About Me-----Treasures Again----My Store----Etsy----Patterns----Handmade Products
-------------------------------------------------------

Someone once said -

"There comes a time in your life, when you walk away from all the drama and people who create it. You surround yourself with people who make you laugh. Forget the bad, and focus on the good. Love the people who treat you right and pray for the people who don't. Life is too short to be anything but happy. Falling down is a part of life, getting back up is living." Amen

===========================================



*************If you want to print or PDF any post, just click on the links at the end of that post**********
Showing posts with label movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label movies. Show all posts

Saturday, October 12, 2013

We"re off to See the Wizard the Wonderful Wizard of Oz!!!


Lions, tigers, bears
[source]
One of all time favorite movies was and still is The Wizard of Oz. It has become an annual ritual over the holidays to make sure I watch it at least once or maybe even twice. I was sadden when I asked my granddaughters if they liked it and they said they had never seen it???? What I said? But they were not really interested in seeing it.  I guess it has fond memories of my childhood linked to it. When I was little my mom and dad always went over my favorite Aunt & Uncle's house and played cards.  It was more than one time, but I specifically remember it during November when I would sit in front of their black & white [oops showing my age] and watch the notorious all time classic,  The Wizard of Oz, while they were laughing and arguing over their card game in the nearby kitchen.  I lived in the east and it was cold outside and you could hear the wind blowing and the windows creaking from the force. I loved it there and felt warm and cozy with my pillow in my pj's watching my movie all curled up in my big fuzzy blanket. 

I am sure we all have our favorite childhood memories, but this was the one that made the 1939 movie, The Wizard of Ozbecome my favorite holiday ritual.


[source]
The story of Dorothy and her friends on the Yellow Brick Road to the Emerald City has become an icon to many baby-boomers, but I wonder has it lost its appeal to the next generation or what about the next one??? 
It is, perhaps, the closest thing I have today to a perfect fairy tale. I love the part when the strong wind hits Kansas and you hear Dorothy yelling "Auntie Em! Auntie Em!" Or what about the theme music for Miss Gulch's demonic bicycle ride or the march of the Wicked Witch's palace guards?  And my favorite of course, "Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!" I am also partial to the phrase "I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore,". 
Wizard of Oz:  Dorothy is unconscious while the wicked witch flies by
[source]
The movie has been remade, made into a play and referenced in dozens of movies, television shows, and books. And who doesn't love Elton John's 1973 release Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, but none have come close to the imaginative power or lasting mind imprint of the original movie. 

Did you know that Buddy Epsen was originally suppose to play the scarecrow? He actually started to play the part when he became deathly ill and had to be hospitalize from the silver paint in the Tin man's make-up. 

Even Judy Garland who was made legendary after playing Dorothy was not the 1st choice. Originally MGM wanted Shirley Temple, but alas she was obligated to to Fox and Over the Rainbow [my favorite version was done by Israel Kamakawiwoʻole's] most was cut out of the movie. Think of how different that would be today??? The song has become and American culture known song. 

W.C. Fields was casted to play the Wizard, but as he was well known for his difficulty to work with, the studio changed their minds.   
[source]
I do love the this movie and ALL its characters too. If you get a chance it will be playing this year on TMC [Turner Movie Classics


SUNDAY NOVEMBER, 24 2013 AT 08:00 PM

SUNDAY NOVEMBER, 24 2013 AT 10:15 PM
FRIDAY NOVEMBER, 29 2013 AT 03:45 PM
SATURDAY DECEMBER, 21 2013 AT 07:00 PM
SATURDAY DECEMBER, 21 2013 AT 09:15 PM
SUNDAY DECEMBER, 22 2013 AT 01:00 PM

I'll be watching it will you? 





Sunday, December 09, 2012

Some "Must See" Christmas Classic TV Movies



I have gathered just a few Christmas Classic Movies that can be watched on TV. They are some of my favorites as I am sure a lot of you have your own lists too. I have more but here are just a few "must see" ones....


