Skip to footer

What are you watching? Readers recommend 'The Muppet Christmas Carol,' 'Dr. Strangelove'

Monitor TV and movie fans share what they've been watching lately.

  • By Monitor readers

I recently watched Seymour: An Introduction, which is a documentary film directed by actor Ethan Hawke. I found this film to be captivating, authentic, and charming. Seymour Bernstein is a retired concert pianist and piano teacher for very advanced students. 

Hawke and Bernstein take us on a journey that is revealing; themes include classical piano music, stage fright, solitude, life, and the connection between life and music. This is a thought-provoking look at classical music and the impact it has had on the inner journey of Bernstein, who is a mature, insightful artist.

– Betsy Green, Chicago

For a favorite holiday movie, I absolutely adore The Muppet Christmas Carol! I love the message of the movie. It isn’t simply about being nice and giving presents once a year. There is a very large focus on spreading joy and love, so much so that they devote multiple songs just to that concept. I try to watch the movie every year, or at least listen to the song “It Feels Like Christmas.” And the Ghost of Christmas Present sings.

– Miyoko Dunn, Columbia, S.C.

For movies that I love to watch over and over, the sentimental choice is The Sound of Music. Artistically, my choice would be the film Baraka. Dr. Strangelove is a classic. I also enjoy any 1930s screwball comedy film. – Robin Bartholet, New York 

A movie that I find myself watching over and over is Sixteen Candles. It’s one of the best teenage movies ever. Actress Molly Ringwald is superb. Gotta love those grandparents, too!

Another movie I watch over and over again is Saving Private Ryan.  This is how director Steven Spielberg does a war movie (this, and the amazing “Schindler’s List”).  Tom Hanks is great, of course, but what makes this one amazing is the gut-punching violent reality of the combat scenes. 

This is not your sanitized John Wayne World War II movie.

– Tom Kuekes, Bakersfield, Calif.

Sonja Flemming/CBS
'Young Sheldon'

I have been watching Young Sheldon, which airs on CBS. It’s a spinoff of “The Big Bang Theory,” but with a very different, tender, tone. 

It’s the story of a boy genius and his family. Wallace Shawn is delightful as the professor whose class Sheldon audits and who dates Sheldon’s grandmother.

– Marguerite Boone, Worcester, Mass.

What are you watching? Write and tell us at whatareyouwatching@csmonitor.com.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to What are you watching? Readers recommend 'The Muppet Christmas Carol,' 'Dr. Strangelove'
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/TV/2018/1221/What-are-you-watching-Readers-recommend-The-Muppet-Christmas-Carol-Dr.-Strangelove
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe