'Saved'

The recently released film: 'Burnt', starring Bradley Cooper, is the story of a talented and intensely emotional chef, who is recovering from substance abuse and looking for success in order to improve his quality of life.

He changes his harsh and angry ways through his passion for cooking and through learning to control his emotions.

He falls in love, although he isn't expecting to do so, and this transforms him.

His love for the female protagonist and his new found compassion for his colleagues, aid him to follow a different path towards self fulfillment, family life, and a successful career.

The abstract ideas in the film are inspired from the main character, i.e the chef:

Regulating ones emotions and moderation in all things are best, in order to reach people on all levels and obtain ones goals in life.

Love and family are crucial to recovery, self discovery and emotional fulfillment, as well as moving forward generally. Children are a source of knowledge as well as being influenced greatly by their adult role models.

In this case, Bradley's love interest compliments him perfectly, and her daughter does as well. He learns from their behaviour, which tempers his own, and he teaches the daughter to reflect on life and relationships. The young girl, in turn, teaches him to accept criticism and improve himself.

Consistency is of the utmost importance in life; specifically in relationships, as well as in cooking methods in this case. Nevertheless, originality is key to modernising healthy eating habits.

In terms of individuality, inconsistency and originality or quirkiness are useful, but too much eccentricity can hinder ones self control.

All in all, this film appeals to the culinary senses. It encourages cooking with fresh ingredients, in both a traditional and a modern way.

'PandaManiam'

Many children-focused animation films are equally aimed at adults.

One of the above productions is the latest sequel to the ever popular Kung Fu Panda, with its usual lovable characters, teaming up to save the day.

The notions of social and individual identity are strongly felt in this production. This would appeal to learning children and adults alike, in that these concepts detail the basic need in all of us for connecting with others -either because these others are similar to us, or because they are in our immediate environment.

In the case of the Panda, other identical looking pandas become his family but do not take the place of his already exiting 'non Panda' buddies. It is a message perhaps about families being both blood relatives but additionally individuals who behave towards us as we would and should behave towards them.

Identity is of course a very complex subject matter which includes: likeness to one another, emotional and psychological attachment, or similar physical attributes.

The other side of the coin here is also individuality and/or uniqueness; i.e: that identity is a 'special' number of traits or specific group of traits, which one has as opposed to another. Kung Fu Panda, as a character himself, is certainly not lacking in originality.

As to the 'non-good guys' or the 'baddies', the film makes use of magical elements and fantastical creatures, as well as referring to the spirit world.

The use of portals here is subtle, yet noticeable, in that there are portals transporting the characters -back and forth- between the physical and the spiritual world. Portals are usually used in very high quality films, to move the audience into another dimension of thinking, or to place the character in another stage of existence (example: the portals used in: 'Being John Malkovitch').



The humour is ever present in this particular production of Kung Fu Panda, albeit with a repetitive plot of good vs evil, and of the good guys saving the day.

There a few additional quirky characters in the film, as well as the usual quick martial arts scenes, using advanced digital imagery, but with an interesting colour scheme. What is meant by this, is that a toned down colour palette is used for the animation, which varies greatly from say the usual bright colours of Disney images on screen.

Another interesting technical tool to note here, is the partitioning of on screen content, which permits the unfolding of simultaneous events within one static shot.

For fans of animation, this sequel isn't better or worse than any other.

999

In terms of setting, camera work, or even story line, the latest police thriller genre movie: Triple 9 isn't very original and a little lacking in editing. The film seems long in relation to the plot which could probably be condensed, but it does have a versatile and rich cast.

The more evident aspects of the film are the themes which stand out quite clearly.

The main one is the crime theme. In this case, the theme includes crimes committed in the name of money and gain by a group of Russian mafia. Their transgressions are horrific and are portrayed quite graphically at times. Their circle is led by their leader, played by Kate Winslet.

The violence is foremost in this production, with a good plot twist at the end, i.e. at the moment of resolution and discovery of culpability.

The other prominent theme is the one of disguise, which can be found in many police thrillers. 

In this particular production, as well as a few others of its kind, the disguised parties are the members of the police force, who instead of protecting the innocent, infiltrate the force and work hand in hand with the mafia.

This may not be surprising, as corruption is also common in social reality these days, and often represented in films, in order for audiences to be reminded of morality or the lack of it (as the case may be). 

The themes of corruption, and of social, religious or cultural realism, are also present in the movie and are closely linked, in the sense that when an individual's life is difficult or devoid of faith and meaning or love, he or she is capable of taking the wrong path. 

This brings us to the main and most important theme of morality, which is dealt with in different ways within the movie industry, i.e.; different films portray it in various ways. 

In this case it is a morality of behaviour with others, but also morality within the family unit or between family members. 

One of the main male protagonists is involved in crime because of a past mistake in his life, which forces him to work hand in hand with the mafia in order to protect his son. His criminal behaviour is therefore partially understandable but of course not excusable. He sacrifices all for family and this redeems him, at least on some level.

Certain characters in the film are totally devoid of morality and others have it in bounds; some of course -more realistically- fall within the grey area in terms of their ethical behaviour, as life's pragmatism paves their way in life.

All in all, a production which makes one think about morality in general, and about the cultural or social terrain of an individual's world, which leads him or her to making the 'right' or 'wrong' decisions, relatively speaking of course.