When the Ghost of Christmas Present shows Scrooge the dinners of the poor being cooked in a local bakery, the houses of the poor at that time being ill-equipped for cooking,[23][full citation needed] seeing the Spirit as representing God and Christianity Scrooge accuses him of wanting to close such bakeries on the Sabbath which would have resulted in the poor having no hot food that day.
The Sunday shuttering of businesses was of great importance to Dickens at that time: Several public figures wanted to keep the Sabbath holy by banning secular work on Sundays, which meant closing the bakeries. Among these Sabbatarians was the MPSir Andrew Agnew (1793–1849), who introduced a Sunday Observance Bill in the House of Commons four times between 1832 and 1837, none of which passed. It was Agnew’s third attempt which drew on him the wrath of Dickens; Dickens’ pamphlet in response[24] is largely a personal attack on Agnew, who wished to not only close the bakeries but also to limit other “innocent enjoyments” of people experiencing poverty. The passing of the Bill, had it been successful, would not have affected the hot meals or amusements of the better-off on Sundays. Dickens wrote,
“Sir Andrew Agnew … generally speaking, eat(s) pretty comfortable dinners all the week through, and cannot be expected to understand what people feel, who only have a meat dinner on one day out of seven.”[24]
Dickens later supported the National Sunday League, which campaigned to relax Sunday restrictions further.[25]
In the novella, Scrooge points out to the Spirit that the actions of the Sabbatarians “… has been done in your name, or at least that of your family”. This is a revealing comment, as it shows that God sent the Spirits for Scrooge’s redemption and that Dickens, therefore, intended A Christmas Carol as a Christian allegory.
This is today a pretty obscure reference, and (to their credit) the filmmakers don’t try to explain or footnote it. But it’s nice that they kept it in.
Or, for a minor note, when the reformed Scrooge throws open his windows on Christmas morning and speaks with the Boy in the Street, he tells him to go buy the big goose in the shop around the corner. The boy dismissively comments “Wal–KER"!” It appears in both the Zemeckis/Carrey version and the Mr. Magoo version, again without explanation (and without them changing the boy’s dismissive comment to something a modern audience would understand.). I’m not sure if it’s in any other version.
Oxford English Dictionary XII: 44. “More fully, Hookey Walker.” [Always written with initial capital; probably a use of the surname Walker.] An exclamation expressive of incredulity, Also occasionally as a sb. (= ‘humbug’), as in “That is all Walker.”
“Walker!” also shows up as an example of what we’d now call a “meme” in Charles Mackay’s 1841 volume Extraordinary Popular Delusions and The Madness of Crowds (alongside “What a shocking bad hat!” and “Does your mother know you’re out?”).
Last night, in honour of Rob Reiner, I watched one of his less well thought of movies North. If you’ve heard the reputation without actually watching it, it’s about a kid, played by Elijah Wood at the height of his child-acting game, who is frustrated with his parents obsession with themselves and him not getting the attention he feels he deserves, so decides to find new parents, and goes on an adventure across the world testing out various couples.
Roger Ebert famously hated this movie, but I found it fun and silly and a good time. Admittedly there are some outdated ethnic stereotypes that are not great, but when you get to the end of the film there is a small justification for their portrayal. I liked the jokes, I liked the performances from a stellar cast, I liked the adventure. It’s not a super duper great movie, but it’s fun, and certainly not deserving of its poor reputation.
Inglourious Basterds 2009
Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz
Quentin Tarantino wrote and directed
Paramount+
I enjoyed it. I don’t plan to rewatch Basterds several times. Pulp Fiction and Once Upon a Time are films that I revisit annually.
I’ve read the Wiki production notes. Quentin’s final screenplay was delayed by Kill Bill and other projects.
I think the writing difficulties shows in the ending. Landa’s usefulness ended after he left the theater. Plastic surgery will eventually fix his scar.
The fantasy revenge payoff with the gloating Dreyfus survivor is extremely satisfying.
I recommend watching Inglourious Basterds at least once or twice.
I agree with this assessment. I vaguely recalled some buzz about it and may have even looked into renting it. I think Mike Flannagan’s tie to it (Exec. Producer) is mostly what moved me to watch. I’m not a big fan of “found footage”, or of demonic themed stuff, but I enjoyed this well enough.
It’s bursting with tropes psychic child, ill equipped woman tries to solve a mystery / find a missing loved one, said mystery solver goes alone and unarmed to remote, abandoned property(in this case an abandoned prison), etc.
At first it gave me Lake Mungo vibes, but there’s also some Sinister like elements, and I swear, there’s a shot of one of the main characters that seems like it was mimicking this famously creepy shot from Repulsion .
A Christian film, but a pretty good one. Animated, for kids. My parents took us to see it with the kids. Nice songs, great animation. The plot is the story of David from the Bible, so if you know much about David, this is it. From his time as a shepherd to finally becoming king, this is it.
I was amused how they were able to show Goliath’s death, but not be so violent. The stone David slings does not enter Goliath’s, head, but simply dents his forehead, killing him. David does not confirm/prove Goliath’s death by cutting his head of. I mean, this is a kids film.
Saul is, of course, a significant antagonist. I leaned over to my Dad and said, “I wonder how they will portay Saul’s suicide.”
Not only did they not show it, there was no clear indication Saul’s death. We are just lead to assume it.
I watched “Stand By Me” for probably the fifth time. The novella “The Body” by Stephen King (from which it came) really resonated with me way back when I read it. I could almost smell the dusty air of summer and hear the kids I hung out with at age 12. I was so hopeful when I heard that Reiner was going to direct, because many of King’s works really suffered in the transition to screen, and was really happy with the result.
There was a good article in The Guardian yesterday from a writer reminiscing about watching Stand By Me with Rob Reiner, after watching it himself 100 times. That movie impacted a lot of people.
Worth a read, especially if you’re a fan on the movie:
My young friends and I hung out near and on the railroad tracks in my town. Walked them many times and crossed the trestle without much regard for our safety. We dared each other to climb out underneath the bridge on the narrow beams and hold on while a train came across. If our parents had known where we were and what we were doing, there would have been hell to pay. My only quarrel with the film was the gun-handling scene. Gordy discharges the gun and then points it at the hoodlums, then manually cocks it for dramatic emphasis. I understand that it was for effect, but it was wrong, damn it. I originally thought that the coal-fired trains were an anachronism, but it turns out that they were still in use in some parts of the country in the 50s and 60s.
I think it’s my favorite of Tarantino, or closely tied with Kill Bill, but either way, I never tire of it. The opening scene is one of the best scenes in cinema, and when Brad Pitt blurts “Bonjourno!” in that ridiculous Southern drawl with Waltz trying to keep it together, oh man. That’s a laugh-so-hard-you’ve-gotta-run to the bathroom scene. Tarantino is an arrogant fuck, but he’s right, I really think this one’s his masterpiece.
It is extremely helpful to me take his opinions as if he was the local video store guy who watches a lot of movies and just kind of shares them with you when you visit. Which is exactly what he did for a job before making it in movies himself.
He did make me aware of Battle Royale, which is an amazing movie I had not seen until years ago when he recommended it.
