Roger Dobkowitz's Pages

July thru December 2007

Dec. 25, 2007	We are in New York (!) and today we went to see the Christmas Spectacular at the Radio City Music Hall. It was their 75th anniversary and (as I heard from other New Yorkers) their best Christmas show in years. I haven't been to a stage show for about thirty years, so this was a real treat. The show really was spectacular with the Rockettes doing what they do best....preciscion dancing. We saw a 3-movie, 30 (or more) dancing Santas, a bus touring New York, their classic "March of the Wooden Soldiers", snow falling in the auditorium, and much much more. It was ninety non-stop minutes of pure entertainment and worth every penny of those expensive tickets! In the later afternoon, since it was Christmas and most places were closed, we decided to take in a movie in New York. Unfortunately, we chose AVPR Alien vs. Predator: Requiem---a big mistake. The buzz on this film, was that the directors (the Strause brothers) thought that the first Alien Vs. Predator stunk and that they wanted to bring the alien movies back to the original feel of the first alien movies. Great Idea-Right! Thus, I was looking forward to it. However, twenty minutes into the film, I realized that the movie was turning into a TEEN film! Yes! A TEEN film! The rest of the film was horrible---it was shot too dark, one could not really make out what was happening, the wrong people got killed---a totally unpleasant experience and a totally badly done film!
Dec. 22, 2007	Walk Hard is a clever film that parodies biographic films about musical performers (like Walk the Line). The picture. partially written by the writer that brought us Superbad, is quite funny most of the time. However, it does seem like one long Saturday Night Live Sketch. Parts of it are extremely hilarious, such as when our hero, Johnny Cox, meets up with the Beatles in India. I think part of the problem this movie will have is that younger people might not understand the jokes that the writers are setting up. Overall, I had a real good time!
Dec. 21, 2007	We watched Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) tonight. It's one of those old movies I haven't seen for thirty years or longer. The movie is a semi-musical (only about 6 songs in the entire movie) about life in 1903 in St. Louis centered around a large middle class family and their loves and problems. A big realization that I had while watch this film (which seemed to take place at a time that is sooooo long ago) was that since it was made in 1944, that the people making it remembered and lived in that time (since it only took place 40 years earlier). It like us going to a movie that takes place in 1967! After realizing that the picture took on more relevance since it was showing how that time was probably lived (although a little Hollywoodized!). The most interesting tradition that they did then, that they don't do now, was, on Halloween, to ring someone's doorbell, and throw flour on them!!!! A great nostalgic film.
Dec. 17, 2007	Today we went to see I Am Legend, starring Will Smith. I found the film to be quite engrossing. It is a treat for the eyes---the visuals of an abandoned New York are amazing. The director is to be commended for letting us actually see things (rather than that annoying quick cutting between closeups--like Tim Burton always does!) The movie, about a medical breakthrough that takes a deadly turn by turning people into vampire like creatures has Will Smith immune to the disease and has him trying to attempt to find a cure for it. The creatures are rather frightening and there are quite a few scares in the movie. The only problem with the film, is that there is so little story. Although the film held my interest at all times, the movie is really just an hour and 45 minutes of showing us how Will Smith survives in New York City by evading the creatures. There is a minor story of him trying to find a cure but that takes up only a small part of the film. This is the third version of the famous Richard Matheson story. I saw the earlier version, The Last Man on Earth and The Omega Man. "Last Man" was probably the most accurate re-telling of the book's story, although it is an Italian production with Vincent Price and a very low budget. Nevertheless, it was quite entertaining. "Omega" was a good "Hollywoodization" of the story. Starring Charton Heston, it was also entertaining. Of the three, I would probably watch the Heston version again, rather than the Smith version.
Dec. 16, 2007	Perfect, starring John Travolta and Jamie Lee Curtis, is a later dated today. It's a great movie to gawk at the hairstyles, clothing, and attitudes of the mid Eighties. The film is based on some Rolling Stone articles on how health clubs in the 1980's were the new singles bars where people met to hook up. It follows the reporter as he tries to interview members of a Los Angeles heath club. There are lots of scenes of beautiful people doing aerobics. Sometimes it is almost embarrassing to see Travolta doing some of these exercises---his shorts are a little too tight and his movements are a little too sexual. Lorraine Newman, from Saturday Night Live, has a starring role, and is quite good in the character she portrays---a woman not quite perfect but wanting disparately to be perfect, even if it means losing self-respect. I saw this film when it was first released and I enjoyed it more now. It's more interesting today because one can, when the movie gets boring, be entertained by watching how people in the eighties dressed and behaved. Overall, the film was an interesting 2 hours!
