Movies – Charles (Chuck) Kensinger

Last Call for Football

February 8, 2026

Thank God. I get tired of the fall, Christmas, and New Year’s onslaught of NFL and college games. I do not like sports of any kind. I know most of you do not understand that. I do not get why some of you would rather watch TV or movies and never read a book. To me, that is crazy.

I am also tired of Christmas movies at this time of year. If I wanted to see a Christmas rom-com, I have a streaming service and can watch it there. I subscribe to the company I am with to receive specific types of programming. No news, no sports, and many channels that do not offer the latest movies and TV.

We like reruns. We also like new movies and programming from certain channels that are more Christian oriented that the typical providers. We like Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, and The Waltons, and we want family shows of that type.

Another one that we enjoy is Seventh Heaven. Hallmark, MeTV, Cozy, and Great American Family, where is it? Is it too expensive to purchase? I get that. I see it available for purchase on Amazon. It just isn’t one of the freebies, and we are frugal.

So, at this moment, it is Sunday afternoon, February 8, 2026, and the TV is not on. Later, when the Olympics or the Stupid Bowl is on, we will watch something else. We also have a library of Blu-ray and DVD discs to choose from. We might just watch Fraggle Rock. We have the entire Jim Henson series.

The commercial that has the line “Last call for football” is another type of ad I would like to see removed from my channels. Sports gambling is now legal in Missouri. I am sick of Kevin Hart. One syndicate uses him, and the scripts they give him make him look like an insensitive idiot. I know that is one type of character that he portrays.

I hope they paid him enough money for that so that he never needs to work again, because it will be a long time before I will pay to see him in anything. I think these spots are hurting his career, not helping it.

But what do I know? I took a job because I thought God wanted me to, and I ended up unemployed for three years because they lied about me to other companies. How do I know that? In every position I was considered for until I dropped them from my resume, I did not receive an offer. As soon as I left them off the list and made it look like I was working through a temp agency at that time, I got the next job.

Not everything you do is good for you. You can still learn something from everything you do. Maybe even watching football or Christmas movies in February. Whatever floats your boat. Just don’t invite me to your party. I will politely decline.

Stupidity

October 25, 2025

“I’m impatient with stupidity. My people have learned to live without it.” “I’m afraid my people haven’t. I am very sorry. I wish it were otherwise.” This is a conversation from the movie “The Day the Earth Stood Still” released in 1951.

These lines were given by Klaatu, the visitor from outer space, and a representative of the U.S. President who was trying to determine the reason for his arrival on Earth. An otherworldly organization wants to warn all earthlings of their emanate destruction.

The producers of this movie were trying to demonstrate some points about our society at the time. This quotation is indicative of what many thought of the Cold War at that time. If you have not seen this version of this classic, find it on any of the streaming services and view it.

I know you may not remember this movie because it came out before we were born. A few of you may have seen it in the theaters in the early fifties. Most of us only know of it from DVDs, videos, or even VHS tapes.

My first recollection of it was in the early 60s, on NBC Movie of the Week aired on Saturday nights. Mom and Dad were out that night, and my brothers and I watched it after our oldest brother put our younger sister to bed. It began at 8:00 pm at her bedtime.

Another interesting clip from this movie has the visitor from space, who is calling himself Carpenter, being interviewed by a radio reporter. The newscaster asks him, “I suppose you’re just as scared as the rest of us?” “In a different way, perhaps. I am fearful when I see people substituting fear for reason.”

It is here that the reporter decides to move on to someone else. Start a conversation that others do not wish to have, and they always walk or run away. It is a human reaction. We are either afraid to learn new things or worried that we are being talked down to.

How do you feel when a friend tries to point out a flaw in your personality or actions? My reaction is usually a defensive strike or fleeing. We always want to be correct and often refuse to hear that we are not. Especially if you are a politician.

The story of this film is about the lives of humans, and especially Americans. We react with violence at the least provocation, and it is shown on the news every day, even today. Society is not better than it was in the 1950s. We have more toys and time to waste on them, but no more patience and understanding for each other.

The newest version of this film alters the story to make it work with the 2008 view of what it might mean if Earth reaches a technological ability that would endanger other lives in our universe. I hope you realize that this is fiction.

The real worry for all of us is each other. You never know who might be out to destroy you. Keep reading my columns, and I will explain more about how to protect yourself in this dangerous world full of stupidity.

A Marvel fan

September 12, 2025

The anchor and weather prognosticator were discussing a story they had aired about the casting of Reed Richards in an upcoming Fantastic Four movie. As I sat and watched these two young Marvel comics fans, I wondered if they realized how old these magazines are.

Marvel Comics #1 was first published in October of 1939 by Timely Publications. This book included The Human Torch and Namor the Sub-Mariner. Captain America first appeared in March of 1941. The man we know as Stan Lee was with Marvel from the beginning and took over leadership of Timely in 1941.

The name was changed to Marvel Comics Group in 1961. In November, the Fantastic Four first appeared. Reed Richards as Mr. Fantastic, Sue and Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm make up the team. Spiderman appeared for the first time in 1962.

My favorite mag was the Amazing Spider-Man. It debuted in 1963. I had been reading the stories about Peter Parker and grabbed the new comic the minute I saw it. He was a teenage science nerd. In the third grade, I was also a science geek. I did not want to be bitten by a radioactive spider. I just wanted strength, clinging ability, and Spidey sense.

