Indiana Jones and The Kingdom
of the Crystal Skull
May 2008
B+
Indy is back!
In all of his swashbuckling glory!
He is reunited after almost 20 years with his fedora, leather jacket and whip.
We see him joined by Kate Blanchett and Shia LaBeouf in an action packed thriller with crystal consequences!
I enjoyed the movie, parts were contrived and they didn't resist the urge to explain. They should have gone with the old writer's adage: Show don't Tell. But who am I to criticize Harrison, Spielberg and Lucas?
It was epic and enjoyable.
American Gangster
Nov 2007
A +
Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe
Can't recommend to all audiences because of it's violence, nudity and drug use; but...
This is definitly a cops and robbers movie and if Denzel doesn't win yet another Academy Award, I'll be suprised.
Denzel and Russell both give great performances, as usual, even though they are never on the screen together until the last 20 minutes of the film.
Denzel plays, the powerful mob boss whose facial expressions alone can put you six feet under. (Michael Corleone move over). We get a sense of a man who seeming wants to protect his family but in doing so becomes a monster killing thousands of people through the heroine he distributes and the blood lust of the 250 million dollars that he amassed. In the process he loses what he wanted to protect.
Russell plays the street wise, no non-sense, never on the take, cop who early in the film returns almost a million dollars of found money while his scuzzy partner tries to pursuade him to keep it. This moral delema plays itself out over and over during the film with a temptation that not many could have overcome.
Based on the true story of Frank Lucus, a black man who rose to the top of the 1960's underworld in Harlem when no one was looking, American Gangster works because it identifies the plight of my country during the height of the Vietnam War and the drug culture of the 60's and 70's.
As a crime thriller, it's entertaining and the 2 hours and 37 minutes keeps you riveted to the screen while munching popcorn.
It is a superb character study into the underworld and everyone who steps on the screen has depth in their performance.
Josh Brolin also does a great job as dirty cop, Detective Trupo, a man you love to hate; but does have a nice Shelby GT.
The major drug raid scene was well developed by Ridley Scott (Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, Bladerunner) and sucked you in until you stood along side the cops on the concrete steps of the 1970's Harlem Projects.
I also enjoyed the perspective at the end as they wrapped things up with an update on the real Frank Lucas who by the by is again walking the streets since 1991...
I think this one has Academy Award written all over it.
May 2007
Grade B+
Went with Tristan, Rocky and Gavin (oldest grandson) to see Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I actually thought it was a pretty good movie. Gavin, being almost four, laughed at all of the appropriate places: Falling off the couch, burping after pizza, and jumping off the buildings yelling Cowabunga! The script writers would have been proud. I found the story pretty interesting and had a little Lord of the Rings feel, truth be known. I never really watched the cartoons but I found the movie fun.
1/20/2007
Night at the Museum
2006
Ben Stiller, Robin Wilson, Owen Wilson, Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney, Bill Cobbs
Grade A+
All around fun! We took our 3 year old grandson along with our 20 year old, we ALL had a good time!
Ben Stiller, how can you go wrong?
He plays the dad who doesn't believe in himself so how can anyone else including his son?
But several nights in the New York Museum of Natural History that comes to life proves him wrong!
Every child's fantasy, a T-Rex that plays fetch. Tiny armies that come to life. A bubble gum blowing Easter Island statue. Being mentored by Teddy Roosevelt, okay maybe not a child's fantasy but...
Enough prat falls to keep it moving but not become monotnous.
I highly recommend it
!
12/06 through 1/07
Rocky Balboa
Sylvester Stallone 2006
Grade: A+
Here's the deal. If I look like Sly when I'm in my sixties, I'll hope that no one criticizes me! Was the movie the typical Rocky formula? Yes, the underdog/long shot rising to the top. Has Rocky still not learned to communicate well, of course; he's an old battler from Philly.
Did I like the movie?
Yes, I did. I'm not ashamed to admit it. It still has the ability to give you chills over the greatest underdog story of our generation. In the end, you still root for America!
