And "Paul Haggis directs".

GIRL, INTERRUPTED 1/2
(First Viewing)

A female version to ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST. Angelina Jolie was the reason to see this film but don't be fooled. Her performance is great but she's great with only a far cast. I have to see who her competition was that year for her Oscar because I wasn't overly convinced. Winona Ryder is really the only other person to keep up with Jolie.

REVENGE (1990) 1/2
(First Viewing)

After viewing this it was very reminiscent of Tony Scott's 2004 masterpiece, MAN ON FIRE. It was an unusual change to see Kevin Costner in this type of revenge seeking role but one in which I did enjoy as I usually enjoys actors who "go against their norm" and try different things. I also really enjoyed Anthony Quinn and all of his work that I've seen. This is only a third time seeing him with MOBSTERS and LAST ACTION HERO being the first two. Finally, Madeleine Stowe was enjoyable as well but unfortunatley has fallen off the map, at least IMO, since 1999's THE GENERAL'S DAUGHTER.

CRIMSON TIDE
(First Viewing)

A pretty good, intense, egotistical shoving match between Denzel Washington and Gene Hackman. They worked very well together despite the predictability of the film at every turn.

I'm glad you enjoyed that, too. The more I watch it, the more I like it. (And Gandolfini played his part perfectly).

BLUES BUSTERS (1950) ****

My favorite "Bowery Boys" (not including the dramatic turns in DEAD END or ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES). After getting his tonsils removed, Satch wakes to discover he has a beautiful singing voice (flawlessly dubbed to the real singing voice of nightclub entertainer John Lorenz). Slip and the boys decide to make a buck out of the situation by turning Louie's Sweet Shop into a nightclub.

I know the four stars are a bit of a stretch, but it's one of the more enjoyable films you'll ever see. Highly recommended.

I assume you know, but for the sake of others that may not, Louie, in real life, was Leo Gorcey's father.

I used to love those movies.

Yup, I knew, SC. But it's nice of you to point out for the others.

Now I know you remember they were on channel 5 on Saturdays, as opposed to Abbott and Costello, who were on channel 11 on Sundays.

I honestly don't remember on which channel the movies aired but I was a regular viewer of them. I liked the early ones better when Gorcey played Muggs McGinnis. Remember Scruno? (Sunshine Sammy Morrison).

I remember that PB! I think the show was called "East Side Comedy" and would start at 11:00AM on channel 5. It was years later that the show moved to channel 11 on Saturday afternoons.

I also remember that Abbott and Costello were on every Sunday at 11:30am. We'd watch them every week and then switch over to the 1:00 Football game!

The Bowery Boys were great. One of my favorite episodes is titled 'Let's Get Tough'when The Bowery Boys aka The East Side Kids crash an alliance between Japanese saboteurs and a German immigrant with pro-Nazi sentiments.

I understand that they are trying to make a DVD set with all the episodes, but some of the films are pretty old and worn and they need to attempt to restore them before putting them on DVD.

Definitely a set that I would purchase.




Actually he was one of the original members of our gang!



The episode with him that stands out with me is when he meets Bela Lugosi in Spooks Run Wild!

SHREK
(First Viewing)

I'm finally deciding to see what's so great about this SHREK trilogy and I must admit, the original film was far better than I expected. Eddie Murphy was hilarious in this and prior to this, his last good comedy was BEVERLY HILLS COP III in 1994. Only the second Andrew Adamson film I've seen (CHRONICLES OF NARNIA being the first). I hope the next two films are as enjoyable as this was.

Not a fan of The Nutty Professor, Irish?

No, not at all. The NUTTY PROFESSORS and NORBIT all sucked

Not seen Norbit or The Klumps, but remember really liking Nutty.

"Hercules! Hercules!"

ENEMY OF THE STATE 1/2
(Second Viewing)

A fascinating storyline that still has merit in today's world of where to draw the line between protecting this country via telecommunication surveillance and invasion of privacy. Will Smith is his usual brilliant action star self and Tony Scott is giving Michael Bay a run in terms of my favorite action director.

Yeah I liked the movie


When it was called THE CONVERSATION, and less explosions.

Yes, Conversation is way better than EOS.