The Hulk was a character that I did not particularly care for. I think it was the idea that Dr. David Banner became angry and morphed into the green monster. This may be the reason that, when I grew up, I no longer liked the color green. Maybe it was all the green Marvel villains that turned me off as well.

When Matthew Murdock was introduced as The Daredevil, he became a favorite as well. The comic book world was changed by Stan Lee after he took the lead of Marvel Magazines. He’s also the creator of Iron Man. Heroes became a mainstay of the industry, and the popularity of the cartoon-type books bottomed out except for young children.

I was never an X-Men, Silver Surfer, or Nick Fury Fan. Captain America was more like Superman than I had thought a Marvel Hero Would Be. Thor, the Sub-Mariner, and Doctor Strange were other characters that I was not fond of.

Let’s get back to The Fantastic Four. I always thought that Ben Grimm should have had the nickname Rocky instead of The Thing. I enjoyed the fights with Johnny as The Torch and Ben. If they had lived in my home, it would have been Sue and Johnny who would have had fights.

I felt like Reed Richards and Sue Storm took entirely too long to become engaged. I found it enthralling to have a married team as part of a group of superheroes. Without them, I am not sure that Pixar ever would have made The Incredibles the way they did. The family concept seemed to me to stem from The Fantastic Four.

Are you a fan of comics or graphic novels? What is your favorite magazine, character, or publisher? Do you have any stories you would like to share? Comment below, and if you do not want your comments shared with everyone, tell me, and I will read and respond, but not share with other readers. This is my site, and I can do that.

THE STAPLER

July 8, 2022

If you have seen the movie “Office Space” and you know the character Milton Waddams and have seen photos of me, the humor in this will not be missed. If you do not have these three elements, do not read further. Stop and find photos of me on Facebook or elsewhere and go to IMDB and look up the movie and character. Only then will this story become funny.

After I had started at Positronic Industries in the Purchasing Department comments began to be made about me that I did not understand. I was asked if my stapler was missing and from time to time it would disappear. I would be jokingly told that I was being moved downstairs to a different office. I took all of this in stride and knew the joke was on me because I did not understand what the joke was.

One day Gary, the Purchasing Manager, my boss, caught me in the central purchasing office and presented me with a red Swingline stapler. The rest of the department broke out in hysterical laughter. I smiled and thanked him. Once again I was the butt of the joke and did not know why. I put my black stapler in my desk drawer for a spare and put the red one in its rightful place.

It disappeared almost immediately. Every few days it would reappear through no effort on my part only to disappear later. Each time the red would be filched I would retrieve the black from my drawer. With the return of the red, the black would hide again.

The mystery was revealed when a co-worker from another department noted my red stapler and that it was a Swingline. She asked where I had gotten it and when I told the story of its presentation to me, laughter filled the plant. Cautiously looking around she leaned across my desk and told me about Milton Waddams in the movie “Office Space”. When she asked if I had seen it, my answer was no. After promising to get the movie and watch it she left still laughing and went next door to talk to Gary. More laughter came from his office.

That weekend I found a copy of the movie at a video rental and watched it. I was not especially pleased with being compared to Milton. He comes off as whiney and the type that can easily be abused. I did see the physical resemblance. The character traits of Milton did not appear to be those of myself. Until the end of the movie.

If you have not seen the movie yet, I don’t want to spoil it for you. All I will say is that I looked at this character in a new light after the end of the movie. When my red Swingline Stapler would disappear, I would announce to the entire office that it was missing and ask if anyone smelled smoke.

When I left that company, Gary made sure I took my stapler with me. Here it is in front of me on my desk in my office at home. No buildings were burned when I left.

The Shop Around the Corner

December 16, 2021

The Shop Around the Corner, In the Good Old Summertime, and You’ve Got Mail are three movies that have a great deal in common. Jimmie Stewart and Margaret Sullavan made the 1940 picture The Shop Around the Corner from a script written by Samson Raphaelson.

Judy Garland and Van Johnson reprise the storyline and the characters in the 1949 semi-musical In the Good Old Summertime. The original play was known as Parfumerie written by Miklos Laszlo, a Hungarian American playwright. The third incarnation was She Loves Me, a 1963 Broadway musical.

The storyline is of a man and a woman who have been exchanging letters for some time and have fallen in love. The pair are coworkers in a perfume store and then in a music store. That changes in 1998’s You’ve Got Mail with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. Meg owns The Shop Around the Corner that is a bookstore. Tom Hanks is a CEO of a major chain of bookstores that are moving into the neighborhood.

They are exchanging messages in an AOL chat room. The scene where the couple agrees to meet at a local restaurant is almost identical in all the productions. He looks in and sees that she is a woman that hates him. When he enters and sees her, he doesn’t admit that he is her good friend. He makes fun of the other man. This is the plot in each script.

The unique part of the You’ve Got Mail movie is that the characters Meg and Tom play are involved with someone else and are keeping it a secret from their lovers. Can you be in love with someone you have not yet met? It is an intriguing question.

This was not the first play or movie where two adults who seem to hate each other become lovers. Another series of productions reverse the order. The original was The Front Page from 1931 tells of a newspaper reporter and his editor that have a falling out after being friends for years. That’s the reverse of a couple that hates each other and then falls in love.

What if the reporter is female and the editor is male? They are also a divorced couple. The 1940 movie His Girl Friday starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell was the first incarnation of this twist. Switching Channels from 1988 teams Burt Reynolds with Sharon Stone as a cable news network owner and his top reporter that use the same story. Do you know any other movies or TV shows with the same story? I’d enjoy hearing about them.

Charles (Chuck) Kensinger