Poor Thanksgiving; it certainly doesn’t generate as much holiday ruckus in Hollywood as Halloween or Christmas do. While it may not be Tinseltown’s favorite holiday, there are still several television shows and films that center on Turkey Day.

As you prepare to fill up on stuffing, sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie, I’ve whipped up a short list of favorite Thanksgiving moments on screen.

10. “The Mouse and the Mayflower” – I watched this made-for-TV movie growing up, and it’s probably my all-time favorite Thanksgiving story. The score really sets it apart from the rest, with original songs “November” and “Mayflower,” which my family and I always associate with the holiday. Families will love it for the cutesy mice and the fun little story about how Thanksgiving came to be.

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9. “Pieces of April” - Before she was Mrs. Cruise, Katie Holmes starred as April, the family oddball who is stressed about preparing Thanksgiving dinner for her entire clan in her small apartment with a broken oven. If anything, it’s kind of a hoot to see Holmes dressed in punk clothes. (more…)

The Gary Sinise Foundation is bringing the award-winning GI Film Festival to Los Angeles on November 5 for one day of great independent military films.  These films highlight current and former veterans in and out of the arena of war.  Beginning at noon at the Raleigh Studio Theater on 5300 Melrose  Ave in  Hollywood, fans from the west coast who missed this year’s DC festival will have an opportunity to view the best of the festival’s films.

vimeo Winner Best Feature Documentary

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“We are proud to partner with the Gary Sinise Foundation,” said GI Film Festival’s executive director and co-founder, former Army Major Laura Law-Millett. “They do amazing work.  It’s so important that people understand the important role film and the media play in the minds of every American when it comes to supporting our brave men and women in uniform.”

The one day event will screen 9 films and play host to an evening reception where you can meet and greet the filmmakers.  To see the line-up, view the trailers, and purchase tickets to attend the event, please click here.

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You have no idea how much I regret missing this story — because this is a good thing. A very good thing, both First Lady Michelle Obama and the various Hollywood Guilds participated in last month. Michael Cieply of the New York Times also wrote an excellent story around the news of this panel that details the negative ways in which the military has been portrayed in films just this year.

From June 13th:

LOS ANGELES—First Lady Michelle Obama will have her work cut out for her when she turns up here today for a talk with members of the Hollywood guilds about getting more positive attention for military service members and their families into popular entertainment.

The confab is part of the Joining Forces initiative started by the First Lady and Jill Biden, who is married to Vice-President Joseph Biden, earlier this year. On Monday, Ms. Obama is to join a discussion with military family members and representatives of the Directors Guild of America, the Writers Guild of America, and others, all focused on ways to “inform and inspire” Hollywood creators regarding the military.

But the military imagery in major studio movies for the last couple of months wasn’t particularly inspirational[...]

Read the whole thing and hope something real comes from it.

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***ADDED: There are already some great suggestions in the comments, but let me add one more qualifier. “The American President” is a great choice, Sergio Leone’s “Once Upon a Time in America” or “The Godfather” not so much, at least for what we’re trying to do here. The film’s leftist politics should not be obvious, spoken even, not hidden in the subtext. We’re looking for blatantly political films.

Though it’s not completely my fault, even I get tired of all my negativity on this site. Again, it’s not completely my fault (damn you, Liam Neeson). After all, Hollywood hasn’t done anything right since handing the Superman franchise over to Zack Snyder. But that doesn’t mean I can’t still aspire to something better, can’t try to rise above my ongoing frustration with a medium I’m in love with but that can’t stop breaking my devoted heart. Yes, I’m Frank to Hollywood’s Ava. So in order to lighten things up some, here we go with a Christmas holiday gift to our Hollywood friends on the left: an utterly sincere list of what they’ve done right.

No tongue-in-cheek, no sarcasm, no irony; we will present 25 bona fide left-wing films so well crafted, acted, written, and directed that they rise above their obnoxious politics and still manage to entertain, provoke, and enlighten – and by enlighten I’m not referencing their individual agendas, but rather enlighten about but about something bigger than message: the human condition, our place in the world, what it means to be who we are. Or maybe the story is just too much fun, too entertaining, and too cinematically awesome to be brought down by all the speechifying and stupidity.

One key distinction here — and this is important —  is the difference between “liberal” and “left-wing.” Liberals champion free speech, left-wingers champion a bit of fascism we call political correctness. Liberals believe in a colorblind society, left-wingers believe in multiculturalism. Liberals oppose anti-Semitism, leftists either practice or tolerate it. You get the point. So you’re not going to see “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “Gentleman’s Agreement,” or the work of the great Stanley Kramer on this list. This is an accounting of “left-wing” films; rabidly anti-American, anti-military, anti-human, anti-religious, anti-capitalism, anti-progress, anti-liberty or  pro-some obnoxious backwards agenda, such as the benefits of extreme environmentalism or the benevolent beauty of a bigger federal government.

As with all countdowns we will eventually make our way up to The Greatest Left-Wing Film Ever Made! Which might sound like a contradiction in terms, but can assure you it’s not. (more…)

Fresh and innovative, Patrol Base Jaker  is a captivating retelling of the remarkable history of Afghanistan from the Russian invasion to the current U.S. counterinsurgency operation. Walk in the boots of the Marine combat and civil affairs teams in Helmand Province, Afghanistan as they fight to turn the tide against a resurgent Taliban and Al Qaeda. Travel to the front lines where U.S. Marines stand at a wicked intersection of war, radical Islam, international drug trade, reconstruction, and a counterinsurgency strategy designed to reestablish the rule of law in Afghanistan.

vimeo Patrol Base Jaker

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Did you ever hear Jimmy Carter sound like a war hawk? Neither had we. Until we saw Patrol Base Jaker. Seriously, check out the trailer and you won’t believe your ears. And this is no Michael Moore hatchet job either…piecing together sound bytes to create some sort of Franken-statement. It’s all authentic Jimmy.

