The new A-Team movie trailer

Or click here for the trailer

The movie is going to resemble the original TV series. People may still have a hang-up over the recasting of BA Baracus, but I got to say I don't mind him at all. Although I really think he'd do Mr. T a disservice by attempting to imitate him. Everyone else is exactly as I would expect them. Otherwise I can tell from the action of the trailer.

The last line of dialogue in the trailer, man if Dwight Schultz had said that it would've been very believable! It's said by a different actor, but that's the Murdoch I remember!!! BA when he sees his van crushed well I think I could live without his reaction. Or could I?

The van will similar to the TV series and man I like the worm shots the series was known for. That van is going to go airborne and the camera will be right on the ground when it finally lands.

The sad thing is, this might be the second movie I have seen in the past year. The last one Star Trek was also a remake of a TV series. While people may not be able to get over recasting BA Baracus I had to get over other actors playing my favorite Star Trek characters.

These pics take me way back

In the mid 1980s my mom would take me into downtown Chicago and usually we would take the L. Often the trips I remember was by the L. Until 1993 the Dan Ryan line would be elevated and routed to the Loop L and west along Lake Street to Harlem/Lake. Today the Dan Ryan line is routed through the State St. subway to the north side!

These pics posted by davidwilson1949 on flickr takes us back to 1986 and I had no idea that they started to build that eventual connection to the subway near Cermak/Chinatown that early!

This shot is looking south and you see how different this area looked approximately 24 years ago!

In this shot a southbound train from the loop is about to pull into Cermak/Chinatown. You see the work on the ramps that will in the future take Dan Ryan trains into the State Street subway.

Here's a better shot of the construction this time from the northeast. We're looking at the northbound side of Cermak Chinatown.

A northbound train heading towards the Loop L tracks. You see more of the construction of the route towards the State Street subway.

The train is up towards the connector on 18th Street that will take the train towards what was called the south side mainline tracks. The former Lake-Dan Ryan route would run along the Howard-Englewood-Jackson Park route. By 1993, trains from Englewood & Jackson Park would be routed to Lake Street to become the Green Line.

Those are the 18th Street tracks that takes the train east to the south side mainline. These days those tracks are part of the Orange Line that takes you to Midway Airport. Of course you see no indication of that line yet in these pics. Another unusual sight was this freight train along Metra's Rock Island route.

 Look back to the south a Dan Ryan train headed back towards 95th Street.

Looking to the west on Archer and Wentworth was according to David Wilson a yard for passenger trains for the AT&SF (these days part of the BNSF) Railway, these days however this place is now home to a commercial and residential development.

Man this takes me WAY back!

If you want some more information check out Chicago-L.org!

Newsreel: Sen. Huey Long

For some reason I have taken in an interest in a very ancient way of digesting news. This ancient way is referred to as the Newsreel. Certainly in the days before TV this is the primary reason beyond probably radio or newspapers that people got their news. Like short subjects consisting of movie serials, comedies, or even cartoons these presentations would precede the feature film. Even better some of these newsreels were attractions at those theaters dedicated to exhibiting newsreels.

In an era where people can often produce pieces of original citizen journalism I wouldn't mind if these types of media made a comeback. People with a video camera and decenting videography and editing skills can share their vids even if such work won't proceed the main attraction. Especially if we have tools like YouTube to share this work.

In any event this newsreel comes to us courtesy of Paramount News. I'm sure most of us have heard of at least FOX Movietone News, especially if we've seen them on either AMC (when they actually showed classic movies) or even on FOX News Channel when there was an hour devoted to showing old FOX newsreels on the weekends.

Anyway this story was a documentary on the life of former Louisiana Governor and US Senator Huey Long. There is a lot of discussion of the man and his role in Louisiana and future aspirations of this very brash and bold politician. It was thought that he might be a candidate for President in 1936 until he was shot in the Louisiana state capitol where he continued to hold his sway. That's where this newsreels ends talking about the assassination and footage of his casket leaving the grounds of the Louisiana capitol.

