A Million Reasons Why I Love Mindy Kaling

Maybe a few less than a million, but I am sure with enough time, caffeine, subcategories, and creativity I could come pretty close.

1. She’s a female comedian! And for every girl like me who has been told “well girls just aren’t as funny as boys” seeing Mindy continually find success in her comedic ventures is a giant middle finger to the uncultured swine who genuinely thought the “your mom” jokes were the epitome of comedy. Girls are funny. Get over it. It’s only emasculating if you genuinely get upset over it.

2. She is incredibly smart. Nobody can write and play an airhead quite like Mindy Kaling, which takes an incredible amount of talent and brains. Kelly Kapoor on The Office (now streaming on Netflix) doesn’t just happen by accident. Mindy was able to make her lovable, competent at her job, and also cringe-worthy in her pursuit of Ryan.

3. She creates a space for you to own the things that could easily be perceived as quirky or lame. As Dr. Mindy Lahiri in The Mindy Project (now streaming on Hulu), she portrays a strong female OBGYN who is amazing at her job and who also is obsessed with romantic comedies. Clearly, she enjoys the films that win awards and are critically acclaimed, but she is secure enough to own that the movies that really have captured her attention largely involve a meet-cute and a moment where someone runs after the love of their life praying for a second chance.

4. She is an incredible writer. Really I have to say that “Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? And Other Concerns” is one of my favorite books. It is hilarious, genuine, informative, interesting, and entertaining as hell. Some of my all-time favorite episodes of The Office are: The Dundies, The Injury, and Ben Franklin; all written by Kaling. The Mindy Project still holds the honor of my all-time favorite pilot episode (I find myself screaming “I’M SANDRA BULLOCK” at least once a week), Late Night (available on Prime or rent for _____) is funny and sharp and I love seeing female representation in late-night comedy (and honestly that should become a reality), and Never Have I Ever was an absolute delight to binge-watch- I will get into why I love it so much next.

5. Never Have I Ever (now streaming on Netflix) is amazing. I am an absolute sucker for some young adult literature, and the same feeling applies to film. It is quirky, fresh, cringe-y, and wonderful. I love the dynamics between the diverse characters and the representation of the Indian American community that Kaling is able to bring to a wide audience. It’s important for so many reasons, but my favorite is her ability to create a platform for young women of color to show their comedic prowess. Like why is that so rare to find on TV, when in real life women of color are f*cking hilarious? 

In short, my queen Mindy Kaling is blazing trails as a woman, a woman of color, a mother, comedian, writer (TV, Film, and Books), actor, director, and all-around bad a$$. So Mindy, keep it up! I will always and forever be a fan, and though your charcuterie boards may be a mess I will always love you.

Written by Edelia Weston

7 Halloween Costume Ideas for Cinephiles

It’s spooky season and the only thing I love more than pumpkin spice lattes and cozy sweaters is dressing up for my favorite holiday, Halloween. As a basic cinephile I am always looking to my favorite shows and movies for costume inspiration. So, if you’re looking for some great movie-inspired Halloween costumes this year, here are 7 awesome costumes that have been sported by some of our favorite cinephiles!

1. The Joker

You want to know how I got these scars? There are so many iconic iterations of this beloved Batman villain, but my personal favorite will always be Heath Ledger’s performance in The Dark Knight. If you’re going for a creepy vibe and have some skills with special effects makeup, The Joker is a great costume choice for you! If you love this look as much as we do, be sure to follow @daisystewart_ for more special effects makeup inspo.

2. The wicked witch of the west

If you’re feeling villainous, but want a costume that requires less makeup skills, the wicked witch of the west is a classic choice. Look out my pretty because Hayley of @unlimitedreviews will get you, and your little dog too! Bonus points if you can find someone to accompany you as a flying monkey.

3. The Bluth’s Frozen Banana Stand

As Pop Pop likes to remind us, there’s always money in the banana stand! If you’re a huge fan of Arrested Development like I am, there are no shortage of characters that make a fun Halloween costume. But if you’re looking for a costume that’s a little more off-beat and oversized, I highly recommend spending the night dressed as Balboa Island’s favorite frozen banana stand.

4 & 5. Beetlejuice and E.T.

If you’re looking for some iconic 80’s movie goodness, go as the ghost with the most, and everyone’s favorite long-distance caller E.T.

