A Memorial for Actors and Authors~2017

Hello.
2017 was a great year in some ways, but a lot of great people died. This post is as memorial for some of my favorite actors and authors that are close to my heart.

Mary Tyler Moore: Actress
December 29th, 1936 - January 25th, 2017

Though she is most famous for her television show, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, the only movie I have seen her in is Thoroughly Modern Millie. She plays the sweet, gullible Miss Dorothy. She had me laughing. She really was a great actress, I look forward to watching more of her movies.

Robert Osborne: TCM Television Host
May 3rd, 1932 - March 6th, 2017

I know that all the others on here are actors and authors, but I do want to write a word or two about Robert Osborne. For as long as I can remember I have been watching Turner Classic Movies. And for as long as I can remember, Robert Osborne's voice has introduced each movie. I will miss hearing his voice, and hearing his thoughts.

Peter Sallis: Voice Actor
February 1st, 1921 - June 2nd, 2017

We all have cartoons that we love. Ones that we have watched since we were tiny and still enjoy watching today. Mine are the Wallace and Gromet cartoons. The amazing claymation tells the story of Wallace, and his dog Gromet. Peter Sallis played the unmistakable voice of the cheese loving Wallace.

Michael Bond: Author
January 23rd, 1926 - June 27th, 2017

Michael Bond is the creator of one of the most lovable bears: Paddington. Though I have never read the books, I love the character, and I cannot wait to read the books. The movie is excellent, and there is a number two coming out in 2018. Thank you, Michael Bond.

June Foray: Voice Actress
September 18th, 1917 - July 26th, 2017. (She was almost 100!)

Talk about a voice! The movies I heard her in are: Cinderella as Lucifer the Cat, Peter Pan as Squaw, The Snow Queen as Court Raven/Old robber/Old Fairy, Thumbelina as Queen Tabitha, Mulan as Grandmother Fa, and Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas as Cindy Lou Who. She was also the known voices of: Witch Hazel, Granny in Tweety Bird Cartoons, and Rocky J. Squirrel. We will miss her.

Glen Campbell: Actor and Singer
April 22nd, 1936 - August 8th, 2017

I know your thinking, "Wait, he was a singer. Why is he on a movie blog?" Well, to tell the truth, I don't know his songs, but I do know that he played Le Boeuf in the 1969 version of True Grit. I really do like that character and I think he did an excellent job.

Jerry Lewis: Actor and Comedian
March 16th, 1926 - August 20th, 2017

I have actually only seen him in one movie: 3 Ring Circus. Everyone always loves Dean Martin, which is good, but Jerry Lewis deserves some love too. It's hard always playing the one who gets laughed at, but he was marvelous at it. I cannot wait to see more of his movies.

There you have it. Do you miss these actors as much as I do?

I hope you all had a fabulous 2017, and are ready for an even greater 2018!!!!

MovieCritic

Movie Review: Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

Hello!
I am here to participate in Hamlette and Quiggy's Inspirational Heroes Blogathon!!

This picture is another of my favorite Christmas movies

When deciding what to do, I picked Miracle on 34th Street, because we are in the 12 days of Christmas! Please enjoy reading about one of my favorite Christmas movies!

My Guarantee: On ALL of my reviews there are NO spoilers unless it says so.

Miracle on 34th Street (1947):

"That's what I've been fighting against for years, the way they commercialize Christmas!"
Macy's Annual Thanksgiving Day Parade is about to start, but the man who is playing the part of Santa is, well, not in a condition to do so. Doris Walker, the manager of the parade, asks a passing man to play Santa. In fact, it is the actual Kris Krinkle. Doris doesn't believe in Santa, and neither does her daughter, Susan. Mr. Krinkle decides to use Doris and Susan as a test, if they will believe in him maybe there is hope that the world will get back into the spirit of Christmas.
"Oh, Christmas isn't just a day, it's a frame of mind, and that's what's changing."

Genre: Christmas, Comedy.
"'It's a fairytale.'
'Oh, one of those. I don't know any.'"

                    

Length: approx. 96 min.
Costumes: 8, nothing bad, but nothing great. I did like Susan's outfits.

Script: 10! No bad words.
"'Why do you believe there is a Santa Claus?'
''Cause my daddy told me.'"
Crew:
Directed by: George Seaton
Produced by: William Perlberg
Screenplay by: George Seaton
Based on the book by: Valentine Davies
Starring:
Edmund Gwenn as Kris Kringle,
"'Do you have any experience?'
'A little.'"

Natalie Wood as Susan.

