act /akt/

My acting career culminated in grade seven. Our French class performed a play for the school as part of some larger event which was attended by many parents. It was set in a discothèque. We all had to dance as the play opened. Then we talked. I had one line and I still have it memorized. Ready for this?

"D'accord!"

Which means I agree. I basically just piggybacked on someone else's line. Then we danced again to a cacophony of derisive laughter from the audience as the curtain closed.

I still remember the review I received for my performance: "Hey wasn't that your French class in the play? I'm surprised you weren't in it."

Madame Visser could have at least given me "Je suis d'accord." Maybe that would have got me in the spotlight long enough to be noticed. Oh well.

Totally not us.

Karakurbagasi

KARAKURBAGASI: a Turkish toad. And by that I mean it's just Turkish for toad. And by that I mean that this is a totally random word and I have no idea what I'm about to say. And by that I mean that this will be the worst blog post ever. 

Let's see if I can dig up something short and sweet and get you out of here so we can both get on with our lives:

Here we go. A turkey/toad chimera for your enjoyment.

Now, if that looks to you more like a bat/squirrel/ram chimera that's because you need glasses.

Hey! What's that behind you!

(runs away)

Question K: What do you miss most about being a KID?

Playing street hockey. I was damn good but its just playing I miss, rather than the recognition. And also the innocence. I assumed the world of adults would be sane and I would fine comfort in growing up. But not so.

Keeping it in

Recently binged this Netflix serial The Keepers and it was a very tense and intriguing true crime deal featuring the catholic church, some scandal of the type you'd predict plus a whole lot more. It features some very sober; sometimes chilling perspectives on the proven phenomenon of repressed memory.

Recently I witnessed something which led me to look at another form of repression; clearly related. I won't go into that directly but instead offer a more simple example to follow.

What I realized is that when the mind represses certain thoughts (current; not memories) from surfacing because they are... too dangerous to immediately contemplate it might not be able to remove the reaction to them; the pain, but merely to delay it.

Take a look at this video: a well-meaning and perhaps misguided attempt at fun by loving parents who think they understand their child and probably don't always. They are perhaps tickled at the tears of joy they produced in their boy's eyes, without realizing that these are actually tears of pain which only manifested after it was finally safe to let them out. Meaning: The pain was delayed and muted but not fully extinguished. The source of the pain is the sudden irrational fear that he may not be loved - or loved sufficiently, which is, again, probably never fully appreciated consciously, but enough to manifest a shadow of despair which is only freely felt once he perceives it was a false alarm.

Boys Don't Cry

Save some bees. You know it's them that feed you eh?

Yogi, Smokey, Boo-boo and Pooh

Hey hey kids… it’s Y-Day today because Y-not? And we have been enthusiastically directed by the yellsome yackity youngster who is my three-year-old nephew. And he has dictated the subject:

Bears

So I give you a silly poem. It’s a little A-to-Z within the A-to-Z!:

This is an ARCTIC bear. He’s learning how to swim

Because his snowy home is now in terrible danger!

This is BOO-BOO Bear. He is Yogi’s little friend

He has to warn him often: Don’t upset the ranger!

These are the CHICAGO bears. They are football players

Thirty four years ago they won the superbowl

This is a DO-IT YOURSELF bear. You donate the labour

Then you get to keep the bear but sixty bucks in the hole

This is Marian ENGEL’s bear. He has some troublesome habits

He likes to hang out in libraries among the shelves of books

This is jokester FOZZY Bear. He likes to draw the laughs

But all his jokes tend to get is lots of funny looks

GUMMI bears are colourful and sweet

While they’re gummed up in your maw

HUGGY BEAR had the bum’s eye for clothes

But his profession was against the law

Tanner is an INFIELDER for the Bad News Bears

He is a little scrapper who’s always getting dirty

JACK Nicklaus is the Golden Bear, a golfer yes he was

He would score lots of pars and also lots of birdies

The KOALA bear is not a bear at all! It’s true!

