Week 22 brings us to 1982. The year of ET. I wonder what Disney execs. thought about the popularity of this movie at the time. ET follows the script of a Disney movie, family going through loss, adventure, spotlight on children. I wonder did they blow up a little, thinking "why are we not making something like this". Or were they thrilled that maybe these types of movies are coming back.
In 1982 Disney gave me three options. No ET.
I turned down:
Tex
Tron
I decided to go with Night Crossing.
I never heard of it, however the description intrigued me.
It is a true story about two East German families, who plan to escape and head to the west by using a hot air balloon.
Basically this is the tagline they used: "The East German border: 836 miles of barbed wire walls, automated machine guns, armed guards, and deadly land mines. On September 15, 1979 two families tried to cross it."
This will probably be a short one this week, there is not much info to give. It is wonderfully acted by John Hurt, Jane Alexander, Beau Bridges, Glynnis O'connor. Yes they secretly build a balloon to get over the border. The movie starts by giving us a couple minute background on the east-west border, which helps kids understand a bit. The movie is really exciting. I know, it does not sound it, I mean it is a balloon. Buying the material without getting caught. Trying out the balloon. Then the flight. Now this may be a spoiler, but face it, Disney would not have made the movie if they were caught. Still, going in, knowing this, it was still very exciting. I do not know what the truth-a meter is on how close they were to being caught but it does add excitement to the movie. The movie is an hour and 45 minutes and it flew by. I thought for awhile this might have been a TV movie for Sunday nights but I looked it up, it says it grossed 8 million in the USA. I guess, it got lost in ET mania.
I cannot stress to you enough, this movie is a hidden gem. Put it in your Netflix queue. The whole movie from the acting (yes I know not much on the accents), to the script, to the plot, to the look, it all works. The film, of course, is not for the smaller ones, maybe 9 and up. 4 1/2 out of 5 Mickeys.
I went into this venture thinking, I would like to visit some classics and maybe find a gem here and there. Well this is a nice little gem.
I went to see Snow White And The Huntsman yesterday. The trailer did nothing for me. So I went thinking blah. This movie was really exciting. It is a little mix of the original Snow White/ Lord Of The Rings/Harry Potter (Theron is he who shall not be named and Stewart is Harry). There is a lot of exciting battles, and you care about the leads. It has a little problem with tone and length, but still I was surprised how much I liked it. It is not our Snow White but still I would give it 4 Mickeys.
83 is next.
Have a nice week.
In 1982 Disney gave me three options. No ET.
I turned down:
Tex
Tron
I decided to go with Night Crossing.
I never heard of it, however the description intrigued me.
It is a true story about two East German families, who plan to escape and head to the west by using a hot air balloon.
Basically this is the tagline they used: "The East German border: 836 miles of barbed wire walls, automated machine guns, armed guards, and deadly land mines. On September 15, 1979 two families tried to cross it."
This will probably be a short one this week, there is not much info to give. It is wonderfully acted by John Hurt, Jane Alexander, Beau Bridges, Glynnis O'connor. Yes they secretly build a balloon to get over the border. The movie starts by giving us a couple minute background on the east-west border, which helps kids understand a bit. The movie is really exciting. I know, it does not sound it, I mean it is a balloon. Buying the material without getting caught. Trying out the balloon. Then the flight. Now this may be a spoiler, but face it, Disney would not have made the movie if they were caught. Still, going in, knowing this, it was still very exciting. I do not know what the truth-a meter is on how close they were to being caught but it does add excitement to the movie. The movie is an hour and 45 minutes and it flew by. I thought for awhile this might have been a TV movie for Sunday nights but I looked it up, it says it grossed 8 million in the USA. I guess, it got lost in ET mania.
I cannot stress to you enough, this movie is a hidden gem. Put it in your Netflix queue. The whole movie from the acting (yes I know not much on the accents), to the script, to the plot, to the look, it all works. The film, of course, is not for the smaller ones, maybe 9 and up. 4 1/2 out of 5 Mickeys.
I went into this venture thinking, I would like to visit some classics and maybe find a gem here and there. Well this is a nice little gem.
I went to see Snow White And The Huntsman yesterday. The trailer did nothing for me. So I went thinking blah. This movie was really exciting. It is a little mix of the original Snow White/ Lord Of The Rings/Harry Potter (Theron is he who shall not be named and Stewart is Harry). There is a lot of exciting battles, and you care about the leads. It has a little problem with tone and length, but still I was surprised how much I liked it. It is not our Snow White but still I would give it 4 Mickeys.
83 is next.
Have a nice week.