Not that I am surprised, but Pixar has done it again. Maybe not their best film, but certainly incredibly enjoyable, and especially that for dog lovers (I think my dad would really like this film [and I already know my mom liked it, because she saw it before me]). My biggest complaint is that after paying extra to see this film in 3D it wasn’t all that impressive. I think I was more impressed in Journey to the Center of the Earth (a much worse film) mostly in the live action 3D which I thought looked great, but here it was 3D, but there was still the annoying edges in the fast motion, and at times I actually felt like the 3D detracted from the story. I am starting to think that 24FPS is not a high enough frame rate for 3D, and I think James Cameron is actually shooting Avatar at a higher frame rate to combat that problem. This film, like all Pixar films has an amazing heart and great characters, and this really elevates the film, because the characters come to life, and have so much heart. And for the dog lover this film really delivers, because by having dogs that can talk they really capture the true spirit of animals, so all dog lovers should certainly see this film (really everyone should, but dog lovers will have much to appreciate). This is another top notch film from Pixar, sure it isn’t THE INCREDIBLES or WALL-E, but it is close, and well worth checking out. I am excited to see it again, next time not in 3D.

This film as usual with Pixar films starts with a short film, this is called Partly Cloudy and is directed by Peter Sohn. And as usual the whole story is told without dialogue, which always works so well. This is the story of clouds in the sky who make baby’s, puppies, kittens, and other creatures for storks to deliver to expectant parents, but their is one different cloud named Gus who is a gray cloud, and all his creations are dangerous, from crocodiles, bighorn sheep and a porcupine, which his poor delivery stork Peck must deliver, getting well thrashed along the way. Peck finally flies away to another nearby white cloud. This makes Gus sad, and he cries and thunderstorms, but then peck returns, and finds that the other cloud made him shoulder pads and a football helmet for protection. Gus is elated and gives Peck an electric eel which shocks him right through the protective gear, but he flies off happily to deliver it, if a bit harried.

UP starts almost like another short film by them, with the love story of a young boy named Carl Fredrickson (Ed Asner), and the woman he will marry, Ellie (Elizabeth Docter). Carl’s hero is the famed explorer Charles Muntz (Christopher Plummer) who pilots an airship, and who discovered a strange bird in a hidden South American locale named Paradise Falls, but his discovery was claimed to be faked, so Muntz headed off to get a live bird, and was not heard from again. Carl was a huge fan, dressing like him, and as an 8 year old he met the young tom boy Ellie who also loved Muntz, and they eventually married, always promising to go on an adventure, but life got in the way, and they never had enough money, especially working at a zoo with Carl selling balloons to children. They had a lovely life together, but Ellie never got to finish her adventure, where she wanted to move her clubhouse, and abandoned house, that they later bought and fixed up to Paradise Falls, and she died giving him the boom. Carl is then all alone in his house, and the city grows around him, with a big consruction going on around him. Their is one nice worker named Tom (John Ratzenberger who is in all Pixar films), but when Ellie’s mail box is crushed, Carl gets angry and hits a worker, and the developer is able to get the city to say he must give up his house and go to a retirement home. Carl is crushed, but he has an idea, and when the men come to take him away, he goes back in, and using all of his balloons, lifts his house into the air, planning on taking it to Paradise Falls. The one problem is that he has picked up an unsupecting passenger, a Wilderness Explorer named Russell (Jordan Nagai) who wanted to help the old man to get his last badge so he could become a full Wilderness Scout. Carl had sent the boy on a snipe hunt, and the boy had returned at the wrong time. Carl does not want to let him in, but they are up in the sky, and they must. Carl decides he must try and let the boy off, but that doesn’t work so well, an they end up going through a huge storm.

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Now I have to admit that I came into this film really thinking I would hate it, as I am a huge Star Trek fan, and especially a fan of TOS (the original Series) which I grew up watching, and a reboot just sounded like an absolutely awful idea all the way around. And J. J. Abrams did not give me confidence. Now I have not watched LOST, but his Mission Impossible was impossibly bad, and while I do currently really enjoy Fringe, I have heard he was much busier doing Star Trek than working on it. Anyway, After all that I have to say I was quite wrong and did enjoy the film immensely. In fact I saw it twice, taking my wife Kelly to go see it because I wanted to see it again, and have even read the prequel comic. That is not to say that I don’t think it has issues, but it did do very very well in re-igniting the excitement of old Trek, and making the best Trek film they have made in a long time. First the good, the casting. The casting was in fact fantastic and they did mostly really capture the characters (well Chekov may have been a little over the top), but overall the characters were amazing, and who knew that formerly typcast action hero Carl Urban could do a perfect DeForest Kelly imitation, in fact almost a possession. Chris Pine made a very good Kirk (even if they did push his bad boy thing a little too much) and Zachary Quinto even looks like Spock. And the time travel storyline does allow them to create an alternate timeline, so it doesn’t ruin the original, but creates a new one they can play with (personally I would love to see a trilogy of films which start a new TV series, but I doubt that will happen). Of course I do have some issues. While most the sets are great (I love the new bridge), the engineering looks like a bunch of pipes (and was filmed in the nearby Budweiser plant). And while the main uniforms look like the old ones, many are not too impressive, and I hate the look of the new silver phasers, the original series ones had much more style. Then there are continuity issues. Like the fact that in TOS each ship had it’s own symbol on the uniform and it wasn’t till the movies that Starfleet starting using the well known Enterprise symbol as the star fleet symbol. We know they did not build the Enterprise on Earth, but in space, and it was not the flagship (which was the original of it’s class the Constitution NCC-1700). And we know for sure this was not the original crew of the Enterprise. yes Pike was the Captain, but he had a female first officer, Number One, and Spock was the science officer. We had a different doctor, and even when Kirk joined it was with a different Doctor on the Enterprise and Lt. Kelso in engineering, and Chekov didn’t join till the second season (which of course means he should not have met Khan in the old films either). Then there is the tech stuff which always have to not think too hard about with Star Trek, but in this why do you need to make a hole to the planet core to destroy a planet with a black hole? Why not just drop it on the surface? And then the score was perfectly unmemorable and really did not have the Star Trek theme until the end credits. Still as I said I did really love the film, and certainly want it on Blu-Ray. This is a must see, even if I am really sick of films shot in hand held, and didn’t realize lens were broken in the future (must be why there are so many damn lens flares).