You're talking to a guy that had the poster of Rocky III on his son's wall growing up. I had various pics of Sly in all of his 1980's glory around my "workout" room back when it was popular to wear short-short terrycloth shorts when we worked out with our feathered hair or sometimes permed, sprayed to perfection while we pumped the iron.
I still have this cool photo of Sly in a full length, men's fur that if I would have had enough mula in the early 80's; I would have had one! And worn it with pride!
Oh, yes, in the typically Rocky tradition, I was delighted with the movie. Even though Burt Young was still just as fat and drunk and cantankerous. I liked the way that Rocky's opponent was portrayed; once again, the slick silver spoon verses old school. There were a few lines that I loved, poking fun at our selves; like:
Mason "The Line" Dixon: It's over.
Rocky: Ain't nothin over till it's over.
Mason: Where's that from, in the 80's?
Rocky: That's probably in the 70's
And in the end...
Well, you'll have to see it for yourself.
Hey, even though my son is David II we have always called him Rocky!
Need I say more?
The Good Shepherd 2006
Matt Damon
Grade: A
I love period pieces and even though I was not even a glint in someone's eye when this all started, for the later part of the movie, I was around.
Matt portrays a youngster recruited into the CIA before the CIA existed. This is one that I will have to see again to catch all the nuances. I will probably eventually own it. Covert intelligence has always been high on my fascination list.
The Holiday 2006
Jude Law, Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jack Black
Grade: B
A little slow moving at first.
A little hard to believe that Cameron Diaz would sleep with a guy that she just met 15 minutes before, he being drunk and her being a top Hollywood trailer maker and all; even if it was Jude Law, but... still, have we not seemed to get it yet? VD, AIDS, whacko serial killers that tie you to the hotwater heater in a dank basement. I grow a little tired of that story line... but I digress.
Later the movie did redeem itself with the story line between Kate and Eli Wallach who added character as an aging Hollywood screen writer from the Golden Era of the biz.
Jack Black, what can I say, always great and the scene in the video store was classic.
There were cute cameos from Dustin Hoffman and The Voice, the guy who is the voice of movie trailers in the 20-21st century. Cameron's life is one big movie trailer and that was cute.
Some other great character actors that have been around forever, Shelley Berman and Bill Macy.
In the end, I liked it. Some good characters, some were printed from cardboard, but...
I'll tell you though: It's no Love Actually
Jeanie pointed out something though: How was it that Cameron, being an "L.A" girl, had such a great winter wardrobe to wear in the snowy U.K. when she decided to swap houses with Kate Winslet the night before?
I guess anything's possible when you are a Hollywood big shot.
Children of Men
2006
Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Michael Caine
Plot Outline: In 2027, in a chaotic world in which humans can no longer procreate, a former activist agrees to help transport a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea, where her child's birth may help scientists save the future of humankind.
Yada, Yada, Yada
Grade D
I was really looking forward to this one. In fact, I drug Rocky and Tristan with me so I wouldn't have to eat the popcorn alone. Had Dave been in town, he would have been subjected to it also.
Okay, I understand the premise. Apocalyptic world, no young people, no babies, no future.
No sunshine and soap and water either.
I realize that we should take care of the planet. I don't like polluted water any more than the next guy, but I look around and feel that we are doing so much more than we used to. I'm not an activist and if you are, more power to ya. But I grew up in the sixties where every house had a concrete incinerator in the back yard that we would take our paper bagged garbage to and cast lots to see which one of us would get to blaze on!
Last time I checked the only fire pit I have in the back yard came from WalMart and we can only stoke up when the Denver news says it's a Blue day, or is it Red? I can never keep that straight.
The point is: I paid a little bit of change when you figure the adult ticket and the #2 combo, to witness an hour and forty nine minutes of someone's politics.
Now before some of you youngsters throw some paint on a piece of poster board and thrust your fist in the air about how I don't care about the environment, consider this. I grew up in the 60's. And although I didn't frequent Berkley, being too young, I did live through Bobby and Martin's assassinations and Kent State. I know where we've come from and I do look forward to a brighter future. We're smarter than we've ever been about some things and others, we're working on.