2020 may not be serving us the epic Saturday night Halloween that we were all hoping for, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t celebrate. So queue up your favorite spooky movies, bust out the candy corn and hot apple cider, and celebrate Halloween the same way we’ve celebrated every other holiday this year; from the safety and comfort of your socially-distanced living room.

Article written by Zianna Weston

5 female writers in Hollywood that we literally can’t get enough of

Ava Duvernay

Ava DuVernay is a black woman who is breaking barriers every day just by being herself and following her dreams. I heard her on a podcast say that the community she grew up in doesn’t even have a movie theater, so her drive to be more inclusive is literally starting from the ground up. Ava wrote When They See Us and 13th, and we know she’s not done telling stories about racial injustice and the importance of diversity and inclusion.

Mindy Kaling

Mindy Kaling started her career as a writer for The Office and wrote some of the best episodes including Diversity Day and The Dundies. She also wrote The Mindy Project, Late Night and the upcoming Legally Blonde 3. She also wrote my life mantra, “why the f*ck NOT me?” in reference to believing that you’re good enough to deserve to be in the room and have a place at the table.

Amy Schumer

Amy Schumer is one of the funniest women alive and she’s written Trainwreck and countless standup specials that forever lay to rest the idea that women can’t be as funny as men.

Tina Fey

Tina Fey will forever be our hero for being the first female head writer for Saturday Night Live. Her signature quirky humor brought us hits like Mean Girls, 30 Rock, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and one of our favorite memoirs we’ve ever read, Bossy Pants.

Nora Ephron

Nora Ephron is the romcom queen and the writer behind When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, and You’ve Got Mail. She passed away in 2012 but her work and Academy Awards live on and continue to inspire the next generation of writers.

5 Movies That Aren’t Supposed to be Scary That Scare Me

1. Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory

A single, middle aged man invites a group of children to his chocolate factory, who wouldn’t be scared? Gene Wilder’s performance as Willy Wonka has haunted me since I first saw it as a child. I know he’s supposed to be eccentric but the fact that I can’t figure him out just creeps me out. And don’t get me started on that co-sleeping situation that Charlie’s grandparents have going on… Willy Wonka is low-key scary.

2. the wizard of oz

Dorothy, Lion and Scarecrow are a-okay in my book, and while the Wicked Witch of the West is terrifying she’s got nothing on the flying monkeys! I think my fear of the Wicked Witch of the West is deep rooted in some childhood trauma. My birthday is 2 days before Halloween, so on Halloween before I turned 1 my mom decided to dress me up as the Wicked Witch of the West. While I was still napping she painted my face green and got me dressed in my costume and when I woke up she showed me my face in the mirror and she said the look in my eyes was of pure terror. Who wouldn’t be scared of waking up green?? But I’ll take a surprise green face any day over the horrifying flying monkeys. I’ve legitimately had nightmares about the flying monkeys and I hope I never have one again because 30 year old me would be just as scared as 10 year old me was.

3. James and the giant peach

Call me crazy but I don’t want to crawl into a peach and become friends with giant insects! I don’t call that an adventure, I call that torture. In addition to giant spiders, and gothic style stop-motion, you’ve got James’s traumatic backstory. He’s an orphan because his parents were killed by a stampeding rhinoceros. Roald Dahl was really trying to scare generations of kids and make them never want to go to the zoo, or go anywhere near bugs. The adults in this movie are terrifying too. Poor James is raised by his ugly and frankly abusive aunts. And this is supposed to be a movie for kids? James and the Giant Peach is dark as hell and I think it will always creep me out.

4. Edward Scissorhands

A strong case could be made for adding every Tim Burton movie to this list. His signature gothic-fantasy is supposed to juxtapose romance with edge and while the highly stylized worlds he creates are always a little off-putting, there’s something extra unnerving about a man with scissors for hands. A man who just wants love, but his hands are literal tools of destruction. And I just have so many unanswered questions for Edward. How does he go to the bathroom?? This is a movie that keeps me up at night as I spiral down the scissors-for-hands rabbit hole.

5. Toy story

I know that inanimate objects don’t live a rich, unseen life while I’m out of the room. I know that my things aren’t sad when I clean my room and donate things that I no longer use. I know that my childhood toys aren’t lonely because I no longer play with them. But like, what if? This is the kind of guilt that I don’t need in my life, yet here we are. The sadness of this beautiful franchise haunts me. As a kid I kept toys in my parent’s room for weeks after I saw Toy Story because I was afraid that they would come alive at night and attack me. Thank God I never saw Chucky because there’s no way I would have recovered.

