December 31 - While You Were Sleeping

Today’s movie is a romantic comedy with a scene that happens on December 31. Watch and enjoy this film tonight.

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING   

Lucy Moderatz is a young woman who works as a ticket taker for the Chicago Transit Authority, and gradually develops a crush on an attractive guy who passes through her ticket booth everyday.  The guy comes through her booth and while standing on the platform two punks try to mug him. He falls onto the tracks and is knocked out. Lucy keeps him from being run over by the train. At the hospital a nurse mistakenly thinks Lucy is the fiancée of the unconscious man.  When his family arrives, they like Lucy, so she decides not to tell them that she is not Peter’s fincee, as she thinks this might cause his grandmother to have a heart attack.  Lucy goes to the delayed Christmas celebrations with the family of Peter Callaghan. Peter’s brother Jack goes to Lucy’s apartment house. The obnoxious son of the owner lies and tells Jack that he is dating Lucy. Lucy, who learns Peter has a cat goes to his apartment to feed it and runs into Jack. Jack is suspicious of her relationship with Peter, but when Lucy tells them that Peter only has one testicle, a fact that she accidentally learned from a co-worker of Peter, they naturally believe her. Saul, Peter’s godfather who has learned the truth tells her not to tell the family yet. Lucy goes with Jack to deliver a sofa to Peter’s apartment and learns Jack no longer wants to work with his father in the estate furniture business, but wants to make furniture.  Lucy and Jack are attracted to each other, but don’t want to acknowledge it. Lucy has to fight off the unwanted attentions of the landlord’s son and Peter’s family gets the mistaken idea Lucy is pregnant. On December 31, 1994 [59:36 to 1:06:46] Jack follows Lucy to a New Year’s Eve party. Then Peter wakes up, but when he doesn’t know Lucy, they think he has amnesia. Jack finally tells his father how he fells about the business. Saul persuades Peter to propose to Lucy. Then Ashley shows up. Peter had proposed to her, but she said no and moved to Portugal. Peter rejects Ashley and proposes to Lucy who accepts. Jack visits Lucy, but when she asks if he can giver her any reason why she should not marry Peter, he says he can’t. Just as the wedding is about to begin, Lucy stops it. She confesses all and says she loves Jack. Ashley arrives and objects to the wedding, while Lucy sneaks out. Later Jack slides an engagement ring into her token tray. He comes into her booth and with the entire Callaghan family watching he proposes. They get married and honeymoon in Florence, her favorite city.

A wonderful romantic comedy. Just quirky enough to get out of the usual track of such films. Jack Warden and Glynis Johns steal the show with their performances.    

Sign at 1:02:31 says “Happy New Year” 

Screenplay - Daniel G. Sullivan and Fredric LeBow              

Producer - Roger Birnbaum and Joe Roth              

Director - Jon Turteltaub        

Runtime – 1 hour 43 minutes                

Released - April 21, 1995                    

                                  

Starring -

                                                                                   

Glynis Johns as Elsie  

Peter Gallagher as Peter Callaghan                                                                                                
Bill Pullman as Jack Callaghan

Jack Warden as Saul

Peter Boyle as Ox Callaghan

Monica Keena as Mary Callaghan

Sandra Bullock as Lucy Moderatz

Copyright by Ivan Walters in 2015.

December 30 - The Deliberate Stranger

Today’s movie is a crime drama with a scene that happens on December 30. Watch this film tonight.

THE DELIBERATE STRANGER     

       

In 1974 Ted Bundy is a handsome law student living in Seattle with his girlfriend. Meanwhile the police are investigating a series of disappearances of young women. Witnesses come forward saying they had been approached by a young man who called himself ‘Ted’ who drove a VW bug. Ted leaves Seattle for law school in Utah. The police start to find the bodies of the missing girls  and Ted’s girlfriend starts to suspect him. Ted continues killing girls. Then a girl escapes from Ted. The Seattle police use a new innovation, a  computer, to look for links in the cases and the Great Basin police forces start to work together on the case. Ted is arrested for evading arrest. The girl who he tried to kidnap identifies him. We learn that Ted was  illegitimate.  Ted is convicted of kidnapping. He is indicted for murder in Colorado. Ted escapes from the courthouse, but is recaptured. On December 30, 1977 Ted escapes again from the county jail where he was being held pending trial. [2:40:33 to 2:44:39] He is arrested a month later in Florida after he had killed several more girls. Ted is convicted of murder and sentenced to death.

