Besides its compelling lead actor,
this blockbuster has had plot twists, villains, conflict, a heroic
journey, incredible stakes and a great ending. These are all, as it is, also elements
expected to be in any film or TV pitch I might make out here in
Hollywood. Dramatically speaking, this one has it all.
So far this year, I've voted for him twice, supported his campaign financially, gone to a rally, and even worked on "Ready to Believe," a professionally-produced song that's been well-received everywhere from YouTube to iTunes. Mostly, though, I've followed the campaign like a member of an audience glued to an on-screen spectacle.
President-elect
Barack Obama's journey has felt like an epic film, but the way it's
sucked us into caring about a character in a show where anything can
happen, it's really played more like a TV series. But there hasn't been a reality show created that could match this one.
No matter who you voted for yesterday, a President Barack Obama
promises to continue as a compelling chapter in American history.
I was born on the exact day the Supreme Court issued Brown -vs- the Board of Education. My father taught American history and was shamed by having to
explain our country's shortcomings in civil rights. As a kid, I
actually remember seeing news coverage of people having dogs and water
hoses set on them because they wanted basic dignity. To see this
change in my lifetime -- from the awful images from the south to this
man of progress chosen to lead us -- is a profound thing.
There's
so much hard work ahead, but right now a black man just proved that
anybody CAN grow up to be president. That's good for our country and
it's good for our citizens, especially our kids. And, coming back from Europe
just two days ago, I believe the support Obama receives from world
leaders will help with leading on the global financial mess and getting
them to kick in more troops in Afghanistan.
You
see: the Barack Obama movie not only has done incredible domestic box
office, but it's about to play just as successfully in global markets.
The
United States of America, for a few years anyway, has a brand to equal
Coke and McDonald's on the world stage. The President of the United
States of America, Barack Obama.
In the fall of 2007, before the
first primaries, I first wrote about Barack Obama on the FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH blog. I just
re-read it today and thought it was worth the re-post. Here it is then, as
it was:
The world has probably not been holding its collective breath waiting to find out who the FWIW blog will throw its weight behind in the presidential campaign. We have yet to serve our billionth daily reader, Tim Russert stubbornly refuses to quote us on "Meet the Press," and the campaigns have apparently missed the opportunity to bookmark us on their browsers. Even so, I've been watching the presidential campaign
from the sidelines long-enough, and it seems like the right time to
get in the game.
I just logged on to the official campaign website and gave a donation to Barack Obama. There are some good candidates I can support if Obama does not get the Democratic nomination but he's my first choice by a mile.
I just can't get behind a George H.W. Bush - Bill Clinton - George W. Bush - Hillary Clinton narrative for America. We try to raise kids to believe that anyone can grow up to be president, and that sends the message that the truth is something else. I just don't buy the "experience" argument anyway. I'm looking for good judgment, character and the ability to make effective decisions by listening to people with different viewpoints and then doing what you think is best, often before all the facts can be known. I'm looking for someone who can then explain those decisions to us in a way that increases our solidarity as a country and not put more distance between us.
President Barack Obama will send a message to the world that America is a new, more hopeful place. It will send a message to Americans that the racial divisions which have plagued our country can begin to truly heal. Hopefully, by being on the ticket, even the election can be about something besides red state-blue state distrust and acrimony. We need a clean break from the past.
The election of Obama, however, won't simply be a message. He's a bright thinker and he brings people together. We've been looking for someone to embody the spirit of John Kennedy for as long as I've been an adult. That's Barack Obama. There is no other candidate in this race for whom that comparison is even possible.
Like John Kennedy having to deal with issues like missiles in Cuba, history won't let Obama simply be the man who opposed the use of force in Iraq but will throw other challenges at him. He will have his own thorny issues to deal with, notably Islamic extremism directed at the U.S., but there will probably be a few we don't even see coming now. From what I can see, he'll be a cool head in the White House and I trust him to make the call for me.
I hope his journey across America during this campaign will allow him to transcend the boxes people want to put him in, and allow him to grow into a leader who will represent all of us.
Anyway, we all know this campaign can't be about who's got the best collection of issue statements and legislative agendas and plans. For me, it's about - "Who do you trust?"
I trust Barack Obama and, for what it's worth, I'd ask you to consider doing the same. Thanks.