Summer Camp Has Been Cancelled, Due to Lack of Hustle, Here’s How We’re Dealing With It

If you’re like me you’ve spent many summers sweating your balls off and running around in the great outdoors to give groups of excited kids an awesome week at summer camp. Or, if you’re richer than me, you attended camp as a child and have fun memories of swimming in the lake and making friendships bracelets for cabin mates that would shed tears when you parted at the end of the week, promising to be bbf’s (best friends forever). But this summer is different. Summer camp has been replaced with drive-by birthday parties, and Zoom playdates. So if you find the nostalgia hitting extra hard and making you miss your camp buddies, check out these movie suggestions that pair nicely with s’mores and lanyard weaving.

1. The Parent Trap

It’s hard to find a movie that is more quintessentially camp than The Parent Trap. Both versions, 1961 starring Hayley Mills and 1998 starring Lindsay Lohan, are both excellent options. So, if you find yourself wishing you could switch places with your long-lost twin and meet your birth parents, both versions of The Parent Trap are currently streaming on Disney+.

2. Heavyweights

Is this movie problematic? Absolutely! We have blatant body shaming and cultural appropriation, for starters. But we also have comedy gold. Co-written by Judd Apatow, Heavyweights follows the story of a “fat camp” that is bought by Tony Perkins (Ben Stiller), a fitness guru who’s methods are militant and controversial. I pray to god that Heavyweights is not like any camp that you have experienced. But if you’re looking for a laugh, Heavyweights is sure to deliver and it’s currently streaming on Disney+.

3. Wet Hot American Summer

If you’re looking for a raunchy cult classic starring literally EVERYONE, then Wet Hot American Summer is the camp movie for you. Wet Hot American Summer follows the young and reckless staff of Camp Firewood on their emotional and epic last day of camp. The best part of the movie is that there are two seasons of shows that follow up the movie; Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp, and Wet Hot American Summer: 10 Years Later. The original cast of the movie, shot in 2001, came back to film First Day of Camp in 2015 and it’s hilarious to see these much older adults play the same characters like they haven’t aged. Seriously, you need to watch Wet Hot American Summer which is available to rent on Amazon Prime Video, and the spin off shows are both available on Netflix.

4. Camp Rock

Summer camp, but make it a musical. The Jonas brothers, Demi Lovato, emo hair, and some tragic scarves, what more can you ask for? Camp Rock will have you squeezing into your skinniest jeans and singing “We Rock” at the top of your lungs! Camp Rock is now streaming on Disney+.

5. American Pie

Okay, confession time. I’ve never actually seen American Pie. But as someone who was in band, and went to band camp (albeit a lame, day camp version that just involved a lot of marching in the football field and then going home), I had to endure a lot of “this one time at band camp” jokes from my non-band friends, so I feel entitled to add this movie to the list. It’s currently streaming on HBO and I will be watching it soon!

92nd Academy Awards Recap

To quote the infamous Moira Rose: “What’s your favorite season?” “Awards!”.

Awards season is a magical time full of glitz, glam, and all things cinema. Anyone who’s ever worked on a film set of any kind understands the amount of blood, sweat, and tears that go into creating movie magic. Awards season is a special time for artists to gather and celebrate one another’s work. This Basic Cinephile lives for the fashion, the movie discussions, and the inspirational speeches from some of the world’s most successful creatives. So, without further ado, here’s my 2020 Oscars recap.

Highlights:

Your girl lives for Elton John, so to see the knight in shining glitter himself perform his original song “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again” from his biopic Rocketman, and to win Best Original Song was a real treat.

The presenters really knocked it out of the park this year. From Steve Martin and Chris Rock’s hilarious opening speech, to Maya Rudolph and Kristen Wiig’s “musical performance”, to Will Ferrell and Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s organic comedic chemistry, the presenters were hilarious and unafraid to call out The Academy’s need for more diversity. But Rebel Wilson and James Corden won the night when they came out dressed as their iconic characters from 2019’s biggest flop, CATS. CATS is something that you can’t unsee and I applaud their seizure of the opportunity to scar the public and roast themselves.

