The third in director, Jon Watts' Spider-Man Trilogy is easily the best.
This is top notch superhero movie making in every way. Tom Holland's version of Spider-man has always been very likable, but this film digs deeper into just who this character is with great results. He retains everything we have loved about this character including his great mix of great intelligence and young naiveté. Yet we get to see a much deeper and more human side to him, as he is forced to grow up and take on responsibility beyond anything he is ever done before. While I do not want to give any spoilers over the course of this film, we can see him really mature. This all leads to a finale (that I will not give away here), which has an emotional power that none of his previous outings even came close to. All the while though he remains the same Spider-Man we have got to know and love since Captain America: Civil War (2016).
Yet the bigger emotional weight does not mean that this movie is missing any of the fun that the MCU is loved for. The action scenes are up there with the best of the MCU and are extremely exciting and cinematic. However, what really stands out in the fun department is the humor. This is a very funny movie and nearly every joke hits the mark. To add to this is that the humor gets even funnier as the film goes along.
There is no denying that quite a few scenes in this film were intended to have movie fans (especially superhero movie fans) geek-out. These moments are directed not only to fans of the MCU but also all of the fans of Spider-Man movies dating back to Spider-Man (2002). These moments are extremely effective. The audience I saw this with went into huge applause every time one of these moments happened, and I found it impossible not to get drawn into the excitement. Reactions like this are a major part of why I love the movie going experience so much. Yet all of these geek-out moments are tied into the story and none of them feel like they are there simply for fan service.
If you are a fan of superhero movies, then this is a must see.
A decent movie about Lady Fatima (the daughter of Mohammad).
As well as the story of Lady Fatima, this film also features a bridging story featuring a young boy growing up in modern day Iraq. These scenes are surprisingly the highlight of the picture. They address the horrors of ISIS and other terrorist groups in an honest and brutal way. The opening scenes are the picture are very disturbing and heartbreaking as they should be. It is these scenes that will stay with the audience well after the film ends. This leads to our young hero being told the story of Lady Fatima. This story is decently told. The emotional moments are hit quite well. This is especially true of the later scenes where the story gets more tragic. The message though very heavy handed is a good one and by the end we can fully see just how much violence can come out of men's greed. The movie also has a great look to it that really adds a sense of atmosphere to this film.
Unfortunately, on the other hand for a movie based off of a true story, this can feel quite a bit over the top. This is especially true of the action scenes which can feel like they belong in a different movie. Much of the dialogue can also feel forced. This movie also suffers from an incredibly one note and boring villain.
This may not be a great movie by any means, but it is a well-intentioned one and the things about this film that work, work very well.
A delightful adaption of Charles Dickens' classic, even if it falls short of later movie adaptions.
You all know the story by now (so I won't bother with trying to hide spoilers in this review), Scrooge (Reginald Owen) is a cold and bitter man, who has long stopped caring about his fellow man or about Christmas in general. One night he is visited by three ghosts, who help him realize the errors of his ways.
Reginald Owen was not the first choice to play Scrooge. The original casting choice was Lionel Barrymore. Barrymore was a natural choice. Not only would he have been perfect in the role, but he had played it on the radio as an annual Christmas tradition. He was all set to play this role, when he became unable to do so for health reasons. He had broken his hip and was confined to a wheelchair. To replace him. Since Barrymore had become so associated with the role, a preview for the film even featured Barrymore telling audiences how great Reginald Owen was in the role. So that audiences wouldn't have to choose between Owen and Barrymore, Owen played Scrooge on radio that year. Though one can imagine how amazing Barrymore would have been in the role, Owen still does a great job. He perfectly captures both the coldness of the early scenes and the pure joy of the later. Though Alister Sims will always be my favorite Scrooge, I can't deny that Reginald Owen is actually pretty high up there in my ranking of movie Scrooges.
Due to delays (like finding a new Scrooge), this movie had to be made rather quickly. In fact, it was made in a matter of six weeks.