It's a Wonderful Life Frank Capra Films
  • It's A Wonderful Life" 1946 who didn't shed a tear when that bell rang on the tree with Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed It's a Wonderful Life is an American Christmas drama film produced and directed by Frank Capra, that was based on the short story "The Greatest Gift", written by Philip Van Doren Stern. Released in 1946, the film stars James Stewart as George Bailey, a man whose imminent suicide on Christmas Eve brings about the intervention of his guardian angel, Clarence Odbody (Henry Travers). Clarence shows George all the lives he has touched and the contributions he has made to his community, and how different it would be had he never been born. Despite initially being considered a box office flop due to high production costs and stiff competition at the time of its release, the film has come to be regarded as a classic and a staple of Christmas....... [ Read More at Wikipedia
  • Polar ExpressThe Polar Express Robert Zemeckis Films Excellent
  • The Polar Express is a 2004 motion capture computer-animated film based on the children's book of the same title by Chris Van Allsburg. Written, produced, and directed by Robert Zemeckis, the human characters in the film were animated using live action performance capture technique, with the exception of the waiters who dispense hot chocolate on the train, because their feats were impossible for live actors to achieve. Performance capture technology incorporates the movements of live actors into animated characters. The film stars Daryl Sabara, Nona Gaye, Jimmy Bennett, and Eddie Deezen, with Tom Hanks in six distinct roles. The film also included a performance by Tinashe at age 9, who later gained exposure as a pop singer in 2010, as...
    .... [ Read More at Wikipedia
How the Grinch Stole Christmas! Chuck Jones, Ben Washam Films
  • The Grinch that Stole Christmas How the Grinch Stole Christmas! is a 1966 American animated television special directed by Chuck Jones. It is based on the homonymous children's book by Dr. Seuss, the story of The Grinch trying to take away Christmas from the townsfolk of Whoville below his mountain hideaway. The special, which is considered a short film as it runs less than an hour, is one of the very few Christmas specials from the 1960s to still be shown regularly on television. Jones and Geisel previously worked together on the Private Snafu training cartoons during World War II. The 26-minute short was originally telecast on CBS on December 18, 1966. CBS repeated it annually during the Christmas season until 1987. It was eventually acquired by Turner Broadcasting...
How the Grinch Stole Christmas! Ron Howard Films
Jim Carey did a remake in 2000


.... [ Read More at Wikipedia




Jack Frost Troy Miller Films

  • Jack Frost is a 1998 Christmas-comedy film, starring Michael Keaton and Kelly Preston. Keaton stars as the title character, a man who dies in a car accident and comes back to life as a snowman. Three of Frank Zappa's four children: Dweezil Zappa, Ahmet Zappa, and Moon Unit Zappa, appear in the film. The film is rated PG. Jack Frost (Michael Keaton) is the lead singer in a band simply titled "The Jack Frost Band", who make their living performing blues covers and an assortment of their own songs in the hope of signing a record deal. He then returns to his son Charlie (Joseph Cross), who has just returned from an epic snowball fight against the bully Rory Buck (Taylor Handley). They spend some quality time...
    .... [ Read More at Wikipedia

  • In 1983 "A Christmas Story" was made. It is one everyone watches. It is a true classic then you never tire of. The film is set in Hohman, Indiana, a fictionalized version of the author's hometown. Nine-year-old Ralph "Ralphie" Parker (Peter Billingsley) wants only one thing for Christmas: a Red Ryder BB Gun with a compass in the stock, and "this thing which tells time" (a sundial). While using various schemes to convince his parents to get him this gift, he continually bumps into objections from others saying, "You'll shoot your eye out."
  • Wizard of Oz - always come on around Thanksgiving and Christmas time....my long time ultimate favorite.
 

