Films Archives - Respect Food Roles

A Great, No-Nonsense Take on Vitamins

February 15, 2021February 15, 2021 by Debi Simons

Vitamania, a film starring Dr. Derek Muller, available through various streaming platforms, released in August 2018.

Please, folks, please–watch this film! We watched it for the second time just last week, and I had the same reaction that I had the first time: I need to eat better, eat more fruits and vegetables, make sure I’m getting a good range of nutrients from my food. Because here’s the thing: we can’t eat a crummy diet and then think we’ll be okay if we just pop some vitamin pills. (And perhaps other supplements–I plan to re-watch the Frontline episode about that whole blah-de-blah soon, so watch for a review of that.) Vitamins are supposed to be consumed in our food. (Not to beat the drum or anything.)

In Which I Give the Green Light to “The Green Book”

January 4, 2019December 3, 2018 by Debi Simons

Green Book poster.jpg — official trailer image; accessed and copied from Wikipedia.

As I’ve said a number of times, this website is switching over to an emphasis on food and hospitality. But I plan to still include book and movie reviews in some way, and since we haven’t made the complete switch yet I’m just writing a regular post on a movie I think you should see. Jim and I had been very intrigued with a segment on the PBS NewsHour about the film, and after our rousing success at our voice recital we found a location and time that worked for us. Jim was a little doubtful about it as there’s been some backlash, especially from the brother of one of the main characters portrayed in it, but I was all gung-ho and he was willing to be a good sport. Honestly, we just sat laughing in pure delight throughout most of the two-hour running time. The interplay between two award-winning actors, Viggo Mortenson and Mahershala Ali, is brilliant. One of my big tests for a movie is, Would I want to see it again? The answer is YES. Maybe we’ll go see it with our son when he gets home for his college break.

In Which I Save My Readers the Price of a Movie Ticket

March 9, 2018March 7, 2018 by Debi Simons

Did you watch the Oscars this past Sunday night? I don’t always do so, but KRMA was having yet another set of fundraising programs, and the guys were playing a game that I didn’t want to participate in, and I always like to see at least a little bit of the show, if for nothing else than to observe the crazy outfits that the women wear. Honestly! If we women don’t want to be treated as sexual objects, why do we put ourselves on such display?

Well, enough of that. As the world now knows, “The Shape of Water” won Best Picture. I was rooting for “Dunkirk” or “Darkest Hour,” both of which I’d seen and loved, but it was not to be. “Shape” hadn’t held any particular fascination for me, but the more I heard about it the more familiar it seemed. Then I realized, wait a minute—that’s the plot of a book I read years ago, Mrs. Caliban. And didn’t the sea creature somewhat resemble a character in a movie that all three of us

Yes, You Should Go See “Black Panther”

March 1, 2018February 26, 2018 by Debi Simons

Yes, you should go see “Black Panther.” I felt during it the way I’ve felt during the best of the Tolkien films—that I never wanted it to end, that I was completely sucked in. That praise doesn’t mean that wasn’t totally confused a few times, but in the end pretty much everything was explained. Jim and I were on one side of a dispute about a certain plot element, with my brother-in-law and son on the other. You wouldn’t want to agree on everything, would you? It feels as if so much of our society is in flux these days, so the zeitgeist (a word that means pretty much whatever you want it to mean) favors a film such as this which breaks so many cultural barriers, but really—the movie stands on its own.

And so much of it seems eerily prescient about the situation we find ourselves in today: Where is your loyalty? To your country, or to the leader of your country? To the throne, or to the person who sits on the throne? There are so many layers to the story that it would probably merit a second viewing. (I probably won’t end up seeing four times the way I did “Inception,” though.)

I’m keeping this pretty brief, as there are tons of reviews out there if you want to read them. Or you could just head on over to the theater. That’s what I’d do!

Yet Another Great Historically-Based Film You Should See

February 5, 2018 by Debi Simons

Theatrical release poster accessed via Wikipedia.

No book review this week, I’m afraid. I never made it through the Yuvan Levin book, estimable as it is. I just ground to a halt with it, but I’m glad I got as far as I did. You, oh estimable readers, may have more of a mind able to absorb dense political analysis than I do. Levin’s a great guy, and very clear and thoughtful. If you’re like me and don’t want to wade through the thickets, here’s a podcast in which he appears: “Why Can’t We Have Nice Things?” hosted by the estimable (although somewhat giggly) Jonah Goldberg.

But Jim and I did finally make it to The Post, the new movie about the publication of the Pentagon Papers by The Washington Post. What a total treat! Any movie that has Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep is going to be great even if they’re just reading the phone book. I said to Jim as the credits came on, “I’d like to just sit here and watch it all over again.” So I’d urge you to go watch it, or at least make sure to see it when it comes out on Netflix or Amazon. I’ll tell you why I liked it

See This Great Movie about Churchill!

January 9, 2018December 21, 2017 by Debi Simons

Hurry up, folks, and see Darkest Hour, the new film about the earliest days of Winston Churchill’s leadership of Britain as Prime Minister, before it leaves the theaters! (It should still be showing through the end of the year at independent theaters; we saw it last night at one such place. If you live in the Denver area you can see it there: the Chez Artiste Theater near Colorado Boulevard and Evans Avenue. After the movie you can just walk over to the India Oven Restaurant for a wonderful meal.) If you don’t see it in time, buy Darkest Hour.

I wanted to see the film because of Gary Oldman’s performance, and it’s well worth seeing just for that reason and for the rest of the cast. (Downton Abbey fans will recognize the actress who plays Churchill’s secretary: it’s Rose! But with dark hair.)

Yet Another Sugar Screed

December 21, 2017February 1, 2017 by Debi Simons

That Sugar Film, 2015, written and directed by Damon Gameau, who also stars. Streaming is available for free through Amazon Prime, or you can rent to stream or buy the DVD if you’re not a Prime member. Also available through Netflix.

I don’t want to wear out my welcome here, so if you’re kind of weary of the whole “sugar is evil” hoopty-doo feel free to skip this. However, Jim and I thoroughly enjoyed this film, and it’s a pretty painless way (except for the tooth-extraction scene) to find out a little more about the silent white killer. (Cue ominous music. And full disclosure: I just caved in and ate three smallish peanut-butter cookies that my husband made this weekend. They were calling out to me from the freezer. But I won’t say that I couldn’t resist. I could. I just didn’t. So sue me!)

Gameau is an actor who decided to make a documentary about what would happen to him if, after about three years of eating a very healthful, low-to-no-sugar diet, he deliberately ate 40 teaspoons of sugar every day for 60 days, yet another one of those “stunt journalism” stunts, akin to “Supersize Me,” the 2004 film in which Morgan Spurlock, an American filmmaker, ate nothing but McDonald’s food for a month.

What Are Your Limits?

April 24, 2018July 2, 2015 by Debi Simons

At 9:00 last night I told Jim that I was going to take a look at a documentary that was airing on our PBS station but that I thought I probably wouldn’t watch much of it, as it sounded pretty depressing. The title of the film was “The Overnighters” and was described as telling the story of a Lutheran pastor in a small North Dakota oil-boom town who opens up his church to let men sleep there who have come to find work and have nowhere else to go. Usually these films in the series “POV” are an hour long, but it was clear at 10:00 that we had a ways to go, and I was fading fast. When I turned off the TV last night I figured that I knew pretty much what was going to happen to Jay Reinke and his program; today I went online to watch the remainder and found out the rest of the story.

The only person I can change . . .

April 17, 2018December 30, 2014 by Debi Simons

. . . is myself.

Just one more day of the old year. I think my only resolution should be to remember that I can only make resolutions for myself. I want to set the very highest standards for myself but refuse to apply those standards to others, to remind myself that people are (or at least may be) doing the best that they can, to carry out the description of love in I Corinthians 13:5: “It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.” As I’ve said many, many times, I am the Queen of Grudge-Holders. If I concentrated on just that italicized phrase all year I’d be much easier to live with. (“If thou, O Lord, shouldest mark iniquity, who should stand?”)