Family business part II

Right, then it's dads. The same rules apply as with mothers. We omitted some characters from the list as they have similar traits to others on this list (eg. the sheriff from The Walking Dead is pretty similar to our #2, otherwise he'd be on the list).

1. Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird. Similar to Mrs. Brisby with mothers; this was a no-brainer. I don't know of anyone who wouldn't want him to be their dad. Also, maybe he's our #1 because our dad is very like Atticus....We guess we're just really lucky.

2. Jesse Keys from Taken. Even though he's portrayed as a father only for one episode in the series, needless to say, he leaves quite an impression. This man would do anything for his family.

3. Captain Von Trapp from The Sound of Music. He's maybe more complex in some ways, as he has to come to terms with his wife's death and overcome his parenting issues. After that, he's one awesome dad! 

4. William Dorrit from Little Dorrit. Now here's one truly complex character. He loves his children, but he's very selfish as well. He puts so much weight on the family honour that he's completely blind (perhaps even consciously) to his favourite child's needs.

5. Big Daddy Pollitt from Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. He doesn't seem to really love the people around him, rather he feels that they are his property. But the film explores the change in him, which enables him to actually start caring and loving his family.

6. Mr. Bennet from Pride and Prejudice. Those of his family whom he loves, he really loves and he looks out for them. The rest he just ridicules and ignores. Looking from that point of view, he might not be the best father all around, but he is an interesting one.

7. Chris Gardner from The Pursuit of Happyness. It's amazing how this dad can keep his parenting so good even amidst all the adversities he has to face. Also, we LOVE the fact that they aren't playing to the stereotype that black men bail on their families (although there is some talk in the beginning of the film about it, but then they disprove that notion).

8. Mr. Emerson from A Room with a View. He's very encouraging, kind and loving as a father. He is also very liberal in bringing up his son. The reason he's not higher is because he's a minor character so he's not given that much screen time.

9. Maurice from Beauty and the Beast. Probably the best Disney dad. He's very lovable and also prepared to do everything to ensure his daughter's happiness.

10. Dad Kusakabe from My Neighbour Totoro. He's very involved and has a lot of imagination. He can "regress" to a child and play with his kids. 

Family business part I

It's time for the best mums to come to the limelight. Now by the term best we don't necessarily mean the most suited to be a mother, but once again their rankings are determined by the intrigue of their characters and also by how much they care about their children. 

1. Mrs. Brisby in The Secret of NIMH. There was never any argument here; she's incredibly resourceful, brave and caring. She would do anything for her kids.

2. Maria in The Sound of Music. Yeah, yeah, we know, she's not their biological mum and she starts out as the kids' mentor, but she IS their mother in the end. She's very tender and optimistic. You'd want to tell all your problems to her and she would help just by being there.

3. Lisa Clarke in Taken. First of all, she's a single mum, and a really great one at that! We like her unconventional mothering. Her daughter is the single most important thing to her in life, which is why she ranks so high.

4. Mrs. Thornton in North & South. She's more severe than the previous characters and it shows in how she treats her children. Her daughter's a complete fool so Mrs. Thornton doesn't take any of her nonsense, but then she respects her son immensely and shows it freely.

5. Sarah Connor in Terminator 2: Judgement Day. Her only objective in life is to keep her son safe, and she does it in a pretty awesome kick-ass style.

6. Peg in Edward Scissorhands. She's a sweetheart and obviously very hospitable. We think all the kids in the neighbourhood must love her.

7. Mrs. Bennet in Pride and Prejudice. She's the most humiliating mother, and we definitely would not want her to be our mum. But holy cow, is she entertaining! Also, she does care about her children's wellbeing, even though she's more concerned about their pecuniary welfare.

8. Paula in The Goodbye Girl. She's probably the most relatable mother on this list. Not that we have kids, but looking at our friends and family, we sure see a similarity. She loves her kid, but she's human as well, and doesn't play into the mythos of motherhood.

 

9. Lady Tremaine in Cinderella. Okay, she's a horrible person and a terrible stepmother, but she does take care of HER kids. In addition, she's an intriguing villain and character to boot.

10. Kate in East of Eden. Right, she wasn't, or isn't a good mother by any standards. Her character is so compelling though (especially as a mother) that she definitely earned her place here.

Royal business part II

Now the same for the princes. Same rules apply as before, though.

1. Beast from Beauty and the Beast. He's the most princely, we mean, one look at him and you know he's a prince. Granted, he's immature and selfish, but isn't that how we all picture royalty? Plus he has great character development because of those defects. 

2. Ashitaka from Princess Mononoke. He's just as interesting a character as Beast, but he's #2 because he doesn't really appear in his "prince" element in the movie as he's in exile from his kingdom.

3. Prince Albert of York from The King's Speech.  Yes, we know he gets crowned king halfway through, but it still counts. He probably cares most about his people, which is why he's #3.   

4. Moses from The Ten Commandments. He's a great prince - he builds a freaking city for the Pharaoh. He also seems to be unbiased in his judgements. A bit too melodramatic as a character, we must say.  

