The Prince and Me

Cute and sweet "CHEMISTRY" you'll love to watch!
Wisconsin-born Paige Morgan (Julia Stiles) thinks boys are a distraction. In fact, she never dates, preferring to keep her mind on her pre-med college studies: she's worked hard for everything she's got, having grown up poor. Prince Edvard "Eddie" of Denmark (Luke Mably) has the opposite problem: he has grown up surrounded by wealth and privilege (having been groomed since birth to become the next ruler of his country). Only thing is: he's not ready for the responsibility! The Prince rebels against his parent's upbringing, deciding to go to America to meet girls.

Along with his trusty servant/bodyguard Soren (Ben Miller), the Prince enrolls as a student at a Wisconsin college; they arrive and immediately set off to the local hangout to find some of these Wisconsin girls. It is there that Eddie runs into Paige, who is working; she dislikes him from the start, as he acts as less than a gentleman to her. When Eddie pairs up with her as her lab partner the next day in class,...

A cute tear-jerker: Great DVD to have in any collection
First, a little background of myself - I'm an U.S. Air Force officer, with background in both physical sciences & project management. I tend to steer towards movies that either make me think, or invoke emotional responses (interpret at will). I also gravitate toward movies that have fantastic soundtracks.

I first sought this movie out because my wife enjoys cute love movies, and because Julia Stiles plays roles in love stories quite well. The premise itself is a cute one - two people who are made for each other question their lifelong chosen destinies. It touches topics such as class (rich vs. poor), values (working for every penny vs. being spoiled), destiny (pre-destined vs. taking the bull by the horns), to name a few.

I shed tears as I watched this movie with my wife. Not because it's depressing, but because the movie strongly reminded me how lucky I am to be married to my wife, and how a combination of perfect timing, maturity, and perspective got me to...

I LOVED this movie
Julia Stiles and Luke Mably were awesome. I saw this movie and loved it. It is the type of movie that can make you smile. I enjoy movies that can make you smile. As for the weather... WHO CARES? The weather added to the storyline, how manytimes has Cinderella gone to the ball in snow? I can't wait till this movie comes out on DVD. The story was like a real fairy tale. Tell me one girl who does not want to get wrapped up in a fairy tale once in a while? We are raised from the beginning of childhood life that fairy tales are just that... in this movie Paige is given the chance to live a true fairy tale. After realizing that she also remembers her dream, she remembers she will never give that up for anyone, not even prince charming. Paige is going to change the world. I loved that aspect of the movie. I want to see women who want to change the world and will work as hard as they have to in order to do so. I dont know, I guess I am just a hopeless romantic or something. But really, I...

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Children Of Heaven

Fascinating story of two children and one pair of shoes.
This movie is a perfect example of how a film can be made beautifully effective without having to resort to raw sex, constant violence, or complicated plots. It is the simple but charming story of two poor children, a brother and a sister, who must share one pair of shoes because the brother, during his walk home from the shoe repair loses his sister's shoes.The loss of the shoes brings on all the difficulties with which they must now cope. The film tenderly shows how they strive toward resolution of their problem. The dialogue is kept minimal, and yet the director has achieved a very solid tension that keeps your eyes glued to the screen from the opening frames till the very end. This film beautifully shows a world of which most Westerners are completley unaware, a world that is so different from our own. The bulk of the film is carried very capably, on the shoulders of two small, young children, and they do a totally magnificant job of making you believe this very...

Wonderful story of a brother's love for his little sister
This 1997 film is from Iran. And it's the kind of film that the whole family can enjoy. It's about a 9-year old boy who loses his 7-year old sister's shoes through no fault of his own. They are very poor and they both want to keep it a secret from their parents. And so they share his only pair of worn-out sneakers. She wears them to school in the morning, and then runs through the streets, gives him the shoes and he wears them in the afternoon. Such a plan is not without its challenges, however. She almost loses a shoe when it falls into a gutter. He's late for school. The shoes are worn. Both of them crave a pair of their own.

Amir Farrokh Hasherman is cast as the boy. He has the biggest, most expressive eyes I've ever seen and my heart immediately went out to him. Bahare Seddiqi is the little sister. She wears a long dress and a white head covering just like all the other little girls. It's their shoes that show their individuality and she is always looking at all...

work of art
The wonderful Iranian film, "Children of Heaven," and its companion piece, "The White Balloon", remind one of those great Czechoslovakian films of the 1960's ("The Shop on Main Street" and "Loves of a Blonde" etc.) in that they achieve their artistry by providing keenly observed glimpses into the minutiae of everyday life. They also help to humanize a culture often regarded as alien and even incomprehensible to western eyes. Above all, this magnificent film reminds us that real drama comes not in the form of overplotted special effects laden extravaganzas, but from films that examine the universal simplicities of life as we all know it. When it is distilled through the eyes of a poet - this is when art is achieved.

"Children of Heaven" has its roots planted firmly in the neorealist tradition. Its simple story echoes not merely the earlier "The White Balloon" but the original Italian classic, "The Bicycle...

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48 Hrs.

The tradition of shabby home video releases continues for "48 HRS"... this time on Blu-Ray
"48 HRS." is a terrific action-comedy that gets everything right for its genre. The action is tough, but not overdone; the comedy is funny, but not over-the-top; the direction by filmmaker Walter Hill is skillful, edgy and playful; the San Francisco location shooting makes for a wonderfully dark, atmospheric and gritty backdrop; the dated-but-effective soundtrack is awesome in its own "1980s" sort of way; and the script is tight and witty, with sharp characterizations and crackling dialogue that is sometimes vulgar, yet always smart. Best of all, the two leads are at the apex of their star power, making the film a joy to watch.

Indeed, this is the film that made Eddie Murphy a superstar, and it's easy to see why. Raw, dynamic and totally charismatic, it is not hyperbole to state that Mr. Murphy's first film performance easily ranks as one of the greatest film debuts in cinematic history. Young, lean and hungry, Murphy plays a semi-tough street hustler/convict with just the...

Eddie Murphy's Best!!!
This is absolutely Eddie Murphy's best movie! Certainly better than most other stuff he's done this century, and the past decade! I saw this movie for the first time in the theater, and also have it on VHS. I have watched this movie easily 50 times. I'm sure it might be more though.

It is a true classic, highlighting the true natural talent of Eddie Murphy. He and Nick Nolte play off each other well, and Nolte isn't too bad himself in the comedy department. Though his type of humor is much more subtle. He does get his digs in, on Mr. Murphy's expense, mind you.

To the best of my knowledge, this was one of the first movies that combined excellent humor scenes with extreme violence and emotion. And while many tried to duplicate it, in later years, including other Eddie Murphy vehicles, such as Beverly Hills Cop, nothing can compare to the original!

A true classic. I will probably buy this on DVD soon, but I'm kind of holding out for an "extras...

A modest Blu Ray upgrade for a great film!
First of all, I truly LOVE this movie! I was 27 years old when it was released and have seen it a good 30 times since then, first on VHS rentals, then repeated HBO showings , the DVD release and finally on HD Net Movies. I know it has never fared very well on ANY of those formats and I was hoping for even a modest amount of improvement with the Blu Ray. I knew going in that this was NOT a remaster of the original film elements and I knew not to set my expectations too high. The disc has no artwork printed on it and looks like a cheap rental with the title etched into the flat gray paint. The case is an el cheapo "Eco" which consists of more air than plastic.

Was it worth the upgrade? In a word, YES! Here are my reasons:

Better overall color, sharpness and depth than any other released version. This is not to say it is a nice rendering. For the most part , it is NOT. Colors are faded all over the place. Contrast levels come and go, sharpness shows in some...

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She's Out Of My League

Beauty and the Deadbeat
Most comedies out there today are complete and utter garbage. Most romantic comedies could be written by brain-dead zombies and have more originality. After watching hours of that drivel (my wife likes them), She's Out of My League was refreshing. For the first time in far too long, I laughed out loud at a romantic comedy. The movie was genuinely funny, meaningful, and not always predictable.

Despite the scenario (hot girl, deadbeat guy), She's Out of My League doesn't peddle the usual bromides about "love being blind" or "good things happen to good people." Rather, it's about self-esteem. This makes the characters and plot more interesting and subtle. I'm not going to claim that there's Oscar-winning character development in She's Out of My League, but Molly,...

Original yet funny!
Ok, we've all seen this story before. average guy gets the hot chick, an unbelievably hot chick I might add. Its the same storyline in a lot of romantic comedies, but what keeps us from going to watch them when we know they are all alike? They each have there own little twist. The particular twist in League is that the guy is an unattractive Security worker at an airport who meets the hot chick by a series of events that we all wish would happen (dont deny it you guys we all wish life worked like it does in the movies). Anyway, after seeing the previews your either thinking 'Hmmm... this might be a good movie' or 'OH GOD another stupid comedy about a loser and a girl' there is no 'WOW, this looks amazing' crowd. I was in the group that thought it looked good, so I had to check it out for myself. I was downright happy with this movie. It was funny, it was loving, not to mention the disney movie references the fat guy kept making. I dont think I'm the only one who thought Stainer, one...

