Watched something i taped last night THE DARK CHARISMA OF ADOLF HITLER.

Wow, what a twisted sucker he was, but how the Germans fell for him. Even towards the nd of the war when they were getting the shit kicked out of them they still believed in him. And his henchmen?? The creepy Himmler, the downright spooky Goebbels, and the buffoonish idiot Goring!!!!

Gripping TV, if a somewhat disturbing subject!!

Yogi, we have a friend who lived in London during WWII when he was a little boy. After a few pints, he has been known to break out into the following ditty that he was taught during the war:

(to the tune of the Colonel Bogey March)
Hitler, he's only got one ball,
Goring, has two, but very small
Himmler, has something sim'lar,
but poor old Goebbels
has no balls
at all!

Babe, we used to sing that when we were kids as well, back in the 70's. My kids don't know the song today though. We must have finally forgiven them

I happened to Netflix the other day the George C. Scott version of 'A Christmas Carol', and of all the countless movies made of that story, that's probably my favorite one.

Why? I suppose I like the stab at mood and atmosphere in the 3rd act when indeed that possible dystopic future is haunted by death and hopelessness. I believe Scott doesn't ham it up as evil Scrooge but instead a more self-aware sense of classyness, which makes him an even bigger dick IMO. Scott facially is able to internalize the conflicting well-buried demons arisen within him.

But maybe most of all, unlike most versions, it doesn't castrate or neuter the political activism of the Dickens book. He wrote it originally as propaganda to shame the rich, the government, and society to quit being so apathetic about the poor and horrendous living conditions for the working class in mid-19th century England. Dickens was furious and hoped his story would be more effective than the political pamphlet he originally was going to pen.

Of course which version people prefer, it probably depends on which one they're most familiar with. The Muppets? Albert Finney? Mickey Mouse? Patrick Stewart? Jim Carrey? Bill Murray?

(speaking of SCROOGED, I would also add Black Adder's pisser parody of the story which you can watch on Netflix Instant.)

Of the many movies coming out this weekend or next week, I caught Tom Cruise's JACK REACHER earlier today. Decent, I kinda enjoyed it. A cheeseburger/airport novel of a movie that you get involved with, but it fades quickly afterwards. But as a murder mystery which I must admit engaged me, mixed with a crowd pleasing vigilante fantasy with my screening audience responding to the action and one-liners. In one regard it's the sort of movie Clint Eastwood used to crank out regularly for decades.

My favorite scene, as silly as it was, was when Robert Duvall refuses to answer any questions for Cruise. Unless he hits a target 3 times at his shooting range. Ridiculous, yet I like that level of earned respect from proving yourself. I'll also commend the very effective car chase sequence, which never deploys the evil shakey cam post-action camera work that most action films use by default anymore.

A little long though, a false step ending more befitting for a comic book movie, a nonsensical conclusion in the aftermath of the mayhem and carnage (at least for me), and one line that's obviously unintentionally hilarious because of Cruise's delivery ("I'll drink all your blood through a boot!"). But otherwise yeah I guess I would recommend this.

But walk, don't run, to go see it. You don't need this movie in your life, nor would you miss it if you never catch it. It's like that next hot dog your heart doesn't need but you'll stuff your face with anyway.

I give this Three and half evil Werner Herzogs out of 5.

The previews of the movie don't look bad but I am not sure what it is about.

I've never necessarily been a Cruise fan, but, not very long ago, caught a Cruise movie, "Collateral" (Not to be confused with the Arnold movie), with Jamie Fox which I enjoyed and I think the first Mission Impossible was pretty good.






TIS

I am not a a Cruise fan either, but the film was made in Pittsburgh, so I'll watch it whenit comes to HBO.

I am curiously looking forward to Django Unchained. The writer Steve Barnes liked it.

I really liked what he wrote there.

Has anyone been watching Roots on BET? I haven't watched it since its premier in 1977. Do ya'll remember how big it was? People were rushing ome towatch it. I believe it was the first miniseries and it spawned a whole bunch of such series.

I thought it would have been rebroadcast more often than it has been. I guess its length has mitigated that.

Caught the RED DAWN remake at the dollar theatre, and oh boy. This is one of those movies you might have low expectations going into, and it still finds a way to fall short of them.

The original RED DAWN was flawed and at times unintentionally cheesy, but at least as a TWILIGHT ZONE fantasy I found it compelling as a 'what if' where small town USA is military occupied by a foreign power. Remember in such a comic book fantasy, realism isn't as important as believability. I mean Batman is ridiculous, but you never realize that if you accept this movie reality.

But this remake bypasses anything remotely anecdotally interesting in favor of mindless action. Worse it's not even compelling, thrilling mindless action, but the shakey cam post-action kind where you're unaware most of the time what the hell is going on. Would you be surprised this was helmed by a 2nd unit director who worked on QUANTUM OF SOLACE and the Paul Greengrass-helmed BOURNE sequels?

Yes this remake will invite a positive re-evaluation of the John Milius-directed original. North Koreans, the Prince of 3rd world dictatorships, can't feed themselves or do anything militarily except deter a foreign invasion, yet they can attack the American Pacific Northwest and maintain a stable foothold. (To be fair the movie originally was produced with Chinese as the invaders. But Beijing, and it's lucrative box-office for Hollywood, complained and post-production digital magic transformed them into North Koreans.)

