The Worst Witch

Posted on October 17, 2011 at 8:34 am

Lowest Recommended Age:	4th - 6th Grades
MPAA Rating:	NR
Profanity:	None
Alcohol/ Drugs:	None
Violence/ Scariness:	Spooky Halloween themes
Diversity Issues:	None
Date Released to Theaters:	1986
Date Released to DVD:	October 16, 2011
Amazon.com ASIN:	B0002JP5EK

Thanks to my godson, Theo Leiss, for reminding me of this Halloween treat! The Worst Witch is based on a pre-Harry Potter series of books by Jill Murphy about a school for young witches. Fairuza Balk, who would later play a teenaged witch in “The Craft” (and who was already a gifted young actress) plays Mildred Hubble, who can’t seem to get anything right until only she can save the day before an evil witch destroys the school. Diana Rigg plays the school’s headmistress and her evil twin sister and Tim Curry provides one of the highlights as the Grand Wizard.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmG80v473AI

Blog Action Day: Food

Posted on October 16, 2011 at 7:00 am

This year’s Blog Action Day theme is food in recognition of World Food Day.

Some top documentaries about food sustainability and wholesomeness:

1. The End of the Line The rise of industrialized fishing, the current demand for fish and the methods used to fulfill it are taking an irreparable toll on the world’s oceans.

2. Food, Inc. Corporations and the regulators they control through lobbying put profit ahead of consumer health, the American farmer, worker safety, and even the environment. Chicken breasts get bigger and produce is genetically engineered not to go bad while obesity, diabetes, and other dire consequences of bad food make more people sick every year.

3. Super Size Me Mordantly funny and trenchantly sobering, this is a Big Mac attack you can sink your teeth into. And then it will bite you back. Film-maker Morgan Spurlock takes on American fast food culture in general and McDonald’s in particular in this prize-winning documentary.

4. The Future of Food Food growing and production, once the primary occupation of Americans, is now controlled by a few enormous corporations. This film explores what that means for the quality and health of what we consume.

5. King Corn Two friends grow an acre of corn to see what becomes of their crop in a documentary from director Aaron Woolf. Corn is America’s most productive and subsidized grain and following an ear of corn from seed to the dinner table has some disturbing surprises.

The Original: ‘Footloose’ (1984)

Posted on October 9, 2011 at 3:59 pm

The original Footloose was one of the decade-defining movies of the 1980’s, with a sensational soundtrack that included the title song by Kenny Loggins, “Let’s Hear it for the Boy” (Deniece Williams), “Dancing in the Sheets” (Shalimar), and “Holding Out for a Hero” (Bonnie Tyler).

In this week’s remake, Blake Shelton covers the Kenny Loggins title tune, and Jana Kramer sings “Let’s Hear it for the Boy.” The song I am most looking forward to hearing is new, though: Big & Rich sing “Fake ID” with Gretchen Wilson!

Related Tags:

For Your Netflix Queue Original Version

10 Great Movie Robots

Posted on October 6, 2011 at 3:56 pm

In honor of this week’s “Real Steel,” here are 10 movie robots worth watching. The term “robot,” by the way, was invented by playwright Karl Capek in his 1920 play, “R.U.R.”

1. Transformers The first in the series was a great summer action film and I admit to tearing up when it looked like Bumblebee had been destroyed.

2. Robots An underrated gem, this charming film about a world of robots has imaginative visuals based on the work of illustrator William Joyce and a heartwarming story featuring the voices of Ewan McGregor and Halle Berry.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57kshAyVrec

3. Bicentennial Man Think of it as Pinocchio played by C3PO from “Star Wars.” Robin Williams plays “Andrew Martin,” a robot who wants to be human, in this adaptation of a story and book by Isaac Asimov.

4. Forbidden Planet The first big-budget sci-fi film was inspired by Shakespeare’s “The Tempest.” Leslie Neilsen stars as a spaceship captain to comes to a planet where a mysterious scientist, his daughter, and Robby the robot are the only survivors of an Earth colony.

5. Robot Jox In the future, wars are conducted by gladiator-style battles between giant robots in this film starring Gary Graham, Anne-Marie Johnson, and Paul Koslo.

6. I, Robot Will Smith stars in this film based on one of Isaac Asimov’s best-known books, the story of an investigation into a possible murder of a human by a robot.

7. A.I.: Artificial Intelligence Steven Spielberg completed the film begun by Stanley Kubrick, an uneven but ambitious and visually stunning story about a robot child. The scene in the robot junkyard is heart-wrenching.

8. Spy Kids: All the Time in the World 4D Ricky Gervais provided the voice for the robot dog, which writer/director Robert Rodriguez said had so many functions he was like a Swiss army knife.

9. Return to Oz This is a much darker story than “The Wizard of Oz,” so it is not for younger kids, but it is an imaginative adventure and Tik-Tok the mechanical man is a delight.

10. Metropolis This brilliant German expressionist film from Fritz Lang was made in 1927, about a dystopian future with managers in luxurious surroundings and workers condemned to live in dungeons. A beautiful robot modeled after a kind-hearted woman from the managers group plays a crucial role.

And the one I am most looking forward to is the upcoming film based on Boilerplate: History’s Mechanical Marvel, directed by J.J. Abrams.

Citizen Kane

Posted on September 25, 2011 at 7:51 pm

A+

Lowest Recommended Age:	Middle School
MPAA Rating:	NR
Profanity:	None
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Drinking, smoking, sometimes to excess
Violence/ Scariness:	Tense confrontations, sad death
Diversity Issues:	Character makes an anti-Semitic remark
Date Released to Theaters:	1941
Date Released to DVD:	September 26, 2011
Amazon.com ASIN:	B0050G3NWG

“Citizen Kane” has topped more “all-time best” lists than any other movie and this 70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition is a treat for passionate fans and those who still have the thrill of seeing it for the first time ahead of them.

Orson Welles was only 26 but already an accomplished writer/director with a distinguished body of work on stage and radio. He and writer Herman J. Mankiewicz wrote the script, inspired by the life of publishing titan William Randolph Hearst. Welles directed and starred in the title role of a wealthy young man who turns from idealistic newspaper owner to political candidate to bitter recluse. It is worthy of every accolade it has received and more.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyv19bg0scg

This magnificent film influenced and inspired everything that came after. And the sumptuous extras that come with this anniversary edition are treasures, especially the scene-by-scene commentary by Roger Ebert, almost as entertaining and illuminating as the film itself, with insights and details of technology and artistic innovation that are mind-boggling. There’s a separate commentary by director/historian Peter Bogdanovich and interviews with editor Robert Wise (who later became a director) and co-star Ruth Warrick (who played Kane’s first wife and later went on to star in “All My Children”).