In 2283, the USS Kelvin, a starship in the united Federation of planets runs into a strange electrical storm in space, and reports it to Star Fleet. Out of the storm comes a strange, and huge Romulan ship, the Narada, which is from 154 years in the future, and easily defeats the Kelvin and demands that Captain Robau (Faran Tahir) comes over in a shuttle craft. Robau agrees, and turns command of the Kelvin over to George Kirk (Chris Hemsworth), telling him to run if he can, and to abandon the ship to save the crew. Robua is brought over to the Narada where he is question about a strange starfleet vessel and Ambassador Spock (Leonard Nimoy), and when he tells the stardate, the Captain of the Nirada, Nero (Eric Bana) kills him. Kirk orders the crew to abandon ship, including his wife Winona (Jennifer Morrison from House) who is in labor, and he plans to set the ship on auto pilot, but when the auto pilot does not function, he stays on the ship and pilots it into the Narada, telling his wife he loves her and helping to name their son James Tiberius Kirk, as he badly damages the Alien ship.

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The second in what fans consider the best three films (and really a trilogy) of Star Trek has Nimoy taking the helm, and has Kirk and friends going to see if they can do something about Spock. Again great characters and a great villain (the great Christopher Loyd as Kruge is spectacular, maybe not quite Khan, but still a worthy adversary), and even the destruction of the Enterprise, which never fails to make me tear up. This is an enjoyable film, and with the Blur-ray release the film has never, and probably will never look better. The ILM special effects look amazing, and the film sounds great. Nimoy really proved himself an able director here (and with the subsequent film) and the film has emotional depth with some humor too, and really just works all the way around.

The Enterprise and it’s crew is returning from the Genesis planet and the death of Captain Spock (Leonard Nimoy), with Mr. Scott (James Doohan) almost having repairs done from the battle with Khan. Admiral Kirk (William Shatner) is trying to get answers from Star Fleet about returning to Genesis, but can get no answer. Chekov (Walter Koenig) reports a break into Mr. Spock’s quarters so, Kirk rushes down, and finds McCoy (Deforest Kelley) talking like Spock, and then collapsing. The ship returns to Starbase in Earth orbit. Kirk tries to get Starfleet to let them take Enterprise back to Genesis, but it has become a politically hot topic, especially with the Klingons, so not only is that denied, but the crew is asked to stand down for a “much needed shore leave,” except Scotty (James Doohan) who is transfered to the new experimental USS Excelsior with it’s transwarp drive to become it’s chief engineer for it’s test flights. McCoy then tries to charter his own ship to Genesis, but is stopped by Star Fleet security, and when he tries to vulcan nerve pinch the officer, he is locked up for psychiatric evaluation. Spock’s father Ambassador Sarek (Mark Lenard) comes to see Kirk, and ask him why he did not bring Spocks Katra, his immortal soul back to Vulcan. Kirk knows nothing of this, and when they review the security tapes of Spock’s death, Sarek sees that Kirk was behind glass from Spock, so the transfer could not have happened, but they see the transfer happen to McCoy. Kirk, Scotty, Sulu (George Takei), Chekov (Walter Koenig) and Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) plot to break out McCoy and steal the Enterprise!

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Considered by many, including me to the be the best of the Trek films, this one has the greatest Trek Villain, the return of Ricardo Monalbán as Khan Noonien Singh from the original series. This is also one of the most moving episodes with 2 major deaths. I also greatly enjoy the new uniforms, which gave Starfleet a more militaristic feel, and which would persist through the next 5 Star Trek films. This is much more of a swashbuckling action adventure, and not so much a thinking man’s trek, but it proved to work much better for big screen. And this also was the start of ILM doing the Trek films, and they continued on the amazing special effects. Sure it has some issues, like the fact that Khan was in the first Season of the show, before Chekov (Walter Koenig) joined the cast, and yet Khan knows him, but I can buy the explanation that he was in engineering at the time, already on the ship, but not part of the bridge crew. This also introduced the Kobayashi Maru simulator which played such a big part in the new Star Trek film by JJ Abrams. There is not much to complain about here, because this is an amazing film, and the models have never looked better in the effects. A great film all the way around, and it has never looked better than it does on blu-ray! A must have for all Star Trek fans!

Vulcan Lietenant Saavik (Kirstie Alley) is in command of the Enterprise with familiar crew members ,Captain Spock (Leonard Nimoy), Chief Medical Officer Lenoard “Bones” McCoy (DeForest Kelley), helmsman Hikaru Sulu (George Takei) and communications officer Nyota Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) near the Klingon Neutral Zone, when they get a distress call from a Federation Ship named the Kobayashi Maru which is in the Neutral Zone. Saavik decides to break regulations and go into the nuetral zone to rescue the ship and it’s over 300 passengers, but it is a trap, and they are set upon by three ships, and quickly disabled. The crew is killed, and Saavik orders them to abandon ship, when the simulator opens and Admiral James Tiberius Kirk (William Shatner) comes in ending the simulation, and going to talk to Captain Spock, who wants to know how his cadets have done. It is also Kirk’s birthday, and Spock gives him a book. Kirk goes to his quarters, and is depressed, and McCoy arrives with Romulan Ale, and some glasses since Kirk can’t use the prescription to fix his eyes. McCoy berates Kirk for acting like his birthday is a funeral, and tells him to get his command back before it is too late. Meanwhile the USS Reliant commanded by Captain Terrell (Paul Winfield) and Commander Pavel Chekov (Walter Koenig) is searching for a planet with no life on it for an experiment called the Genesis Experiment. They detect something on the surface of Ceti Alpha VI so they beam down to investigate, and find on the planet the cargo pods of the ship the Botany Bay, Chekov, realizes what is going on, and they try to leave, but are taken by Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalbán) and his men, who use the only surviving native creature, which bores into your eye and wraps around your brainstem, and makes the person extremely susceptible to suggestion. Khan stands the crew, and gets Terrrell and Checkov to contact the Genesis scientists at Regula one including Dr. Carol Marcus (Bibi Besch) and her son David Marcus (Merritt Butrick) who argue that it was always the Federations plan.

