THE GREATEST GAME EVER PLAYED (PG)

The Greatest Game Ever Played doesn’t really fit the KidsFlix criteria (we try for offbeat, classic, foreign, etc.), but somehow this got to the top our NetFlix list when we weren’t looking.

K snorted and said, “Oh, it’s Disney. It’s probably really dumb.” For those of you who are newcomers here, K is 12 now, and of course at this age it gets more challenging to get him to sit through movies that he doesn’t choose himself. Although, to be clear, he’ll often choose something like Ratatouille, just as often as he might choose something like Inkheart. (Husband D and I are just grateful that K still loves to watch ‘50s and ‘60s sci fi flicks with us! He’s become quite the aficionado.)

This film is based on the true story of a young caddie in the early 1900s, growing up under the critical eye of a struggling immigrant father and hardworking mother, whose own golfing talents land him in the U.S. Open. The story is one of overcoming odds, of believing in ones’ self, of the ugliness of classism and stereotyping ... there are a number of discussion-worthy issues trotted out here. But the film itself is beautifully made, it’s rich to both the eye and the soul, and here’s the key thing: our scoffing son soon succumbed to the film’s charms and he thoroughly enjoyed it. It has a mature feeling about it, like it’s something kids can really sink their teeth into, and they can feel that in the first ten minutes.

I learned something, too: apparently Shia LaBeof is not all that cool with the male tweener set. I believe K referred to him as “Shia LeDoof “ (um, would that be spelled LeDuf, if it were short for “dufus?”). We managed to avoid the most recent Transformers movie -- K seemed pretty disinterested, which was a blessing considering the awful reviews I read and the surprising and annoying level of sexual humor in the first one, which was off-putting, to say the least -- and K hasn’t seen a whole of LeBeof in action. So I gather this is a general vibe from the tweener pack at the moment.

Maybe they’re old enough that they’re jealous of the guy getting next to Megan Fox. Is that possible?

TEENAGERS FROM OUTER SPACE

I was just reading my quick post below about It Came From Outer Space, and realized I had a scene from this film in mind when I mentioned bad girl blonds... I don't think there was a platinum-haired young lady with "DOOMED" stamped on her forehead (to pay for her lusty thoughts, one presumes) in that film.

Instead, she appeared (briefly) in Teenagers From Outer Space, which was a fantastically entertaining 1950s "aliens from space" film we all enjoyed not long ago. (Yeah, we're on a bit of a '50s sci-fi kick here, but that happens!)

You'll understand my confusing the two movies, as both have a similar theme running through them that was rather atypical of the time: these aliens didn't choose our fair planet for conquering or blowing up, but rather as a temporary home for different purposes: in essence, for doing a little work under the hood in the former, and for growing food in the latter. Ok, more specifically, in Teenagers, they need to find an environment suitable for breeding the giant creatures on which they feed their human-like populace. The creatures are called Gargons, which coincidentally resemble very, very large lobsters, and make one's mouth water for a good portion of the film.

Teenagers is hilarious in many ways, and one of the most confounding quirks is that the actors portraying the "teens" look to be about 30 years old. Our hero, Derek, is the handsome young man -- er, teen -- alien who changes his mind about the whole plan, realizing it imperils Earth humans, and he's developed a bit of a crush on one of them, the perky Betty.

But other aliens don't share his view, and out come the laser guns, which can reduce a living, breathing body to a pile of bones (maybe this is more of a PG outing for younger viewers). There’s a fair amount of action, a moral message that ... um... not all teenagers are bad, and it’s just a whole lot of laughs.

IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOON (PG)

To my surprise, this documentary about the 12 human beings who have been to the moon and back is directed by British producer/director David Sington. This nifty little film not only captures a very American feeling about our amazing accomplishments in space so many decades ago, but also does a fine job reminding us what national unity and pride feels like. Ever since the post-9/11 ... love fest ... ended (around the time Bush started talking about invading Iraq), our country has forged a divide so deep, you think it may never close up.

(Also funny how the post-2008 election love fest has fizzled, adding to that divide, now that Republicans are remembering what it feels like to be in the minority: not fun, and kinda scary when you have no power. But I sure hope those who are getting so riled up figure out how to get along, and turn down the rhetoric and the stretching of truth, and leave the guns at home. Talk about scary.)

Where was I?

Oh, yeah, national unity. In The Shadow of the Moon leaves you with a nice feeling, and when you’re gathering up the popcorn bowls and putting the pillows back on the sofa, it has you imagining some new goal, or mission, that the U.S. could embark on to pull us back together. Something universally desired, attainable, admirable.

As thoughts like “eradicate world hunger” and “wipe out illiteracy” whoosh through your pea brain, you find yourself wondering, “Uh, what did getting onto the moon actually do for humankind that was so great?”