A good insight into our 'shallowness'
'She's out of my league' is a movie that works. Rather than relying on tired dirty jokes and cliche's, and despite it's goofy looking promo poster, it is quite insightful into our shallow perceptions of relationships.

Part of it's success is the main character, Kirk, is just very average and humble. He's not self-deprecating in a rediculous way, he's just very straight-forward, with a dose of low self-esteem. Even his more-attractive love affair, Molly, is a pleasant person, rather then some poster-girl stereo-type. Even better is the fat guy (forgotten his name) who's mature outlook helps him to lead a contented life. It's the good characters that make this movie worth watching.

On the whole, everything is good; the dialogue is usually interesting, the jokes are ok, etc. As you can guess, the movie is about a really hot woman who starts falling in love with a man who considers himself unattractive. The man finds it difficult to accept such a hot girl could like...

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Panic In The Streets

"Anything I don't like's a smart-cracking dame."
Love him or hate him (many in Hollywood still do, hate him, that is, based on his cooperating with the HUAC - House Un-American Activities Committee back in the early 50s), Elia Kazan knew how to make damn good films, including such features as A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), On the Waterfront (1954), which won eight Academy Awards, including one for best direction and one for best actor in leading role for Marlon Brando, Splendor in the Grass (1961), and this earlier effort titled Panic in the Streets (1950), which also won an Academy Award in the best writing motion picture story category for Edward and Edna Anhalt. Starring in the film is Richard Widmark, whom I last saw in the one of the unfunniest comedies I've ever seen in National Lampoon's Movie Madness (1983), so I really relished this opportunity to put that experience in the past as I knew Widmark capable of much better things having seen Pickup on South Street (1953), which I think is one of his best films (I have yet to...

An unusual but very gripping film noir!
This excellent documentary-style noir was superbly directed by the great Elia Kazan, who made great use of actual locations in New Orleans to create a very realistic and believable atmosphere. The cast is nearly flawless, with great performances from Richard Widmark (in a rare good guy role!), Paul Douglas, Barbara Bel Geddes, Zero Mostel, and Jack Palance, in his stunning film debut.

Richard Widmark plays Dr. Clint Reed, a public health doctor who must work with New Orleans Police Captain Tom Warren (played by Paul Douglas) to find the killer(s) of a man who was already dying of the deadly bubonic plague (he was carrying a virulent strain of it). They have only 48 hours to find the killers before they can escape the port area and unknowingly spread the plague throughout the country.

Jack Palance plays the ruthless killer who's on the run from the police, not knowing that he's already infected with the plague. Barbara Bel Geddes plays the patient wife of Dr. Reed...

Classic film noir comes to DVD with great commentary
Dr. Clint Reed (Richard Widmark) and New Orleans Police Captain Tom Warren (Paul Douglas) frantically search for a pair of criminals involved with the murder of a card player who may have been infected with plague by the victim. Reed and Warren have 48 hours to find the criminals before they become infectious and spread plague through the population like a wildfire. Although it doesn't compare to the gorefests that pass for suspense thrillers today. Kazan's eighth film as a director is filled with long takes influenced by Welles (although far more naturalistic looking without the unusual angles that Gregg Toland used on Welles' masterpiece "Citizen Kane") creating as much suspense by letting the action play out as the quick cutting style of Hitchcock and other directors working at the time. Featuring the lovely and underrated Barbara Bel Geddes as Widmark's wife, "Panic in the Streets" continues to astound with its suspenseful direction and brutal violence. A young Jack Palance...

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Teacher's Pet

Entertaining comic 'Battle of the Sexes'!
"Teacher's Pet" is a deliciously funny look at journalism, and the clash between 'formal' education vs. practical experience, with higher learning championed by Doris Day, and the 'School of Hard Knocks' represented by the 'King', himself, Clark Gable. Despite an obvious age difference (Gable, at 57, was showing all of his years), the chemistry between the stars is electric, and with Oscar-nominated Gig Young providing terrific comic support as Gable's brilliant yet down-to-earth competition for Day, the film manages to be both witty and wise.

With over a quarter century of playing newspapermen, the role of hard-boiled City Editor Jim Gannon fit Clark Gable like an old shoe. No-nonsense, pragmatic, and a workaholic, Gannon was the classic 'school drop-out' who learned the newspaper business from the ground up, and held college in contempt. While Gannon was obviously a dinosaur, even by 1950s' standards, Gable appears to be having a ball as the cigarette-smoking,...

A DELIGHTFUL DAY WITH CLARK.
Tough, cynical Jim Gannon, a newspaperman from the "old school" first ridicules then falls for a lady teacher who has her own ideas about writing the news. This little 1958 film is a jewel because it contains one of Gable's finer latter-day comedy performances. As the veteran newsman, Gable literally had me laughing out loud in a couple of scenes - something I didn't expect at this point in his career. As Erica Stone, the beautiful teacher of journalism, Day really shines in her plumb role, conveying sexiness, brains and taste in her performance. Gig Young all but steals the show (he was nominated for a best supporting AA) in his gem of a performance as the likeable egghead Hugo Pine; his playing is smooth and assured. Young eventually WON an Oscar for his brilliant performance as the cynical MC in THEY SHOOT HORSES DON'T THEY? Tragically, Young fought private demons in his private life and would ultimately commit suicide - taking his newlywed young wife with him...

GABLE & DAY SCORE IN GOOD COMEDY.....
Hard-as-nails, uneducated city news editor Jim Gannon (Clark Gable) sits in on a journalism class by teacher Erica Stone (Doris Day) and falls for her. Trouble is, he's posing as Jim Gallagher---a new student, because he had crassly rejected her offer to speak to her class on, what else, journalism. He has a hard nose against education since he never finished high school and believes that experience is the best teacher. She is amazed at his skill and offers to tutor him, unaware of his ruse. Complications arise from a colleague of Stone's, Hugo Pine (Gig Young) who's a world class scholar on everything. Mamie van Doren is in an all too brief role as Peggy DeVore, Gannon's girlfriend who sings at the Bongo Club and performs "The Girl Who Invented Rock & Roll". She's very funny and holds her own with Gable in the equally funny night club scene. This b&w 1958 film (scripted by Fay & Michael Kanin) has much to say on honesty and truth in journalism but also scores points on experience as...

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Speakeasy

"We Are Immortal Til Our Work Is Done"
David Strathairn (Good Night and Good Luck, Blue Car) plays Bruce who has a job as a magician. His wife Sophie, played by Stacy Edwards (Houdini, In The Company Of Men) has a deaf father, Mr. Prappas, played by Arthur Hiller (Roswell, Beverly Hills Cop 3) who Strathairn is taking care of because Edwards doesnt want to. Strathairn gets into a car accident involving Frank, played by the brilliant Nicky Katt (Boston Public, Boiler Room) and they become friends. Strathairn even finds out that Katt's daughter is deaf just like his step-father and he also meets Katt's wife Sara played by the lovely Lake Bell (Surface, I Love Your Work). Meanwhile, Edwards is spending time with Dr. Addams, played by Christopher McDonald (The Perfect Storm, Terminal Velocity) who used to go to High School with her. Filled with great performances especially by Strathairn, Edwards and Katt. Too bad this didnt get theater release, I would of liked to see Strathairn get nominated for Best Actor, Edwards for Best...

Speaking From the Heart.
This is pretty good indie film on love, relationship, forgivness, reconcilation, and self-discovery. It's good drama with enough funny and heartfelt moments and strong performances from the 4 leads.

The film starts with a car crash between Bruce Hickman(David Strathairn) and Frank Marnikov(Nicky Katt) on a quite street in Los Angeles. The two strangers seemed to be destined to become friends and soon meeting regularly. Bruce is full-time magician and Frank is a prawn shop owner. They have nothing in common, but they are fascinated by each other's background that seemed perculiarly sort of a six degrees of separation since Bruce's father-in-law and Frank's daughter are both deaf.

Meanwhile, Bruce's wife Sophie(Stacy Edward), a teacher ran into Dr. Addams(Christopher McDonald), an old friend from her college days, and they started going out for chats or therapy sessions at a cafe. She's not in good terms with her Dad, and tried to avoid seeing him. He's gradually...



