LAUREL AND HARDY (G)

So, how about starting your new year off with a resolution to get more of the true classics for your kids to watch when it’s couch potato time? Here’s a good place to start: Laurel and Hardy.

There is so much to say about their movies that the best thing I can do is just advise you to grab one and go -- your kids will love it! These films have the physicality and charm of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd, but their naivety and bumbling lack of sophistication is especially appealing to kids.

I’ll list a few here that we’ve seen and tell you we’ve loved them all. K remembers The Music Box as being silent, but it’s not. It just was so well done, with very little dialogue, that his brain has simply filed it as a silent movie. It's brilliant! (Note: purists will say that pre-1940, Hal Roach L&H films are the best, that when the duo moved to Fox Films, all was lost. Great Guns and Bullfighters are the best of the later lot, and are quite entertaining, but other than those, stick to earlier works and especially the collections that have lots of shorts on them.)

Way Out West - Laurel and Hardy to the rescue of a young lady about to be ripped off by unsavory land grabbers

Flying Deuces - Our boys join the Foreign Legion

March of the Wooden Soldiers (aka Babes in Toyland) - A fantastic journey through Storybook Land

The Music Box - one of many shorts, where our fearless friends attempt to move a piano into a house that sits atop a long flight of stairs

Busy Bodies (short) - Mayhem in a lumber yard (contains some rather rough slapstick, hilarious and yet not very nice at the same time...)

The Bullfighters - It’s as if nobody warned Stan and Ollie that amateur bullfighting was not a good idea!

Blockheads - Oliver reads about his old war pal Stanley walking the trenches 20 years after WWI has ended, somehow not knowing the war is over. Ollie to the rescue!

I feel I must post a discouraging word about one film, A Haunting We Will Go (1942, one of the post-Hal Roach films). We rented it around Halloween, hoping to have a fun Halloween movie to tell you about, but this is a rather tedious exercise in senseless plot-convoluting and rather un-funny scriptwriting. And it doesn’t even fit in with the Halloween spirit, when you get down to it. A real miss, so don’t bother seeking it out.

I know I’m missing some other short films we’ve enjoyed here, but you’ll have fun exploring on your own.

Museum of the Moving Image

New York was fantastic, much fun had by all and the only real complaining from son K was not about all the walking we did, but about food: "Ugh, Indian food? No American kid eats Indian food, you just think they do!" (The rest of the meal was spent pointing out other kids in the restaurant. BTW, we had some of the very best Chinese food ever, at Pearl's [9732 7th Ave. near 48th, in the theater district] - wow! You'd never notice it, a friend tipped us to it. Fantastic dumplings in sesame sauce. Ahhh. I beg the owners: come to Maine, get rich.)

Anyway, we did have a wonderful day at the Natural History Museum, and got there by strolling through a quiet Central Park early-ish in the morning, and came out of the museum to find it gently snowing. That was nice! But I'd say the highlight for K did end up being the Museum of the Moving Image, which is as much fun for parents as it is for kids. It's a quick subway ride to Astoria/Queens and a two-block walk to the museum, which is undergoing massive renovation and expansion. It will truly be a destination when it's finished.

We did the animation workshop, which was fun, and K really enjoyed the old-school video arcade. There are entertaining and informative displays and hands-on exhibits tracing the history of the moving image, and a small theater where we unfortunately missed an hourly showing of The Red Balloon. (Why did we see this in school as kids, but it no longer seems to be a curriculum item?) There are also stations where you can sit with headphones and watch/listen to directors and actors discussing their experiences on film sets like Raiders of the Lost Ark, or All About Eve, and displays of items such as animatronic pieces from films like The Exorcist and Star Wars, costumes worn by actors like Richard Gere, Renee Zellweger and Robin Williams, and marketing tie-in items for shows like Star Trek and the Simpsons. There was a fascinating display showing how special effects folks designed and used computer software to re-create an early 1930's New York City for Peter Jackson's 2005 remake of King Kong.