                   

A very scary movie. Mark Harmon did an excellent job of portraying Ted. He conveyed the surface ordinariness of Ted while hinting at the evil beneath. .

                     

The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule (Signet, New York, 2001) at page 271 and the film at 2:41:13 give the date of his successful escape

Producer - Marvin J. Chomsky

Director - Marvin J. Chomsky

Screenplay - Hesper Anderson

Running Time - 3 hours 5 minutes

Released - May 4, 1986

Starring -         

Mark Harmon as Ted Bundy

M. Emmett Walsh as Sam Davies

Frederic Forrest as Robert Keppel

George Grizzard as Richard Larsen

Copyright by Ivan Walters in 2015

December 29 - Marley and Me

Today’s movie has a scene that happens on December 29. Watch and enjoy this film tonight.  

MARLEY AND ME                       

John Grogan had a dog while growing up. After his marriage to Jenny they move from Michigan to Miami and get jobs at competing newspapers. Jenny soon gets major stories, while he gets stuck with obituaries and such. When Jenny hints about wanting to have kids, John’s friend Sebastian suggests he get her a dog to take care of. They adopt a Labrador retriever and name him Marley. He soon turns out to be a disobedient dog. John is pressured into writing a twice-weekly column, even though he really wants to write hard news. Marley is so poorly behaved that he is expelled from a dog obedience school and also almost kills himself and the Grogans by leaping out of the car on the way to be neutered. Marley’s antics provide much of the material for John’s increasingly popular column. Jenny gets pregnant, but loses the baby early in her pregnancy. They go to Ireland on a second honeymoon, but Marley terrifies the dog sitter, who can’t control him during the thunderstorms that occur frequently in south Florida. Jenny gets pregnant again and has two boys in succession. After a neighbor is stabbed in a robbery they move to a more expensive and safer  neighborhood. John reluctantly agrees to write a daily column to get his salary doubled. Jenny gets  postpartum depression and feels overwhelmed. She insists they give Marley away, but later relents. Sebastian meanwhile lands a job with the New York Times, the apex of a newspaper reporter’s career as far as John is concerned. With Jenny’s blessing he takes a news reporter’s job in Philadelphia, but soon realizes he’s a better columnist than reporter. Marley, who is 14 by this time, has an attack of gastric dilation volvus and almost dies. When he has a second attack the vet says he would not survive surgery. John decides to have Marley euthanized on December 29, 2003 [1:40:08 to 1:48:24]. The family buries him in their front
yard.

                       

A sweet and funny story. It functions both as the story of a marriage and a dog movie. Both Anniston and
Wilson give very natural performances here.

Marley: A Dog Like No Other by John Grogan (Collins, New York, 2007) at page 178 gives his death date

Producers - Karen Rosenfelt and Gil Netter

Director - David Frankel                               

Screenplay - Scott Frank and Don Roos                        

Runtime – 2 hours 1 minute                                           

Released – December 25, 2008

Starring –

Owen Wilson as John Grogan

Jennifer Aniston as Jenny Grogan

Eric Dane as Sebastian Tunney

Alan Arkin as Arnie Klein

Haley Hudson as Debbie

Kathleen Turner as Ms. Kornblut

Copyright by Ivan Walters in 2015.

December 28 - The Amityville Horror (1979)

Today’s motion picture is a horror film with a scene that happens on December 28. Watch this film tonight.

        