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Mouse Hunt

Hilarious!
I think one of the most annoying things about movie critics is that they're supposed to know their stuff, but in the end they come across as just being college guys looking for something dirty to watch! Isn't it funny how they can't help but get down on a hilarious, old fashioned comedy like this and yet show them something like American Pie and it's great intellectual humor! A modern classic! Sickening! This movie was totally hilarious with hardly any sexual humor at all! Allright, just a hint here and there that wasn't necessary. Beyond that this movie was such a perfect comedy for everyone! I absolutely loved this movie! They used every cartoon trick in the book to try and stop that mouse! And wasn't Christopher Walken just incredible?!!! The casting in this was soooo great! It makes me so sad when movies like this come out and hardly get noticed by the public for whatever reason! Probably the lack of sex humor is evident and the previews and it keeps the movie goers away. Anyway I...

This has got to be one of the funniest movies ever made.
It's very rare that I laugh out loud at anything, but every time I watch this movie, I do just that. It's tear-running-down-my cheeks-from-laughing funny.

What a delight to watch this movie and forget about all the daily cares and problems.

A delight from start to finish
Mix in the elements of an early Coen brothers film with some Disney magic, a mouse that could star on digital cable's "Bridezilla", some Laurel and Hardy slapstick with generous portions of "Home Alone" and "The Money Pit" and you've got "Mouse Hunt", an offbeat comedy that is great for everyone.

Comic actors Nathan Lane and Lee Evans star as the Smuntz brothers, a pair of schlemiels that inherit a rickety factory and even more rickety house. Through a freak, they learn the house is potentially worth big bucks and the brothers do their best to turn it into their personal cash cow amidst failures in their professional and personal lives.

The fly in the ointment is a mouse that lives in the house and won't be discarded. This little critter is surely the star of this show and the one you root for over and over again during this happy time DVD. The little guy seems to have a brain bigger than Chicago the way he outwits everyone in the movie time after time...

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Escape From Alcatraz

Eastwood gives his best screen acting to date...
In the 29 years of Alcatraz's existence, and despite the strict measures, 39 captives tried to escape from America's premier maximum-security prison during its existence... Thirty six of whom failed... This script is about the other three, of whom nothing is known... They may have drowned in San Francisco Bay, or they may have got away...

Morris (Clint Eastwood) was a loner, a rebel against society, the perfect hero that Siegel loves... Lee Marvin in 'The Killers', Steve McQueen in 'Hell is for Heroes', and Richard Widmark in 'Madigan' were all similar types in films which he had directed..

In 'Escape From Alcatraz,' Eastwood gives his best screen acting to date... It is a charismatic performance that is so idiosyncratic, persuasive, and powerful... Eastwood, gave Morris the rough, intelligent aspect that is immediately palpable...

The first few minutes of the film consist of Morris being brought by boat to Alcatraz, inspected by a doctor and thrown...

Amazon reviewers agree -- a great film.
Seldom do Amazon.com reviewers agree on ratings for films they watch, but for this one, the vote is in and it is unanimous. Escape from Alcatraz is a winner.

Director Don Siegel is pitch perfect from beginning to end. Many reviewers who have been to Alcatraz comment on the realism of this film. Siegel gives us an inside look at what it might have been like to be imprisoned on "the rock." From the black hole of solitary confinement to the painfully small individual cells of the prisoners, Alcatraz was a nasty place meant for only the nastiest criminals.

One of these prisoners is Frank Morris, expertly played by Clint Eastwood, who is transferred to Alcatraz, gets into a fight with an inmate who wants to make him his "punk," and spends time in the black hole. When he gets out of solitary, Morris begins to plan his escape. Several reviewers comment on the fact that Hollywood does not get these facts straight, but I didn't much care. I was pulled very quickly into Morris's...

Eastwood and Siegel's Last Collaboration
Clint Eastwood and director Don Siegel were sympatico in terms of taut, economic filmmaking. "Escape From Alcatraz" (1979) remains a standout in their careers. It's a gritty, atmospheric prison drama that demands repeated viewings. Eastwood delivers one of his finest performances as convict Frank Morris - perfectly matched by Patrick McGoohan as the sadistic warden. Highly recommended.

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Trekkies 2

More balanced than the original
In 1997 the movie "Trekkies" caused outrage among many fans that felt that the film put too much emphasis on `extreme' fans to the detriment of all Star Trek fans. "Trekkies 2" provides a broader and more balanced look at fandom and it's lots of fun to watch. Sure the film introduces us to even more people who had me shaking my head in wonder but it also provides a fascinating look at the multicultural diversity within Star Trek fandom as the filmmakers travel around the world.

"Trekkies" focused on fans in the United States but as you watch "Trekkies 2" you get to globetrot with the filmmakers as they film at conventions in Europe, South America and Australia. The United States isn't neglected though and one of the things that director Roger Nygard choose to do is to revisit some memorable characters from "Trekkies" and see not only what they currently up to, but how appearing in "Trekkies" affected their lives. The memorable Gabriel Koerner, who is now in his early...

Another Heaping Helping Of Trekkies
The first "Trekkies" film managed to dig up some rather odd characters to give the average person an idea of what makes up a fan of "Star Trek" and all of its offspring. It gave us a cross-dressing dude who explains and performs a little "filk" for everyone. We were introduced to the lady in Arkansas who was made famous by attending Whitewater scandal jury duty in her Starfleet uniform and, alas, who could forget Gabriel Koerner. He was perhaps the uber-geek out of the whole bunch. The film also showed how the fans are very involved in their communities and world.

More of the same is offered up in "Trekkies 2," though this one was a little more emotional than the first. Denise Crosby bounces across the globe in search of more Trek fans. Once again we visit some pretty strange folks, but we are also shown how something as simple as "Star Trek" can have so much meaning to a group of people when Crosby goes to Serbia. Those people were so touched and amazed at how the...

Big Disappointment...Don't Bother
After loving Trekkies I, we ordered Trekkies 2, an obviously PC response to fan backlash from the hilarious portrayal of Trek fans in Trekkies I. Trekkies 2 is a yawn...slow and boring with very few colorful fans other than updates on megafans featured in Trekkies I.

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Up In The Air

Incisive Look at Life's Emotional Baggage Through the Journeys of a Corporate Hatchet Man
As someone who has both laid off staff and a year later, became the victim of a layoff after twelve years with the same company, I had a personal interest in seeing how director/co-screenwriter Jason Reitman (Thank You for Smoking, Juno) was going to adapt Walter Kirn's smart, unsettling 2001 novel. Even though eight years have elapsed since the book's publication, the filmmaker - along with co-writer Sheldon Turner - manages to deepen Kirn's themes in this wry, emotionally resonant 2009 dramedy and make them even more relevant with the pervasive downsizing of corporate America. The movie also manages to surprise even when certain plot turns seem evident before they occur. Initially, there is a veneer of cynicism that makes you think the story will be an abject lesson in the impermanence of life, but instead, it evolves into one man's journey...

Hands down the best film of 2009.
Hard to understand how a movie that manages to make you feel down in the dumps in many instances can have you laughing out loud the rest of the way. Perhaps because UP IN THE AIR is a movie so very full of surprises and complete knowledge of its main subject (I swear the next time I go through security in an airport I'll be looking for the oriental businessmen and avoid babies at all costs).
All throughout the movie I was expecting the obvious conclusion (the firer being fired) and was surprised to get something completely different in return, but even UP IN THE AIR's schocker scene, managed to make so much sense it's hard for me to understand how I didn't see it coming.
There's no question in my mind UP IN THE AIR will be the movie future generations will look back in trying to understand this particular era we live in. It is quiet simply a classic.

Sparkling Jewel
This hybrid comedy-drama-romance is a rare treat that honestly addresses job loss, love and relationships without resorting to common cliches or contrived situations. George Clooney and co-star Vera Farmiga are reminiscent of Cary Grant and Deobrah Kerr in An Affair To Remember.

Vera Farmiga is the strong, female co-star Clooney has long needed. She is beautiful, sophisticated and restrained, similar in many aspects to Brigit Bardot and Sophia Loren. She is Ukrainian but was raised in America. However, she did not speak English as a child which probably explains her elegant restraint when speaking English. Men will truly enjoy the brief but wonderful scene of Farmiga naked in Clooney's motel room. Wow, what a hot body.

Clooney is superb as a confident, insensitive but charming employee terminator during the economic collapse of 2008. Clooney works for a corporate consulting company based in Omaha, Nebraska that performs the dirty work for spineless business...

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Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Great movie/DVD; Star Trek 3 Director's Edition coming soon!
I just bought this DVD..., and the verdict is in: It's a blast!!!

THE MOVIE: Certanily one of the best Star Trek movies. Although the main plot about revenge is a bit too basic, the sub-plots, including the addition of Kirk's ex-wife and son, makes the movie better. The action is well paced and the special effects are marevelous. Also, the "expanded director's edition" featured on this DVD adds about 5 extra minutes to the movie. The added footage does little to help the plot, but does a great deal to flesh out more of the minor characters, such as Kirk's son and Lt. Saavik. Also, the last 15 minutes of the film (some added dialogue was put in there to have a little bit more emotional impact at the end of the film) made me jump the grade of the film from a "B" to an "A+."

