June 7 - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Today’s movie is an action fantasy film with a scene that takes place on June 7. I hope you will enjoy this motion picture and watch it tonight.

HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN       

When his Uncle Vernon’s sister Madge comes to visit and makes disparaging remarks about Harry’s parents, he curses her, causing her to inflate and float away. Harry leaves and catches the Knight Bus, a magic transport for witches and wizards which takes him to the Leaky Cauldron at Diagon alley.  On the way he learns about the mass murderer Sirius Black, who has escaped from the wizarding prison of Azkaban. At the Leaky Cauldron  Harry meets Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic and to his surprise is not punished for illegally using magic. Mr. Weasley tells Harry Sirius Black wants to kill him. On the train to Hogwarts, new professor R. J. Lupin saves Harry from a dementor attack. The dementors, which usually guard Azkaban, now guard Hogwarts. Hagrid’s first class as a professor goes wrong as Buckbeak the hippogriff bites Draco Malfoy. Harry sneaks into the village of Hogsmede using his invisibility cloak and learns that Sirius Black betrayed his parents and killed their friend Peter Pettigrew. Harry learns how to defeat dementors and Buckbeak is ordered executed. On the day of the execution, Hagrid refuses to let Harry, Ron or Hermione watch, but they observe from afar. A black dog attacks Ron and drags him to the Shrieking Shack, where Sirius Black appears. Harry is about to kill Sirius, when Lupin appears and disarms Harry. The two tell the three friends that it was actually Peter Pettigrew who betrayed Harry’s parents and has been hiding as Ron’s rat, Scabbers ever since.  On the way back to the castle to turn Pettigrew in Lupin turns into a werewolf and Pettigrew escapes. Harry follows Sirius and both are attacked by dementors. Someone drives them away. Sirius is caught and sentenced to have his soul sucked out by the dementors. Hermione and Harry use her time-turner to go back three hours. They hide Buckbeak so he’s not killed. It was Harry who saved himself and Sirius from the dementors. He and Hermione use Buckbeak to rescue Sirius. The next day June 7, 1994 Lupin resigns and leaves Hogwarts. [2:05:50 to 2:09:35]

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling (Scholastic Inc., New York, 1999) pages 418-428. We are told that the execution of Buckbeak was set for June 6 (page 400). Lupin leaves “the next day” (page 421)

Awards – The film was nominated for the Best Original Score and Best Visual Effects

                 Oscars at the 77^th Academy Awards. 

Producer - Chris Columbus, David Heyman and Mark Radcliffe

Director - Alfonso Cuarón            

Screenplay - Steve Kloves                                

Runtime – 2 hours 22 minutes                         

Released – May 31, 2004     

                           

Starring –

Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter

Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley

Emma Watson as Hermione Granger

Robbie Coltrane as Rubeus Hagrid

Michael Gambon as Albus Dumbledore

Gary Oldman as Sirius Black

David Thewlis as Remus Lupin

Timothy Spall as Peter Pettigrew

Alan Rickman as Severus Snape

Maggie Smith as Minerva McGonagall

Copyright by Ivan Walters 2014

June 6 - The Americanization of Emily

Today’s movie is a dramedy with scenes that happen on June 6. I hope you will enjoy this film and watch it tonight.