I hope that I can show more newsreels in the future.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

UPDATE March 7, 2021 The above video I added later as the original video to this post has long been deleted from YouTube. This is the original trailer from the film when it was released in 1939. The rest of the post remains as written back in 2009 with some edits.

I finally saw it last night on TCM. It started off so great and then bam here comes trouble. The only thing that made Jimmy Stewart's character, Sen. Jefferson Smith a US Senator was a coin toss. Turn out that Governor may have chosen the wrong man for the job.

He finds himself ridiculed, a picture of him pinching his nose with the headline taking a whiff of Washington was published in the newspaper. Man, when he saw a person laughing reading the paper he took a punch at all of them. Not exactly good conduct for a new US Senator. But that wasn't the real test.

It was when he wanted to right write legislation for securing some land for his Boy Rangers group. Unfortunately the land to be set aside was to be used by the prevailing political machine in Smith's home state. And this sets aside the betrayal.

The betrayal was set aside by Smith's senior Senate colleague, Sen. Joseph Paine, who was helped along in his career by the machine. He doesn't want to go after Smith. Apparently Smith's father and Paine go back a few years. The betrayal is about Smith owning the land in question for his boy rangers and Washington really has a field day with these accusations.

At the best behest of his secretary, Clarissa Saunders we see Smith engage in a filibuster. And that's how the film ends, Mr. Smith collapses as he vows to continue his filibuster. Paine attempts to kill himself but confesses that he's not fit to sit in that august body and to the trickery. Looks like Mr. Smith has won his first victory.

In this film well we do see some black faces. One that sticks out in my mind is one with a little black boy who is a member of the Boy Rangers. He is active in helping the Boy Rangers get some news out about Sen. Smith. Unfortunately the political machine is making sure that only negative news gets out about Smith so this black boy had his wagon run right over.

Other boy rangers in this movie well had their papers and newsletters snatched from them by the machine. They even went to their presses to take away messages with one of the Boy Rangers getting a nice slap across the face for standing in his way. One can only expect mild behavior like this in places where freedom of speech can be taken away on a whim.

There's nothing very childish about this movie. Realistic in some ways yes, and still relevant because there are still corrupt politicians amongst us. Perhaps there are no political machines today that can exert the force that the one in this movie was able to.

I was pondering this. Because I watched Duck Soup one night this week. It seems movies during the Golden Age of Hollywood ended suddenly. Mr. Smith goes to Washington ends with Smith collapsing his victory won and a colleague having a breakdown. Then here's "THE END"!

Today's movie endings seem to meander. It's like a conclusion to sum up the points of an essay, but back in the late 30s the conclusion was more the action then a summing up. Sometimes I wish we can go back to that style.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
I've gotta find this movie

Southwest Chief No Sound

Sort of a return

Between the start of Blogger Beta back in late 2006 till sometime in 2007, I started this blog to experiment with the new Blogger. Eventually the original It's My Mind was converted into the new Blogger and this blog lost its usefulness. Now it makes its grand return. Into what is a whole other question!

Did I originally publish this on July 18, 2008?

*Republished in 2020

Siskel & Ebert Review Batman Mask of The Phantasm

I bought this movie on VHS a few years ago. I finally got a chance to see this movie having missed it the first time around. It seems it was out one week then the next week it was out of the theaters.

I was a fan of the animated series that aired on FOX usually during the week. I was often able to watch this program after school. It intrigued me because of the animation.

I still didn't think this was the true Batman. I don't think I ever knew about the Tim Burton Batman movies, either Batman or Batman Returns. The animated Batman that I saw circa 1992-93 was much more serious than watching Adam West or Burt Ward from the 1960s.

When I finally saw the movie I enjoyed it. The film soundtrack was top notch and atmospheric. The intro chilled my soul in the worst way.

I'll also give one important distinction about this movie, near the end of the film you would catch me sobbing. I'll just leave it at that. The plot wasn't the best, but it's still an enjoyable movie.

Great animation and the superhero is brought back to his more human elements. Did you know Batman/Bruce Wayne had a girlfriend once upon a time?

Check it out and watch with your children! Especially if you look at the review by the late Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert.