Apr 19 10
BradLife, Movies and Television television
I called the cable company last week and reduced my service to Basic Cable. That means out of 20 or 30 basic channels I get all the Chicago stations, some South Bend TV stations, C-Span, 2 shopping channels and about 8 Spanish language channels that I have no clue what they are saying. I think there are a couple of religious channels thrown in too. In short, about 1/3rd of the stations are either selling something or not in English.
I miss Turner Classic Movies horribly but while I enjoyed it, I just did not watch it enough to justify the cost and I have a lot of old movies on DVD. I just was not watching it enough. TCM was a good way to find old movies I had never seen before, so I will miss it doubly.
I am going to start using Hulu and AppleTV more instead of cable.
Also, I am re-engaging with Lakeshore Television, our own local PBS station. They usually have an interesting documentary on as I climb into bed at night so I’m enjoying that. WYCC (has about 4 channels on digital) out of Chicago is also good.
I sometimes think we need to force ourselves to quit gazing at distant horizons in order to notice and appreciate the Good Things that are right under our noses.
Mar 22 10
BradMovies and Television movies, science-fiction
Best Classic Science Fiction Movie List
The following list was first published on one of my old websites back in the year 2000. How time flies, with several of these science fiction movies having been remade since the list was published. This is a good list of, now classic, movies for anybody that is curious about science fiction movies and yet does not know where to start watching. Also this list would make a great list if you want to start a sci-fi movie DVD collection.
1. 2001: A Space Odyssey
2. Akira
3. Alien
4. Alphaville
5. The Andromeda Strain
6. Barbarella
7. Blade Runner
8. Brazil
9. A Clockwork Orange
10. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
11. The Day the Earth Stood Still
12. Eraserhead
13. Fahrenheit 451 (1966)
14. The Fifth Element
15. The Fly (1986)
16. Forbidden Planet
17. Heroic Trio
18. The Incredible Shrinking Man
19. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
20. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
21. La Jetée
22. The Man Who Fell to Earth
23. Metropolis
24. Planet of the Apes
25. The Road Warrior
26. Robocop
27. Scanners
28. Seconds
29. Sleeper
30. Solaris (Soviet Version)
31. Soylent Green
32. Star Wars
33. Stepford Wives (1975)
34. Strange Days
35. The Terminator
36. Tetsuo: The Iron Man
37. The Thing (1982)
38. Things to Come
39. Videodrome
40. X – The Man With X-Ray Eyes
Mar 15 10
BradMovies and Television television
Family Classics Movie Title List
From 1962 till his sudden death in 1985 Frazier Thomas hosted “Family Classics” on Sunday afternoons on WGN-TV, Channel 9, Chicago. It became a Chicagoland tradition to watch these films on those cold, gray, dark winter Sunday afternoons until we kids knew these movies by heart. These films became old friends to any kid that grew up in the 1960′s or 1970′s in Chicagoland.
Frazier Thomas personally picked and edited the movies to be shown on Family Classics to insure they were safe for children to watch. But this did not mean the films were dumbed down, and adults enjoyed them too. Even if you did not grow up watching Family Classics, this is an excellent list for any parent today who is looking for DVD’s to rent or buy for their whole family to enjoy.
It is amazing how our memories fade over time. This list took the efforts of myself, and friends C. Bernard Doyle and the members of The Hoosier Brain Trust to put together. I know the movies on Family Classics changed over time so this list represents the titles that were shown from 1962 till about 1973. Titles marked with an asterisk * were suggested by readers of my old weblog. Many thanks to all who suggested titles and shared your memories.
The list may still not be complete and if you have any questions, comments, additions or deletions please post a comment.