THE AMERICANIZATION OF EMILY                                     

It is shortly before D-Day in England. Charlie Madison is a womanizing, cynical ‘dog-robber’ who, as an aide to Admiral Jessup, ensures his boss gets the best food and throws the best parties around by bribing/threatening supply officers to get what he needs. His new driver Emily, a English widow, is both fascinated and repulsed by Charlie. In spite of this she agrees to attend a bridge party when Charlie ends up a girl short. Admiral Jessup is in Europe to ensure that the Navy’s role in the upcoming Normandy invasion gets more press, so that after the war Congress won’t reduce the Navy’s budget. He comes up with the idea that the first dead man on Omaha beach must be a sailor. Charlie and Emily begin a sexual relationship. The Admiral wants a movie made about the Naval demolition units that precede the troops onto the beach. Charlie tells Emily he’s a coward and she says she approves of this as her husband, brother and father have all died in the war and she couldn’t love a man who might be killed. When Charlie tells the Admiral he doesn’t like the movie idea, the Admiral puts Charlie in charge of it. Charlie’s best friend Bus Cummings cuts orders sending Charlie and Emily on a vacation in Sussex, ostensibly to scout filming locations. Charlie is then assigned to an underwater demolition unit, but the Admiral has nervous breakdown. However, he has written the President about the film. To keep the fact that Admiral Jessup has flipped out secret, the Navy brass decides the film must be made. Cummings sees this as his last chance for military glory and refuses to let Charlie out of the plan. When they leave to join the unit, Emily says she does not want to see Charlie again, as she has decided honor and duty are important and can’t stand Charlie’s cynical attitude.  At the port they learn the ship with the underwater demolition teams sailed two hours before (a fact known to Charlie, but not Cummings). However, since the invasion is postponed, the next day they are put on the correct ship in a timely manner. On  June 6, 1944 Charlie and Bus land on Omaha beach where Charlie is shot by Bus when he won’t go on the beach. A shell burst knocks Charlie down and everyone thinks he is dead. [1:28:48 to 1:35:57] The Navy builds Charlie up into a huge posthumous hero. Emily now realizes she really did love Charlie and misses him terribly. The Admiral recovers and is dismayed when he learns his actions caused Charlie’s death. Then word comes that Charlie is alive. The Admiral wants him in Washington to testify before Congress. Charlie announces he going to tell the truth about what happened, even if it means being jailed for cowardice. Emily convinces him to go along with his heroic status so they can be together.

This movie is about as cynical as they come. It has a very hard edge and its biting sarcasm can’t be matched. Both Garner and Andrews give excellent performances of characters who are out of their usual comfort zone.

The Third Reich at War by Richard J. Evans (The Penguin Press, New York, 2009) at page 620 gives the invasion date

Producer  - Martin Ransohoff

Director - Arthur Hiller

Screenplay - Paddy Chayefsky

Awards – The film was nominated for the Best Art Direction and Best Cinematography

                  Oscars at the 37^th Academy Awards.

Runtime – 1 hour 55 minutes

Released – October 27, 1964

Starring –

James Garner as Lt. Cmdr. Charles E. "Charlie" Madison

Julie Andrews as Emily Barham

Melvyn Douglas as Admiral William Jessup

James Coburn as Lt. Cmdr. Paul "Bus" Cummings

Joyce Grenfell as Mrs. Barham

Keenan Wynn as Old Sailor

Edward Binns as Admiral Thomas Healy

Liz Fraser as Sheila

William Windom as Captain Harry Spaulding

John Crawford as Chief Petty Officer Paul Adams

Douglas Henderson as Captain Marvin Ellender

Edmon Ryan as Admiral Hoyle

Steve Franken as Young Sailor

Alan Sues as Petty Officer Enright

Copyright by Ivan Walters 2014.

June 5 - My Left Foot

Today’s movie is a biographical drama with scenes that happen on June 5. I hope you will enjoy this film and watch it tonight.

MY LEFT FOOT                     

Christy Brown is taken to a charity event and meets his handler, a nurse named Mary Carr. She starts to read his autobiography. Christy Brown was born handicapped on June 5, 1932. [6:56 to 8:57] He could not walk or talk, but was loved and supported by his family, especially his mother. When his mother has a stroke, Christy gets help. His father who had never really believed in him becomes a supporter when Christy, age ten, uses his left foot(the only part of his body he can really control) to write the word ‘mother’ with a piece of chalk on the floor. The family celebrate his seventeenth birthday [28:47 to 30:08]. Christy starts painting. He is included by the young people in his neighborhood in their activities such as playing street soccer and even sessions of ‘spin the bottle’. However, when he paints a picture and gives it to a girl he likes, she returns it to him. His father is laid off from his job and times become really tough. Christy, to his mother’s dismay comes up with a plan where his brothers are able to steal coal.  Christy’s elder sister, who was always very nice to him gets pregnant and has to get married and leave home. Christy’s mother who had hidden her savings in a tin in the fireplace finally saves enough to buy him a wheelchair. He meets Dr.  Eileen Cole, who takes him to her school for cerebral palsy patients and persuades a friend of hers to hold an exhibition of Christy’s art. However, at a dinner afterwards he learns she is engaged to be married. Christy considers suicide. He and his mother build Christy his own private studio, but his father soon thereafter dies of a stroke. His wake degenerates in to a bar room brawl started by Christy.  Christy starts writing his autobiography, My Left Foot. Dr. Cole returns and they resume their friendship. Meanwhile, at the fete Christy asks Mary Carr to go out with him and they leave the fete together. An onscreen message tells us they later got married.     

