Captain Courageous

Movie: Captain Courageous (1937), Not Rated

Date Watched: May 30, 2009

Stars Your Parents May Know: Spencer Tracy, Lionel Barrymore

Recommendation: ★★★★★

Treats Served: None

Review: Captain Courageous, made in 1937, is a black and white film about a spoiled rich boy, Harvey Cheyne, who gets "rusticated" (expelled) from boarding (sleep away) school for lying and threatening his classmates and a teacher. Harvey's father thinks that Harvey's bad behavior is because he isn't a good father and he has no mother.

To teach Harvey how to be not so creepy and improve their relationship, his father takes Harvey on a cruise...on his own cruise ship. At the very beginning of the trip, Harvey falls of the boat and is rescued by fisherman, Manuel (Spencer Tracy.) Harvey is welcomed onto Manuel's big fishing boat and expects to be treated like a king. He is very mistaken.

Sever months later when the ship gets back to land, Harvey and his father find each other again. Harvey is a better kid now because of his relationship with Manuel. Manuel taught him to fish and he taught him what a good relationship is like. Life on a fishing boat is not like boarding school, so Harvey learned how different people live.

This movie teaches that relationships are important and that you should trat people nicely even if they're different. Freddie Bartholomew does a terrific job of playing the creepy Harvey.

For the next couple of days at my house, whenever I didn't listen, my mom said I was a creep just like Harvey.

I think you should watch this movie. But watch the trailer and you decide.

The Express

Movie: The Express (2008), Rated PG

Date Watched: April 25, 2009

Stars Your Parents May Know: Dennis Quaid, Charles Dutton

Recommendation: ★★★☆☆


Treats Served: Popcorn

Interruptions: First David came and lay down on the couch and talked. Then my mom made him watch the movie. About 10 minutes later, Julia came in asking if she could watch the movie. About a half hour later, we stopped to make popcorn. David left. And Julia and I threw popcorn in the air and tried to catch it in our mouths. Then he came back about 30 minutes later and made Julia leave. Oh, and Hanky meowed the whole time.

Review: The Express is the true story of the short life of Ernie Davis, who became the first African American to win the Heisman Trophy. Ernie lived his early childhood with his grandparents until his mom came and got him. He moved with his mom to upstate New York and became the star of the high school football team.

This was a hard time for African-Americans because they weren't treated equally. They couldn't use the same bathrooms as whites. They couldn't stay at the same hotels and they couldn't go to the same restaurants.

It was a hard time for Ernie too. His teammates and people outside of football were mean to him because he was black. Ernie tried to ignore them, but when he couldn't, he outran them. He got his inspiration from Jackie Robinson and his grandfather. When Ernie attended Syracuse University, he learned from Jim Brown, another African-American football player who attended Syracuse.

It was good to learn about Ernie Davis. Even my dad didn't know who he was. I have heard about these times, but this was the first time I actually saw it. It was hard to watch. And my mom said what they were going to say right before they even said it. She said the movie was "predictable."

There were three similarities to Breaking Away. First, Dennis Quaid was in both. Second, they were both about sports. And third, they were both about struggles between two types of people competing against each other.

I think you should watch this movie. But watch the trailer and you decide.

Patchy: Wasn't interested at all in the movie.

Breaking Away

Movie: Breaking Away (1979), Rated PG

Date Watched: April 11, 2009

Stars Your Parents May Know: Dennis Quaid and Jackie Earle Haley (bad boy in Bad News Bears and Little Children)

Recommendation: ★★★★★

Treats Served: Swedish Fish
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Summary: Breaking Away is about Dave Stohler, a local teenager, who wants to be a champion bicyclist. He pretends to be an Italian college student, but he's really a local boy who just graduated from high school. It's Dave and his lazy friends versus the rich college kids.

Review: Breaking Away is one of the best movies I've seen so far. It was inspiring, interesting and even funny. The lesson I learned was "don't give up." Dave was an amazing bicyclist and very determined. During one race, his favorite Italian team cheats and makes him lose. He goes home, rips down all his bike posters, and temporarily gives up. With the help of his friends and family, Dave decides to compete in a college race. But it's really his confidence that makes good things happen for him.

