"A thirtysomething single mother whose boundless potential was squandered through a series of failed relationships and a misguided effort to help her younger sister succeed in life finds the fruits of her labors finally coming together in director Christine Jeffs' dark family comedy. Back in high school, the future looked pretty bright for Rose Lorkowski (Amy Adams); not only was she the cheerleading captain, but she was..."

"A gifted comic with a promising career, Sam Kinison died too young to realize his full comedic potential. This documentary recounts his chaotic life, his career, and the circumstances leading up to his death. Funny men Rodney Dangerfield and Richard Pryor appear to reminisce about their experiences with Kinison." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Viewed:
November 16th, 2009

My Comment:   ** WARNING: ADULT MATERIAL **
I did not realize that Sam Kinison (B: 08-Dec-1953 D: 10-Apr-1992), in his younger days, was an actual preacher. And the son of a preacher. He was a PK. That explains a lot. He said things that were not being heard last century, sort of like a long-haired Lenny Bruce on Meth. I had seen this documentary years ago, and last night still laughed my fanny off.

The Finish:  If you can't handle the rough language, fast forward to the last ten minutes when Sam's brother is talking about how he died.

My Rating:

• *  Did not finish movie
• **  Wasted my time on this one
• ***  Worth seeing--once is enough
• ****  Happy to see multiple times
• *****  Must own dvd

"Brad Pitt stars as legendary Wild West outlaw Jesse James in Chopper director Andrew Dominik's cinematic rendering of the events that would eventually bring about the death of the man rumored be the "fastest gun in the West." An eager recruit into James' notorious gang, Robert Ford eventually grows jealous of the famed outlaw. When Robert and his brother Charlie sense an opportunity to kill James..."

Viewed:
November 7th, 2009

My Comment:  I heard this movie was long, but maybe it's my experience on the stage and screen that informs me that the length of this film was part and parcel of the experience it created in my mind. If this were a book it would be labeled a naturalistic novel, like McTeague, which was the definitive American naturalistic novel.

Suffer through bleak 19th Century scenery and everyday life. Witness how a real live murderer lives his life. Enjoy some of the finest acting (along the lines of 2007's 3:10 to Yuma) you will see in a modern movie. No wild action or explosions or 40 cuts per minute, which I believe explains it's low rating by the WOW-addicted generation.

The Finish:  Hard to not know what was going to happen, after all, Robert Ford did assassinate Jesse James, but it's what happens after that that is surprising. Remember, this movie is based on a novel.

My Rating:

• *  Did not finish movie
• **  Wasted my time on this one
• ***  Worth seeing--once is enough
• ****  Happy to see multiple times
• *****  Must own dvd

"Director Barry Levinson's documentary visits the 2008 democratic and republican national conventions to examine the role that celebrities play in national politics. Premiers November 2nd on Showtime."

Viewed:
November 9th, 2009

My Comment:

"A hardened detective enters into a tenuous symbiotic relationship with the vicious serial killer she is tracking after earning the respect of the murderous madman in this vicious psychological thriller starring Demi Moore, Kevin Costner, and William Hurt. Earl Brooks (Costner) is a successful businessman, noted philanthropist, and loving father. He's the kind of man whom no one would ever suspect of being a notorious serial killer, but then again..."

Viewed:
November 7th, 2009

My Comment:  Don't let the fact that über actors Kevin Costner and Demi Moore are in this picture. Casting was perfect, especially with William Hurt being the conscience of the serial killer. Playing serial killer Mr.Brooks, Costner's non-acting, acting style fits perfectly with an individual I know in my own life, who I believe is also a serial killer.

The Finish:  While my son predicted the ending I was caught off guard. Apparently the movie is based on the same book that the popular Dexter Showtime series is.

My Rating:

• *  Did not finish movie
• **  Wasted my time on this one
• ***  Worth seeing--once is enough
• ****  Happy to see multiple times
• *****  Must own dvd

"Bruce McDonald, critically acclaimed director of The Tracey Fragments, teams with author Tony Burgess to adapt Burgess' own novel about a small town in the grip of a mysterious frenzy. It may be Valentine's Day, but for caustic radio personality Grant Mazzy (Stephen McHattie) that's just another reason to be miserable. Mazzy used to be a certified radio superstar..."