Dec. 15, 2007	We went to the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood and saw White Christmas on the big screen. I watch this movie every year on television but this year I got to see it on the Big Screen in a theater with other people. Before the movie began, a Cinematheque volunteer announced the movie and then invited the theater to sing a chorus of White Christmas (which we all did) before the movie began. It was nice to see those of the younger generation enjoying the old-fashioned piece of entertainment. Not only do I miss movies like this, I also miss that this country no longer enjoys movies like this---a country that embraces Christmas, a country willing to accept a story that, although corny, is good-hearted and sincere, a country that isn't so jaded that it looks down upon entertainment like White Christmas.
Dec. 9, 2007	Ahhhhh! The Crusades (1935)is a great and very typical Cecil B. DeMille epic film. Glamour abounds back in the middle ages! There are beautiful women and powerful men who have the same relationship problems we have today! The story is about how King Richard left England to go on the Crusades to remove the Muslims from the Holy Land (my goodness, things haven't changed that much.) We basically whip the muslims, but near the end, an understanding is reached between the Christians and the Muslims and everything ends on an upbeat note. This is a fun movie only if you go into it expecting exactly what it is---an old movie that glamourizes history and takes liberties in updating the story to a 1930's mentality.
Dec. 8, 2007	I saw Robinson Caruso on Mars (1964) when I was just a teenager and I thought was pretty neat back then. At that time the science used in the space travel part seemed fairly athletic. The actual adventures that take place on the planet might have been far-fetched but at that time but I bought it! HOWEVER, today the film seems quite quaint. The "science" that was in the film (the film takes place probably around the year 2000) was based on the technology we had then. The film has no computers and no keyboards---everything was done by buttons. The tape recorder that was used in this futuristic film was a tape to tape reel variety. The adventures on the planet itself now seems quite impossible. The air is fairly breathable, the temperature is comfortable, and water is found with life forms in it. When the martians come, they are flying in the same saucers that were used a few years earlier in War of the Worlds. Back then, since we didn't have video tape to watch a film over again, I had forgot ton about how the ships looked in that film, so I did not realize they were re-using the same saucers. What ruins the film a little is an extra that is on the DVD. The "extra" talks about what the film was originally going to be like. Watching this extra one realizes how much better the film could have been (there mush have been a few budget problems!). Overall, I would not recommend this film unless you want to sit through a film that is more of a curiosity than a solid science fiction film.
Nov. 30, 2007	Today we saw This Christmas, a "black" film about a family getting together at Christmas. The film started out a little slow but about thirty minutes into the film the movie gets going. The story is not anything new---a family gathers for a Christmas reunion and all the members arrive with emotional baggage. Not wanting to sound racist (so many people are sensitive today) but I guess this film shows how black people resolve their problems---not much of this would happen in the average white (or asian or latin ) family. The well-written characters are fleshed out quite well because by the end of the film, one feels like he really does know each member of the family and what they are going though. The ending is quite fun!
Nov. 25, 2007	Seeing Beowulf in 3-D is a blast. I cannot imagine seeing this movie any other way. The 3-D is great and the effects are done extremely well. Except for the middle part of the film, which got a little slow and talky, the movie is exciting (and bloody!) and sometimes, exhilarating. The animation technique (what they did was draw an animation look over real actors) worked for this type of story. Personally, for me, I really enjoyed it because the whole look of the movie was a throwback to great filmmaking of the forties---very few close ups and everything was in focus. There were scenes of the main characters talking (in a two-shot!) and everything in the distance, including all the minor characters, was in total focus, thus allowing the audience member to look at whatever he chooses to look at. In my opinion, this adds reality to the movie since, in real life, everything that you look at is in focus (unless you need glasses!) I give this movie an outstanding rating (except for the middle part).
Nov. 24, 2007	The Mist is the latest Steven King story translated onto the screen. Directed by the man who did The Green Mile, the movie is quite good. It's a story of people trapped in a grocery store to avoid a strange mist that has enveloped the small town they live in. Something strange and deadly is out in the mist. What should they do? Should they make a run for it or should they stay in the store? The picture touches upon various serious topics such as cult and mob behavior. Overall, an entertaining time at the movies.
Nov. 23, 2007	Arriving today, just in time for the holidays, is Enchanted. It's a wonderful movie that tries, and succeeds, in combining animation with the real world. The movie begins with an animated story, very much like a classic 1950's Disney full-length animated feature. The story then evolves with the animated characters venturing out into the real world of New York City---they are now longer animated but portrayed by real actors. The once-animated characters still act like they are in a cartoon world, which, of course, conflicts with real life. The outstandingly scene illustrating this is a wonderful musical number in Central Park where our cartoon heroine bursts into a song about love---and everybody in the park joins in! A wonderful movie!