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I have to admit that I do enjoy Hugh Jackman as Logan, and did enjoy the first two X-Men movies, even if they did not follow the plot of the comics very well, they had the feel of the comics, and it worked (though the third film was so terrible it hurts). And most of this rollercoaster ride action film I enjoyed, though of course they made Logan not quite as messed up as he was in the comics, and then at the ending they really screwed up Deadpool. Sure was from the same program as Wolverine, also known as Weapon X, but what was the silent thing with the swords coming out of his arms? That is just plain stupid. And the hidden ending that I saw makes it look like he will back, and more of his normal self, but he was horrible in this. Gambit wasn’t too horrible in this though. I guess this was enjoyable enough. Not as good as the first two X-men films, but better than the third. And of course it has very little to do with the comic Wolverine: Origins, but that was to be expected. And there is a problem iin that Danny Huston cannot touch Brian Cox as William Stryker so that also brought things down a notch. Decent enough I guess, but it certainly could have been better, especially with all the reshoots. Still pretty impressive that it made $35 million on it’s opening day after being leaked a month before.

In Canada around 1845 a young sick man named James Howlett (Toye Sivan) sees his father John (Peter O’Biren) killed by his friend Victor Creed’s (michael-James Olsen) father Thomas (Aaron Jeffrey) with a shotgun. The young man becomes enraged, and bone claws extend out through the skin on his hand and he stabs and kills Thomas, but not before Thomas can tell the young man that he is in fact his real father. Victor and James then run off as brothers saying they will always protect each other, and we see them fight in the Vicil War, World War 1 and 2 and then in Vietnam. In Vietnam Victor kills a superior officer who is trying to rape a girl, and the two are to be executed by firing squad, but don’t die thanks to their healing abilities, and they are recruited by William Stryker (Danny Huston) to join his elite mutant hit squad.

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I have always been a fan of the fast and the furious films, with the first being my favorite, though I have enjoyed the whole series (and i liked how the 3rd was kind of a sequel to Better Luck Tomorrow, Lin’s first film), probably part of having 2 really good friends who are really into the whole rice burner thing. And even if these films did not start out too accurate to the scene, they were still enjoyable fun, especially Vin Diesel and Paul Walker, who made a great onscreen team. And for this film they brought back the whole crew (even Han [Sun Kang] from The Fast and the Furious 3 Tokyo Drift making this film a prequel to that film) and pumped everything up to the max, making this a rollercoaster thrill ride. Sure there are too many digital effects, but it is good to see Vin Diesel back in a role that suits him, and this film is exactly what it should have been, and honestly I enjoyed it a great deal, though it is of course just a popcorn action film. And sure the story isn’t too great, or too plausible, but we are here for the characters and the action, and this film gives us that in spades.

Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel), his girlfriend Leticia “Letty” Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez) and his crew, including Han Lue (Sung Kang) who are robbing gasoline trucks using tow trucks that they spin around, and break off one fuel truck at at time, and Letty freezes the hitches and breaks them with a hammer. Of course they are noticed and things go bad, with Dom barely saving Letty, and the two of them almost getting killed. It seems the cops are on their trail too, so Dom breaks up the money, and tells Han who says he will head to Japan (for the fhird film) and Letty doesn’t want to be left alone, but Dom thinks it is too dangerous, so he leaves her. Dom gets a call from his sister Mia (Jordana Brewster) telling him Letty was murdered. Meanwhile Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) is now an FBI agent, and working on a case trying to take down a Mexican drug lord named Arturo Braga, and of course with Letty’s death they want him to catch Dom as well.

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Through this film Bogy has a pained look on his face, which fits perfectly with the character, and his moral crisis, unfortunately it was more than that, and Humphrey Bogart was very very sick, and did not last another year or make another film. It is good though that his last film was such a good role, even if it is so sad or it to have been his last. A dark and cynical film based on true events, and again a must see.

Humprehy Bogart plays Eddie WIllis a formerly big sports writer who has lost his job, and is now desperate for work. He gets called in by a mobster named Nick Benko (Rod Steiger) to be a boxing promoter for a huge Argentinian former strongman named Toro Moreno (Mike Lane). The whole setup is a fix to make as much money as possible, so they want to make Toro seem like an amazing fighter, and they don’t tell him or his manager Luis Argandi (Carlo Montalban). Eddie goes along, and they decide to go to California to start Toro’s career, leaving his wife Beth (Jan Sterling) back in New York.

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Thanks to Netflix I got to check this out, because I have wanted to see it since I initially heard about it. I mean a new Bruce Campbell horror film directed by him, and which also parodies him and his career! That sounds perfect, and honestly for it was, it really was. This film is fun as can be, and a must for any Bruce Campbell fan! And it was great to see Ted Raimi having such a big part (well parts really). Fun Fun Fun! And I love the musical elements with the townsfolk singing about what is going on in the movie (well two of them) and Ted Raimi playing his 3rd party as the guy who paints the sign, changing the number of people in the town as people get killed, and eventually getting killed.