Viewed:
October 28, 2009

My Comment:  Apparently the "certified radio superstar" was modeled after Don Imus. A fun movie about a people-possessing virus that spreads through language. A very interesting concept. Fun movie, don't look for massive CG effects, as most of the action happens in a basement radio studio, with only four actors' names listed in credits.

The Finish:  I liked it. Make sure you watch the movie all the way to the end of the credits for a really weird end scene.

My Rating:

• *  Did not finish movie
• **  Wasted my time on this one
• ***  Worth seeing--once is enough
• ****  Happy to see multiple times
• *****  Must own dvd

"A family struggles to go on after a devastating loss in this deeply emotional drama from Italy. Giovanni is a psychiatrist with a successful practice in a small community near the ocean. Giovanni has a warm relationship with his wife Paola, and they have a pair of well-adjusted teenage kids, Andrea and Irene ..."

Viewed:
October 11, 2009

My Comment:  I didn't get to know the son well enough to get choked up after the accident. I could see on the screen the close relationship Giovanni had with his son Andrea, but I could not feel it. This movie portrays a secular Italian family's reaction to loss.

"[t]he most infamous episode in professional sports -- the fix of the 1919 World Series -- is considered by many to be among his best films and arguably the best baseball movie ever made. This adaptation of Eliot Asinof's definitive study of the scandal shows how athletes of another era were a different breed from the well-paid stars of later years. The Chicago White Sox owner, Charlie Comiskey is portrayed as a skinflint..."

Viewed:
September 16th, 2009

My Comment:  I'm not a big sports fan, but this was a really good movie. You could certainly see why the players would need the money. The very tall reporter-dude you see during the movie? That's the director-actor John Sayles.

The Finish:  I didn't know the story so the ending did surprise me. But then again we're talking Chicago politics, the same thing that put a Chicago ACORN community organizer into our White House.

My Rating:

• *  Did not finish movie
• **  Wasted my time on this one
• ***  Worth seeing--once is enough
• ****  Happy to see multiple times
• *****  Must own dvd

"Based on Aaron McGruder's comic strip which was distributed in 350 newspapers nationwide. Granddad sneaks the boys into the movies to be cheap. Sarah's obsession with Usher after meeting him threatens her relationship with Tom. Riley and Granddad refuse to talk with cops about two local thieves, even after Granddad's car is stolen. Stinkmeaner's spirit possesses Tom and he tries to get revenge on Granddad. Riley joins the basketball team, and the boys fight over who will be boss while Granddad's on vacation."

"His sense of identity fading into nothingness after the spotlights dim and he experiences a close brush with mortality, a retired wrestler begins to evaluate his life while considering the comeback that could very well kill him in director Darren Aronofsky's poignant portrait of an introspective former superstar in the twilight of his career. Back in his heyday, wrestler Randy "The Ram" Robinson (Mickey Rourke) was ..."

Viewed in Blu-ray:
September 17th, 2009

My Comment:  (My son, in his younger days and addicted to WWF, seems to think "The Ram" is modeled after The Ultimate Warrior, a gentleman who had a gym in Scottsdale, Arizona that I regularly worked out in to stay clear of the Non-Sweat Pansies at LA Fitness and The Q.)

The Wrestler is what good old truly independent movie-making was like, raw, rushed, real. I think they had two cameras and 35 days to shoot this brutal movie. As always, Mickey Rourke is wonderful (I still wish I could get a copy of Thursday.) If you're a man, especially near Mickey's age, you will feel like a twice-baked stuffed potato when the movie is over. Be sure to watch the bonus tracks of the making of The Wrestler.

The Finish:  It didn't really finish, but you can pretty much guess how it finished, when you see the finish through your tears.

My Rating:

• *  Did not finish movie
• **  Wasted my time on this one
• ***  Worth seeing--once is enough
• ****  Happy to see multiple times
• *****  Must own dvd

"An FBI agent on the trail of a serial killer attempts to capture the madman with a little assistance from his would-be victims in director Jennifer Chambers Lynch's supernatural police thriller. FBI Agents Elizabeth Anderson (Julia Ormond) and Sam Hallaway (Bill Pullman) are on the trail of some killers when they arrive..."

Viewed:
September 8th, 2009

My Comment:  Good old violent cop bad guy murder mystery. Don't know why the Blockbuster blurb terms it a 'supernatural police thriller.' I didn't see anything supernatural. You've really got to watch close. I'm told Bill Pullman put on weight to play his part and I believe it. His face looked like a misshapen Idaho potato. Nice to see French Stewart working again. The camera work is simply beautiful.

