High School Musical 2 [HD]

HSM2: Deluxe Dance Edition--Truly Deluxe!
I was amazed by the amount of extras on this 2-Disc DVD set. What a fantastic set--with over 5 hours of bonus material. The story is typically light-hearted fun as you would expect from this franchise. It's the last day of school, and all your favorite East High Wildcats are counting down the seconds for the final bell that tells them it's finally summer! The rousing opening song is "What Time Is It?" and gets the movie off to a high energy start. Troy (Zac Efron), Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens), and the gang must get summer jobs; meanwhile, Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale) wants to get Troy a job at her country club, Lava Springs, so that he can sing with her at the talent show and become her new boyfriend. Unbeknownst to her, the club's manager, Mr. Fulton (Mark L. Taylor), has to hire the entire gang to get Troy...including Troy's girlfriend Gabriella. Sharpay does everything she can to break the two up, including setting Zac up with a sweet college scholarship. Can Zac resist...

Good music, fair film
This sequel to High School Musical features the same stars as the first film and nearly the same plot. Once again, high school hunk Troy (Zac Efron) ponders whether he should stick to the stuff he knows (in this case, the sweet Gabriella), the conniving Sharpay wants him there beside her, and eventually everyone learns that they're all in this together. OK, that wasn't fair. That's also the plot of "Grease," and for that matter, nearly every other teen musical.

In this case, though, I couldn't help feeling let down. Unlike the original (High School Musical (Encore Edition)), this film breathes not a breath of fresh air. It is, in essence, just a clone of its mama. If you loved the first film you'd like this one -- it has the same feel-good bounce -- but I bet you won't be watching it as often.

So why four stars? The music. It's better! "You Are The Music In Me" is a sincere, catchy duet by...

What else can be said, the kids love it..
I have two daughters (5 & 7) and they love the movie, love the characters and can't stop watching both HSM 1 and 2. For very conservative parents (I kind of consider myself on the conservative side), this isn't all that bad. They do kiss in this one, at the end. Other than that, I can't say there is anything else in the movie that requires explanation to the kids (not that I needed to say anything about "the kiss"). It is actually good, clean fun, unlike many of the other videos that come out nowadays..

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Wall Street

New extras worth double dipping
When Oliver Stone made Wall Street, he was riding high from the commercial and critical success of Platoon (Special Edition). His father, Lou Stone, had been a stockbroker on Wall Street in New York City and this film was a son's way of paying tribute to his father. Almost twenty years later, it has become one of the quintessential snapshots of the financial scene in the United States and epitomizes the essence of capitalism, greed and materialism that was so prevalent in the 1980s.

Michael Douglas owns the role of Gekko and by extension dominates the movie with his larger than life character. He gets most of the film's best dialogue and delivers it with such conviction. There is a scene between Bud and Gekko in a limousine where he tells the younger man how the financial world works, how it operates and lays it all out, pushing Bud hard to go into business with him. It is one of the strongest scenes in...

The movie that helped to end the Cold war
To watch this movie in Moscow in 1988 as a student was a liberating and exhilarating experience. Here is the capitalism close-up, warts and all. And we loved it. In three more years the Soviet communism will be dismantled, free market hurriedly introduced, and some of my friends and fellow students will proceed to become very rich people themselves. I did not know then, that Gordon Gekko, a villain who incidentally was much admired by me, was a thinly veiled portrait of Ivan Boesky. Boesky, who incidentally was a son of Russian immigrants, became a center of the biggest insider trading scandal and government investigation in the 1980s, which let to the collapse of junk bond powerhouse firm Drexel Burnham. However, I knew that Gekko must be much more than a villain, otherwise how this ugly character could be so attractive? Of course, a huge part of it was a superb acting by Michael Douglas. But watching this film now, 17 years later, gave me an opportunity to ponder more on the subject...

Wall Street is one of our favorite movies, this edition is not better than the 20th anniversary edition
2 Disc Set - Insider Trading Edition, released September 7, 2010

Wallstreet was made in 1987 by writer and director Oliver Stone and starring Michael Douglas, Charlie Sheen, Martin Sheen, Darryl Hannah, and John C. McGinley. A young stockbroker after months of persistence finally bags the big fish, Gordon Gekko, a man whose presence and lifestyle he idolizes. He shuns his blue collar background in pursuit of greed and impatiently engages in illegal insider trading.

I first watched this movie after a book called "Now Showing" claimed it to be one of the best 25 movies....ever, I guess. I must say, all in all, it was a good movie. I actually really liked Charlie Sheen and Martin Sheen's work in it and I believed their relationship. The pull of an actual father and son relationship really added to the authenticity of the roles. I finally got to see Michael Douglas just the way I like him -- being a bad guy, someone getting the best of him, and not seducing...

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Cheaper By The Dozen (2003)

A Dozen Points
This is a family movie, so you can buy (or rent it) without really flinching about dirty words or inappropriate behavior. Here are a dozen reasons why it's OK and not so OK.

1) (Good) Steve Martin is perfect for these kind of roles. He remains the personification of the unflappable leading man that he's portrayed in films like "Parenthood" and "Father Of The Bride."

2) (Bad) Bonnie Hunt is wasted. She comes off well, but ultimately the kids and Martin have to carry the film.

3) (Good) The kids are likable, and, at times, very touching (Especially Mark/Fed Ex). None of them utter curse words or make smutty jokes.

4) (Bad) That the kids frequently flagrantly disobey house rules without any kind of discipline. (Although the pants and meat gag is the film's best joke.) They plot and scheme sadistic traps ala "Home Alone" lite, and spend a fair amount of time saying how badly the parents' work is interfering with their lives, never minding the fact that Dad's new job is putting...

A Very Funny Movie!
Steve Martin movies are usually very good. "Bringing Down the House," was great, as was "Novocaine," but now he is starting to go to family movies in "Cheaper by the Dozen." "Cheaper by the Dozen," is a remake of a much older movie that was based on a book. The reason I liked this movie was that it was funny, smart, and it was not just an hour and a half of children screaming. Steve Martin was funny in it, very much like he usually is, and I could see them making a sequal out of it, especially since it's already made over a hundred million dollars since Christmas Day.

The movie is about Tom and Kate Baker who live in the small town of Midland with their kids. They have twelve of them. Tom is a collage football couch, and his wife is writing a book on her family which is actually called Cheaper by the Dozen. Their oldest daughter Nora has moved out of the house and is living with her model/actor boyfriend Hank. When Tom gets a job offer to couch another football team they move to a...

The original version was a true story....this is cheap humor
The original 1950's version was based on a true story, written by two of the actual children portrayed in the movie. The remake (if you can even call it that), follows it's own plot, complete with distracted parents and out of control children. Watch the original, which in my opinion is a class act.

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The Whistleblower

Fighting human rights violations
"The Whistleblower," based on a true story, is a gritty movie about sexual trafficking in Bosnia. Kathryn Bolkovac (Rachel Weisz), a Nebraska cop, is a divorced mom who takes a job with a security contractor for big pay and a short tour in the Balkans. She discovers that ethnic tensions have caused local cops to refuse to investigate domestic violence cases, particularly those involving Muslims. She is promoted and put in charge of gender affairs by a U.N. official (Vanessa Redgrave), but is increasingly frustrated. After building cases against sexual traffickers, she's told they enjoy diplomatic immunity.

Bolkovac is a lone crusader, persuading fearful women to testify against their abusers, bucking diplomatic hypocrisy, and dealing with rampant paranoia. Ms. Weisz heads this topical political thriller, turning in a powerful performance, one of her best. The movie underscores the collateral damage caused by politics and maintaining the delicate balance of world...

A sharp, intellegent political drama that's not easy to watch
The Whistleblower is not a comfortable film to watch, nor is it supposed to be - Rachel Weisz takes on an extremely difficult role here that could have come across as monotone in the hands of someone less capable. I used to think she was a fairly average actress but she's clearly become somebody extremely skilled around challenging material. Some of her final scenes in the film are Oscar-worthy and underscore a number of sickening truths that have been developed throughout the script.

From the first few minutes, it's pretty clear that the story isn't going to have a happy ending and once you see what military contractors and UN officials were conspiring to achieve, it's enough to make you want to write letters to your elected representatives. I haven't read anything to indicate that the situation shown in this film is untrue and it paints an extremely shameful picture of what Westerns organizations were doing while supposedly protecting civilians.

Overall, it's...

Harsh Realities Exposed
THE WHISTLEBLOWER is a film that kicks you in the stomach and then continues to play out the worst possible truths that we'd rather not admit exist. The theme of the film is Human Trafficking, and apparently there are about 2.5 million victims around the world today - young people who are sold into sexual slavery for the financial gain of people from all areas of life, including our own government, the International Practices Task Force, and contracted companies supported by the US Government to rebuild who are assigned to third world countries and countries besieged by or recovering from war, and in our own cities in this country. This film is based on a true story, a story written (and discussed in the bonus track on the DVD) by Kathryn Bolkovac who was transferred from her police job in Lincoln, Nebraska to Bosnia (with the promise of $100,000. and a six month term) to monitor the local Sarajevo police and advise them on proper police procedures. Bolkovac's story was written for...

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Mr. Popper's Penguins [HD]

An Absolutely Hilarious Animal-Human Love Tale
You live in an apartment in New York City and work within sight of the Empire State building. Your life is hectic but predictable.

Imagine getting a very unusual gift (turns out, later, to be from your father). It is a live gentoo penguin. Wanting to send it back, you ask for a return crate. You get a new crate all right--filled with five new penguins.

What a mess your apartment soon becomes! You get snipped at and dumped on by the penguins. You give them names, such as Nimrod, Stinky, Captain, etc. They are perpetually playful! The penguins swim in the bathtub and spill water all over. Your children from a terminated marriage come to visit, and, having long been alienated from you, absolutely fall in love with the penguins.

A nosy neighbor wonders what the noises are from your apartment and, suspecting that he is on to something, wants to tell the board about it. Worse yet, your new nemesis, a penguin specialist who works in the zoo, keeps spying on...

Mr. Popper's Penguins is POPPREFFIC!!!
Took my 7 year old daughter to see this movie today & Im really glad we went!
From the previews I thought the movie was going to be boring & lame, but I was pleasantly surprised with the movie!

The movie ran at a fast & very entertaining pace...
The theater audience laughed, laughed & then laughed some more...

The movie has comedy for sure, but also tells a great story & has a few very good life lessons in it...
The lengths Carrey takes to take care of these Penguins is just AWESOME!!!

Jim Carrey did a fantastic job as the lead actor...
He shows signs of his old hillarious humor from his early films, but is not sooooo over the top in this film as he was in past films...
He showed true heart & was very believable in his role!!!

The Penguins were unbelievably funny & simply amazing! They must have had some serious training!
The supporting acting was pefectly done by Mr. Poppers kids & ex wife...

Overall...

GREAT FUN.....
Between Mr. Popper's Penguins and The ZooKeeper, ... I liked them both, but I liked Mr. Popper's Penguins more. Kids loved it too. Nice story. Has been while since I saw a Jim Carrey movie,... thought he did a good job in this role. And the penguins are hilarious! I didn't quite get that incredible name of Mr. Popper's assistant,.... with the fun voice and accent, ... miss P (?),... but I liked her character/role too. So many fun scenes in this movie. We had a good time.

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High School Musical

I'm an adult male and I LOVE this!
Let me begin with this caveat; I have no teenage daughter at home. I find this the most fun and refreshing thing I've seen in a long time, and probably for the very reasons "serious" critics find it silly or pedestrian: the movie embraces its cliches and campiness wholeheartedly and makes me laugh aloud each time I watch it (and I've watched it more times than I care to admit) and the songs are hummable and singable and delightful. I've listened to the soundtrack at least once a day since I got it from amazon, usually on my way to work because the songs put me in a good mood. I mean, who doesn't want to do one of those cool dance moves in the car when "Stick to the Status Quo" or "We're All in This Together" comes on? I do refrain. I love theatre, I love show music, and I love "High School Musical"!

Vanessa ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!
The movie was so awesome! I watched it 50 times!!!!!!!!!!! I thought Vanessa was hot too! I give it 2 thumbs up.

A great movie for kids Korokee Parties!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm a 40 year old adult and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this movie. And I'm not afraid to admit it that I"ve seen this over 6 times with and without my kids. I've taped the show and have had Korokee parties with my kids along with my friends kids. I'm still going to buy the DVD when it comes out, I'm so crazy about this movie. It brings back memories when we all went crazy over a similar movie, GREASE, when we were young.

when I first saw the commercials, I knew that this movie was going to be an "extreme" hit and could not believe our luck that we didn't have to go to the theaters to see it. I was counting the days until premiere day. The dancing, the singing, the music, the storylines, the total package was such a joy to watch. I've also bought the sound track and as another customer has written, it brings a smile and a wonderful feeling when I hear the music.

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Lola Versus

Delightful "relationship" movie
"Lola Versus" (87 min.) is the second feature film for real-life partners Daryl Wein (co-writer and director) and Zoe Lister Jones (co-writer and co-star), after the promising 2009 feature "Breaking Upwards". I caught "Lola Versus" just recently at the Esquire, the Cincinnati indie-movies theatre.

"Lola Versus" brings the story of Lola (played by Greta Gerwig), who is in a seemingly perfect relationship with boyfriend Like (played by Joel Kinnaman), as it is portrayed in the first 5 min. of the movie. In fact Luke proposes to Lola, who happily says yes. But alas, with only weeks before the wedding date, Luke breaks up with Lola. In the rest of the movie we see Lola struggling to cope with this devastating news, counting on her close friends to help her, including best girl pal Alice (played by Lister Jones) and best guy pal Henry (played by Hamish Linklater). It would ruin your viewing experience if I spelled out how it all unfolds, you'll just have to see it for...

Actress Greta Gerwig makes this film worthwhile
My first experience watching Greta Gerwig was in a small movie from 2010 called "Greenberg." By my count she now has 6 films that have or will come out in 2012 including this one. Here she plays a 29 year old part time waitress trying to get her Ph.D. by explaining great literary pieces. Many will compare this "relationship" film to "Sex in the City" or Lena Dunham's "Tiny Furniture/Girls" and like those films/TV series, New York City is a central character.

The film opens with Lola about to get married to Luke (Joel Kinnaman, "Safe House"), a hunky dude she lives with. He gets cold feet a few weeks before the wedding, which is catastrophic for Lola. Propped up by her former hippie parents (Debra Winger and Bill Pullman) and a couple clichéd friends (co-writer Zoe Lister Jones and Hamish Linklater), the story follows Lola's attempt to regain her footing. She's confused and convinced that no one wants her, so begins a series of one night stands that includes her...

Greta's Got Talent
This was an enjoyable film, showcasing Greta Gerwig's talent and offering up a story that seemed convoluted at times. There is little question of Ms. Gerwig's talent. She appears to be the quintessential Woody proscribed heroine. This was so much more than earlier appearance in 'Greenberg.'