FINAL NOTE: "Ready to Believe" is the title of the rock-anthem I co-wrote the lyrics to that was recorded by LA alt.rocker Cherish Alexander and released a few days before the California primary (while I was on strike for the WGA, no less). This song has been well-received everywhere from YouTube where it's had over 100,000 plays to iTunes where you can get a quality MP3 of it. But, because you read to the end of this, you can also get a free copy by clicking here.
Last January, while we were still on strike as members of the Writers Guild of America, my wife Jackie and I sat down in a Los Angeles coffee shop with our good friend, musician Cherish Alexander.
Before the coffee was cold, we decided, improbably given the time frame -- as a couple of striking screenwriters and a singer-composer -- to write, produce and distribute the song you'll soon hear. It happened over a five day period and we released it immediately before the California primary.
So far, "Ready to Believe" has cumulatively had its video versions viewed close to 100,000 times on YouTube. Plus, it's available on iTunes. You, however, don't have to buy it in the closing days of the 2008 campaign. We want you to download it for free and to send it to your friends.
It was written to stand-up for Barack to the Clinton campaign's charges claiming he wasn't ready for the presidency. We find that the need for this song is as solidly right-on today as it was last February (only Clinton is on the team now and the argument's being made by John McCain). It needed rebuttal then, and it needs rebuttal now.
Please give it a listen. Click the link below to just hear it. Otherwise,right-click to actually... we'll say it again... download "Ready to Believe" for free. Again, you have our express permission to download it and to give it away.
Please also visit the web-page of singer-composer Cherish Alexander (http://www.cherishalexander.com/ready_to_believe/) where all the goodies are also available. She and fellow producer Damian Valentine did an awesome job with this project as you can hear for yourself.
We know the hour is late but if you support Barack Obama, we'd urge you to join us and expose as many people as you can to this song. Especially Obama volunteers. We've received a good deal of email from campaign workers who thought it was like an anthemic "fight song" for the cause. That's certainly what we intended it to be.
Remember to vote. Even if the polls say he's ahead, you have to vote. Take nothing for granted.
There's been a lot of talk about how eyebrows were raised over Sarah Palin being plucked from obscurity to serve as VP on the Republican ticket. Now it appears that her running mate (remember him? the McCain guy?) is having to play catch-up to compete. In the issues of Time and Newsweek that just came out (September 8 cover date), there's a fine full-page picture of the Senator inside Newsweek and his mug gets the full cover treatment on Time. Here they are: take a good look before we continue...
As a producer out here in Hollywood, I've studied my share of head shots while considering actors for parts. While I was looking at McCain to see if he seemed up for the role, it hit me. The man had all the grey hairs plucked out of his eyebrows.
Now we always knew that McCain was a gutsy warrior but we never would have thought to apply the adjective plucky but there it is. Somehow, John McCain got his picture taken for Newsweek and then must have gone off to Time to be photographed for the cover shot. Along the way, somebody got rid of all those pesky white hairs because they are gone, baby, gone. Because of our commitment to investigative journalism here at For What It's Worth, we have gone the extra mile. Take a look yourself and you tell me if we have a Brow-gate on our hands or not?
Above: Newsweek | Below: Time
Look, I'm all for sartorial striving and all, but there is a little irony here. Isn't John
McCain the guy who "approved" the ads that tried to make Barack Obama
seem like a lightweight by branding him with the "celebrity" brush and
running pictures of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton next to his? Then
this same candidate runs out and plucks his brows for his big Time cover?
Did one of his consultants tell him that the grey in his
eyebrows made him look, well, a little old? Especially compared to his
much younger new running mate? Did the famously irritable McCain fuss
and fume before agreeing? Did the Secret Service have to inspect the
tweezers first? We just ask the questions, you decide.
Here's the biggest question. If Barack Obama had done the exact same thing before his recent cover shoot, would any of the Republican speakers last night have missed the opportunity to use that against him in dismissive and contemptuous sound-bites?
Yeah. Probably not.
Oh, well. It's just another trivial issue that probably won't even make it past a news cycle.
On the same night that the WGA leadership presented to the membership the details of a tentative deal that looks almost certain to end the strike this week, the Guild also announced the winners of the "Writers Guild Awards '08" and PANDEMIC, a screenplay I co-wrote with my wife, Jackie, actually won the "Long Form Original" category!