Why do the Russians invade too? I get back in the Cold War us being ideological foes fighting to the death, but the corrupt oligarchal faux-republic Russia? Where's their profit in this endgame? Why does this remake make less sense than the original, never exactly respected for any sense of realism?

This movie is lucky that both Chris Hemsworth and Josh Hutcherson did this movie 3 years ago (locked up until very recently due to MGM's financial troubles) when they were still relative nobodies for this movie would've (and deserved to) bomb in theatres even more.

I watched a movie from 1962, PANIC IN THE YEAR ZERO, starring Ray Milland aand Frankie Avalon. It was kind of cornball by today's standards, but I couldn't pull myself away. It was about an all-American family taking a fishing/nature trip in the mountains when Los Angeles and other cities around the world were destroyed in a nuclear attack. The movie dealt with the struggle for survival with people turning violent and selfish. I imagine it has a bit of a cult following.

Here you'll find a list of canceled/renewed TV programs. Can you believe that, once again, Kelsey Grammar's show has been canceled? I don't believe he's had a hit since Frasier.

http://tv.msn.com/canceled-or-renewed/photo-gallery/?photoidx=20

Thanks for the renews/cancel list SB. Seems like more are cancelled than renewed. Anyway, no real favorites for me. I did watch 666 Park Ave. a couple times and didn't mind it. I was going to watch "Made In Jersey" tonight, I see two episodes are on. Don't know if I'll bother getting into it if it's going.

Btw Oli, you probably already know but I heard that Dallas will be having an episode including a funeral for JR. Maybe they already had it, I don't know.


TIS

Did kelsey win best actor at the golden globes for this show last year? But, yea not a lot of surprises. I wish they would cancel xfactor (really tired of the judges going/leaving every year) and of the animated series (the simpsons I am fine with, but everything else has to die now).

Sometimes I don't think they give some shows enough time for people to watch and form an opinion. I did watch Fairly Legal a couple times. It was ok, but I see it's cancelled too. Fortunately for ME, none of my favorites or any that I regularly watch in the cancelled list.

Simpson has been on forever. It IS funny tho I really don't watch it much (hardly ever actually).



TIS

TIS, Dallas starts Jan 28 I think. I heard about the funeral thing, but am not sure. I just don't know if I'll be that interested in it without JR. He was the epitome of duplicitousness.

I understand how you feel Oli. Dallas without JR may leave the show pretty "empty." Still, it's a nice gesture on the part of cast/crew. It sounds like he was beloved by all. Then again, Dallas without JR Ewing?

TIS

Caught WRECK-IT RALPH at the dollar theatre this week, which was a very pleasant surprise. Much much better than I was expecting to be frankly honest. A friend of mine described this Disney animated production as a Pixar film that Pixar didn't produce and I agree. Carries their trademark of usually successful quota of humor, heart, high energy, stunning brilliant detailed imaginative CGI animation, and decently executing an intriguing concept. In fact this was a better 'Pixar movie' than the one Pixar released (BRAVE) this year.

Basically a reworking of TOY STORY except instead of toys coming alive, it's video game characters at an arcade which like WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT also gives an excuse for countless cameos by real video game characters from throughout the decades. (Glaring absence though is a certain Italian Plumber who loves mushrooms.) A Donkey Kong-type villain from an early 1980s 8-bit arcade game is tired of his gig (and being treated like shit by his co-workers) and decides to leave his game and become a hero somewhere else, mayhem ensues. I was particularly charmed when a character from a game produced from a more innocent time has to fend for himself in a HALO-esque mindlessly violent first-person shooter.

It's possibly the first American cartoon movie I've seen since Pixar's THE INCREDIBLES which afterwards I really would want to return to this universe and see what is beyond that rinky a dink arcade. (I suppose PC games, online gaming, and console systems of course.) And if the trade reports are correct, a sequel is happening.

I give this 4 out of 5.

Man, I loved Boss. I was actually looking forward to it. The only respectable show on Starz. This must have been on HBO, it would've picked up more audience.

Does anyone here watch the SYfY show "Being Human." A new season starts next month but as usual with these cable shows, it's been months & months since it was on. Anyway, not a bad show. They are showing one episode now that I know I saw but geez, it's been so long I can't remember specifics.

Btw, there is also a UK version which airs on the BBC (I believe.) Same story,for the most part; same characters but different names. Both are good


TIS

Here it is, then: Capo's 2012 in review, with a ranked Top 18, plus all other releases/premieres rated, performances of note and the entire year's viewing tally.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year nice to see a guy who has creditably to rate movies unlike the Rocket

Anyone who wants a good laugh I suggest you rent the movie TED!

Magic Mike..really? LMAO

Let me "X" out of that tab now lol

Thats the next movie to watch on my list

I give your bottle of whine 1 star out of 5.



Want my star rating on that? lol



Capo has great taste in film. I would trust any recommendation he would make.

I feel vindicated that you also liked JACK REACHER, which came off to me as a Clint Eastwood movie without Clint Eastwood.

All good work, son. Keep up your strive for excellence.