BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Child star Grimes’ Wonderful Life

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Child star Grimes’ Wonderful Life

Click the above link to a very interesting interview with Karolyn Grimes. She played Zuzu in the holiday classic film It’s a Wonderful Life.

Here’s a quote from the intro:

Grimes was Bailey’s six-year-old daughter Zuzu and uttered the now immortal closing line: “Teacher says every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings.”

Her Hollywood career was brought to an end in her early teens with the death of her parents, which led to her being sent away to live with her “mean” aunt.

She became a medical technician but experienced more tragedy with the death of several close family members, including the suicide of her son.

But since being “rediscovered” by a journalist in the 1980s, she has travelled the world as an unofficial ambassador for It’s A Wonderful Life – a film, she has since discovered, that has brought comfort to many a person, including herself.

I love this film and never tire of it. It’s one of the finest Christmas films but not because it takes place at Christmas. It’s about the good in everyone and the potential of every human life. However, it didn’t shy away from showing the meanness in people, too.

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Tags: Christmas, film, Capra, holidays, movies, It’sa Wonderful Life, interview, BBC

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“In a World” – the voice of the film trailer is silenced

Don LaFontaine, voice of the Hollywood film trailer, dies – Times Online

There are few other phrases or cliches better know than this one:

‘In a world…”

The voice of Don LaFontaine was silenced yesterday. Will trailers ever seem the same?

Check out his website at http://www.donlafontaine.com/

Tags: movies, film, voice, trailer

 

Film films online legally – SnagFilms

Home – SnagFilms

Check out SnagFilms.com if you want to watch films online – all perfectly legal. This site has lots of documentaries and independent films.

I’m watching “Can Mr. Smith Get to Washington Anymore?”. Here is the synopsis:

Frank Popper’s engaging documentary follows the 2004 campaign of Jeff Smith, a young political science instructor at Washington University who runs for the seat vacated by retiring congressman Dick Gephardt. Pitted against state Rep. Russ Carnahan, the scion of a powerful political family, Smith proves that an unknown with no money can make a difference, forging a campaign that ultimately poses a serious challenge to Carnahan.

It’s a really interesting film.

There are lots of other films on this site so go see what interests you.

Tags: film, free, movies

 

No "Daily Show” tonight? Boo Hoo.

Screenwriters Picket as Strike Begins – New York Times

More than 12,000 movie and television writers represented by the Writers Guild of America West and the Writers Guild of America East walked out today, after three months of acrimonious negotiations proved fruitless. It is the first industrywide strike by writers since 1988; that strike lasted five months and cost the entertainment industry an estimated $500 million.The sides have been at odds over, among other things, writers’ demands for a large increase in pay for movies and television shows released on DVD, and for a bigger share of the revenue from such work delivered over the Internet.

A federal mediator, who joined the talks last week, asked the sides to continue talking in a Sunday session, but neither a deal nor an agreement to keep talking was reached.

Writers in Los Angeles have also begun picketing more than a dozen studios and production sites in four-hour shifts, one beginning at 9 a.m. Pacific time, the other at 1 p.m.

Yes, I think the creative types (writers) should get more dough. The internet issue should be addressed even though I expect it will mean that YouTube and other sites will be devastated of their content.

I will miss you, Jon Stewart!

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Tags: writers, strike, entertainment, TV, movies, internet

 

A great film artist is dead.

Ingmar Bergman, Famed Director, Dies at 89 – New York Times

On my first date with the man that I would later marry, he took me to see Persona and another film that I can’t remember but it was equally depressing. I remember wondering if my date was clinically depressed. Fortunately, he wasn’t.

I was a bit intimidated by Bergman after that but later we went to see Fanny and Alexander and I loved it. It also helped that I knew my guy better and had met his Swedish-born mother by then so I was more knowledgable of the Swedish sensibility.

For an intro to Bergman, I recommend Fanny and Alexander, Wild Strawberries or The Magic Flute. After those, then try Persona or Seventh Seal.

technorati tags:Ingmar-Bergman, film, cinema, movies, artist, Swede, death

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"The Simpsons won. Good night, John Boy.”

The Guys Who Go With the ‘D’oh!’ – washingtonpost.com

Here is a fun article from today’s Washington Post talking about the Simpsons.

On the campaign trail in 1992, George H.W. Bush promised voters that if he were reelected president, “we’re going to strengthen the American family to make it more like the Waltons and less like the Simpsons.”

The Simpsons won. Good night, John Boy.

“When Bush said he wanted us to be the Waltons, we thought, what? He wants us to be poor and sleep in the same bed?” This is Al Jean, one of the founding writers for “The Simpsons,” which has been a pop culture trademark for 18 years and 400 episodes on the Fox network.

“We also wondered, why the Waltons? Weren’t they, you know, set in the Depression?” This is David Silverman, one of the original animators for the show and now director of “The Simpsons Movie,” opening nationwide on Friday.

It’s a fun article with info about the early Simpson development on the Tracy Ullman show and some teaser info on the movie. Give it a read.

technorati tags:Simpsons, funny, silly, television, pop-culture, comedy, family, Washington-Post

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Hairspray is back in Baltimore but I still miss Divine!

iWon News – `Hairspray’ Returns to Baltimore

The original Hairspray (1988) is one of my favorite movies and not because it stars a lovely fat girl (Rikki Lake) or because it takes place and is filmed in my hometown of Baltimore. It was released when I was living in Brussels and really missing home. To hear all the great Baltimore accents and see all the locations was wonderful for a homesick American.

I’m sure John Travolta makes a great Edna Turnblad, but Divine was the thing! No one will replace Divine in my estimation. Big hearted and big bosomed, worn but warm, Divine’s Edna is a great mom.

Will I go see the new Hairspray? Probably. But I know it was filmed in Toronto and I bet very few of the actors will do that accent.

technorati tags:Hairspray, Baltimore, Divine, movie, John-Waters, Travolta

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Hooray for Springfield Vermont – Home of the Simpsons!

A ‘Simpsons’ frenzy in Springfield, Vt. – USATODAY.com

It couldn’t have happened to a nicer town.

http://www.simpsonsmovie.com/main.html

Sumigirl in Simpsons form

technorati tags:Simpsons, Vermont, Movie, silly, cartoon

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Spinal Tap Film for Live Earth Concert

Live Earth: The Concerts for a Climate in Crisis

I love the original mockumentary “This Is Spinal Tap”. In promotion of the Live Earth concerts scheduled worldwide for July 7, Rob Reiner has created a 15-minute film which reunites the original band members and you can view it online:

Video: Watch the new “Spinal Tap” film here

Enjoy!

technorati tags:mockumentary, Reiner, Spinal, Tap, metal, SOS

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