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Willy McBean and His Magic Machine (1965)
I actually loved this movie for kids
I grew up watching Rudolph and other Christmas specials using stop-motion, and re-watching them now brings back fond memories of family and more loving and peaceful times. I had never heard of this particular film, and have to say I loved it. The quaint songs "you have to go west to go east" and others are catchy. Kids of the 60s and 70s must have loved this. While kids today might like it, it may be a little slow paced for them. But it kind of reminds me of Super Why or one of the PBS Kids shows, a little learning, history, with fun for kids. I know kids these days have more tiktok level attention spans, but you should try to get them to sit through this if you can. Let them develop special memories too.
Bon Voyage! (1962)
A Rare Disney Miss
Fred MacMurray, Tommy Kirk, Kevin Corcoran. 3 classic Disney stars that you can't go wrong with. But somehow this just missed. A good concept but just didn't have laughs. Its more about annoying love spats. I've been watching all of the late 50s and into the 60s live action Disney movies. Some of them are awesome. Some of them are good but a little slow and then by the time you get to the end, the music and the story have you captured. Others yet left a little to be desired but are still good family fare. This one, well it just doesn't make the cut. Well, if you are like me and want to watch every Disney live action movie from the time period, its OK, its not that bad, scenes in France will keep you interested.
Nikki, Wild Dog of the North (1961)
Good though I have better recommendations
One thing that stands out in this film is the beautiful Canadian scenery. The river - so blue! Then you add mountains, trees, and when it snows - its just stunning beauty. A cute little story as well, though not Disney's best, that centers on the adventures of a dog that loses his owner. If you liked this, you may want to check out Ten Who Dared which I found a little more entertaining adventure (about men traversing the Colorado - although all brown!). I also preferred Disney's White Wilderness as a little better overall. While not a gripping story, it is entertaining enough and is the kind of movie families should watch more of these days.
The Man in the High Castle (2015)
The final season one ups Game of Thrones
I didn't think it was possible for a show's final season to go off the rails more than Game of Thrones. Congratulations Man in the High Castle, you did it! You proved it is possible for a pretty good show to completely lose focus and destroy itself extremely rapidly. The first few seasons had slow moments, confusing storylines, or bad writing at times but overall was fairly interesting and somewhat enthralling. I'm not even sure I can make it through season 4 it is so ridiculously pathetic. No need to go into specifics.
The Moon-Spinners (1964)
Sentimental live action Disney flick
I watched this in 2019 for the first time. Hearing the voice of Hayley Mills opened up a part of my memory that has been long hidden. Memories of my childhood, my parents and siblings watching the Wonderful World of Disney, or renting a VHS at Blockbuster, or one of the feature films occasionally shown on the early days of the Disney Channel. How did I ever miss the Moon-Spinners? Somehow we never watched this particular film, but the music, the scenery, the family-friendly format and the story itself are a perfect mix for the whole family to watch that has somehow been lost in most of what is available these days. I'll be looking for other films from this era for family movie night and you should too, you won't regret it.
Stand by Me (1986)
Why People Like The Movie
I've seen quite a few comments questioning why this movie is so highly rated. I remember it fondly from my childhood and re-watched it recently after seeing a spoof of it in Season 7 of the Family Guy. I didn't recall the movie being so short (though I like 1:30 movies), actually kind of boring, and an ending that doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
But to answer the question about why it is liked, I suspect many of the individuals who rank this movie very highly are men and possibly were kids in the 80s. That fits my description. The 4 kids in the movie were just a couple years younger than me, though at the time they acted my age. Every kid had a group they hung out with and being 12 or so is about the most carefree time of your life. I never had an adventure quite like this, was never bullied to this extreme, but we did explore the woods, uncover cool stuff, admit our vulnerabilities, joke around, and even cry. Add in a narrator, and some cool 50s music, 4 kids you would want to hang out with (even if they would never be actual friends in real life) and you pretty much can't go wrong. Thus the 8 star rating I gave the movie. Sentimentality wins in this movie.
However, in terms of actual entertainment, it falls a little short. It is interesting, sentimental, and overall a neat story that is worth watching. But it does not deserve a 9 or 10 rating in my opinion.
One big question I've never seen answered anywhere is why did the kids want the body so bad? Why were they willing to be terribly beat up or even killed for it? Then willing to kill others for it. Only to then just leave it and call it in? This makes no sense. Why did the bullies not just wait and jump the kids or sneak up from behind, there were over 7 of them?!? Finally in the recap there was no mention of Kiefer's character getting revenge (thanks, Family Guy). He said this is not over, but did he just move on with his life? Did he suddenly have a religious experience and forgiveness? Did both cars crash on the way back home that day and all of them died? There's a huge hole in the end of this movie that really frustrated me to the point I almost lowered this move that was treasured in my mind down to 7 stars.
Well, ultimately many movies have plot holes and the positives of this movie and the very last scene where Richard Dreyfus types the final 2 lines of his book convinced me to keep it at 8 stars so that is that.
Billy Jack (1971)
I wish they'd make more movies like this
In today's age of movies, we have lots of action, occasionally great CGI, special effects, and sometimes highly competent acting. What we rarely have is good storytelling, and more often than not is a good story to tell to begin with! This is a good story told in a great way. The scenery and filming is incredible. I loved every bit of it. Some of the acting may not be up to today's standards, but Tom Laughlin and the Sheriff were both excellent and very relate-able. There's action here too, but it is balanced nicely. At the end of the day, there are a lot of unknown kid actors in this movie and if nothing else they are believable.
I built a list here on IMDB of the top grossing movie and best picture Oscar from every year since I was born and this was the first, 1971. I had not seen nor heard of this movie, nor any of the actors. I was surprised this was the top grossing movie (some dispute on this according to my google search had Fiddler on the Roof but I am sticking with Billy Jack according to a couple of sources). According to IMDB, the movie's budget was $800,000 and gross revenue of $98 million. Can you imagine what an investment this was!?! Anyway, this was a great start to watching all of the movies on my list, if I had not already seen them. I look forward to seeing how things change over time.