Upsets:

For the most part the award winners were predictable. There were no surprises when Laura Dern won Best Supporting Actress for her role as a divorce attorney in Marriage Story, or when Brad Pitt won Best Supporting Actor for his role in Tarantino’s love letter to old Hollywood Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. The biggest upset of the night was in the last category when Parasite, a South Korean film, won Best Picture. Parasite made history when it became the first foreign language film to ever win Best Picture at the 92nd Academy Awards. This solidified the South Korean film industry as a world-renowned industry, and it proves that audiences are ready to break away from Ameri-centric films being the only ones to really be celebrated by American film critics and audiences. In a world that currently feels so divided this was a huge win for diversity and inclusion.

Fashion:

I love a red carpet and the Oscars did NOT disappoint this year. From the elegantly dressed Julia Louis-Dreyfus, to the dramatically perfect Sandra Oh, here are this Basic Cinephile’s five favorite looks from the night:

4. Scarlett Johansson in Oscar de la Renta

2. Florence Pugh in Louis Vuitton

Who was left out?

When discussing who’s at the Oscars I think it’s equally as important to note who was left out of this year’s nominations. Many were surprised that, yet again, there were no female directors nominated for Best Director, despite many the many acclaimed and profitable movies that were directed by women this past year including (but not limited to); Greta Gerwig (Little Women), Lorene Scafaria (Hustlers), Lulu Wang (The Farewell), Melina Matsoukas (Queen & Slim), Marielle Heller (A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood), and Alma Har’el (Honey Boy). Other films that I personally loved this year that were largely overlooked this awards season include Honey Boy, Us, The Farewell, Hustlers, Rocketman, and Midsommar. A film that was nominated, and originally projected to do very well, was Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman. This 3.5 hour long epic gangster drama is blaming its poor performance on its audience mostly watching the film via Netflix. This slow-burning film demands your attention and in a world of many distractions, it can be hard to focus on dry dialogue when you’re streaming on your phone while waiting for your doctor’s appointment. While I personally am not too upset that The Irishman performed poorly, I am surprised to see a film with so many powerful Hollywood men not get the love that it was projected to receive.

As awards season melts away and we fade into a new year of movies I am encouraged by the incredible work that so many people have put into making the magic of movies so easily accessible to the masses. In film criticism it can be so easy to tear apart a film, but I never want The Basic Cinephile to be a place where we sit on our couches and relentlessly judge the hard-working film crews and creatives that bring movies to life. I want to take this moment to extend a heartfelt thank you for all the wonderful movies that were made in 2019, from my movie-loving heart to yours.

Article written by Zianna Weston

5 Movies to Watch During a Pandemic When You’re Missing Traveling

Global pandemic quarantining getting you down? Wishing that your big outings didn’t solely consist of throwing your nicest mask on and heading to the grocery store? Yeah, me too! Well here are a few movies to hold you over until that curve is completely flat. Covid Travelling: Domestic (USA) Edition

Wine Country (Netflix)

Anyone else besides me celebrate a Covid birthday? Well get ready to celebrate Rebecca’s (Rachel Dratch) 50th in beautiful Napa Valley California by grabbing your gal pals for a much needed girls weekend. Be prepared to navigate friendships and big life questions on this booze filled trip with Amy Pohler, Maya Rudolph, and lots of other heavy hitting female comedians.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall (Hulu)

Hop on a (figurative) plane and join Jason Segal on his quest to get over his cheating ex Sarah Marshall (the incredibly amazing Kristen Bell) in the tropical paradise of Hawaii. But getting over someone is pretty difficult when you are serendipitously staying at the same hotel. Add Mila Kunis to make your ex jealous, Paul Rudd to be utterly American, a vampire rock opera and you are set up for a good a** time.

Dumb and Dumber

Conventional travel not really your thing? Hop in a carpeted van shaped like a dog and join Lloyd (Jim Carey) and Harry and head to Aspen, Colorado. In a quest driven by love, these two besties' relationship is put to the test. Will they pass or fail?

Now that we have travelled domestically together, stay tuned for some international travel with The Basic Cinephile. So create that Pinterest board, shop for snacks like you’re a 9 year old with no rules, and start planning your ultimate post Covid road trip. Where are we going next? Stay tuned for more of Covid Travel: The Basic Cinephile Style.

Article written by Edelia Weston