Boxoffice, 1938
This film has gain distain by some for the fact that it is not one of the most faithful adaptions. Many changes were made from the original book and to make this movie more family friendly some of the darker moments were toned down or omitted. For instance, this is one of the few movie versions where we do not see Jacob Marley's fellow ghosts outside the window, which the filmmakers felt was too frightening for young audiences. However, the biggest change was the dropping of Scrooge's young romance. This has become such a staple of Christmas Carol adaptions that its lack of presence here is strongly felt. Strangely though despite the dropping of this romance, the romance between Fred and his wife were extended. That romance is many people's (including mine) least favorite part of this film. One change made did however have an effect on future versions of the story. This was that the ghosts visited Scrooge all in one night instead of over a course of three. This change is present even in some of the most faithful movie adaptions.
Though many of the changes make this not one of the most popular versions today, taken on its own merits, this is a really charming movie. I have mentioned before that I love Reginald Owen as Scrooge. He is not the only one who is great in his part though. The always great Leo G. Caroll is of course fantastic as Jacob Marley. Gene and Kathleen Lockhart (husband and wife) are delightful as Mr. and Mrs. Cratchit (their real-life daughter Jun Lockheart also does a good job as their older daughter) and bring a distinct charm to each scene they are in. The film also moves at a fast pace, that keeps the viewer's interest throughout and makes the film have a delightfully fun feel. Though not faithful, this movie in many ways captures the essence of what makes this story so popular, and I always feel joy when Scrooge reforms at the end. Also, as one should except from an MGM production of this time, the movie visually looks fantastic.
Yet this movie does have its faults. For such a short running time (69 minutes), there are moments that feel a little like padding, which would not be much of a problem, if there weren't great parts of the source material that had been left out. There are also times when it feels too sanitized, and one wishes some of the darker elements could be seen here.
Screenland, 1935
For more Michael's Christmas Movie Guide click, here.
Since romantic comedies today have such an understandably bad reputation, it is easy to forget that in the 1930's and 40's extremely entertaining romantic comedies often flowed out of Hollywood on a seeming regular basis. These films were full of a seeming effortless type of charm that populated so many movies of that era. Bachelor Mother was one of those movies.
Earlier in the year this film came out Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers made a movie together called The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle. After completion of that movie, it was decided that the popular duo would go separate ways career wise and each would make movies without the other. This is Ginger Rodgers' first film after that. After reading the screenplay Rogers worried that her character would not be considered likable. However, producer, Pandro Berman told her this would not happen and she agreed to do the film. However, she still remained worried about this. Her costar would be David Niven, who at this time was not the star he would later become, and in fact this was only his fourth film role. The director for the film would be Garson Kanin, who though the next year would direct My Favorite Wife is better remembered as a writer (he would later write The More the Merrier (1943), A Double Life (1947) and Adam's Rib (1949)). Kanin's career was also get started around this time.
The story begins one Christmas season when Polly (Ginger Rogers) gets fired from her job in a department store. She finds a small baby boy (Elbert Coplen Jr.) in the street and brings it into the orphanage. The people working at the orphanage think that Polly is his mother. They convince her boss David (David Niven) to give her the job back so she can take care of the baby. David does that and gives Polly the baby as a Christmas gift. David goes often to help her with the baby and ends up falling in love with Polly.
This movie was based off a story by Felix Jackson. That story had been filmed once before in Germany as a 1935 movie called Kleine Mutti (which translates to Little Mother). The story would be made into another movie later in 1956 called Bundle of Joy.
This is a movie of irrespirable charm. The charisma between Ginger Rogers and David Niven is fantastic and you believe ever second of film they spend together. The jokes are really funny, and consist of that classic fast paced clever dialogue that populated so many Hollywood movies of this era. More than anything though this movie just has great energy and is a lot of fun. For all classic movie fans this is a must watch. I am definitely not the only person to love this film. It was a huge box office hit and critics loved it as well.
A Donald Duck toy ends up playing a surprisingly big role in this movie. This is because at this time RKO (the studio which this film was made for) was currently distributing all of Walt Disney's film output including the Donald Duck shorts, making this a bit of self-promotion. There is a great gag at the end of the end credits where Donald Duck is credited as playing himself.
For more Michael's Christmas Movie Guide click here.
Hello my friends and welcome back to another service of Cowboy Church.
