1776

Posted on June 28, 2010 at 8:00 am

Lowest Recommended Age:	4th - 6th Grades
MPAA Rating:	PG
Profanity:	Colonial oaths
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Drinking, smoking
Violence/ Scariness:	References to battles
Diversity Issues:	A theme of the movie
Date Released to Theaters:	1972

Happy Independence Day!

This rousing musical about the Declaration of Independence makes the Founding Fathers vivid, human, and interesting characters, and is so involving that you almost forget that you already know how it all turned out. William Daniels is the “obnoxious and disliked” John Adams, Ken Howard is Thomas Jefferson, who would rather be with his wife than work on the Declaration, and Howard da Silva is a wry and witty Benjamin Franklin. As they debate independence, we see the courage that went into the birth of the United States, and as they compromise with the South to permit slavery in the brand-new country we see the tragedy. Outstanding family entertainment.

Fantasia

Posted on June 21, 2010 at 3:23 pm

Lowest Recommended Age:	All Ages
MPAA Rating:	G
Profanity:	None
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Alcohol at festival, god of wine
Violence/ Scariness:	Characters in peril, scary monster, dinosaurs die out
Diversity Issues:	None
Date Released to Theaters:	1940
Date Released to DVD:	2010
Amazon.com ASIN:	B0040QTNSK

Disney’s glorious “Fantasia” and its sequel, “Fantasia 2000” are out for a limited time in a spectacular 4-DVD blu-ray package.

Considered a failure on its original release, “Fantasia’s” eight-part combination of images and music is now indisputably a classic. Musicologist Deems Taylor explains that there are three kinds of music: music that paints a picture, music that tells a story, and “absolute music,” or music for music’s sake, and then shows us all three. Highlights include Mickey Mouse as The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, whose plan to save himself from a little work by enchanting a broom to carry the buckets of water gets out of control, the Nutcracker Suite’s forest moving from fall into winter (with the adorable mushroom doing the Chinese Dance), Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony, with characters from Greek mythology celebrating at a festival and seeking shelter from a storm, and the Dance of the Hours, with ostrich and hippo ballerinas dancing with gallant (if overburdened) crocodiles.

It concludes with the scary Night on Bald Mountain followed by the dawn’s Ave Maria. The movie is perfect for blu-ray — it’s as though we can finally see the colors the way the artists could only dream of. The flying Pegasus family soars through the sky, the thistles kick like Cossacks to the Russian dance, the dinosaurs lumber to the Rite of Spring. This is one of the greatest movies in cinematic history, groundbreaking and timeless.

And there’s more. Disney planned another musical segment designed by famous surrealist artist Salvador Dali, who came out to the Disney studio for eight months to work on it. But it was canceled due to financial setbacks at the company at the time, and Disney always regretted that it was not completed. It has become a legend, much speculated about and sought after. This splendid set includes Destino, with Roy Disney at long last completing Dali’s original vision, 58 years after he began it.

Roy Disney also supervised “Fantasia 2000,” the sequel, which includes a charming Al Hirschfeld-inspired Manhattan saga set to George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” and a wildly funny flamingo/yo-yo mix-up (more like a pile-up) to the music of Saint-Seans.

Fantasia/Fantasia 2000 is a genuine family treasure, guaranteed to inspire and entertain all ages. Grab it while you can.

Great Movie Dads for Father’s Day

Posted on June 19, 2010 at 3:44 pm

Happy Father’s Day!

1. Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck) in “To Kill a Mockingbird” The last line of the movie says it all: “He turned out the light and went into Jem’s room. He would be there all night and he would be there when Jem waked up in the morning.”

2. Jason “Furious” Styles (Laurence Fishburne) in “Boyz N the Hood” This well-named father is a fierce defender of his son, protecting him but also teaching him to believe in himself.

3. Marlin (Albert Brooks) in “Finding Nemo” A loving if over-protective little clownfish must search the entire ocean to find his lost son in this beloved Pixar classic.

4. Stanley Banks (Spencer Tracy) in “Father of the Bride” Watch Tracy’s face when his daughter (Elizabeth Taylor) explains why she has (thankfully temporarily) called off her engagement in this story of a loving father who gets caught up in pre-Bridezilla wedding drama (and trauma). See also the remake with Steve Martin.