THE DVD: In addition to having a crisp, clear picture transfer of the film with oustanding sound, the first disc has a nice audio commentary from the director and an even nicer text commentary from Michael...

Well, I think it looks good...
I'm relatively new to the whole Blu-ray thing; indeed, I resisted buying a Blu-ray player for a long time because I imagined that older movies (e.g., Wrath of Khan) would look grainy and dated in this format, which mercilessly exposes the flaws in older film prints.

So I was pleasantly surprised when "Wrath of Khan" ended up looking, to me, rather good on Blu-ray. It's by no means a perfect print; for example, there's usually some fuzz (or whatever the technical term is) visible on scenes with dark lighting, such as when the Enterprise bridge goes to red alert. But by and large, this print is much nicer than the previous DVD versions.

I compared some DVD scenes to Blu-ray ones to determine whether the upgrade was worth it, and I think it was. Check out the scene when Spock gives Kirk his birthday present; on Blu-ray, you can see all the fine details on that giant globe they're standing next to, whereas on the DVD print it just looks like some glass blob...

The royal treatment comes to the most famous TREK film
In the wake of Robert Wise's "director's edition" of STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE, it was only a matter of time before Nicholas Meyer's STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN was awarded the same treatment. Half a year later, KHAN does indeed get the royal treatment with a 2-disc set loaded with extras and fan tidbits galore. The package includes a slightly extended "director's cut" of KHAN that restores a critical plot point (namely, the young cadet who dies in Scotty's arms is actually Scotty's nephew) and a few brief clippings of dialogue (mostly back-and-forth exchanges among the main cast); a commentary by Meyer in which he discusses both the film and his approaches to filmmaking; a text commentary by STAR TREK's long-time technical point man Michael Okuda that's packed with more fanboy knowledge than a game of Trivial Pursuit; cast interviews from 1982 (in which Leonard Nimoy wears a pink and white striped suit that makes him look like a pimp); three documentaries covering the making...

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The Last Castle

Totally absorbing with fast moving plot
The film stars Robert Redford as a 3-star general who has been stripped of his rank and sent to a military prison run by James Gandolfini of "The Sopranos" fame. From the beginning there is conflict between the two men as Redford views Gandolfini as a tin soldier who has never been in real battles. As the film goes on, we see Gandolfini as nothing short of a sadist who punishes the men severely for every infraction of his silly rules. The story moves fast and the audience identifies with the plight of the men who have lost their pride in being soldiers. Redford orchestrates psychological strategies to rattle Gandolfini as well as armed conflict. The plot moves so fast and is so involving that I got totally absorbed in the film, rooting for the prisoners as they fought for dignity under Gandolfini's heavy hand.

Redford is a good actor and played his part well. He has lines in his face, which make him look real. James Gandolfini is magnificent and shows the range of his acting...

A Prison Drama We Have Seen Before, But Still Engaging
Director Rod Lurie's follow-up of "The Contender" raises his patriotic tone higher than before, and gives an intriguging setting of the film, but as he did before, sacrifices its potentially complex nature of patriotism. Instead of making full use of the interesting situation, "The Last Castle" goes in a very familar territory where many previous prison dramas have treaded before. But ... here's an irony ... the film is very engaging and entertaining as the latter.

Robert Redford is General Irwin (and three-star general), who disobeyed a direct order from the President and was found guilty at court marshal. Irwin, now stripped of his honor, is sent to the prison where Col. Winter (James Gandolfini) maneges with strict rules. At first, Irwin was thinking of nothing but "doing time, and going home," dreaming of the day (ten years ahead) when he can play chess with his still unseen grandson. But the situation around him, which is so severe for some inmates of the prison, wakes...

"The Last Castle" is action-packed and emotional!!
"The Last Castle" is among one of the best prison dramas that I have ever seen since...ever! It is so thrilling, so entertaining that you would have to see it again and again! And Robert Redford's performance just couldn't be better! "The Last Castle" focuses on General Eugene Irwin (Redford) a three-star general who is being sent to a military prison for defying a presidential order, but did so heroically. There, he meets Colonel Winter (an excellent James Gandolfini), who has the utmost amount of respect for the general. Winter is a man who has never seen combat, and when Irwin sneeks a peek at Winter's battlefield memorabilia, that's when we know that they won't be seeing eye to eye for a long time. The other inmates, among them are Mark Ruffalo as the prison booky, Yates, decide to go to the general about the treatment of the prison. And that's when the real war begins! General Irwin rallied up the other prisoners into taking over the prison as a result of protesting the sadistic...

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Friday the 13th - Part II

Better than the original............
I liked this movie and found it to be better than the original. It was more interesting and the pace was faster. I also liked the performances and the characters, and the opening scene was really scary and intense, especially late at night. i wish all the installments could be this good.

Possibly The Greatest Of The Early Fridays
As I noted in my write-up for the first "Friday The 13th", I feel that movie and this one form two halves of a beginning stage for the full series. The first deliberately ended on a wide-open note (not as common in 1980 as it is today, and not in the slightest contrived but the pivotal point for the whole movie and perhaps the whole series) and without the second chapter the first would have been woefully incomplete.

I think "Part 2" fully equals or possibly exceeds its predecessor. Like "Part 1", it's shot in a somewhat 'rough' manner, with simple camerawork and a minimum of flash, similar to the styles for the first "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" or "Basket Case", though not nearly As rough. It's a technique that's worked far better in a number of horror films than in most genres, because it doesn't look like someone's meticulously filming a motion picture, it looks as though events are being captured on film as they happen, giving the movie (when it's done right) a...

One of the Better In the Series
This is tied with Friday the 13th, Part VI - Jason Lives as my favorites of the series. This is still back when this series aimed to be scary and not comical. We all know that lengthy series of movies have more than their share of rotten pieces. With this release, Friday the 13th hadn't reached that point.

Now, the film picks up where the first left off. It features Alice, the survivor of the first film. Without going into much detail I will say that this one is better than the first and definitely one of the better of the series.

Definitely Recommended.

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Voyagers of the Titanic

Revisit the 80's
I loved this series when it was on TV originally. I am glad it was available on Amazon now. My children liked it when it came out and both started looking for things in the library thanks to this show. I wish that some station would remake the series.

One of my favorite shows when I was a kid.
I loved this show when I was a kid. It combined history with adventure and was mildly educational without being preachy. I showed this show to my 10 year old son and loved it.

Nostalgic.
Great show for kids has a lot of history lessons mixed with entertainment it was a great show when I was a kid now as an adult its a little corny but I can watch it with my kids.

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Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

underrated meditation on the nature of friendship
Don't be fooled by some of the negative reviews here. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock is a thoughtful meditation on the nature of friendship. I admire its careful attention to developing a classical story arc in which Kirk is driven by concern for his friends (Spock and McCoy) and by outer events (a feckless Federation bureaucracy) to steal the Enterprise and outwit and outrun enemies on all sides. Indeed, the film's first act is a gem: a model of balanced writing in its build-up to Kirk's inexorable conclusion that he must steal the Enterprise to save his friends. Among the priceless scenes in that first half-hour: A visit by Spock's father to Kirk's San Francisco pad in which, during a "mind meld" between them, successive shots end with a quiet, touching close-up of Kirk's eye as he relives Spock's "death" in the previous film; Scottie's hilarious asides toward a pompous captain played deftly by character actor James Sikking; and Kirk being told by...

A difficult film to make, and Nimoy and Shatner did it.
Star trek III is widely considered to be an infinitely inferior sequel to The Wrath of Khan, yet is in fact a more complex film and has a much more difficult task set in front of it. Although not perfect, it is an engaging story filled with a number of excellent reversals and has some of Shatner's best acting.

Montalban is the absolute driving force in Star Trek II and much of that film relies on this fact. Christopher Lloyd does a fine job as a merciless Klingon, yet it is up to Shatner to carry this film. And he does an great job. His stealing of the Enterprise gives Kirk back the initiative in the entire series, and is one of the all-time great moments for the original cast. Why this sequence, and so many others, is not given more credit is beyond me. One gripe: As usual, Kirk gets a LOT of screen time, cut-aways shots etc. at the expense of the other cast members.

Mired in some necessary exposition, The Search for Spock effectively navigates its way through...

A great continuation
Star Trek III The Search for Spock is a wonderful, middle movie to the more or less trilogy of II, III and IV. I was a little disappointed that Kirstie Allie couldn't pick up where she left off in the role of Saavik. Robin Curtis does do a very good job though. Christopher Lloyds Klingon Commander is absolutely Klingon through and through. All of the original cast members are true to their characters. Overall, Star Trek III is not the best of the original six, but it's most certainly not the worst either. A wonderful story that, like all the rest, I've watched more times than I can remember.

