,

It practically gallops!

Base Pay

The Knox County School Coupon Book includes a coupon for a pay-per-view movie from Xfinity. My wife and I plan to redeem the coupon when we get the bill for the movie we watched on Sunday. I feel like we got a bargain because we chose one of the more expensive movies. The HD version of “Moneyball” cost $5.99 to rent.

The movie tells the story of the Oakland A’s as they assemble a team of “misfit toys” at bargain prices. The general manager and his assistant sign players who are good at getting on base but have been overlooked by other teams for various reasons. I had no recollection of whether or not the A’s made it to the playoffs in 2002. As a result, the pennant race in the movie was exciting. The filmmakers also did a great job of building suspense as the A’s attempted to break the record for most consecutive wins during the regular season.

My wife and I like to see as many of the nominated films as we can before the Academy Awards ceremony. Best Picture nominees “The Help” (which we’ve already seen), “The Tree of Life” and “Midnight in Paris” are available on demand. For some of the others, we’ll have to make another trip to Downtown West.

February 1, 2012 | Filed Under Uncategorized | 1 Comment 

Frankly Speaking

The serial killer in Bobcat Goldthwait’s new movie is named Frank. Naturally, that caught my eye. “God Bless America” will be released via On Demand on April 6 and in select theatres on May 11.

Joel Murray plays Frank, a terminally ill man who goes on a killing spree. Reminiscent of “Dexter,” Frank only kills those whom he thinks deserve to die. He goes after reality show stars, bigots, people who talk in theatres and people who park poorly.

Joel is one of the very talented Murray brothers. I remember him from the Jay Thomas series “Love & War.” Jay arranged for me to play an extra at a movie theatre in one episode. Coincidentally, Joel’s brother Bill plays a character named Frank in “Scrooged,” in which Bobcat played a part.

Bobcat wrote and directed “God Bless America.” I wonder if the killer’s name has anything to do with a voiceover that Bobcat did for Walmart recently. When you click on frankthefruitcake.com, you see a talking fruitcake that has Bobcat’s distinct voice.

January 31, 2012 | Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment 

Monroe Doctrine

It’s the time of year when my wife and I make an effort to see some movies that are likely to be nominated for Academy Awards. Not all of them are shown at the local multiplex. Fortunately, we have an alternative.

The Regal Downtown West Cinema has gone digital since the last time I took notice. Plus,they sell beer and gourmet candies to enjoy while watching an art film with crystal-clear projection. For a market our size, Knoxville is lucky to have an art house theatre. Of course Regal Entertainment Group’s headquarters just so happen to be in Knoxville too.

I was delighted to see a digital-projection sign on the door as my wife and I went to see “My Week with Marilyn” with our friend Terry Morrow. Eddie Redmayne plays a young Colin Clark, who gets a job as third assistant director on “The Prince and the Showgirl”, starring Sir Laurence Olivier and Marilyn Monroe. It took a few moments to recognize Kenneth Branagh as Olivier. Michelle Williams plays Monroe. Both of them are deserving nominees for Screen Actors Guild Awards. Williams is especially radiant as the legendary screen goddess.

The story is set in England. My wife loves British movies and she saw some actors that were familiar to her. I enjoyed the real-life characters portrayed in the film. Olivier’s wife, Vivien Leigh, was played by Julia Ormond. Monroe’s husband, Arthur Miller, was played by Dougray Scott. I liked seeing Dame Judi Dench steal a few scenes while portraying Dame Sybil Thorndike. It was nice to see Emma Watson playing a girl in the costume department who goes on a few dates with Colin before all his time gets consumed by Marilyn.

They briefly mentioned that Colin Clark’s father was a famous art historian. I remembered watching Sir Kenneth Clark, who gained international fame as the host of  the TV series “Civilisation.”

January 23, 2012 | Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment 

Storm Team

The torrential rain in East Tennessee yesterday prompted me to watch “Stormy Weather,” one of the movies I bought with the Amazon.com gift certificate I received for Christmas. “Stormy Weather” has some laughs, great singing and phenomenal dancing.

It was a famous dance scene that prompted me to put the film on my wish list in the first place. Near the end of the movie, the Nicholas Brothers do amazing splits on the floor and on stairs. Somehow they glide back to their feet after each split.

About a year and a half ago, I was chatting with a friend outside church after Mass. Her young daughter approached and wanted to show off a few tap dancing steps. I told the family about the Nicholas Brothers and suggested they look for the scene on YouTube. The girl grabbed her smart phone and within minutes was watching the scene I had described.