Nov. 19, 2007	SPOILER AHEAD! CAUTION! DO NOT READ IF YOU PLAN TO SEE NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN! When the website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 96% of critics like a movie, I feel that it must be good and that I won't be disappointed. I went to the movie not knowing what it was about (I like doing that because the movie unfolds without me having pre-set expectations). For the first 90 minutes the movie was a breathtaking action film--quite violent and grim. The main character, player excellently by Josh Brolin, finds several million dollars in drug money and attempts to keep it. He's quite a lovable person and one begins to cheer for him and his wife. BUT WHAM!!!!!!! He's killed off-screen 3/4 of the way into the film! What the F*K! Off-screen?! We don't see it happen!!!!! I don't care what the critics think---this is awful movie-making! The movie continues and suddenly the secondary character (played by Tommy Lee Jones) is at a breakfast table rambling on something about dreams. It's rather a boring scene, seemingly meaningless, and my mind begins to wander alittle. BUT WHAM!!!!!!! The movie ends by going to black! What the FK! Nothing at all is resolved. The bad guy gets away. The good guy gets killed. The sheriff does nothing. We learn nothing about anybodies' back story of what makes them the way the are. This movie is only partially good---the action scenes are quite incredible. Otherwise it is 122 minutes of pretentious movie making.
Nov. 16, 2007	I was really hesitant to see Fred Claus---the critics hated the movie. However, I decided to give it a shot---after all it is almost Christmas. Well, was I ever surprised! It was one of the best Christmas movies I ever saw! All the performers in this movie was great---Vince Vaughn did a great job playing Santa's big brother (who is sort of a loser), Kathy Bates was right on as Santa's mom, and Paul Giamatti was superb as Santa himself. The message of the movie was sweet and right on. And the last thirty minutes of the film contains some of the greatest happy moments I have ever seen in a movie.
Nov. 10, 2007	I haven't been to the movies for awhile---there doesn't seem to be too much out there in theaters. Television has been OK, especially 30 Rock and Ugly Better. Tonight we watched an old movie, Murder, My Sweet, which has a story based on Raymond Chandler's Phillip Marlowe character. It's a 1944 film noir starring Dick Powell as the low-down hard-boiled private detective. It was sort of fun to watch the first twenty minutes---it had that gritty black and white 1940's Los Angeles look about it with real women popping up everywhere. However, after about twenty minutes, I realized I couldn't follow the story. I got more and more confused about who was who and what was going on that, even though I watched it to the end, I was not thrilled about the film. There was too much narration and too many names of people to remember. I was quite disappointed by this film that I had been looking forward in seeing.
Oct. 29, 2007	Michael Clayton is one of those films that, as you think about it more, gets worse and worse. I enjoyed watching the film and defended the movie after it ended. But as the days progressed, I thought, "What in the world did I like about it." I began to think about the major plot holes in the film. I began to dislike how the story was constructed---it was one of those films where the writer shows you small episodes of his life, but it is not revealed until later in the film what those episodes were about. For instance, we see him selling a bar/restaurant and stressing over it. It is only later revealed that he bought it as a backup source of income and that his brother mismanaged it and it lost money. This was not key to the story and could have been explained earlier when he was selling the place. And when the credits roll (I am not giving anything away here) the director decided to make a real artsy ending.
Oct. 28, 2007	I Love You, Alice B. Toklas is a much better movie than I remember. I rented it because I thought it would be interesting to see what the film industry thought of the hippie movement back then in 1968. Having been a semi-hippie (I had the mind set but I dressed conservatively) I remember seeing the film and really not being too impressed by it. However, watching it today, I found it to be quite amusing. Peter Sellers does a great job of playing a lawyer who drops out. it is also great to see how Los Angeles looked back then and how people dressed. (almost all the women wore dresses!)
Oct. 27, 2007	I finally finished Flash Gordon Trip to Mars. This was the second serial in the Flash Gordon series. All the great Gordon characters are in this one, including Dr. Zarkov, Dale Arden, and, of course, the merciless Emperor Ming. The serial was not quite as good as the other two. The first one had a great exciting story and gave us the first vision of the Planet Mongol with all of it fantastic delights. The third serial had more money to spend and the sets were better and was still quite entertaining despite a story weakness. Trip to Mars suffered because the story took place on Mars which was ruled by Queen Azura, who knew magic. The magic part really bothered me because mixing magic and science in the same world is wrong. Queen Azura could do anything depending on what the story writers need. This does not force the writers to think things out imaginatively. If the queen has to get out of a situation---why she just makes herself disappear into thin air. And why couldn't she use her magic to destroy Flash---she used it on other people. Absolutely, no continuity when magic is introduced.
Oct. 22, 2007	Two and a Half Men had one of their worst episodes tonight! Very unfunny and very annoying. Helping the show be bad was one of the worst child actors I have ever seen. This kid must have been some important person's son and they put him on the show because the show wanted to kiss-up to that person. Of all the television sitcoms, this show has the most uneven writing---some weeks it can be totally hilarious and other weeks totally bad (like tonight!). The show that is getting better every week is Rules of Engagement. Wonderfully written with a sweet tone (despite the sex jokes), the show really makes me laff...and I am actually beginning to like David Spade!