This odd merging of events happened because, pre-strike, the Writers Guild Awards were scheduled for February 9. Once the strike was on, all attention had to go to that, so the black-tie and gown festivities were sacrificed. A simple posting of the winners on the web-site was substituted. Then, as fate would have it, the tentative deal came together this past week, and the membership meeting got scheduled for -- you guessed it -- February 9!
Who cares? Jackie and I are thrilled that the long nightmare of a strike is almost over and with a deal that seems to be reasonable, if not everything we'd want.
"Pandemic" was a Hallmark miniseries, four hours, that was, as the award states, "original," meaning that it was not based on any pre-existing material. It's a number of interlocking stories about an unexpected strain of Avian flu and how an outbreak in Los Angeles leads the military quarantine of the entire area. In its struture, it's a bit like "Crash" with microbes.
On a personal level, Jackie and I are so honored because this award comes from a panel of writers who actually read the scripts instead of watch the movies. We think it's humbling to be among the honored screenwriters who demonstrate why the work of writers is valuable and worth fighting for at this critical moment in the WGA's history. Here's to everyone going back to work in the days ahead!
The Smackdown. You certainly don't need to believe in Santa Claus to take inspiration from a good film that is either about the holiday or uses it as its backdrop. So over at our companion blog Movie Smackdown! we asked each of our critics to write a short blurb about a Christmas film that they have a special fondness for and submitted those choices and others to the dreaded blog poll treatment. Which holiday film or films do you think are worth repeat viewing to get in the holiday spirit? Humbug, you say? Read on...
No, we don't think that you will likely choose "Fred Claus" as the Christmas film you'd want to recommend to your friends to see every year or even, maybe, this year. On the other hand, the breadth of Christmas films out there is wide and many have their passionate defenders and detractors. We think Movie Smackdown! is the perfect place to sort this out.
Here are the films that our critics have decided to advocate as the one Christmas movie they think you should either see for the first time or re-visit during the holidays. We have, as you'll see, a wide diversity of opinion.
By the way, if you're one of those people who simply want to vote and get it over with, you can go to the bottom of this post and you'll find the polls there.
When I think of classic lines from Christmas movies, "Every time a bell
rings an angel gets his wings" isn't the first one that comes to mind.
And neither is "God bless us, every one." No, for me, the most
memorable line ever in a holiday movie is "You'll shoot your eye out,
kid!" from 1983's "A Christmas Story" -- novelist and screenwriter Jean
Shepherd's giddily cynical look at growing up in small-town Indiana in
the 1940s.
The
story line may not, at first blush, strike you as proper Christmas
movie fodder. It's all about a kid named Ralphie who passionately wants
to own... tin drum-roll, please... a Daisy Red Ryder 200-shot Carbine
Action BB gun. Oddly, everybody he talks to seems incapable of
discussing this potential possession without using those words, "shoot
your eye out." The world this film lives in no longer exists and that's
part of the reason it's so much fun to visit for a couple of hours.
This is truly the Little Engine That Could of holiday flicks. A
low-budget box-office flop featuring minor stars Peter Billingsley,
Melinda Dillon and Darren McGavin, and directed by Bob Clark of
"Porky's" infamy, "A Christmas Story" began to pick up steam with
audiences when Ted Turner's WTBS began broadcasting it in the late
'80s. By the mid-'90s, Turner was airing 24-hour marathons of the film
on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The reason for the success? The
movie has an ear for how kids talk, and a heart for how they feel. It
manages to be nostalgic without being sentimental. And that's no mean
trick.
Our family tried to make "It's A
Wonderful Life" a Christmas tradition, but it never quite caught on.
Then, in 2003, writer Richard Curtis ("Four Weddings and a Funeral,"
"Bridget Jones's Diary") gave us the Christmas gift of "Love Actually"
as his directorial debut and it's been a once-a-year screening ever
since. The film is an ensemble romantic comedy set against the backdrop
of the holiday season and, by my count, there are over 20 main
characters and about nine separate romances. Some play out better than
others but, overall, it's like Forrest Gump's box of chocolates, you
never know what you're going to get.
Hugh Grant is wonderful, as usual, playing the newly elected Prime
Minister of Britain who happens to fall for a crumpet working for the
household staff (played by Martine McCutcheon). He's as appealing as
ever and his story really is the spine of the piece, if you think about
it. But you never really have the time because there's so much going
on. My second favorite bit is with Bill Nighy who plays an
over-the-hill rocker who's just scored a big hit by putting an old rock
standard "Love Is All Around" to Christmas lyrics and knows it's not
his finest work.
It works as a Christmas movie,
though, because Christmas really is all around. It's in the presents
people buy each other in this film, in the songs they sing, in the
plays they attend. It's about people who realize how much they need
other people and, even though this message begins the movie as a 9/11
reference, it's clearly developed as a holiday theme. Some critics have
tried to slam this film as being too busy but that has never bothered
me on the repeated viewings. I love these characters and if I could buy
them all a present, I would. Instead, just vote for them in our poll
and I'll be happy.
"Bad Santa" follows hapless Santa Claus impersonator
Willie (Billy Bob Thornton) and his elf impersonating sidekick Marcus
(Tony Cox). Every year the pair get hired at a new department store
only to rob the place blind after it closes on Christmas Eve. The scam
always goes off without a hitch, but this year things get a little
sticky. Willie's severe alcoholic indulgences are getting him into
more trouble than he can handle and store investigator Gin (Bernie Mac)
is hot on their trail. Also added to the mix is The Kid (Brett Kelly),
a young boy who befriends Willie and slowly manages to pull at his
heart strings.
When I first watched "Santa" a few years ago I could
not believe some of the things that came out of Thornton's mouth. I
certainly expected a bit of raunchiness, but this movie still managed
to surprise me with its verbal freedom. What I appreciated most was
that Thornton's Santa did not hold anything back -- characterizing, above
all, that Christmas is not always festive and cheerful. At some point
we have to recognize that it has become a colossal machine and the once
undulterated idea of Christmas is now buried somewhere between a stack
of Pokemon cards and a monogrammed money clip.
If you really think about it, Christmas is just
another day on the calendar. Just because it's the holiday season does
not mean that normal life is at standstill. That's where "Santa" steps
in. In my opinion this film details (in a rather exaggerated fashion)
that even though the holiday season is special and should be savored,
"raw" life continues to move forward. Even though that "raw" life
includes theft, gunshots, bullies, jail, sexual relations, and absent
fathers, "Santa" shows that everyone still has a motive and not
everything is picture perfect just because Santa Claus is coming to
town.
Though it has a tough exterior, "Santa" does manage
to expose its soft underbelly mostly via the relationship between
Willie and The Kid. What I truly love about "Santa" is that despite
it's very dark humor, the film still manages to teach a little lesson
at the end without making it an overly sappy encounter: Even the
biggest Scrooge has a heart that can be touched.
So if you want to forget about gifts and money for a
few hours and instead watch a Christmas flick that is not as much about
the fanciful idea of Christmas as it is about real people and their
relationships, then go out and rent "Bad Santa''... and don't forget to
give it a vote afterwards.
Ho...Ho...Horrors! I recommend this film unreservedly for all the contrary, hilarious impulses it throws at the holiday season. Hard luck cat burglar Gus (Denis Leary) decides to evade the cops on Christmas Eve night by abducting Lloyd and Caroline Chasseur (Kevin Spacey and Judy Davis). Really bad idea. Lloyd and Caroline won't stop arguing, even at gunpoint: Spiky, lacerating, unrelenting. "I hijacked my f*****g parents!" Gus sputters.
For Gus, it's all downhill. Every member of the dysfunctional family comes for dinner: Lloyd's mousy brother brings his smug wife Connie (Christine Baranski), their kids and the matriarch from hell, Rose Chasseur (Glynis Johns). Even Lloyd and Caroline's son sneaks in from military school. Gus cannot maintain the fiction he's the marriage counselor, Dr. Wong. Cut by cut the adults are emotionally filleted as the forced holiday gaiety is scraped away. All resent Rose and it's payback time for years of toxic maternal abuse. She's tied up when there's a knock on the door, and the in-laws lay it on: "Go on, Mary.. gag your grandma" Connie tells her daughter.
The Ref offers an upbeat ending that gives story balance and acknowledges the obvious: That few people have the Christmas you'll see in It's a Wonderful Life or A Christmas Carol or Gift of the Magi. Sharp dialogue and a superior cast give the movie its zing. Ted Demme directed the script from Marie Weiss and Richard LaGravenese. Above all, The Ref suggests we can use a dose of honesty and forgiveness. That may be the best Christmas present of all.
Up until I saw Christian Carion’s French film, "Joyeux Noel," two years ago, Bob Clark’s "A Christmas Story" was my favorite Christmas movie –- ever, as my five-year-old loves to say. I never tired of seeing it, sharing it with my kids, or warning them not to shoot their eyes out with a Red Ryder Rifle! "Joyeux Noel," however, has stayed with me and become my favorite Christmas film, even if it’s too rough in places to yet share with my kids. Its story is simple and based on a real event too impossible to believe yet too irresistible to ignore. The log line might read, "On Christmas Eve 1914, a German opera star and his lover sing Christmas carols on a World War I battlefield resulting in French, Scottish and German troops calling a brief truce to erect Christmas trees along their respective trenches and share a moment of solidarity and simple joy before continuing on with the task of killing one another.”
The fact that this is absolutely true and that the opera star and his beloved, also an opera star, choreographed the event so that they would have one night together before his possible death, is even more amazing. That such a sequence of events could actually transpire during the middle of a brutal and demoralizing battle is the key to the film’s success. Writer/director Carion overcomes any obvious sentimentality or emotional overload by assuring us that even in the darkest hour, our own human need for love will not only triumph, but become a respite from horror for all those close enough to bathe in its wonder.
Every Christmas film story strives to show the true meaning of Christmas. Usually that's the argument that man’s nature is ultimately noble and that we should love thy neighbor or something like that regardless of who controls our earthly fortunes -- Bush, Allah, Time-Warner or George Steinbrenner. What is miraculous to me about "Joyeux Noel" is that it really does this. And does it by recreating the most beautiful “concert” in the middle of a devastated battlefield splattered with corpses representative of all the living participants who are now listening, enrapt and in tears, on Christmas Eve. This scene enabled me to appreciate my own nature as a man (in the universal sense); that love and beauty, in this instance in the guise of sublime voices and music, can not only reverse the cruelty of man but also convert it to compassion. No other Christmas film that I have seen conveys that simple tome in such a magisterial and compelling way.
To add a coda, the next morning, Christmas Day, each of the combatants agree to delay the killing a bit longer to give the other time to pick up their dead and comfort one another in their loss. It’s a scene of overwhelming sadness because we know, within hours, the field will once again be littered with bodies. We know that soon Christmas and this miraculous event will be a footnote to history and things will return, again, to horrific normalcy because of “orders” from above. "Joyuex Noel" should be required viewing of all leaders of all countries that require the sacrifice of their peoples for the greater good. Perhaps they should all be reminded that the greater good is, ultimately, man (in the universal sense). For that reason, more than any other, "Joyeux Noel" is now my favorite Christmas film. And in a few years I will let my children experience it. And in the future, my hope is that they will share it with their children. And so it goes.
If you were alive during the 1990 Christmas movie season, you saw this family comedy without the family, maybe even a couple of times, and can probably still conjure up the image of 8-year-old Macaulay Culkin, as Kevin, with his hands to his face. Definitely an indelible image. Culkin was a break-out in this film, and he was never as good in anything since. His believable, smart-ass kid attitude is endearing to the max.
Chris Columbus directs from a John Hughes script that focuses on a picked-on youngest of five kid who, with his large family bustling and hustling to make a Christmas flight to Paris, ends up getting overlooked and left... home... alone. Although Kevin initially gets off on his time to himself with no adults to bug him, the story is really about him having to fight off the efforts of two house burglars by booby-trapping his home. Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern are the self-proclaimed "Wet Bandits" who think it'll be easy duty stealing from a house where the family's in Europe. The plot isn't really plausible and it does get taken over by stunts and special effects, but it doesn't really matter. This film also supplies some unexpected charm, like mom (Catherine O'Hara) flying stand-by economy to get home, ending up stranded outside of Chicago, and needing to hitch a ride with a polka band led by John Candy. Ask any parent who's seen this movie: we've all been there in spirit, if not in deed.
