Bombers B-52 - 1957

Have been wanting to see this one for a long time. Karl Madden plays Air Force Sergeant Brannon. Natalie Wood plays Lois his daughter. Karl is closing in on 20 years in the military. His daughter wants him to retire and become a successful executive. Karl wants to stay in the millitary. Lois starts dating Brannon's C.O. which complicates things. This is simply just a horrible movie. 1.5 stars and that is only because I liked watching the filming of the B-52 bombers flying in the sky. The script, camera work, acting, etc. is just awful. 1 star for me.

The Big Caper - 1957

This was my last NF instant movie for awhile. I am switching to discs so I can watch some movies i have wanted to plus 2 more that you told me about.

The reviews for this heist movie were great but the movie was lame- 1.5 stars. Not even worth a review. I didn't recognize one actor. The main actors were Rory Calhoun, Mary Costa & James Gregory.

Forever Female (1953)

Ginger Rogers and William Holden. Reviews said it was as good as All About Eve. Same Plot. I thought the show was fun but wouldn't put it in the same class as All About Eve. Pat Crowley did a fantastic job. Rogers and Holden were good as well 3 stars.

American Grafitti (1973)

How in the world did this movie make it onto AFI's Top 100 films, and Top 100 comedies?  This movie was lame from the word go.  You are watching four differnt teenagers live out their final night before they head off to college.  They deal with angst, love, depression, hangovers, car wrecks, theft, kidnapping, and bad choices.  There were two saving graces to this film, and they were the awesome cars, and great music from the era.  WOW!!  I want these two hours back.

The Great Waldo Pepper

I finally have been able to get around to this movie, and I thank you for the recommendation.  I especially liked how the lie of the movie was worked into an actual reality in the end for Waldo.  This will not make it on to my top list, but it was a worthwhile watch.

Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)

I have sat on this review for some time now, because I have not really felt how I had reacted to the movie. Dustin Hoffman plays a young aspiring add executive Ted Kramer. He just lands the largest bid of his career when he finds out that his wife Joanna Kramer, played by Meryl Streep is leaving him and his son. Joanna is leaving to find herself and to do things that make her happy. Ted, on the other hand, has to sacrifice his career and time to do what is best for his son. After the divorce is finalized, Joanna comes back after eighteen months to claim her son. Ted is stuck fighting this custody battle in court; and he quickly learns that it will be an uphill battle to retain his rights as primary parent for the boy. For the longest time this movie was in my Que, and I did not want to watch it because of the depressing nature of the story. I also had to prepare myself to watch it through the eyes of the era, when it was mostly about the maternal rights for children versus what was actually right or wrong. As movies go this is not great cinema, but it is a wonderful story of sacrifice and dedication. This is on all sorts of top 100 lists, but it will not make it on to mine, because I had to transcend too much of my own biases and current histories in the legal world to find this an enjoyable film. On Netflix this movie is only rated PG, but there is a scene with female nudity front and back; it was a funny scene but could have been shot and edited to fit the PG rating format. 2 1/2 stars for me.

The Hustler - 1961

I originally watched this movie about 2 or 3 years ago, and immediatly put it on my top 100 list. I believe all 4 main actors were nominated for an Oscar- Paul Newman, Jackie Gleason, George C. Scott (before his Patton days), and Piper Laurie. The first time I watched this I was focused on Newmans role of Fast Eddie Felson. This time around I tried to focus on the other 3 actors, and I actually think they outplayed Newman. Laurie deserved an Oscar. She plays a drunk perfectly. The way her body language was, her eyes, everything. Almost as if she is there but not there. I love this story line. A loser who becomes somebody and exposes those around him as the real losers.

Duck Soup (1933)

Rufus Firefly (Groucho Marx) is called upon to be the new ruler of the ficticious country of Freedonia. It does not take long for him to declare war on the neighboring country of Slyvania due to affection of a woman. They go to war. There you have it the long and short of the movie. This is concidered by many movie historians to be a classic film; it is on the AFI top 100 list. I have never been a huge Marx brothers fan, simply because I did not grow up in the era of their humor. Their skits come across as more atune for radio and Vaudville. If you go into this movie with simplisity in mind, it will work for you. I watched this with my ten year old son and he was laughing all the way through it. I personally enjoyed the mirror scene; let me set this up for you. Two of the Marx brothers are spies and have disguised themselves as Rufus, and shortly find themsleves in this mirror predicament. This movie is a simple, fun watch, and helps to establish some pop culture references for other movies.