5. Asbel from Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. He's not really portrayed as a prince either, since most of his people get killed, but he does care a lot for his people and tries to exact vengeance for them.

6. Prince Albert from Young Victoria. This guy's a real do-good-er, a visionary. He has people's best interest at heart - especially the underprivileged. 

7. Prince John from The Adventures of Robin Hood. He's THE deliciously evil prince that we all love. He's a terrible ruler and we don't think there would be a lot of people volunteering to be his subjects, but his scheming is a joy to watch.

8. Tristan from Stardust. Now here's a guy you wouldn't ever expect to become a king. He's a silly schoolboy, but entertaining enough to make it to this list.

9. Hamlet from Hamlet. We had to go with Sir Olivier here. Yeah, it's really hard for us to get into Shakespeare (maybe we're not deep enough...), but Hamlet's an interesting enough of a character and completely insane. 

10. Erik from The Little Mermaid. He's with Tristan on the schoolboy-level, but in comparison to the older Disney princes, his character is rather well-rounded and somewhat developed. We're not so convinced of the dreaminess of this character, though.

Addicted to work

It's time for our favourite workaholics to emerge to the surface. They are ranked in order of character development and also how badly they are addicted to their work (and by that we mean their occupation, not what they can achieve through it). 

1. Meryl in Trigun. She's one of the best characters ever created, especially considering it's anime. Her journey is a delight to follow; she starts off as a complete workaholic, but then through certain events she comes to find something more important. She's still a total workaholic though as she reinvents her work during the show. 

1. Sam Tyler in Life on Mars. He is sharing #1 because he's just as bad as Meryl. So much so, that he dumps his girlfriend because the work comes first. He also goes through a journey much similar to Meryl's, except he rediscovers what he was missing in his work...which makes him actually worse of a workaholic than Meryl, but she maybe develops more as a character. 

3. Linus Larrabee in Sabrina. He spends so many nights in the office that he has had a bedroom built in there. He practically has nothing else. His work signifies something else than just plain business though, which makes him an intriguing character.

4. Nicholas Angel in Hot Fuzz. He's a caricatured version of Sam, except Nicholas' workaholism is even worse than his, we'd say. He would be a pain in the butt to work with, he even works when he's supposed to relax.

5. Leslie Knope in Parks & Recreation. She's just as much of a workaholic as all the previous four, she just knows how to balance her life better. Part of the reason why she's such a workaholic is because she's ambitious. Pretty awesome, since you don't really see female characters with political ambition who are optimists as well.

6. Ed Exley in L.A. Confidential. He volunteered to work during the holidays, needless to say, he doesn't have much of a life. He has another purpose for being such a workaholic though, which is why he's not in the top contenders. 

7. Walter Fane in The Painted Veil. Once again, Walter seems to be a workaholic to achieve something else with his work (ie. make the world a better place). Also, he seems to work to ignore his problems.

8. Mr. Kralik in The Shop around the Corner. Even when he's fired his last thoughts go to work. He does seem to have more of a life than the others on this list as he has time to write letters and be with his friends (who all seem to work with him....So he's still abnormal in that sense).

9. Dwight Schrute in The Office. We think the picture tells pretty much why he's on the list. Also, check out the performance reviews episode.

10. Niki Lauda in Rush. He seems to be working so hard because he's ambitious, not because the work has some intrinsic value for him. He works very hard though, earning a place here. The movie was totally snubbed the year it came out, may we add. 

11. Mr. Thornton in North&South. He works to provide for his family and to better his town (give jobs etc.) He finds value in his work because of the results it produces, not for the work itself.

    

Pick of the month

MirrorMask (Dave McKean, 2005)

We wouldn't be surprised if you hadn't even heard of this hidden gem, as it is a very low-key UK production. Although the screenplay is by Neil Gaiman, it didn't seem to gain much mainstream attention (or any attention for that matter). The film's story is basically Alice in Wonderland, but with a twist. Yeah, this is what Tim Burton's Alice should have aspired to. 

In the centre of the film is a teenage girl named Helena. She is the main reason we recommend this film, as it's quite unusual to find such a character in a fairy tale/fantasy movie. You wouldn't normally expect a teenage protagonist to be so likable and capable. Often these characters are portrayed with a God-complex, to care only about themselves and to be annoying brats. Hollywood films have truly perfected this phenomenon to the point that teenagers themselves cannot relate to characters their age in film, or so we have discovered the case to be with us. We can't relate (even when we were teenagers) to annoying and egotistical brats. Yes, teenagers HAVE an ego phase (we've all been there), but we just think that movies tend to overdo it these days.

Now Helena is an utterly normal teenager; yes, she fights with her parents and has a rather antagonistic attitude towards her life, but she also has real problems like people in real life have, eg. her mum gets cancer and her parents' business is going under. That stuff really adds to the film's atmosphere and story. You're actually invested in the character's development. 

The film is visually an absolute feast to watch, and very inventive with it's dreamworld scenarios. The movie is quite the successful mixture of fantasy/fairy tale/comedy/adventure genres, which means, in a word, not to be taken too seriously. This is a film to watch when you want something light but different, in an odd kind of way.