And then you banish that thought, as suddenly as it appears.

Where would we (any of us) be without curiosity and exploration driving us to do crazy things like walk on the moon? Where would we be if we simply didn’t possess a desire to know what’s next, what’s beyond, or what is possible?

Ok, pyschological mumbo-jumbo aside, here’s what you want to know: this is a beautiful film, one that focuses on giving our hero astronauts ample opportunity to look back and tell us how it felt, what they were thinking at the moment of lift-off, or landing. They’re all intensely likable and easy to listen to. Unfortunately, Neil Armstrong is pretty reclusive these days, and declined to participate, which just seems crazy; he was the first human to touch moon dirt! (The weight and importance of that does not escape the others, and it’s briefly discussed and recognized as being quite a burden to carry.) The sense of awe that many of these men express about their experience is palpable; one proclaims, with no shortage of wonder in his voice, “I spent three days of my life on the moon ... that’s just ... science fiction!”

Original footage has been lovingly restored and touched up, and the visuals are brilliant. The moonscapes and earthscapes -- as well as the joyful first moonwalk footage -- should impress any kid (you just need to remind them it’s real). There is also tragedy (three astronauts perished in the tragedy of Apollo 1), but the film is mostly a celebration of everything that went right on the nine missions that put men on the moon.

If you haven’t started your kids on documentaries yet, this is a good place to start.

IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE (G)

I nearly forgot to write this one up! I had another post ready to go and realized I’d somehow skipped over one of the finest ‘50s saucers-from-space flicks we’ve yet seen. Yikes.

Ok, since it’s been a while and I didn’t take notes, I’ll give you the briefest review possible: It Came From Outer Space has all we love about the genre, some really good acting, hilariously fun stereotypes (why are blonds always the bad girls?!), beautiful scenery (the southwest desert), and it’s got one heck of a moral theme running through it -- one about paranoia, ignorance-generated fear, and conformity. Excellent.

This was -- allegedly -- the biggest influence on Steven Spielberg when he made Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and it was originally released in 3-D. Occasionally you'll find it playing in art houses (such as our much-missed Castro Theater in SF where it played a couple of years ago). Based on a Ray Bradbury novel, you can pick out the professor from "Gilligan’s Island" if you’re one of us older and wiser people.

You'll find more KidsFlix recommendations along these lines in our sci-fi fantasy category.

Harold Lloyd Collections (G)

I wrote a while back about one of the greatest silent comedies, Safety Last! starring Harold Lloyd, and there are a number of collections that feature his work in short form. I'm revisiting Lloyd (and should mention Chaplin and Keaton in this breath, too) to remind you that short films may be a great way to get kids raised on color screens interested in these silent, black and white classics.

We recently rented The Harold Lloyd Comedy Collection (Vol. 2) from Netflix, when my 9-year old nephew was visiting, and weren't sure it would hold his attention. Son K is accustomed by now to his parents pushing ... unusual ("to a kid," he says, in the same way he says, "No kid eats grilled peaches" -- or, insert most any non-pizza/burger food item here -- "You just think they do!") movie fare his way, but we weren't sure about his cousin.

To our delight, it worked. These things are so much fun, and so out of the ordinary for today's kids, I urge you again to consider these for family movie night. Again, try the shorts first for many of these classics; some run 20 minutes, some closer to an hour, but all may be easier for the first time out.

(See my post on Laurel and Hardy movies here.)

THE COLOUR OF MAGIC (NR - PG)

Oh, we stumbled on a great success the other day.

Do you know Terry Pratchett’s long-running sci-fi novel series called Discworld? If you’re a sci-fi nut, you probably do. (Actually, to clarify, the books are comic fantasy novels.) If not, and you have a kid sitting around this summer, watching too much TV or perhaps wishing they hadn’t finished the last Harry Potter book, you might want to check them out. According to Wikipedia, “newly released Discworld books regularly top The Sunday Times best-sellers list, making Pratchett the UK's best-selling author in the 1990s, although he has since been overtaken by Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling.”

Son K has been reading the Orson Scott Card Ender’s Game novel series, and I’m going to encourage him to take a look at these. I came across the DVD, and then read about the books, and they sound like a ton of fun.

This DVD is a made-for-(British)-TV adaptation, running approximately three hours, following the first two Discworld novels, The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic (there are over 30 books in the series).

Get this:
The wizard Rincewind is in charge of the naïve Twoflower (a “tourist” from the Agatean Empire) during his visit to the magical Discworld, a flat world balanced on the backs of four elephants which stand on the back of a giant turtle.

No, I didn't make that up.

