Keeping It Reel

It's a Wonderful Life

The Christmas list keeps rolling right along...

6 - It's a Wonderful Life

If it were at all possible to trademark a movie to coincide with a holiday, this would be the perfect candidate.  Christmas brings to mind several pleasant thoughts and for many, the first movie that comes to mind is "It's a Wonderful Life".  I've always said that it doesn't seem like Christmas unless it's snowing.  Well it also doesn't seem like the the Christmas season until this movie has played.

This flick is one of Mom's all-time favorites.  As with "The Ten   Commandments" and "The Wizard of Oz", everytime it comes on, she's intently focused on the story.  Anyone that has the nerve to interrupt her while she's in her "It's a Wonderful Life" zone better prepared to suffer her wrath.

I had gone a long time before I actually sat down and watched it in its entirety.  I knew most of the cliche lines you hear all the time and some of the signature scenes, but had never seen it all the way through.  It only took one time for me to see it and realize immediately the magic that Mom sees in it.

It very well may have been this movie that had me become an admirer of Jimmy Stewart's work.  He came from an era where the style of acting was to be overly dramatic so he seemed to be bucking the norm.  He was an everyday guy that us everyday guys could relate to.  Even if in "It's a Wonderful Life", he did seem to get hit with a bucket of bad luck.

It ranks number one on the American Film Institute list of most inspirational American movies of all time.  It ranks 11th on AFI's list of greatest American films. It cemented Stewart as one of Hollywood's elite.  Most of all, it reminds you what Christmas should be. 

A Night's Tale

  As Fright Week winds down, we take a look at one of the most powerful modern scary pictures ever made.  Being that it is Sunday, I didn't want go too overwrought with a pick that was known for gore and violence.  "The Sixth Sense" provides that perfect release.

There are only a select films that provide timeless quotes that become pop culture staples.  "I see dead people" has become so synonymous with "The Sixth Sense" and such a fixture in our regular vocabulary that it might as well have it's own entry in Wikipedia.  But even that wasn't what made the movie a classic.

It was already gripping with Bruce Willis giving one of the best performances of his career as a child psychologist trying to get his   "life" back on track after a violent encounter with a patient.  Then add to that the phenomenal role of then child actor Haley Joel Osment delivering one of the most mature performances ever seen on the big screen and you think that would be enough.  Nope.  The surprise ending is the icing on the cake.  I don't care what ANYBODY says who's supposedly is good at figuring out twists, there's no way anyone could have seen it coming that Bruce's character was dead the whole time.

There are several movies that are a must that you see at least a few times because of how amazing they are.  "The Sixth Sense" was one that was a necessity to see at least a second time because of how it ended.  You had to go back and watch it again to see if there really ever was a moment that Bruce's character physically interacted with the characters as if he was alive.  Then you realize there wasn't a wonder how you could have missed that the first time.

M. Night Shymalan created his own monster with this flick.  He became a victim of his own success.  He desperately tried to have the same success with other movies after this one but failed to realize that he captured lightning in a bottle with "Sense".  Nothing he did before or after even came close to its beauty.

Death's Design

The Grim Reaper has always been a prevalent part of every horror picture ever made.  Characters meet their demise thanks to his unannounced arrival.  But what happens when they spit in his face and decide it's not their time to go?  Well then you get "Final Destination".

There were a few movies prior to this where we saw the Grim Reaper manifest itself.  The most popular one that comes to mind is "Meet Joe Black" where Death takes on the form of Brad Pitt.  In that one, Death tries to rationalize in his own special way why he does what he does.  In "Final Destination", it comes at it's victims rather ticked off that they won't accept his role.

Horror movies have always been known for their death scenes.  The more money that is spent on the budget of one, the more they try to out-do their predecessors to set them apart.  "Destination" went out of its way to make its death scenes very elaborate.  Do you remember the old Tom & Jerry cartoons (or any cartoons from that era for that matter) where there would be an elaborate trap set up that would take a LONG time to develop because it was a chain reaction that lead to the eventual spring of the trap?  That's what the FD death scenes reminded me of.  I hate to say it, but they were sometimes pretty artistic.

The series has so far gone to three sequels with more sure to come.  They're cash cows so of course the studios will keep churning them out.  The thing about the "Final Destination" flicks is even though the acting hasn't been top notch as the numbers have increased, their staple of death sequences have continued to be classic.  They would do best to quit while they're ahead.

