24th Philadelphia Film Fest, Day 4: A day of great choices

Note to self: check the public trans schedule about an hour before you plan on leaving. That would be pretty helpful.

Aside from that slight hiccup at the start of my day, the fourth day of the Philadelphia Film Festival was the best one yet. Instead of seeing four films like I wanted, I opted for three. I was just too darn tired.

The start of this eventual great day was "Remember", a film I had not heard about before. The festival program guide says it's about a guy who seeks out the Nazi who killed he and his wife's families at Auschwitz.

"Remember" features a standout turn by Christopher Plummer as the man on the cross-country hunt to kill this Nazi. He portrays the dementia-afflicted man with a delicate touch of warmth and sadness. This is a film that had everyone shocked, and if you see, you'd understand why.

Not your standard rinse and repeat Holocaust movie.

Movie Review: 'The Sound of Music' Still Magical After 50 Years

The Sound of Music (1965, directed by Robert Wise. U.S.A., English, Color, 174 minutes) One of the first movies I ever loved was "The Sound of Music". There was something so grand about the film that always drew me in. It was a magnificent event each time watching that movie, as if I had never seen it before. Much of it comes from Julie Andrews, whose wonderfully joyous presence in the previous year's "Mary Poppins" earned her an Academy Award for her debut film performance. 

All of the joy and happiness of "The Sound of Music" comes from Andrews' presence, always so caring to her co-stars during the good and the bad, and every time I'm excited to see her play Maria von Trapp.

I remember having a two-tape VHS copy of the movie — yeah, remember those? — and I would play it all the time. It was never a daunting task to rewind the first cassette before popping in the second one to watch the second act of one of the best films of all time.

Somehow, the almost three-hour run time was never an issue for my very young self. Every time I watched the film I was engrossed from the get-go with the jolly, up-beat songs, even from the very beginning with those sweeping helicopter shots of the mountains that lead up to Andrews' now iconic twirl on top of a hill before singing the titular song.