Some bears you find in bars for LGBTQ!

The entire MOVIE “The Bear” was framed from bears’ points of view

It was filmed in the Dolomites in Nineteen eighty-eight

In NATIVE Legends there are no symbols

But the Bear so mighty and great

OWLBEARS are monstrous things

They’ll engage you in a hostile fray

PADDINGTON is a gentlemanly bear

He lives in the U.K.

The Bear Creek QUILTING Company

Will service your quilting bee

You’ll find The Bear RADIO station

At one hundred point three

SMOKEY is a safety bear

It’s forest fires he dreads

TEDDY is the kindest bear

He’ll cuddle you in bed

The UNIVERSITY of Alberta

Has Bears in the basketball game

The VANCOUVER Grizzles, mind you

Once did just the same

WINNIE the Pooh bear’s always getting stuck

But fear not, he’ll be okay

eX-BEAR Ditka is on the TV

With always much to say

YOGI Bear just might be

The most famous bear of all

While the Z-BEAR builds you home-made bears

You can give him a call 

N is for Nature

I was surprised when Mom announced she was writing a story. She’s a regular book reader but… wow.

It’s an easy reader; a picture book, so far without pictures.

I digged the idea. The story mom lives on a farm and takes her three young kids on a nature hike pointing out all the signs that the seasons are on the cusp of change.

I was later surprised when she asked me to partner with her; to give the piece an edit or a re-write. I said sure.

My take on it is that the elder boy (still very young) is impatient for the wet snowy weather to depart so that he can ride his new bike without such hindrances. He despairs that winter might never go away. Mom and older sis wish to prove that it will, by demonstrating that the transformation has already begun.

I needed there to be a problem to solve. Though I know, academically that most of my adult fiction priorities hold little weight in a kids’ environment, it’s hard to deny my artist instincts. And in similar regard, I’m likely employing too much subtlety.

It’s a surprisingly slow process. As the family navigates the evidence of hibernation rituals, bird migration, river flows and even Grandpa’s maple syrup production, I find myself immersed in research at every step. I want all the science (and there’s a lot of it) to stand up.

I don’t presume to be a competent kids writer or that I ever will be. I just don’t know. I hope Mom will not be overly deferential toward my robust rewrite.

Santa Baby

The following article was posted by dear pal The Bablatrice back at Christmas 2006 down in Arkansas. Ten years later it still remains my favorite holiday article ever. I am re-posting it here with her permission. At least I assume I would have her permission if I asked for it. But I'm not taking any chances. Now excuse me while I turn off the spell-checker:

In the local paper this week (yep - our town only has a weekly paper) there were letters to Santa from kids at the local schools. Here are a few of the better ones, with my comments. Did you really think I wouldn't comment?

Dear Santa,

Is it cold up ther? I am shr it is. dont wre it will be wrm in my house. there will be hot chaliket. i been bad and good sometimes. I hop I get the theng's I want for cricmus. I hop you will give me wut I want for cricmus.

Love,

Will

Will- I hop you get what you want for cricmus, too - as well as a few vowels. You need them.

Dear Santa,

How are you and Mrs. Claus? Thank you for the gifts that you gave me last year. I would like to have pjs also a barbie. I will leve you cookies and milk.

Merry Christmas,

Jennifer.

Jen - If Santa doesn't bring you pajamas and a Barbie, he's a big, fat mean bastard, and I will personally help you kick his ginormous, lard-filled ass.

Dear Santa,

I hope you and Mrs. Claus are okay. Thank you for the prezes. I wuld like to have for Christmas this year I'd like to have urk eestrik log shot. Id like to havv ddgn. I will leave kookez and nelk.

Zakkari

Um...Zak..are you an alien? 'Cause the last half of your letter sounds a lot like what I would imagine alien-speak to be.

Dear Santa,

I wont to send you a meshig. What I rillie want is a new puppy. Next, I rillie wont is a horse. Last, I onte is a nother puppy for crismus. I rillie want theshe things.

Love,

Kensey.

Kensey - you're entirely too young to be drinking. Lay off the sauce until you're at least in the 5th grade, okay?

Dear Santa,

My name is Autumn. I really want a baby bed for all of my dolls. I would like to say "I love you, and be safe, your going to splash your bottom going into my house."

Autumn, dear child, do you possibly live in a houseboat? Swamp? A raft in the middle of a pond? C'mon kid, I'm dyin' to know exactly how Santa's going to get a wet tush going to your house.

Dear Santa,

I hope you and Mrs. Claus are don w wenl. Thank you fur the presents. I would like to have for Christmas this year is a makn chrowch chok. And I wont is a now viteo gom. And the last sta I kan am irtnel is I wont a I wont a naw bike.

Gabe

Yo Gabe! Are you by any chance related to Zak the Alien?

Dear Santa,

Emily is my name. I would love to have a yellow moon shape touch light from the dollar tree. I would like to say "Merry Christmas and tell the rain deer hi for me."

It just breaks my heart that Emily only asks for one thing from the Dollar Tree. The Dollar Tree, people, where everything's a fucking dollar. Emily, if I knew who you were, I'd go to the Dollar Tree and buy you every single yellow moon touch lamp they had.

Addendum

The snowfall has turned to rainfall and the ground snow, orange here, in the orange lights, is speckled; pelted into a field of tiny stalagmites.

Great drops plummet from the trees, aiming for my head which contains not much of a brain or I would have worn a hat. My footprints, lingering from the previous lap, have pressed the snow into slush-bottomed pools. Dark ruined leaves fall and further muddy the scene. 

At an early age I believed that the snow fell for some noble purpose; not strictly to provide for Santa’s sled, but to purify; to virginalize, which I perceived vaguely, not knowing such words. I would trudge sparingly at times, re-tracing paths, or sometimes tracking at will, with shameless indulgence, but paying for the privilege: honoring the snow gods with a snow angel.

Hello Goodbye

Part One: Hello

In one sense I’ve preferred the news not come.

Because no matter to what degree one is an environmentalist – and make no mistake: every one of us is an environmentalist to some widely varying degree; some number between one per cent and a hundred (as if it could be so easily quantified) where only the truest aboriginals might claim the number 100 and maybe Derrick Jensen the singular white guy to hit ninety nine? – anyway, unless you’re pretty badly out to lunch you can’t deny that a seven and a half billion human population is a major factor in the long equation which underlies the environmental catastrophe which guarantees to radically change – if not end – the human experience on this dear old half-wrecked planet. Every avenue of human-related harm has been multiplied by population.

So one of the very few pieces of advice I ardently profess is: think twice about having kids... for quite a few solid reasons related to the above.

But in another sense…

I have eagerly anticipated such news since my brother’s marriage to my very excellent sister-in-law (what a horrible title – sister in law – for someone I am so delighted to include in my perception of family!)

It seems it was the four years volunteering with the reading and writing kids which so surprisingly unveiled these paternal instincts, and surely a niece or nephew would provide an obvious outlet for them. I have wondered at times to what degree said instincts have enhanced, versus hindered, the close relationships I maintain with certain young people in my life.

I’d started to suspect that Bro and wife were not planning to have kids after all.

And then at a family gathering , one of our parents' regular roster reports of the sick, dead and dying among their friends and associates was interrupted mid-sentence  by the Bro as follows:

“Couldn’t we talk about something more pleasant? Such as the fact that Catharine is pregnant?”

I honestly had thought that I would shed tears if such an announcement ever came (yes, of joy) but this was not the case.

Whenever I checked up on them, Mom seemed to be doing well and not complaining (though I am sure that pregnancy must be wildly uncomfortable most – or all – of the time).