The snippets I saw during K’s viewing were really wonderful. He and his 9-year-old cousin watched it, and loved every strange minute of it... I popped in and out at the beginning to get a sense of the content, and left them to the task, feeling it was more than appropriate and probably a wild ride. K told me later how much he and his cousin really enjoyed watching, over the course of a couple of nights.

I think I need to devote an evening to watching it with K (who wouldn't mind seeing it again), as it looks quite beautiful and wickedly fun in that Terry Gilliam kind of way. Actors like Jeremy Irons and Tim Curry make appearances as well. (Oh, and it's not rated by the MPAA, but I'd figure it falls into the "PG" category quite comfortably.)

THE THREE MUSKETEERS (1948) (G)

There are so many film versions of the great Alexander Dumas story The Three Musketeers that it can be a challenge just to pick one! We had both the 1973 and this 1948 version on our list for a while, and the 1948 version ended up arriving first. We may keep the other in the queue, as it’s apparently a sillier, more comical version (it stars Michael York, Oliver Reed, Richard Chamberlain and even Charlton Heston) that is a lot of fun, and quite different from the others.

The earliest Musketeers film is the 1921 Douglas Fairbanks version, a black and white silent vehicle that is no doubt glorious on its own terms. (The choreography is said to be quite stunning.) But the 1948 version caught my eye for a number of reasons, including Vincent Price starring as the evil Cardinal Richelieu and a young Gene Kelly as the earnest and dashing D'Artagnan who joins the Three Musketeers in interrupting Richelieu’s dastardly plot to overthrow the king.

Filmed in Technicolor, the visuals are very appealing for kids (and adults!), with gowns and jewels and the French countryside drenched in rich color. As I suspected, Kelly is superb as D’Artagnan, who is a bit green -- coming from a small country village to the big city of Paris -- but reliably cocky and self-assured, and rightly so; his sword skills are astonishing to all who unfortunately cross his path, and his footwork is magical. (You know, of course, that Gene Kelly is even better known for his dancing, in movies such as Singing in the Rain, right?)

The writing sparkles and jabs, it’s fast moving and witty. If your kids aren’t totally absorbed by the film in the first 15 minutes or so, when an acrobatic swashbuckling scene unfolds with all kinds of smart visual jokes neatly woven in, I would be surprised.

If that happens, then get them the animated, Disney version, and save this one for your own date night. (PS: Note that the G-rating is my own, and it may in fact be more of a PG movie as far as younger kids go ... it's officially labeled NR, meaning Not Rated.)

IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA (PG)

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This is another fine Ray Harryhausen-effects film, from 1955, and it’s been on our list for quite a while. It’s directed by Robert Gordon, and the creature-effects are pure Harryhausen, and they’re as satisfying as one would hope.

What we’ve got here is an enormous, freak octopus lurking in the depths of the Pacific, roused from its slumber by atomic testing, surfacing to terrorize submarine crews, boats and the city of San Francisco. Navy Commander Pete Matthews and his crew narrowly escape the clutches of the giant creature, and Matthews is then paired up with a couple of professor-types (one is female, and so, following in true 1950’s film fashion, a love triangle must blossom) to figure out what to do about the thing.

The opening scene is really impressive, taking place inside the sub, with the actors and star, Kenneth Tobey as the commander, giving wonderfully natural, understated performances, conveying men going about their work, suppressing panic, and trying to figure out what this thing is that they have encountered. It feels like it was shot in a true sub, not on a set, and the faint bits of upper lip perspiration and the mounting tension help the sense of claustrophobia become more tangible.

The creature is fantastic, and the scenes of tentacles reaching into the streets of San Francisco, wrapping around the Golden Gate Bridge and piers on the Embarcadero are stupidly fun. It’s cheesy enough not to really scare the small kids (um, I think), and fun enough for everyone to enjoy. Our disc, from Netflix, came with a nifty little bio piece on Harryhausen that we all enjoyed.

Oh, and It Came From Beneath The Sea is one of those period pieces that offers up plenty of opportunity to discuss SEXIST BEHAVIOR with your boys.

"K,” I said after one scene that made me scream, “Personal space, personal space!” [Commander Matthews got way too close to the lovely professor Joyce if you ask me], “K,” I said, “You try that at any job and you’ll be immediately fired, if not punched in the nose.”

“Duh,” he said.

NEVER CRY WOLF (PG)

Yes, it’s been a while since I’ve posted a review here on KidsFlix. But I’m back now!

I wrote some time ago about another film directed by Carroll Ballard (Duma), and you probably know a couple of others: his film The Black Stallion is beloved, as is Fly Away Home. It’s hard to believe that neither son K nor I have seen either of these, and they’re on my list, but they’re so well known that I tend to skirt around them in favor of lesser-known films. You may want to check them out if you haven’t yet.