Christmas infuses the film with its music and imagery but that could be said of many lesser films and imitations. "Home Alone" is a great Christmas film because, in addition to getting the emotion right, it's also got the spirit of our times all through it. As a little girl asks in this film, "Does Santa Claus have to go through customs?" You wouldn't find her asking that in Bedford Falls.
Like a lot of Americans, Frank Capra had just returned from World War II and he wanted this picture (based on a story by Philip Van Doren Stern) to be a celebration of our country's ordinary citizens. It wasn't really all that successful at the time nor was it perceived as a "Christmas movie." That happened when it fell starting in the 1970s when PBS stations used it as counter-programming to big network Christmas specials and gathered steam when a clerical error allowed it to fall out of copyright in 1974.
The audience has grown over the years and many families make it an annual holiday viewing, something that Capra himself in 1984 called "the damndest thing." In the 80s, a colorized version was released which, ironically, had no problem being copyrighted by has been savaged by film critics although average viewers seem to not be so bothered by.
The film takes place in the fictional town of Bedford Falls shortly after World War II and stars James Stewart as George Bailey, a man whose attempted suicide on Christmas Eve gains the attention of his guardian angel, Clarence who is sent to help him in his hour of need. Most of the film is told through flashbacks spanning George's entire life and narrated by Franklin and Joseph, unseen Angels who are preparing Clarence for his mission to save George. Through these flashbacks we see all the people whose lives have been touched by George and the difference he has made to the community in which he lives.
Jay Amicarella recommends "A CHILD'S CHRISTMAS IN WALES"
Does your local newspaper publish a special "Holiday"
pull-out of "seasonal" films and TV specials each year? (Sorry, the
tough, protect-free-speech-at all-costs print industry can't publish
the word "Christmas" any more.) Flipping through the pages of listings
and reading the synopses is just one of many of the Christmas rituals
I've developed over the years. "A selfish ad executive learns the true
meaning of The Holidays..." "A selfish stockbroker learns the true
meaning of the The Holidays..." "A selfish serial-killer learns the
true meaning of The Holidays."
The only things worse are the bizarre,
creepy "Specials," obviously filmed in mid-June, with titles like "A
Sweeny Todd Country Christmas, On Ice!" "The cast of 'Todd' joins Tim
McGraw, Faith Hill, and David Copperfield at the Tonya Harding
Memorial Rink for a true Country Christmas." This is not the sort of
fare that will give you any comfort when you stumble home from
gift-shopping, exhausted and irritable and hating humanity, ready to
chuck December and move right on to New Year's Day.
What will offer
solace, and renew your faith in the basic goodness of people is the
film version of poet Dylan Thomas' "A Child's Christmas in Wales," a
quiet treat starring Denholm Elliot as 'Old Geraint,' an aging Welshman
recalling for his grandson the warm delights of the Christmases of his
youth. Thomas' beautiful poetic imagery, perfectly voiced by Elliot,
and complemented by on-location filming in Wales and Canada, whisks you
away from email greetings and electronic cards to a quaint, bygone
world of mulled wine, hearth-roasted chestnuts, handmade ornaments, and
familial bliss.
At just around sixty minutes in length, this a perfect
family film, with none of the morbid, ghost-story trappings of "A
Christmas Carol," that I believe Dickens put in just to scare the crap
out of kids (It certainly did me, 'though I love four separate movie
versions of that story.) Troubled genius Thomas reminds us that
Christmas is not about neurotic adults, full of life regrets, but about
faith, family, and the uncomplicated joys of childhood. Whether it's
hurling snowballs at neighborhood cats, or pretending to smoke candy
cigarettes, or simply waking up in the morning to a world gone suddenly
white, "A Child's Christmas in Wales" encourages us to embrace the
simple joys of the season, as a child. And it employs the most perfect
use of one of my favorite hymns, "All Through the Night."
Christmas Night, when you're starting to languish
from the excesses of the day and the physical and emotional demands of
the season, is the perfect time to view this gem.