It was great fun, and as usual (just ask husband D), I'm going to give the museum some feedback/criticism via email, now that I've thought about it: there are video monitors at children's eye level with scenes from Nightmare on Elm Street, The Exorcist and Wolfen. Why not put these monitors at adult eye level or higher, and let the Star Wars and other innocuous clips remain at the 4-foot level? I saw numerous parents caught off-guard, ushering their kids along hoping to avoid those monitors. Some were not successful.

I lost my charger for my camera, so had to resort to a disposable this trip... I'll post a few shots later here from our visit.

This museum is well worth the small effort it takes to get there, so put it on your to-do list! It's also a pittance to get in. Make a generous donation.

New Movies

Happy 2009!

Regarding our trip to NY (oh, the city looks so beautiful decked out for the holidays!) and our interest in the film/TV museums, I just wanted to make clear that son K is a budding filmmaker who is just as interested as I am in these venues. (I realized it sounded like I would be dragging him around since I’m a bit of a film freak, but he shares my enthusiasm, honestly.) He makes films using my Flip camera and our Macs and has done some pretty cool things. His first piece was a “video” for the Iron and Wine song, “Boy With A Coin.” He put together all kinds of images, using only the camera in the laptop (this was pre-Flip) and special effects available in iMovie; it was rather surprising to us all that it was so good. I think he has auteur blood. If he ever finishes it -- and if you clamor nicely for it -- maybe I’ll post it someday.

Speaking of New York, the Times has a nice list of up and coming movies if you’re wondering what’s next, now that all the big Oscar contenders have hit the screen.

For the kiddies, here's a link for upcoming family films (Hoodwinked 2, Hotel for Dogs and Inkheart are all slated for January). Lisa Kudrow makes for one cute mom in Hotel for Dogs (trailer below)!

I'll give a report later on the Museum of the Moving Image.

K's Holiday Viewing

I need to give quick plugs here to a few films K saw over the holiday that he really liked. Last night he and dad downloaded (via Netflix and Xbox) yet another Harryhausen film, but one I think they both enjoyed a great deal (the hoots from the living room were pretty raucous): 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957). Here’s the description from Netflix:

A space mission to Venus ends in tragedy when the ship crashes into the ocean near Sicily. Only one astronaut and one specimen -- a reptile-like creature from Venus -- survive. The reptile rapidly grows to more than 20 feet in height, escapes from its cage and heads to Rome to stomp heads like a long-forgotten gladiator.

Black and white. Tons of fun (apparently).


Also, on the long plane rides we recently endured (a soul-crushing 7.5 hours on the plane to the west coast, thanks to head winds and a long de-icing process before take-off), K watched a couple of '80s classics you may not know about. (Both are rated PG and really for kids 9 or 10 and over.)

I found myself looking over at his computer a little too often during Ron Howard/George Lucas’ Willow (1988), starring a young Val Kilmer and featuring evil queens and sorcerers and dragons and dwarves and various evildoers. The effects were pretty impressive and the film had a lush look that was really convincing. K gave it a big thumbs up.

The other film he watched was The Last Starfighter (1984), wherein our trailer park hero Alex (Lance Guest), an aficionado of the "Starfighter" video game, finds himself in outer space, playing the game for real (or something like that). It looked kind of Star Wars-ish, or at least like it was aiming for it, and entertained K thoroughly.

New York, New York

Well, it’s been quieter here than I anticipated, and I will be ramping up again soon! Promise. Just got back from the holiday/family excursion out west, a lovely time was had but now I’ve got about 48 hours to do some paid work and laundry, as we’re off to New York for a few days! This will be K’s first NY experience, and I’m excited for him to see one of my favorite cities.

I’ve decided we need to choose between visiting The Paley Center for Media, formerly The Museum of Television & Radio, where we can see the original Frost/Nixon interview, some vintage Elvis, Buster Keaton, Twilight Zones or any number of other film treats, or visiting the Museum of the Moving Image, where K can make his own animated film, and he can also play old school video games like Donkey Kong and Space Invaders! (I know which museum he’d pick!)