Oct. 21, 2007	SPOILER AHEAD--Do not read any further if you plan to see Gone Baby Gone. This film, all about a small girl abducted mysteriously, is extremely well crafted. I especially enjoyed the film because it captured that wonderfully interesting sub-culture of American society---what we call "low-lifes." The dialogue and situations seem very real---I have been exposed to these types of people and they do act that way. The movie moves along at a good pace with several twists in the script. Everything, at least to me, goes up in smoke at the horrible disappointing ending. The film is trying to make us think and prove a point and the ending that the writer chose did not really seem to be the way the story should have gone. If the novel that this film was based on actually ended this way, this would have been a classic example where Hollywood should have changed the ending in order to make a more satisfying story.
Oct. 20, 2007	Saturday Night Live is, like everyone says, simply not funny anymore! Especially not funny---Weekend Update!
Oct. 19, 2007	I jumped in my seat several times during Thirty Days of Night, a movie about vampires who invade a small town in Alaska. A very stylishly directed and photographed movie, it held my interest, although there were several times during the story I thought "huh?". The look of the vampires seemed to have been inspired from the silent movie Nosferatu, which helped to give it a extra spooky feel. These vampires were not the Bela Lugosi type! It was a well done movie. However, I do not really recommend it because, ultimately, because of the story loopholes, the film was not completely satisfying.
Oct. 12, 2007	Tonight we watched Go, a very funny and entertaining 1999 movie that follows the lives of several young people and how their stories connect. Each story revolves around the same drug deal but from the different viewpoint of the people involved. This is one of the "smart" movies that has a script that is believable and has enough narrative to keep it going. There are no slow parts of this film where the characters do nothing and say nothing important. It moves forward quite well. This film replaces (due to the fact that it was over 12 months since I saw it) How to Succeed In Business Without Really Trying on my list.
Oct. 10, 2007	Tonight (the best night on TV) was great. Ugly Betty did not disappoint, 30 Rock is always fun, and The Office, at an hour, had one of their funniest episodes ever.
Oct. 7, 2007	This is the third episode of Chuck and I think I am through with it. The first episode was terrific and the second episode was OK. However, tonight's episode was not worth my time and I turned it off after thirty minutes. The charm in the first episode was greatly due to the show's emphasis on his life as a nerd working in a electronics store. However, as the show's emphasis has moved to his life as a spy, the show has become quite ordinary. I wish the show would center more on his personal life. Two and a Half Men was funny tonight but not as funny as Rules of Engagement, the show that follows it. I think "Rules" has become my third favorite sitcom after The Office and Thirty Rock
Oct. 6, 2007	Tonight was a treat. We went to the Academy Theater and show a restored print (however it was digitally projected) of The Jazz Singer. It was the 80th anniversary of the first sound movie. In actuality, the movie is really a silent movie with sections of talking. However, I was surprised how this silent movie pulled me in. Al Jolsen was great. The evening started will Leonard Matlin (a very fine speaker) introducing the film and giving some of the history surrounding it. His talk was then followed by a 1929 talking short starring Baby Rose Marie. Rose Marie was there herself and she was interviewed by Matlin. She is quite an interesting lady and she provided some good anecdotes about the early days in movies. On a side note; The Academy Theater is not fun to go to. They are a little pretentious in management. First of all, they search everybody, including ladies purses, and they often do a body scan of men. It they find gum on you, they make you throw the pack away. No one could bring in water bottles (lots of them were thrown away---well, it IS Beverly Hills!). I hope that I will never have to see a film here again.
Oct. 5, 2007	Everything tonight was great....Ugly Betty has a superb episode...The Office was again was tops in writing and performance...and 30 Rock had Jerry Sienfeld in a very funny show (I love how NBC lets an NBC show say negative things about the network!)
Oct. 4, 2007	Pushing Daisies was a big disappointment. Apparently, critics have been raving about this show and the early promos made this show seem like it would be lots of fun. This show, about a young man who can bring the dead back to like, started out whimsical just like a Tim Burton movie (it reminded me most of Edward Scissorhands). What spoiled the show for me was the constant, overly cute, narration that explained everything to us. (there is no need for the narrator to tell us "and they drove away in their car" when we are seeing it happen!) I will give this show one more try but, unfortunately, I do not have hope for this one.
Oct. 3, 2007	Not only is Cavemen not very funny, the premise is really odd. I had thought it was going to be a show about some cavemen that were unfrozen and had to adjust to our society. The premise, apparently, is that these cavemen in this show is a minority race that has been around in our society throughout history. It is like they are neanderthals that didn't evolve. The show then examines (supposedly in a funny way) how society treats them differently and how many in our society do not want to associate with them. I had to figure this premise out myself because apparently they didn't show the pilot episode explaining this. This does not bode well for the show because I am sure that they thought they should dump the pilot and show their funniest one first. Well, if this was the funniest, the show is really in trouble.
