Shameless Self Expression

Sean Marshall is young orphan Pete, whose best friend is a dragon no one else seems to be able to see. Fleeing the filthy Grogan clan (Shelley Winters, Charles Tyner, and Jeff Conaway) who wish to ‘own’ the boy, Pete ends up in the small town of Passamaquoddy, where lighthouse keeper Mickey Rooney and his daughter Helen Reddy take the boy in. Reddy won’t hear any talk of this dragon, though, but drunk Rooney claims to have seen it for himself. Meanwhile, travelling snake oil salesman Dr. Terminus (Jim Dale, with top hat and English accent- he’s the villain) and his associate Hoagy (Red Buttons) arrive, and when Dr. Terminus gets wind of the story of Pete’s dragon, he sees dollar signs, and tries to catch it for himself. It’s invisible, it doesn’t go well. Jim Backus has a cameo as the Mayor of Passamaquoddy.   Another attempt by Disney to mix live-action with animation, ala “Bedknobs and Broomsticks” , this 1977 fantasy from director Don Chaffey ( “Jason and the Argonauts...

10 years after Cathy (Rose McIver), Christopher (Wyatt Nash) and Carrie (Bailey Buntain) escaped the attic, their treacherous mother (Heather Graham), and cold-hearted grandmother (Ellen Burstyn), we follow the kids’ attempt to move on. Cathy goes to New York to become a ballerina, and falls for the tempestuous star Julien (Will Kemp). Christopher studies medicine under doctor Nick Searcy and becomes involved with his sweet, naïve Southern belle daughter (Whitney Hoy). But Cathy and Christopher still find themselves drawn to one another in that way that dare not speak its name. Meanwhile, their young sister Carrie has troubles fitting in at boarding school. All the while Cathy is waiting for her opportunity to get revenge on her grandmother and her mother, the latter by sleeping with her dopey husband (Dylan Bruce).   I loathed the botch-job director Deborah Chow and screenwriter Kayla Alpert did to V.C. Andrews’ “Flowers in the Attic” , but since this 2014 TV movie from ...