Randal Cohen recommends "A CHRISTMAS CAROL" (1984)
This Charles Dickens novella was first published in
1843. No other piece of literature better captures the pure spirit of
the holiday. Deeply emotional without being sentimental; deeply
spiritual without condesencion or preaching. Obviously, the tale is
part of our cultural lexicon and doesn't need much recitation beyond the obvious: this is the one where Scrooge gets visited by the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future and gets in the spirit of things by the end.
This "A Christmas Carol" is my
favorite adaptation of a story that's been filmed many times over the years and is a tradition in our house. Released theatrically in the U.K. in 1984 and
first aired on CBS television on December 17, 1984, it features a tour
de force performance by the late, great George C. Scott who received
an Emmy nomination for his turn as Ebeneezer Scrooge. Truly, this film is a wonderfully instructive experience for
older children dulled by the commercialism of the holiday (it may
frighten the very young). Forget Tim Allen's shallow comedies, this is
the ultimate cinematic Christmas experience.
To give you some perspective as to how this story has stood the test of time, back in 1843, the man in the red suit we're so fond of was wearing green and going by the name Father Christmas. Back then, Dickens was also feuding with his publishers so the very first edition of the novella was self-published, complete with lavish binding and hand-colored illustrations. He priced it at five shillings so everybody could afford it. These days the technology has changed, but the story remains the same, and this is the version you should see during the holiday season.
The film expands a story that can be read in under three minutes into a ninety-nine-minute movie, while remaining true to the visual style of the original. The "Hot Chocolate" production number was derived from a single sentence and a single illustration. The "Hobo," "Lonely Boy," and "Know-it-All" characters, the scenes on rooftops and on the locomotive, and the runaway observation car sequence were all new to the film.
"The Polar Express" tells the story of a young boy on Christmas Eve who is hoping for belief in the true spirit of Christmas. After falling asleep, a magical train called the Polar Express pulls up in front of his house and he is invited to journey to the North Pole. After reaching the North Pole, the boy is handpicked by Santa Claus to receive the first present of Christmas. He chooses a bright silver bell from Santa's sleigh which makes a beautiful sound. As the years go by, people around him notice that they can no longer hear the beautiful sound, even his parents and sister. But there are those who still can, those who still truly believe.
I don't know if you'll believe after you see this, but you'll remember what it was like when you did.
The Decision. Now for a little audience participation. You'll find two separate polls below.
Poll #1 from Vizu puts our critics' choices up against each other to see which of our favorites gets the nod. You can only vote once, and for one movie.
Some of you, of course, demand more choice in your life. For you we have another option:
Poll #2 from Poll Daddy lets you vote for as many films
as you want and as many times as you wish. It also includes films that
aren't in our critics' picks. It's a good way to measure passion, we
figure...
Of course, we know there is absolutely zero scientific validity to either of these polls, but we never claimed to be the Gallup organization anyway. Both polls will stay open until Christmas Day. However, we'll have some of our respective critics weigh in individually with their reactions to the winning film or films the week before.
There are few things in life as satisfying as listening to a brand-new Bruce Springsteen album on the day it's released. Well, maybe some, but they usually don't involve headphones...
I listened to it once yesterday after getting the iTunes download (I had it pre-paid to get it right away) and I've just returned from a long walk where I heard all of "Magic" for a second time on my iPod. I was so into the experience that when I passed my friend Anne on the street I almost missed her.
This is Springsteen’s first album of original songs with the E Street Band since 2004. Don't get me wrong, though, I absolutely thought "We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions" and "Live in Dublin" were extraordinary. This latest, however, is a return to form in a powerful way.
It's very political, too, although I have to confess that on first or second listens for me, I don't focus on the meaning of the words but on the emotion of the music. Here's what Rolling Stone's David Fricke said about the politics in his review:
...Springsteen’s songwriting here is also intricately wired with
outrage and disbelief. The pain, courage and genuine love of country
that he saw and felt after 9/11 and put to song with the E Street Band
on The Rising have gone up in flames and betrayal. He makes no direct
references to Iraq, Bush or the so-called Patriot Act. He doesn’t need
them. The pared metaphors and straight talk carry the weight and body
count. Like “Born in the U.S.A.,” “Gypsy Biker” is the sober homecoming
of a war veteran with images of anxious preparation (“We pulled your
cycle out of the garage/And polished up the chrome”) and wasted effort
(“The speculators made their money on the blood you shed”). Except this
time, the soldier is returning in a coffin, and the devastated singer
is numb with grief, mourning over lines of cocaine. “Last to Die”takes
off like “Thunder Road,”but into a darkness of unknown depth. “Who will
be the last to die for a mistake?”Springsteen sings, gripping the wheel
and marking the miles in fires and martyrs from both sides of the road.