In the small town of Gold Lick, Oregon, a boy named Jeff (Taylor Sharpe) who is a horror and especially Bruce Campbell nut, goes with his friend to an old Chinese cemetery to meet up with some girls. They go through smashing graves and stuff, and Jeff picks up a gold amulet, which releases the Chinese God of War Guan-di (Jamie Peck) who protects the dead Chinese, and their Tofu after a bad mining accident. The God with glowing eyes kills his friend and the two girls before he escapes. We then see Bruce Campbell playing a sleezy version of himself, with a horrible career doing Z movies. He goes to meet his agent Mills Toddner (Ted Raimi) at a strip club, and he wants to fire him, but keeps him when he gets promised something special for his birthday. Bruce gets totally wasted, and barely makes it back to his trailer, where he drunk dials his ex wife, and gets his dog drunk, before getting knocked over the head, and stuffed into the back of a car by Jeff.

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I can’t believe this film did not do better because this is such a great film, and I have loved it since I saw it in Cinema 466 when it was shown to the class before it was released. I love it from the remake of 8 1/2 in the opening, to the man pushed just too far, doing all the stuff that you really could see yourself doing if you just got pushed a little too far. Beautifully shot, perfectly cast and acted, and really the ultimate Los Angeles film. This is such a good film, and no one knows about it. And seeing it in HD on HDNET I must say it looked amazing and deserves a great blu-ray edition, hopefully with some special features. Check this one out, it is really worth checking out.

William Foster (MIchael Douglas) is an angry man, sitting in his car trapped on a Los Angeles Freeway on a very hot day, and he finally loses it, and gets out his car, with the license plate D-FENS, and just walks off, saying he is going home. A LAPD Seargean Martin PRendergast (Robert Duvall, probably my mom’s favorite actor) helps a motorcycle cop push the car off the road. Foster walks to a convenience store owned by a Korean (Michael Paul Chan) and he wants to buy a coca cola, but needs change for the phone, and the Korean won’t give it to him unless he buys something, so he wants to pay 50¢ so he can use the phone, so he loses it when the Korean goes for his bat, and takes it and trashes the store, then when the owner agrees he pays 50¢ and goes out to call his ex wife Beth (Barbara Hershey) who has a restraining order against him, but he tells her he is coming home for their daughter Adele’s (Joey Hope Singer) birthday. Foster then keeps walking, even with a hole in his shoe, and ends up in a hispanic gang area, and when he gets attacked, he beats the hell out of them, and ends up with one of their butterfly knife, and continues on. The gang bangers then go to kill him with a bag full of guns, letting out the girlfriend Angie (Karina Arroyave) and doing a drive by, but they miss Foster, and crash, and he takes their guns which are in a gym bag, and walks off.

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I have been looking forward to this adaption of the seminal Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons 1986-1987 comic book for years, and when Zach Snyder the director of 300 and the dawn of the dead remake was doing it, I couldn’t have been happier. And for most of the movie I was really with it, at least as a fan, the lack of exposition I felt really made this a companion piece to the comic book, and not feel like it’s own entity, and the lack of exposition left Kelly, and I have a feeling many others completely out in the cold. And the film is a visual feast, really bringing the world of watchmen to life, with casting to match, as these people really look, act and seem like the comic characters. Of course this film is extremely violent, much more so than the comic and to the point of gratuitousness in the extreme. It also has a pretty explicit sex scene, and other breasts shown, so this is certainly no kids film. My personal biggest problem came with the change of the film McGuffin, which as a huge fan of the comic, really threw me, because it did not improve anything for me, and just seemed to be an arbitrary change. I have an idea I think could have been more true without being completely true, that I will discuss at the end. The change of endings also seemed to come out of left field because of the fact that so much of this was a slavishly accurate adaption up to that point, and then it changed, not for the better, and also left out a couple of lines from the comic that I think were really necessary that were cut out of the film, and also hurt the film. If they had stayed accurate (as accurate as you can be when adapting a series to an under 3 hour film) this might not have been popular, but at least the fans would have absolutely loved it, and stuck with it forever. The fact that they changed it, and gave so little extra exposition makes me feel that this will not only not be huge with the general populace (sure it got a 55.7 million opening weekend, but it will go down) but also the fans will not like it, and the film’s box office will suffer because of it. Honestly I was loving the film as it went, it really seemed like an accurate adaption of this hard to adapt comic, and loved the little details including the ends is nigh guy, and the newstand and kid reading the comic, and the opening which showed elements of the history of this alternate world, though again didn’t explain them enough for the general populace. Honestly a noble try, but ultimately a failure, and I am sure it will not do well after this opening weekend.

Watchmen begins in an alternate 1985, in the apartment of a man named Edward Blake, also known as the superhero the comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). An intruder comes in, and fights Blake, easily beating him even though he fights back, and gets thrown out the window to his death, dropping his smily face button with blood on it. We then get a montage showing the alternate history of the US from World War 2 through 1985, showing the rise of costumed superheroes, the shooting of JFK by the Comedian, RIchard Nixon (Robert Wiseden) using the one true powered super hero Dr. Jon Osterman also known as Doctor Manhattan (Billy Crudup) to win the war, and get himself a 3 and 4th Presidential term, in the 1970′s the Keane act which outlawed masked superheroes, and the rising cold war tensions which seam to be leading to inevitable nuclear war with Russia. A costumed vigilante named Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley) who has defied the Keane act is continuing the investigation into the Comedian’s death, and goes out to warn his retired comrades. First is Dan Dreiberg formerly known as the second Nite Owl (Patrick Wilson), and Dr. Manhattan and his lover Laurie Jupiter formerly the second SIlk Spectre (Malin Akerman) who work for the government, working on development alternate fuel to give free energy to the world, with a fourth former superhero Adrian Veidt formerly known as Oxymandias, the smartest man in the world, and the most successful businessman. Dan goes to Veidt to try and see what he thinks about the conspiracy, but is rebuffed. Dr. Manhatten and Laurie are not doing well as Jon becomes more separated from the human race, and she leaves him before he is to go to a talk show. Laurie ends up going to Dan, and ends up staying with him, and he obviously cares for her, though he tries to hide it. Manhatten goes to a talk show, when a man in the audience questions him about his former coleagues who have all gotten cancer, including his former lover Janey Slater (Laura Mennell) who confronts him. Reporters sense blood, and press in, and Jon teleports himself away, and exiles himself to Mars, which is so much easier for him, without difficult human interaction. Jon’s departure loses the US it’s ultimate weapon, so the Soviet’s push it and invade Afghanistan, pushing Nixon ready for a pre-emptive nuclear strike.