The Great Buck Howard - 2008

Okay so I lied about not wanting to watch another movie for a week. I saw this one on NF and had to watch it. WARNING...This movie doesn't fit in a box, and it isn't supposed too - that is the point. It is hard to rate on a 1-5 star scale because it isn't like watching a regular movie.

John Malkovich plays Buck Howard - a Mentalist more than a Magician - and John does what he always does in a movie, he steals the show with a fantastic performance. Howard travels the U.S. and delivers the same show over and over again. He is a fragment of what he used to be. In his younger days he was so popular that Johnny Carson had him on the late night show 61 times. Now a days Jay Leno hasn't called him once. His livelihood is based on smaller towns giving him gigs in a smaller setting. He is in denial and believes America still loves him. As a person Howard is just plain weird. He doesn't fit in, doesn't communicate well, and really has some weird quirks about him.

The other main character is played by Tom Hanks son and actor Colin Hanks. In my opinoin Colin does an okay job as Troy Gable - the road manager for Buck Howard. His friend in the show named Valerie Brennan is played by none other than Emily Blunt- who did a fantastic job in the Devil Wears Prada.

The underlining theme in this movie is really about Troy finding out what he wants to do with his life.

My wife did not like the movie - she thought it was boring. I felt that way starting out but then realized I needed to take off my regular movie viewing glasses and see this show for what it intended to be - an atypical comedy. I give the show 3 stars because of its uniqueness and how well Malcovich did with his character. I loved the scenes with Tom Hanks and Colin Hanks- always fun to see a real life father and son play a father and son in a movie.

The Apostle (1997)

The movie was a first of many for me. (1)This is the first time in my life that after the movie was over I actually felt like I had watched a documentary. Think about that for a minute. Duvall had pulled off his own "Citizen Kane" if you will. I actually felt and thought that Duvall was Preacher Euliss Sonny Dewey - the character he played. That is the only way I can explain how incredible his performance was. Like Orson Wells in Kane, Duvall did everything for this movie- director, executive producer, main actor, and wrote the entire script. He had the script done in the 1980's but not one studio would touch this movie. Duvall ended up spending $4 million of his own money to get it going. His performance was nothing less than miraculous. He was nominated but didn't win an Oscar. The way he delivered his lines, the way his body movement was throughout the show, I mean literally he prepared for this character for years. I can't even tell you how incredible he was in this movie. Amazing. (2) Another first for me is how dumbfounded I am at the rating of this movie. When it released it was rated R. Netflix has it as PG-13. I would rate it somewhere between G and PG. There is no swearing. There is no nudity. There is one kiss and it last 1 second. There is nothing gross in it. It is about a preacher and his life. There is one scene where someone is hit by a baseball bat. I have no idea how this movie was rated R unless they have taken stuff out from the original movie before releasing it on DVD.

5 Stars. In my top 100 and it wasn't ever in question of that. What is so incredible about this movie is the layers that the audience is able to see of Duvall's character. His performance allowed us to see that. He wasn't just a preacher. He was a human being who worked as a preacher for a living. He had temptations, he had a temper, but above all this man loved God and loved being a preacher more than anything. He healed people but couldn't fix his own life. I cannot think of one flaw in this movie. Well done Duvall. This may actually go into my top 10 movies of all time.

Hugo (2011)

The majority of this movie takes place in the train station in Paris France during the early 1930s. This is where we find young Hugo Cabret who lives in the hidden passages of the station, while taking care of the many clocks at the station. All the while he is dodging the watchful eye of the station police officer, played by Sacha Baron Cohen. In an effort not to give too much of the plot away, Hugo befriend the god daughter of the stations toy shop owner. With her help, Hugo and Isabelle bring back to life a automaton. This particular automaton (robot of sorts) writes and draws. I just do not want to give too much away, but before you watch this show familiarize yourself with the many works of Georges Melies. Director Martin Scorsese walks a delicate balance between story and art with this film, and to tell you the truth he losses a few times. Do not get me wrong this movie is very beautiful to look at, but that beauty sometimes overshadows the story. This will not make my list but I will highly recommend it with 4 ½ stars.