Oct. 2, 2007	The second episode of Chuck was good, although not quite as much fun as the premiere episode. However, I still will be keeping this show on my must-see list each week. I want this show to stay good. Two and a Half Men was better this week than last. Charlie's mother was a big part of the show and that character (and the actress who portrays her) is always fun. Rules of Engagement was also better than last week. Once again, Patrick Warburton steals this show and is the only reason to watch it. The David Space character annoys me and seems out of place in ensemble show. He plays a wannabe ladies man. Why these two couples are friends with him does not make sense. This show would be a lot better if they dropped him and concentrated on the couple headed by Warburton.
Sept. 26, 2007	Thursday is here! My favorite TV night! The night started off with a wonderful Ugly Betty. It seemingly wrapped up all of last season's cliffhangers (there had more that one!). The show still seems to be in high gear and hopefully the whole season will be as good as last year. The last five minutes of this show tonight was amazing! The season premiere of The Office was an hour. It is amazing how this show grows each year. It is by no means static---they always introduce new characters and new situations---however, the changes seem natural and believable. It is still one of my top favorites on TV Big Shots I turned off after one minute. The show begins with the camera panning a high society party with many people in attendance. Then the camera goes upstairs and we see Dylan McDermot schtooping a girl. They still each have their clothes on (his pants are down, though) and the scene is a little too graphic for me. I turned it off, not because I am a prude, but because I felt insulted that the producers of this show felt that this was the way to get me to watch. Were they bankrupt on story ideas? I hope this show goes down in a ratings free fall.
Sept. 25, 2007	Dirty Sexy Money has a real good title. How can a show with a title like that not be fun. Well, it wasn't fun. Once again, good shows and stories, although exaggerated, are always based and built on believable situations. The incidences that occurred during the first episode were forced and totally unreal. The main problem with me not believing anything going on is the fact that this extremely rich family would not only hire ONE lawyer for all their affairs. This poor lawyer guy was taking care of everything for each member of the family. This is a case where the writer decided he was going to write what he wanted and not worry about what would really happen.
Sept. 24, 2007	Reaper has been getting good reviews and I was looking forward to this show also. However, I have to pass on this one. It's hard to explain why I didn't buy this show except to say that the story and writing didn't grab me. Many of these new shows make a mistake by spending too much time in setting up the premise. One sits in front of the TV waiting for the show to take off and all one gets for the first half is talk, talk, talk with nothing really happening, Many times I force myself to sit through the entire hour even though the beginning is slow (thank god I did that with Ugly Betty, one of my favorite shows), however, this show was so slow I just had to turn it off after twenty minutes. Another slow show this evening was Cane, a nighttime soap about a rich Cuban family in Florida which has made all their money through sugar cane. Well, I found this show a little too Cuban---they even spoke Spanish at time at times throughout the show. Soap operas, especially those at night, should be fun. This one was serious and pretentious. The overall mood was so serious that I will not be coming back to this one.
Sept. 23, 2007	The new TV season is upon us with the beginning of the network's premiere week. From all the promos that I have seen, it LOOKS very promising---so much to watch and so much to choose from. I am crossing my fingers that I discover new shows that I can look forward to watching every week. Let's go! Tonight was the first episode of the Big Bang Theory, a sitcom that I was looking forward to but it turned out to be totally disappointing. I couldn't even watch the whole show. The writing (it's a show about to extremely smart nerdy roommates that discover that a beautiful gird has moved into the apartment across from them) is not believable. Good humor is based in realism---these two nerds talk and act so totally unlike how such two people would talk that the dialogue became annoying. I didn't laugh once. I don't even feel like giving this show a second chance. Two and a Half Men had there season premiere with an episode that was very average. This show is always a hit or a miss. There writers are so different from each other. One week, the story can be different, clever, and funny, Another week, they are back to cheap sex jokes. Tonight's episode was funny but nothing terrific. Rules of Engagement also had their season premiere. The show is only mildly funny. However, I watch it Patrick Walburton's delivery of his lines. He is one of those people that could read anything and make it funny. However, there was one show on tonight that seems like a winner and one that I will certainly watch again ...Chuck. When I first read the premise (nerdy computer guy has CIA secrets downloaded into his brain accidentally) I though that no way would this work. However, a great performance by Zachary Levi as the computer guy and funny writing (that rings true about nerds and their perception of the world) makes this hour long comedy work. Hopefully, this show will be good every week.