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An all time American classic, and one of the greats of both James Stewart, but also Frank Capra. A great tale of a man with ideals and hopes, with no idea coming to washington and trying to make a change, but learning of the political machines in place, and just how corrupt the place in fact is. And the story of this film is just as apt today where we have political scandal after scandal. Really an amazing film.

The governor of an unnamed state named Hubert “Happy” Hopper (Guy Kibee) has to appoint a new senator because the last one died. His “boss” the head of a political organization and power broker named Jim Taylor (Edward Arnold) wants him to pick a hand picked man who will follow orders, while the government wants a reformer. Happy’s children bring up the head of the Boy Rangers, a man named Jefferson Smith (James Stewart) with no political experience. Happy flips a coin and goes for Smith, thinking his naiveté will make him easy to manipulate. Smith is taken under his wing by Senator Joseph Pines (Claude Rains) who was friends and a layer championing justice together, and as soon as he gets to Washington falls for the senator’s daughter Susan (Astrid Allwyn). The press core interviews Jefferson, and makes a total fool of him, labeling him a bumpkin and saying he has no business being a Senator, and Jefferson is floored, but he does take Paine’s advice to propose a bill to give reason for him to be there.

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I am a huge fan of Humphrey Boghart, and so I try to see all of his films, so I checked this one out on cable and quite enjoyed this tale of the life of a Spanish Movie Star from her discovery to her death. An enjoyable film seen partially through the eyes of Bogy’s character who plays a movie director, and through other people around her, so we see into the dark side of filmmaking and stars in the short life of the Barefoot Contessa. Certainly not one of Boghart’s best films, but still very enjoyable.

The film stars at a funeral for a Spanish Contessa, where our Harry Dawes (Humphrey Bogart) a film director is in attendance, and he reminisces about the life of Maria Vargas (Ava Gardner) who he directed in both of their biggest films, and who found her initially. We go back in time to see how they met, with Harry not doing so well, so having been hired along with publicist Oscar Muldoon (Edmond O’Brien who won best supporting actor for his role) by the Tychoon Kirk Edwards (Warren Stevens) who has decided to Produce a film. They are in search of talent and have come to spain to see the Dancer Maria Vargas, but they came in to late, so Edwards shows his power and forces Harry to go back and talk to Maria to get her to come and talk to him. Harry catches her with a young man, and realizes what is going on, and convinces her to go, but she skips out on him. Edwards threatens to fire him and leave him there if he doesn’t get her, so he goes to her house and convinces her to come for a screen test. The screen test goes very well, but Harry has stacked the theater with other movie execs, which helps to sell Maria, and he breaks away from Edwards, and goes to make a movie with Maria out of Edwards control.

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The ridiculous sequel is not quite as fun, especially since so much of the movie is just getting Bandit into shape again, but it does pick up again once the racing begins again. Still ridiculous and silly, and with the addition of Dom DeLuise and a pregnant elephant it gets even sillier. Still a good brainless time though.

Big Enos Burdette (Pat McCormick) is running for Governor of Texas with the help of his son Little Enos (Paul Enos), but is in a literal mud slinging war with the other candidate, and they both get chewed out by the outgoing Governor, but they hear about some crate in Florida that needs to be delivered for the convention. Enos decides to get the case himself. The Enos’s enlist Cledus “Snowman” Snow (Jerry Reed) to get Bo “Bandit” Darville (Burt Reynolds) and do the job for a lot of money, and Snowman goes to get a now drunken and out of shape Bandit. Bandit let fame get to him and lost everything, including his car, except for his ego. Snowman calls up Carie “Frog” (Sally Field) who is again about to married to Junior Justice (Mike Henry), which gets him and Sheriff Buford T. Justice (Jackie Gleason) on the trail again. Enos raises the stakes to $400,000 and Fog and Snowman set about retraining Bandit so he can do the run, and they get him a new car as well, which she got by selling Junior’s car, and they head for Florida.

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A ridiculous, but chase movie, with a hint of a love story, and some good old fashion trucking. This film was huge, and really catapulted Burt Reynolds to the top. And Jackie Gleason was of course hysterical, as was Sally Field. A fun movie, with some great car stunts and chases, and was really what made the Trans Am seem like cool. I just saw this on HD NET and quite enjoyed it, even with it’s country music, and ridiculous story. Just good fun.

At a trucking competition, Big Enos Burdette (Pat McCormick) and his son, Little Enos (Paul Williams) are trying to get truckers to haul a load of Coors to Georgia in record time, and this is totally illegal, as hauling Coors East of the Mississippi was considered bootlegging, and they will pay handsomely, which has gotten some idiots to try it before, not too successfully, calling down “Smokey” (which is truck driver speak for police).  At a truck rodeo the Enos’s find Bo “Bandit” Darville (Burt Reynolds) and offer him US$80,000 to drive 400 cases of Coors from Texarcana, Texas to Georgia in 28 hours. Bandit accepts, but they must also pay for a blocker, which they do, and he goes to get his partner Cletus “Snowman” Snow (Jerry Reed) to drive the rig, while he rides in a Trans Am to spot Smokey and get him off their trail. They make it to Texas in record time, and break into the coors plant, and leave a note to bill Enos. Shortly there after Bandit picks up Carrie (Sally Field) a dancer and runaway bride, who Bandit nicknames Frog. The bride to be’s husband Junior (Mike Henry) is eh son of Texarcana Sheriff Buford T. justice  (Jackie Gleason) and he sets off in Hot Pursuit no matter they leave his jurisdiction or not.