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Some Kind Of Hero

Vietnam Vet Is some kind of Hero
This movie is quite good for several reasons, based on the book it is a moving and intelligent treatment of released POW vet Eddie Kellar as played by Richard Pryor after several-years and how he tries to re-adjust to civilian life back home the pomp and media frenzy that ensue then the hardships,his wife is in love with another man,he has a daughter he doesnt know,his mother is in a nursing home from a stroke and hes broke. The Army wont pay his back-money and he falls for his only friend left in the world a sympathetic highpriced prostitute Toni(Margot Kidder),the film then changes gear into some hilarious attempt's by Eddie to turn around his luck by turning to crime. Comedy and drama this is worth watching!

So-so
Pryor appeared in a glut of movies in the five years after he blew himself up freebasing. Some were good, some kinda stunk and Some Kind Of Hero fell in the middle of those. The movie can't really decide if it wants to be a drama or a comedy, and while it contains elements of both it isn't particularly funny or particularly moving. Margot Kidder provides a sexy and effective turn as a hooker, and there are a few laughs sprinkled throughout the movie, but unless you're a huge Pryor or Kidder fan, you're not missing much by giving this one a pass.

Not your ordinary prisoner of war movie
Of all Richard Pryor's films, this one has to rank up there as one of the strangest. To begin with, it's a comedy/drama that's partly set in a POW camp during the Vietnam War. If you think that kind of set-up sounds like Roberto Benigni's Life is Beautiful (97) you would be wrong. The POW camp depicted in this film looks more like it was filmed around some bungalows in the Hollywood Hills. Pryor has some good (albeit minimal) interplay with another American POW (played convincingly by the underrated Ray Sharkey) and a four legged friend he calls "Spike" but eventually he is freed and the film shifts to Pryor's character trying to adjust back to life stateside. This is where the film begins to take a nosedive. One wonders what the film might have been like if it was set entirely in the POW camp and was more dramatic. Pryor was a brilliant comedian and a great actor (see him in his best film performance in Blue Collar from 1978). He was always able to handle the more serious material in...

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The Next Best Thing

Take a deep breath, relax - and enjoy!
Have you ever bought at the stock market when everybody told you to sell - and won? That's what happened to me with this film. After buying almost all of John Schlesinger's films, I hesistated before ordering this one - in view of all that criticism. But then I assumed that - 1) Schlesinger cannot suddenly make a bad film after making so many excellent ones, and - 2) if so many bad things are said about a film it must somehow be good. Luckily, I was right this time.

Perhaps much of all that criticism springs from unjustified expectations. Let me try to put two points right: First: this is not a film about Madonna, or by Madonna. She is just an actress here - and a good one, just right for the part. Schlesinger does not present her as a singer or a sex symbol - but as a person. Secondly: Nobody has made a promise that this will be an in-depth, politically correct exploration of gay life. This is just a film - and an entertaining one. There is no law in the land that says a...

not bad but could have been better
Forget about diamonds. `The Next Best Thing' is dedicated to the proposition that a gay man is really a girl's best friend. But, man, can that make life complicated! Madonna stars as Abbie, a Southern California yoga instructor who just can't seem to find that certain someone to provide her with marriage and a child but who, at the same time, hears her biological clock ticking ominously down. Rupert Everett plays Robert, her gay best friend, whom Abbie leans upon for support in times of grave romantic crisis - which seems to be just about her normal state of affairs. One night the two get a little too drunk and frisky and end up consummating their friendship, an act that leads to Abbie's pregnancy and a decision between the two to move in together and raise the child as mother and father but not husband and wife. All goes fairly well for six years or so until Abbie falls in love with a young New York executive who wants to marry her and move the three of them away from Los Angeles and...

Pretty bad
So... I certainly respect everyone's right to have their own opinion, but it boggles my mind how so many of the reviewers seemed to love this film! It was pretty darned bad. While Madonna's "I'm british, no I'm not" accent was somewhat entertaining, her character's complete personality shift 2/3 of the way through made no sense and totally pushed the rest of this already mediocre film downhill. If you think this plot was a good idea, but you want to experience *some* entertainment from it, go rent "The Object Of My Affection."

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The Parallax View

FInally the way it was supposed to be seen...
Beatty plays journalist investigating mysterious deaths of witnesses to a political assassination.

Pakula's dark and paranoid masterpiece was origninally shot by Gordon Willis (Godfathers I II and III, Klute, Zeilig, etc.) in 2.35 aspect. Willis, a master of light and composition, developed frames for this film that are practically abstract. His sense of composition (I'm sure Pakula was part of this) is brilliant: the static formalistic compositions; the use of long lenses to flatten each image into an (almost) isometric projection.

Now, maybe I'm getting carried away here, but "parallax" and "isometric"...? Hmmm... Both are terms related to geometry the "perception" of reality -- which is more-or-less the subtext of this film.

Anyway, after its dissapearance from theater screens this film made numerous appearances on TV (mainly late at night) in a pan-and-scan version. Same with the VHS version. So until the DVD was released, this was the only...

The Hero's Journey To Fool
Reminds me very much of THE WICKER MAN (released that same year of '74) in that both films chart the nightmarish progress of men who are seeking to uncover a mystery and right a great wrong, who must plunge into disorienting environments where none of the rules they adhered to back in the 'normal world' apply; they can't get their footing, and quickly become controlled by events. By the time they realize their every step has been not just watched but directed from the beginning...it's too late.

Warren Beatty's Joe Frady, a minor reporter in the Northwest, begins investigating the deaths of witnesses to a political assassination he'd covered three years before. He stumbles upon literature from The Parallax Corporation, an outfit he comes to believe are clandestinely recruiting & training assassins; he decides to penetrate the group as a 'job applicant', armed with a mass-murderer's psych-test responses and a false identity. He has made a slight but fatal error in judgment, however,...

The paradigm for paranoia
The Parallax View is the ultimate paranoia film, bar none. It is the standard by which all other films of this genre are judged. In other words, it is a classic. It combines stellar direction with a very believable performance by Warren Beatty to create a film that has no equal. From the opening on the Space Needle, it is obvious this movie isn't going to be run of the mill. From there, every plot line just gets bigger and bigger, until everything envelops Warren Beatty to form the film's stunning conclusion. Alan Pakula would eventually follow this film up with All The Presidents Men, that film is good, but this film is great. It stands as his masterwork, and it is the best of the 70's paranoia pictures.

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Focus

Season 7
Like a visit from an old friend from the 1980s. Not as enjoyable as seasons 3-5, but if you're a fan this season is a must watch.

Love the show, quality and options for viewing limited
Finally an option to expidate watching this series. I am a bit disapointed I am not able to download them and view without having to rely on a wifi connection. Happy that I can watch all the seasons without waiting for the studios to release the DVDs. All in all a good value for this Dynasty junkie!

Excellent
The rich with plenty of issues. A great television program of glamour and intrigue. Best drama program on television. I absolutely love it.

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Hustle & Flow

Best movie I've seen in a while
I'm not much of a rap fan but I picked this one up on a lark after hearing some of the good things that have been said lately about Terrence Howard. I can honestly say it is one of the best movies I've seen in a while and I think Howard is on his way to becoming a top-tier Hollywood actor.

The story centers on a pimp and drug dealer named Djay, played by Howard. Djay is sleepwalking his way through life until fate taps him on the shoulder. He is given an old Casio keyboard for a dime bag of pot and he runs into an old buddy of his who is now a recording studio technician. The two things light a spark in Djay and he decides to take a shot at being a rapper. Using egg boxes to soundproof a room in his rundown house and using his whores for backup singers, Djay creates magic.

The movie manages to make a pimp into a sympathetic character, which is an accomplishment on its own right. But the movie isn't really about pimps any more than it's about whores or drug...

Inspiring
Pimpin' ain't easy and this pimp is as realistic a pimp ever portrayed on film. Free of Blaxsploitation/glorified stereotypical pimps, Terrence Howard shines as DJay a man with a big dream and even bigger determination.

Craig Brewer brings the South to front with a raw and inspiring film about dreams. Brewer did an excellent job with the soundtrack which featured memorable sounds of the present and future south sound. Terrence Howard is amazing and even raps his own tunes! Supporting cast members also brought a fresh and personal feel to the movie. Taraji P. Henson as Shug was a warm and beautiful character that holds Djay's heart. Also Anthony Anderson plays a good straight character as Key.

All in all a surprise and very well written and acted movie!

Compelling and appalling, and funny!
I usually avoid like the plague anything related to hip-hop/gansta rap, but I always say "If a movie's good, it's good" and this one was. It made me laugh out loud and also tear up a bit. For adults only because the language is ultra-filthy with a few explicitly sexual images (though no nudity), and much glorification of pot-smoking.