But aside from the shockingly pro-military statements from Carter (and Obama, by the way) what we really loved about PBJ is the fact that it documents a tremendous US military success story in Afghanistan…the kind you’ll never find in the pages of the New York Times or on any of the so-called “mainstream” news networks. (more…)

From Baghdad to Beijing, Warrior Champions tells the emotional and inspiring story of a group of severely wounded American Soldiers, as they fight to turn nightmares of war into Olympic dreams. Operation Iraqi Freedom veterans Kortney Clemons, Scott Winkler, Melissa Stockwell, and Carlos Leon set out to do what many thought impossible; to compete in the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing.

vimeo

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Though at times heart wrenching, Warrior Champions is not a sad tale of the tragedy of war, but rather an uplifting testament to the human spirit that challenges preconceived notions of what it means to be disabled.

There are really two types of wounded warrior films that people submit to the GI Film Festival. The first category exploits the experiences of injured veterans to make a political statement about war. (Perhaps the most obvious example of this category is a film we received in our first year- but did not screen – which splashed a running tally of dead and injured veterans from “Bush’s War” at the bottom of the screen. Others are a bit more subtle, but no less cynical.) The second category, while pulling no punches with respect to the brutal consequences of war, takes a different approach. These films focus on the inspirational stories of wounded warriors overcoming their disabilities to accomplish unbelievable feats. Warrior Champions exemplifies the very best in this latter category. (more…)

Don’t let the unwatchable sequels diminish how imaginative and heartfelt the original was. And though I’m not a big fan of Tim Allen’s film choices of late, in the right role like this (and Galaxy Quest), he’s very good. Also going for The Santa Clause is a perfectly cast Judge Reinhold, the hottest of all hot moms, Wendy Crewson, some terrific special effects, a warm Christmas spirit and, uhm, well, Wendy Crewson.

Most of the credit, however, belongs to the screenwriters who seized upon the beloved and well known story of Santa Claus and turned it into an original story that still very much respects what came before. The Santa Clause doesn’t rewrite or deconstruct, it builds upon the legend basing itself on all those lingering unanswered questions, such as: How does Santa fit down the chimney? How does Santa visit every home in one night?  It’s a genius premise and don’t forget that the divorced-dad-who-learns-how-to-be-a-better-father comedy wasn’t as tired and played out in 1994 as it is today. (more…)

Since I’ve known my lovely wife this romantic comedy set on Christmas Eve and starring Dick Powell and Debbie Reynolds has been her favorite among what she calls “her cute little movies.” Shot in that beautiful Technicolor process among crisp colorful sets (Powell’s apartment gets my vote for Most Fifties Ever!) that give off a nice holiday feel, it tells the completely contrived tale of a thirty-five year-old Oscar-winning screenwriter (Powell, who was actually 50) forced to deal with a seventeen year-old delinquent (Reynolds) over Christmas Eve. He desperately needs a muse and she’s looking for a daddy of the sugar variety and … well, you can see where this is going.

Sounds awful, don’t it? That’s what I thought and refused to pay it much attention for years. But the lead performances, supporting cast and dynamite dialogue are all superb, and it really is a cute little movie with some crisp cynical shots taken at Hollywood to boot — most of them courtesy of Alvy Moore who most of you will recognize from “Green Acres.” (more…)

This big-budget musical is yet another not terribly great movie that makes the list for two reasons. The first is a personal memory.

A hundred years ago, the day before Christmas break began, an English teacher pulled my entire freshman class out of school and bussed the lot of us down to the local 79-cent theater for a screening of Scrooge.  Besides everyone getting excited over seeing Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness plays Marley), what I remember most about the movie is that after it was over, as we exited the theatre, the whole class burst out singing and dancing the film’s infectious “Thank You Very Much,” as we filed onto the bus … and we kept singing the whole way back to school. 

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I can still smell wet rubber boots, feel the cold green vinyl seat beneath me, and sense that ball of Christmas excitement in my stomach — you know, the one that gets smaller as you get older… 

My second soft spot for Scrooge is due to how effectively it portrays Ebenezer’s regret and heartbreak over losing the love of his life to his own ambition. That’s always been my favorite part of the timeless Dickens’ classic, and it gets me every time in all the screen realizations, but especially this one. You really feel for the old guy here, and as opposed to presenting this loss as just another episode in a wasted life, you get the sense of the permanent impact this mistake had — how it was Scrooge’s emotional point of no return. (more…)

By now I’m sure you’ve seen plenty of other reviews about “The Blind Side,” currently in theaters, including this one by BH’s own Cam Cannon. I hope you can stand to read one more.

I saw “The Blind Side” last Friday evening with my younger daughter. Arriving half an hour before showtime, I was surprised to see that the theater was already about three quarters full and we ended up sitting down near the front, where my daughter usually begs to sit and I reply, “No, let’s sit somewhere near the middle.” Sure it was a long holiday weekend and people were looking for something to do, but as it was the second weekend, I took this as a positive sign. Word of mouth has a way of killing films that deserve to die quickly, especially in the age of Facebook and Twitter.

Not having read the book, I could judge the movie on its own merits. As BH readers already know, “The Blind Side” tells the true story of football phenom Michael Oher, then a fatherless black teen from the projects of Memphis with a crack-addicted mother and who, despite being accepted into a tony Christian school, ends up homeless. He is seen wandering out in the cold by Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy, a well-to-do couple from the other side of the tracks, who take him in and eventually make him a part of their family. (more…)