Wednesday, January 19, 2011

The Valley Wire - 6/2010

Hollywood and the Great Outdoors
by Mary Beth Gentle

Blue skies. Sunshine. Fresh air. As summer settles in around us, thoughts turn to vacations and for some people that means the great outdoors. Life in the Hollywood Cubicle is a little like tackling the wilds of the outdoors, the survival skills are the same, but I don’t have to deal with all the bugs. So even though I will be enjoying all the wonders Mother Nature has to offer from the comforts of my living room, I do have my summer of nature planned out.

It begins, as most things do, with a list of movies. The first of these are the purist nature movies and the best of these are the Imax Nature Collection on Blu-ray, Planet Earth: The Complete BBC Series on Blu-ray and Disney Nature Earth on Blu-ray. As you can tell by these titles, the Blu-ray is key to having that truer than life outdoor experience. I plan on putting on my favorite outdoor outfit, complete with fishing hat and settling in on the couch with a plate of smores to enjoy all nature has to offer.

The next in my movie line-up will be, Nature films for the family. My favorite titles here would be, Wall-E, Avatar and March of the Penguins. Wall-E is a great family movie with a strong environmental message; it is time that we take care of good old mother earth. Avatar was not only visually amazing to watch, but it was also drove the lesson home that we must take care to live with and respect nature. And March of the Penguins is a great circle of life look at just how amazing nature can be.

But without a doubt the best back to nature, break out the camping gear movie of all time is the John Hughes classic, The Great Outdoors. John Candy and Dan Aykroyd take getting back to nature to a whole new level of fun. When Chicago native, Chet (John Candy) takes his wife and two sons on a family vacation to lake resort in Pechoggin, Wisconsin, he must learn what it truly means to be one with nature. He will be faced with garbage stealing Raccoons, a grizzly bear out for revenge and a crazed bat. But, surviving the wilds of nature are only part of his problems, he will also has to deal with his snobby brother-in-law Roman (Aykroyd) and his family when they decide to crash Chet’s vacation.

So, if you are like me and the thought of leaving the comfort of your couch and your air conditioner this summer are more than you are ready to tackle then load up your movie schedule, cook up some camp-out favorites and settle in for a back to nature movie marathon!

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