This is seriously my favorite scene!

Maureen O'Hara as Doris Walker, "Susan, I speak French, but that doesn't make me Joan of Arc."

John Payne as Fred Gailey

Alvin Greenman as Alfred (Ugh, I couldn't get any pictures of him!)
Porter Hall as Granville Sawyer, "If that's 'normal', I don't want it."

Jerome Cowan as District Attorney Thomas Mara
Philip Tonge as Julian Shellhammer, "Maybe he's only a little crazy, like painters, composers, or some of those men in Washington."
Music: 9.
Music by: Cyril J. Mockridge
Quotes: 10! Here is where it is very inspirational!
"You've heard of the British nation, and the French nation, this is the imagine nation."

Storyline: 7, there is smoking, drinking, and it is dealing the after effects of divorce.
"Faith is believing in things when common sense tells you not to."

Good For: EVERYONE!!!
Overall Score: 9!!
"I believe...I believe...It's silly but I believe."

Thanks so much for reading! Check out the other entries HERE.

I stole this from Notes of a Hartfield Girl.

Merry Christmas!!

MovieCritic

Adventure of Reading Challenge ~ Update 4

Hello!
I am here for my fourth and last update for Heidi's 2017 Adventure of Reading Challenge! Here are update one, update two, and update three.

Thank you so much for hosting this challenge, Heidi! I probably wouldn't have read them otherwise!

Wonderland Creek - by Lynn Austen:

"It's the little things that make all the difference in the world. The kind words we speak and the simple things we do for people."
Alice Grace Ripley loves to read. After getting a lot of books to donate to a library in Acorn, she decides to bring them down there herself! Alice finds several things she wasn't expecting, one of them being the fact that the librarian gets severally hurt and she has to take over. Most people don't even read, but they love the books.There is a big secret, but no one will tell her! What with gardening, cooking, and doing the librarian's will, she learns that maybe the world is better than a book, and she should get into her own story.
'It was just a pile of old wood and scraps of metal, but in their imagination it was a schooner that could sail all over the world searching for buried treasure.'
Genre: Historical Fiction, Period Drama.
"...Will it take her very long to get here?' 'Well, it depends on which horse she's riding--"
Characters: 10, there are so many and they are all so different!
'It seemed that I had baked myself into a jam tart, as Mother would say.'
My favorite:
Alice, she and I are very alike, and this is so true: 'Sometimes I hated being a fair-skinned blond. People could read my distress like a thermometer as the color filled or drained from my cheeks.'
Miss Lillie, she is amazing.
Words: 9, there are a few bad words.
'She may as well have been speaking another language. I was so frightened that her words of advice fell all around me without sinking in, as forgotten as raindrops in the creek.'
Quotes: 10, seriously, this is my favorite! It describes me sssoooo well!
"'...I didn't cause a scene. I don't know why the usher asked us to leave.'
'Gordon said it was because you started talking very loudly in the middle of the movie, saying it wasn't at all like the originally book...Gordon is still mad because he didn't get to see how the film ended.'
'He didn't need to see the end. I told him how the book ended and it was so much better than the movie. They even changed the hero's motivation. Can you imagine? That movie was such a travesty that I couldn't help getting upset.'"
Storyline: 6, there is death, blood, kissing, suggestive, smoking, drinking.
'Fighting injustice seemed to carry a very high price tag.'
It has references to these books, which I thought was pretty cool:
Sherlock Holmes, Alice in Wonderland, Macbeth.
Good For: Anyone who likes to read.
"Weeds are just like hatred and greed, you know. If you ain't careful, they'll choke all the love and compassion out of a person."
Overall Score: 8.
"That's absurd,' I said with a little laugh. 'Nobody can read too much. That's like saying someone can breathe too much."

(Well, that was definitely a mini review ;) )

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows:

(This will actually just be a mini review, because I want to do a longer post on it in the future. In other words I forgot where I put my notes, and as there is maybe a movie of it coming out, I want to compare it to that.)
It's post World War II, and Juliet gets a letter from a Dawsy Adams, a man on the island Guernsey who happens to own one of Juliet's old books. A correspondence ensures, and Juliet gets to know the people of Guernsey and their literary society.
Genre: Historical Fiction,
Characters: 7, two of the characters are mentioned as being homosexual, so that kind of put me a little bit against the book, because I don't support that.
My favorite:
Isola & Kit.
(They are the best!!)
Words: 6, there are a few bad words, and swearing.
Storyline: 7, suggestive stuff happened, smoking, discussion unpleasing, name calling, bathroom, and mention of drinking.
Good For: History fans.
Overall Score: 7!


The Headless Cupid - by Zilpha Keatley Snider:

(Also know as, A Witch in the Family.)
'Walking through the door was like walking out of a bright morning into midnight.'
The Stanley kids can't wait to meet Molly's daughter, Amanda, who will become their new sister! But when she comes, they find she studies witchcraft. Because they don't have anything else to do, David, Blair, Janie, and Tesser want to do it too! Strange things start happening and they wonder if it really is, or is Amanda some how making it all up?
'He was remembering that she believed in good omens, like rainbows and church bells.'
Genre: Middle Grade Fiction.
Characters: 8,
My favorite:
Janie & Tesser.
'Janie always asked questions faster than anybody could possibly answer them.'
Words: 9, only one bad word.
'The sun was warm on the steps, but the air still had the night-freshened cool of summer mornings.'
Quotes: 9, '...he started having that good, slightly excited feeling that a library always gave him.'

(SPOILERS from now on.)

NOTE: I definitely don't believe in witchcraft or do I support it but it is all fake in this book. Amanda was making it up to get attention and to make her mom mad. There are some scenes where they are doing "ceremonies" that I don't approve of, but it was a made up.

'David had never heard of anybody taking up stocking robbery as a career.'

Storyline: 7, Stealing, divorce, and witchcraft though it is just to get attention.
Good For: Those who are going through a hard time, those who have experienced change.
Overall Score: 8.
'He kept it closed because he had a feeling that if he started talking he'd say a lot.'


So, I read 9 1/2 out of 11! I really was going to read Orange & Green, but I read all these other ones first, so when I went to get it out from the library they said I could get it on the first of the year! Oh well. And, I admit I was a little scared of reading Frankenstein, but I did read most of it, and I will finish it in 2018!

Thank you so much for hosting this, Heidi! It was very fun!!

MovieCritic

Presenting...The Complete Sherlock Holmes!

Merry Christmas!
I am going to be taking a break for the next few days, but I did want to slip a post in. And it was May the last time I did one of these! Time flies, doesn't it?

The Complete Sherlock Holmes:

I have always loved to read. I never liked romances (until this last year), but I LOVE mysteries. I have read almost all the Nancy Drew books, started the Hardy Boys, and Agatha Christie books are some of my favorites. My dad knew this and thought I was ready for one of the greatest detectives! So, last Christmas ("I  gave you my heart" "STOP THAT, STOP THAT, STOP THAT!") he gave me this, my Sherlock Holmes collection!

This is the inside cover:

That is a normal sized pencil:

Here are what the stories look like:

There are nine books in it:

A Study in Scarlet
The Sign of the Four
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
The Return of Sherlock Holmes
The Hound of the Baskervilles
The Valley of Fear
His Last Bow
The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes

I have enjoyed reading it all year, and I am almost done with it!

Thank you for reading!!! Have a merry Christmas!!!

MovieCritic

Pride & Prejudice read-along: Update 4 ~ THE END!

Hello!
Amber at Seasons of Humility hosted a Pride & Prejudice read-along in Oct. and I am very late, but it is  one of my favorite books so I am here to put my thoughts anyway! Sorry, about that!

To read Amber's thoughts, click HERE (Week 4) and HERE (Conclusion).

Spoiler Alert!! There will be spoilers for the ending of Pride & Prejudice, so if you have not read it, read no further!

Pride & Prejudice Volume II: Chapters 12-19 and 
Volume III: Chapters 1-19

Discussion Format: One favorite quote, some general impressions, and three questions for each week's reading.

(Because I missed two weeks, I will be doing two quotes and six questions)

Favorite Quote:
Week 4: 'The five weeks which she had now passed in Kent, had made a great difference in the country, and every day was adding to the verdure of the early trees.'

Week 5: "I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look, or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun." ~ Mr. Darcy

General Impressions:
Characters definitely have surprises up their sleeves!

"Will you be angry with me, my dear Lizzy, if I take this opportunity of saying (what I was never bold enough to say before) how much I like him."

Discussion Questions:

1. Who do you think has changed the most since the beginning of the story? What are some examples of how he or she has changed for the better or for the worse?

Lydia: Changed a little for the worse. In the beginning she was just "a silly girl", but there was no harm to that, but at the end she thinks she is all grown up, but she is not.

She is the person who, to me, changed the most. Others changed their opinions

2. What are your impressions of Pemberley (Darcy's home), including the appearance, the location, and the people who work/live there?

