My Favorite Thanksgiving Movie: What’s Cooking?

Posted on November 23, 2017 at 7:33 am

I love this film, about four families celebrating Thanksgiving with all of the secrets, drama, longing for approval, and, yes, gratitude and love. The cast includes Julianna Margulies, Dennis Haysbert, Kyra Sedgwick, Alfre Woodard, Mercedes Ruehl, and Joyce Chen.

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Family Issues Holidays Movies for Grown-Ups Neglected gem
New From Audible: X-Files Cold Cases

New From Audible: X-Files Cold Cases

Posted on June 21, 2017 at 3:02 pm

Copyright Audible 2017
Copyright Audible 2017

Scully creates a diversion and uncovers some frightening clues in this excerpt from “The X-Files: Cold Cases” — a new, full-cast Audible Original drama starring David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson. The truth is out there. You just have to listen:  audible.com/xfiles

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Books
Free for Father’s Day: My Ebook about the Greatest Movie Dads

Free for Father’s Day: My Ebook about the Greatest Movie Dads

Posted on June 17, 2017 at 6:00 am

In honor of Father’s Day, my eBook, 50 Must-See Movies: Fathers is FREE through Father’s Day, June 19, 2016.

What do “Wall Street” and the “Star Wars” saga and, seemingly, about half the movies ever made have in common? They are about fathers. In “Wall Street,” Charlie Sheen plays the ambitious Bud, who respects the integrity of his blue-collar father, played by his real-life father, Martin Sheen. But Bud is dazzled by the money and power and energy of Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas). The movie will up the ante with Bud’s father’s heart attack as we see him struggle between the examples and guidance of these two male role models.

In “Star Wars,” Luke (Mark Hamill) does not know until halfway through the original trilogy that (spoiler alert) the evil Darth Vader is his father. He was raised by his aunt and uncle, who are killed very early in the first film, but the father figures who are most meaningful in his life are the Jedi masters Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda. Like Bud in “Wall Street,” Luke must choose between the good and bad father figures. Like Luke, Harry Potter is raised by an aunt and uncle, but he finds a true father figure later. For Harry, it is headmaster Albus Dumbledore. In opposition is He Who Must Not Be Named. Like Luke, Harry has the opportunity for great power on the dark side, but he lives up to the example set for him by Dumbledore.

The first stories ever recorded are about fathers. The central human struggle to reconcile the need for a father’s approval and the need to out-do him is reflected in the “hero of a thousand faces” myths that occur in every culture. In Greek mythology, Zeus is the son of a god who swallowed his children to prevent them from besting him. Zeus, hidden by his mother, grows up to defeat his father and become the king of the gods. Ancient Greece also produced the story of Oedipus, who killed his father and married his mother, and The Odyssey, whose narrator tells us “it is a wise man who knows his own father.”

These themes continue to be reflected in contemporary storytelling, including films that explore every aspect of the relationship between fathers and their children. There are kind, understanding fathers whose guidance and example is foundation for the way their children see the world. There are cruel, withholding fathers who leave scars and pain that their children spend the rest of their lives trying to heal. There are movies that reflect the off-screen real-life father-child relationships. Martin Sheen not only played his son’s father in “Wall Street;” he played the father of his other son, Emilio Estevez, in “The Way,” which was written and directed by Estevez, and which is about a father’s loss of his son. Will Smith has appeared with his son Jaden in “The Pursuit of Happyness” and “After Earth.” John Mills appeared with his daughter Hayley in “Tiger Bay,” “The Truth About Spring,” and “The Chalk Garden.” Ryan and Tatum O’Neill memorably appeared together in “Paper Moon.” Jane Fonda produced and starred in “On Golden Pond” and cast her father Henry as the estranged father of her character. Jon Voight played the father of his real-life daughter Angelina Jolie in “Tomb Raider.” And Mario Van Peebles, whose father cast him as the younger version of the character he played in “Sweet Sweetback’s Badasssss Song” made a movie about the making of that film when he grew up. It is called “Badasssss!” In the role of Melvin Van Peebles he cast himself.

Director John Huston deserves some sort of “Father’s Day” award. He directed both his father and his daughter in Oscar-winning performances, Walter Huston in “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” and Anjelica Huston in “Prizzi’s Honor.”

Some actors known for very non-paternal roles have delivered very touching performances as fathers. Edward G. Robinson is best remembered for playing tough guys, but in “Our Vines Have Tender Grapes” he gave a beautiful performance as a farmer who loves his daughter (Margaret O’Brien) deeply. Cary Grant, known for sophisticated romance, played loving – if often frustrated — fathers in “Houseboat” and “Room for One More.” “Batman” and “Beetlejuice” star Michael Keaton was also “Mr. Mom.” Comedian Albert Brooks is a devoted father in “Finding Nemo.”

There are memorable movie fathers in comedies (“Austin Powers,” “A Christmas Story”) and dramas (“To Kill a Mockingbird,” “Boyz N the Hood”), in classics (“Gone With the Wind”), documentaries (“Chimpanzee,” “The Other F Word”), and animation (“The Lion King,” “The Incredibles”). There are great fathers (“Andy Hardy”) and terrible fathers (“The Shining”). There are fathers who take care of us (“John Q”) and fathers we have to take care of (“I Never Sang for My Father”). All of them are ways to try to understand, to reconcile, and to pay tribute to the men who, for better or worse, set our first example of how to decide who we are and what we will mean in the world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BadSZDpvq-s
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The American Writers Museum

Posted on May 19, 2017 at 7:19 pm

I got a chance to preview the new American Writers Museum in Chicago before it opened on May 16, 2017. It is enchanting, inspiring, genuinely magical. There is a special room about children’s literature, with a glorious full-wall mural by my friend, Caldecott Award-winning illustrator Paul O. Zelinsky. There are some artifacts, including the legendary original manuscript of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road.

And there are fascinating, interactive displays to tell you more about writers you love, introduce you to writers you will love, and maybe inspire you to write your own story.

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Best Opening Credits

Posted on May 19, 2017 at 6:43 pm

Opening credits tell you what world you are in. Saul Bass, the all-time great, created brilliant animated opening credits for films like “Anatomy of a Murder,” “It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World,” and “Psycho.”

This month’s release of “Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 2” inspired IndieWire to ask critics about their own favorite opening credit sequences and a couple mentioned “Catch Me if You Can” with Steven Spielberg’s tribute to Bass, designed by Kuntzel and Deygas and with an edgy John Williams score.

Other classics they mention include Rosie Perez dancing in the opening credits of “Do the Right Thing,” written and directed by Spike Lee.

A favorite of mine is from “Deliver Us from Eva.” It is a great introduction to the characters and mood of the piece, and as my readers know, I really like gloves!

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