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I love Bogy, and thanks to the Tivo I record most things that he has that come on the air, and I am glad I watched this incredible noir. A great story, well told, and dark. A good movie, and really worth checking out.

The film starts with Captain Warren “Rip” Murdock (Humphrey Bogart) in the darkness of a church going up and talking to a chaplain who was also in the service. There is something wrong, and someone might be after Murdock, and he has to tell his story so someone else will know the truth. It at the end of World War II, and Rip and his Sergeant, Johnny Drake (William Prince) have been ordered back from Europe to Washington. On the train Rip managed to find out that it was because Drake is being awarded the medal of honor (and Murdock is getting the Distinguished service cross), and Drake doesn’t like. They are supposed to get off at the next stop just to get their photos taken for the papers, and Drake hoofs it, and Murdock goes after him, heading to Gulf City, his friends home town. Murdock checks into a hotel, and accidently switches the large radio in his hotel room to police band, and hears about a man burned to death in a car. He goes to the morgue, and the body is burnt to a crisp, but he recognizes Drake’s school pin, and knows his friend is dead, but doesn’t tell the police who it is, and continues to investigate on his own.

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A pre American entry into World War 2 anti-Nazi film that takes place in Bavaria, Germany, and shows what the party did to Germany itself, and Germans. Really an enjoyable if sad film, and a must see since it stars one of all my alltime favorites, Jimmy Stuart. It was quite interesting to see a film taken from this perspective, and I also like that it was the most overt anti-Nazi film in the US before the war. Really worth checking out. I love that MGM did not mention Jews in the film to try to get the film to be shown in Germany, but it infuriated the Nazi party, and caused a total ban on MGM films in Germany.

Freya Roth (Margaret Sullavan) lives happily with her family in Bavaria, and her father Professor Viktor Roth (Frank Morgan) is a non-Aryan, but a celebrated teacher at the university. At his huge party at the school, we are introduced to an old family friend. An Aryan German named Martin Breitner (James Stewart), and we follow him to Roth family party. There we meet Freya’s family, her mother Amelia (Irene Rich) and her brothers Otto (Robert Stack) and Erich (William T. Orr) as well as her fiancee Fritz Marberg (Robert Young). The party is interrupted by a radio announcement that Hitler has taken over, and is making the country and Aryan nation. Fritz and the brothers are ecstatic, and head out to the Nazi meeting, but Martin who does not believe in the Nazi party is not so happy, and goes home. Around town things start getting tense, as the Fascist ideals of the Nazi party take hold.

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I like and dislike Steve Carell, I think he is too over the top and gets annoying, but he can be very funny, but is best when he is understated, and this here is a case of him being totally understated, and because of that actually much funnier. I had stayed away because he can annoy me (though I do watch the office), but ended up watching this streaming on Netflix, and am quite glad that you we watched it, because this is a very enjoyable movie about one of the saddest men to ever exist. Dan is so damn sad, and on his own isn’t going to do anything about it on his own. Really an enjoyable and funny film. Quite worth checking out.

Dan Burns (Steve Carekk) is a writer and newspaper columnist, who is also a widower and father two three girls the eldest who wants to drive named Jane (Alison Pill), the middle always thinking of her boyfriend named Cara (Brittany Robertson) and the sweet youngest Lilly (Marlene Lawston). The daughters and Dan don’t get along so well with his daughters, and they are always angry with him, but he writes about his life, and it is making him successful, and he has a possibility of getting syndicated. Cara doesn’t want to go because she is in love with a boy named Marty (Felipe Dieppa) who she recently met and doesn’t want to be away from him, but Dan says she can’t be in love so quick, and makes her go. The family heads on a road trip to the parents home in Rhode Island, where his mother (Diane West) and father (John Mahoney, his brother Mitch (Dane Cook) and the rest of the family Clay (Norbert Leo Butz) Amy (Jessica Hecht), Elieen (Amy Ryan) and Jessica (Jessica Lussier) as well as many kids are there to have a big family get together. The second morning Dan’s mom sends him into town to get the newspapers and get out of the house. At the book store, Dan meets a woman named Marie (Juliette Binoche) who mistakes him for someone working there, and he recommends books, and ends up spending the morning talking to her, before she has to leave to go meet her boyfriend. Dan heads home and is all psyched because he met Marie, and tells everyone, and they are psyched for him, and all talking it up, when Mitch’s girlfriend arrives, and it is of course, Marie, and neither tell anyone.

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The film that Copolla did as a throw away to make money for Zoetrope after losing almost everything after producing THX 1138 for George Lucas, and which won the Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Adapted Screenplay is an all time classic, and has never looked better than it does on the director approved Blu-ray disc.  And this is a classic, with lines that ever film lover knows, amazing performances, and a story that everyone loves. Copolla really outdid himself here, though he did of course top himself with the sequel (Thanks to the addition of Robert De Niro who pushed that film over the top), and if you have a blu-ray player give yourself a break and pick this up, and you will not be disappointed.

The film starts with the 1945 wedding of Don Vito Corleone’s (Marlon Brando) daughter Connie (Talia Shire) and Carlo Rizzi (Gianni Russo). Vito is the Godfather, the head of the Corleone crime family, and along with Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall), the Corleone family lawyer and consigliere (counselor)as well as Vito’s adopted son, are taking meetings with guests because as Godfather Vito can’t refuse any requests on the day of his daughters wedding.  Meanwhile, the Don’s youngest son Michael (Al Pacino), a decorated World War soldier is there with his girlfriend Kay Adams (Diane Keaton) who he tells stories about his family and their criminal actions. We also meet Michael’s hothead older brother Sonny  (James Caan), who cheats on his wife at the wedding. Other guests include the famous singer Johnny Fontane (Al Martino) who wants his Godfather’s help in getting him a movie role, which will restart his flagging career. Vito says he will make him an offer he can’t refuse and sends Hagen to California to take care of it. Hagen talks to the studio owner  Jack Woltz (John Marley) who admits Johnny would be perfect, but won’t give him the role because of a starlet that he ruined. Woltz wakes up with the severed head of his expensive racing horse in his bed, and Johnny quickly gets the job.

