ABCs at the Movies: The Doubles Round!

[HerrKaiser]

Since we Northern Hemisphere types are having a nasty winter, how about a "California Dreamin' " Round?

It's warm and partly sunny in San francisco! I can sleep 14 (with double ups!). Head on out! 

[southendmd]

It's warm and partly sunny in San francisco! I can sleep 14 (with double ups!). Head on out! 

That's very tempting indeed!  Danke sehr, mein Herr!

[memento]

Plot: A visit to many of the places and people that give California its reputation as a place of extremes. Among the major segments: Sky surfing in the San Diego area; the movies, including a trip down the Oscar ceremony red carpet, the shooting of a stagecoach ride, and some memories of Walt Disney, including a roller coaster ride in Disneyland; some snowboarding and skiing stunts; a trip to the top, and then deep inside, some giant sequoias; biologists working with otters and bald eagle hatchlings; and a trip to the top of the Golden Gate bridge with the ironworkers who maintain it.

[Fran]

From IMDb:  Professional motorcycle racer Bud Clay heads from New Hampshire to California to race again. Along the way he meets various needy women who provide him with the cure to his own loneliness, but only a certain woman from his past will truly satisfy him.

[southendmd]

Plot:  A railway chief delays a NATO train transporting military equipment during the war in Kosovo in 1999.

[memento]

Plot: Tobe is about 16, living with her dad and younger brother in LA's San Fernando Valley. She invites a gas station attendant named Harlan to come to the beach with her and her friends. He's from South Dakota, wears a cowboy hat, talks country, and has been a ranch hand. They have a great time, his simple expressions seem like wisdom, he's attentive and polite, and even though he's more than twice her age, she wants to spend time with him. When her father objects, she rebels. Harlan, meanwhile, thinks she's his soul mate, and he starts making plans to get her away from her father. Worlds are set to collide, but which ones?

[Fran]

From IMDb:  Snake Plissken is once again called in by the United States government to recover a potential doomsday device from Los Angeles, now an autonomous island where undesirables are deported.

[southendmd]

Plot:  Felix decides to make his way to Hollywood, but has no money. The owner of a failing shoe store promises Felix $500 if he can help bring in new business, which Felix ingeniously manages to do, but the owner stiffs him out of the money. Felix finds a way to get to Hollywood, anyway, and while there meets up with the famous stars of the day, like Charlie Chaplin and Ben Turpin.

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_craP1oMP8w[/youtube]
(9:23)

[memento]

From IMDB: At first glance, Gates of Heaven appears to be a documentary about the lives of people that run pet cemetaries. On second glance, you realize you are witnessing a visual essay on the subject of death and dying, and how these average folk deal with it.

There are esesentially three parts to the film. All deal with either the struggle to build a pet cemetery or maintaining a pet cemetery. The most interesting segment is with a family who runs a successful cemetery in the desert of California. You see generations of a family that has done nothing but run this business. They explain the philosophy behind why they choose to bury pets, and why pets deserve burial just as humans do.

Morris lets the camera do all the work. With the exception of two shots every other one is static. A talking head documentary that could probably fit the definition exactly. Morris knows when exactly to inject humor into the film, just enough to keep you interested.

If you saw this film nowadays, you would expect it to be on Lifetime or some other obscure cable channel. With a third glance and possibly a fourth, you can see the message Morris is trying to get across. Everyone has a way of dealing with death. It is just how you deal with it that determines how comfortable you are with it.

[Fran]

IMDb plot keywords include:  California

From IMDb:  Finn is a young graduate student, finishing a master's thesis, and preparing for marriage to her fiance Sam. But thoughts of the end of the free life, and a potential summer fling, intrude. She goes home to her grandmother, where, over the making of her wedding gift by a group of quilting-bee friends, laughter, bickering, love, and advice lead her toward a more open-eyed examination of her course.