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Rafiki and the Mitchells

 Monday: Dangerous Mission (1954)

           A young woman witnesses a murder in night club in New York. She runs away to Glacier Park in Montana. The mob responsible for the kill sends a man to kill her before the police find her and have her testify. Matt arrives at the hotel that the young woman, Louise, works at. He tries to get close to her. Another man, Paul, is also trying to get her attention. Despite knowing Paul longer Louise likes Matt. They go to a party together. Later we find out one of the men is working for the police and the other the mob. It's a race to see if the mobster will kill her or if the police officer can save her. I thought this movie was ok. It was cool to see a movie set in Montana. I think I've been to that hotel that they were supposedly at. 

Wednesday: The Venetian Affair (1966)

         Bill is an ex-CIA agent. He currently works for a newspaper. His boss sends him to Venice to cover a bombing that was committed by an American diplomat. Once there he starts to uncover what is really going on. He was brought there by an old contact. Not as a reporter but as a former agent. Also his ex wife is somehow tied up in it. Bill has to figure out who is behind the bombings before the next one. This movie was ok.

Friday: The Mitchells vs the Machines (2021)

         Katie is a teenager who is obsessed with movies. She starts making her own. Katie doesn't fit in anywhere, not even her own family. When she gets accepted to her dream film school she knows she has finally found her place. Her dad isn't very supportive of her filmmaking. He doesn't understand her. Knowing this is his last chance to spend time with her Katie's dad, Rick, cancels her flight to school and decides that the whole family will drive her cross country to her college. Katie is not happy about this but tries to make the best of it. At the same time the big tech company has designed a new way to interact with your smart phone. A robot that will do what you tell it to. But at the launch the robots turn on the humans. PAL, the old operating system, has taken control. It wants to get rid of humans and have the earth run by robots. They start rounding up humans to be launched into space. The Mitchells do their best to survive. They learn to work together and try to stop PAL. I liked this movie a lot. There was some parts that were a little too weird for me. But for the most part it was good. It has a lot of social commentary on big tech companies (Apple) and how much we use our phones. I like what it says about being ok with your family no matter how dysfunctional. There is a great scene with Furbies attacking them. As a 90s kid I loved that. Furbies are creepy.

Saturday: Here Today (2021)

          Charlie is a comedy writer. He is in the early stages of dementia. He does his best to continue with life as normal. One day he goes to meet someone who won a lunch with him at an auction. Emma has no idea who Charlie is. She outbid her ex to get back at him. During lunch Emma has an allergic reaction and has to be taken to the hospital. Charlie ends up taking care of her and paying. Emma feels bad and wants to pay him back. They become friends. Emma figures out that Charlie has dementia. She agrees to help him. Which includes mending his troubled relationship with his kids. This movie was kinda bad. There were some good moments. Billie Crystal plays Charlie and Tiffany Haddish plays Emma. Their comedy styles do not work together. I don't think Tiffany is funny. She's just loud and crass. She can be a good actress as long as it's not comedy. The whole movie was just so disjointed. There were these flashback scenes of when Charlie met his wife. It was from his point of view so you never saw him. I guess to get out of casting a younger Charlie or having to do de-aging on Billie. It was just bad. A lot of the acting was bad too.

Sunday: Rafiki (2018)

        This is a Kenyan film. Kena is a young woman who lives with her single mother. She plays cards with her friends by the local kiosk and works for her dad. Her dad is also running for a council position. Kena starts to notice Ziki. Ziki has bright pink wrapped dreads. Her father is running against Kena's father. The two start to hang out. What starts a friendship turns into romance. They dream of being different from most Kenyan women. Being gay is a crime in Kenya. The girls have to hide their relationship. They are discovered and forced to be apart. I liked this movie. It's good. It was written and directed by a woman. It was nice to see a film about everyday life in Africa. The movie was actually mostly in English, which surprised me. I thought it would be in Kenyan. 

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