Sept. 22, 2007	Mildred Pierce, Joan Crawford's 1945 movie in which she won her Academy Award, is indeed a great picture. The movie grabs you right away with the first few scenes. One wonders what the heck is going on and one wonders what are the motives involved with the characters. The story revolves around a murder that opens the picture and then evolves into the stories of the people involved with the murder. The movie unfolds at a nice pace leading up to an exciting climax. Joan Crawford's performance is indeed one of the moviedom's greats. It was so exciting watching this film that it goes onto my list!
Sept. 21, 2007	We went today to see Eastern Promises, David Cronenberg's new film. It is a movie about the Russian Mafia in London. Viggo Mortensen was absolutely terrific as a Russian mobster. The film is quite a serious one and quite realistically graphic in its violence (not for the squeamish!) All the actors do a great job and the story, although slow to start, gets rather interesting about 40 minutes into the film when lots of the material comes together
Sept. 19, 2007	The new TV season is beginning and I am, indeed, excited. There will be so many new programs to sample---most will be awful, as in seasons past, but some will be great (maybe we will get another 30 Rock). However, tonight's seemingly promising premiere of Back to You was quite disappointing. Many of the jokes I've heard before and, although I really do like Patricia Heaton, she was not given good material to play off of. Kelsey Grammer was quite disappointing with his pompous character. I WILL NOT be watching this show again! The show sort of reminded me of what Will and Grace turned into during its sad final seasons---trying really hard to be funny with the actors really thinking that they can be funny by saying anything. 'Til Death was on next and was a little bit better than it was last year although it was still nothing outstanding. Tonight's story took one of the oldest plots of TV sitcoms---how a married couple confesses to each the annoying habits they dislike about the other----and of course, hilarity follows (not really!)
Sept. 18, 2007	I finally finished all 13 chapters of Flash Gordon: Space Soldiers (1936). I really enjoyed this serial. I really enjoyed the last one I watched, Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe, but this one was a little better. Emperor Ming seemed to be more sinister in this one. And much of the story line used in the following two sequels are set up here. Once again, despite the cheesy acting and special effects, I found each 20 minute chapter lots of fun!
Sept. 16, 2007	If I Had My Way is a 1940 Bing Crosby film. It is one of his more minor films but still nonetheless quite entertaining. Gloria Jean, a juvenile actress with quite a powerful voice, plays a young girl who loses her father in an accident. The dad's best friend (Bing) is now in charge of her and must find the closest relative she has. The film has one of the most happy feel-good endings that I have ever scene. A wonderful Hollywood ending where all the movie's previous problems are wrapped up in ten minutes!
Sept. 15, 2007	The Brave One is quite an interesting film. Dealing with vigilante justice, it examines some interesting themes that politically correct Hollywood doesn't want to examine---"is the only way to fight crime is to take it into our own hands because our current police department and justice system is doing nothing to stop the criminal element?" Wow! I certainly did like a lot that I saw in the film. Jodie Foster is terrific as the woman who loses her fiance to a bunch of thugs. This movie almost made it on my Ten Best List!
Sept. 14, 2007	A night at the Egyptian Theater gave us a showing of 1967's Riot on Sunset Strip. A totally forgettable picture if it weren't for the fact that it is a time capsule of what the times were like at the start of the hippie culture. The film was made in a few days shortly after the real riots took place. The acting is terrible and the story is forgettable. This is really not worth seeing. The second film on the bill was 1968's You Are What You Eat which seemed like it must have been made by a hippie. It's basically a montage of scenes from the up and coming hippie movement of the 1960's. It's more like an experimental film than anything else. We only watched half of it---it was disjointed and it got a little boring.
Sept. 9, 2007	Val and I went to see The Nines today. It's an absolutely fascinating and riveting move---but I'd be damned if I knew what it was about!! The film has three separate episodes of which all are connected. The same actors are in each one. The first is about an actor who is under house arrest because of driving while drunk. The second is about a writer who is trying to get his reality program onto the network schedule. The final story is about a family stuck in the woods because their car broke down. There was a moment when I thought I understood it, but WHAM! then I didn't! A great film that if I understood the key of what was happening, I am sure that all the pieces would fit together (at least I hope they would fit together)(but if they didn't fit together, then forget about me saying it's a great film!)
Sept. 7, 2007	Yes, I know 3:10 to Yuma has been getting great reviews---and that's one of the reasons why I wanted to see it. However, after about twenty minutes into the movie, I decided it was too slow and pretentious for me. First of all, I didn't understand what was going on during the first twenty minutes. Maybe I didn't listen close enough (but when does one have to listen closely during a western?) Second, the directing was distracting---too many serious close-ups of the actors faces and quick cutting. Thirdly, the music in the background was pompous. I sat through the entire thing and then came the unbelievable and stupid ending!