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Though this film did not review well, I had wanted to see it, and am glad I did. This sad tail of a father trying to deal with telling his young daughters that their mother has been killed while serving in Iraq is powerful and moving. A much better film than Cusack’s satirical War Inc, which was kind of a one joke pony (though I did enjoy that joke). Cusack is great, and both daughters are particularly good as well, really making this film. A sad film, but well worth checking out! And the score by Clint Eastwood is also noteworthy. A good film.

Stanley Philipps (John Cusack) is a father working and taking care of his two daughters while his wife Grace serves in the Army in Iraq. Stanley works at a local building supply store, and goes to meetings for wife’s of Iraq war soldiers, but does not feel comfortable talking. The eldest almost 13 year old daughter Heidi (Shélan O’Keefe who is quite good) knows what is going on, and tries to sneak watching news about Iraq, though her father stops her. She is also having some trouble dealing, and having school trouble, and has to write a paper for school on Grace. The 8 year old daughter Dawn (Gracie Benarczyk) has her watch set to her mom’s and an alarm goes off each day, so they know they are thinking of each other. Stanley hears a knock at the door, and it is 2 army officers come to inform him that Grace has died. Stanley is heartbroken, and doesn’t know how to tell his daughters. While driving them to school, he asks them what they want to do, and when Heidi says she wants to go to her favorite amusment park, he agrees to take them right then, and take them out of school, and miss work. Heidi is reticent, but agrees, and the family heads off.

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Eastwood’s first return to the Western which made him, is a classic. It is well made, has an enjoyable story, and a good cast, and makes for a great western, and then there are the possible subtexts. In this film Eastwood is a preacher, who appears just as a little girl asks God for help. And we see he has been shot many times, and takes down his enemy with very similar shots, some have said this could mean he is supernatural, but I never thought so. I saw him as a man who had been bad, who had come to become a preacher, but still had his old skills and was willing to use to them when necessary to protect good people. A very enjoyable film, and it has never looked better than it does on Blu-ray. Eastwood is a such a good director, and he does not disappoint here one bit.

A small village of panning miners lives out in the wilderness, but they are being bullied by the strong men of Coy LaHood (Richard Dysart) who runs a hydraulic mining outfit with his son Josh (Christopher Penn). We partially follow one family, or almost family, which is led by Hull Barret (Michael Moriarty) who is in love with and has taken in Sarah Wheeler (Carrie Snodgress) and her super cute daughter Megan (Sydney Penny) after the father died. The men come and try and wreck the village and drive the miners off, killing livestock, and even Megan’s little dog. Megan buries the dog in the woods, and prays to god for help to come, and just then we see the Preacher (Clint Eastwood). When Hull goes to town to get supplies, even though he has been warned not to, he is beaten up, but saved by the Preacher who just happens into town, and goes back to the camp with Hul. Sarah doesn’t want him there, but when she finds that he is a preacher, she changes her tune. And many of the miners who were going to leave, decide to stick it out for a bit, since they know the Preacher is there.

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A classic Arnold Schwarzenegger violent science fiction action film. Sure many of the effects don’t hold up so well today, but it is so good to see physical effects instead of CG it makes me pine for these days, or at least a time when both are used together better. And the adaption of a Philip K. Dick story is an enjoyable one, that rides the line of is this a paranoid delusion or is this all really happening. Some great makeup effects and villains round this film out, and make it an enjoyable romp. And the blu-ray disc looks amazing, only showing artifacts in the old opticals, where you can see dirt on the prints, but that was obviously in the film. This makes me long for more science fiction films!

On Earth in 2084, Douglas Quaid (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is a construction working married to the lovely Lori (Sharon Stone), but he is unhappy with his life, wishing he was doing something important, and dreaming of Mars and a beautiful brunette (Rachel Ticotin). On the subway he sees an add for a company called Rekall, which sells false memories, and against the advice of a friend at work who says the lobotomize people, he goes to Rekall. There he orders what is called an Ego Trip, which will give him the memories of being a super spy for two weeks on Mars, but when they start the procedure he starts screaming and going mad. The scientists thing he is acting out the ego trip, but it hasn’t been implanted yet, and it is memories in his head. They try to block his memories of going there, and dump him in a cab. Quaid wakes up and gets out of the cab, and is attacked by his friend from work, and some thugs, and ends up killing them. When he gets home, he tries to warn his wife Lori, but she doesn’t believe him until he shows the blood on his hands, and then she attacks him, telling him the marriage was false and was an implanted marriage, and she only met him 2 months before, not years as he remembers. Quaid has to knock her out before escaping and going on the run!

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A passable retread of the story line of the first film, this time with terrorists at an airport, and once against John must act to save his wife. A good action film with some ridiculous effects, and brutal action that really doesn’t stray too hard from the formula of the first film, making a passable and enjoyable film that doesn’t manage to raise itself above the first film, but still makes for an enjoyable R rated action film. I picked up the Die Hard Blu-ray Box Set, and watched this with Kelly who had never seen anything but the first film, and she quite enjoyed it. And this film has never looked better. The film looks great on Blu-ray, much better than I have seen it in a long long time. Well worth checking out.