I got the call two months ago. It was a boy. And with respect to his paternal lineage (a John Paul, a Jean Paul and a Jean Marc) he was named: Jean Benoit. Ben for short.

I gave them some time to attend their own needs and then joined them at Sprawlville’s regal new mega-hospital. The folks would arrive on my tail. I entered quietly to find her in bed and Bro on his feet. He gestured toward a corner, and there I saw him sleeping in his baby bucket. Such a little guy, in his little rapper toque and blanket bundle. He became a little blurry. Something wrong with my eyes perhaps.

Eventually I hugged the parents goodbye and thanked them for bringing this joy into our lives.

Strolling down the long corridor of what felt more like an airport than a hospital, I said to Mom; the new grandma, “Six of us now. We’ve come a long way from just the two of us.”

“Yes we have.” 

No more slugs!

Do you remember when little girls were made of sugar and spice and everything nice? And little boys were made of slugs and snails and puppy dog's tails? (And maybe some kids were the other way around?)

Well, no more worries!

Now we have cell phones. And we're all made of wires.

The end of the search

"I couldn't possibly join the search party," I said to my guests. "I walked 11 KM last night at work. I'm a wreck." Indeed they had witnessed my slow painful descent on the staircase.

When we broke for dinner, off to pick up something cheap, the giant police van was still there, down the lane, and the mounted police and the crowd, and the ambulance crew still waiting around hopefully, the stretcher all ready to go, laden with life-saving gear, piled on it and hanging off of it with just enough room left upon it for an undersized twelve year-old; just 60 pounds worth, should one turn up.

The boy had health issues, an under-developed mentality and a penchant for hiding. He'd limped away without shoes and without his medications. He couldn't have gone far, everyone said. We'd all checked our garages and backyards and even our closets. And later we checked them again.

When darkness came I checked the internet, sure he must have been found. "I'm sorry," I told my guests. "I'm really at loose ends." They understood. We called it a night.

The crowd had dwindled down to a few. The officer said, "I'm sorry, we can't suggest what you should do. After dark it's not safe. We can't ask anything of the public after dark."

"Look," I said, knowing I was about to be profoundly lame: "I'm a Commissionaire. I have training. I know safety; first-aid. I've worked in corrections. I've worked with sex offenders. Trust me. Be indulgent. Tell me where you need someone looking."

He smiled painfully. shook his head and shook my hand. "Anywhere."

People had been searching all day. What was I going to accomplish by following their tracks in the dark? Was there a really any chance at all I could save someone or was this just about comforting myself?"

Still willing to act like a fool I called an old friend who believed she was psychic; who'd dreamed of missing children before and believed in the visions; who'd once told me that my writer's blocks were nothing but fear. But I could not reach her on the phone.

I stared at the Google map and all my intuition pointed at the golf course.

A golf course is a dark dark alien world at night, the ground invisible and treacherously hilly; the greens and ponds indistinguishable at a distance. A sky full of stars that portend nothing. I'd expected to run into other hopefuls there but there were none.

I had to be sparing with the flashlight batteries. A discarded shopping bag; a lost towel, things like these became a white Special Olympics t-shirt in the dark and I fumbled to turn on the beam with hope and dread. "What the fuck am I doing here?" I kept asking. And why aren't my legs hurting? What's up with that?

The route I had planned went out the window the moment I left the parking lot. I had no clue where I was and it didn't matter. I was pretty sure I'd twist and ankle soon and roll down a hill and in the morning some golfers - or searchers - would find me instead of the boy and I'd have to apologize for their disappointment.

In the morning I talked to neighbors. I could not share their optimism. Abductions are very rare, I know, but nothing else made sense at this point. He was small and walked with a limp. Yet again I thought of his parents and yet again I had to push the thought away. I cannot imagine. It's unimaginable.

This afternoon the phone rang but I could not get it because I was busy holding the roommate's ancient shadow of a dog in an ersatz standing position so she could drink from her bowl; an accomplishment too rare to dare interrupt.