Sept. 3, 2007	Rally 'round the Flag, Boys (1958) is a delightful film about life in suburbia in the 1950's. Starring Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, and directed by a top notch director, Leo McCarey (Duck Soup, Going My Way) it deals with a frustrated working husband that has to put up with his loving wife who is constantly doing civic things for the small town they live in. And, of course, there is the neighbor, Joan Collins, who is quite interested in Paul Newman and wants to win him away from Joanne Woodward. The film revolves around the plot that the U.S. government wants to put in a missile base near the town---Joanne Woodward wants it stopped and Paul Newman is hired by the Army to push it forward. The film is quite funny and enjoyable
Aug. 30, 2007	I usually don't watch small independent films but my daughter Emma convinced me that I would like Amerikana, a little film about two friends who journey across America on a small Vespa motorbike. One of them loves America and is joyful, the other is cynical and serious. The movie is a little slow in starting but when they begin their journey the movie picks up. It is very much like a 2001 version of Easy Rider. The relationship between the two friends, as they discuss the ying and yang of America, shows how much of how we live on lives is merely based on attitude. (Is visiting Mount Rushmore in person an exciting event or is it a non-event because one can view the faces better on a picture in a book?...and there's no charge for parking!)
Aug. 29, 2007	I just got through watching all 12-episodes of the great 1940 theatrical serial Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe. I remember watching these episodes on television when I was a boy and was amazed by the creatures and people that Flash discovered on the Planet Mongo as Flash tries to take down the evil Emperor Ming. I thought that the serial would not hold up---but mush to my surprise the episodes were exciting and fun. This time I watched one episode a night for 12 nights. They are twenty minutes long and watching one each night was just the right way to experience them. Sure, the effects are real cheesy, but they were doing their best trying to make an exciting story---they succeeded!
Aug. 26, 2007	We went to the Egyptian Theater to see two old science fiction movies. The first was 1954's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea from Walt Disney. Starring Kirk Douglas, James Mason, and Peter Lorre, this film was only sporadically entertaining. Being over 2 hours long, the film could have been shortened by at least 30 minutes. The highlight was, of course, the giant squid attacking the sub. Back in 1955 this was quite a spectacular special effect and it still was spectacular today, knowing that it was not computer generated. The second film was The Mysterious Island, a 1961 film that attempted to bring the Jules Verne novel to the screen. However, even though they tried to spice up the adventure by having giant creatures on the island, the movie was very slow and not a lot of fun. This movie also was over two hours long which did not help.
Aug. 10, 2007	Science Fiction festival at the Egyptian theater! Tonight we saw two films. The first was the absolutely delightful Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959) (the title tells you what it's about). It is amazing how this picture has stood the test of time. Sure, there are a lot of things they would not do today in a film (even though they are spending months on their journey, no one's hair grows long, none of the men grow beards, Arlene Dahl's makeup never comes off) the movie works in providing a exciting narrative and characters one cares about. Also, for some reason that I can't explain, the lizards that are photographed like they are huge dinosaurs (common in pre-CGI films)actually look menacing! Great fun! The second film, World Without End, (1956) was absolutely horrible. This is the type of film that is so bad is should be fun to watch (women in the far far future on earth dressed in skimpy skirts and high heels) got kind of tired after thirty minutes. The movie is all about a Mars Mission which, on their way back to earth, encounters a problem and they arrive on earth hundreds of years in the future. A nuclear holocaust has taken place and the survivors live under ground while the less fortunate mutants (who want to kill the underground society) live about ground (shades of The Time Machine!). The crew from the Mars Mission teaches the underground people to fight (with guns!) the mutants and regain the surface for themselves so they can live rightfully on the surface. It all ends happily with the mean mutants dead and everyone living happily together.
Aug. 3, 2007	I usually don't discuss films that I do not completely see through. I feel that if you don't see the whole entire film, you are not giving it a real chance to be liked---maybe the last ten minutes of a film makes up for all the terrible boring stuff that happened before the end. However, I have to give a big thumbs down to Hot Rod after only seeing 10 minutes of it (the theater gave me my money back!). From what I saw, the main character seemed like a retarded 28-year old acting like a dumb teenager and the "directing" was horrendous. (Once, again, why do young first-time directors think that "editing" is "directing"!) In the evening, I watched an old musical from 1960, Can-Can, starring Frank Sinatra, Shirley Maclaine, and Maurice Chevalier. Although the film was slow in parts, the absolute glorious Technicolor (originally filmed in Todd-AO) mesmerized my eyes and helped me watch the film. I really miss the highly saturated colors they used in films from that time. Also, as one watches the dance numbers, one realizes how different they photographed musical numbers back then. The director stayed on the dancers and showed the number in basically one long take. One's eyes can follow the dancers and not be forced to watch a particular part of the dance that the director forces you to watch (as they did in the abominable Chicago).
July 29, 2007	Rescue Dawn is perhaps one of the most exciting movies I've seen in a long time. It is based on a true story of how an American escaped a prison camp in Viet-N am in 1965 and survived in the jungle. Christian Bale is amazing in this role---I think he is one of our greatest actors. The director, Werner Herzog, photographed the film in a way that we could actually see things. He laid very low on close-ups and had scenes that weren't quickly cut. Matter of fact, several scenes went on for quite awhile without a cut. A highly recommended film!
