Thursday, November 23, 2006
Northern Exposure: 5th Season
- Who's watched: M & G
- Mentions: None
- Commentary: This is the season that contains one of my favorite story-in-a-stories, "The Warrior and the Stallion" told in the episode "A Bolt from the Blue", episode #14 in this season, to which I've linked the title, above. The story is contained in a blog post online.
For a table of recurring actors/characters, see this post.
Here is the list of episodes for the 5th season.
Release Date: 1993-1994
Directed by several people, including one woman who directed one episode.
Labels: dramedy2, female-director2, shared-favorite, TV2
The Polar Express
- Who's watched: M & G
- Mentions: None
- Commentary: We've owned this movie for almost exactly a year, now. I'm not surprised there are no mentions of it in any of the journals. Last year, during a period when my Christmas Spirit was fairly high, I bought this movie on the strength of a recommendation of a friend who, knowing how much Mom likes Christmas and movies, thought she'd love this one. Last year, though, both of us were underwhelmed by the movie. Although it's only 100 minutes, Mom said, at the end, "Well, I'm glad that's over. It seemed to go on forever."
I wasn't particularly thrilled with the animation. I remember seeing the first movie made in this style of animation, a science fiction piece in which Ed Harris was one of the stars. There was something disturbing for me, watching a movie whose intent was to be so animated it appeared to be real and yet wasn't. It was this same effect that bothered me about this movie.
Interesting to me that Roger Ebert loved this movie. Of course, on his behalf, Mom and I aren't children. Perhaps that's the problem with us. Except that, neither of us don't like movies designed for children. We both, for instance, love Pee Wee's Playhouse. Oops! Maybe that's the problem!
At any rate, we decided to put it in our "to be traded" pile. Every time I accessed the pile during the ensuing year, though, I left this movie alone. I decided to try it on Mom this year, just in case, before I took it in for trade. This was a good decision. We decided to watch it last night. I told Mom we were watching it with an eye to whether or not we would keep it. I don't know whether she remembered this. What I do know is that she was thoroughly involved in the movie, this time. It even kicked off what I expect will be a Thanksgiving weekend of watching all our holiday movies (which are few, at this time). I was still so distracted that I chose to perform chores and advance Thanksgiving dinner prep. But, Mom was thoroughly satisfied; so, I guess it's a keeper; and now I'm entering it on our list.
Update 7/31/21: Well, obviously, we didn't keep this forever, or, perhaps (I don't recall), I didn't keep it forever. I probably chucked it to the library after Mom died, but, frankly, I don't remember. I might have traded it in during the two years left of Mom's life.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Tom Hanks Hero Boy Nona Gaye Hero Girl Peter Scolari Billy the Lonely Boy Eddie Deezen Know-It-All Michael Jeter Smokey/Steamer Leslie Zemeckis Sister Sarah/Hero Boy's Mother Dylan Cash Boy on Train Brendan King Pastry Chef
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
Release Date: 2004
Directed by Robert Zemeckis.
Labels: animated, Christmas, pseudo-cgi-animation, tom-hanks
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
The Greatest Story Ever Told
- Who's watched: M & G
- Mentions: *1*
- Commentary: Yet another one of Mom's "jesus-dvds" (I use this term tongue-in-cheek, as I also consider The Ten Commandments a "jesus-dvd"). I didn't think we'd ever own it because the last time we watched it on TV I noticed there were no English subtitles, which is essential for my mother's enjoyment of any movie. I found a cheap copy of it at the grocery store today, though, with closed captioning (although no English subtitles, which is unfortunate since closed captioning is sometimes kind of iffy on our set) so decided I'd get it for Mom. I think this is one of her favorites of this genre; not because it features yet another Nordic Jesus, but because of the scope and grand presentation. And, it's length. Weighty movies work better for her when they go to extreme lengths. This is not my favorite, but I am attracted to it's spectacle.
Now all we need to do is procure a copy of The Last Temptation of Christ [we finally did procure a copy of this movie] and Mom will figure we're set.
Update 2/7/18: Yes, I donated this movie to my local library. In the end, I knew I would never watch it again. Funny, because there are several jesus-dvds and bible epics in my/our collection that I enjoy, even when they are clearly cheesy. But this one? No can do. Sorry, Mom.
Update 5/16/2022: The cast in this movie is stupendous. Take a look at the Wikipedia segment about it; not the listing, but the paragraph below. An even better, more complete, list is the one at IMDb, as it attaches more actors to their roles than Wikipedia. It's a lot of fun to go through it. It was as though the production company decided to corral every actor signed to the overseeing studio into one movie before they started dying off. I mean, Pat Boone as The Angel at the Tomb? Really? Clearly, I mean, clearly a vanity project, and an unsuccessful one, at that. But, Mom loved it. I have a feeling there were, and are, a lot of Christian women "of a certain age" that feel the same.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Max von Sydow Jesus Dorothy McGuire The Virgin Mary Charlton Heston John the Baptist Claude Rains Herod the Great José Ferrer Herod Antipas Telly Savalas Pontius Pilate Martin Landau Caiaphas David McCallum Judas Iscariot Donald Pleasence The Dark Hermit - Satan Michael Anderson Jr. James the Less Roddy McDowall Matthew Joanna Dunham Mary Magdalene Joseph Schildkraut Nicodemus Ed Wynn Old Aram Pat Boone Angel at the Tomb Shelley Winters Woman Who Is Healed
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
Release Date: 1965
Directed by George Stevens.
Labels: bible-movies1, charlton-heston, claude-rains, drama8, jesus-dvds, max-von-sydow, mom-favorite1, period4, spectacle2, van-heflin