The message was from a friend. "They found him! I don't know any details but they found him!"

"Yes!" I shouted at the ceiling. "Yes! Yes!" I squeezed into shoes and bustled outside. "They found him?" I asked at the first gathering. They had. He'd gone in precisely the opposite direction as the golf course. All along he'd been a few dozen yards away from my own backyard in some kind of drainage tunnel. So close! How had they missed him again and again?

"Is he okay?"

None were eager to answer. "I don't think so," said the man.

"He's pretty sick?"

"The paramedics didn't go to the boy," said the woman. "They went to the mother."

100 Must-See Films! -- Road Trip!

Okay, I’m two days behind but determined to catch up by Sunday! I’ll be trying to keep it short.

I love road trip stories. Such an excellent tool for throwing characters into whatever environment they require along their journey, that they might learn something about the world, and more significantly, about themselves. Here we catch heroes at pivotal moments of their own lives; their greater journeys, with the opportunity to grow.

66. Sideways (2004, USA/Hungary)

Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church, Virginia Madsen, Sandra Oh

Everyone raves about this best-pal California wine tour movie and it can be hard to know why. It seems like such a simple affair. But there is something really magical in a subtle, witty, down-to-earth  comedy that is really genuinely funny while remaining genuine in every other way. It reflects our most common dealings with friendships and intimate relationships in a way that is penetrating but ultimately a celebration. Sandra Oh is gorgeous with a spot-on performance and Paul Giamatti is dynamite as the struggling everyman with fears and insecurities we have all known too well.

Very special and re-watchable. Deliciously funny and the perfect movie to watch with five friends and twelve bottles of wine. Yes, if you’d like to know how to host an Official Interactive Sideways Night at your own home, I am the original architect! just shoot me a message, and plan on a lot of sleeping bags!

Dozens of accolades include nominations for five Oscars including best picture. It won for best adapted screenplay. Ebert called it “the best human comedy of the year.”

Writers: Rex Pickett (the novel), Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor (Jurassic Park III) 

Director: Alexander Payne (About Schmidt)

Budget: $12,000,000

IMDB rating: 7.6

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pqbz8yojxBY

67. As Good as it Gets (1997, USA)

Jack Nicholson, Helen Hunt, Greg Kinnear, Cuba Gooding Jr.

Master actor Jack Nicholson was born to portray every possible variety of off-balanced character. This role required a softer touch than usual and Nicholson responds with subtlety, taking the Oscar for lead male. Hunt took the counterpart Oscar and Kinnear’s supporting role was one of five additional nominations for the film. Hunt and Nicholson also won the matching Screen Actors Guild awards which I personally consider of more integrity and substance than the Acadamy Awards.

Of course these performances could not have reached this apex without the sensitive writing and brilliant arsenal of laugh-out-loud one-liners provided by writer Mark Andrus.

Struggle, redemption and an excellent lesson in the joy that can be had while living within our limitations. Sweet, endearing and damn funny!

Writer: Mark Andrus (Life as a House)

Director: James L. Brooks (Terms of Endearment)

Budget: $50,000,000

IMDB rating: 7.7

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrRl2QQKkI8

68. Goonies (1985, USA)

Sean Astin, Jeff Cohen, Josh Brolin, Martha Plimpton, Kerri Green, Corey Feldman, Jonathan Ke Quan

I’m not sure any actual roads appeared in this movie but it strikes me as having that sort of adventurous plot structure.

The magic here is in the style which is one that mesmerises me: from the film’s beginning to end it is a frenetic  jumble of conversation which miraculously pours out smoothly. It’s like every character is lit up and  naturally bursting out without queues and yet somehow not tripping over one other. It appears as meticulously aligned, inexplicably genius acting across a wide group of actors, yet how could such a jackpot occur? And among children no less! This is so rare to see and I can only assume the genius lies in the script (adapted by Chris Columbus from a Spielberg story) and in some brilliant director’s process which I cannot imagine! and still requiring a set of actors all running at top form. Even though it is supposedly just a kids movie, I am in awe of that accomplishment.

