JAMES GARNER’S DAUGHTER OPENS TRIBUTE SITE TO HER AWESOME FATHER

The Mighty James Garner’s daughter, Gigi Garner (a successful talent manager in her own right), has opened a tribute website to her father. She seems to be updating it fairly regularly with a number of terrific family photos and excerpts from Garners’ new memoir “The Garner Files,” which I loved and reviewed here.

Please check the site out.

Anyone who’s been reading me for any amount of time (or who has seen my Twitter wallpaper), knows of my all-consuming affection for all things James Garner, most especially “The Rockford Files.” You can imagine how much this tweet meant to me.

Tell me how it gets any better than that. You can’t, because it doesn’t.

The only bad news is that if this photo on Ms. Garner’s site displays the actor’s real signature, that means I got robbed on Ebay.

Cue my well-rehearsed of-course-I-got-swindled-again Rockford face.

FINALLY: AN HONEST ASSESSMENT OF HOLLYWOOD’S BOX OFFICE BLUES

With all of Hollywood and most of their sycophant entertainment media blaming box office and DVD woes on everything but bad product, this is the rare break from that absurd narrative:

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There are two television movies in my top ten, here’s the first of them. Best known as George C. Scott’s A Christmas Carol, this is, thus far, the most emotionally satisfying adaptation of the Dickens’ classic yet, thanks to an exceptionally well-written script and, of course, The Mighty George C. Scott, who offers up my favorite portrayal of Scrooge.

Scott’s characterization of Ole’ Ebeneezer is more grounded and less theatrical than the others, especially after the three ghostly visits where the Oscar-winning actor chooses not to transform his character into a completely different person, at least not on the outside. Instead, Scott’s post-visitation Scrooge retains the gruff booming voice and regal presence, with the only visible proof that something’s changed and softened and different found in the old man’s eyes;  a bittersweet mix of joy and love, and most touchingly, regret. (more…)