THE AMITYVILLE HORROR   

In a house in Amityville, New York a family of six is murdered. A year later the Lutz family looks at the house and buys it. While they are cleaning their priest arrives to visit. Flies appear in the room he’s in and a voice tells him to “Get Out!”. When he tries to call the Lutzs to tell them about this the phone line is all static and the phone burns his hand.  The father, George Lutz feels cold in the house, their son falls downstairs and light bulbs explode. George starts waking up every morning at 3:15 a.m. (which he later learns is the time of the murders) and finds lights on and closed windows are now up.   Objects move themselves and black muck appears in the toilets. When a nun visits, she senses evil. Mrs. Lutz has a nightmare and on the way to see the Lutzes, the priest’s car malfunctions. When Mrs. Lutz’s brother gets married $1500 of his money disappears and a babysitter is trapped in a closet. Their priest’s superiors think he’s nuts to be suggesting a supernatural cause of these problems. On December 28, 1975 a couple visit the Lutzs and the wife, Carolyn feels fear. [58:14 to 1:03:22] A window tries to crush the son’s hand. George wakes up at 3:15 again and sees flies in the room. Windows and the front door are blown off their hinges. The police are called. Mrs. Lutz tries to call the priest, but only gets static. Mrs. Lutz has a vision of a man and then of eyes in the window. George goes to a bar and uncharacteristically for him almost gets in a fight. Their friend Carolyn says the house was built by a witch from Salem. She identifies a spot in the basement where their dog digs. They find a red room and have a vision of the killer. Carolyn gets possessed briefly. The Lutzes try blessing the house themselves. The priest is blinded and the Lutzes fight about the house. Mrs. Lutz reads about the murders. George is apparently possessed by the killer’s spirit and the walls start to bleed. They flee, but George goes back to save the dog. He almost drowns in a pool of muck that appears in the basement, but the dog saves him. They all leave.

I remember the buzz this film generated at the time.  However, it now seems kind of a yawner. The story seems kind of over the top and told with a “can you believe this’ kind of style. Actually, no I can’t but if you like horror films you might be interested in one of the first in the genre. 

The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson (Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1977) at page 5 gives the date they moved in as December 18, which is day one, so day 11 as given at 58:33 is December 28.

Awards- Lalo Schifrin's musical score was nominated for an Academy Award, but lost

Director - Stuart Rosenberg      

Runtime - 1 hour 57 minutes        

Released - July 27, 1979

Starring - James Brolin as George Lutz, Margot Kidder as Kathy Lutz, Rod Steiger as Father Delaney, Don Stroud as Father Bolen, Murray Hamilton as Father Ryan , Helen Shaver as Carolyn

Copyright by Ivan Walters in 2015.

December 27 - Behind Enemy Lines

Today’s movie is an action/adventure film with scenes that happen on December 27. Watch and enjoy this film tonight.

       

BEHIND ENEMY LINES 

Lieutenant Chris "Longhorn" Burnett and his pilot Lieutenant Jeremy "Smoke" Stackhouse are assigned to fly a photo recon mission on Christmas day by Rear Admiral Leslie McMahon Reigart after Burnett annoys the Admiral by announcing he plans to resign his commission. Burnett talks Stackhouse into veering off-course over the demilitarized zone where they photo Serb Bozniack forces burying massacred civilians in mass graves. The Serbs shot down the plane, but both Burnett and Stackhouse eject. The Serbs find Stackhouse and execute him. The French Admiral commanding NATO forces refuses to let the admiral launch a rescue mission. The admiral leaks the story of Burnett’s shootdown to the press. On December 27, 1995 [1:02:32 to 1:38:58] Burnett is picked up by Bosniak guerillas. The Serbs attack, but Burnett changes uniforms with a dead Bozniak soldier and flees. The Serbs present the dead body wearing his uniform as Burnett’s, which  causes a NATO rescue mission to be aborted.  Burnett returns to his ejection seat and activates the beacon, notifying the Navy and the Serbs of his location. The admiral, in defiance of orders leads a rescue mission. Burnett kills the sniper tracking him, finds the disk with the photos of the mass graves and escapes with the rescue force. The Admiral is retired while Burnett stays in the Navy.   

                       

Producer - John Davis

Director - John Moore

Screenwriters - David Velez and Zak Penn

Runtime – 1 hours 46 minutes

Released – November 30, 2001

Starring –

Owen Wilson as Lieutenant Chris "Longhorn" Burnett

Gene Hackman as Rear Admiral Leslie McMahon Reigart

Gabriel Macht as Lieutenant Jeremy "Smoke" Stackhouse

Charles Malik Whitfield as Captain Glen Rodway, USMC

David Keith as Master Chief Tom O'Malley

Aleksander Krupa as General Miroslav Lokar

Joaquim de Almeida as Admiral Juan Miguel Piquet

Vladimir Mashkov as Sasha the tracker

Marko Igonda as Colonel Viktor Bazda

Eyal Podell as Petty Officer Kennedy

Geoff Pierson as Admiral Donnelly

Aernout Van Lynden as Himself

Copyright by Ivan Walters in 2015

December 26 - The Crossing

Today’s motion picture is a war movie with scenes that happen on December 26. Watch and enjoy this film tonight.   