Never Cry Wolf is a film taken from the autobiographical book by Canadian writer Farley Mowat, and in Ballard fashion, it’s stunningly gorgeous piece of work. There is much to rave about -- the story itself is an intriguing one, the performance by Charles Martin Smith is pretty much perfection, the scenery is breathtaking and the director wisely lets silence speak in many instances ... oh, and the score by Mark Isham is lovely. Oh! And the performances by Samason Jorah and Zachary Ittimangnaq as local Inuits are also perfect and lovely.

What’s not to like about Never Cry Wolf?

Not a thing. This story about an inexperienced scientist dropping -- literally -- into the middle of the frozen arctic to study wolves has so many important topics woven into it (a number of things worth discussing with the kids afterwards) that you really get two bangs for your buck: a fascinating and visually pleasing story on film, and plenty of food for thought.

(Caveat for the prudish parent: there is a scene -- actually two -- where Smith bares his backside, and one scene is rather lengthy. I don’t want to give anything away, so won’t give details, but Smiths’ character is basically portrayed [very carefully] au naturale for a good five or six minutes. There is also one scene that might be a bit scary for younger kids, where he dreams of a wolf attack.)

This is great family time viewing; add it to your list!

ESCAPE FROM THE PLANET OF THE APES (G)

While I was out one night recently, husband D and son K watched Escape From the Planet of the Apes (1971), which is the third in the series of Planet of the Apes films.

Although K told me it was “really good,” it was D who told me it was perhaps even great, and that K really enjoyed it. Since I didn’t see it, and getting anything more out of either of them is like getting the younger one to ... say, clean his room -- ahem -- here’s the Netflix descriptor:

In this third installment of the Planet of the Apes series, Cornelius (Roddy McDowall), Zira (Kim Hunter) and Milo (Sal Mineo) travel back in time to escape the destruction of their world. Landing in 20th century Los Angeles, they're treated as curiosities and celebrities at first, but soon become hunted by a suspicious and fearful government intent on making them the subjects of an experiment that could alter the course of human and ape events.

I’ve already given the thumbs up to the first two films (Planet of the Apes and Beneath the Planet of the Apes), but adding a third one to the “recommended” list feels very satisfying.

Now that you know you’ve got three here that work with kids in the 10-year-old range, you can plan a series of movie watching nights.  How cool will your kids be, growing up knowing about these classic films of the ‘60s and ‘70s?

(By the way, these are all officially rated G, but you know that these days that equates a PG rating, right?)

WINCHESTER '73 (PG)

In 1876, the rare and coveted ’73 Winchester rifle was the “gun that won the west,” and when our hero Jimmy Stewart -- er, I mean Lin McAdam --wins one in a shooting contest (one of many great scenes in this classic western), you know there’s trouble ahead.

The gun is stolen, and what follows is a series of tense standoffs and misadventures between McAdam and a dirty, rotten character named Dutch Henry. Son K points out: “Like most westerns, you got your good guy, your bad guy, a tough girl,” (Shelley Winters) “... attacking Indians, some gun fights and fast horse riding.”

Yeah, that about sums it up. But it’s superbly acted, tightly directed (by Anthony Mann, who also directed El Cid, Spartacus, and The Fall of the Roman Empire, among many others), and the story goes easy on the depictions of boozing and hard livin’ women. (Winters does play a former “dance hall” girl, but there aren’t any scenes too racy or difficult to explain to the kiddies regarding her past.)

Of course, there’s some violence. People get killed, and some of the villains are oustanding examples of the dark side of humanity.

Just put on your best Jon Lovitz impression, and remind the kids, “It’s just ... acting!”

(Oh, a warning: do not read the summary on Netflix! They have a huge spoiler in their brief description of the film. Also, have fun finding a young Rock Hudson and a young Tony Curtis in the movie. One plays an Indian chief. Hilarious. )

- Scene during a night ride, Lin and his partner, High-Spade Frankie Wilson, know they’re surrounded by Indians on the war path:

Lin McAdam: Yeah, I hear 'em.
High-Spade Frankie Wilson: I told you night riding wasn't smart.
Lin McAdam: I guess you did.
High-Spade Frankie Wilson: Now we're smack in the middle of 'em.
Lin McAdam: I guess you're right again.
High-Spade Frankie Wilson: Being right ain't gonna do us any good. What do we do now?
Lin McAdam: Well, keep riding.
High-Spade Frankie Wilson: With injuns all around us?
Lin McAdam: Maybe you'd feel better if we stopped?
High-Spade Frankie Wilson: Ah... no.
Lin McAdam: Well, then maybe we better just keep riding...

MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL (PG)

Monty Python and the Holy Grail was officially rated PG, but that was back in 1975, before PG-13 was instituted as a step before R. It definitely earns the higher rating, so depending on the age of your kids, you want to consider what’s ahead.

