Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

It’s that time again for me to share the first Disney+ Roundup of films that I’ve seen in January 2024. I saw three movies via Disney+ on the first three Fridays of the month. Hopefully, I’ll get to share more thoughts on Disney+ content soon via ‘Bradley’s Basement’, including Season 3 of ‘The Orville’.

The first Disney+ film I saw in January this year was ‘The Apple Dumpling Gang’. This is a 1975 comedy-Western film, starring Bill Bixby as slick gambler Russell Donovan. This was before Bill Bixby went on to play ‘The Incredible Hulk’ in the 1977-1982 TV series, which I’ve shared my thoughts on.

In ‘The Apple Dumpling Gang’, Russell Donovan is duped into looking after a group of three orphans. They eventually find gold and comedic antics ensue. 😀 Apparently, this film is based on the 1971 novel of the same name by Jack M. Bickman. Not that I knew that beforehand, but it’s still intriguing.

This film is also the first to feature the comedic duo of Don Knotts as Theodore Ogelvie and Tim Conway as Amos Tucker. I can’t say Don Knotts and Tim Conway are a comedic duo I’m very familiar with, but they were entertaining to watch, especially when trying to steal the gold from the orphans. 😀

The film also features Susan Clark as Magnolia ‘Dusty’ Clydesdale, Russell’s love interest. The three orphans include Clay O’Brien as Bobby Bradley, Brad Savage as Clovis Bradley and Stacy Manning as Celia Bradley. Three orphans named Bradley?! Hmm. I’m a Bradley! Could I be related to these kids? 😀

There’s David Wayne as Colonel T. R. Clydesdale, Slim Pickens as Frank Stillwell, Harry Morgan as Homer McCoy, John McGiver as Leonard Sharpe and Don Knight as John Wintle. ‘The Apple Dumpling Gang’ is very enjoyable. 🙂 Will I see the sequel ‘The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again’ soon? 😀

The second Disney+ film I saw was ‘Blank Check’ (or ‘Blank Cheque’ as it was called originally when released in the UK). The film was released in 1994 and it stars Brian Bonsall as a boy named Preston Waters, who inherits a blank check and uses it to buy a house under an alter ego named Macintosh.

If Brain Bonsall is a name unfamiliar to you, you may be interested to know that he played Alexander, Worf’s son in seven episodes of ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ from Seasons 5 to 7. It’s hard to believe it’s him when he plays Preston in ‘Blank Check’, since he’s without the Klingon make-up. 😀

I found ‘Blank Check’ a fun film to watch on Disney+. As Preston is enjoying the luxuries of acquiring a million dollars from the bank, he’s soon searched by the people that wanted the cash meant for them instead of him. This includes Miguel Ferrer as the escaped convict called Carl Quigley. 😮

The cast also includes Karen Duffy as Shay Stanley, who sort-of becomes Preston’s love interest in the film – Young love, I guess? 😀 There’s James Rebhorn as Fred Waters, Preston’s father; and Jayne Atkinson as Sandra Waters, Preston’s mother. Preston also has two brothers appearing in the film.

They’re Chris Demetral as Damian and Michael Faustino as Ralph. Apparently, Chris Demetral was in the ‘Star Trek: TNG’ episode ‘Future Imperfect’ and four episodes of ‘Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman’. There’s also Michael Learner as Edward Biderman, Tone Lōc as Juice and Rick Ducommun as Henry.

The third and latest film I saw on Disney+ was ‘Mr. Popper’s Penguins’. This is a 2011 film starring Jim Carrey. I enjoyed checking out this film, especially since as it features Jim Carrey. 😀 And I believe it’s quite fair to say that this film contains one of Jim Carrey’s best performances ever in movie history. 🙂

I know that sounds odd to say and it might be hard to believe considering the zany track record Jim Carrey has had in films over the years like ‘Liar Liar’ and ‘Batman Forever’. There are zany moments from him in this film, but they’re toned down and I appreciate the balance of comedy-drama given by him in his performance throughout.

In the film, Jim Carrey plays Tom Popper Jr., a businessman whose life changes when he inherits six penguins. Is one of them Frobisher from ‘Doctor Who’? 😀 Tom transforms his apartment into a winter wonderland and his professional side starts to unravel, especially when bonding with his family.

As well as Jim Carrey, the film also features Carla Gugino (from the ‘Spy Kids’ films) as Amanda Popper, Tom’s ex-wife; Madeline Carroll as Janie Popper, Tom’s daughter; and Maxwell Perry Cotton as Billy Popper, Tom’s son. There’s also Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Selma Van Gundy and Clark Gregg (from the ‘MCU’) as Nat Jones.

The penguins are very good too, including Captain, Loudy, Bitey, Stinky, Lovey, and Nimrod. Apparently, the penguins portrayed in the film were a mix of real penguins and CGI, which is interesting. The film is also loosely based on the 1938 children’s book of the same name by Richard and Florence Atwater. Very uncanny! 😀

It’s been great to check out ‘The Apple Dumpling Gang’, ‘Blank Check’ and ‘Mr. Popper’s Penguins’ on Disney+. I think I enjoyed ‘Blank Check’ and ‘Mr. Popper’s Penguins’ more, but they’ve all been very entertaining, especially with their themes of comedy featured throughout in varying measure.

Stay tuned for another Disney+ Roundup on ‘Bradley’s Basement’ soon. 🙂

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

Tim 🙂