Pure magic for the kid in all of us!  

A sometimes-possible-sometimes-probable sequel exploration has been bantered about for what seems like forever. Astin has been quoted saying, “It’s definitely going to happen!” but I really have my doubts. Too much time has passed which only snowballs the difficulties, and I doubt it would garner a budget suitable to such aspirations as would naturally arise out of the surprise success of the original.

Perhaps some magic is just not meant to be worn thin.  

Writers: Steven Spielberg (Poltergeist), Chris Columbus (Gremlins)

Director: Richard Donner (The Omen)

Budget: $19,000,000

IMDB rating: 7.8

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qA2s_Vh0uE

69. Rain Man (1988, USA)

Dustin Hoffman, Tom Cruise, Valeria Golino

I can think of no better performances in the careers of either of these actors: Here Cruise and Hoffman portray such warmth and pain and persistence in this conflict of priorities. It is a testament to the power of love and the gravitational pull of family; a finally crafted emotional ride on the path of self-discovery, intentional or accidental. Hoffman and the film ran rampant over the Oscars and two dozen other award enterprises.

Always a special experience to watch this every five years or so. Kleenex alert!

Writers: Barry Morrow (Bill), Ronald Bass (Snow Falling on Cedars)

Director: Barry Levinson (Good Morning Vietnam)

Budget: $25,000,000

IMDB rating: 8.0

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlNwXuHUA8I

Short List

The Hangover (2009, USA/Germany ) Zach Galifianakis, Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Justin Bartha

100 Must-See Films! -- King

There are of course reasons why novels and their adapted screenplays never match up well when judged by linear standards and often match up in no way at all. People inherently approach novels and movies in a different way; simplistically: novels with patience and movies without. We expect a movie to be fast and linear and horizontal. We expect a lot to happen at once.

For a theatrical adaptation to be completely faithful to its novel it would have to run from 15 to 30 hours long and put every viewer to sleep. Books and movies are apples and oranges.

But then there are the novellas: briefer and simpler in terms of themes and ideas and applicable to more direct translation into a visual story of a couple hours length. And what famous author writes a damn fine novella?

Stephen King for one.

39. Stand By Me (1986, USA)

Wil Wheaton, River Pheonix, Corey Feldman, Jerry O’Connell, Kiefer Sutherland

Adapted from King’s The Body from popular 1982 collection Different Seasons, Stand By Me is often name-checked among people’s favorite movies of all time. Why is that? And the theme song borrowed from Ben E. King is likewise one of the most covered songs in history (Catch my hands-down favorite version below!)

Is it because the movie – like the song, is a resonant anthem of friendship and that friendship is perhaps our most coveted external asset? Perhaps secretly so? A relationship model which often engenders more trust or longer endurance then that of the presumed-superior love-relationship/marriage model?

These four lads embark on an adventure together; one that can only make sense in the minds of early adolescents, and despite their constant age-typical baiting of one another it is obvious that they rely on one another much more than on the familial figures in their broken homes. So perhaps it is the deeply moving notion that when the last refuge fails; that of family, that there just might be one more refuge after all: the “family” of our choosing.

The performances here are superb, in large part due, some insiders claim, to the bang-on casting of four boys with real-life personalities exactly like their characters.