Son K is now 12, going on 18, and we figured it was an appropriate time for Monty Python. Of course, the television episodes are available on Netflix and elsewhere, so starting there is a possibility. Those can be spotty, in terms of what might be inappropriate, as you don’t know what you get from episode to episode. (For some reason, when I think of Monty Python, the first thing I think of is, “Oh, intercourse the penguin!”)

Anyway, we rented Holy Grail, knowing that both The Life of Brian and The Meaning of Life have solid R ratings, and figured we’d be pretty safe.

First, you need to know that there is a great amount of cartoonish gore in the film, which isn’t a problem -- at least not in our house. You may not care for the spurting streams of fake blood and occasional rampages of killing that are darkly hilarious -- how funny is the line, “It’s only a flesh wound!” uttered by the Black Knight as he’s losing limbs in a sword fight?! -- but compared to what a lot of kids see in movies and X-box games these days, it’s probably no worse ... and the cartoonish aspect helps offset the volume.

As suspected, K loved Monty Python’s absurd and bizarre brand of humor ... we had a great time, and now we’ve got some TV episodes lined up to see.

Here’s the caveat: material that may be inappropriate includes some language (no F-bombs), and dialogue rich with sexual innuendo, most of which kids under 12 or 13 will either not get, or will miss due to the speedy delivery. Most of it takes place in one scene, where one character enters a castle full of vestal virgins, one of whom points out they are all between the ages of 16 and 19, unsupervised, and pretty much all deserve spankings. We were sort of holding our breaths through this scene, and it reached a pinnacle with her offering -- very quickly and rather casually, so it didn’t really stand out -- “followed by oral sex.”

I’m not sure, but I think I heard K laugh at that. I was trying to just get through the moment.

Anyway, now that you know the worst of it, you can plan to talk loudly over that part, or take one of those well-timed breaks.

If you’re new to Monty Python yourself, you need to be the type of person who appreciates ridiculously hilarious lines such as, “I fart in your general direction!” These are lines your kids are sure to remember, and will practice repeating until you long for the good old days of "Blues Clues" and "The Wiggles."

Here's a great clip (whoever put it on YouTube had a brightness issue, but you get the idea):

NATURE'S MOST AMAZING EVENTS

We caught some of “Nature’s Most Amazing Events” on the Discovery Channel, and this month the series is released on DVD and on Blue-ray.

A close cousin to the great Planet Earth series, this program also features stunning photography, and really enlightening storytelling. Following the natural cycles of nature that can be both life threatening and species propagating, the series is a great way for kids to grasp the interconnectedness of all things: One animal’s tragedy may be another’s survival.


The Great Flood; The Great Feast; The Great Melt; these are natural and climactic phenomena that stretch across the planet, affecting wildlife on different continents with equal vigor. (These are also the names of episodes.)

If you’re looking for some nature viewing this weekend that’s a notch (or two) above what you might stumble on watching TV, clicking between Animal Planet and PBS, pick up Nature's Most Amazing Events instead. Highly recommended.

• For more "nature" and documentary ideas, check these out.

NANOOK OF THE NORTH (G)

Filmmaker Robert Flaherty spent some years traveling the far points of the earth -- mining, mapping, and exploring -- and took up an interest in film while on an expedition for Sir William Mackenzie's Canadian railroad. Original footage capturing Inuit life in the harsh Hudson Bay regions in Canada were destroyed in a fire upon Flaherty’s return home, but only after enjoying a wildly enthusiastic response from those who saw it. He returned to the far north with the sole purpose of filming in mind -- Nanook of the North is widely considered the first documentary film made, and Flaherty is considered a progenitor of “ethnographic film.”

This is a short, silent (black and white, need we say it?) movie that even your bounciest of kids may be able to sit through, as one scene after another is a jaw-dropping delight. Witnessing the patience and stealth needed to ice fish, to kill a monstrous, blubbery walrus, or to carefully construct an air-tight igloo (the window remodel scene was just the most awesome thing!), is mind boggling, and what’s better than visuals that happen to be fascinating and educational at the same time?

Husband D and I were so glad we saw this, even though we had to wrangle an increasingly impatient, pre-teen K into sitting through it. But we marveled over scenes, wondering how much was staged, and how much was natural.


I’m not going to spoil it by telling them that, according to Wikipedia, much of it was staged (some forgivably and necessarily, considering the restraints of filmmaking equipment at the time). Flaherty also wanted to show the historical, traditional ways of life in the far north, so, for example, although the Inuit at the time were using firearms for hunting they put them aside for the film. Nanook’s wife was not really his wife, but an actress.