Besides the Natural History Museum, and some wandering and consumption of yummy New York pizza, we’re not going with much of a plan and don’t have a ton of time. But if you have a “must do with kids” tip for me (or can make a recommendation between the two media museums), please share! I’ve been to New York plenty, but never with a kid in tow.

CLASH OF THE TITANS (PG)

I wrote earlier about some of the great Ray Harryhausen stop-motion animation movies, like Jason and the Argonauts, and mentioned Clash of the Titans briefly at the end. K picked this up recently with his dad, and came home and started watching it before I realized what it was.

Clash is the last film Harryhausen did, as stop-motion was well on its way out, and what a perfect end to his career: Clash is the Greek myth of Perseus and Andromeda, and it’s full of opportunity for Harryhausen’s wild-eyed (or –limbed, or –snake-haired, or –fanged) visions. Of course, it’s a tragic love story, and Perseus must not only solve mysterious riddles, but slay the deadly Medusa (he needs her snaky head in a bag, actually) and defeat the terrible Kraken, which threatens the kingdom and his beloved Andromeda.

A film like this embodies everything many boys (kids?) want in a movie: the drama of mythology, creatures like two-headed dogs and giant scorpions, sword fights ... survival and victory hanging on by a hair from Pegasus’s tail at every turn ... Why isn’t anyone making these kinds of movies now for kids? I know, we do have the Lord of the Rings and some other vaguely similar, quest-oriented films, but anything mythological or even based on Roman or medieval history (oh, geez, and don’t they LOVE knights?!) seems to be rated PG-13 or higher. Doesn’t Hollywood realize there is a ginormous audience out there for kids aged 9 – 12 who want the adventure, the magic and the drama, but don't need the colorful language of sailors, panting rendezvous’ with hottie dames in distress, or enough realistic gore to send them to bed trembling? Come on.

Ok, so I didn’t see the entire movie, but can tell you this: it meets the fun and excitement criteria for kids 10 and up (I don’t recommend it for younger kids), it is artistically well-done and quite nice to look at (several segments were filmed off the coasts of Spain, Italy and England), and the Harryhausen animation is not sophisticated by any means, but has its own distinct charm; K loved every minute. (Um, moms might not mind a strikingly buff and youthful Harry Hamlin – with lips to rival Angelina’s! – running around in a not much more than a loin cloth and shield. Ok, to be fair, dads might not mind the ethereal and lovely Judi Bowker as Andromeda.)

Besides the two leads, heavyweights like Laurence Olivier, Maggie Smith and Burgess Meredith are in the film as well.

Caveat: at the beginning of the film, there is a difficult scene where a mother and her infant are locked into a box, or a coffin perhaps, and cast out to sea. There is probably more gore than a parent might want, speaking of the stuff, but it seems pretty tame compared to what you see in many movies these days (hello, have you seen "Halo" or "Call of Duty" games? Yikes!), and it’s mostly monsters losing their heads. Not humans. There is also an early scene of a mother nursing, with a fairly exposed breast, and a brief backside shot of a bather, but as K put it, “it’s all kind of innocent and motherly,” and from what I read on IMDB, it’s fairly ... artistic. I highly doubt it’s unsavory, or graphic. (This is from the beginning, which I missed, and husband D put the disc back in the mail before I could take a look.)

Clash of the Titans is more fun than a barrel of three-headed monkeys, so put it on your Saturday night/rainy Sunday afternoon movie list.

Update: My point about movies of this sort not being made for kids? I just read that Incredible Hulk director Louis Leterrier will start shooting a new version of Clash of the Titans in early ’09. It will be rated R.

Random Act of Self Indulgence .03

Happy Holidays!

I've left snowy New England behind for the sunny climes of California (where son K is wearing shorts and grinning about it) so won't be posting much here in the coming week.