Today's musical selection begins with Gene Autry performing, O Little Town of Bethlehem. The lyrics were written by Phillips Brooks in 1865. He wrote the words this hymn after taking a group of Sunday school children on a pilgrimage to Bethlehem. The music was written by Louis H. Redner, the church organist. There was originally another verse to this hymn, "Where children pure and happy pray to the blessed Child. Where misery cries out to thee, son of the undefiled; where charity stands watching and faith holds wide the door, the dark night wakes, the glory breaks, and Christmas comes once more." However, Redner objected to the words "son of the undefiled." Brooks briefly changed the line to "son of mother mild" before dropping the verse all together. This hymn appeared on a small leaflet in 1868 and in The Sunday School Hymnal in 1871. This version of the song comes from an episode of Gene Autry's Melody Ranch radio show that aired December 22, 1946. Next is Roy Rogers and Dale Evans with The Little Boy Couldn't Find Christmas. This is followed by Jim Reeves' 1962 recording of Have Thine Own Way Lord. This hymn was written by Adelaide A. Pollard. It was partly inspired by how in 1902, she heard an old woman praying at a prayer meeting, "It really doesn't matter what you do with us, Lord -- just have your way with our lives." Adelaide wanted to be a missionary in Africa, but this was not happening as quickly as she would have hoped it would happen. Not long before writing this song, she tried to raise funds to go to Africa, but this proved not as successful as she had hoped. This led her to follow into what she called a "distress of soul." It was then that she attended this prayer meeting, heard that prayer and wrote this hymn. She eventually did become a missionary in Africa, even if it was only for a brief time. This is followed by the Louvin Brothers with their 1963 recording of Leaning on the Everlasting Arms. This hymn began creation with a man named Anthony Showalter. As a fan of gospel music and an elder in a Presbyterian church, he held many "singing schools" at various churches in the south. One day he received two letters from former students who were struggling after their wives had passed. To respond to these letters, Showalter consulted scripture. He came across Deuteronomy 33:27, "The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms." After reading this verse lyrics for a song chorus went through his head and he wrote down, "“Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms; Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms.” After using this in the letters to his former students he sent this chorus to his friend hymnist, Elisha Hoffman. In the letter he also wrote, “Here is the chorus for a good hymn from Deuteronomy 33:27, but I can’t come up with the verses.” Hoffman then wrote the rest of the lyrics to which Showalter put to music. The hymn was published in 1887. Following is The Sons of the Pioneers with Star of Hope. This song comes from their 1963 album, Hymns of the Cowboy. Up next is Red Foley with his 1949 recording of Our Christmas Waltz. Today's musical selection ends with Johnny Cash singing What Child is This.
Up next is Roy Rogers, Dale Evans and Gene Autry all appearing on TV together.
Here is C.S. Lewis' essay, Meditations in a Tool Shed.
The Book of Jonah
The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”
But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.
Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship.
But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. The captain went to him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us so that we will not perish.”
Then the sailors said to each other, “Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity.” They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. So they asked him, “Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What kind of work do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?”
He answered, “I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”
This terrified them and they asked, “What have you done?” (They knew he was running away from the Lord, because he had already told them so.)
The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?”
“Pick me up and throw me into the sea,” he replied, “and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.”
Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. Then they cried out to the Lord, “Please, Lord, do not let us die for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, Lord, have done as you pleased.” 15 Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. 16 At this the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him.
Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. He said:
“In my distress I called to the Lord,
and he answered me.
From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help,
and you listened to my cry.
You hurled me into the depths,
into the very heart of the seas,
and the currents swirled about me;
all your waves and breakers
swept over me.
I said, ‘I have been banished
from your sight;
yet I will look again
toward your holy temple.’
The engulfing waters threatened me,[b]
the deep surrounded me;
seaweed was wrapped around my head.
To the roots of the mountains I sank down;
the earth beneath barred me in forever.
But you, Lord my God,
brought my life up from the pit.
“When my life was ebbing away,
I remembered you, Lord,
and my prayer rose to you,
to your holy temple.
“Those who cling to worthless idols
turn away from God’s love for them.
But I, with shouts of grateful praise,
will sacrifice to you.
What I have vowed I will make good.
I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the Lord.’”
And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.
Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.”
Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it. Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.
When Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh:
“By the decree of the king and his nobles:
Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.”
When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.
Thanks for joining me. Come back next week for another service of Cowboy Church. Happy trails to you until we meet again.