Harder to take, according to Wikipedia (however, a “citation needed” notation appears next to this tidbit), is that Flaherty may have put Nanook and others in jeopardy all in the name of a few good shots. The worst of it is a detail credited on Wikipedia to Melanie McGrath's book, The Long Exile: A Tale of Inuit Betrayal and Survival in the High Arctic: Flaherty reportedly had an affair with the woman playing Nanook’s wife, and fathered a son that he never owned up to.

There is absolutely no mention of this on IMDB, so perhaps Wikipedia’s claims and sources are incorrect. I like to think that’s possible.

All that aside, this film was one of the first 25 films to be selected in 1989 for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” Forgiving the manipulation Flaherty may have felt necessary at the time to get his point across, one can certainly applaud the Film Registry’s effort, and enjoy this film simply for its purpose and spirit, and the truths that lie in it, even if they are perhaps slightly distorted. Flaherty had real foresight and vision; he also had an abundance of resourcefulness and creativity, and he possessed an admirable adventurousness, to say the least.


(There is a 1994 film depicting Flaherty’s making of Nanook, called Kabloonak [it means, “stranger], and one reviewer on IMDB calls it “A work of Existential art.” It might be worth checking out.)

WAR GAMES (PG)

This should probably be a Weekly Kids Classic Movie, but I'm sort of desperate for copy at the moment. (I attempted to recommend a nice French film for you and your kids, but Small Change is a bit too ripe with mature themes and dialog, so changed my mind. It's a great Truffaut film for us big kids, remembering growing up in the '70s in France ... oh, wait, I grew up in a California suburb. Oh well, we had the same hair cuts!)

Anyway, as the weather changes here in the East and the outdoors beckons (along with the real work of recovering from winter!), viewing time has been a bit diminished.

However, last week we picked up the '80s movie, War Games, for K to watch, and I ended up sitting in on it. (Husband D was well familiar with this film, and you may be, too.) It's a classic Cold War paranoia thriller, using a computer savvy teenager (Matthew Broderick, whose hacker character is clearly breaking the law most every time he gets online, it must be clearly stated) to get its anti-war point across. (It's a good one, by the way. Great fodder for thought and discussion.)

War Games is mostly innocuous, except for the law breaking part and the cursing (there are a few real curse words here) ... and the threat of U.S. annihilation may be kind of scary. All said, it's great for kids 11 and up, IMHO, and if you parents haven't seen it, you'll probably enjoy it, too. It's great fun pick out the names and faces of the '80s (Ally Sheedy also stars, along with Dabney Coleman... and extra points to me for figuring out that one of the earliest scenes in the movie is that of a young and hunky Michael Madsen, playing opposite a youngish John Spencer, who played Leo McGarry on "West Wing!").

And honestly, it does provide a great opportunity for discussion with your kids about the topic of war ... don't let it slip by when the movie ends.

This Week's Classic Kids' Movie

This 1963 madcap comedy has inspired countless others, and is so jam-packed with top-name comedy actors it’s hard to know where to begin.

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (rated G) is a true classic, and you owe it to your kids (and yourself) to see it. It’s a piece of American comedic and film history, truly! Set aside a chunk of time, like a pizza/popcorn night or a long, rainy Sunday, and plan a break or two as it’s looong (153 minutes) and will probably feel that way to the kids. The slapstick nature of the movie is plenty old-school (come on, it stars Jonathan Winters, Mickey Rooney, Phil Silvers, Milton Berle, Spencer Tracy, Terry Thomas, Buddy Hackett and Sid Caesar for goodness’ sake), but the snappy dialogue and amazing driving and car stunts should hold the kids’ attention.

The basic storyline is that before driving a car off a cliff, Jimmy Durante tells some folks where he’s stashed a large sum of loot. When they see him meet his demise, the race is on. Oh, yeah, we could go on about lessons learned in the movie about greed .... and integrity, and ... um ... safe driving, but that would just spoil the fun.

RIVERS AND TIDES (G)

Son K once spent a gorgeous summer day here in Maine building and rebuilding a stone “dam” in a river, and I suspected that half the thrill was directing the water, and being in control of it, and the other half was the visual aspect, the ability to change stone size, shape and color in any way that gave him pleasure. It was simply heavenly to watch him so absorbed, so focused on his task all afternoon in this quiet, undisturbed place we’d found. I also remembered, briefly, the joy and wonder I felt as a kid doing the same kinds of things.

If your kids love playing in nature, collecting stones, playing in sand, exploring creeks and tidal pools, they’ll probably love Rivers and Tides. It’s a mesmerizing documentary about an artist who uses the natural world as his creative tools, and it quietly stirs the viewer’s own memories and feelings related to the tactile exploration of nature and our inexplicable desire to rearrange it.