However, I'll pop in from time to time.

Just before we left, I thought we were settling in for a family night of '50s sci-fi when this disc arrived in the mail, but then I read the description and decided maybe it was actually for husband D.

The Hideous Sun Demon
Sci-fi screen star Robert Clarke (The Man from Planet X) produced, directed and stars in this atomic-age chiller that combines murder, monsters and radioactive isotopes for a sizzling good time. A scientist who turns into a lizard-like creature when exposed to the sun's deadly rays ruthlessly stalks his prey. Meanwhile, the so-called Sun Demon's primordial urges send him in hot pursuit of a blonde with gravity-defying assets.

Ok, happy holidaying everyone!

AMAZING GRACE (PG)

A reviewer on Internet Movie Database wrote that, at the Toronto Film Festival screening he attended, the thunderous applause for Amazing Grace continued throughout the credits. People were visibly moved; they “clapped to the point of hurting their fingers with the thunder they were creating for so bloody long!”

Sadly, I don’t think that’s the reception the film received upon general release in the U.S. But maybe it depends on where the film was showing, and maybe I’m wrong in my broader view of its reception, as we didn’t see it in a theater ... and just because I don’t remember any fervent hoopla when it came out in 2006 doesn’t mean there wasn’t any. I could have been in snooze mode at the time.

K and I watched this on DVD in 2007, when he would have been ten or so. My initial fear that it might be too “Masterpiece Theater” for him, or just too ... British (accents, vernacular ... you know what I mean!), eased up half way into the film, but I have to confess that its somber and cerebral tone was a bit of a challenge. Every now and then K would look as if ready to launch from the couch, vibrating with what I call “itchy blood,” but then something would happen on the screen that kept him tuned in.

It’s not an easy subject, by any means. Amazing Grace recounts the struggles of politician William Wilberforce (played by Ioan Gruffudd), who one day decides he must lead the way to abolish slavery in 18th-century England. From an older, wiser film goer’s point of view, I have to say the story is deliciously full of dirty politics, clever and cunning people, plenty of sheer guts and determination, and the strong, witty screenwriting helps those things blossom to their fullest potential. It's really quite a stunning work (and, as befitting its "British-ness," was done in a quiet, subdued tone, with occasional dry, Brit humor ... it feels distinctly not Hollywood). For a kid, there is a lot of this wonderful writing/dialog, and there are some conceptual and philosophical explorations that might not speak to younger kids. Only you can determine if it’s something your child can stay with and follow through to the end.

As far as the unpleasant topic goes, the film’s not as jarring or brutal in its depiction of the tragedy of slavery as some have been (say, the R-rated Amistad), but it’s still difficult. This is really for mature kids, and honestly, probably those over 12 would get the most out of it. I think K absorbed some pretty serious food for thought in watching, but I don’t think he’ll ever say he really enjoyed it, or that he can even recount the story in detail. I think he can recount that the song, "Amazing Grace," was written by the remorseful former owner of a slave ship (beautifully played by Albert Finney), and that's not too bad.

But of course, even by osmosis, Amazing Grace and films like it do steal into our children’s hungry, sponge-like little brains and plant seeds that grow into their own sense of right and wrong, of justice and injustice. It’s a movie experience that can only make them better people, even if they only grasp half of what’s being said.

RETURN OF THE PINK PANTHER (PG)

This is a long and spotty franchise, beginning with 1963’s original Pink Panther, starring the inimitable Peter Sellers. There are quite a number of Pink Panther films, but be sure to do your homework: some don’t star Peter Sellers (and I’m not talking about Steve Martin. Q: Did you even know there was a Pink Panter movie with Alan Arkin as Inspector Clouseau? A: 1968’s Inspector Clouseau.)

I hope I’m not bursting any bubbles here, but I can’t recommend the original for family viewing -- only because it was so slow, the first 30 minutes filled with interminable conversations and scenes setting up a very, very convoluted plot which lost all three of us in no time, and had K complaining and bouncing around the room (granted he was nine or ten at the time, but we felt his pain) -- but I do recommend one of the later titles, albeit with slight reservations.