5. Gil Buckman (Steve Martin) in “Parenthood” No film better shows the challenges, terrors, wrenching choices, and satisfactions of fatherhood than this extended family story inspired by the lives of the three men who made it and the 14 children in their lives.

6. Ted Kramer (Dustin Hoffman) in “Kramer vs. Kramer” A father who is not even sure what class his child is in discovers what it means to be a father after his wife leaves them. And then he discovers how much it matters to him when she returns and he has to fight for custody.

7. Tom Winters (Cary Grant) in “Houseboat” In one of his few roles as a father, Grant plays a man who only discovers how much he needs his children after the death of their mother — and Sophia Loren arrives as their new nanny.

8. Sam Baldwin (Tom Hanks) in “Sleepless in Seattle” — Though devastated by the loss of his wife, Sam is committed to being a positive and caring father.

9. Chris Gardner (Will Smith) in “The Pursuit of Happyness” — Smith and his real-life son shine in this story about a devoted single father who went from homelessness to a career as a stock-broker.

10. Gou-ichi Takata (Ken Takakura) in “Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles” — A Japanese father shows his love for his estranged son by completing the son’s final project, a filmed version of a Chinese opera, even though he knows nothing about filming, China, or opera.

Great Dads on Film and TV

Posted on June 15, 2010 at 3:58 pm

My gallery of great movie dads and list of daddy-daughter movies include wonderful films for families to watch together and talk about the great fathers in their own families.

Some of the best dads on film appear on television, which allows us to see families in a variety of circumstances over many years. Some of them even start to feel like members of our own families. These dads are not perfect but they always seem to know the right thing to say, whether comforting, guiding, or providing support. And they inspire even more through their own examples of trustworthiness and wisdom. My favorites include:

1. Tom Bosley on “Happy Days”
2. John Goodman on “Roseanne.”
3. Andy Griffith on “The Andy Griffith Show”
4. Danny Thomas on “Make Room for Daddy”
5. Bil Cosby on “The Cosby Show”
6. Bill Bixby on “The Courtship of Eddie’s Father”

7. John Amos on “Good Times”
8. Michael Landon on “Little House on the Prairie”
9. Robert Young on “Father Knows Best”
10. Peter Gallagher in “The OC”

25 Years of ‘The Goonies’

Posted on June 7, 2010 at 1:25 pm

Hey you guys!!!

Can it really be 25 years since the release of The Goonies? It is not exactly a classic. It is probably best remembered as an early effort from people like teen-ager Josh Brolin and director Richard Donner who went on to more successful and prestigious projects. But it inspires a lot of devotion from the generation that came of age in the 80’s. Monica Hesse writes about a 25th-anniversary celebration of this Steven Spielberg-produced family favorite in the Washington Post. Astoria, Oregon, where the film was made, is hosting a gathering of fans.

“The Goonies” are . . . how to explain them if you were not born in the ’70s or ’80s, the sweet spot of obsession? They were a club of seven misfits, including a fat kid (Chunk — forced to perform the indignity of the Truffle Shuffle on command), a loudmouth and a gadget whiz. They all went on a treasure hunt below the earth to find a missing pirate ship and to escape the Fratelli brothers — cons who kept their mutant sibling, Sloth, locked in the basement, when all he wanted was a Baby Ruth.

And now, the fans are gathering in Astoria to explore the house where the kids found the treasure map and do the Truffle Shuffle. Cast members are there to sign autographs and pose for pictures.

At one point in the movie, the Goonies have a chance for rescue, when they realize they are below the town wishing well and that popular jerk Troy, standing above, could pull them up. Mikey persuades everyone to stay. He wants to finish the adventure, not capitulate to the adults outside and the Troys of the world.

“That’s the line I quote the most,” says Brandon Lerner, a fan from Seattle. ” ‘It’s all over the second we ride up Troy’s bucket.’ “

That’s the thing. True Goonies know that when Mikey said refuse the bucket, when he said, “It’s our time down here,” he wasn’t talking about the bottom of the cave. He was talking about wanting to stay in childhood just a little longer, because it can never be retrieved.

And when adults make the pilgrimage to Astoria, they’re not coming for the Truffle Shuffle. They’re coming to show that Mikey was wrong, that sometimes it can.

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