Andy Goldsworthy is a noted Scottish artist who uses items such as stones, driftwood, water, bracken, and lily pads to create art that is often ephemeral and fleeting. He is sometimes working with nature, and sometimes against it, almost always racing with an incoming tide, an ice-melting sun, or some other natural force, which he incorporates into the piece. His work is lovely, and like the web of a spider, is often concentric or patterned, and seems to have some complex blueprint underlying that we can’t see. At first, the idea that some of his creations should have such a short life is hard to take, but eventually it becomes obvious that the complete cycle, or life, of the piece is the work. “The real work is the change,” Goldsworthy notes, and you see that the way an incoming tide changes a driftwood formation, or the way that sun and shadow changes a sculpture of bracken is integral to the work, it becomes an even bigger part of the work.

Of course, watching a piece come tumbling down as he’s still building it, due to wind or water or some other force of nature, is heartbreaking, but Goldsworthy seems pretty impervious at this point. He’ll just quietly start again, light and weather willing. His work can be as detailed as carefully placing a brilliant white rope of wool atop a long, rambling stonewall in the Scottish countryside, or it can be as fleeting as throwing snow into the air. It’s a great reminder (or lesson) that art can be many, many things, and created in many ways.

There is a hypnotic, restful quality to the film, and I’d suspect that kids on the younger end of the age spectrum will be quite engaged, as would kids just past the tweener stage, especially creative, thoughtful teens. (Watching our own tweener son in his changing viewing habits, I’m finding this stage a bit difficult; at this age, they beg for PG-13 movies, they want more action, more adult themes, and documentaries are sometimes the most difficult genre to get them to agree to.) K wasn’t home when I watched this, so I can’t give you his take, but I’m not completely convinced he would have given it a chance. I might hold on to the disc and give it a try.

It’s such a magical film. I’d be interested to hear about your own family experience if you’ve seen Rivers and Tides.

(Oh, and here’s the parental caveat: at about 50 minutes in, when the POV has changed from the woods to sheep country, there is a very abrupt mood changer: a sheep is running in a circle and a man, rather brusquely, snares it with some contraption and he grabs it and wrangles is to the ground. Before you can say “little lambs eat ivy,” it seems the man has pulled a baby from the mother’s womb, in all its graphic glory. The hardest part for me was when the mama sheep got up and stumbled around, it nearly (or may have) stepped on the little guy -- I was horrified.)

Here is a trailer, where Goldsworthy expounds, brilliantly, on the ephemeral aspect of his work. Unfortunately, they cut off the very end of his point: listen carefully, and then add these words after he ends with “shock” (I happened to make note of this while watching): [He scratches his chin.] Reluctantly, but as if a light bulb went off in his head, he admits, “I can’t explain that.”



There are a lot of videos featuring Goldsworthy's work on YouTube if you have a few minutes to search around ... you’ll see some really superb stuff.

Rather than link to another here (it’s so hard to decide!), here’s something cool I stumbled on that has nothing to do with Rivers and Tides:

The Singing, Ringing Tree:

CREATION OF THE HUMANOIDS (G)

You may know that son K enjoys watching ‘50s horror and sci-fi movies with us (dad started feeding him Godzilla at a steady clip starting around age seven). The other night we settled in to watch a movie tagged as one of Andy Warhol’s favorites, but many, many user reviews on Netflix complained of the movie’s endless talking. No action, they said, just talk, talk, talk.

I kept my mouth shut. Not only did K stick with it (it’s only 80 minutes long), but he loved Creation of the Humanoids, and was highly annoyed at the abrupt ending.

“Did they run out of film, or what?” he complained.

I really wasn’t going to write this one up, but I just changed my mind. I won’t go on about it in detail, but here’s what you need to know:

It is a talker. No real action. There are about six or seven scenes (K counted), and very little in set design (although husband D and I found it extremely beautiful in its simplicity).

There are zero special effects.

There is very little violence, no racy language or other small-kid offenders (it may just bore them to death).

It shares a certain aesthetic with Plan Nine From Outer Space.

The director may or may not have intended a subtext about equality and race. Or maybe about technology and fear. Or maybe intended no subtext at all.

It’s a bizarrely fascinating, Saturday-night-pass-the-popcorn kind of movie, and we had a lot of fun with it.

Here’s the 1962 trailer:



Note: on Netflix, it comes only as part of a “Drive-in Double Feature,” with War Between the Planets, for which I can't vouch, but husband D says: "It has some of the most amusingly amature sets ever captured on celluloid ... and it ends with a nice big explosion."

I'm not sure that's a recommendation.

This Week's Classic Kids' Movie

I vacillated a bit on this one, but overall give it a thumbs up, and even have no qualms about putting it in the “classic kids’ movie” category. I do this because in some ways it’s the perfect kids’ movie, for the younger set in particular, and even with its blemishes and bumps it will stand the test of time.