The movie made me want to compete in a bike race and try to do my best.
However, the movie wasn't all that serious. Dave's relationship with his father, Raymond, wasn't very good, but it was funny. Dave spoke Italian all the time -- even when he spoke English, he spoke in an Italian accent. This drove his father bonkers. His dad thought Dave was always happy and said things like, "When I was his age, I was tired and miserable." Then when Dave becomes tired and miserable, his dad says, "I didn't want him to be this miserable. A little is all I asked for."

There was great Italian opera too!

Watch the trailer and you decide.

Patchy's Memorable Quote: Referring to Dennis Quaid, "Does he have a hair do?" Here's a picture. What do you think?

Parent Advisory: One or two inappropriate words and high romance advisory.

Tom Sawyer

Movie: Tom Sawyer (1973), Rated G

Date Watched: April 2, 2009

Stars Your Parents May Know: Jodie Foster, Johnny Whitaker (Family Affair)

Recommendation: ★★☆☆☆

Treats Served: MoonPies from Jake. (Every month, Jake's grandfather sends him a box full of goodies. This month he got Moon Pies and Cheetos. Jake's mom snuck some MoonPies out for us so she doesn't eat them.) Read about the birth of MoonPies and how they were named.

Summary: Based on the book by Mark Twain, this musical adaptation is about an adventurous Tom Sawyer who gets in trouble almost every time he leaves his house. Tom Sawyer witnesses a murder and it puts him in danger.

Review: About five minutes into the movie they started singing. This is when I figured out it was a musical. I thought it was going to be one of those other boring musicals and it kind of was. It wasn't filled with singing and there was no dancing, but when I read the book I didn't think there would be singing.

The movie used most of the adventures that the book had, but not all. I didn't expect Tom Sawyer to have red hair.

My mom and dad are sort of teaching me what some words in the movie mean. These are the ones I am learning:

Philanderer: someone who flirts with women who are not their wives.
Tom's "fiance" Becky calls Tom a philanderer when she finds out he was ''engaged'' to someone before her. This is funny because they are 11 years old!

Uncouth: rude and uncivilized.
Tom's Aunt Polly called his friend, Huckleberry Finn, uncouth because he never wore shoes, smoked a pipe and never washed.

Cavort: to hang around and have fun with.
Aunt Polly doesn't like Tom Sawyer cavorting with Huckleberry Finn because she thought he was a bad influence. I would like a friend like Huckleberry Finn because he's adventurous.

If anyone wants to borrow my kid's version of Tom Sawyer, I recommend reading that, but not watching the movie. Watch the trailer and you decide.

Patchy's Favorite Part: "When the girl be friends with the boy and when the boy and the other boy be friends again." (Patchy is talking about when Tom Sawyer becomes friends again with both Becky and Huckleberry Finn.)

That Darn Cat

Movie: That Darn Cat (1965), Rated G

Date Watched: March 29, 2009

Stars Your Parents May Know: Dean Jones, Roddy McDowell and the uncle from My Three Sons (William Demarest)

Great Music: "That Darn Cat" by Bobby Darin. Listen here.

Recommendation: ★★★★☆

Treats Served: Pizza and Pam's Famous Chocolate Chip Cookies

Summary: A bank teller, who is kidnapped, slips her watch on a cat hoping for someone to save her. The cat's owner, Patti, discovers the watch and its message. She goes to the FBI and they take on the case by following "That Darn Cat."

Review: Yet another animal movie. While this cat doesn't talk like last week's Shaggy Dog, they both help catch outlaws.

That Darn Cat is a darn cat because he lives for food. "DC" opens doors, tricks dogs, fools people to get any kind of food like sandwiches, dog food, milk and a duck. My cat (who is not a darn cat) used to be the most amazing cat. He could jump incredibly high and some open doors. Now he's almost 18 years old and he lives for scratchies and human food, such as pork and chicken soup, really any kind of meat.