Real Steel (2011)

Watch the trailer; it is Rocky meets the Bad News Bears with robots. My boys and I enjoyed this movie; there is a little bit of language. This is a good movie, but it is not great, 3 ½ stars.

Nightmare Before Christmas

This is the first time I have seen this movie, and I found it entertaining.  It is a good little holiday movie, but for which holiday?

Rope (1948)

Here is a lesser known Alfred Hitchcock movie starring James Stewart.  It is wonderfully made much like Rear Window, in that the whole movie takes place in one room.  The story begins with two men strangling another; when the victim is dead they place his body in a chest in the living room and proceed to prepare for the party they are hosting that night.  Not only do they prepare for the party, but they serve dinner off of the chest the body is contained in.  Throughout the evening they begin to give themselves up and James Stewart’s character figures it out.

This movie is beautifully made like many of Hitchcock’s but the story is very simple, and probably better shown on a stage.  Stewart is brilliant but the film is only worth the name of the star and the director, 2 stars.

The Exorcist (1973)

The cover art for this movie stated that it is, “The Scariest Movie Ever,” so I thought to myself, “I accept that challenge.”  The story begins during current times in Northern Iraq on the site of a historical temple excavation.   Father Merrin, played by Max von Sydow, is overseeing the dig when they come upon an artifact that represents evil.  That story ends there with no further explanation as to what the artifact meant or represented.  Now you need to transport yourself halfway across the word to Georgetown USA where you find a movie actress who is a professed atheist named Chris MacNiel (Ellen Burstyn).  Her eleven or twelve year old daughter, Regan (Linda Blair) is a bored child who has taken up to speaking with spirits through an Ouija board.  From here the story turns to focus on a Catholic Father Karras who is losing the faith, but still help people work through psychological problems.  Things happen to him that add to the film, but I do not want to ruin the plot for you.

Regan begins to act curiously so her mom becomes concerned and takes her to specialists who exhaust all of their knowledge and resources on her.  Eventually they tell her to seek spiritual help. This is where the story becomes ‘scary’.  You have seen the clips of her vomiting pea soup, turning her head all the way around, but you have probably not seen clip of her masturbating a crucifix (believe me when I say that that was not the worst thing done or said).

The two afore mentioned Fathers are brought in to expel the devil out of Regan.  The ending was a surprise, but the journey to the end was not worth the wait.  I was prepared to be scared, my wife and I were in bed watching it on her laptop at about 10:30 at night.  Two hours later I looked at my wife with sever disappointment on my face.  Millie put it best when she said, “It was not scary it was vulgar.”  I was talking to my father-in-law about this movie and he told me that when the movie came out in the 70’s the High Councilmen read a letter from the pulpit telling the Saints not to watch this movie.  Boy I wish I would have not seen this movie, because I have vulgar words and images in my mind.  If you have not seen this movie, do not because you will want to give your spirit a bath afterwards.

Poorly performed, poorly constructed, and the scary music that you hear around Halloween is not even during the scary parts of the movie.  A Must Miss, watch the trailer and you will have seen enough…nevermind they are all R rated.

Dark City - 1950

This is the movie that made Charlton Heston a star. And honestly I was really impressed with his performance. It is unfortunate that the vehicle to launch him to stardom couldn't have been a little bit more attractive. Somewhat bland and predictable script filled with mostly B actors. 2.5 stars but that is because of Heston's role, he played it perfectly, and the story was fun to follow just a little slow.

It was fun to see Harry Morgan as a younger actor (he just passed away this year). I also enjoyed watching actor Dean Jagger - who once played Brigham Young in a movie and ended up converting to the church (I think I told you that once in another movie review that he was in.)

I couldn't find a trailer for this one.