A very uplifting film that you should watch if you’re feeling depressed. Afterwards you should be thankful for how small your problems really are. Daniel Day-Lewis certainly deserved his Oscar for bringing out Christy Brown’s personality without using words. 

Christy Brown: The Life That Inspired My Left Foot by Georgina Louise Hambleton (Mainstream Publishing, London, 2007) at page 20 gives his birthdate

Awards – The film won the Best Actor  (Day-Lewis) and Best Supporting Actress (Fricker) Oscars. The film was also nominated for the Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay Oscars at the 62^nd Academy Awards.

Screenplay - Jim Sheridan and Shane Connaughton

Producer - Noel Pearson                        

Director - Jim Sheridan        

                                

Runtime – 1 hour 43 minutes     

Released  - February 24, 1989                                                           

Starring –

Daniel Day-Lewis as Christy Brown

Brenda Fricker as Bridget Brown

Ray McAnally as Paddy Brown

Fiona Shaw as Dr. Eileen Cole

Kirsten Sheridan as Sharon Brown

Alison Whelan as Sheila Brown

Hugh O'Conor as young Christy Brown

Copyright by Ivan Walters 2014.

June 4 - Rapid Fire

Today’s movie is a martial arts crime drama with a scene that happens on June 4. I hope you will enjoy this film and watch it tonight.

RAPID FIRE            

Antonio Serrano, a mafia drug distributor travels to Thailand to visit his long-time heroin supplier Kinman Tau. Serrano is having troubles and wants to make himself Tau’s silent partner, but his request is not granted. Meanwhile, on June 4, 1991 [7:56 to 20:50] Jake Lo, an art student in LA passes a protest condemning the Tiananmen Square massacre, where his father was killed.  Jake is tricked into attending a party with Chinese pro-democracy activists. At the party, Jake sees Serrano killing party sponsor Carl Chang, an associate of Tau. He has to use his martial arts skills to survive. Jake is blackmailed into cooperating with the FBI and placed in protective custody. They take him to Chicago to testify against Serrano. Some of the agents watching him are corrupt and try to kill Jake, who manages to escape again by using his martial arms talent. Another effort to kill Jake is prevented by Lieutenant Mace Ryan, a Chicago cop who has been after Tau for 10 years. Ryan blackmails Stewart, the remaining corrupt FBI agent to help Ryan get Tau and he blackmails Jake, who is wanted for killing two FBI agents into helping him. A meet where Stewart delivers Jake to Serrano goes wrong and Stewart is killed. Jake has to use his martial arts abilities to escape and captures Serrano. Jake gets pissed when he learns Ryan already cleared him and decks him.  One of Ryan’s subordinates, Detective Karla Withers, gets the Army intelligence file on Jake’s father who was an agent. She and Jake have a romantic interlude. Ryan’s effort to intercept Tau’s drug shipment at his laundry is unsuccessful, but one of Tau’s henchmen penetrates the jail and kills Serrano. Karla persuades Jake to help Ryan get Tau in an unofficial operation.  Jake wears a wire into the laundry, posing as a worker.  Tau grabs Withers and Ryan. Jake saves the day and Tau is killed trying to get way from Jake. Jake goes back into the burning laundry to bring out an injured Ryan.

