him the head of a donkey. This is who the queen sees when she wakes up. Oberon wants to help the young lovers but Puck gets them mixed up. Lysander is now in love with Helena and so is Demetrius. Comedy and chaos ensues. This is my favorite Shakespeare play. Mickey Rooney was Puck. He was crazy and overly energetic. James Cagney was really good as Bottom. It was interesting to see how they showed magic with little visual effects. It is a little weird but they still did a good job.

Tuesday: Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944)
          Ted is a young pilot fighting in WWII. He is called to serve under Jimmy Doolittle for a special mission. They train and prepare, but they don't know exactly what is happening. They fly to the West Coast. Their planes are put on a ship. Then Jimmy tells them they are going to bomb Tokyo and other important places in Japan. It is a dangerous mission. Ted and his crew bomb their targets. But they crash land in China. They are all injured. The Chinese help them, but the Japanese are looking for them and no where is safe for long. I thought this movie was well done. I mostly watched it for Jimmy Doolittle (Spencer Tracy). I thought it would be more about him. But it centered on Ted and his crew. I do like that Spencer Tracy portrayed Jimmy.

Wednesday: Atlantic City (1980)
          Lou is a semi-retired con man living in Atlantic City. He has a crush on his young neighbor, Sally. Sally works at a casino and hopes to one day be a dealer. Her estranged husband, Dave, unexpectedly shows up at her casino.  She reluctantly agrees to let him stay at her place for one night. Dave stole drugs in Philadelphia. He plans to sell them in Atlantic City to make some money. He figures out Lou has connections that could help him. They work together to sell the drugs. Then the men he stole the drugs from show up and cause trouble for everyone. I thought this movie was ok.

Friday: Little Shop of Horrors (1986)
         Seymour works at a failing flower shop. He has a crush on his coworker, Audrey. Audrey is dating an abusive dentist named Orin. Seymour finds a strange plant. He calls it Audrey II. He puts it on display in front of the shop. It draws in customers, and soon the shop is booming. Seymour struggles to find out what the plant wants. It seems to be dying no matter what he gives it. One night he discovers it wants human blood. Audrey II grows. As it grows it can no longer be satisfied with human blood. It wants more. Seymour sees no choice but to do what it wants. It starts to get bad from there. This movie is ok. A cult classic to be sure. I just didn't enjoy it that much. This is a remake. The original wasn't a musical.

Saturday: Eat Drink Man Woman (1994)
        This is a Chinese film. Chu is a widow. He has three adult daughters. He is also the head chef of a big restaurant. Chu struggles to run the restaurant when he starts to lose is ability to taste food. Also he struggles with his three daughters. His oldest, Jia-Jen, is a math teacher. She has long been heartbroken over her college  boyfriend. The new volleyball coach at her school might change that. Jia-Chien, the middle daughter, works at an airline. She is very successful. But her true passion is cooking, like her father. He would never accept her being a cook. The youngest, Jia-Ning, is a student working at a fast food restaurant. Her coworker is purposely neglecting her boyfriend. Jia-Ning keeps him company. They end up falling for each other. This is a really good movie. I liked it a lot.

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