So here's a few observations and questions:
First of all:
The Brits were the only ones that survived the Holocaust that wiped out the rest of civilization? I have a good friend from across the pond and I frequently remind him that if it weren't for us in WWII, he'd be speaking German right now.
Another thing:
Twenty years in our future. We all live in burned out buildings, garbage bags lining the streets, barbecuing cows in mass fire pits with mad cow disease, no one seems to have a laundromat to their name but we do have flat screen Sony monitors on nearly every battered desk?
And what about:
Twenty years from now, the reigning king of profanity is still the F-bomb? Isn't there any prolific language experts in the future that can come up with another expletive?
Another thing I noticed:
Twenty years from now, we have no young people, no babies, no hope. But we do have an abundance of spray paint for graffiti even though there was not an Ace Hardware to be found and no teens to do the artwork? Grandma refugee is really getting with it!
The acting was good. Michael Caine kept pulling his own finger and farting a lot but I liked him. Clive Owen and Julianne Moore, I always enjoy their acting. But it seemed like too many people died under the graying British sky. I liked Chiwetel Ejiofor better when he was married to Keira Nightly in Love Actually.
Tristan whispered a good point:
The refugee camp that they decided to round up all the "illegals" and throw them in was named "Homeland Security".
Hmmm...
I think some people in the U.K. are still a little ticked at us for breaking off and starting our own little country...
Oh, well, seen it, don't have to rent it in the future, but maybe in twenty years...
The Wicker Man 
Nicholas Cage 2006
Grade: F
Nick, what have you been thinking lately? Arms dealer, weatherman, and now on an island with a bunch of maxi dress, bee keeping, flower crown wearing, psychotic women? It's the Dark Secret of Harvest House all over again. I pine for the days of Con Air, The Rock and It Could Happen To You? The Wicker Man was one of the worst movies I have seen in a long time; it rates down there with Mulholland Drive which won awards in 2001 but shows how much Hollywood knows about good taste. Wicker is one of the all time worst. I won't tell you what happens in the end you don't want to know. Come back to us Nick, we love your work. Where have all the heroes gone? Certainly not up in smoke.
Hollywood Land
Ben Afleck 2006
Grade: D
Yeah, Okay premise, what really happened to Superman? Sorry ladies, I think we could have done without the nakey shots of Ben. I didn't really need to see any shortcomings that Superman had. It was a period piece, along those lines it was interesting but like the little old lady that tottered down the aisle to Jeanie and me after the lights came back up, asked. "What just happened here! Someone tell me why I came to this movie?" That was a question that I couldn't answer
The Prestige
Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale 2006
Grade: A 
The magic is in the movie. Literally. Hugh and Christian, always a delight. Rival magicians battling it out at the turn of the century to see who is the greatest. David Bowe was even good as a mysterious inventor of a fatal transporter machine. Quite a few twists and turns that you had to pay close attention to.
Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man's Chest
Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightly 2006
Grade: A
Always fun! Great sequel with all of our favorite swashbuckling, mascara wearing, drunken pirates in search of the treasure of Davie Jones' Locker. Bill Nighy was great as Dave Jones and his band of dead men, were fun.
Fun all the way around!
The Fountain
Hugh Jackman, Rachel Weisz
Grade: D-
Even though Tredessa, my middle daughter met Hugh Jackman in the Miami airport and says that he is one of the nicest men in the world...
If I see one more snow globe with a tree in it, I think I'll puke! We are fans of Hugh and Rachel but not fans of this movie! Our small group walked out, actually we were a gaggle, and all went, "huh?"
Okay, the special effects were along the order of the very first Star Trek movie but Star Trek had more of a purpose! Does that tell you anything?
First of all, it scared me that Ellen Burstyn appeared again. She is indelibly burned into my brain from The Wicker Man (see above) but then, Darren Aronofsky-writer, director, screen play, story, key grip, dolly grip man, catering, roadie, and snow globe builder was in love with magnification to the gazillionth power.
I don't think we needed to see the hairs on the back of Rachel's neck that close!
What a bizarre movie! I guess, rent it when it comes out on DVD and then you can run the behind the scenes and see what the heck they were trying to do!
Why did everybody in this movie have dirty fingernails?