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Grandma's Boy UNRATED [HD]

"Don't judge me, monkey."
Allen Covert, who we all know from his character parts in numerous Adam Sandler movies, stars in this film. The movie definitely has a familiar Sandler-type feeling to it, but I thought it worked well with the given cast.

It all starts out with a hilarious scene where Alex (Covert) is being evicted from his place while playing video games. It turns out his roommate has acquired a penchant for Filipino hookers and he's spent all the rent money on his addiction. It sounds pretty weak, but it's a great scene and it's really well done.

A good number of actors make guest appearances. Rob Schneider is the Middle-Eastern landlord, David Spade is a feminine waiter at a health food restaurant, Kevin Nealon is an overly spiritual boss, the kid from Dodgeball (Joel Moore) plays a video game designing genius who has a robot as part of his dual personality, the mother from Everybody Loves Raymond plays Alex's grandmother... Nick Swardson (who is a professional stand-up comic)...

Surprisingly funny
I'm usually leary of anything bearing Adam Sandler's Happy Madison production label, but much to my surprise, Grandma's Boy is a blast. Allen Covert (who also co-wrote and produced) stars as a 35 year old video game tester working on a hit new game, and in his spare time he is secretly designing his own game while smoking a lot of marijuana. When he gets kicked out of his house, he ends up living with his grandmother (Doris Roberts) and her two room mates (Shirley Knight and Shirley Jones) while dealing with his best friend (Nick Swardson), his ultra tan dealer (Peter Dante), his super hot new boss (the ultra hot Linda Cardellini), and some other weirdos as well. Despite it's predictable plot and gags, Grandma's Boy works mainly because of it's stars and the blast they're having filming it. Covert, Swardson, and Dante (all of which had a hand in either writing or producing the film) are quite funny in their roles, with Swardson stealing the show as a granny loving master of Dance...

Idiotic Perfection
It's rare that I give a comedy five stars, but "Grandma's Boy" is perfect. Comedic timing, a brief romantic angle, wonderfully silly acting and a fun plot make this one of the most perfect comedies I've ever seen. Allen Covert plays Alex, a recently homeless video game tester who's just looking for a break. He visits his local weed dealer, played tightly by Peter Dante, to see if he can stay at his house for awhile. Alex has second thoughts about staying there when he finds out that Dante's African tribesman buddy, Dr. Shokalu, has acquired an actual lion to protect the stash. His next attempt at bedding down is with his game-testing buddy, played with stereotypical geek charm by Nick Swardson. His sleepover experience at Swardson's home reveals that Swardson still lives with his parents, has a lot of toys, and a really cool car bed. It also leads up to the first really funny (and really wrong) confrontation involving Covert and one of Swardson's family members. From there,...

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Welcome To Mooseport [HD]

Ray, you ruined this movie.
Simply put, Mooseport is a bad movie. Far fetched, not funny, slow-paced and boring. A waste of 90 minutes of my life. This is why this movie went straight from the theaters to DVD and HBO. Ray Romano's poor acting (as "Handy" the plumber) in particular ruined the movie. Romano was dull, lifeless and easy to root against. If it was not for Gene Hackman, who as usual, does a great job, I would have quit after the first 30 minutes. If you want to check this out, I would wait until the DVD hits the 5 dollar rack at your local Wal-mart/Target.

More Like, "Welcome to DULLSVILLE"
This is what one might call a "work movie" or an excercise in filmmaking. WELCOME TO MOOSEPORT has an impressive cast from Ray Romano, Gene Hackman, Marcia Gay Harden, Maura Tierney, Rip Torn, and Fred Savage. However, the plot is predictable and the characters are one-dimensional. Hackman plays ex-President of the United States, Monroe Cole. He has retired to Mooseport, Maine and is asked by the local citizenry to run for a vacated Mayor's position. Then, he finds himself running against the local hardware store/plumber owner Handy Harrison played by Ray Romano. Then, the writers throw in a lame side-plot of Cole trying to win the heart of Handy's fiance (Tierney). Handy/Romano is so likeable and low-key in the movie that he gets lost amongst the townspeople and his co-workers at his hardware store during most of the movie. Hackman as ex-President Cole has the proverbial phoned-in performance. The real stand-out comedic performance is that of Fred Savage (tv's THE WONDER YEARS) as...

Welcome to Mooseport (2004)
Director: Donald Petrie
Cast: Gene Hackman, Ray Romano, Marcia Gay Harden, Maura Tierney, Christine Baranski, Fred Savage, Rip Torn.
Running Time: 115 minutes.
Rated PG-13 for some language and gross elderly nudity (just an old man's behind).

"Welcome to Mooseport" has enough charm and some quirky moments to make those who are fans of Ray Romano's "Everybody Loves Raymond" television show giggle somewhat, but ultimately it is caught trying to be a comedy that does not have much scripted humor and relies too much on Romano to get laughs just because of his fame. Gene Hackman is well-casted as Monroe "Eagle" Cole, one of the most famed former Presidents of the United States of America, who has moved to the small Maine town of Mooseport due to a sloppy divorce that left him without his Baltimore home. Ray Romano stars as Handy Harrison (who happens to be a handy man-go figure), a goofball that knows the ins-and-outs of the town, but does not know when to commit to...

