The Grinch: DVD Extras
Posted on January 24, 2019 at 8:00 am
Illumination’s “The Grinch” is available on digital/streaming and will be out on DVD/Blu-Ray February 5 and we got a sneak peek at some of the extras.
Share the Stories of Martin Luther King on MLK Day 2019
Posted on January 20, 2019 at 12:41 pm
As we celebrate the birthday of Martin Luther King, every family should take time to talk about this great American leader and hero of the Civil Rights Movement. There are outstanding films and other resources for all ages.
I highly recommend the magnificent movie Boycott
It is humbling to remember that the boycotters never demanded complete desegregation of the public transit; that seemed too unrealistic a goal. This website has video interviews with the people who were there. This newspaper article describes Dr. King’s meeting with the bus line officials. And excellent teaching materials about the Montgomery bus boycott are available, including the modest and deeply moving reminder to the boycotters once segregation had been ruled unconstitutional that they should “demonstrate calm dignity,” “pray for guidance,” and refrain from boasting or bragging.
Families should also read They Walked To Freedom 1955-1956: The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott
The March, narrated by Denzel Washington, is a documentary about the historic March on Washington with Dr. King’s famous “I have a dream” speech.
The brilliant film Selma
The Long Walk Home
Citizen King
Martin Luther King Jr. – I Have a Dream
For children, Our Friend, Martin
Trailer: Ryan Hansen Solves Crimes on Television*, Season 2
Posted on January 15, 2019 at 11:20 am
I signed up for YouTube Red to see the first season of Ryan Hansen Solves Crimes on Television*, and am really looking forward to Season 2, which starts January 30. It is smart, fresh, and very funny, with great guest stars, a lot of sharp, knowing, meta-commentary on pop culture, and a lead performance by Hansen that is so resolutely self-involved lesser-Hollywood bro it is almost impossible to believe it isn’t real.
The Upside
Posted on January 10, 2019 at 5:49 pm
B-| Lowest Recommended Age: | High School |
| MPAA Rating: | Rated PG-13 for suggestive content and drug use |
| Profanity: | Some strong and crude language |
| Alcohol/ Drugs: | Marijuana, some alcohol |
| Violence/ Scariness: | Severe medical issues, some peril, reference to serious accident |
| Diversity Issues: | A theme of the movie |
| Date Released to Theaters: | January 11, 2019 |
| Date Released to DVD: | May 20, 2019 |
Del did not want the job. He did not even know what job he was applying for. But his parole officer warned him that he would have to go back to prison if he could not show that he had been turned down by three potential employers. So, he takes the elevator to the penthouse thinking he is applying for a custodial position and barged into another candidate’s interview because he just wants to be turned down and get out of there and pick up his son from school. Instead, he ends up getting hired. Philip (Cranston) likes Del because he is so inappropriate. While the other applicants for the position spoke in low, soothing, deferential tones, Del was at home with saying whatever he was thinking.
Being at home with whatever the job required was another thing, however. Del is fine with lifting Philip into the chair and driving him around in his fancy cars. He is more than fine with his room in the penthouse, though the shower is very complicated and probably bigger than his prison cell. He is fine with Philip’s DNR orders. He is not fine with some of the more intimate aspects of the job.
It is about 15 minutes too long, and very much a studio product, burnished and focus-grouped. Philip teaches Del to appreciate opera and Del teaches Philip to appreciate Aretha Franklin. They each push the other out of their comfort zones. Del forces Philip to call his “epistolary” friend, a woman he has been corresponding with through old-school letters. Philip makes it possible for Del to resolve some of the issues of his past, including beginning to develop a relationship with his estranged son.
The three performers bring a lot of luster to a formulaic screenplay (opera/Aretha, TWO scenes high on weed, a breaking-everything-will-be-cathartic moment), especially Cranston, who brings warmth and depth to a character who is extremely patient and understanding (until he isn’t). Kidman is marvelous as Philip’s quiet and very proper executive assistant. And Hart has his best moments when he is slightly toned down, unsure, and disheveled from his usual high-energy, peppery persona, making us look forward to seeing him explore a wider variety of roles, maybe even something dramatic. If he listens to the advice Del gets from Philip, maybe that will happen.
Parents should know that this film features some strong and crude language, sexual references and graphic sexual humor and a mild situation, drug use and drug humor, and a severe medical condition.
Family discussion: What need can you find a way to fill? Who can you encourage? Why did Philip like Del?
If you like this, try: the original French version, “The Intouchables” and “Me Without You”
A Dog’s Way Home
Posted on January 10, 2019 at 5:29 pm
B +| Lowest Recommended Age: | 4th - 6th Grade |
| MPAA Rating: | Rated PG for thematic elements, some peril and language |
| Profanity: | Some mild language |
| Alcohol/ Drugs: | None |
| Violence/ Scariness: | Peril and violence, death of human and animal characters, characters with disabilities and PTSD |
| Diversity Issues: | Diverse characters |
| Date Released to Theaters: | January 11, 2019 |
| Date Released to DVD: | April 8, 2019 |
Bryce Dallas Howard provides the voice of Bella, a pit bull pup living under an abandoned house in Denver with a bunch of homeless cats. She is loved and happy until animal control comes and takes her mother away. The mother cat adopts Bella, who is comforted and at home until the arrival of two animal welfare volunteers, who come by to leave cat food every day. Lucas (a warmly appealing Jonah Hauer-King) is a Veterans Administration employee studying for the MCATs and living with his mother, an Army vet struggling with depression. He is instantly taken with Bella and adopts her, even though his lease does not allow dogs.
Pit bulls are not allowed in Denver. It is up to the individual animal control officer to decide which dogs are covered by the ban, and one has it in for Bella. He picks her up once and Lucas pays the fine. But if he picks her up again, she will be killed. The developer who owns the property with the abandoned homes will do anything to get Lucas and the other animal lovers to stop interfering with his permits.
Lucas brings Bella to New Mexico to stay with friends so she will be safe while he moves to a new apartment outside of the Denver city limits. But Bella does not understand. She remembers that Lucas taught her how to go home, and so she runs away and begins a 400 mile adventure that will take more than two years.
Bella has encounters with humans and animals along the way, some kind, some predatory. She makes some friends and has the opportunity to find new loving homes but she wants to be with Lucas.
Having Bella as our narrator adds some charm to the movie because her understanding may be limited in some respects, but she never loses sight of the essentials. The individual encounters introduce us to a range of human characters, some worth a movie of their own, like the disabled vets who are able to experience joy and purpose through Bella (especially when they have to hide her from the doctor in charge of the VA hospital in one of the film’s best scenes). She saves one man’s life and becomes the last friend of a homeless man (Edward James Olmos). And she mothers “big kitten,” an orphan mountain lion who will someday return the favor. The footage here is heartwarming and genuinely astonishing, especially after they meet again when the majestic cat is fully grown.
This is a nice way to start the year, a story of love and loyalty, canine and human.
Parents should know that this film features humans and animals in peril, injured and killed, animal hit by a car, animal killed by hunters, character dies and the body is discovered by children, and characters who struggle with PTSD and depression.
Family discussion: What did Bella understand better than the humans did? Why did Bella make such a difference for the veterans?
If you like this, try: “The Incredible Journey” and “A Dog’s Purpose”