January 12, 2012 | Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment 

Hooverville

FBI Academy in Quantico - movie poster signed by Jimmy Stewart in 1989 A huge movie poster for “The FBI Story” hangs on a wall in a hallway at the FBI Academy in Quantico. The movie came out in 1959 and Jimmy Stewart autographed the poster in 1989. My son and I saw the poster during a field trip to Quantico with the FBI Knoxville Citizens Academy Alumni Association in 2010.

Knox County Library poster for The FBI Story screening Knox County Library - Jack Neely speaks before screening of The FBI Story Last week, I read a press release from the Knox County Public Library about an event on Sunday. They were having a free screening of “The FBI Story” because an early scene is set at the old Knoxville Library. Local historian Jack Neely spoke before the screening. He pointed out that the Knoxville scenes were filmed on a sound-stage somewhere, not on-location.

Knox County Library - ginger snaps, cider and popcorn at Sunday Screening The library had set out ginger snaps, warm cider and popcorn. There were two scenes in the movie where boxes of ginger snaps were plainly visible. I thought they must have deliberately chosen to serve ginger snaps at the screening but the woman who provided the treats said it was just a coincidence.

The movie has the feel of a “Dragnet” marathon with a few elements of “The Glenn Miller Story” thrown in for good measure. Stewart’s FBI partner is played by Murray Hamilton, who also played Mayor Larry Vaughn in “Jaws.”

screen capture from the trailer for The FBI Story Later I watched the film’s trailer online and saw an erroneous claim that “Warner Bros. filmed it exactly where it happened.” Maybe the New York and Washington scenes were filmed on location, but probably not the Oklahoma or South America scenes and definitely not the Knoxville scenes. In a scene set in 1924, an FBI agent played by Jimmy Stewart proposes to a Knoxville librarian played by Vera Miles. She says no, unless he quits the Bureau. If the library has another screening, they can point out that the FBI’s Knoxville field office opened in 1937.

January 9, 2012 | Filed Under Uncategorized | 2 Comments 

Tattoo U.

Regal Movies retweeted my comment about “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.” I enjoyed the movie and also enjoyed the fact that I knew almost nothing about the thriller’s plot in advance. Unlike most people I know, I haven’t read the any of the books in Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy, nor have I seen any of the Swedish films starring Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander. I received a few replies on Twitter from people urging me to see the Swedish version. It’s available via both Xfinity On Demand and Amazon Instant Video.

I was impressed with Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara as Mikael and Lisbeth. I’m not sure why but I especially liked the way Mikael let his eyeglasses dangle under his chin when he was deep in thought. I was also able to forget that Craig is a great James Bond.

Mara impressed me with her intensity and her Swedish accent. I am also intrigued by her family. Two of her great-grandfathers are Art Rooney and Tim Mara, the founders of the Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Giants, respectively. One of her aunts, Bridget Rooney, went to the same school as my sister. One of her uncles, Frank Mara, went to the same school as me.

January 4, 2012 | Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment 

Stream Weaver

Three of the items purchased with an Amazon.com gift certificate that I got for Christmas were Instant Videos. Two were movies that were on my wish list for a long time: “Shaun of the Dead” and “Stormy Weather.” The third was a black-and-white episode of “The French Chef” in which Julia Child cooked lobster.

The hassle of connecting a laptop to my television in order to watch “Sherlock Holmes” inspired me to click another link on Amazon. Set-top boxes and certain newer model televisions can be connected to the Internet and can play Amazon videos. The Sony SMP-N100 is currently on sale for less than $50 online and at several retailers.

I had $20 in cash and a $30 gift card to a big box store, which I decided to spend on the streaming video box while Frank Jr. is still home and available to help me hook it up. The only disappointment was that the store would not let me use their coupon in the Knox County School Coupon Book because the item I wanted was on sale. I will probably never use the coupon, because I can’t think of one thing I would buy there that wasn’t on sale.

In addition to Amazon Instant Videos, the SMP-N100 has pre-programmed links for podcasts from NPR and other sources, free videos from Crackle and YouTube and many more that I haven’t tried yet.

It was relatively easy to use the device to log-in to my Amazon and YouTube accounts. I showed Frank Jr. a couple of funny Einstein Simplified videos, including my current favorite in which Dave Fennell is trying to get Aaron Littleton to guess “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas.”

December 31, 2011 | Filed Under Uncategorized | 3 Comments 

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