Mo Willems’ Pigeon and Pals: Complete Cartoon Collection, Vols. 1 & 2

Posted on April 26, 2012 at 11:55 am

B+

Lowest Recommended Age:	All Ages
MPAA Rating:	NR
Profanity:	None
Alcohol/ Drugs:	None
Violence/ Scariness:	None
Diversity Issues:	None
Date Released to Theaters:	2012
Date Released to DVD:	April 26, 2012
Amazon.com ASIN:	B005B0QYMW

My favorite series for children has a wonderful new collection: Mo Willems’ Pigeon and Pals: Complete Cartoon Collection Volumes 1 & 2. Emmy Award winner and Sesame Street veteran Mo Willems is the author/illustrator of the delightful book series about the irrepressible pigeon who is determined to drive a bus and eat a hot dog, as well as the Knuffle Bunny series and more. This collection includes six stories on two DVDs and extra features with Willems visiting a school and a Spanish version of “Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale.” I have one copy to give away. Send me an email at moviemom@moviemom.com with “Pigeon” in the subject line and tell me your favorite picture book. Don’t forget your address! (US addresses only.) I’ll pick one winner at random on May 2.

Lists: The Funniest Movies and the All-Time Best

Posted on April 7, 2012 at 4:10 pm

I always quote Mrs. Miniver when the subject of making “best of” lists of movies. She wasn’t talking about movies but her comment is applicable in many contexts: “Indefensible but irresistible.” And they’re a great way of finding some good movies for your Neflix queue? Yahoo has a new list of the 100 funniest movies of all time. And Roger Ebert, who often says how much he dislikes being asked to make lists, admits that there is one list, or really two, that he thinks is worthwhile. Once a decade, the distinguished film journal Sight and Sound publishes all-time best lists, most recently one from critics, one from directors. Ebert’s 2002 ballot:

Aguirre, Wrath of God (Herzog)
Apocalypse Now (Coppola)
Citizen Kane (Welles)
Dekalog (Kieslowski)
La dolce vita (Fellini)
The General (Keaton)
Raging Bull (Scorsese)
2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick)
Tokyo Story (Ozu)
Vertigo (Hitchcock)

Will he change it this year? What would you include?

List: Movies for Passover

Posted on April 5, 2012 at 9:37 am

Hag Sameach! Passover is not just about remembering the story of the Exodus from Egypt. It is about telling the story.

Thousands of years before people talked about “learning styles,” the Seder included many different ways of telling the story, so that everyone would be included, and everyone would feel the power of the journey toward freedom. The Haggadah makes the story come alive through taste, smell, and touch as well as sight and hearing, and through the example of the four sons it presents the story to the wise, the simple, the skeptic, and most especially to the young — one of the highlights of each Seder is when the youngest person present asks the traditional four questions, beginning with “Why is this night different from all other nights?”

If they had known about movies back in the time of Moses, they would have included that form of story-telling, too. For younger children, The Prince of Egypt and Joseph – King of Dreams are a very good introduction to the story of how the Jews came to live in Egypt and how Moses led them out of slavery. Shalom Sesame: It’s Passover, Grover! is a great introduction to the holiday for preschoolers. Children may also enjoy Chanuka & Passover at Bubbe’s, Out of Egypt – The Passover Story and The Passover, which explains all of the elements of the seder.

Older children and adults will appreciate Charlton Heston’s The Ten Commandments and the more recent versions of the story, starring Burt Lancaster, and Ben Kingsley.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKEp7WYrMmY

New Giveaway! The Muppet Movie

Posted on March 16, 2012 at 8:00 am

I am thrilled to have three copies of one of 2011’s best family films to share with my wonderful visitors. This is really special — a Wocka Wocka Value Pack, including the movie on Blu-ray high-definition, DVD and Digital Copy (3 discs) plus a download card for the film’s soundtrack from Walt Disney Records. The movie will be available on DVD, Blu-Ray, and download on March 20. Send me an email at moviemom@moviemom.com with “Muppet” in the subject line. Tell me your favorite muppet and don’t forget your address! (US addresses only, sorry!) I’ll pick a winner at random on March 30. Good luck!

List: Movies for Your Valentine

Posted on February 13, 2012 at 4:08 pm

Some of my favorite movie romances are just right for Valentine’s Day. Cuddle up with your valentine and a bowl of popcorn and enjoy these movies about how love makes us crazy and immeasurably happy at the same time.

1. Moonstruck Cher won an Oscar as the bookkeeper who has given up on love until she meets the brother of her fiance, who tells her:

Love don’t make things nice – it ruins everything. It breaks your heart. It makes things a mess. We aren’t here to make things perfect. The snowflakes are perfect. The stars are perfect. Not us. Not us! We are here to ruin ourselves and to break our hearts and love the wrong people and *die*.

2. Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet find that they really don’t want to forget each other, no matter how painful love can be.

3. You’ve Got Mail This third version of the story of a couple who are at war in person, not realizing that they are tender lovers through the mail, updates the story to the computer age. Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan have so much chemistry on screen that we know from the first moment what it will take them the whole movie to discover — they are meant to be together. Be sure to watch the earlier versions, The Shop Around the Corner with James Stewart and Margaret Sullivan and the musical In the Good Old Summertime with Judy Garland and Van Johnson.

4. The Philadelphia Story On the eve of her wedding, socialite Tracy Lord’s ex-husband shows up with a couple of journalists and we get to watch three of the greatest stars in Hollywood history sort out their affections. This movie has everything: Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, and James Stewart (who won an Oscar), George Cukor as director, wit, heart, and romance and an important lesson about how sometimes it is not about falling in love but recognizing that we have already fallen.

5. To Have and Have Not As tough guy Humphrey Bogart meets the even-tougher Lauren Bacall (only 19 years old when this was filmed), we get to see the real-life romantic sparks that gave the on-screen love story some extra sizzle. Watch her tell him how to whistle.