Great Pumpkins

I may be stretching the bounds of the requirements for "scary movies" just a bit for this one.  True, "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" is a far cry away form a horror picture.  For all intensive purposes, it's really a family film.  However, for this time of year, it should be required viewing so it makes my list as a Fright Week classic.

This originally aired way back in 1966 as a special on ABC.  Ever since then, I don't know a single person who doesn't remember watching this as a shortie.  Today's generation may have been a little spoiled with cable and having so many other options.  When we were coming up and there were just four stations, having a cartoon come on at night was a pleasant surprise.

I didn't realize it back then, but as I look back now, I wonder if Schultz knew how far ahead of his time he was with that special?  You've got Linus worshiping a pagan idol in the Great Pumpkin which is already ironic in the fact that the whole holiday is centered in paganism.  More than that though, it's lampooning the fact that as a society, we create pagan idols to associate with holidays that have nothing to do with them at all.  Namely the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus.

One thing I remember thinking even as watching it as a shortie was how jacked up they treated Charlie Brown.  Not his peers but the adults.  Remember how they went trick-or-treating and he always got rocks?  What adult would give a child a rock and everyone else candy?!  That was SO messed up.  An interesting bit of trivia regarding that is after special originally aired, children from all over the country sent candy to Charlie Brown out of sympathy.

It airs tonight on television again on its 40th anniversary being just as fresh now as it was back when it first premiered.  Watching specials like this one is a stark reminder that no matter how hard different illustrators may try, we will probably never see great animated entertainment equivalent to the Peanuts ever again.

Raising Some Hell

Out of all the movies that I've profiled so far for Fright Week, this would have been the first one where I was actually old enough to watch it legally by myself when it was first released.  Even though that was the case, I never saw "Hellraiser" in theaters.  I rented it on video back in the good ol' days of VHS and viewed some of the most disturbing scenes I had ever seen in a scary movie.

Now that I look back on it, the torture movies that are enjoying runs now like "Hostel" and the "Saw" series could have almost been descendants of "Hellraiser".  The only difference being that movies are now pushing boundaries a lot further than moviemakers would have probably wanted to in 1987.  As our society has gotten more desensitized to disturbing images, films have followed suit and nearly nothing is off limits anymore.

I was always a fan of how "Hellraiser" used the familiar concept of a Pandoras Box as its premise.  The key in this movie is the person who opens its puzzle does the worst thing imaginable in bringing hell  to earth, or in some instances, even taking the box-bearer to   hell.

And of course, who couldn't be a fan of Pinhead?  Unlike other horror movies villains, he was never one to actually commit anything heinous.  Instead, he was a mastermind, a manipulator who employed minions to do his bidding.  The various devices and underlings that he utilized may have been fleeting memories (except for his trademark chains), but the indelible image of his haunting face remains a permanent fixture of the Halloween landscape.  One of these days, I'll have to watch one of the behind-the-scenes features of those movies to see how they did his head like that.

As with other classics, they went to the well WAY too many times with "Hellraiser".  Last I checked, they were up to an eighth sequel.  I can't honesty say all of them were terrible because I stopped watching after the third one.  I would take an educated guess and say the entertainment factor would have been very slim in the later films.  Clive Barker did give us another treasure in "Candyman", but he shouldn't have allowed the "Hellraiser" series to drag on like it did.  When will the Hollywood folks learn to stop beating dead horses?

The Allure of Crystal Lake

Released just two short years after "Halloween" scared the bejeezus out of everyone, along comes "Friday the 13th".  It took the terror out of the city scene and into nature where people always wonder what's lurking in the shadows of the woods anyway.  What set this one apart from all the others is it was much more gorier than any films up to that point.  Horror films going forward would all borrow some elements of "Halloween" and "Friday the 13th" to foster the slasher craze that dominated the early 80s.

I do give the original "Friday the 13th" the credit it deserves for its part in establishing a trend in scary pictures.  However, for me, the first in the series wasn't the best one.  What it actually did was give us a very brief back-story and set up for later movies one of the greatest villains the horror genre would ever see:  Jason Voorhees.  He made a very brief appearance in the first one, but he didn't really take flight until "Friday the 13th Part 2".

Even though I haven't seen it in quite a while, I still vividly remember the very scene in which Jason picked up the goalie mask that would eventually become his trademark.  Prior to that, who would have ever thought hockey could be so terrifying?  Thanks to him, everyone looks at NHL goalies in an entirely different light.