July 28, 2007	I went to Sunshine expecting to see an exciting Science Fiction movie. It turned out to be an arty and pretentious movie. The film is about a crew that must navigate to the sun to drop some sort of bomb into it to re-ignite it---apparently the sun was dying. The director used too many close-ups that it was hard to see what was going on. It was extremely difficult to follow the story. Overall, to me, it was a complete waste of time.
July 27, 2007	It's everything one would want in a movie about the Simpsons! The movie version of the TV show not only great but better than any episode that I have ever seen. The best thing to say about the movie that it was written SMART! The writers wrote jokes, not caring if they might not be understood by everyone in the audience. Therefore the picture could be enjoyed by everyone, not just the smart-challenged people. The movie is delightfully politically incorrect---they do things that one would never see in any other animated film. The Simpson's writers have a wonderful understanding of American Culture. I hope there will be a sequel!!!! Later that day I watched Barcelona, a 1994 Whit Stillman film (he has only made three films!) Like his other two films, The Last Days of Disco and Metropolitan, the film contains witty and clever dialogue. The film takes place in Spain during the last few years of the eighties when the United States was looked upon as some imperialistic power wanting to take over Europe. The heroes of the film, two Americans who live in Barcelona, humorously discuss the problems they encounter. Sometimes, (due to poor sound recording?) it is difficult to understand what they are talking about. Nevertheless, the movie was enjoyable due to protagonists discussions about life, the USA, and Europe.
July 13, 2007	It was about 15 minutes into Hairspray that I began to think that this film isn't working working for me. None of the performers, including John Travolta in his hideous makeup, appealed to me. All the music, except for maybe one song or two, sounded the same. The Dance numbers were not particularly creative---and anyway, with all the unnecessary camera cutting during the dances---who could watch them? I could not wait for this movie to be over!
July 12, 2007	What a Way to Go was a major Hollywood production in 1964. It starred Shirley MacLaine and 6 of the biggest male stars of the time. Produced in glorious technicolor and wide screen with beautiful gowns and set pieces, it is a georgeous-looking film. The movie is about a woman who loves the simple life (she does not like wealth) and keeps marrying men who get richer and richer and then die from something that the money brought on. She blames herself for being the catalyst in their deaths. The movie is humorous but not laugh-out funny. The best part of the movie is that each time she marries someone (four times) she imagines her marriage as an old movie---we then see it come alive on the screen as the movie she is imagining in her head. I would only recommend this film for one to se as an example of truly georgeous Hollywood filmaking that no longer exists.
July 11, 2007	We finally found a copy of The Last Days of Disco (1998) This movie was released on DVD a few years back and since then it has become a little bit of a cult film and owners of the DVD are asking $70-to $80 for their copy on e-Bay. I finally found a store that had it for rental---it wasn't the DVD but a VHS copy. "Disco" is a film about the waning days of disco clubs in the early 1970's. Although the film is not accurate with clothes and set pieces, the film excels with witty and clever dialogue. It follows a group of young yuppies as they live thier lives with disco clubs being their main source of social activity. There's plenty of disco music to hear and dancing to watch. The highlight of the film is an extended serious discusssion among the yuppies of both the negative and positive images portrayed in the film "Lady and the Tramp" which they all watched as children.
July 9, 2007	Captains Courageous (1937) is a classic film that more people should see. Spencer Tracy, as a fisherman, gives an outstanding performance which resulted in him winning the Oscar for best picture that year. The story is all about a young spoiled rich boy is gets lost at sea and is picked up by a fishing boat. The boat cannot go back to shore right away, so the boy must learn to get along with the fishermen on board. At first, of course, he doesn't want to do anything to help the fisherman, but about 60 minutes into the film, he begins to change. The movie is basically about changing and learning the important things in life. The movie is a little slow at the beginning to set everything up. However, the last 45 minutes of the film is very powerful and moving---the tissues had to be given out to wipe our tears!
July 4, 2007	Transformers started out rather exciting but, as far as I was concerned, completely wore out its welcome about thirty minutes into the film. First of all, after we meet the bad transformers and then meet the good ones, I could not tell them apart. The big fighting scenes???---who was winning???---I couldn't tell! And these machines---they are huge---and no one sees them when they parade around in people's backyards? Once again, this was a movie where people can do anything with computers. Overall, this was a rather week movie.
July 1, 2007	Ratatouille was a cute film that was much better than I expected. After all, how great does a movie about a rat that wants to be a great chef sound? The film was amusing and it was a harmless way to spend two hours. The computer animation in this film was the most advanced I have yet to see---all details, including the smallest hair on each rat, was meticulously taken care of.