A passable martial arts film. The fights are believable and realistic. A pretty good crime drama. The romance between Jake and Kate seems out of place in this film. Still it’s entertaining, as long as you don’t expect an Oscar winning film.

Great Events From History, The 20^th Century, 1971-2000, Vol. 4 1985-1990 ed by  Robert F. Gorman (Salem Press, Pasadena, Ca, 2008) p. 2318

Producer - Robert Lawrence

Director - Dwight H. Little

Screenplay - Cindy Cirile and Alan McElroy

Runtime – 1 hour 35 minutes

Released – August 21, 1992

Starring –

Brandon Lee as Jake Lo

Powers Boothe as Lieutenant Mace Ryan

Nick Mancuso as Antonio Serrano

Raymond J. Barry as Agent Frank Stewart

Kate Hodge as Karla Withers

Copyright by Ivan Walters 2014. 

June 3 - I Shot Andy Warhol

Today’s movie is a biographical drama with scenes that happen on June 3. I hope you will enjoy this film and watch it tonight.

I SHOT ANDY WARHOL             

On June 3, 1968 Valerie Solanas shoots Andy Warhol [1:39 to 2:07]. While his friends hold a premature wake, the police interrogate Solanas. She has been committed and a nurse recounts Solana’s case history. She was born in a troubled family, including sexual abuse. At boarding school she had a lesbian encounter and considered herself one after that. Solanas got a degree in psychology and moved to New York where she wrote a misandrous and communistic manifesto. She lived with a transvestite, Candy Darling and prostitutes herself to men to earn money.  Through Candy, Solanas is introduced to Andy Warhol and the group of artists around him, collectively called “The Factory”.    She meets Maurice Girodias, a publisher, who gets her to sign a contract to write a pornographic novel. Much of the rest of the film concerns her efforts to get Warhol to produce a play she has written. Solanas hangs around the party scene at the Factory. One of the men she sleeps with has a gun, which she takes. Solanas goes on a TV show to promote her ideology and gets humiliated. She blames Warhol at least in part for this. Finally, on June 3, 1968, she goes to the Factory and shoots Warhol. Leaving the building she hands the gun over to a policeman. [1:28:51 to 1:33:31] Through onscreen print we learn that Solanas was committed for three years while Warhol did survive the shooting. 

           

A very bizarre film. I think even the most ardent feminist will agree that Solanas had serious mental issues. Her passionate hatred of Warhol seemed to have no basis in actual reality.

                

Andy Warhol by Arthur C. Danto (Yale University Press, New Haven, 2009) at page 102 gives the date of the shooting

Producer - Tom Kalin and Christine Vachon

Director - Mary Harron

Screenplay - Mary Harron and Daniel Minahan

Runtime – 1 hour 43 minutes

Released – May 1, 1996

Starring –

Lili Taylor as Valerie Solanas

Jared Harris as Andy Warhol

Stephen Dorff as Candy Darling

Martha Plimpton as  Stevie

Lothaire Bluteau as Maurice Girodias

Anna Levine as  Iris

Peter Friedman as Alan Burke

Tahnee Welch as Viva

Copyright by Ivan Walters 2014. 

June 2 - The Queen's Sister

Today’s movie is a biographical drama with a scene on June 2. I hope you will enjoy this film and watch it tonight.

THE QUEEN’S SISTER                                

George VI dies. Queen Elizabeth II is crowned on June 2, 1953. [2:35 to 3:18]. The royal family lean on Margaret to end her relationship with Peter Townsend or be cut off without a cent. When Margaret can’t persuade the Archbishop of Canterbury side with her, Margaret ends the relationship. She becomes a party girl. She meets Anthony Armstrong-Jones and they begin an affair. When this becomes public they get married in an elaborate ceremony that engenders support from monarchists and criticism for its expense. Cracks soon appear in the marriage. Sometimes Margaret wants to be treated like a royal and other times to be treated like an ordinary person. The couple argue about everything, even the names of their children. The both have affairs while Tony fights back against the upper crust lifestyle Margaret wants to subject their children to. When an affair of Margaret’s becomes very public, she and Tony jet off to a tropic island to present a united front, but this causes criticism of their extravagant lifestyle.  Margaret heads to a friend’s country house to lay low.  She begins an affair with a younger man, Roddy Llewellyn but when this also becomes public Tony divorces her. She is hospitalized to cure her drinking and drug abuse. When she is released she learns Roddy Llewellyn is marrying someone else and is left to ponder her future.

