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Forever Young (1992 film)

5/24/2015

Forever Young is science fiction, but it is also a great love story. It has Daniel McCormick (Mel Gibson), living in 1939 as a test pilot. His childhood sweetheart, Helen (Isabel Glasser) is his whole world. He claimed he didn’t have a single memory that didn’t involve her; that nothing was real in his life until she knew about it.

His best friend, Harry Finley (George Wendt) was a scientist who successfully froze a chicken and brought it back to life. He was ready to try his experiment on a human being.

Daniel is in a coffee shop with Helen, trying to get up the nerve to propose to her. He never does. Helen is struck by a car upon leaving the diner and goes into a coma. The doctors believed she had no chance for recovery, so Daniel begged Harry to use him in the experiment. He was to be frozen and brought back in one years’ time. This way he wouldn’t have to experience Helen’s death.

But due to Harry’s death, a warehouse fire in the early ‘40s, and the war breaking out, the capsule storing Daniel’s frozen body falls victim to military red tape and isn’t found for 50 years, when two kids accidentally open it. Daniel thaws out and ends up at one of the kid’s, Nat (Elijah Wood) house, where he meets his mom, Clair (Jamie Lee Curtis).

Daniel has some tender moments with Clair, but it becomes clear he has never gotten over Helen, so nothing actually happens between them.

Forever Young was written by J.J. Abrams of Fringe and the two new Star Trek movies. It was originally titled: The Rest of Daniel.

Forever Young uses a technique for traveling from one era to another via cryogenics. That is, freezing a person for a long period of time. It’s also called suspended animation and stasis. This is not a new technique in the science fiction genre. It was used in The Twilight Zone, Star Trek and comic books.

While viewing this film, I could get over the bad science of how much cell damage would actually occur during the thawing out process. I was already very familiar with this idea from Stan Lee’s story of Captain America coming back to modern times (Ha, 1964) from the 1940s in his story from The Avengers #4, Captain America Lives Again. But in Captain America’s defense, the serum that made him a super soldier, would have prevented him from developing cell damage. But Daniel had no such serum, so if you just let yourself go with this, it’s still a great movie.

The Avengers #4 (1964) Marvel Comics

A great scene in the film is when Daniel teaches Nat to fly. They set up a mock airplane in Nat’s tree house. The camera technique used here was brilliant and allowed the viewer to get into the imagination of the boy. You felt like the tree house was actually flying.

SPOILER ALERT: Due to the freezing process, Daniel starts to age rapidly and becomes desperate when he discovers that Helen is still alive. With Clair’s help, he “borrows” a 1940s B-25 Bomber with Nat as a stow-away, and flies to the lighthouse where Helen lives. The now aged Daniel reunites with Helen and finally asks her to marry him.

This is a great romantic time-travel film with all the elements I use as my criteria: Awe in being in another time, action, suspense, and romance. It also had great props and visuals from the 1940s.

This will be the last of my weekly time-travel blog posts for a while. I am going to be writing my next book. But, as I am only a fraction completed with blogging about this great genre, I will continue to post on a monthly basis, starting in July 2015. See you then, or in the past.

Meanwhile, you may enjoy my own unique take on time travel in my books. CLICK HERE

Parallel Roads (Lost on Route 66)
Katya and Cyrus Time Pilgrims
Almost yesterday
Tomorrow’s Borrowed Trouble
Steampunk Alice

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Frequency - Great Father and Son Time-Travel Movie

5/17/2015

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Similar to my blog on Field of Dreams last week, I will stick with the theme of father and son, along with another baseball connection. This is a good lead-in to the upcoming Father’s Day.

This 2000 movie starred:

·        Dennis Quaid as Francis Patrick Sullivan

·        Jim Caviezel as John Francis "Johnny" Sullivan

·        Andre Braugher as Satch DeLeon

·        Elizabeth Mitchell as Julia "Jules" Sullivan

·        Shawn Doyle as Jack Shepard

As a devout Catholic, Jim Caviezel (Pay it Forward, Angel Eyes, The Passion of the Christ, Déjà Vu, When the Game Stands Tall) will only take on quality and/or moral rolls. Mel Gibson warned Caviezel that playing Jesus in his movie, The Passion of the Christ would ruin his career. It didn't, but it took a few years. I just watched last year's, When the Game Stands Tall, a true story of football players in a Catholic high school with an amazing 151 game winning streak. It was a fantastic and inspiring film. Frequency is another fine example of that and a great time travel film.

The unique aspect of this film is the fact that nobody actually travels in time. The time traveling is done by voices, via short hand (ham) radio waves. Sun spots, solar flares and the aurora borealis which occurring in both 1969 as well as 1999, cause a connection on the same ham radio set in the same house, room, and desk… thirty years apart. What struck me about watching this film is the way it was done. It seemed so plausible, like it could really happen.

Dennis Quaid as Frank Sullivan

Jim Caviezel os John Sullivan

Jim Caviezel plays New York cop, John Sullivan, who in 1999, finds himself talking to his dad, Frank Sullivan (Dennis Quaid), back in 1969. For Frank the conversation happens during the New York (Amazing) Mets World Series against the Baltimore Orioles. Naturally John knows the outcome and tells his dad all about it.

John suddenly realizes that the very next day, his dad, a firefighter for the FDNY, will be killed in a warehouse fire. John tells Frank to go the other way. If he had exited the building in the opposite direction, he would have made it. John remembers the conversation, turns and heads the other way, resulting in his being saved.

But changing the course of time always has consequences. Having his dad alive changes the fate of his wife (John’s mom, Julia Sullivan), who is now killed by a serial killer who she saves as his nurse. In the original timeline, he died because Julia was picked up early by someone other than her husband. Julia becomes another victim of the Nightingale Murders.

Julia is played by Elizabeth Mitchell and is very likable in this role as both the young and old mom to John. She is best known for her roles in Lost and Once Upon a Time.

John has the distinction of having memories from all the timelines, so he remembers his dad and mom, both dying and being there. Through the ham radio, John talks his dad through ways to stop the killer, which is not always successful.

The Nightingale Killer is played by Shawn Doyle and he plays the role well for both timelines.

Another cop and family friend, Satch, is led to believe the unlikely story of Frank talking to his grown up son from the future, when Frank predicts the outcome of game two in the World Series. Satch is played by Andre Braugher.

There was talk about a TV series based on the show, but I’m not sure this will ever happen.

I love this movie. There is a great father/son bond between the characters, along with real chemistry between the married couple, Frank and Jules Sullivan. It has a sappy, yet satisfying ending.

Experience the details of a Mets/Cubs game as we time travel to that great ’69 season in Tomorrow's Borrowed Trouble section in The Time Pilgrims Trilogy

CLICK HERE

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Field of Dreams – Shoeless Joe

5/11/2015

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Field of Dreams (1989) is the movie adaptation of the novel, Shoeless Joe by W. P. Kinsella, published in 1982.

The story is about a man, Ray Kinsella, who hears a voice in his Iowa corn field telling him, “If you build it, he will come.” Knowing in his heart that something important was going to happen, he listens to the voice and plows under his corn crop to build a baseball field on his farm. In doing so, Shoeless Joe Jackson of the controversial 1919 Chicago White Sox comes out of the corn and onto the field. The team was actually nicknamed the Black Sox because it was discovered some players were paid to throw the World Series game that year. It appeared Shoeless Joe Jackson played his best and didn’t do his part to throw the game, but he took the money and therefore was banned with the rest, from ever playing professional baseball again.

The film starred:
Kevin Costner as Ray Kinsella
Amy Madigan as Annie Kinsella
James Earl Jones as Terence Mann
Ray Liotta as Shoeless Joe Jackson
Burt Lancaster as Dr. Archibald "Moonlight" Graham

Also:
Timothy Busfield as Mark
Frank Whaley as Archie Graham
Gaby Hoffmann as Karin Kinsella
Dwier Brown as John Kinsella
Fern Persons as Annie's Mother

Ray Liotta as Shoeless Joe Jackson.

Amy Madigan as Annie Kinsella.

Hollywood actually created a baseball field on a farm in Dyersville, Iowa which still stands today. I was impressed when I visited it back in 2007. The owners of the farm(s) didn’t charge anything to see the field, play on it, or sit in the Hollywood constructed bleacher where Costner, Jones and the other stars sat. Unlike the $20.00 prediction in the film. They only had a modestly priced souvenir stand.

I wish I had a better photo, but this is my own take from 2007.

Kevin Costner and Gaby Hoffmann from the film in 1989.

A family friend and I in 2007.

When thinking about this story, one might be tempted to say it is more a ghost story than time travel. The old time ball players could have been either or a little of both. But there is also genuine time travel there as well. Ray and sixties activist/author, Terence Mann (James Earl Jones) travels to Chisholm, Minnesota to try and find an old New York Giants ballplayer named, Archibald "Moonlight" Graham (Burt Lancaster). They do this after receiving another message from the voice in Boston’s Fenway Park, which says, “Go the distance.” While in Chisholm, Ray discovers that Graham later became Doc Graham and had died in 1972. (Note: the actual Archibald Graham died in 1965, not sure why they changed the date for the movie) Ray takes a walk and finds himself in 1972. The Godfather is playing in the movie theater and the cars are all from the period. He runs into Doc Graham and has a nice chat with him about his stint in baseball. Moonlight Graham had never seen a single pitch in his career and his one wish was to just have one hit. The next day, Ray and Terence Mann take off for home and pick up a very young hitchhiker who they discover is Archie "Moonlight" Graham. They take him back to the Iowa field where they allow his dreams to come true. In a touching moment, Graham has to cross the field line and once again become old Doc Graham to help Ray’s choking daughter (Gaby Hoffmann).

James Earl Jones as Terence Mann.

Burt Lancaster as Dr. Archibald "Moonlight" Graham

The last message Ray receives is: “Ease His Pain.”