John McClane (Bruce Willis) on Christmas Eve is at Washington Dulles Aiport waiting for his wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia) to arrive from Los Angeles, gets his stepmother’s car towed before settling into the airport. He spots some men he takes as trouble, and follows them into a baggage area, where gets in a gun fight and manages to kill one of the two. McClane reports that he suspects something is going on to the head of the airport police, Captain Carmine Lorenzo (Dennis Franz), but is rebuffed, so he gets prints off the dead perp, and faxes them to his new partner in LA, Sergeant Al Powell (Reginald VelJohnson) who sends back info that the guy was a deceased special forces guy, meaning he is obviously black ops. McClane then goes to tell the head of the airport Trudeau (Republican presidnetial candidate Fred Dalton Thompson), but is again rebuffed, until terrorists take over the airport. Ex Army Colonel Stuart (William Sadler) along with a team have taken over a church at the edge of the airfield and patched into airport systems and have taken them over in order to intercept General Ramon Esperanza (Franco Nero) who is being extradited to the US on drug trafficking charges and get a 747 for them to leave with, and will start killing planes, including the one that Holly is on if his demands are not met.

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With McTiernan’s return the the franchise, it gets the sequel the first film really deserved, a strong action film, where Willis is teamed up with Samuel L. Jackson who comes off every bit his equal, even besting him in many ways. In fact this pairing is so good that i am amazed that they have not put these two together again, they really work well together, and make this film exceptional. And having Jeremy Irons along as the villain doesn’t hurt, nor do the rest of the supporting cast including Graham Greene as a cop who doesn’t like McClain too well. This is a top notch action film, and the Blu-ray disc looks fantastic all the way around. Really worth picking up, and a great film to boot. Kelly hadn’t seen this, and was thoroughly impressed. And how often to you get to see a car tear assing through central park! Of course some of the action goes over the top, but this is die hard, so it is to be expected. Honestly the best of the bunch except the first, and the team up with Jackson actually brings it on top in some ways.

A department store in New York City is blown up, and man named Simon (Jeremy Irons) calls in to claim responsibility, and demands that they play a game of Simon Says to stop the next explosion. Simon demands that the NYPD get currently suspended Lieutenant John McClane (Bruce Willis) to do what he says. McClane is sent to Harlem with a sandwich board reading “I Hate Niggers!” McClane approaches a group of African American Youths, he is saved by a shopkeeper named Zues Carver (Samuel L. Jackson), and they head back to the police station. They learn that a huge amount of chemical explosives was stolen, and that they are only active when combined, and totally harmless otherwise. Simon calls back and now wants McClane and Carver to both play his game or more bombs will go off, they have 30 minutes, so they commandeer a cab, and race through central park, making it just in time, and finding out about a bomb on a subway train. McClane splits from Carver, and gets onto the train, while Carver heads for the phone. McClane finds the bomb, but it activates, and Carver gets to the phone, but is held up by a cop, and when McClane is not there, the bomb is activated, and the train derails and crashed into the station, and a disheveled McClane climbs out.

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I have been looking forward to seeing this since I initially saw the trailer, and it looked excellent, and I must say I was not at all dissapointed. This is certainly one of the best films of the year so far, and Zwick deserves some recognition here, as does the amazing cast, and the gorgeous cinematography. Even better this is a true story of what this band of Jews went through to survive the German invasion of Russian in World War 2, since the Russians didn’t seem to apt to help. A really powerful story, with a great cast, all around a great film. I highly recomend checking this one out.

In World War II, in West Belarus in Poland, the Germans have invaded and have begun rounding up Jews. Zus Bielski (Liev Schrieber) returns to his home, having left his wife who was going to get later, to find his parents dead, and his younger brothers still alive, these are Asael Bielski (Jamie Bell from King Kong) and the youngest Aron (George MacKay) and they head for the woods, where they meet up with their oldest brother Tuvia (Daniel Craig) whose wife would not come with him. The brothers were rogues, doing smuggling and the like, and they know the woods well, and Tuvia kind of takes over, especially when they end up having to take on some other Jewish refugees, some of whom were hiding at a friend of theirs house who was killed for harboring Jews. Tuvia takes over, and starts building a camp, where they can live, and sending people out on missions to get money, where Asael is almost killed. Both Tuvia and Zus learn that their wives have died, and both are heart broken, but Zus wants to go and fight. Zus meets a woman named Bella (Iben Hjejle) who he likes, and Asael likes the young and beautiful girl she came with named Chia (Mia Wasikowska) who wants him to help find her family in the Ghetto.

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Youch, making money, but painful to watch. A love story about a family, and their dog, which happens to be the worst dog in the world. This film never came together for me at all because first off the dog is just too bad, and you would get rid of it, or the city would. No one could put up with a dog this bad, I mean this dog only does one redeeming thing in the whole film, even if they talk about more, they pretty much only show the bad. And then we have the requisite pull your heart stings parts, which just fall flat to me because I didn’t really care. And it doesn’t help that in the film over a period of 10 years or more, while the dog ages (way too quickly from a puppy in my opinion) Aniston and Wilson don’t age at all, which distracts. This broke my mom and my streak this holiday of great movies, because this one is just not work seeing. Manipulative, with strange life lessons that I don’t think anyone should follow, and a lab that is not only too crazy, but not that good looking (too skinny of a head, not at all like my dad’s labs). Skip this for sure.

John (Owen Wilson) and Jenny Grogan (Jennifer Aniston) are married in cold Michigain, and quickly move to the warmth of Sunny Florida. Both are reporters, but Jenny is quickly getting front page reports at her paper, while John who wants to be a real reporter is writing obituaries and about mundane events. When John realizes that Jenny is contemplating having a child he talks to his best friend and co-worker the ace photographer and reporter Sebastian Tunney (Eric Dane) who suggests that he gets a dog, so John goes out and gets Jenny a yellow Labrador Retriever puppy who he names Marley. The puppy is untrainable, defeating trainer Ms. Kornblut (Kathleen Turner) and doing nothing but cause trouble all the time!

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