The Man Who Walked Between the Towers…And Other Inspiring Tales

Posted on November 7, 2011 at 8:00 am

MPAA Rating:	Not rated
Profanity:	None
Alcohol/ Drugs:	None
Violence/ Scariness:	None
Diversity Issues:	Diverse characters
Date Released to Theaters:	2011
Date Released to DVD:	November 7, 2011
Amazon.com ASIN:	B000G1R3Z8

The Man Who Walked Between the Towers… and More Inspiring Tales is another delight from Scholastic, who take the best children’s books and turn them into superb short films for beginning readers and their families. The title film is based on the Caldecott book written and illustrated by Mordecai Gerstein about the 1974, feat by French aerialist Philippe Petit, who stretched a tightrope between the two towers of the World Trade Center and spent an hour walking, dancing, and performing high-wire tricks a quarter mile in the sky. The DVD also includes three more true stories:

Snowflake Bentley, the story of the boy who loved snowflakes and grew up to teach the world about their properties and beauty through his photographs,

Miss Rumphius, about a woman who believes that our purpose in life is to make the world more beautiful and who finds her own way to contribute to that goal, and

The Pot that Juan built, about a man who transformed his local village’s economy with production of his useful and lovely ceramics.

I have one to give away! Send me an email at moviemom@moviemom.com with “wire” in the subject line and tell me your favorite inspiring character. Don’t forget your address! I will select one winner at random a week from today.

Christmas with a Capital C

Posted on November 1, 2011 at 9:05 am

Lowest Recommended Age:	Kindergarten - 3rd Grade
MPAA Rating:	Not Rated
Profanity:	None
Alcohol/ Drugs:	None
Violence/ Scariness:	None
Diversity Issues:	A theme of the movie
Date Released to Theaters:	2011
Date Released to DVD:	November 1, 2011
Amazon.com ASIN:	B005BRFN8Q

This Dove-approved family film stars Ted McGinley and Daniel Baldwin as one-time high school rivals who find themselves on opposite sides again when they battle over Christmas decorations in a small Alaska town and learn that Christmas is not about what is displayed but what is felt and shared.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkK30YFv9u0

Teeny-Tiny and the Witch Woman…And 4 More Spine-Tingling Tales

Posted on October 28, 2011 at 8:00 am

Date Released to Theaters:	September 26, 2006
Date Released to DVD:	October 27, 2011
Amazon.com ASIN:	B000H0M47U

Teeny-Tiny and the Witch-Woman… and 4 More Spine-Tingling Tales is a perfect Halloween treat for the littlest trick-or-treaters, with stories that are more fun than scary.

Teeny-Tiny is the story of a boy who outsmarts the witch who wants to eat him and his brothers and sisters for dinner. The Witch in the Cherry Tree wants to eat a family’s freshly-backed cakes and David and his mother must find a way to outsmart her. The Boy With Two Shadows finds out what can go wrong when you promise to help a witch. In Space Case, a space traveler makes a friend on Earth. And in King of the Cats, an old man tells his wife about the strange procession of cats he saw in the Louisiana bayou.

The Worst Witch

Posted on October 17, 2011 at 8:34 am

Lowest Recommended Age:	4th - 6th Grades
MPAA Rating:	NR
Profanity:	None
Alcohol/ Drugs:	None
Violence/ Scariness:	Spooky Halloween themes
Diversity Issues:	None
Date Released to Theaters:	1986
Date Released to DVD:	October 16, 2011
Amazon.com ASIN:	B0002JP5EK

Thanks to my godson, Theo Leiss, for reminding me of this Halloween treat! The Worst Witch is based on a pre-Harry Potter series of books by Jill Murphy about a school for young witches. Fairuza Balk, who would later play a teenaged witch in “The Craft” (and who was already a gifted young actress) plays Mildred Hubble, who can’t seem to get anything right until only she can save the day before an evil witch destroys the school. Diana Rigg plays the school’s headmistress and her evil twin sister and Tim Curry provides one of the highlights as the Grand Wizard.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmG80v473AI

The Way

Posted on October 6, 2011 at 10:59 pm

B+

Lowest Recommended Age:	Middle School
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG-13 for some thematic elements, drug use, and smoking
Profanity:	Mild language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Drinking and drunkenness, a lot of smoking, drug use
Violence/ Scariness:	Sad off-screen death, some scuffles
Diversity Issues:	None
Date Released to Theaters:	October 7, 2011
Date Released to DVD:	February 21, 2012
Amazon.com ASIN:	B0062VL4QA

In honor of this DVD Pick of the Week, I have three copies to give away. Send me an email at moviemom@moviemom.com with “The Way” in the subject line and tell me your favorite Martin Sheen movie. Don’t forget your address! US addresses only.

A story about a father and is son comes to us from a father and his son. Emilio Estavez wrote and directed his father Martin Sheen in a touching and uplifting movie about a doctor who completes the pilgrimage he told his estranged son not to make after the son is killed in a storm.

Sheen plays Tom, an affluent ophthalmologist living in Las Angeles, playing golf with his friends and worried about his son Daniel (Estavez). In his late 30’s, Daniel has dropped out of his PhD program to roam the world. Tom gets a call from a French policeman telling him that Daniel is dead. He flies to France, identifies the body, and then impulsively decides to finish what Daniel had started, to walk the Way of St. James from St Jean Pied de Port to Santiago de Compostela, 780 km/484 miles as pilgrims have done since the middle ages. He will bring Daniel along with him, leaving his ashes along the path so that he can complete his journey.

Tom has no interest in the other pilgrims or in sharing with anyone what he is doing. But there is no way to avoid the people who are walking along the same road and staying at the same inns and soon he finds himself sharing the journey with an affable Dutchman named Joost (Yorick van Wageningen), a bitter Canadian named Sarah (Deborah Kara Unger), and a frantic Irish writer named Jack (James Nesbitt). People on The Way tend to leave their last names behind. Everyone is just a first name and a nationality — and everyone but Tom gives a reason for being there. Joost wants to lose weight before his brother’s wedding. Sarah wants to quit smoking, but only after she completes the pilgrimage. Jack is there to write a book about it and his editor is impatient. But pilgrims are not always honest with themselves or each other and part of what they will learn on the road is what they are really doing there.

At times it has the feel of a television movie but the scenery is spectacular and benefits from the big screen and Estavez as writer and director has a good sense of timing and a gift for cinematic storytelling. It is funny and heartfelt and inspiring and it will make you think more deeply about your own journey.

(more…)