The 7th Voyage of Sinbad
The 39 Steps (1959, Dir. Ralph Thomas, Starring Kenneth More)
A
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938)
B
The Black Shield of Falworth (Tony Curtis) (based on the book “Men of Iron” available for free)
Boys Town*
C
The Canterville Ghost*
Captain Blood
Captains Courageous (1937)
Charge of the Light Brigade
A Christmas Carol (Reginald Owen)
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court* (1949) (Bing Crosby)
D
The Day the Earth Stood Still
G
Gulliver’s Travels
H
Hans Christian Anderson*
Heidi (Shirley Temple)
Houdini* (1953)
J
John Paul Jones (1959) (Robert Stack)
Journey to the Center of the Earth
The Jungle Book (1942)
K
Kidnapped (1938)
L
Lassie Come Home (1943)
The Little Princess (Shirley Temple)
The Lost World
M
The Mark of Zorro (1940) (Tyrone Power)
Miracle on 34th Street*
Moby Dick
My Friend Flicka
Mysterious Island
N
National Velvet*
A Night to Remember
Northwest Passage
P
The Prince and the Pauper
R
Robin Hood (1938)
S
The Seahawks
Sink the Bismarck
Snowfire*
The Song of Bernadette*
T
The Time Machine (1960) (Directed George Pal)
Tobor the Great
Treasure Island (1934) (Wallace Berry and Jackie Cooper)
U
Union Pacific* (1939)
W
When Worlds Collide* (1951)
Y
Yankee Doodle Dandy
Young Tom Edison* (1940) (Mickey Rooney)
The terms “WGN-TV”, “Family Classics with Frazier Thomas” and “Family Classics” might be Trademarked, no infringement or claim is intended by me, by their use.
Mar 14 10
BradMovies and Television
Scene of the Crime: Cologne is a German television mystery cop show. The more I watch it the more I like it. The writing and acting is good and you get a glimpse of contemporary German society.
Scene of the Crime is in rotation with other European (non-English) detective shows under the banner of “International Detective” and worth hunting down if you get Mhz Network television locally. I get it as part of WYCC-TV Chicago, but distribution is so complicated these days you will have to hunt it down for your city or maybe stream online, for yourself.
Mar 11 10
BradMovies and Television
Recommended World War II Movie List
Introduction:
The alphabetical list of movies that follows is my own suggested viewing list of World War II films. It is intended for somebody that is curious about World War II films but is not sure where to start, or as a handy reference guide for anyone wanting to start a collection of DVD’s.
This is not an ‘all time best’ sort of list although there certainly is some overlap, because I avoided the worst films of the genre. However, while it is hard to compare big budget postwar blockbusters with smaller propaganda films made during the war, both are important to include on this list and watch in order to get an overview of the film type. But for the most part the list does represent the best World War II movies available based on my own subjective opinion.
With thanks to C. Bernard Doyle, for the many recommendations he made for additions to this list.
World War II Movie Viewing List ver. 1.6
A
Anzio
Assignment in Brittany
B
Bataan
Battleground (1949)
The Battle of Britain
Battle of the Bulge
The Best Years of Our Lives (suggest watching this last)
The Big Red One
Bombardier
The Bridge at Remagen
The Bridge on the River Kwai
A Bridge To Far
C
Catch-22
Come and See
Command Decision
Cross of Iron
The Cruel Sea
D
Das Boot
Decision Before Dawn
Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel
The Desert Rats
Destination Tokyo
The Devil’s Brigade
The Dirty Dozen
Don’t Go Near the Water (1957)
E
The Eagle Has Landed
Enemy at the Gates
The Enemy Below
Eye of the Needle
F
Five Graves to Cairo
G
Go for Broke (1951)
The Great Escape
The Guns of Navarone
H
Hell in the Pacific
The Heros of Telemark
I
In Harm’s Way
J
Judgment at Nuremberg
K
Kelly’s Heroes
L
Lifeboat
The Longest Day
M
The Malta Story
Midway
Mister Roberts
Mrs. Miniver
O
Objective, Burma!
P
Patton
Play Dirty
PT-109
Purple Heart
The Purple Plain (1954)
S
Sahara
Sands of Iwo Jima
Saving Private Ryan
Schindler’s List
Sink the Bismarck
Soldier of Orange
Stalag 17
Stalingrad
T
They Were Expendable
The Thin Red Line (1998)
Tora! Tora! Tora!
Twelve O’Clock High
U
Up Periscope
V
Von Ryan’s Express
W
Wake Island
Where Eagles Dare
Wind Talkers
While not a feature film the following mini-series are also suggested:
Band of Brothers
Danger UXB
Piece of Cake
If you have a particular favorite World War II movie, please post the title in the comments and tell us why you like it! Thanks. 
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