TCM presents movies for kids - The Essentials Jr.
Way back in the early 1970’s, when I was a kid (I’m not that old!), I remember seeing some amazing movies on the CBS Children’s Film Festival. It was on either Saturday or Sunday afternoons and I vaguely recall my mother encouraging me to watch. Kukla, Fran and Ollie introduced the movies and to this day, I can still remember seeing classic foreign films that were made for children like The Red Balloon (French), Hand in Hand (British) and Skinny and Fatty (Japanese). I think those movies may have been the first that really got be interested in film.
Turner Classic Movies seems to be providing a similar service for kids today, albeit by presenting great classics from Hollywood’s golden era. TCM started a new series called Essentials Jr. Grey’s Anatomy star Chris O’Donnell (Scent of a Woman) co-hosts with Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine). Together, they provide introductions and discuss the films, movies that are picked to be just right for kids. According to TCM, “The chosen films are ones that any cinema-literate child should know about and be able to enjoy with family and friends including grown-ups.”
It’s the same idea as Essentials, which currently features Robert Osborne and Rose McGowan. Among the pictures slated for Essentials Jr. are Meet Me in St. Louis, The Courtship of Eddie’s Father, Harvey, and even comedy classics like Laurel and Hardy’s The Music Box and Buster Keaton in Sherlock Jr. Every single one of these titles are kid-appropriate and damn entertaining.
In addition to hosting this TCM series, Chris and Abigail are playing father and daughter in Kit Kittredge: An American Girl which opens July 2. It’s logical to assume that their involvement in Essentials Jr. is a great way to promote Kit Kittredge, but it’s also another quality bit of programming by TCM. We can add it to my list of reasons I love Turner Classic Movies.
The Amazing Race: The Final Push (season finale)
(S12E11) You know, it’s tough to actually like all three teams racing for the finish line on The Amazing Race. Other seasons there have always been teams I so didn’t want to win the million dollars. This year, what can I say?
The three teams in the run for the win include a father and daughter team, a grandfather and his grandson, and a rather offbeat mellow new-agey, yet throwback couple who get along together amazingly well.
My favorite team coming out of the gate this season was Kynt and Vyxsin, but they’re long gone. It’s been the Ronald and Christina show the past few weeks. Was it tonight? Finale spoilers after the jump!
Tonight’s finale was most unusual for the show. I don’t believe there’s ever been such a wide range of ages in the final three. If memory serves, no father/daughter team has even made it halfway through the season. I really enjoyed the more all-ages sort of tasks they had this season as it leveled the playing field, opening the doors for teams who aren’t necessarily twenty-something and athletic.
That said, the teams still can make some pretty dumb errors. Tonight all the teams made the same flight to their final destination of Anchorage, Alaska. But, by not reading a clue thoroughly, Donald and Nicolas had to double back to retrieve a bag which contained gear they needed to complete the Detour.
But, once they retrieved it and headed to the Detour, Donald surely made quick work on that cod, didn’t he? Those cod they used in the task looked like some sort of mutant giant killer cod. I don’t see anything that size coming here off the coast in New Jersey. Not cod, anyway.
TK and Rachel had a good thought with going for the crab task on the Detour, but the crabs were like the cod … huge. Had they given up and gone for the fish cutting instead, I think they would have lost a lot of time and the outcome of the show would have changed.
Ronald and Christina started out ahead and maintained that lead through the Detour even though Ronald really mutilated that poor dead fish. Their speed with the task was definitely more luck than skill. Remind me not to let Ronald ever fillet fish for me.
Then there was the glacier climbing task. Yikes. I’ve done some ice climbing in the Rockies years back and know it can be tough on a young healthy person. I know I couldn’t do it now. But both Ronald and Donald seemed to do better than their younger partners. I bow to their outright amazingness. And, yeah. I know that isn’t a word, but I claim creative license.
I thought the real kicker of the finale was the final Roadblock. I got confused just hearing the directions and I’m certainly not under the pressure of racing for a million bucks. Kudos to whatever production staffers thought up that puzzle! I can’t even get it exactly straight in my mind now — fifteen items to choose from, ten representing each leg of the race must be put on the stage. But, hey! Only three animals or animal by-products, two things brought to the Pit Stops, on and on. Only one combination would work and the clue box would pop open.
Oh, I’m so confused! And, so were Christina, Rachel, and Nicolas. Even though it seemed like Ronald and Christina had a fairly decent lead, this puzzling Roadblock was the game-changer. It put all three teams in a dead heat of confusion as they desperately tried to remember which items represented each country. Heck, it even had them questioning if the human was an animal. A perfect Roadblock, indeed. Had Donald done it instead of Nicolas, he might still be there today. It even had Christina mumbling about the “frickin’ chicken” and other more bleepable expletives. Oy!
But, in the end, it was Rachel who solved it first, followed by Christina. The arrival order at the finish line was the order of the finished Roadblock. So, TK and Rachel, the team I switched to after the demise of the Goths (on the show, not in real life), won the million. They’re a sweet couple and it’s refreshing to see a couple who treat each other decently even under stress.
But the finish line stories which brought a tear to my eye were the other two teams. I despised Ronald on the show when he didn’t treat his daughter well. He’s really come around the last several weeks of the show and it was very touching to see them both happy. Then, Donald actually shed a tear. Aww.
All in all, I was very pleased with this season. In the last poll I posted, I noticed that most of the respondents here wanted a TK/Rachel win, but were expecting a Ronald/Christina win. I felt the same way. What a pleasant surprise, eh?
Swing Vote Movie Trailer
Touchtone Pictures (aka Disney) has released the first trailer for their upcoming Kevin Costner Summer comedy Swing Vote. The film actually has an interesting but totally unrealistic concept. Basically the events of the presidential election come down to the vote from one man. Of course the execution of the idea looks like the usual sentimental feel good Disney-level story. There’s nothing like combining a family film with politics… Watch the trailer below and tell me what you think in the comments.
Official Plot Synopsis: “Bud Johnson (Costner) is an apathetic, beer-slinging, lovable loser, who is coasting through a life that has passed him by. The one bright spot is his precocious, over-achieving twelve year-old daughter Molly. She takes care of both of them, until one mischievous moment on Election Day, when she accidentally sets off a chain of events which culminates in the election coming down to one vote…her dad’s. SWING VOTE is a comical look at the journey of one father and daughter who discover that everyone has the power to change the world.”
Swing Vote hits theaters on August 1st, 2008
source: MSN