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Brain

Fun to watch comedy
A great David Niven comedy. If you like those 60s cops and robbers comedies like the Pink Panther you will probably enjoy this.

Slightly silly but glossy and enjoyable 60s caper comedy
Headlined by Jean-Paul Belmondo and Bourvil at the height of their fame, The Brain aka Le Cerveau is a slightly silly 1969 French caper comedy with one eye firmly on the English language market with the casting of David Niven and Eli Wallach, though Olive's new Blu-ray and DVD release is of the French-language version that's some 15 minutes longer than the simultaneously shot abridged English language version released in the US, with Niven and Wallach rather impressively delivering their French and Italian dialogue themselves rather than being dubbed. Niven is the Brain of the title, the criminal mastermind behind the Great Train Robbery whose cerebrum is so large that in moments of stress his neck can't support it, and Wallach the Mafioso he wants to launder his loot from an encore of his greatest triumph with a NATO train carrying a $16m payroll. Unfortunately Belmondo's escaped small time convict and his reluctant pal Bourvil are planning to take the same train using the Brain's...

Amazon you lying Dogs
This is the second time I have bought this movie from Amazon. If I could give it no stars I would. I bought the DVD "Le Cerveau" which was supposed to be in French and dubbed to English and have subtitles only to find out it was in French with no subtitles. According to the description above it is supposed to have German and English dub. Unless you can understand French DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME. Put it in my Blu-ray player and the first 5 mins you hear David Niven speak English then it has English subtitles with French audio. What part of English dub doesn't Amazon understand. Could you please check your products before you sell them and make sure the product description is correct. To make things worse the video conversion is pathetic. Obviously they found the grainiest film copy to convert and then did nothing to the quality. To sum up: French Audio without an English Dub and very poor video. My second bad purchase from Amazon with Le Cerveau being my first.

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In The Line Of Fire [HD]

Eastwood Vs. Malkovich, with the President in the Middle...
Clint Eastwood, in his first film after completing his masterpiece, UNFORGIVEN, chose a winner with Wolfgang Petersen's suspenseful IN THE LINE OF FIRE. As 30-year veteran Secret Service agent Frank Horrigan, Eastwood had the misfortune of protecting President Kennedy, November 22, 1963, and the specter of not reacting quickly enough has never fully left him, through the subsequent years. At the other end of the spectrum is ex-CIA assassin Mitch Leary (brilliantly portrayed by John Malkovich), who had become 'excess baggage' for the intelligence community, due to budget cuts. After surviving a bungled attempt to kill him, Leary decides to vent his rage at his 'betrayal' by assassinating the President. In his research, he discovers that the only agent still active from the 1963 team is Horrigan, and, deciding they shared a kinship, he begins to tease Horrigan with clues about himself, and how he'll kill the President.

The film builds up a 'head of steam' from the very first scene, as...

Secret Service Gets Boost from Eastwood
This review refers to the Special Edition DVD(Columbia)......

He was there when Kennedy was assassinated. It still haunts him 30 years later. If he had moved a fraction of a second sooner he may have saved his beloved president, But a what cost to him? He is Frank Horrigan(Eastwood), an aging Secret Service Agent, trained to do whatever it takes to protect the President of the United States. Now he has a chance to redeem himself in his own eyes.
A psychotic, but very clever, would be presidental assassin is on the loose. He calls himself Booth(Malkovich), (Because Booth had so much more "panache" then Oswald). He taunts Horrigan about the day Kennedy is shot, through phone calls. Lets him know that he intends to assassinate the president,even if it means dying himself, and taking Frank with him.
Frank does everything he can to track down this killer and save the president. Most of the other agents feel Frank is too old to keep up the pace of the Presidental...

In the Line of Fire on Blu Ray
Individual plot summaries of these movies can be found everywhere as well as opinions on the plots, acting and actors so I will focus only on the quality of the transfer of this movie to Blu Ray.

In the Line of Fire was shot some time ago but still has legs as an intriguing and suspenseful film. This Blu Ray came only with the one Blu Ray disc.

The video transfer is really quite clean with good details in the dark and shadow areas. At no point did I see any artifacts or dirt and, except in one of the deleted scenes, no stair stepping or color banding anywhere. The Mbps rate appeared to average in the mid twenties. Colors were natural looking and the focus of the transfer to blu ray is generally soft and film like without the video type color popping that we often see on some of today's films. Since I do not have the Standard Def version I really can't make a comparison between the formats but the Blu Ray transfer offers good contrast and clean imaging...

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The Amazing Spider-Man [HD]

The Amazing Spider-Man - point by point
I read a lot of reviews for this movie before watching it myself. In the end, they all boiled down to a few basic criticisms, which I kept in mind as I made my own appraisal. Here are the major problems people seem to have had with Marc Webb's "Amazing Spider-Man", along with my responses.

1. The reboot was too soon.

This more or less depends on your point of view. True, the last Spidey movie was in 2007, a mere five years ago - more than long enough to warrant another Spider-Man film; not exactly long enough to call for a complete reboot. On the other hand, I think a lot of people would agree that it's been more like eight years since the last GOOD Spider-Man film. I loved Raimi's work with the character, though I do criticize him on some minor points. But in the end, he really dropped the ball with Spider-Man 3, running a lot of good characters into the ground and painting himself into a corner with two hours of very messy plotting. In the end, whether a reboot...

Fitting Reboot of a Comic Legend
After watching the first five minutes of The Amazing Spiderman, I knew I was gonna like it; after the first hour (which includes a lot of exposition without being tedious) I actually preferred this one to the Raimi versions mainly cuz I think it possesses an intensity and believability that the previous films lacked.

Marvel seems to be producing more mature, rebooted versions of all their super-hero series and I actually prefer this variation on the Spider Man story as well, especially the disappearance of the pointless Mary Jane obsession (which always made me respect Spidey a little less). I suspect that a more scientifically savvy audience appreciates an ever evolving origins story and I also enjoyed the initial dealing-with-new-superpowers interlude which was very amusing and again just seemed a much more realistic reaction from Peter Parker to his new abilities. Exceptional performances for Peter and Gwen are what truly make this production stand out from every other...

I Miss the Old Peter
I miss the old Peter Parker, from the old comics. The one who was actually a nice guy. The one who acted like a jerk for just one panel of his origin story, and then spent the rest of his life doing good. The one who had a tough life, but who was too busy worrying about others to wallow in self pity. That guy was pleasant company. And if I can't have him, I'll take Toby McGuire.

Just once, I'd like to see a Spiderman movie where Peter keeps his mask on and does not reveal his secret identity, and/or show off his superpowers, to everyone he meets and her dad too. But of course, he must get this credit and applause, because it really is all about him.

Just once, I'd like to see a superhero movie, where the film-makers do not need to resort to the cheap ploy of threatening an entire city with destruction (which we know ain't going to happen). Why are not the lives of individual human beings enough of a threat to sustain our interest and sustain a movie? The...

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Debbie Macomber's Trading Christmas

A Christmas mix-up of crossed wires and crossed paths.
Emily is a widow of almost 3 years and is still adjusting to holidays without Frank. Her daughter, Heather, is in Boston going to college and is asserting her independence, insisting that just this once she not come home for Christmas. She tells her Mom she is going to stay put for the holiday, when actually she is going to Arizona with her boyfriend. Emily gets the bright idea to take Christmas to Heather. She goes online and arranges a house swap with a Scrooge-ish college professor in Boston who is also a writer of novels. He happens to be under pressure of a deadline and needs somewhere quiet to get away and write. She ends up in his stark city apartment, with no daughter in town, and he gets her heavily holiday decorated Victorian style home in a friendly little town that won't leave him alone. If that isn't enough, throw in lots of Christmas cookies, a tripped security alarm, a man who is afraid of being sued for almost having Emily arrested, a friend who decides to drop in...

Cute Entertaining movie
This movie premiered on the Hallmark Channel last Christmastime. I liked it, it was cute and entertaining. There were some humorous parts. It seemed a little predictable, but it was enjoyable to watch.

TRADING CHRISTMAS MOVIE REVIEW
I have seen this movie a number of times.I also have the book.It takes a bit to warm up to ,but I found myself liking it more each time.A comfy movie for a cool evening..

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First Position

Riveting, suspenseful ballet documentary
No one in our family has been especially drawn to ballet and yet we were totally immersed in this compelling documentary. First Position is one of those rare films which dancers probably won't want to miss and non- dancers could find surprisingly enjoyable. I'm surprised it hasn't received national attention and major press coverage- or has it and I somehow missed it?

The director of First Position offers a close- up and intimate portrait of a group of young dancers preparing to compete in an elite (and potentially life changing) competition and wisely steps back and lets the dancers, their instructors, and parents reveal the details of their lives.

It is amazing that some have even had the opportunity to dance. Michaela was adopted from Sierra Leone, miraculously beating the odds to come to America. Joan Sebastian only sees his parents a few times a year because he has to live in New York instead of Columbia to pursue his dreams. One girl is home schooled so...

Glued from the beginning
I normally don't write reviews, but I had to for this. I am a ballet dancer and thought it would be a cute documentary, but nothing really engaging. I was completely wrong! The amazing things the young people can do never ceases to amaze me. I highly recommend this feature presentation as soon as it is available on dvd. Meanwhile, I'm going to watch it a second and third time in the theaters.

A must see, A must have
As the grandmother of a dancer, this film portrayed the hard work and sacrifices that are made. However, it is not only the dancer that makes the sacrifices, but the family as well. The beauty of it all is amazing, but it is constant training. Just like a muscle builder a dancer must train daily. This film looks into the lives of 6 dancers, sometimes funny, but most of all it is inspiring, well done and a film to watch over and over. I don't understand why this did not get national attention.

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Dick Night

Not what you'd expect! - Funny!
This movie took me by surprise. There were some good one-liners in it and I enjoyed the humor and need to just move forward. Interesting plot turns and full of laughs.

Well-intentioned situational comedy.
Well-intentioned situational comedy.