Writers: Stephen King, Raynold Gideon and Bruce Evans (Starman)

Director: Rob Reiner (The Princess Bride)

Budget: $ 8,000,000

IMDB rating: 8.1

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUVnfaA-kpI

The four novellas in Different Seasons were in fact written at different times across many seasons. They lacked typical horror elements and for a long time appeared to have no home in the publishing world until King, with all of his acquired clout and renown, simply brought them together as one book. And what a tome it was: In addition to The Body: he included Apt Pupil, a more sinister youth adventure also adapted to film in 1988 to far less fanfare than Stand By Me; and a winter’s tale called The Breathing Method and finally, rather spectacularly: a tale fated for much fame, about friendship and survival within a federal prison, called Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption:

40. The Shawshank Redemption (1994, USA)

Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton,

What heresy might I be hanged for if I dared compare William Shakespeare with Stephen King! Let me confess right off that I’ve never enjoyed a single Shakespearian sentence, and rarely comprehended one. I am not personally aware of him being any kind of genius. I’m only aware that he had a very big voice in his day, and thus speaks for his era.

Does King perhaps do the same? Without precedent he has literally owned an entire genre for half a lifetime, yet looking at his writing one seems to find no genius there either. Could it be that the genius of these writers lies in honesty? People everywhere seem to look upon King like they would a plane crash: "Ew! How does he come up with all that weird and macabre stuff! What an imagination!"

I suggest to you that King is simply a fearless man; unafraid of his imagination or to admit how wild the human imagination truly is. Thus, unlike the rest of us, he does not fetter himself.

I read every book King released for a couple decades before the habit trailed off. I loved the Shawshank story and the movie too but I’ll be damned if I can pinpoint why! On the Internet Movie Database website, more than one and a half million viewers have contributed to an average Shawshank score of 9.3 stars out of 10! That is almost unfathomable!

Sure it is a gripping tale of injustice and struggle but that alone does not explain it. Movie execs tagged the film: “Fear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you free.” And that sheds no light for me whatsoever. People just dig the highly-marketable word hope because it sounds so nice and friendly and cuddly. King’s written story had little to do with hope but rather with the opposite of hope, which is action. Our hero is only a hero because he takes his fate into his own hands.

Perhaps that is at the core of our love for this film. For he dares to fight his monsters as we secretly wish we could fight our own, while we cling to the apparent safety of hope instead, and likely to our detriment.

Writers: Stephen King, Frank Darabont

Director:  Frank Darabont (The Green Mile)

Budget: $25,000,000

IMDB rating: 9.3

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hB3S9bIaco

41. The Shining (1980, USA/UK)

Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, Scatman Crothers

And here’s the exception! The full-length novel which was somehow very successfully transformed into film despite the necessary story modifications. But really, how could it miss with such a deeply insightful visual artist as Kubrick and wickedly crafty casting! Nicholson was born to play a madman. Duvall personally suffered through the project and was given little mercy; in fact was apparently provoked into further losing her shit in order to transform her authentically into the eerie fragile basket-case which further imperilled poor little Danny Torrence; portrayed by the unusually deep-minded six-year-old Danny Lloyd who in this extraordinary debut was carefully coddled with blinders so as to not grasp the kind of story he was so effectively helping to create. He later portrayed a young G. Gordon Liddy in a TV movie before deciding at age eight that acting wasn’t for him! I doubt the true nature of his Shining experience had been revealed to him by that point but it was probably a very wise decision considering our society’s tremendous skill at ruining the humanity of young stars! Let’s face it: Destroying climate and destroying young celebrities are probably our two areas of collective expertise. High five...

Am I rambling? Surely no one is reading this because surely you have all seen this masterpiece already! Even I have seen it a few times and I normally avoid horror flicks at any cost!  

Writers: Stephen King, Stanley Kubrick, Diane Johnson (Le divorce)

Director: Stanley Kubrick (A Clockwork Orange)

Budget: $19,000,000

IMDB rating: 8.4

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1G7Ju035-8U

And now, this important message from veteran musician Ry Cooder:

100 Must-See Films! -- Family

There comes a time in every young man’s life when he must choose when to depart the family home and pursue some personal vision for his life. For some the matter is complicated. For some there is jeopardy in the decision, for himself or for those he would leave behind.

