Movies for Labor Day 2021

Posted on September 4, 2021 at 8:00 am

On Labor Day pay tribute to workers, especially those who have worked for better conditions for everyone and the essential workers who have kept us going through the pandemic. These movies can help us understand their challenges and their contributions.

Sally Field won an Oscar for “Norma Rae,” a real-life story about a courageous woman who helped mill workers form a union. It was inspired by Crystal Lee Sutton, a courageous advocate for workers’ rights.

Doris Day plays a union worker who falls for a new guy in management but doesn’t lose sight of the seven and a half cent raise the workers are bargaining for in the rollicking musical, “The Pajama Game.”

“10PM-Midnight: Working the Night Shift” is the story of the people who keep things going while the rest of us are asleep.

“Lifelines in the Lockdown” is a CBS News documentary from the early days of the pandemic about essential workers.

John Sayles’ “Matewan” tells the story of mine workers fighting for safer conditions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwEMIvDEFy4

“Harlan County USA” is a documentary about a strike by mine workers.

“Bread and Roses” is based on the real-life story of a strike by undocumented janitorial workers, with Adrian Brody as their lawyer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrDpd4sCswY

“Salt of the Earth” was inspired by an actual miners’ strike against the Empire Zinc Co. and the cast includes real-life miners who were involved in the strike

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Movies for Independence Day 2021!

Posted on July 2, 2021 at 7:00 am

This year’s 4th of July weekend is even more joyous than usual as we inch back to our new normal and reunite with friends and families. Be sure to catch the always-great Capital 4th on PBS.

Some movies to share:

Independence Day Will Smith, Bill Pullman, and Jeff Goldblum star in one ofthe 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.

Johnny Tremain The Disney version of this classic YA book by Esther Forbes is set in the Revolutionary War era, told from the perspective of an apprentice to Paul Revere.

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!

Movie Mom Discussing Desk Set on Christmas Actually Podcast

Posted on June 13, 2021 at 12:23 pm

It was such fun to talk about why the Tracy-Hepburn classic “Desk Set” is a classic Christmas movie on the “Christmas Actually” podcast with Collin Souter and Kerry Finegan.

Memorial Day Concert 2021 on PBS

Posted on May 28, 2021 at 5:08 pm

Gladys Knight, Vince Gill, the Four Tops, Alan Jackson, and Sara Bareilles join Gary Sinese and Joe Mantegna for the annual Memorial Day Concert at the Capitol Building. It will honor all of our heroes, Sunday, May 30, 2021, from 8:00 to 9:30 p.m. E.T.

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Movies for Memorial Day 2021

Posted on May 28, 2021 at 8:00 am

Memorial Day is more than the beginning of summer; it is a day to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice. I hope you can take some time over the weekend to think of those we have lost. Some movies to pay your respects:

The Outpost was on my top ten list for 2020, a movie that was sadly overlooked because it came out in the early weeks of the pandemic shutdown. It is based on the book by Jake Tapper. There are war stories that are about strategy and courage and triumph over evil that let us channel the heroism of the characters on screen. And then there are war stories that are all of that but also engage in the most visceral terms with questions of purpose and meaning that touch us all. “The Outpost” is that rare film in the second category, an intimate, immersive drama from director Rod Lurie, a West Point graduate and Army veteran who knows this world inside out and brings us from the outside in.

Gardens of Stone James Caan and James Earl Jones star in a film about the 1st Battalion 3d Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) at Fort Myer, Virginia, the U.S. Army’s Honor Guard. They conduct the funerals of fallen soldiers and guard the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery. Francis Ford Coppola directed this touching, elegiac story.

Taking Chance An officer (Kevin Bacon) escorts the body of a young Marine killed in Iraq. Each stop along the way is meaningful.

Mr. Roberts is a WWII story about a Navy cargo ship, based on the experiences of author Thomas Heggen. Henry Fonda stars in the title role or an executive officer who tries to protect the men from a tyrannical captain. Broadway, and the outstanding cast includes William Powell, James Cagney, and Oscar-winner Jack Lemmon.

And; Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers, Midway, Flags of Our Fathers, Act of Valor

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