Ignore the blurbs- the "D-word"" in the title "Dick Night" actually refers to the 3 men in the film,nothing else."Jerk Night" would have had less eye appeal. There's a condom joke in it,as well as male performance anxiety. The zombie stuff all takes place in the final 20 min.The acting is adequate,the filming is good as well. It's almost a "chick-flick", certainly won't appeal to the beer bong crowd seeking nudity and sex. The script has a lot of "F-words" in it, but that's it. There's no sex..there is a lot of painful relationship conversations. It is a comedy however. I'm not sure I'd rent it for $3.99 again-however. Still it's worth a look..probably

No Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Too bad - actors do a nice job and the set up is funny but the rest is a waste.

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American Ninja 2: The Confrontation/American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt - 2 DVD Set (Amazon.com Exclusive)

Keel Ze American Ninja
This is a review of American Ninja 2.

OK. So this movie isn't going to win any major awards. The plot is supposed to suck and the acting is supposed to be terrible. However, anybody who has watched and appreciated this movie knows differently.

The plot can't be that bad. Why are there popular movies today that seem to have borrowed ideas from American Ninja 2? A guy who has amnesia but has special fighting skills (Bourne Identity)? Cloning / genetic research (Jurasic Park)? On a side note, I am pretty sure the idea of cloning ninjas back then was a bunch of bull, but look at where the technology is today.

The acting may not be what this movie is remembered for, but Dudikoff is convincing as the American Ninja. He doensn't say too much, but he knows what's going on and he definitely seems to know how to kill ninjas. Steve James convinces you that he's actually having a good time killing ninjas. The bad guys convince you that they are indeed bad. What...

Perhaps the best deal in DVD history
Putting the second and third installments of the "American Ninja" series on one specially-priced DVD just may have been the best idea that humanity has had since the wheel. These two movies, along with the original "American Ninja" film, represent everything that bad, low-budget action movies should be: negligible plotting, lame dialogue, wooding acting, and plenty of semi-believable martial-arts action. Here, in one sentence, is the plot of both movies: an American martial-arts whiz (played by Michael Dudikoff in the first two movies, and some other guy in the third one), with help from his well-muscled friend Jackson, takes on a sinister tycoon's private army of ninjas. Not that plot really matters, since it's interrupted about every five minutes for a fight scene. Dudikoff and the other guy can't really act, but they can fight, and that's all that really matters. No self-respecting fan of bad action should be without this DVD.

Ninjas, ninjas, and then......more ninjas!!
This DVD is one of the best buys in town. 2 classic movies for the price of one? Unheard of! I picked this one up as soon as it was released and I was not disappointed.

American Ninja 2 was one of my childhood favorites, and watching it in DVD format brought tears to my eyes. Dudikoff is the quiet hero, accompanied by Jackson, his muscle bound friend who says awesome one liners that bring a dash of comedy into the mix. Together they battle an army of super ninjas led by an evil ninja master, who in turn is commanded by a rich drug dealer. Same plot as the first film, and just as enjoyable.

American Ninja 3 doesn't have Dudikoff, but is still a great B action flick. The plot is exactly the same as the previous two films, but the action choreography is a little better than its predecessors. Steve James is even more brilliant as Jackson in this film because he gets more of the spotlight than he did in the first two films, and he makes the most of it. The only thing that puzzled me is...

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Santa Claus Conquers the Martians [HD]

S-a-n-t-a C-l-a-u-s, Hooray for "Santy" Claus
It's the kookiest Christmas ever when Santa Claus is kidnapped by Martians in this "you have to see it to believe it" Christmas "classic." Maybe you've seen this movie hilariously skewered on Mystery Science Theater 3000, but you have to watch it on its own to truly appreciate it. Santa Claus Conquers the Martians is just so bad that I can't help but love it, and that explains why I am giving this deservedly one-star movie four stars. The Martian get-ups are more ridiculous than Marvin the Martian's normal attire, the sets redefine the very definition of cheap, the acting is over-the-top and generally horrible, and Santa is - well, he's just a little bit weird, if you ask me. Every time the guy starts in with his distinctive laughing (usually for no apparent reason), I am reminded of the fact that Satan is spelled with the same letters as Santa.

Things aren't going so well on Mars. It's bad enough that the Martians are all colored a ridiculous shade of...

The best version on DVD.
This DVD from Intermedia (Woodhaven), is the best version on DVD. The print quality used is much better that that used on other DVD's.

A Jolly Yuletide Classic
Yeah, "It's a Wonderful Life" is a pretty good movie. However, the movie I joyfully watch every Christmas is about martians who, lacking a Santa Claus to bring joy to martian kids, kidnap Santa from Earth, along with two children. "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians" is almost sublime in its badness, and with painted-green martials in skintight suits, a Santa with a lewd chuckle instead of a "Ho Ho Ho," incredible wooden acting by the cast (one of whom is Pia Zadora), unspeakable special effects, and a horrible theme song, it is a masterpiece of the so-bad-it's-good school of film. Just TRY getting the theme song out of your head.
The DVD from Laserlight looks exactly as one would expect it - awful. The supersaturated colour scheme has not aged well, and looks very grainy. There are many scratches, but that only adds to the film's strange charm. Unfortunately, the first fifteen seconds or so of the film's opening credits are not on this DVD, depriving...