And the title song, a skeleton dance of acoustic guitar and cimbalom,
is a catalog of tricks, not magic. At the end, Springsteen adds up the
high price of White House snake oil in a voice strained with
exhaustion: “There’s bodies hangin’ in the trees/This is what will be,
this is what will be.”
Let's get back to the music itself, though. I know this will mark me, maybe, as a lightweight but the song that hooked me immediately was the beach-radio sound of "Girls in Their Summer Clothes." After that, though, there are so many great cuts: "I'll Work for Your Love," "Your Own Worst Enemy," "Magic" and "The Long Walk Home" grab you right away. I was less passionate for the first cut they released from this as a tease, "Radio Nowhere" but it's good, too. Nothing that turned me off.
The thing is, it's great, it's Springsteen, and I'm damn glad we have him around because nobody, and I mean nobody, can do what he does as well as he does it.
While I'm off roaming the floor of the ever-more crowded San Diego Comic-Con and doing a signing session for Arts Alliance America as they release "The Crow: Stairway to Heaven" on DVD...
Let me invite you to visit our companion site, "Movie Smackdown!" -- Two Films, One Review, No Holds Barred. Here are the links to almost all of the cage fights currently on the site.
And don't muzzle yourself like Mr. Lecter -- please leave your own comments for our critics to respond to because, much as we hate to admit it, we're not always right...
We've told you about MOVIE SMACKDOWN! -- the film review site with a twist that goes like this -- Two Films, One Review, No Holds Barred.
Our reviews put one film that's out in the theaters against another film you can rent or buy. Sometimes, it's better to save the price of a ticket, parking and the over-priced and decidedly non-nutritious food choices, right?
Here, during the movie going frenzy of July 4th holiday, is our list of films that have gone into the ring that are still playing on a big screen somewhere, someplace, in the United States.
The film (Written by Bryce Zabel & Jackie Zabel, Directed by Armand Mastroianni) deals with a bird-flu like outbreak on an airplane from Australia that eventually forces the quarantine of the entire city of Los Angeles. Yes, that's Tiffani Thiesen as the hot CDC scientist who saves the world. What more do you want from a movie?
CLICK HERE to see an extended "Behind-the-Scenes" post from "For What It's Worth."
Daily Variety gave us a mostly positive review today. Here are some highlights:
"...an ambitious script by Bryce and Jackie Zabel..."
"The Zabels' script is highly character-driven, mimicking the ensemble storylines that made films like Crash so engrossing."
"Pandemic does win points for not being heavyhanded; it's all in good germy fun."
"The Germs on a Plane approach is skin-crawlingly effective..."
Did we mention you should tell your friends? And tell them early because they'll have to figure out where the Hallmark Channel is on their cable or satellite...
The audio commentary for the two opening hours of the TV series DVD release for "The Crow: Stairway to Heaven" couldn't have gone better.
Series lead
Mark Dacascos and I sat in an audio room at Hollywood's Crest Digital, wearing headphones, watching the first two episodes back-to-back and talking like old friends watching a past project and remembering how much fun they had together.
I'm glad we weren't over-rehearsed because I think fans will enjoy the spontaneity and discovery we ended up having for our own work (and the work of so many others who worked so hard on the series). I think we both were honestly surprised by some things we saw and the memories came authentically flooding back. We each remembered different things and different people, from fight coordiantors and stunt men to writers and producers.
Something else that helped is that in the last year, Mark and I and our wives have had dinner together three times and really renewed our friendship. Sitting in that room was just as natural, well, except for the championship dining aspect. But we laughed a lot yesterday. So much fun...
The DVD is being released as part of the "TV Guide" brand by Hart Sharp Video. It will be out on July 24, just a fe
I just logged on to the official campaign website and gave a donation to Barack Obama. There are some good candidates I can support if Obama does not get the Democratic nomination but he's my first choice by a mile.