SPOILER ALERT: The real tearjerker part of the story came when you find out the voice was actually Shoeless Joe Jackson, himself and the person he was talking about when he said, “If you build it, HE will come, was someone important to Ray.” When the field clears, there is one last player. It turns out to be Ray’s estranged father, John Kinsella, as a young man. After some introductions and conversation, Ray finally asks his dad if he wants to have a long overdue game of catch.

John Kinsella: Is this heaven?
Ray Kinsella: It's Iowa.
John Kinsella: Iowa? I could have sworn this was heaven. [Starts to walk away]
Ray Kinsella: Is there a heaven?
John Kinsella: Oh yeah. It's the place where dreams come true.
[Ray looks around, seeing his wife playing with their daughter on the porch]
Ray Kinsella: Maybe this is heaven.

Dwier Brown as John Kinsella.

The musical score was composed by James Horner. Although Horner has written the music for over a hundred films, his most memorable is Star Trek II and III, the brilliantly haunting score of Titanic, and Avatar.

Other songs include:
"Crazy", written by Willie Nelson and performed by Beverly D'Angelo
"Daydream", written by John Sebastian and performed by The Lovin' Spoonful
"Jessica", written by Dickey Betts and performed by The Allman Brothers Band
"China Grove", written by Tom Johnston and performed by The Doobie Brothers
"Lotus Blossom", written by Billy Strayhorn and performed by Duke Ellington

Beyond being a great fantasy, ghost, or time-travel story, this movie is about baseball. It really puts wonderful emphasis on our love for the great American past-time.

Time travel with me to a detailed 1969 Cubs vs. Mets game in my book: Tomorrow's Borrowed Trouble.

Click Here

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Prohibition Historical Fiction - Juniper and Anise

5/4/2015

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By Marion L. Cornett

I am usually all about time travel…the gone but not forgotten guy. Having said this, my blog today features a novel that isn’t exactly time travel, but fits the gone but not forgotten part of me, perfectly.

Historical fiction is the sister genre to my own genre of time travel, and Juniper and Anise by Marion L. Cornett is a wonderful example of this. I say this because the same amount of research has to be done in order to be true to the era. Marion has done a wonderful job of transporting the reader to another time. She is a talented author. I was impressed by the details she crafted into Juniper and Anise, from the feel of the era and speech patterns, to the description of newly paved streets in 1929. She makes you feel the period.

Marion chose a time period I have a particular interest in, the prohibition years of the Roaring Twenties, complete with gangsters, flapper girls, speakeasies, and bathtub gin.

A 1920s Speakeasy

My own grandmother lived in this era and often frequented and sang in speakeasies as well as burlesque shows (non-stripper).

This is not a picture of my grandmother, but I remember a photo from her burlesque days wearing a hat like this.

I also worked in a speakeasy….sort of. Trouble is, I worked there in the 1970s, forty some years after the repeal of the 18th amendment. It was a dental manufacturing company in downtown Chicago. But it was once a very secretive speakeasy. Every morning the operator would carry me up in the manned, vintage, hand-cranked elevator to the 4th floor where the door still had a sliding peep hole.

The characters in Juniper and Anise became very real to me, such as, Polish immigrant, Hulda Rosenkowski, a strong independent woman who survived tough times by making high quality gin, along with her loyal friend and proficient baker, Izzy. I found myself caring for them, wanting to know with each page turn, what happens next.

I loved it when Hulda went through her flapper girl stages in the Detroit speakeasies. I could see in my head what she might have looked like and the following pictures will probably not do her justice, but it gives an idea.

Another interesting feature in this book is that it spans multiple generations as the story is being told to modern day Chloe by an elderly eye witness, Claude, whom Chloe had sought out. You are allowed to experience the baby, Frances Rose, who had been in the constant care of Hulda and Izzy, grow up to become a spirited, never-been-kissed, eighteen year-old. As the years roll on, the book comes to a very satisfying conclusion.

It would be rude to feature a book and compare it to my own, so I will just say that Marion and I have similarities and tastes. I guess that’s why I liked Juniper and Anise so much. That, and the fact that it is just plainly, a good book.

As Hulda might say, “ojej, I just can’t wait for the next book.”

Juniper and Anise by Marion L. Cornett is published by Whiskey Creek Press

Juniper and Anise (Amazon)

From the Author’s Own Words:

My passion is history during the early 1900s and doing research to gain more insight and knowledge prompted me to compile these two self-published books. And now, I'm onto more writing, with the recently-released Juniper and Anise, a fictional story based on events that took place during the United States' Prohibition Era. While working on Juniper and Anise, I began thinking about other villagers. And now, work is in progress of a companion novel, tentatively entitled Tilly Loves Johnny.

When I'm not writing, my day job is commercial embroidery, which I've done for nearly 20 years. Love to read, write, exercise, socialize, and be a part of the internet social media.

“Born to be creative, loves to write--that's my motto.”

Amazon Author Page

Author Website

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Forever Young (1992 film)

Frequency - Great Father and Son Time-Travel Movie

Field of Dreams – Shoeless Joe

Prohibition Historical Fiction - Juniper and Anise

By Marion L. Cornett

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