Here are some more funny parts of the movie. One time when the FBI agents were following DC, he went through a window which was the same house where the agents set up their command post. The agents busted into their own headquarter! The FBI agent in charge of the case (Dean Jones from Blackbeard's Ghost) was allergic to cats. So, every time he was near DC, he sneezed.

One of the other funny people in the movie was an old lady who lived next door. She was always snooping around. She looks out her window and even takes her husband's hearing aid to listen in on the neighbor's house. Her husband even calls her "Snoopy."

There's also lots of slapstick humor like food in the face and doors smacking people in the face.

I recommend this movie. Watch the trailer and you decide.

Here are some pictures of cats we know.


Patchy's Favorite Part: When the cat knocks the bad guy down the stairs.

The Shaggy Dog

Movie: The Shaggy Dog (1959), Rated G

Date Watched: March 20, 2009

Stars Your Parents May Know: Fred MacMurray from The Absent-Minded Professor, Tommy Kirk from Swiss Family Robinson and Annette Funicello

Recommendation: ★★★★☆

Interruptions: Patrick
Film Recommended by: Skip, Father of Mabel. See Mabel here:

Treats Served: Spaghetti
We were going to have the famous cookies by Pam (Mabel's mom), but we didn't have time to make them. I haven't really met Mabel because Skip and Pam put her in the back room so she doesn't bite anyone.

Summary: A teenage boy turns into a shaggy dog and he catches spies.

Review: There were lots of funny parts in this movie. First the family has weird names: Wilby (the boy/dog) and Moochie (the little brother.) Second, the dad (Wilson) HATES dogs, which causes problems when his own son turns into a dog.

When Wilby turns into a dog, it is hilarious. His hair starts growing and turning gray, his nose becomes a big round, wet ball, and then he becomes a dog. A professor explains to Wilby that he is a "shape shifter." My dad tells me shape shifting is a common theme in mythology and folklore thats involves physical changes between human form and that of an animal, plant or object. I read about shape shifters before in Harry Potter. (One example is Sirius Black who can turn into a black dog named Padfoot.)

Here's what Wilby is like when he's a dog: he speaks like himself, he brushes his teeth, puts on pajamas and goes to the bathroom in a toilet. He doesn't turn into just any dog, he turns into the dog of the new neighbors. This is good because he can go into their house without suspicion....and it turns out that the dad is a spy.

I'm not going to tell you what happens, but Wilby's dad ends up being a dog lover.

Watch the clip of Wilby's dad finding out that he has a four-legged son...and you decide.

Patchy's Favorite Part:"The one when he turns into a dog."

The Absent Minded Professor

Movie: The Absent-Minded Professor (1961), Rated G

Date Watched: March 14, 2009

Stars Your Parents May Know: Fred MacMurray from My Three Sons and Double Indemnity

Recommendation: ★★★★☆

Treats Served: Pizza from Pizza Plus.

Summary: A forgetful science professor comes up with a new energy called Flubber -- rubber that flies. His college is going to be closed down because it was running out of money. He tries to use his invention to save the college and to impress his girlfriend.

Review: I thought that the movie was interesting because Professor Brainard came up with a new energy by accident while he was experimenting when he was supposed to be at his own wedding. It also had some funny parts. One of the funny parts was when Mr. Hawk (the man who was trying to steal the invention) put flubber on his shoes and started bouncing and couldn't stop. So the fire department came and tried to get him to stop bouncing, but it didn't work, so the football team tackled him.

This movie reminds me of other movies. First, it reminds me of Blackbeard's Ghost because mysterious things happen. Second, it is like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang because there is a flying car. Third, is my mom's movie, Earth: The Sequel, because it was about creating new kinds of energy just like this movie.

This was a good movie so I think you should go out and rent it.

Watch the clip of the incredible flying rubber that bounces higher each bounce... and you decide.


Patchy's Favorite Part: The flying part.