A sad story about a girl who had everything but self-control. Margaret seems to have been on of those people who  always gave in to their sensual pleasures. Of course that brought her nothing but destruction. 

Elizabeth the Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch by Sally Bedell Smith (Random House, New York, 2012) at page 79 gives the date of the coronation

Producer - Kath Mattock 

Director - Simon Cellan Jones

Screenplay - Craig Warner

Released - November 27, 2005

Runtime – 1 hour 36 minutes

Starring –

Lucy Cohu as Princess Margaret

Toby Stephens as Tony Armstrong-Jones

David Threlfall as Prince Philip

Aden Gillett as Peter Townsend

Dominic Mafham as Robin Douglas Home

Simon Woods as Roddy Llewellyn

Alex Barclay as Billy Wallace

Edward Tudor-Pole as Cecil Beaton

Copyright by Ivan Walters 2014.

June 1 - The Pelican Brief

Today’s movie is a political thriller with a scene that happens on June 1. I hope you will enjoy this film and watch it tonight.

THE PELICAN BRIEF             

Two Supreme Court justices are assassinated by Khamel. Darby Shaw, a Tulane University law student, who is having an affair with her professor, Thomas Callahan, investigates their deaths and writes a brief setting out a theory that they were murdered to replace them on the court before an environmental law case involving the President’s biggest political donor, Mattiece reaches the court. Callahan gives the brief to a friend of his, Gavin Verheek, who works for the FBI. Meanwhile Gray Grantham, a newspaper reporter, gets a call from “Garcia”, who says he has info about the deaths, but who never actually hands anything over. The President asks the FBI not to investigate Darby’s theory. Callahan is killed by a car bomb. Darby calls Grantham, and later Verheek. Darby is pursued by Khamel, who has killed Verheek and is impersonating him. She is saved when Khamael is killed by the CIA. Darby finally makes contact with Grantham and they decide their best option is to track down “Garcia”, of whom Grantham has a photo, but not a name. Darby thinks she knows which law firm in DC “Garcia” worked for, so they contact former summer interns, one of whom finally gives them a name, Curtis Morgan. They learn Morgan is dead, supposedly a suicide. His widow gives Darby and Grantham a key to a safety deposit box from which they retrieve an affidavit and a videotape. The pair barely escape a second car bomb and being shot.   The affidavit and tape confirm that Mattiece did order the justices killed. Voyles, the head of the FBI reveals that the President did ask him not to investigate Mattiece. He arranges for Darby to leave the country. On June 1, 1993 she arrives at her destination and reads a copy of that day’s  paper with Grantham’s story exposing the plot. [2:11:17 to 2:14:46] Mattiece and others are indicted and the President rethinks his political future. 

                    

Date given in movie at 2:12:50 on that day’s newspaper if you zoom in

Producer - Alan J. Pakula, Pieter Jan Brugge and Bryan D. Gilchrist

Director - Alan J. Pakula

Screenplay - Alan J. Pakula

Released – December 17, 1993

Runtime – 2 hours 21 minutes

Starring –

Julia Roberts as Darby Shaw, second year Tulane Law School student

Denzel Washington as Gray Grantham, reporter for the fictional ''Washington Herald''

Tony Goldwyn as Fletcher Cole, White House Chief of Staff

Stanley Tucci as Khamel "Sam", international assassin

Sam Shepard as Thomas Callahan, Tulane law school professor

John Heard as Gavin Verheek, special counsel to FBI director; friend to Thomas Callahan

James B. Sikking as F. Denton Voyles, Director of the FBI

Copyright by Ivan Walters 2014.