THE CROSSING            

The Continental Army retreats to the Delaware River and crosses into Pennsylvania to escape the British. They barely get away and their condition is very bad. Washington makes a personal reconnaissance towards Trenton. The other two-thirds of the army arrive. Washington proposes and organizes an attack across the river against the Hessians at Trenton.  They cross the river, but it takes longer than anticipated. In spite of being two hours late, on the morning of December 26, 1776 they surprise and defeat the Hessians. [57:00 to 1:26:27]  The Continental army then retreats across the river.

        

A matter of fact film about this famous event. It’s not quite as heroic as myth would have it. This film does show that it was Washington’s refusal to lie down and die that saved the revolution. Everyone else is totally pessimistic about this plan.

General George Washington by Edward G. Lengel (Random House, New York, 2005) at page 185 gives the date

Producer - Robert W. Christiansen, Delia Fine and Rick Rosenburg

Director - Robert Harmon

Screenplay - Howard Fast

Awards – Nominated for the Outstanding Sound Editing for a Movie, Miniseries or a Special Emmy.  

Running Time - 1 hour 29 minutes

Released - January 10, 2000

                       

Starring -         

Jeff Daniels as George Washington

Roger Rees as Gen Hugh Mercer

Sebastian Roche as Col. John Glover

David Ferry as Gen, Nathaniel Greene

Nigel Bennett as Gen. Horatio Gates

Copyright by Ivan Walters in 2015.
             

December 25 - Toy Story

Today’s motion picture is a fantasy adventure film with scenes that happen on December 25. Watch and enjoy this movie tonight.  

TOY STORY      

                       

In a world where toys are alive when people aren’t around, Woody, a pull string cowboy toy is the leader of the toys of Andy Davis.  At his birthday party, which has been moved up, since the family is getting ready to move, Andy gets a Buzz Lightyear space ranger toy. Buzz believes he is a real space ranger and not a toy. When Andy can only take one toy on a trip to Pizza Planet, Woody’s efforts to ensure he gets taken results in Buzz accidentally getting knocked out the window, causing the other toys to turn on Woody. Buzz climbs in the car and on the way to Pizza Planet he and Woody fight and end up having to stow away on a delivery truck to try and get back to Andy. However at Pizza Planet they both end up being taken by Andy’s toy abusing neighbor, Sid. While at Sid’s house Buzz learns he is a toy and becomes depressed, until Woody tells him he can have purpose by bringing happiness to Andy as his toy. With the help of Sid’s toys Buzz and Woody escape just in time to reach the truck carrying Andy’s toys but Sid’s dog causes Buzz to be left behind. Woody tries to save him with Andy’s remote control car, RC, but at first the other toys refuse to help him, until they see Woody and Buzz together.  RC’s batteries die, but Woody lights the rocket Sid had taped to Buzz. They take flight and Buzz uses his wings to cut the rocket free before it explodes and they float down into the Davis’s car. At their new home on December 25, 19__ [1:12:00 to 1:13:25] Andy gets a puppy for Christmas.

                    

The first installment in the fantastic Toy Story franchise.

                     

Producers - Ralph Guggenheim and Bonnie Arnold

                       

Director - John Lasseter

Screenwriters - Joss Whedon, Andrew Stanton, Joel Cohen and Alec Sokolow

Awards – The film won a Special Achievement Oscar. It was also nominated for the Best Original Score, Best Original Song and Best Original Screenplay Oscars at the 68^th Academy Awards

                

Runtime – 1 hour 21 minutes

Released – November 22, 1995

Voice Cast - Tom Hanks as Sheriff Woody, Tim Allen as Buzz Lightyear, Don Rickles as Mr. Potato Head, Jim Varney as Slinky Dog, Wallace Shawn as Rex, John Ratzenberger as Hamm, Annie Potts as Bo Peep, John Morris as Andy Davis, Laurie Metcalf as Andy's mother, Erik von Detten as Sid, R. Lee Ermey as Sarge, Sarah Freeman as Hannah, Joe Ranft as Lenny

Copyright by Ivan Walters in 2015.