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Steps

The best ever
I think Dynasty tops all the series I have ever watched. It is, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the best series every produced in my books. Dallas, Falcon Crest, Knot's Landing: all of those are good, but Dynasty was my favorite. I wish they would do a second one like they are doing wth Dallas.

Love it
I remember my parents watching Dynasty when I was in my early 20's but I was never home to watch it. I can see why it got so much attention back then. It's a great show with awesome fashion shows every episode.



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State of the Union

One of the best political satires ever made!
Since the gentleman before me does such a wonderful job in describing the movie's plot I won't go into that...but I did want to say that "State of the Union" is one of my all-time favorite "classic" movies. This highly underrated Frank Capra film ranks as one the best on-screen pairings of the ever-watchable Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn. This film is just as relevant to today's political system as it was to its' own era a half-century ago, which only shows that there has never been a "golden age" of American politics. Tracy is superb in his role as a kind of sane and non-paranoid Ross Perot who hopes to "come from nowhere" and capture the 1948 Republican presidential nomination. Katherine Hepburn,Van Johnson and Adolphe Menjou turn in strong supporting performances, but this film really belongs to a very young (and very attractive) Angela Lansbury, as the ruthless owner of a newspaper publishing empire who will stop at nothing to make...

The Tracy and Hepburn team do a Capracorn film
Hollywood always seems to produce better Presidents and candidates for President than the real world, which is certainly the case with this 1948 Frank Capra film. Spencer Tracy plays Grant Matthews, who is persuaded by his mistress, powerful publishing heiress Kay Thorndyke, played to the hilt by Angela Lansbury, to seek the Republican nomination. Katharine Hepburn plays Mary Matthews, who joins her estranged husband to present a public portrait of a happy family. With the aid of the conniving political boss Jim Conover, played by Adolphe Menjou, Matthews begins the long road to the White House.

Based on the Pulitzer-prize winning play by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, you can still get a sense of the original three-act structure of the story. Act I in a Washington, D.C. bedroom in the house of political operative Jim Conover is where Matthews is convinced to try running for President and his wife is persuaded that this is as much a chance to save her marriage as it is...

Tracy and Hepburn do a Capracorn film
Hollywood always seems to produce better Presidents and candidates for President than the real world, which is certainly the case with this 1948 Frank Capra film. Spencer Tracy plays Grant Matthews, who is persuaded by his mistress, powerful publishing heiress Kay Thorndyke, played to the hilt by Angela Lansbury, to seek the Republican nomination. Katharine Hepburn plays Mary Matthews, who joins her estranged husband to present a public portrait of a happy family. With the aid of the conniving political boss Jim Conover, played by Adolphe Menjou, Matthews begins the long road to the White House.

Based on the Pulitzer-prize winning play by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, you can still get a sense of the original three-act structure of the story. Act I in a Washington, D.C. bedroom in the house of political operative Jim Conover is where Matthews is convinced to try running for President and his wife is persuaded that this is as much a chance to save her marriage as it is to...

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The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button

A gorgeous, but depressing drama. Mild Spoilers
The Curious Case of Benjamim Button is by no means a feel-good movie. In fact upon watching it, I felt depressed even the next day just thinking about it. People may confuse this for a love story but to me the film clearly symbolizes death. The love aspect is certainly present, though it is not the center of attention here.

Brad Pitt stars as Benjamin Button, a man who essentially ages backwards. When he is born, his own father attempts to drown him before a sudden change of heart has him leaving the swaddled and very whithered newborn upon the steps of an elderly home. There he is found by Queenie, played to motherly perfection by Taraji P. Henson. She sees past the deformity and oddity and loves him immediately.

Instead of dying, as a doctor predicted, Benjamin actually begins to age backwards. He appears as a very old man and slowly grows younger, but only in body. His mind seems to function as a typical human's mind. He learns, and dreams and experiences...

Brilliant Adaptation of Fitzgerald's Short Story
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" is a wonderfully staged fantasy based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's fantasy about a boy born old and aging younger instead of older. The story could obviously be off-putting and distracting, but everyone involved does such a magnificent job of telling this story that it is not hard to accept this as fact, and following the story as it shows Benjamin growing younger and falling in love with a young girl named Daisy.

Benjamin and Daisy's story and the balance of Benjamin's life impart so many valuable life lessons that it is hard to recount them all - the idea that life brings many hardships and the best we can do is doing the best we can with what we're given, making the most of every moment because life is fleeting and unpredictable, find the joy and happinessin life and hold on to it dearly, and many other lessons.

"Benjamin Button" gives Brad Pitt the chance to shine in the title role, and he makes the most of it. He is ably...

A Life Less Ordinary
This is, while a technically brilliant piece of filmmaking that fully exploits all the wizardry of CGI and makeup of which the filmmaker's art is now capable, strangely hollow at the center. One begins the movie expecting some profound truths about human existence to be explored, but it ends not with a big life-affirming bang, but more of a whimper, quite literally. Benjamin says though his diary at one point: "Life is defined by opportunities--even the ones we miss." And that could be a sum-up of this film project as a whole, as well as the life of the bizarre hero at its center. One gets the sense of promise grasped for here but not quite realized as the technical and stylistic gymnastics of this movie overwhelm the fragile love story that should be its beating heart.

The film opens with Mr. Gateau (Cake) constructing a magical clock that runs backwards and mounting it in a train station in New Orleans in honor of his son, dead in the Great War. No mention is made...

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Come Blow Your Horn

If you haven't seen many Sinatra movies, see this one.
I have recently been getting more into Sinatra movies and I think this is one of my favorites. Here is a sneak at it...Sinatra is a business man which has a little brother he takes in to his home. His brother ends up getting caught up in the "high-life", which Sinatra has to deal with. They also end up having some little fights with their father. This movie makes you laugh, it's great. Sit down one night and have a glass of wine with it.

neil simon's 1st is also one of hisfunniest
This movie IS under-rated! Everyone was magnificent.Tony Bill's performance as the"kid brother" could not have been more appropriate.

Sinatra and Cobb at their best
This is one of the few movies I distinctly recall going to see with my family as a kid. I could tell you exactly where we went, et cetera. That memory being so vivid tells me that this movie was fun for the whole family or I would not recall it so vividly. Overall most Sinatra's movies are pretty good. This one he makes a believable playboy with the part of his concerned father played expertly by Lee J. Cobb. The whole movie is pretty lighthearted stuff and one most families can laugh at still today. Certain chords struck about young men acting like playboys and their parents concern for them settling down will likely never go out of style.

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Cool World

Subliminal
I can understand everyone else's opinions about this movie...
true, the script was a little messy...true the animation interaction with live action was quickly done...but all that is beside the greatness of this film, this movie remains one of my favorite movies of all time. WHY?

Because this movie is much more than what it is...obviously there are hidden messages/images in this film...especially in the ending when Holli picks up the "spike" on top of the tower in the real Las Vegas. The title "Cool World" is meant to be a sarcastic quotation. Holli seems to portray evil in the most appealing way. There is a lot of evil going on in the backround and foreground in this film throughout. Temptation (I believe) is the main subject, but there are other subjects tackled in the movie as well.

If you have only seen this movie once...it deserves a second look...and if you still don't get the message, then I can only say that "Cool World" is a reflection of who people really are,...

Frightening and disturbing
You cannot judge this movie by conventional standards. This is not meant to be Roger Rabbit for adults, it is not meant to be Citizen Kane, it is not meant to be Wierd Science. It is meant to be a completely different genre all by itself, and must be judged as such.

This movie scares me. Not in the sense of "it scares me that anyone would make a movie this bad," but more in the Blair Witch Project kind of scary. What it lacks in plot and scripting, it makes up for in atmosphere and creepiness. The "wooden nickels" scene is an example of this; some guy throws a handful of wooden nickels to some innocent kids, and the nickels proceed to open their mouths and devour the unsuspecting children. It's this kind of random, disturbing event that makes Cool World worth watching. This is a wierd movie for when you need to go on a major acid trip but you don't want to actually put drugs into your system. It is the movie to watch when you want to leave all reality and...

It's A Real Cool World
I'll tell ya... if I read one more review written by someone born after 1980 dissing Bakshi, I think I'm going to start kicking rump and taking names. Do people diss Disney? Hardly, until they became such a movie mill that they are computer generating what used to be created by hand with a loving touch.

Look at "Cool World" as the AntiToonworld of "Roger Rabbit". The characters are psychedelic, psychotic, retro and bent. There is a great deal of (expected) sexuality and lewdness, pushing the edge of the PG-13 as far as it can go. Lots of puns and inside jokes it takes an adult to appreciate, something Warner Bros. cartoons were masters at. Granted, they don't always hit the mark here, and there's more chemistry when the Doodles are on than when the Noids take over.

But I dare anyone to watch that scene with Holli cooing "Let's Make Love" to a sweating Mel Torme wannabe while she's having trouble keeping her Noidness intact and not feel the simulataneous urge to...