Purists take issue with the “documentary” label given to Winged Migration (it was even nominated for an Oscar in 2001 in that category), since the filmmakers used birds trained (“imprinted”) from birth, so that they would fly undisturbed by equipment and crew, and since it was filmed over a period of four years and thus does not truly “document” a natural migration. There are also some segments that are CGI-enhanced.

That said: I’m no purist, and when you’re searching for something thoughtful, quiet, and artful for younger kids, something like watching birds being birds (several species are here, including geese, storks, and pelicans) -- from various angles and distances (both air and land/sea), up close and with unfettered views -- can be magical and very rewarding. I remember taking K to a theater to see this, he grumbled a bit thinking it was going to be boring (he was about eight years old, as headstrong as he is now), but he was entranced for the hour and a half.

The cinematography is stunning, and the whole “birds’ eye view” concept is what makes the film so special. Much of the film takes place right alongside birds as they are flying, and seeing them in motion where they can really be studied is a rare opportunity. There is very little dialogue, and occasional dramatic bits keep the viewer from dozing off or losing focus. These dramatic scenes might bother some smaller children, as they depict the perils and dangers of the real world (again, purists may ask, “Were these scenes set up? Are they real? Were any birds harmed for the purpose of the film?”): geese pick at polluted puddles of water, birds appear to be shot out of the sky by hunters, another bird gets stuck in industrial sludge. You get the drift.

Without being overtly preachy, this truly beautiful cinematic adventure manages to convey the importance of our role in keeping the earth safe and hospitable for all creatures, which is a good message for kids of any age.

More cool documentaries here.

PAPER CLIPS (G)

This is a tough one.

This one will require a box of tissues, extra hugs, and maybe a dose of something lighthearted on the telly before you all trot off to your rooms or to bed or to clean the kitchen. Maybe a "Friends" re-run or a little "VHI's One-Hit Wonders of the '80s" will do the trick.

Paper Clips is a stunningly powerful documentary about a group of 8th grade students in tiny Whitwell, TN, who embark on a journey to understand the Holocaust, but end up questioning so much more. Not only do the students emerge changed from the experience, but it touches an entire community as well.

Tiny Whitwell, TN (outside Chattanooga, and about 100 miles from where the KKK was founded) has a couple of stoplights, virtually zero Jews and Catholics, and might epitomize to some much of the southern United States: homogenized, predominantly fundamentalist Christian, and wrapped in a history of ethnic and racial discrimination and intolerance. (Whitwell is also about 45 miles from the Rhea County Courthouse, where, in 1925, a teacher was convicted for teaching evolution during the "Scopes Monkey Trial.”)

When eighth grade students at Whitwell Middle School, back in 1998, began studying the Holocaust, a student planted the seed for the project, by saying, “What is six million? I've never seen six million.” The idea to collect six million of something (something related to the Holocaust, principal Linda Hooper insisted) led to the paper clip, which was "invented" (seems debatable, according to Wikipedia) by a Norwegian Jew; Norwegians wore them on their lapels during WWII as a protest against Hitler and his policies.

The Paper Clips Project got underway slowly, and after nearly stalling out late in 1999 (with 1.5 million clips donated), was saved by mainstream media coverage that was largely due to the efforts of a German couple living in the U.S., working as White House correspondents. Once the spotlight shined on Whitwell, the paper clips came by the millions. Well after the project met its completion, the paper clips would still trickle in, from all corners of the world. At last count, some over 30 million had been received.

There are many heroes in this story: the German couple, who came to the rescue several times and also answered an early question by students, “What are German people like? What do they look like? How could they have done this?”; the principal, assistant principal and teachers involved in the project who had incredible vision and patience; the entire community of Whitwell, who came to together in building a beautiful memorial; the Holocaust survivors who came to Whitwell to tell their stories; and of course the students, who worked tirelessly over a number of years to see the project through to the end.

Of course, the real heroes may be those who sent the paper clips; without the paper clips, this story would be something different. Not only did celebrities, regular people, and presidents (both Bushes and Clinton) send paperclips, but so did Germans, and of course, many, many Jewish people, both Holocaust survivors and relatives of the victims, all with heartbreaking stories.

The multiple award-winning Paper Clips should become a staple in middle school curriculum. Until that happens, a family viewing, with plenty of discussion, breaks for tissue replenishment, hugs, and sweet snacks for levity, will not only serve as a great history lesson and some quality family time, but it’ll bring the love.

I guarantee it.

(Note: This film is officially rated G, but I strongly recommend it for older kids who have a grasp of Holocaust history, and for parents who have more backbone than I, as I pretty much blubbered my way through the whole thing.)