Christopher Columbus

Posted on October 11, 2010 at 6:01 am

Christopher Columbus has not yet had the movie he deserves, but I prefer the Fredric March version to the later versions. Happy Columbus Day and cheers to all adventurers and explorers!

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For Your Netflix Queue Holidays

The 100 Best First Films

Posted on October 7, 2010 at 8:00 am

The Online Film Critics Society has published our list of the 100 best FIRST films. Number one is, of course, “Citizen Kane,” which usually tops the list of best films in any category. The list includes some neglected gems by directors who went on to make more widely lauded films as well as “L’Atlante by Jean Vigo, who made only one full-length feature before he died at 29, and “Night of the the Hunter,” the only film directed by distinguished actor Charles Laughton. The Pixar stars are there, with John Lasseter of “Toy Story” and Pete Docter of “Monsters, Inc.” And there are critic’s favorites like Terrence Malick (“Badlands”) and audience favorites like Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams, David Zucker (“Airplane!”). Steven Spielberg is remembered for his low-budget TV film “Duel,” still a spine-tingler, about an ordinary man inexplicably hounded by a mysterious truck driver. The list includes classics from the earliest days of cinema (Charlie Chaplin for “The Kid”) and up-to-the-minute stars like Rian Johnson (“Brick”) and Neill Blomkamp (“District 9”). It has documentarians (Errol Morris of “Gates of Heaven”) and mockumentarians (Rob Reiner for “This is Spinal Tap”). Like all “best” lists, it will provoke arguments, but like just about all best movie lists, everything on it is worth a look.

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For Your Netflix Queue Neglected gem

List: Movies for World Habitat Day

Posted on October 4, 2010 at 3:59 pm

Today is the United Nations’ World Habitat Day, dedicated to the principle that affordable, adequate housing should be a priority everywhere. Take a moment today to be grateful for your home, for the warmth and comfort it provides for you and your family. Talk about ways you can help others in your community or elsewhere to ensure adequate shelter. And make time for one or more of these movies about what home means:
1. A Home of our Own Kathy Bates plays an indomitable mother of five who builds a home for her family despite enormous obstacles and difficulties.
2. Places in the Heart Sally Field won an Oscar for this fact-based portrayal of a Depression-era widow who will do whatever is necessary to keep her home.
3. The Wizard of Oz Dorothy learns that there’s no place like home and that even a technicolor land filled with magic cannot compare to a small farmhouse in Kansas.
4. It’s a Wonderful Life George and Mary Bailey (James Stewart and Donna Reed) take a ramshackle abandoned house and make it into a home. The newel post may not stay on the banister but everyone in the Bailey household feels safe and secure and George, whose profession is in helping others to be able to afford a home, learns how lucky he is.
5. Annie A plucky little orphan girl and a wealthy industrialist both learn that it takes more than a house to make a home in this tuneful family treat.

List: Movie Mom’s Favorites for Halloween

Posted on October 2, 2010 at 8:00 am

Many
thanks to Jennifer Kachler, Adam Donald, Daniel Sheppard, Brian Gonzalez, my homegirl
Laine Kaplowitz, and everyone at the fabulous Bethesda Row Theatre.

Great Movie Teachers, Part 3: Grade and Middle School

Posted on August 29, 2010 at 3:59 pm

In honor of the first day of school, I am reposting my list of some of my favorite movie teachers in elementary and middle school. Note that not all movies about kids this age are intended to be viewed by kids this age. (And be sure to check out my lists of great movie high school teachers and great movie college professors.)

10. Kindergarten Cop (PG-13) Now-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is the tough cop who has to go undercover as a kindergarten teacher in this romance/comedy/action film. (High school and up for violence)

9. “Bright Road” (Not Rated)

Dorothy Dandridge is perhaps best remembered now as the pioneering black actress brilliantly portrayed by Halle Berry in the made-for-cable biopic and her own sizzling performance in “Carmen Jones.” But in this neglected film she shows range, sensitivity, and charisma with a subtle and sincere performance as an idealistic teacher in the pre-Brown v. Board of Education days of “separate but equal,” when no one even considered integrated schools as possible.

8. To Be and to Have (Not rated) This brilliant documentary about a compassionate teacher’s last year in a French one-room schoolhouse documents the persistence, generosity, and gentle wisdom of a man whose influence on a generation of students will last all their days.

7. Mad Hot Ballroom (PG for a few mild references to sex) This documentary about elementary school teachers coaching their students for a ballroom dance competition is touching, inspiring, funny, and fun. It may just have you trying out some steps yourself.

6. The King and I (G but some tense and sad moments) The resolute but kind-hearted British teacher sings “Getting to Know You” to her pupils, the children of the multiply-married king of Siam in this classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical.

5. The Miracle Worker (Not Rated with some tense confrontations and violence) One of the most influential teachers in American history is vision-impaired Annie Sullivan, who taught blind and deaf Helen Keller the power of communication and with her changed notions of the abilities of the disabled forever.

4. The Magic School Bus (Suitable for all ages) The redoubtable Mrs. Frizzle takes her students on adventures everywhere from under water to outer space, even inner space, taking them inside the human body.

3. Matilda (PG for mild language and some bullying and insults) Roald Dahl’s classic story reminds us of the difference a sympathetic and supportive teacher can make in the life of a child who does not get sympathy and support at home.

2. School of Rock (PG for rude humor and drug references) Jack Black plays a reluctant teacher whose young students revitalize his passion for performing in a band in this delightful story. There’s a sequel in the works. And teens and adults will enjoy the documentary about a real-life Dewey: Rock School–but note that it has very strong language.

1. Paper Clips (G but subject matter concerns the Holocaust) This documentary about small-town teachers who teach their students revelatory and meaningful lessons about the Holocaust and its relevance to their lives shows us how the teachers can learn as much from the lesson as the students. Must viewing for all families.