Family Movies About the Olympics

Posted on July 30, 2024 at 6:48 pm

Go Team USA! Go all the athletes who have reached the pinnacle. These are some great family movies about the Olympic Games.

The First Olympics: Athens 1896, one of my very favorite sports movies ever, is a made-for-TV miniseries about the first modern-day Olympics. We take the Olympics as a given now, but there were 1500 years between the time of the ancient games and the establishment of the modern Olympics with countries from all over the world putting aside their political differences for athletic competition in the spirit of good sportsmanship and teamwork. Showing the origins of everything from the starting position for sprinters to the impulsive selection of the Star Spangled Banner as the U.S. national anthem, the story is filled with drama, wit, and unforgettable characters, sumptuously filmed and beautifully performed by a sensational cast that includes then-unknown David Caruso of “CSI,” one-time Bond Girl Honor Blackman, David Ogden Stiers, Angela Lansbury, and Louis Jourdan. It was a Writer’s Guild and Casting Society award winner when it was first released. It is a great introduction to the Olympics, a thrilling and inspiring story, and outstanding family entertainment.

Chariots of Fire This Best Picture Oscar winner is a classic, focusing on two runners in the first Olympics following WWI, both men of deep faith and integrity. For more about the real life of Eric Liddell, see this.

Stick It This underrated gem is a stylish, smart, and all-around terrific story about gymnastics and when and when not to follow the rules.

American Girl: McKenna Shoots for the Stars One of my favorite entries in one of my favorite series — I love the way this film deals frankly with issues like disabilities (learning and physical), competition, and friendship.

Prefontaine “Modern Family’s” Ed O’Neill and Jared Leto star in the story of the Olympic runner.

Race Jesse Owens thrilled the world and defied Hitler in the 1934 Olympics. This is an outstanding film, exciting, thoughtful, and beautifully performed.

There is also a documentary about Jesse Owens.

“Eddie the Eagle” is based on the true story of a skier who became an international symbol not of winning but of trying the hardest.

“16 Days of Glory” Bud Greenspan is the master of the Olympics documentary and this one about the 1984 summer Olympics includes all-time all-stars Mary Lou Retton and Greg Louganis.

Before They Were Stars: Maika Monroe and Jeremy Allen White

Posted on July 20, 2024 at 8:00 am

Maika Monroe stars in one of the highest-profile horror films of 2024, “Longlegs,” following her role in a thriller, “The Watcher.” And Emmy winner Jeremy Allen White is now one of television’s biggest stars, with the third season of “The Bear.” (Also in the film is Sasha Lane, who appears in this week’s blockbuster, “Twisters.”)

Just six years ago, Monroe and White played a romantic couple in a small, independent film called “After Everything,” written and directed by Hannah Marks and Joey Power. I gave the film 3 1/2 stars out of 4 in a review for rogerebert.com: ” a bittersweet love story, bitter because the couple meet just as the guy is diagnosed with cancer, but sweet because the young couple is so believably tender and loving….White and Monroe create imperfect but always likable characters and the direction is brisk but assured.”

Here Hannah Marks and Joey Power, and Jeremy Allen White talk about the film.

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Actors Breakthrough Perfomers

A Capital 4th 2024!

Posted on July 4, 2024 at 6:10 am

Don’t miss the fireworks over the Capitol Building in Washington DC tonight on PBS! A Returning host Alfonso Ribeiro will be accompanied by an all-star lineup of broadway, pop, R&B and classical performances, with Smokey Robinson celebrating Motown’s 65th anniversary, the U.S. Army Chorus performing a Salute to American Heroes Past and Present, and The Color Purple’s Fantasia and Darren Criss of Glee.

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Holidays Television

Movies for July 4 2024!

Posted on July 3, 2024 at 7:40 am

“Hamilton” is LIn-Manuel Miranda’s blockbuster Broadway musical about Alexander Hamilton has the original Broadway cast.

Independence Day Will Smith, Bill Pullman, and Jeff Goldblum star in one of the all-time great popcorn pleasures. Aliens attack the earth and it takes a quirky engineer, a plucky President, and a heroic military pilot to save the day. What does that have to do with the 4th of July? Listen to the President’s stirring pep talk.

The Patriot There are many films about the Civil War, but not many about the Revolutionary War. Mel Gibson stars in this uneven but stirring film about a farmer pulled into the rebellion.

There are excellent miniseries about our founding fathers, including Paul Giamatti as John Adams and Michael Douglas as Benjamin Franklin. Ken Burns’ excellent documentary series about Benjamin Franklin is streaming online, and the History Channel’s Bloody Struggle for Freedom tells the story of the Revolutionary War.

1776 I love this film, based on the Broadway musical about the signing of the Declaration of Independence, with almost all of the stars from the acclaimed stage production, including William Daniels as the “obnoxious and disliked” John Adams, Ken Howard as a dashing Thomas Jefferson, and Howard Da Silva as Benjamin Franklin.

And don’t forget Schoolhouse Rock!

Free eBook: Deadly Skies, the Story of WWII Air Combat

Posted on May 24, 2024 at 7:28 am

The Deadly Skies is free May 24-28 for Memorial Day. This ebook tells the history of air combat in Europe during WWII is grippingly described by a man who was there and who has had decades of experience and research to put his experiences in perspective. Focusing on the Royal Air Force, the U.S. Army Eighth Air Force and the Luftwaffe, the book covers how the WW II air campaign in Western Europe unfolded, how it ended, and its cost in terms of human life – not only for the aircrews in those unfriendly skies, but the innumerable innocents who suffered through the carnage in European cities caused by bombing.

The aircraft and equipment, the battles, the strategy, and the people are all described by Bernard Nolan with the insight of an insider and the expertise of a scholar, and with detailed illustrations from aviation artist Matt Holness. From Dunkirk and the Battle of Britain to D-Day, B-17s, B-24s, P-47s, P-51s, and Spitfires, this book takes the reader inside the air battles that played a decisive role in WWII.

Chapters sections include:

The Bomber Will Always Get Through,

The Schneider Trophy,

The Messerschmitt Bf 109,

Dunkirk,

Unternehmen Seeloeven (Operation Sea Lion),

Adlerangriff (Eagle Offensive), Chain Home Radar System,

Adlertag (Eagle Day), Bombs Fall On London,

Goering Blinks,

The Hardest Day,

Blitzkrieg,

Hitler “Postpones” The Invasion
The Battle Of Britain Ends,

RAF Bomber Command,

The Butt Study,

The Casablanca Conference,

Happy Valley,

The Dam Busters,
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The Battle Of Berlin,

Dresden,

The Norden Bombsight,

Superchargers,

The B-24,

The Fw 190,

Regensburg-Schweinfurt

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Books