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Engaged And Confused

EXCITING LAST SEASON !
I LOVED THAT THE WRITERS KEPT YOU ON YOUR TOES THE WHOLE SEASON, YOU NEVER KNEW WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT, THE BEST THING IS THAT IN THE LONG RUN, IT'S A HAPPY ENDING. I THINK ALL SHOWS SHOULD HAVE A HAPPY ENDING.

yaaayyy
Loved this show and almost frogot about it! It was just as good the second time :) it was great

LOVE this episode!
This is my favorite episode of Charmed, and for $1.99, it's worth buying. This ran a bit slow on my computer and occasionally the dialog fell behind the picture, but you still get the overall story.

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Black Sunday

Black Sunday: Terrorists Playing at the Superbowl
John Frankenheimer is an excellent action director. In Black Sunday he directs a thrilling story of terrorists trying to blow up the Superbowl with a blimp full of lethal darts. Bruce Dern is great as the bitter blimp pilot who throws his lot with Martha Keller, a Palistinian, who just barely keeps Dern from cracking up. Robert Shaw is excellent as the Iraeli agent tracking down the villians, from the first roots in the Middle East, leading eventually to America, and terminating in a showdown at the Superbowl.The action is good and the actors are well directed by Frankenheimer, who of course did the immortal "Manchurian Candidate," and pilots this action film to a smashing climax. Even after first seeing this movie, I am still haunted by Dern's sad portrait of a broken man and the horrific experiment he performs on an unsuspecting man of his exploding darts that make hamburger out of the man posing for what he thinks is a strange camera. A good example of...

Black Sunday
Black Sunday is a prime example of great seventies movie making. Thomas Harris(Silence of the lambs, red dragon) gave John Frankenheimer a lot of meat Here, we are introduced to real characters. Who have real dilemmas. Bruce Dern is haunting as Lander -- a pilot who is pushed(some by his own doing) into insanity. Marthe Keller is wonderful as a terrorist who wants to see the "mission" through. And Robert Shaw. Robert Shaw. Boy do I miss him. Scenes where he is absolutely outstanding: questioning an importer, asking a favor from another terrorist, and of course the ending. Man I wish they would re-make this. But they would probably screw it up. The aerial photography is some of the best put on celluloid. And John Williams' score is awesome. See Black Sunday.

Prophetic Thriller Rides High
I remember after this film was first released in the Seventies speaking with someone who saw it, and though they liked it, found it unbelievable. "I just don't picture a bunch of terrorists being able to come over to the US and get away with anything" the person said. Time has shown us how right director John Frankenheimer's film "Black Sunday" was, and that we truly lived in a "sleeping America".

From the almost documentary-like opening title sequence, devoid of music and replete with the sounds of a foreign land, this suspense epic builds slowly and with unique conviction. The terrorists are all played realistically and no one goes overboard into the realm of ham. Shaw is gritty and and steel-eyed as he works against the clock to stop the plot.

Bruce Dern plays an ex-Vietnam helicopter vet hired by the terrorists to aid them in their plot to explode a uniquely devasting bomb at the Super Bowl. He is at his psychotic best, and one scene, late in the film, is particularly...

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Popeye

REBELLION!
I will go mad if I hear one more critic say that Popeye is a mess, or one more person laugh and look at me strange when I bring up this movie. This movie is a work of art. The songs are works of art. Shelley Duvall's Olive Oil is a work of art. The lines Robin Williams mumbles so you have to watch the movie ten times to hear them are a work of art. The set is, the plot is. Did I say the music is? You're going to tell me that Shelley Duval dancing about oddly on the deck singing he needs me, he needs me, isn't just absolutely perfect!? And that whole Fooey, fooey scene! I'm gonna do one of those twist up my arm punches to the next person that says this movie was a travesty for Williams or show boating by Altman or anything else! AUGHHHHH! thanks for listening.

Believe those who reviewed it here, NOT the critics.
I really do not know how this film flopped in the Box Office:

Just like every reviewer (not weird critics) who wrote here, I believe this is an extraordinary movie.

One of the critics wrote that it is boring? I really really really cannot see if the guy is talking about this movie or another. If you wanna see for yourself just skim the other reviews:

This is a movie that has been watched tens and hundreds of times by those who own it. Boring? I do not know of any other movie that can withstand repeated viewing like this one, nor that has been so reported by its most positive reviewers.

Our whole family has watched this film for hundreds of times, other reviewers also mention similar numbers.

Why?

1- The script is unbelievable: Popeye (Williams) is blabbering all the time (as well as other chartacters): Somebody is always saying something, and each time we watch the movie again, we find new jokes, and in good style.

We know those who produced the film did not rip-us off...

Robin Williams Makes Popeye A Reality
For Robin Williams first movie, he chose the Iconic character of Popeye The Sailor to portray. I rememer the hooflaw surrounding this flick when I was a kid (I was like 10 when this came out) and the success of Mork & Mindy had put Williams in the spotlight. The only problem was that Popeye is not as Iconic a character as the people who made this movie thought. He isn't Superman. He isn't Batman. He isn't Mickey Mouse. Popeye the cartoon character, though classic and kid-pleasing, just wasn't that popular with the chidren and the fact that they made it into a musical probably didn't help much either. Though the film was mildly-successful, it never hit as hard as people expected. The good thing, however, is that Robert Altman (M*A*S*H, Short Cuts) directed, so Popeye as a whole is visually masterful. The actors were perfect for their parts. Shelley Duvall's Olive Oyl is without a doubt one of the best acting casts in history! Bluto comes to life as does Wimpy and Popeye's...

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Regarding Henry

Sometimes the worst curse is your truest blessing
Despite being less well known, "Regarding Henry" is one of Harrison Ford's best works. The film demands a wide spectrum from this great actor and he delivers convincingly. For the most part, the other performers take their cue from Ford's "Henry" and render a near perfect glimpse of a life that could have been.

The tile character, Henry Turner, is introduced to us as a top-flight litigator for a large New York legal firm. He is well groomed, dressed in a designer suit and he is seen speaking sincerely to a jury about human desires and justice. Our opinion of him changes as soon as Henry leaves the court. He quickly makes a call to his interior designer to berate her for having the wrong table delivered to his palatial home. He is just another lawyer, after all.

It is hard to watch this movie at the start. Henry is one of those men we all love to hate. He is selfish, self centered, successful and confident. His daughter is frightened of him and his wife is a...

moving story proves anyone can have a change of heart
A prominent, but stony-hearted lawyer is an innocent standbyer in a liquor store hold up and gets shot in the head. The scene is unforgettable and will stay with you long after you've seen the film. He's stunned and doesn't quite realize he's been hit, then you see this little trail of blood trickling from his forehead... next scene, he's in the hospital suffering from amnesia.

Far from being a love-tap to the noggin, Henry must go through months of agonizing physical therapy to re-learn how to talk and think straight again. While his memory comes back in tiny little pieces, he mostly remembers nothing of his past life and is re-introduced to his wife and daughter, who ironically enough, were already strangers to him before he was shot.

Along with the good memories, the previous emotional baggage has been erased as well and Henry finds himself falling in love with his wife all over again, and falling in love with the daughter he never appreciated. He becomes fearless...

In case you missed this movie...
This isn't one of Harrison Ford's bigger hits, but it should be, at least within the dramatic genre. Sure, he's Indiana Jones, and he's Han Solo, but outside of those series, Ford's movie choices have occasionally left this fan, at least, scratching her head (Sabrina? What were you thinking!?).

"Regarding Henry" is a rare little gem of a story, a simple film about a man whose life changes, believe it or not, for the better when he's shot and nearly killed by dint of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Ford's Henry Turner takes us through a life he doesn't remember, including a daughter and a wife played by an impossibly young and fresh-faced Annette Bening.

Sure, it's a little sentimental. But it's a pretty simple story with a positive feel. Filmed on location in New York City, the Manhattan scenery is rather delightful as well.

It's not film noir, it's not a tour de force of characterization, and no, it's not Academy Award winning screenwriting. But it is a...

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Stephen King's Graveyard Shift

IT'S NOT REALLY THAT BAD
Graveyard Shift is always high on the list of bad Stephen King films but I don't think it's all that bad. I have the advantage of never having read the story so I have no point of reference to compare it to, which helps I think. As most King movies do, this one is set in Maine, Gates Falls specifically. David Andrews is John Hall, a drifter who blows into town, looking for work. Well there's basically just one business to work at, and that's the old, decrepit textile mill that pretty much supports the town.

The mill is run by the hard-nosed, and sadistic Warwick (Stephen Macht) who hires Andrews to run a machine that can only be run at night due to the high summer heat. Andrews is alone in a dingy, dungeon of a room running his machine and encountering rats...lots of rats that even get inside the bags of cotton he's loading into the machine. Here he meets Tucker the exterminator, played by Brad Douriff with his usual flair for offbeat characters.