  • An American Christmas Carol the original was made in 1979 many recreations of the movie have been made since then. It was based on the book written by Charles Dickens. Dickens began to write A Christmas Carol in September 1843, and completed the book in six weeks with the final pages written in the beginning of December. In 1984 George C Scott did an excellent re-make of this movie.





Home Alone John Williams Films
  • Home Alone is a 1990 American Christmas comedy film written and produced by John Hughes and directed by Chris Columbus. The film stars Macaulay Culkin as Kevin McCallister, an eight-year-old boy, who is mistakenly left behind when his family flies to Paris for their Christmas vacation. While initially relishing time by himself, he is later greeted by two would-be burglars played by Daniel Stern and Joe Pesci. Kevin eventually manages to outwit them with a series of booby traps. The film also features Catherine O'Hara, John Heard, Devin Ratray, Roberts Blossom, and John Candy. As of 2009, Home Alone was the highest grossing comedy of all time. Culkin was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or...
.... [ Read More at Wikipedia ]

    

  • The Nightmare Before Christmas, often promoted as Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, is a 1993 American stop motion musical fantasy film directed by Henry Selick and produced/co-written by Tim Burton. It tells the story of Jack Skellington, a being from "Halloween Town" who opens a portal to "Christmas Town". Danny Elfman wrote the film score and provided the singing voice of Jack, as well as other minor characters. The remaining principal voice cast includes Chris Sarandon, Catherine O'Hara, William Hickey, Ken Page and Glenn Shadix. The genesis of The Nightmare Before Christmas started with a poem written by Tim Burton when he was a Disney animator in the early 1980s. With the success of Vincent in 1982, Disney started to...



.... [ Read More at Wikipedia

White Christmas Michael Curtiz Films
  • White Christmas is a 1954 Technicolor musical film starring Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye that features the songs of Irving Berlin, including the titular "White Christmas". The film was directed by Michael Curtiz and co-stars Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen. The film is notable as being the first to be produced and released in VistaVision, a wide-screen process that entailed using twice the surface area of standard 35mm film. This large-area negative was used to yield finer-grained standard-sized 35 mm film prints. The story is about two World War II U.S. Army buddies, one a Broadway entertainer, Bob Wallace (Crosby), the other a would-be entertainer, Phil Davis (Kaye). It begins on Christmas Eve, 1944, somewhere in Europe. In a forward...

.... [ Read More at Wikipedia




  • The Santa Clause.1st one made in 1994, 2nd 2003, 3rd in 2006

Tim Allen stars as Scott Calvin, a divorced father whose strained relationship with his son Charlie (Eric Lloyd) begins to mend only after a bizarre twist of fate transforms him into the new Santa...Read more from ABC Family 
The Santa Clause
Photo from ABC Family
The Santa Clause

Tim Allen one o my favorite actors is not only cute but funny too. He is realistic and his actions on "The Tool-Man" series on his "Home Improvement" TV series was hilarious. His first big screen debut was a  light, family-friendly holiday comedy called "The Santa Clause." Allen stars as Scott Calvin, the divorced dad of Charlie (Eric Lloyd). Scott is distressed to learn that his ex-wife Laura (Wendy Crewson) and Charlie's psychiatrist stepfather Neal (Judge Reinhold)[another favorite actor of mine. :) They have informed his son that there is no Santa Claus. While a sullen Charlie visits his dad on Christmas Eve, a noise on the roof brings them outside, where Scott startles the intruder, who tumbles from the roof. It turns out that there is a Santa after all, and Scott has just accidentally killed him. Because of a legal technicality known as "the Santa clause," Scott inherits the jolly old elf's job. As the next year passes, Scott rapidly gains weight, grows a white beard and meets the elf Bernard (David Krumholtz) -- who is the one who really runs the North Pole -- while Charlie regains his Christmas spirit. However, Neal becomes concerned about Scott's sudden change in appearance and insistence that he's Santa, and he forces him to undergo a psychiatric evaluation. 

You have to watch this one for the season it is always on and a must see. You will not be disappointed it's a family tradition at my home. 

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...