Sox Fam

Sox Fam

A Quote to Start Things Off

If we ever think well it should be when we think of God. - A.W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy

Sunday, January 26, 2025

12 New Movies: Silver Streak 1934

The Silver Streak


The first New (to me) film I watched this year is the 1934 film, Silver Streak.

In each brief review, I will attempt to do the following.

  1. I will rate each movie on a 1 (worst movie ever) to 5 (best movie I have seen) scale.
  2.  I will provide a 2-3 sentence summary of the movie. 
  3. I will share 1 theme from the movie. 
  4. I will write one thing I liked about the movie and 1 thing I disliked about the movie. 
  5. I will say who I think would make the best audience for this movie.

Silver Streak (1934) Rating 3 stars out of 5

Summary:  A young train designer challenges the train industry by proposing a new streamlined diesel capable of high speed travel. When his girlfriends father, a railroad executive, doesn't approve his designs, he quite his job and convinces another manufacture to produce his train.   The completed train must race against time to deliver medical equipment that can stop a polio outbreak and save the life of his girlfriends brother.  

Theme:  One theme of the movie is the the resistance some have to changing technology.

Likes and dislikes:I watched this film with my wife Amy a few weeks ago and we both really enjoyed it. Here is specifically why.

Me: One thing I liked about the movie is how the train that the Silver Streak is based on The Burlington Zephyr, is the real star of the film and is even given a screen credit. 

Amy: The acting was first rate.  You believed that the actors were the characters they were portraying. 


Dave: One thing I didn't like was that the spy subplot seemed contrived.

Amy: I agree, I know they have to create conflict and tension, but the fight on the train was too much.


A Good Audience for this Film: Adventurers, Train Buffs, and Obscure Train Movie  aficionados.

Sally Blane and WIlliam Farnum


By Burlington Route (railroad) This appears to have been given to those at the fair who toured the train on exhibit. - eBay itemcard frontcard back, Public Domain, Link


Now that this review is over let's look at my progress so far this year.  At this point, I have watched and reviewed 1 film.  

Films released from 2009 to 2024                  Watched 0 Remaining 2
Films released from 1994 to 2008                  Watched 0 Remaining 2
Films released from 1979 to 1993                  Watched 0 Remaining 2
Films released from 1964 to 1978                  Watched 0 Remaining 2
Films released from 1949 to 1963                  Watched 0 Remaining 2
Films released before 1934 and up to 1948   Watched 1 Remaining 1

Amy and I watched this film on You Tube and you can too.  I proudly present Silver Streak ...




Saturday, January 25, 2025

Team Saturdazzle: The One With The Made Up Holidays

Hello and welcome to the last Team Saturdazzle post for January 2025.  Last April for the A to Z Challenge I wrote about Holidays. On most day of the challenge I found an event that was already taking place on that day and pair it with the letter of the day. 

For example each April 2nd is International Children's Book Day so since the letter of the day for April 2nd was B, I wrote about that Holiday and title my post, B is for Books for Children.  

Writing about made up holidays turned out to be not enough for me.  SO, I actually made up 5  holidays and added them into the challenge  for all the letters that were vowels.  Now that it is 2025,  It has come to my attention that these holidays are coming up again this year.  

A chart or graph of some kind might be helpful here:


Name of Holiday with link to         2025 Date           (When it occurs)
A to Z Challenge Post


Adult Children Appreciation Day                  April 21, 2025.  (The Monday after Easter)
 
 Wedding Planner Black Friday                     April 4, 2025     (1st Friday in April)

Indicted Illinois Governors Day                     April 10, 2025   (10th day in April)


One More Time and You Get A Parade Day   April 16, 2025   (Third Wednesday in April)
                        

Undecided, Undeclared & Unsure Day           April 30th 2025 (Final Wednesday in April)

This is me talking about one of the new holidays last year.



Thursday, January 23, 2025

Good Grief! I'm Trying To Watch 12 New Movies This Year, Again!

There is a lot of Charlie Brown in me. My middle name is Charles, I had a dog named Snoopy when I was a kid, my love for baseball has always exceeded my ability to play it well, and like the storied definition of insanity, I often do the same thing and expect different results

This is particularly true regarding my annual plan to watch 12 movies I've never seen before and post the reviews here. The way it works is supposed to work is each year, I choose 12 films I haven't seen or haven't seen in their entirety, watch them, and then write a quick review and post here.  I also add a few wrinkles to the plan:

1. The movies have to come out no earlier than the year before the challenge. In this case 2024.
2. Although this is not a hard and fast rule, I generally do not count movies I watched in their original theatrical run if they came out the year prior.  For example. I watched  A Complete Unknown tonight at the theatre where I work.  Technically, it was released in 2024 and I watched it in 2025 so it could count, but since it hasn't left my theatre yet I'm going with the spirit of the law and not counting it.  If I had not watched it today and then watched it on DVD or streaming in a few months after its theatrical run ended I would certainly count it.

3. I divide the movies into 6 sections by years released. This year the sections are:
Films released from 2009 to 2024
Films released from 1994 to 2008
Films released from 1979 to 1993
Films released from 1964 to 1978
Films released from 1949 to 1963
Films released before 1934 and up to 1948
4. Since I'm trying to watch 12 films, I choose 2 films from each section.

This year I have already watched 2 films but have yet to review them.  This is where I usually get into trouble because until I review them and post them and have documentation of them, it is easy to lose track of what I've already seen.  In one of the first posts I did this year I mentioned the 
1976 Gene Wilder , Richard Pryor movie, Silver Streak.  In preparing that post, I discovered that there was also a 1935 film with the same name.  I have since watched that film and hope to post a review here before the end of the month.

The other "new" film I saw was at a staff party for the movie theatre I work at.  After all the last runs of movies in the theatre had begun they had a special showing of cartoons, and tow feature length movies.  the first film they showed, I had seen parts if but never in it's entirety, so I counted it as new to me. I hope to reveal the name of that film, and a review sometime in February.

Until then I see a girl holding a football for me, and I'm off to kick it. 







Snow Kidding!

Snow Kidding!
These "kids" now range from 19 to 25