The Finish:  Caught me totally off-guard, while my son told me he knew the ending within twenty minutes of the beginning. In any case, I thought the movie was really good.

My Rating:

• *  Did not finish movie
• **  Wasted my time on this one
• ***  Worth seeing--once is enough
• ****  Happy to see multiple times

• *****  Must own dvd

"Two irascible farmers find their bitter rivalry taking on epic tones in this pitch black comedy starring, written, and directed by Benoît Delépine and Gustave Kervern. They may spend their days toiling the land, but these two tillers of the soil are far from humble. When their ongoing feud escalates into all out war and both men wind up paralyzed by a tractor, they soon..."

Viewed:
September 9th, 2009

My Comment:  AALTRA is the name of a fictional Finnish farm equipment manufacturer.  Mr. Wonderful is genetically one-half Finnish. Hence my capacity to drink until I, well, get within ten hours of having to report back to work as supervisor of all air traffic control in Newark.

The Finish:  This movie was as boring as hell.  Especially in black and white.  How anyone, ANYONE, can exist in Europe for longer than 15 or 20 years without offing themselves is a tribute to our human genetic will to live. It's no wonder the birth rate is lower than the death rate.  If, when I die, Satan is given my soul, He will surely send me to live in Western Europe.  And that would really suck.  For eternity.

My Rating:

• *   Did not finish movie
• **  Wasted my time on this one
• ***  Worth seeing--once is enough
• ****  Happy to see multiple times
• *****  Must own dvd

"A pair of teenage girls are brutally raped and terrorized by a vicious gang of psychopaths, who subsequently find their cruelty returned tenfold when they seek sanctuary in the home of one of the victim's parents in this contemporary reworking of Wes Craven's controversial 1972 shocker. Shortly after arriving at her family's secluded lake house, Mari Collingwood (Sara Paxton) and her best friend are abducted by a sadistic prison escapee and his..."

Viewed
September 4th, 2009

My Comment:  My daughter left this for me. Usually, I don't go for vicious ultra-bloody revenge movies. Well, if you don't count Taken. And I like the realism shown in the main bad guy's body, because it was a prison-toned, weight-lifting, muscled piece of work that's lately been typical of that exiting our prisons.

Right away I'm hoping to see the two young girls disrobed, but, by naked-time, the movie is so brutal I have lost all interest in my amateur breastology. One of the girls is prison-style-raped and the other girl (who starts looking way older than her teen-supposed-to-be age) is stabbed in such a cold manner, twice, that, well, I don't think I've seen that before. It was sobering. I will remember it for the rest of my alcohol sodden life.

The Finish:  A satisfying ending in a Charles Bronson Death-Wish II kind of way. Our daddy doctor is not only an ER physician, but apparently also an electrician, since he somehow got a microwave to cook with the door wide open.

My Rating:

• *   Did not finish movie
• **  Wasted my time on this one
• ***  Worth seeing--once is enough
• ****  Happy to see multiple times
• *****  Must own dvd

"This dark horror film begins with the grisly spectacle of 54 Japanese schoolgirls jumping in unison into the path of an oncoming train. This is only the first in a wave of mass suicides that sweeps across Japan, baffling the police and panicking the populace. The two police officers assigned to the case have to piece together such mystifying clues as a website seems to be predicting each wave of..."

Viewed:
August 30, 2009

My Comment:  Other than reviving my perverted and illegal curiosity of Jap girls in their school-uniform white blouses and plaid skirts, this movie did nothing for me.

Mass suicides, like four dozen or so girls jumping in front of a subway car, 18" diameter rolls of human skin about four inches wide usually left at the scene in a bowling bag, a very weird pre-teen televised all girl singing group, and a bald, older cop, who is probably Japan's version of America's Telly Savalas's Kojack was what I saw.

The Finish:  As I was watching the ending credits, being they are in microscopic Japanese script, without English translation, I did not immediately realize they were  the end credits, and when the DVD stopped spinning and returned to the main menu, my entirely sober brain went, "Huh? What the hell was that about?" I have no idea of what the 'why' in all the suicides was.

My Rating:

• *   Did not finish movie
• **  Wasted my time on this one
• ***  Worth seeing--once is enough
• ****  Happy to see multiple times
• *****  Must own dvd

"[V]entimiglia portrays a young intern, newly arrived at the University Hospital in Philadelphia, who stumbles onto a psychopathic group of colleagues playing a vile game. They regularly select one of their members (on a rotational basis) to commit the 'perfect murder,' while the rest use ..."

Viewed:
August 19th, 2009

My Comment:  Just a good old doctors-in-training murder mystery story. We watched the 'behind-the-scenes' addition and learned that they really do use tree limb trimmers to cut the rib cages of dead people open.

We thought it was really cool that "Q" from Star Trek played the head teaching doctor. I'm sure the casting director did not realize this when he cast him.

The Finish:  Pretty much the standard ending with just a tiny twist.

My Rating:

• *   Did not finish movie
• **  Wasted my time on this one
• ***  Worth seeing--once is enough
• ****  Happy to see multiple times
• *****  Must own dvd

"[O]ne summer, the brothers are surprised by the arrival of their long-lost absent father (Konstantin Lavronenko). Although the boys only know him from an old photograph, he still orders them to accompany him on a fishing trip. The stern father then puts his two sons through a series of endurance tests. Doting Andrei is quick to..."

Viewed:
August 19th, 2009

My Comment:  Good movie to keep an eye on the background and environment to see exactly how wonderful life is in the formerly communist Russia a country where the economy was planned and run from Moscow. (It is interesting to see, and probably true, that the average Russian male can fix, or build, or hunt down, or make, anything he needs.) Today's Russia is probably somewhere near where America was pre-World War II, almost 70 years ago.

In the movie, a father, previously seen by his two boys only in a 12-year old photo, returns and takes them from their cowering mom on a 'picnic' to an island accessible only by a twenty-minute motor-boat ride. The long scenes and lack of 30-cuts a minute will probably cause younger viewers to pay more attention to playing WOW than watching The Return.

The Finish:  The finish of one of the characters really surprised me, and the very last scene in the car made me think that maybe their father was in the KGB before the wall fell.

My Rating:

• *   Did not finish movie
• **  Wasted my time on this one
• ***  Worth seeing--once is enough
• ****  Happy to see multiple times
• *****  Must own dvd

"Steampunk aesthetics inform this story of a dystopic future in which humankind wages an explosive last stand against the demonic NecroMutants, who would see the entire human race brutally annihilated. Thomas Jane, Ron Perlman, Devon Aoki, and John Malkovich star in this effects-heavy sci-fi action thriller from director Simon Hunter (Dead of Night). ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide"

Viewed in Blu-ray:
August 17th, 2009

My Comment:  Wonderful CGI effects, especially in Blu-ray, except for the obvious blood splatters that fly by now and then. Lots and lots of killing in this dark scifi movie, not much acting or any sexual intercourse. The former is bad, the latter is good.

The Finish:  While not shocking or in any way explaining anything that happened prior the finish even caught me off-guard.

My Rating:

• *   Did not finish movie
• **  Wasted my time on this one
• ***  Worth seeing--once is enough
• ****  Happy to see multiple times
• *****  Must own dvd

Mr. Wonderful says, "Yes, made back in the days before an actress had to fit a 38-D cup prior to getting the part."

"Thomas Crown (Steve McQueen) is a self-made Boston millionaire who masterminds a bank heist in hopes of leaving it all behind. Tired of being part of the Establishment, he has hopes of pulling off the caper and flying to Rio. Erwin Weaver leads the cast of crooks who never actually meet Crown but manage to pull off the robbery without a hitch. Crown deposits 3 million..."

Viewed:
August 16th, 2009

My Comment:  Back when false eyelashes and knee-high boots were the definition of a well-dressed lady. A Meyers Manx speeding through the dudes was cutting edge off-road entertainment. A soundtrack that was apparently stolen from a movie made before talkies, a slender Yaphet Kotto, Steve McQueen's inability to laugh believably, the imperfect texture of Faye Dunaway's skin in the super-close-ups, the high tech colored dial phones, (most were black then), the microwave-sized personal motion picture camera and finally the high-tech split, double-split and split split screen all make up The Thomas Crown Affair.

The Finish:  When I first saw this movie in the 1970s, I remember liking it: a movie about a millionaire who robs a huge bank and makes off with $2,600,000 (14m in today's dollars) and is tracked down by an insurance investigator.

My Rating:

• *   Did not finish movie
• **  Wasted my time on this one
• ***  Worth seeing--once is enough
• ****  Happy to see multiple times
• *****  Must own dvd

"The Beguiled is a Freudian mood piece from the team of actor Clint Eastwood and director Don Siegel. Eastwood plays corporal John McBurney, a wounded Union soldier during the Civil War, who takes refuge in a prim-and-proper Southern girl's school run by Martha Farnsworth (Geraldine Page)..."

Viewed:
August 8th, 2009

My Comment:  For being made almost 40 years ago, Beguiled had to be cutting edge. Director Eastwood has done another marvelous job. He is definitely one gifted gentleman.

"Emotionally distanced from his two young sons following the untimely death of his devoted wife, a troubled detective investigates a series of murders that seem to be based on the Biblical prophecies concerning the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in a dark psychological thriller starring..."

Viewed:
July 28th, 2009

My Comment:  I thought the movie was pretty good, but then again during my screening I was suffering the cold sweats induced by a bad batch of beer (or too much) and on all fours in front of the ivory throne spilling my guts out.  I found Zhang Ziyi performance incredibly sensuous.

The Finish:  I watched the movie with Mr.Wonderful III and he thought the ending was really stupid. I thought it was an okay movie, although I was glad I did not pay to see it at a sit-down theater.

My Rating:

• *   Did not finish movie
• **  Wasted my time on this one
• ***  Worth seeing--once is enough
• ****  Happy to see multiple times
• *****  Must own dvd

"Clint Eastwood stars as Walt Coogan, an Arizona deputy sheriff who has been sent to New York City to extradite escaped killer James Ringerman (Don Stroud). On arrival, he's forced to wait by NYPD detective Lieutenant McElroy (Lee J. Cobb), who informs him that Ringerman is recovering from a bad acid trip at Bellevue Hospital. After briefly flirting with attractive probation officer Julie Roth (Susan Clark), Coogan heads for Bellevue, where he's able to con the hospital's staff into releasing the criminal. The cop and the fugitive are on the way to catch a flight back to Arizona, when..."

Viewed:
July 27th, 2009

My Comment:  One of the first 'cowboy in the city' movie. They were always calling Coogan "Tex" even though he was from Arizona, my home state. Directed by the great Don Siegel.

The Finish:  Another fun Clint Eastwood produced movie, especially if one wants to see what life was like in the late 1960s in the United States.

My Rating:

• *   Did not finish movie
• **  Wasted my time on this one
• ***  Worth seeing--once is enough
• ****  Happy to see multiple times
• *****  Must own dvd

"Based on the story The Wisdom of Eve by Mary Orr, All About Eve is an elegantly bitchy backstage story revolving around aspiring actress Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter). Tattered and forlorn, Eve shows up in the dressing room of Broadway mega-star Margo Channing (Bette Davis), weaving a melancholy life story to Margo and her friends. Taking pity on the girl, Margo takes Eve as her personal assistant. Before long, it becomes apparent that..."

Viewed:
July 25th, 2009

My Comment:  If you watch the above trailer, and you are a real movie fan, even though you be Gen-X or Gen-Y'er, you will recognize some of the actors.

All About Eve is simply wonderful movie exposing the slimy life in the entertainment world your Mr. Wonderful longs to slop in. You will probably not see more smoke outside of newsreel a raging forest fire. It is so sad nowadays, that playwrights cannot depict people as they really are without offending the 7,432 groups that protest things shown in movies, from cigarette smoking to the testing of movies on animals.

The Finish:  A movie that will last through time due to the great acting by great actors. No explosions, no 50 cuts a minute, and the 'special effects' are laughable, but you will enjoy this movie, unless you are a retard.

My Rating:

• *   Did not finish movie
• **  Wasted my time on this one
• ***  Worth seeing--once is enough
• ****  Happy to see multiple times
• *****  Must own dvd

"MGM's Till the Clouds Roll By is the musicalized, and highly fictionalized, life story of beloved composer Jerome Kern, who gave his blessing to the production shortly before his death in 1946. As played by a gray-templed Robert Walker, Kern is a likeable but none too exciting sort who expresses his emotions through his music. Constructed in the form of an extended flashback, the story proper begins at the turn of the century, as Kern tries to..."

Viewed:
July 21st, 2009

My Comment:  If you are not totally familiar with at least three or four of the actors listed above, say: June Allyson, Van Heflin, Van Johnson & Dinah Shore, this movie is not for you. Till the Clouds Roll By is simply a fun pseudo-documentary about the song-writer Jerome Kern.

You younger kids will not even recognize Angela Lansbury before she looked like the grandmother you are used to seeing in the 'Murder She Wrote' television series.

Wow! You have never seen such white-white-white teeth and makeup applied with a spatula to both male and female actors that rivals the thickness of asphalt on many of our more well-traveled parkways.

Lots of cool stuff about the movie at IMDb

Oscar Hammerstein II eulogy to Jerome Kern

The Finish:  A very-dark haired, AIDS-thin, Frank Sinatra singing 'Old Man River'.

My Rating:

• *   Did not finish movie
• **  Wasted my time on this one
• ***  Worth seeing--once is enough
• ****  Happy to see multiple times
• *****  Must own dvd

"During a Los Angeles Christmas, a group of 82nd Airborne vets assembles under the leadership of gamblin' man Danny Ocean (Frank Sinatra) to rip off four Las Vegas casinos just after the stroke of midnight on New Year's Day. Playboy Jimmy Foster (Peter Lawford) joins in the scheme because he's sick of needing his oft-married mother's money, especially now that she's about to wed Duke Santos (Cesar Romero)..."

Viewed:
July 9th, 2009

My Comment:  The good old days, back when the used toilet paper of stars wasn't broadcast on Youtube. The actors were mysterious, we knew nothing about them and they were mega-stars before the word was invented, and 49 years later we still know nothing about these men. Anyone who has attempted to write a biography of Sinatra in the past half century has been whacked. And to cast the horse-faced Julia Childs, or whatever her name is, in place of Angie Dickinson? Give me a break.

"  'In space, no one can hear you scream.'  A close encounter of the third kind becomes a Jaws-style nightmare when an alien invades a spacecraft in Ridley Scott's sci-fi horror classic. On the way home from a mission for the Company, the Nostromo's crew is woken up from hibernation by the ship's Mother computer to answer a distress signal from a..."

Viewed:
June 30th, 2009

My Comment:  The perfect space-alien meets spaceman movie. Alien, the movie that all others will be judged against. Made in 1979, the movie uses actual physical models and should age well. I understand that Sigourney Weaver worked for weeks on her dialogue to where every single sentence had been given an emotional background.

"A dedicated young German boy pulls off an elaborate scheme to keep his mother in good health in this comedy drama from director Wolfgang Becker. Suffering a heart attack and falling into a coma after seeing her son arrested during a protest, Alex's (Daniel Brühl) socialist mother, Christiane (Katrin Sass), remains comatose through the fall of the Berlin wall and the German Democratic Republic..."

Viewed:
June 26-29th, 2009

My Comment:  Could be my interest in the pre-Wall East Germany in the post-Wall era has faded. I found it amazing that the 'authentic' bulldozers used in East Berlin where amazingly similar to the ones used in the 1970s movie 'Soylent Green.' Movie isn't that bad. Could be my continuing brain-borne illness has sapped my critical powers.

The Finish:  Got bored of movie and turned it off.

My Rating:

• *   Did not finish movie
• **  Wasted my time on this one
• ***  Worth seeing--once is enough
• ****  Happy to see multiple times
• *****  Must own dvd

"What happens if you take one of William Shakespeare's darkest tragedies and move it to a burger joint in the early 1970s? The answer can be found in the satiric comedy Scotland, PA. Mac McBeth (James LeGros) is a hard-working but unambitious doofus who toils at a hamburger stand alongside his wife Pat (Maura Tierney), who has a significant edge in the brains department. Pat is convinced she could do a lot better with the place than their boss Norm Duncan (James Rebhorn) is doing, so she works up a plan to usurp Norm, convincing Mac to rob the restaurant's safe and then murder Norm..."

Viewed:
June 23rd, 2009

My Comment:  Once you understand this movie is a take on MacBeth, by Shakespeare, you can relax and enjoy it. Why a movie about an ancient Shakespeare play? Because when actors are learning to act, Shakespeare's plays are very often utilized in the training, so most actors are quite familiar with Hamlet and others works from the Bard's pen.

The Finish:  McDuff opens a garden-burger vegetarian drive-thru.

My Rating:

• *   Did not finish movie
• **  Wasted my time on this one
• ***  Worth seeing--once is enough
• ****  Happy to see multiple times
• *****  Must own dvd

"[S]chultze Gets the Blues centers around Schultze (Horst Krause), a middle-aged accordionist whose lust for life is renewed after hearing a Cajun zydeco riff on the radio. Despite the fact that using his accordion for anything other than polka would be considered a sacrilege by his family -- Schultze's father was considered legendary in the polka circuit -- a newly invigorated Schultze jumps at the chance to change his musical style and takes it a step..."

Viewed:
June 22nd, 2009

My Comment:  If this is entertainment in Germany, no wonder they drink themselves blind every night. (Be sure to notice how in socialized Germany, retired men ride bicycles, railroad crossings are guarded with crossarms raised manually by a railroad union member guaranteed lifetime employment by the union and the German government, and there is nowhere to go and nothing to do but drink beer.)

"[t]his darkly comic thriller stars affable Owen Wilson as Vann Siegert, a different brand of serial killer: one who actually believes he's doing his deeply depressed victims a service of mercy. Wandering up the West Coast, Vann chooses victims from..."

Viewed:
June 17th, 2009

My Comment:  Well done independent movie with a whole ton of actors you've seen but don't know their names. Vann certainly is a different kind of serial killer, one whom you almost come to like. No high drama or special effects, just some good acting (not counting Sheryl Crow) and a good story.

The Finish:  I see The Minus Man grossed $300,000 in 1999. That's because it didn't have the flash-bang, 50 cuts a minute, that Hollywood block busters have gotten us to demand, mainly so we can stay awake and not fall asleep with our $8 bucket of popcorn seeping grease into our laps, watching the movie that wraps up into a neat bow with all the audience's questions answered. This movie has no answers only questions. Bring your own popcorn.

My Rating:

• *   Did not finish movie
• **  Wasted my time on this one
• ***  Worth seeing--once is enough
• ****  Happy to see multiple times
• *****  Must own dvd

"A racist Korean War veteran living in a crime-ridden Detroit neighborhood is forced to confront his own lingering prejudice when a troubled Hmong teen from his neighborhood attempts to steal his prized Gran Torino. Decades after the Korean War has ended, aging veteran Walt Kowalski (Clint Eastwood) is still haunted by..."

Viewed:
June 9th, 2009

My Comment:  Another outstanding Eastwood production. Using unknown and familiar character actors (who are unknown) Eastwood gets across a wonderful story about life, death, honor, wisdom, neighbors, family, lawn care, duct tape, vicegrips, WD40, and the horrors of necessary wars. (Imagine if Kim Jong Il had the entire Korean peninsula to build and test his atomic rockets on.)

The Finish:  It's like my son said, "Why does every Eastwood movie end with me crying?"

My Rating:

• *   Did not finish movie
• **  Wasted my time on this one
• ***  Worth seeing--once is enough
• ****  Happy to see multiple times
• *****  Must own dvd

"Filmmaker David Sington merges the magnificence of science with the compelling drama of the human quest for advancement with this fascinating and visually stunning meditation on the historic Apollo space program. In the four remarkable years between 1968 and 1972, American history took a defining turn as..."

Viewed:
June 17th, 2009

My Comment:  Well done documentary with startling photos and insights of the men who went to the moon.

"The Rape of Europa examines the artistic tastes of Hitler and his leading advisors, and how they looted many of the great museums and private art collections of Europe during the course of World War II in order to stock museums built during the Third Reich..."

Viewed:
June 13th, 2009

My Comment:  Well done documentary on Hitler's plundering of Europe's art. After the war, one of his main stashes took 47 railway boxcars to carry away the plunder to distribute to its rightful owners. The Rape of Europa ponders the question of whether historic art and buildings should risk destruction to save lives and lessen the length of the conflict.

The Finish:  Has to be seen to understand the length evil men will go to express their desires, to feed their greed ... disappointing to some to learn this, but every one of these NAZI plunderers were government officials.

My Rating:

• *   Did not finish movie
• **  Wasted my time on this one
• ***  Worth seeing--once is enough
• ****  Happy to see multiple times
• *****  Must own dvd

"A story of two very different people coming together in the wake of personal tragedies, Last Life in the Universe stars Tadanobu Asano as Kenji, a quiet, bespectacled Japanese librarian living in Bangkok. Obsessed with suicide, he meticulously stages ways to kill himself, only to be interrupted every time. One night, his more raucous..."

Viewed:
June 3rd, 2009

My Comment:  Really fine Jap independent movie. Has some twists and turns I did not expect, especially why Kenji seemed to be the focus of so much violence and why no one seemed able to hurt him.

The Finish:  Just a good old foreign movie, hard to explain, but still quite good and the ending isn't the end.

My Rating:

• *   Did not finish movie
• **  Wasted my time on this one
• ***  Worth seeing--once is enough
• ****  Happy to see multiple times
• *****  Must own dvd

"Ken Annakin's large-canvas comedy Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines is set in 1910. In order to boost circulation of his newspaper, Lord Rawnsley (Robert Morley) offers 10,000 pounds to the first person who can fly across the English Channel. A huge number of hopefuls enter the contest..."

Viewed:
May 23, 2009

My Comment:  A clean, funny, old-time movie with dozens of actors we all knew. It was so stupid I had to laugh every now and then. Having seen the movie in 1965, I remember Sir Percival Ware-Armitage as being the definition of evil. Seeing him in 2009, he's hardly even a prankster. Stuart Whitman's character is from my hometown of Phoenix, Arizona made more curious because in 1910 Arizona was a territory of the U.S., not a state.

The Finish:  If ever they transferred this movie to Blu-ray it would be a beautiful tapestry. A happy ending for all.

My Rating:

• *   Did not finish movie
• **  Wasted my time on this one
• ***  Worth seeing--once is enough
• ****  Happy to see multiple times
• *****Must own dvd  

"My Architect is filmmaker Nathaniel Kahn's intimate exploration of his father's life. Louis Kahn, the renowned architect, was found dead in Penn Station in 1974. He died in massive debt. His obituary in The New York Times mentioned Kahn's importance to modern architecture, but did not mention that he had a son. As it turned out, very few people knew that Louis Kahn led a kind of double life..."

Viewed:
June 9th, 2009

My Comment:  Couldn't hold my interest.

The Finish:  Turned into a said paean to a not-too-nice guy.

My Rating:

• *   Did not finish movie
• **  Wasted my time on this one
• ***  Worth seeing--once is enough
• ****  Happy to see multiple times
• *****  Must own dvd

"All of Washington, D.C., is thrown into a panic when an extraterrestrial spacecraft lands near the White House. Out steps Klaatu, a handsome and soft-spoken interplanetary traveler, whose "bodyguard" is Gort, a huge robot who spews forth laser-like death rays when danger threatens. After being wounded..."

Viewed:
May 26th, 2009

My Comment:  A classic black and white flying saucer movie from the 1950s. No sex, no buckets of blood, no millions of dollars spent on CG effects. A large man in a rubber suit is Gort the robot. This movie is a movie about acting. It has actors and actresses in it who can act. It has less cuts in its hour and one-half or so than the remake has in its first twelve minutes. It is a movie about people on other planets concerned about protecting themselves from people on Earth, not a b.s. story about the Earth as a living creature, and being more important than the only sentient beings within "two hundred and fifty million" miles.

"A seat-of-the-pants militia attitude gets a boost from this conventional drama about the heroics of a teen son anxious to free his father from captivity in a small Middle Eastern nation. Doug's father is an Air Force pilot who was shot down on a mission near the border of an Arab country and is now..."

Viewed:
May 23, 2009

My Comment:  Oh my. What a horrible movie. Jason Gedrick's acting is so subtle you might call him a young Kevin Cosner. In the 1980s the wifie, the kids, and I watched this flic again and again. Man, I must've high on ganja weed or something. Nowadays it's just plain stupid. Sure you can learn to fly F-15 Eagle just by practicing in the simulator. Sure you can steal two fully armed and fueled F-15's to attack some Muslim country within flying distance of Arizona... I especially loved whenever the kid shoots the F-15's machine guns and whatever he's aiming at explodes instantly. Whenever he drops a bomb or shoots a missile, instant explosion.

The Finish:  How in the world did this get made? It's a movie to judge all other bad movies by: "But was it as bad as "Iron Eagle"?

My Rating:

• *  Did not finish movie
• **  Wasted my time on this one
• ***  Worth seeing--once is enough
• ****  Happy to see multiple times
• *****  Must own dvd