mercurial
Posts 320
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7/7/2008 6:32 AM
posted awhile ago
Weekly Theme for July 7: Foodie Heaven
Moving along from the depressingly bleak visions of man struggling to survive after the apocalypse, let's spend some time examining films that revolve around humankind's love of food in all it's myriad forms.
We all know at least one scene from a film that involves food (from the orgasm sandwich in When Harry Met Sally to the beggars feast in Viridiana or the Chinese restaurant Christmas dinner in A Christmas Story etcetera), but let's discuss those lesser in abundance films in which the entirety of the plot focuses primarily on food.
Recently, Ratatouille seemed to bring out the gourmand in a lot of people (similar to what Big Night did more than a decade ago) while No Reservations just seemed to turn everyone's stomachs. Waitress brought about renewed interest in the realm of baking (pies in particular) and Tim Burton's re-imagined Charlie and the Chocolate Factory once again sent everyone's sweet tooth into a diabetic coma.
While it could be argued that every zombie movie could be among this list, the best horror movies involving food have been Dumplings, which after watching has made the sound of someone slurping soup make my skin crawl, Blood Feast, which is a more visceral and straightforward version of Fried Green Tomatoes (without all that sappy crap), and of course Attack of the Killer Tomatoes in which food finally gets its revenge on us.
On the documentary side of things we have Super Size Me and King Corn (and maybe the faux-based-on-real-events-exploitation-book-adaptation-movie Fast Food Nation).
Lastly, some of my guilty pleasures have to be Waiting..., an amazing expose into the behavior of over-worked and under-paid restaurant employee's. Pieces of April, which centers around the amazingly stressful preparation of Thanksgiving dinner. What's Eating Gilbert Grape? which is surprisingly all about food when you think about it (preparing meals for his obese mother, the gentrification of small towns by Wal-Mart-like supermarkets and fast food restaurants, and the main character working in a grocery store and delivering "ice cream" to the local bored housewives). And The Last Supper which turns family dinners into Liberal Judgement Day.
So now, where's the beef? I mean, what are some of your favorite foodie flicks?
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leeroy711
Posts 490
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7/7/2008 1:36 PM
posted awhile ago
Re:Weekly Theme for July 7: Foodie Heaven
There was a movie I found surprisingly good a few years ago called Dinner Rush starring Danny Aiello. The entire film takes place in the resturant that Aiello owns. For the most part it's purely dialogue driven drama, but it had a very good surprise ending.
One can't forget about Lasse Hallstrom's Chocolat which definately gave me a sweet tooth for Juliet Binoche
Also, am I the only one ever that thought Ratatouille was weak? I've liked pretty much all of the Disney/Pixar movies but this just did nothing for me.
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indieabby88
Posts 327
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7/7/2008 6:30 PM
posted awhile ago
Re:Weekly Theme for July 7: Foodie Heaven
Man, forget "No Reservations." Check out the German movie it's based on, "Mostly Martha." I didn't even bother seeing the Americanized version. It looked really sugar-coated.
I also think "Spanglish" gets overlooked a lot. I for one really enjoyed this movie, and was surprised by Adam Sandler's performance in it. And it makes me hungry every time I watch him make that fantastic-looking sandwich. And while I loved "Waitress," some of those pie recipes just don't stand up...I'm not a huge fan of mashing up the berries in my berry pies.
Finally, I'll just mention "Monty Python's Meaning of Life," although it's really more of an anti-foodie movie. We've got Mr. Creosote, who eats so much he explodes, and then the party attendees killed by eating bad fish.
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leeroy711
Posts 490
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7/7/2008 6:53 PM
posted awhile ago
Re:Weekly Theme for July 7: Foodie Heaven
After not much carefull consideration, I feel fairly confident that my favorite movie about food would have to be Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters (2007)
This film has everything, (except for a discernable plot) that you could ask for. I laughed, I cried (no I didn't), I called my Mother afterwords (to make sure she wasn't a seven layered burrito).
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unclefestering
Posts 145
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7/8/2008 12:07 AM
posted awhile ago
Re:Weekly Theme for July 7: Foodie Heaven
 indieabby88:
Man, forget "No Reservations." Check out the German movie it's based on, "Mostly Martha." I didn't even bother seeing the Americanized version. It looked really sugar-coated.
I agree completely with you about this.
If we are talking ultimate feasts, you have to give it up for Eat Drink Man Woman. Ang Lee stages each feast amazingly. You can't watch this movie without filling up before hand, because it will make you so hungry that you'll attack the chinese delivery guy for not bringing you anything close to what is on the screen.
Also the last third of Babette's Feast is fantastic food porn. The movie itself sets it's dry wit against carnal appetites. Yum!
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unclefestering
Posts 145
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7/8/2008 12:23 AM
posted awhile ago
Re:Weekly Theme for July 7: Foodie Heaven
leeroy711:
Also, am I the only one ever that thought Ratatouille was weak? I've liked pretty much all of the Disney/Pixar movies but this just did nothing for me.
And I thought I was the only person on the planet unmoved by Ratatouille. Thank god, I don't feel so alone any more.
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wonga
Posts 63
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7/8/2008 11:32 AM
posted awhile ago
Re:Weekly Theme for July 7: Foodie Heaven
there are loads of "pot" movies but i think Smiley Face is the best of the bunch. it features cupcakes AND Doritos! also, of course, Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle, with their quest for apparently the Holy Grail of food. we don't have White Castles around here - are they really that good?
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leeroy711
Posts 490
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7/8/2008 11:43 AM
posted awhile ago
Re:Weekly Theme for July 7: Foodie Heaven
wonga:
there are loads of "pot" movies but i think Smiley Face is the best of the bunch. it features cupcakes AND Doritos! also, of course, Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle, with their quest for apparently the Holy Grail of food. we don't have White Castles around here - are they really that good?
We don't have the restaurants here in Phoenix either but you can find the sliders in the freezer section sometimes and they're pretty good.
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leeroy711
Posts 490
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7/8/2008 3:58 PM
posted awhile ago
Re:Weekly Theme for July 7: Foodie Heaven
Has anyone seen this one? It seems intrigueing but I'm not sure.
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unclefestering
Posts 145
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7/8/2008 10:39 PM
posted awhile ago
Re:Weekly Theme for July 7: Foodie Heaven
leeroy711:
Has anyone seen this one? It seems intrigueing but I'm not sure.
It is a great and disturbing movie. If you liked Delicatessen (1991), you would probably go for this. They are very different, but share the same sensibility. The use of color palettes in the Cook, the Thief... is amazing.
Another movie that every foodie should check out is Tom Jones. There is only one scene, but it is the funniest, lustiest dinner on film.
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