Then, of course, there's the theme music.  Even if it's not really music, the "Kih-kih-kih...mah-mah-mah" is now synonymous with anytime someone wants to foreshadow something scary about to happen.  Speaking of which, I mis-spoke on my other site about the origin of it.  It was a loop the producers obtained from the phrase "Kill her, Mommy" that Mrs. Voorhees uttered in the first one.  They looped the "kill" and the first part of "Mommy" to come up with it.

As with "Halloween", they hung on a bit too long with Jason making far too many terrible movies.  I will have to admit that "Freddy vs. Jason" is one of my guilty pleasures.  Still, the madness should have stopped after at least number four, "Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter".  Regardless, it doesn't change the fact that "Friday the 13th Part 2" was hands down one of the best scary films ever made.

Welcome to Fright Week

For at least the past week or so, cable tv has been hitting us with all sorts of horror movies as we approach the Devil's Day at the end of the month.  The latest in the "Saw" series even hits theaters this weekend, just in time for the event.  Even though I abhor what Halloween stands for, it is inspiration for some pretty awesome flicks.

Therefore, as I mentioned on my primary site, this week is dedicated to a handful of my favorite scary movies.  Mainly, the ones that I feel changed up the game, for better or for worse.  Be warned now that on most of these, if you haven't already seen them, there will be spoilers.

First up, "April Fool's Day".  To this day, I still don't think this movie gets the credit it deserves.  I have yet to ever see it coming on cable during this time of year.  It even took me quite a while to find a dvd copy.  I had to special order it to get it in my collection.

I first saw this when it originally hit theaters in 1986.  The previews looked enticing and it was yet another movie to play off a holiday so I decided to give it a shot.  It NEVER dawned on me that the movie would be in the same mold as the title itself implied.  It turns out that no one really died and the whole thing was an elaborate hoax.  How did I not see that coming?!  The title alone gave it away.

This was the first horror movie to ever employee a twist for the ending that several movies now use these days. Up to that point, the murderer was always straight-forward with some type of reveal of the identity in the ending.  For the first time, the climax sucked you in and nothing was as it seemed.  They would never admit it, but I think flicks like "Ocean's Eleven" (the remake) and "The Usual Suspects" got their cue from this one.

College Daze Swiftly Past

You ever have one of those movies come on that you have seen a million times yet you're drawn to watch it again?  It doesn't necessarily have to be your favorite movie, but it's definitely one of them.  You're inclined to watch it because it brings back fond memories.  That's how "School Daze" is with me.

I found myself with a bout of insomnia and it just happened to be coming on.  Not only do I have it on dvd anyway, but I still have several other movies on dvd that I have yet to watch and could have been viewing.  Then again, why take a chance on watching one that may let you down when a classic never disappoints?

The obvious reason it has sentimental value is because of its subplots dealing with what it's like to go thru the pledging process.  I remember watching it for the first time before I pledged so I could prepare myself for what I would have to face.  Spike may have exaggerated some of it; however, he got the essence of it correct.  Still, watching a movies could never fully prepare you for the rigors of such a process.

I wouldn't trade my experience at Iowa State for anything.  Having said that, this movie had me imagining what life would have been like at an HBCU.  Then, of course, came the television equivalent in "A Different World" that added to that.  The wonderful thing about ISU, at least during the time that I was there, was even though it may not have been an HBCU, there was still somewhat of  a feel of it.  The brothas and sistas were all tight with one another (even if we didn't always get along) and when we weren't in class, we were around each other frequently.

Another thing that made "Daze" special is the plethora of untapped talent it had in it. Several actors that would later go on to do even bigger things graced that film.  Tisha Campbell, Laurence Fishburne, Jasmine Guy, Daryl Bell, Kadeem Hardison, Bill Nun and even Giancarlo Esposito.  Oh, and let us not forget this is the movie where Samuel Jackson got his start.  There were even other actors I felt should have gotten chances at bigger roles even if they only played bit parts for years to come, like Leonard Thomas who played Big Brother General Patton.

It's too bad that Spike fashioned the frat in this after the raunchy Q-Dogs of Omega Psi Phi.  I had read somewhere that he either thought about pledging that in college or he did and dropped.  I will give him his props though that the fictional G Phi G's in this had some of the tightest frat gear I've ever seen.  And as far as I'm concerned, the only color combination better than black and old gold is black and silver.  I don't know if any of them did, but if I had been in that movie, I definitely would have kept one of those sweatshirts and/or jackets as a souvenir.