Soon...

Very strange
This movie is made rather half-heartedly, but it wallows so deep in the strange and disgusting that a fan of the horror genre can't help but be intrigued. It is based very loosely on Stephen King's story out of Night Shift. Its about a drifter who gets a job at an old mill where a bizarre death has just occured. The foreman is a sleazy adulterer who sleeps with his lady employees. The drifter falls for one of them and they become good friends. When one of the secretaries finds out she was put on cleanup, she trashes the foreman's car. Drifter stops the foreman from hitting the woman and the foreman asigns him to cleanup to take her place. That is when the party really gets started. The movie is by all means horrible, but it is still incredibly entertaining. It has no logic and the story is par at best, but you feel so compelled to watch it because it does hook you. Wich is why this is still one of my favorite horror movies. Look out for Brad Douriff as the exterminator.

Okay little b-movie.
Bachman (get it?) Mills has a rat problem. A really BIG rat problem. Get it?

Stephen King's Graveyard Shift is one of those movies some people think Stephen King had something to do with. Kind of like John Carpenter had something to do with John Carpenter's Halloween. But Maine's #1 Horror Writer (oh, excuse me, "American Novelist") had nothing whatsoever to do with this movie, outside of demanding that it be shot in Maine, so his home state could get a little extra income. The meaning of the title is not dissimilar to Bram Stoker's Dracula or Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. The movie does draw a commendable amount from the source story (there's a crappy boss named Warwick, a fire hose is used to squirt rats to oblivion, and there's a giant monster rat, and a mill), so King had no legal ground to have his name removed, as he has done with the movie Stephen King's [NOT] The Lawnmower Man. Not that he wanted to, as it is Graveyard Shift is a dopy piece of b-movie...

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Once Upon A Time In The West

"It doesn't get any better than this"
My title is a cliche but in this case it's the only phrase to use. The version of this movie available now, with its extra disc full of great bonus material, is an example of how to bring DVD format to its highest potential. First of course there's the movie, and its director Sergio Leone. Every Leone movie I've seen--Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, The Good Bad and Ugly, Once Upon a Time in America--is wonderful, but this tops them all. Imagine the year 1969: what a great time to be a western film lover. You had this, and Sam Peckinpah's Wild Bunch in the same year. Incredible. Anyway, it's impossible to list all the great scenes, so I'll stick with the first. If you love the credit sequence you'll love the movie; it's not for everybody, however. So those credits, mostly silent except for a windmill creaking, which Leone somehow makes sinister, and one of the minimal details he uses to establish authentic mood, are the litmus test. You'll either love the movie...

Leone's masterpiece
After having established himself as the Master of the Spaghetti Western, Italian director Sergio Leone set out to make a western epic of very stylish proportions. ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST was the result. Like Sam Peckinpah's THE WILD BUNCH, which was also released in 1969, O-U-A-T-I-T-W did not receive a particularly warm welcome from either the critics or the audiences. But like Peckinpah's film, it has now come to be seen as a masterpiece among the rise and eventual fall of the West (and maybe the way Hollywood thought of the West).

Claudia Cardinale is the widow of a businessman whose land is being sought out by a ruthless railroad magnate (Gabrielle Ferzetti). The land is well sought because it is the only known place in the desert within a 50-mile radius where there is any water. Defending Cardinale are a cold, calculating gunslinger (Charles Bronson) and an amiable outlaw (Jason Robards). But standing in their way is a ruthless hired gunman named Frank, played by...

One of the very finest Westerns ever made
ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST is arguably Sergio Leone's greatest Western, although Clint Eastwood's three films with him remain among my favorites. Actually, Leone had hoped to have Eastwood in this film as Harmonica, but they were unable to work things out. As it is, I think having Charles Bronson in the role is more effective. It was central to Eastwood's persona in those three films that he be both a man with no name and with no past, but Harmonica's character is entirely driven by the past and his need for revenge.

The beginning of this film are among my favorite in the history of film. Leone is arguably the most patient director in the history of film, and is willing to take fifteen minutes for something another director would be loathe to take two. The two great instances of Leone's patience are the scene in the uncut version of ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA, where he allows a phone to ring thirty or forty times, and here at the beginning, where he takes fourteen minutes to...

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Charlotte's Web 2

Not bad, but not up to the original
We bought this DVD as an Easter present for our kids. My wife and I both have very fond memories of the original, and I was curious to see how this one stacked up. I really didn't think it was a bad movie at all. It concerns the continuing adventures of Wilbur the pig, Templeton the rat, and the rest of the barnyard critters of the original, including Charlotte's three children that we met at the end. There's a new baby lamb on the farm, Cardigan, who is ostracized from the other sheep because of his black fur. Wilbur, a pig who definitely knows the value of friendship, takes the lamb under his wing (so to speak). When a trip to the good old county fair results in Cardigan being sold to a neighboring farmer, Wilbur's concerns for his friend leads him, Templeton, and Charlotte's daughters on an adventure to find their friend.

The animation of the movie is very well done, much better than most direct-to-video releases, and the background paintings and such were also well done...

Heartless sacrilege.
It's hard to follow up a beloved movie like Charlotte's Web. However, the writers of this sequel seem to invite antagonism by botching everything that made the original Charlotte's Web so magical. This is always true of sequels made decades after the original. I gave this movie the benefit of the doubt because I always want to believe that the things I liked as a child have some kind of Midas Touch (i.e. Care Bears, Strawberry Shortcake). But Charlotte's Web 2 goes out of its way to assert its inferiority to the original. Also, this sequel is just creepy. For example, by the time that this movie takes place, Wilbur has somehow grown sideburns. Ew! And Wilbur's dignity is all but gone. Sure, he's a pig, but in the original movie we never saw him sticking his nose in a pile of dung and enjoying it. What's in the next one - will he actually be eating it too? Another disturbing aspect of this sequel is the change in Fern Arable. The once spirited girl who fought to save Wilbur's life is...

Charlotte's web 2: Wilbur's worst adventure!
This can't be better than the original, no matter what other people think...The characters from the old movie changed looks and personalities.

Wilbur: The kind-of serieous but loveable pig turned into a poop-eating freak with blush.

Joy, Ariania, and Nellie: Those cute runts became bossy and stupid things that look more like daddy-long-legs.

Fern: The smart, brave girl that saved Wilbur from getting shot, became this weirdo that sings to food.

WHAT'S BETTER...OLD OR NEW???!!!!!! U DECIDE!

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Like A Virgin

Off track until the Dawson/Joey/Pacey triangle explodes
The first episode I ever saw of "Dawson's Creek" was when the gang graduated from Cape Side High School, at which point I learned that Dawson Leery (James Van Der Beek) was still a virgin, which certainly took a lot of the suspense out of "The Complete Third Season." This is the season that convinces us that Pacey (Joshua Jackson) is serious competition for Dawson in the Joey (Katie Holmes) sweepstakes, not only because Dawson and Joey run hot and cold for each other on alternate timetables but also because Pacey can be awfully darn cute when he wants to be. Consequently his earnest pursuit of the clueless Joey remains the bright spot in a series where most of the characters get seriously sidetracked.

Season Three begins with a series of oblique turns in the first episode, "Like a Virgin." Joey is interested in Dawson, which should be a good thing, but he is fascinated by the mysterious Eve, a new bad girl in town and end up crashing his dad's...

Dawson's Creek Season 3
If you only are able to buy one season of Dawson's Creek, this should be it. The show really grew up and it took risks. It was nice to see the show truly go beyond the Dawson/Joey relationship and for the first time explore the possibility that they may be happy with other people. The Pacey/Joey relationship is magical just like Dawson/Joey. Deep down you knew there was a reason those two were fight constantly. I really love the Jack/Jen relationship too. They become better friends and Jen gets a boyfriend from almost out of nowhere. Still it's a really sweet love story. Jack deals with a lot this season and he will always be one of my favorites. So, I highly recommend this DVD. It's a must for the Creek fan.

Best Season Ever !!!
Okay, here it is! The season that redefined Dawson's Creek and truly made it must-see-TV.

There has never been more heartbreaking angst and pure emotional drama packed into a single story on this show than the relationship of Pacey and Joey, and this is where it all begins. From the tentative first realization of feelings to one of the all-time greatest season finales ever, THIS is the season you MUST own.

The Pacey and Joey pairing had every element of a truly great love story, and I have to believe there is a reason those in charge of the show decided to wait a few seasons to let these two characters explore the sparks that were always under the surface between them. The chemistry between these two actors is amazing - truly electric - and undeniable as it carries over onto the screen. There's a little bit of influence from modern day romances like "When Harry Met Sally..." or "Say Anything..." thrown into this story, as well as that wonderful sort of humorous banter that you...

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