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Horgasm: A Love Story [HD]

Big Tricks and Funny Transitions
I am a huge snowboard fan and in my opinion, Torstein is the biggest and best slopes type rider out there. I have seen many snowboard movies and this is my favorite over the art of flight. I don't like documentaries but this is more about snowboarding and some hilarious transition clips with Dax, Torstein's manager. In the end, this is a must see movie.





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The American Scream

Very fun if you love Halloween.
All except for one guy in the film, I really,really enjoyed it. There is one guy who just takes the fun out of Halloween, and you will see what I mean if you rent this. Its ok to love Halloween, I love it and keep some of my indoor Halloween props up all year in m y house lol. But the guy Victor in this film looks at Halloween the wrong way in my opinion. He takes it to serious, and takes all the fun out if it. If I re watch this and Im sure I will lol I will honestly skip past all the parts that he is in, because he just takes the fun out of the film.

Other then that the other guys in this are GREAT !!!!! they are down to earth,and just a lot of fun to watch them setup their Halloween displays. So if you love Halloween, and you are a home haunter, I know you will enjoy this. I wish it was out on dvd to buy.

So except for the one guy in it, its awesome. Would of gave it 5 stars, had to give 4 because of him. But its worth watching for sure.

A Good Film But Disturbing...
I thought the filmmakers did a fine job making the film, so I'll give it 5 stars. But I say it's disturbing only because the film does a good job showing obsession. Now, I LOVE Halloween, and have made various props over the years and enjoyed spending time making them. But there's love and then there's unhealthy obsession. To see how his [one of the three haunters in the film] Halloween obsession negatively affects his children is actually heartbreaking. His daughter is asking to have some of this time, any time, and he totally ignores her. I found myself embarrassed for him, thinking he was not portrayed very sympathetically. And I was also embarrassed for the father/son haunters, who's props were very lame. Again, the filmmakers did a fine job with the film, and of providing us with a window into obsession and its negative effects on everyone involved.

Recognition is wonderful, but missed opportunities abound
I am a home haunter of the type featured in this documentary, and as such, I enjoyed being swept up in a wave of "Gee whiz, Someone Out There created a documentary about Us! Woo hoo!" If you are also a home haunter, then please skip the rest of this review and rent the movie immediately.

Most other viewers will probably find watching to be a worthwhile experience, although odds are it will feel familiar even to those whose idea of Halloween decorating consists of setting out a pumpkin on the porch. Nothing you see here will challenge your expectations, and the film suffers from a narrow focus that strips away most of the richness and unexpected delights provided by this quirky hobby.

The framework is wearily familiar: male head of household overcompensating for an emotional challenge is crazily overinvolved with his passion and is supported by his long-suffering spouse and kids who sacrifice to 'stand by their man.' Members of almost any hobby can be found who...

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A Christmas Story 2

actually there are 7
do people realize there are 7 movies about this family. so it's not like this is some sort of thing that noone should touch. it fact many were done before Christmas Story, and noone really complained about the others. then again i guess the titles of the other weren't Christmas Story. that alone I guess will get people in a huff. I won't give it more or less then 3 stars tell i see it, cause i like to stay objective.

the others btw are:

1976 - The Phantom of the Open Hearth - Ralph is attending the prom. Yes, the TV films were all about a teenage Ralphie. This one also gives us the original film versions of the leg lamp story and the Orpheum dish-night fiasco, and the amusing build-it-yourself house story. It's my least favorite of the Ralphie films to watch though, because it's a bit depressing and probably the hardest to acquire a good copy of today, but still very enjoyable. Never released officially on VHS or disc. Ralph is played by David Elliot here, and...

Son of a bi---!
I had really low expectations for this movie due to all the negative reviews on here, but let me tell you they were all wrong! Now let's be truthful, nothing will ever come close to the original, because it is such a classic, but this will be as close as you could possibly get. This movie has plenty of laugh out loud moments, from the ice fishing to the resurrection of the lamp. Daniel Stern was great, he is always hilarious and this movie is no exception. Everything you loved about the original, is back. The fantasies, Flick's tongue, the a**hole Santa, even the Christmas present costume! Give this one a shot even if you just rent it. Sit back and be prepared to laugh, ALOT!!

This ain't your daddy's Christmas Story..
Being a straight-to-video release, my expectations were LOW going in, so I was actually kinda suprised that I actually enjoyed it, but I agree with a previous reviewer - the overuse of the phrase "Son of a B**ch" really got things off to a bad start. I figured this would be a good clean family movie but after they dropped the S.O.B. bomb 2 or 3 times in the first minute or two of the movie I just turned it off and waited for the kids to go to bed. I don't have a problem with the language if it's done tastefully - in the first movie it was funny because a kid said it and it was just kind of spontaneous and unexpected, in this movie they did it just because they did it in the last one - the original has a few other choice phrases in it that either the wife or I know to "bleep" out with a well timed cough or two. But anyway, like I said I wasn't expecting this to be anywhere near the quality of the original movie. There were some laugh out loud moments and the story has a lot of...

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