Speaking of his choice of frats, at least Spike got it right with his stepshow scene.  The best scene in the movie.  It highlights the men of distinction...the first of ALL Black Greeks.  It's funny watching that now seeing how far stepshows have come since then.  It's also pretty sad that shortly following that, Vanilla Ice would gain fame biting one of our oldest chants.  We really should have trademarked "Ice, Ice, Baby".  It's all good though.  People know who the originators are.

I really didn't mean for this to be a review.  If I did, I would have gone into more detail about how well Spike portrayed the conflict between dark-skinned and light-skinned brothas and sistas.  It's evident Spike was at his best with this one.  I just intended to speak on how "School Daze" is near and dear to me.  If you haven't seen it, make it a point to check it out.  This goes without saying, but just to be consistent since I did dwell on the flick for an entire post...

My rating:  A+

Movies, Movies, Movies

It seems they always give the generic response "your order will be shipped in 7-10 business days" but it never seems to take quite that long.  In fact, the last few times I've ordered something online, I usually get it within a few days.  It's the old trick of under-promise and over-deliver.  I'm perfectly fine with that.

I prefaced this post with that to lead in to the fact that the other movie I had been highly anticipating to add to my collection finally came today.  It's called "The Fighting Sullivans".  Not very

many people probably ever heard of this movie but it's one of my all-time favorites.  I couldn't find it for the longest time and it finally got released on dvd.  It's the story of five brothers that grew up doing everything together so naturally, they all joined the war together.  They refused to be split up on different assignments so they all end up on the same ship.  This may sound familiar to many of you even though you may have never seen the movie.  It's because "Saving Private Ryan" begins its premise based on this true story.

I owe my affection for this movie to Mom.  She may not remember ever referring this movie but it was her who even got me into the habit of appreciating the

cinema of yesteryear altogether.  I can recall watching what was then CBN (I believe it stood for Christian Broadcast Network) late night when I was a shorty and they would show line-ups of OLD shows like "Burns and Allen" (a hands down classic), "Jack Benny", "I Married Joan" and "My Little Marge".  And of course along those lines, I'm also a die-hard Martin and Lewis fan.  Their work together made some of the best movies I had ever seen.

There was another movie I had been trying to locate forever that I was finally able to add to my ever growing dvd collection and that was the horror classic "Patrick".  I first saw this movie when I was just a shortie and I'll never forget it being one of the scariest movies I had never seen.  For some reason, I never saw it again for years and years but it always stuck with me and I vowed that I would have it in my collection.  Once again, this may be one that few are familiar with but I highly recommend it

The whole premise of even having a horror collection in my dvds is something that me and the missus still disagree on.  She looks at as inviting demonic spirits into the household.  I see it as they are just movies and the "demonic" element is something that anyone can be susceptible too if their faith isn't strong enough.  It has nothing to do with what movies are on your shelf.

But the "holy grail" of dvds that I have yet to find is the highly elusive "The Fish That Saved

Pittsburgh".  It's really not that elusive since it hasn't been made available on dvd yet.  For some reason, it's on VHS only and I don't want it bad enough that I'll drop $30 on a video tape.  Who even still owns a VCR?

Long before Michael Jordan made the transition from the hardwood to the big screen with "Space Jam", Julius Erving had first done it with this flick.  In my opinion, this is hands down the best sports movie ever made.  The cheese factor with this movie is so prevalent that they don't even try to hide it.  You can look at the cover itself and tell exactly what you're getting into and that's part of what makes this flick a classic for me.

Collecting dvds is a strong passion of mine.  At last count, my collection has now grown to over 750 strong.  I have them categorized in their own areas of the house as Family/Children, Drama, Comedy, Action, Horror and the newly added category of Television.  Naturally, they are arranged alphabetically within their own sections.  I even went as far as to create my own database that lists every movie, a synopsis of it and my rating.  That way, if anyone were to ever try to take one thinking I wouldn't notice because there are so many...think again.

I'm often asked what movie is my favorite and that's actually an unfair question.  It's like comparing apples and oranges since you can't compare a horror movie to a comedy movie or a comedy to a drama and so on.  However, within their own categories, I do have my personal favorites:

• Comedy - The Blues Brothers
• Drama -   The Color Purple
• Action -   Armageddon
• Horror -   Halloween
• Family/Children -  The Incredibles

Feel free to chime in with your input on your personal favorites.  There are so many more that come very close but if I had to chose definitive ones, those would be it. 

Now I now I also mentioned that one of the categories of my dvds was Television but that's an entirely different animal altogether.  Within that medium, there is also, the same different categories that apply and I have favorites that apply there as well.  That could be it own entirely different post so I will save that for another time...