{"id":1878,"date":"2015-01-09T12:45:21","date_gmt":"2015-01-09T20:45:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/?p=1878"},"modified":"2019-01-24T08:15:53","modified_gmt":"2019-01-24T16:15:53","slug":"the-rocket-a-great-movie-to-lift-your-spirits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2015\/writing\/the-rocket-a-great-movie-to-lift-your-spirits\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rocket – A Great Movie To Lift Your Spirits"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/a>With endless bad news on TV, I found a lovely escape and a great beginning to the new year when I watched The Rocket<\/a><\/strong><\/span>, an inspirational Australian film I took out of the West Vancouver Library. I didn’t know what to expect but the cover said it had won a number of awards\u2014turned out to be 28 wins and 28 nominations\u2014and \u00a0when I checked Rotten Tomatoes<\/a><\/span><\/strong>, it had received a 98% rating. Impressive.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve seen a lot of films in my life (due largely to my acting and screenwriting ventures), and in fact, have produced a few short ones with my grandson, Michael Stevantoni,<\/strong><\/span> who\u2019s won a few awards. I\u2019m in short, a movie buff. Have been since I was dragged to the cinema when I was five. My mother couldn’t get enough of them, so we\u2019d walk close to a mile in Winnipeg in all seasons, as we had no car, and sit through newsreels, cartoons, trailers and two features. Yes, two features.<\/p>\n

Rotten Tomatoes is right. The Rocket does not disappoint at any level. It\u2019s a winner from the first frame, when we\u2019re introduced to the lead being born in Laos, one of twins, which apparently in their culture is not a good sign. This fact dogs him throughout the story.<\/p>\n

The cinematography of the Laos landscape is stunning, as is the story about this young boy and his family and how they manage to survive when a proposed dam threatens their home and livelihood. The rocket in The Rocket refers to both unexploded mines left from America’s covert war in Laos<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0<\/span>and a rocket festival, where anyone with the ability to build one that pierces the clouds to bring rain can win a prize beyond their wildest dreams. There is even a wonderful James Brown look-alike character who\u2019s down on his luck but plays a big part in this young child\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

Though it was filmed in a foreign culture, \u00a0the family dynamics between the husband and wife, the child and his parents, the husband and his mother, are universal. The acting is superb and I didn’t detect a false note anywhere.<\/p>\n

And as a writer, I welcomed the message in this story. Don\u2019t give up despite the odds!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve seen this movie, I\u2019d love your thoughts. If you know of another great movie that lifts your spirits, I\u2019d love to hear about it.<\/p>\n

Have a great year!<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With endless bad news on TV, I found a lovely escape and a great beginning to the new year when I watched The Rocket, an inspirational Australian film I took… <\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[82,4],"tags":[78,34,676,675,104,83,674,673,5],"class_list":["post-1878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-film-2","category-writing","tag-diana-stevan","tag-film","tag-inspirational","tag-laos","tag-michael-stevantoni","tag-movie","tag-rotten-tomatoes","tag-the-rocket","tag-writing-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1LuVB-ui","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2242,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2015\/film-2\/stepping-out-with-liza-minelli\/","url_meta":{"origin":1878,"position":0},"title":"Stepping Out With Liza Minnelli","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"7 \u0421\u0435\u0440\u043f\u043d\u044f, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Stepping Out with Liza Minnelli, shot in 1990, had problems of a different kind than the ones mentioned in my last post about\u00a0Bye Bye Blues. \u00a0Our daughter, Robyn Stevan, was also in this movie. 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