The fourth PP movie, The Return of the Pink Panther, from 1975, is great fun, and starts off with not only clever, animated credits, but once the credits end and the movie begins, we are thrust right into the action, with a stealthy, well-disguised diamond thief breaking into a museum in a fictional middle eastern country (filmed in Morocco) to steal the Pink Panther diamond. It’s a clever, well-paced scene that pulls you right in, and very soon you’re guffawing at the ridiculous mishaps and bad luck that are the very essence of Paris’ Inspector Clouseau. He’s called upon to catch the thief -- much to the dismay of many who have worked with him and know the havoc he can wreak. (After obliviously wrecking a hotel with his incompetence and endearing buffoonery, he sniffs haughtily, "I must leave. Zis hotel is deteriorating rapidly.")

It’s physical humor, not terribly sophisticated -- pratfalls, knowing looks and Clouseau’s baffling pronunciation of words continually draw laughs -- and the story is blessedly easier to follow than the original movie.

Recommended, but: for kids with the attention spans of gnats, there’s a slight sag in the middle. The PG rating is likely due to a couple of things: there is a scene of Clouseau ogling a lovely lady as she unknowingly disrobes to step into a sauna -- you don’t see anything but it’s a slightly uncomfortable moment for parents; the debonair Sir Charles, a professional but retired (or is he?) jewel thief breaks the fingers (one at a time, in different scenes) of a slippery, untrustworthy snitch. It’s not done in a gruesome or graphic way, but it’s just ... mean, darn it. There is also some language of the times that rankles: Clouseau continually refers to his Asian butler/martial arts sparring partner as having “yellow skin," or as "a yellow skin."

I hope to get around to some of the other PP films eventually, and confess we just watched this one recently since K howls at the previews for the upcoming Steve Martin film. I wanted him to have some background appreciation for the character before seeing a contemporary take on these classic films. Return of the Pink Panther was a hit at our house.

Steve Martin. Hmmm. Well, I can think of worse people to riff on such classic films ...

Here's a rather long trailer, and a Steve Martin trailer after it:

Wall-E Wins Big: Critics' Awards

East and west meet-up: Awards were announced this week for both The Los Angles Film Critics Association and the New York Film Critics Circle, and there are some distinct favorites emerging ... at least with the critic crowd!

The Big News: The LAFCA awarded its Best Picture award to an animated feature, for the first time in its 33-year history! The charming and thought-provoking Wall-E won the title. Can you see an Oscar in the works? I doubt it. But it’s still an utterly amazing win. The LAFCA gave its Best Actor award to Sean Penn for Milk, Best Actress to Sally Hawkins of the delightful Happy-Go-Lucky, and Best Director went to Slumdog Millionaire’s Danny Boyle.
Visit the LAFCA web site here.

The New York Film Critics Circle awarded their highest film prize to Milk, but Wall-E took home the Best Animated Film prize. As did the LAFCA, the NYFCC gave its Best Actor award to Sean Penn, and Best Actress to Sally Hawkins. Mike Leigh won the NYFCC’s Best Director award for Happy-Go-Lucky.
Visit the NYFCC web site here.

The last word on year-end favorites and awards: Roger Ebert has announced his favorite films of 2008, in case you need to know what to catch up on. I love his “screw’em, there are too many good ones to do a Top 10” attitude. Go, Roger. (My only complaint about this time of year: All the powerhouse films come out now, and sometimes they don't all make it here in time for the Academy Awards [or they play for one week and are gone]. It's a surprisingly short time between December and Oscar night when you have to work hard to see everything in time for Oscar martinis!)

We’re happy to note that not only did the truly award-worthy and excellent Wall-e make it to Roger's faves list, but so did Iron Man and Werner Herzog’s Encounters at the Edge of the World.