"...that to be mistress of Pemberley might be something!"

Everything is amazing. The people have respect for you, which gives you respect for them. Wouldn't it be fabulous to see those grounds! Houses are nice, but the grounds sound amazing!!!

3. If you were a Bennet daughter and got word of Lydia's disappearance, do you think you'd respond more like Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, or Kitty?

Elizabeth I think, but I am Mary, so I might actually do the same as her.

4. Which character's words or actions shocked you the most in this section (in a good or bad way)? How would you have responded if those words or actions somehow affected you?

Lady Catherine! I myself would have actually laughed in her face... I guess I'm not as composed as Lizzy.

5. How would you describe the main moral of the story? Is there a lesson or reminder that especially stood out to you by the end?

Don't judge anyone. I do think that Jane Austen was saying in the society of those days (and still today) how everyone is all about appearance, and wealth. Look beyond that!

6. Which aspect of the final chapter made you smile the most?

Smiling at something funny: The chapter with Lady Catherine.
Smiling with warm fuzzies: The end!

My favorite Jane Austen books in order:
Pride & Prejudice
Sense & Sensibility
Emma
Northanger Abbey

Thank you so much for hosting this, Amber! Even though I am late, I very much enjoyed it!

"I will only add, God bless you."

MovieCritic

The Book Lovers tag!

Hello!

I was tagged by both Rachel and Molly for The Book Lovers tag! Thank you, you two!!

Rules:
Answer the questions
Have fun (don't worry)
Tag some book loving bloggers

1. If you could rewrite the end of a book, which one would it be?

Um, David Copperfield - by Charles Dickens. I really liked it, but not the ending. I understand the ending, but I just don't like it.

2. Which fictional character are you most like?

Well, it this post, I told you four who I am like.

3. Do you have any signed books?

Well, it might be real and it might not be. I am not going to say unless it isn't, but my older sister always told me that it was real.

That was confusing. I also have Jackaby - by William Ritter, signed, but I haven't read it.

And a few books by Gayle Irwin I have are signed.

4. What's the best book you've read so far this year?

Ahhh!! Why do you do this to me!!??? I am going to say five:
1. Pride and Prejudice - by Jane Austen

2. Peter Pan - by J. M. Barrie
3. Summer of the Monkeys - by Wilson Rawl
4. The Q - by Beth Brower
5. The Lord of the Rings - by J.R.R Tolkien

5. Do you have any bookish pet peeves?

Don't put the book face down!!! It damages the spine!!!!

And, if you know that a movie is based on a book, read the book first!

6. Out of the books you have read this year, what has had your favourite cover?

*sneeks away* *gets pulled back* Okay, okay. I'll answer, but I get five!:

Five Enchanted Roses - by Kaycee Browning, Savannah Jezowski, Jenelle Schmidt, Dorian Tsukioka, and Hayden Wand.

Five Magic Spindles - by Rachel Kovaciny, Kathryn McConaughy, Grace Mullins, Michelle Pennington, and Ashley Stangl.

Esperanza Rising - by Pam Muñoz Ryan

Cloaked - by Rachel Kovaciny

The Tiger Rising - by Kate DiCamillo

7. Is there a book that releases this year that you cannot wait to read?

I am going to call "this year" 2018.
Five Poisoned Apples!

8. What is your favourite non-fiction book?

Uh... *looks at pile of non-fiction I need to read for school* I don't really read that much non-fiction. I'll go with what Rachel said and say The Little House on the Prairie books.

9. Do you have any favourite location and/or time period to have a book set in?

Not really, I mean, if it's a book I'll read it!!

10. Is there a book that reminds you of something else?

A lot. Way too many to say. But, Charles Dickens and Arthur Conan Doyle books remind me of my dad, because he gave two big collections of them to me!

I tag:
AGirlWithIdeas
And anyone who hasn't done it!

Thank you so much for tagging me, Rachel and Molly!!!

By the way, I went and saw The Last Jedi tonight!!!! Watch for a review (in a while...[like a few years]).

Thank you for reading!

MovieCritic

Book vs. Movie Review: Summer of the Monkeys

Hello!
Here I am for my third update for Heidi's Adventure of Reading Challenge! Here are update one, and update two.

I actually cheated here, I watched the movie first. But, which is better? Read on.

My guarantee: On ALL of my reviews there are NO spoilers unless it says so.

'"That's the place," Grandpa said. "I don't care what kind of a problem a man has, he can always find the answer to it in a library."'

Summer of the Monkeys - by Wilson Rawls:

'I got mixed up with a bunch of monkeys, and all of my happiness flew right out the window.'
Jay Berry is living with a poor family. His twin sister, Daisy, has a crippled leg and can't do all the things he wants to do. When he hears of a reward for 30 escaped monkey from a circus, he decides he wants to catch those monkeys and get the pony and gun he has always wanted. It's a good idea, but those monkeys don't want to be caught.
"Daisy says that the Old Man of the Mountains is taking care of everything in the hills. If he is, he must have worked a long time in painting that picture."
Note: Okay, before I get started on the review, can we just appreciate to beauty of this book? While the movie took out some of the "iffy" parts, they also took some of the good. This book is so amazingly beautiful, I cried at parts.
'It made me feel like I had just been born and had to live my whole life again.'
Genre: Fiction, (I'm not really sure, can anyone else come up with something better?)
'Even the little speckled tree frogs, the katydids, and the crickets were chipping in with their nickel's worth of welcome music.'
Characters: 10, they are so amazing, the lessons they learn and how they change... wonderful!
My favorites:
Daisy: She is amazing (sorry I keep repeating, but my vocabulary is low today), she is so kind. 'Her blue eyes were as bright as the morning star and a warm smile tugged at her lips.'
Jay Berry: I love how his character progresses.
Grandpa: I never got to meet either of my grandpas, but I feel like he would have been like my grandpa on my mom's side.
'Grandpa was having a hard time holding back a good laugh.'
Words: 9, uh, there is sort of a bad one. (I wrote this in my notes but don't remember what it means. Sorry).
'If you closed your eyes, and filled your lungs full of that sweet-smelling stuff, your head would get as light as a hummingbird's feather and feel as if it was going to sail away by itself.'
Quotes: 10!!! Read this, please:

'"There is one thing I know. All little children who are crippled can see things and hear things that you and I can never see or hear. I think the Lord has something to do with this. It could be His way of showing them mercy."

"That's what Mama told me," I said. "She thinks that the Old Man of the Mountains is a spirit, do you think he's a spirit?"

Papa thought for a second. "Your mother could be right," he said. "What Daisy is seeing could be the spirit of Christ. Lots of people have seen His spirit; especially, those in pain or deep trouble. It happens every day somewhere in the world."'

Isn't it so beautiful?
Storyline: 8, there is drinking(but it shows it is bad), smoking, and other blah. But, it is so incredibly wonderful.
'"If a fellow didn't dream and have hope," he said, "life would sure be miserable."'
Good For: Those who are different, those who want something, EVERYONE.
'Thousands of lightning bugs were dancing a flickering rhythm all around us.'
Overall Score: 9.5
'It was so still in our kitchen you could have heard a dream walking.'

VS.

Summer of the Monkeys (1998):

Based on the book by Wilson Rawls:
"I thought I heard you say you saw a monkey in the river bottoms."
Jay Berry dreams of getting a pony named Annie. Having to watch his sister, and help his father, he doesn't think he will have enough time to work at his grandpa's store. Hearing about four escaped monkeys and the reward for them, he sets off to the bottoms to trap them before Toby, the bully, does.
"You're only digging yourself a deeper hole."

Genre: Adventure drama.

Length: approx. 101 minutes.
Costumes: 8, they work well for the time frame. Those monkey's costumes are so fancy!

Script: 10, no bad words!
"I bet they did, that's why they print those ya know."

Crew:
Directed by: Michael Anderson
Produced by: David Doerksen
Written by:
Wilson Rawls (book)
Greg Taylor
Jim Strain
Starring: 7
Corey Sevier as Jay Berry Lee.

"What's it feel like?"

"Like I'm flying."

Katie Stuart as Daisy, she was a good actress for Daisy, but she didn't look like Daisy. She was too young and her eyes were brown.

Michael Ontkean as John Lee.

Leslie Hope as Sarah Lee.

Wilford Brimley as Grandpa.

Don Francks as Mr. Hatcher.
Music: 7.
Music by: George Blondheim
Cinematography: Michael Storey
Quotes: 7, they took out the really great ones from the book.
"You just grew ten feet tall in my eyes."

Storyline: 6, there is death, and drinking.
They did a lot of things to it, but the things that stick out are:
They cut:
Monkeys! In the book there are 30 monkeys, in this movie there are 4!
And they added:
Mr. Hatcher (who is he?)

Good For: Families, People who feel different.
Overall Score: 7

The book wins!


Thanks again to Heidi for hosting this challenge!! (And, on my sidebar, that game is still open!)

MovieCritic