Both movies are linked by Hackman's presence. Clever and sensible nod, methinks.

Understatement of the Week.



The two Tony Scott-shot movies with Hackman....ENEMY OF THE STATE and CRIMSON TIDE....the difference was that with TIDE, Hackman was utilized well against Denzel Washington.

With STATE, Will Smith might have well been a free-floating pointless flagellum, as useless as he is.

Sad thing is, next time he doesn't make a dumbass popcorn movie, he'll get an Oscar nod.

Good call, Ronnie.

Personally, I like him. I was in Miami when they were filming the fight scenes for ALI, I got to meet him for like a minute and a half. He's as friendly in person as on Letterman, but I agree with ENEMY OF THE STATE. If not for Hackman, the movie's a total disaster.

I think Smith is a flakehead, or simply just happens to work in many idioticly bad popcorn movies.

He was good in ALI, but otherwise he's fucking useless to me. The fact that he also beat B.I.G. for a Rap Grammy....that's wrong. That's like KISS getting beat out by REO Speedwagon.

December Boys (2007) [PG-13]

Directed by: Rod Hardy (various episodes of various shit TV shows)
Starring: Daniel "Harry Potter" Radcliffe, among others

Log line: Four boys raised in a Catholic orphanage are granted a holiday together, some trying to earn the right to be the one adopted by their hosting family.

Synopsis: Four orphaned boys, all born in December, are given the privilege of a holiday from their Catholic orphanage. One decides emphatically over the others to win the hearts of this family to become adopted by them. Situations ensue (of course), and in the end, "family" is what it is....

Mini Review: First off, I think Radcliffe was miscast in this piece. The poor kid -- well, young adult now -- is unfortunately typecast at this point I think; and beyond that, I think he was too old for this part. Having been adopted myself (tho as an infant), I was interested in seeing this. These boys enjoy their Australian vacation on the beach, and at times fight over who'll be The One adopted. But at times I had no idea what was going on -- WTF did the horse symbolize? Who are these characters?? A 90-minute movie with hardly any character development?? But, the scenery at least was beautiful...

Okay, so I basically think this was a stinker. But at the same time near the end my eyes leaked a little bit just the same. Yet after i thought it should've ended, it didn't...

Grading: I had my high-hopes, but I think Hardy failed miserably. A "B" TV director doing a feature film?? Literally: within the first few minutes I thought to myself, "wow, the first full-length short film ever made"! The story had SO much potential, and with one of the biggest teen stars of this decade, it still failed. And on many levels. I was disappointed, but, didn't absolutely hate it I guess... just very disappointed.

IMDB: 6.9
Netflix: 7.6
JGeoff: 4.5/10

SHREK 2 1/2
(First Viewing)

Not as funny as the original but Eddie Murphy was still the showstealer. Hopefully part three will be able to balance out the trilogy. I think it's just too hard to follow the original when it's so good (see the SPIDER-MAN and PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN franchises).

NOTES FROM A SCANDAL (2006)**

Cate Blanchett as a 37 year old woman carrying on an affair with a 15 year old boy. Judi Dench as a seventy something spinster shrew trying to blackmail Blanchett into some lesbo action, because she has the goods on her. Bill Nighy as Blanchett's much older husband, who may have been the only character with a single redeeming quality.

Tough to sit through the whole thing. Thank God it only ran 90 minutes. I gave it a full second star because when Judi Dench was soaking in the tub, they had the good sense to NOT let her stand up. That would have sent me screaming, much like Al Bundy, I'm blind! I'm blind!

The whole notion of a young boy having sex with Cate Blanchett gave me too much of an erection, I would have been too embarrassed to go up to the desk and ask for a ticket.

"And does your little brother want a ticket, too?"

In the film, there's a shot of her peeing, drawers around her ankles, too.

Peeing on the boy?

I may be converted to Christianity yet.

I remember surprisingly enjoying this film. The story was interesting and I've never seen Cate Blanchett look so good

Cate looked good, I'll give you that.

SHREK THE THIRD
(First Viewing)

Well, the third time wasn't a charm. This series has slowed down considerably since the first installment and I would like to think they're won't be a SHREK 4. Unfortunatley, Eddie Murphy wasn't given that big of a role this time around.