19: Siblings (2004, Canada)

Alex Campbell, Sarah Gadon, Samantha Weinstein, Andrew Chalmers

This is a seriously underrated black comedy with charm and tension and a host of fine performances, especially with the non-verbal nuances (many by youngsters no less) which bring together a delightful off-beat vision and a witty, clever script to draw the viewer through potentially discomfiting circumstances into a safe empathetic place. It’s easy to love these characters and experience their peril!

Here is an early clip which sets the stage:

Writer: Jackie May (Flash Forward)

Director: David Weaver (The Samaritan)

Budget: $500,000

IMDB rating: 6.7

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zu8Kp0rJgYI

20: What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (1993, USA)

Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio, Darlene Cates, Juliette Lewis

Such well-conceived characters portrayed so convincingly! Wonderful performances by the principle actors. It’s so easy to relate to this subtle story of love, loyalty, struggle and choices. It’s real-life drama delivered with quiet heart-warming intensity.

Eighteen-year-old DiCaprio, heralded for his portrayal of a developmentally disabled teen, was recognized for best supporting actor; winning the National Board of Review award and nominated for the Oscar and Golden Globe. Roger Ebert, who called the movie “one of the most enchanting films of the year,” claimed DiCaprio should have won the Oscar.

Writer: Peter Hedges (About a Boy)

Director: Lasse Hallström (Chocolat)

Budget: $11,000,000

IMDB rating: 7.8

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6sLIP3908w

21: Running on Empty (1988, USA)

River Phoenix, Christine Lahti, Judd Hirsch, Martha Plimpton, Jonas Abry

Another story about love, loyalty, struggle and choices, this time under extraordinary circumstances. The choices here are emotionally devastating to ponder. More tear-jerker scenes than you can shake a stick at. Newsweek called it, “emotionally overpowering.”

The film, one of Ebert’s favourite of the year, was nominated for major awards as were Phoenix, Lahti, Plimpton and writer Naomi Foner.

Writer: Naomi Foner (Losing Isaiah)

Director: Sidney Lumet (Dog Day Afternoon)

Budget: $3,000,000

IMDB rating: 7.7

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDvqRVhQ9UU

“Everyone, just pretend to be normal...”

22: Little Miss Sunshine (2006, USA)

Abigail Breslin, Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, Paul Dano, Alan Arkin, Steve Carell

Here is a sad little road-trip story about a sad little family who is absorbed with the ideas of winning and losing and no one is doing a lot of winning. It’s also hysterically funny.

This project needed a lot of good luck to finally get off the ground and got much of it in the form of brilliant results from unknown quantities such as a writer and a husband/wife director team with no previous theatrical film experience and the newbie Abigail Breslin as the young Olive Hoover who ultimately steals everyone’s hearts. Even Steve Carell was relatively unknown at this time and despite inexperience in this type of role, beat out Bill Murray and Robin Williams for the part. The casting of the six familial roles looks genius in hindsight. Their frictional synergy is brilliant; the result funny and adorable.

This silly and heart-warming story resonates so strongly with sensitive people, I think, because it illuminates such a valuable lesson; one of the most important lessons in life, which so very few people outwardly learn while they are still young or middle age; when it would have been most valuable; a lesson which our elders tend to absorb without realizing it and why so many elders are more at peace with life. It is a lesson we have all heard; a simple one, yet against our treacherous instincts to heed. Learn from this film, I say, and become free!

Writer: Michael Arndt (Star Wars: Episode VII)

Directors: Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris (Ruby Sparks)

Budget: $8,000,000

IMDB rating: 7.9

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvwVkllXT80

Short List:

Central Station (1998, Brazil/France) Vinícius de Oliveira, Fernanda Montenegro

The Kids are Alright (2010, USA) Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo

The Mosquito Coast (1986, USA) Harrison Ford, Helen Mirren, River Phoenix

Nobody Knows (2004, Japan) Yuya Yagira, Ayu Kitaura, Hiei Kimura, Momoko Shimizu

Ordinary People (1980, USA) Donald Sutherland. Mary Tyler Moore, Timothy Hutton