Red Dawn (2012)

IMDB LINK

Stars:  Chris Hemsworth, Josh Peck, Josh Hutcherson

This 1984 Patrick Swayze, Charlie Sheen, Jennifer Grey disaster has been remade.

Now instead of the USSR invading the USA its North Korea.  Let me say that again, North Korea.

OMG, Chris, was there a big wait between Thor movies or what?

A total peice of brain candy, so it you want to watch stuff blow up and care not that the plot could of been more bleeivable if my 12 year old cousin wrote it.

Dont rush folks. 

Stand by Me (1986)

IMDB LINK

Stars:  Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman

Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
1987	Nominated	Oscar	Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium Raynold Gideon Bruce A. Evans

This movie just stays fabulous every time i see it.

Boys being boys.

Friendship, youth, innocence, life, death and drama.

A must see, and even though it was made back in the 1980's, wow how many movies can you say that about.

I could go on and on, but instead, go watch it. 

The Exorcist III (1990)

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Stars:  George C. Scott, Ed Flanders, Brad Dourif

I saw this back in the day at the theatre, and had not seen it since.

Reminded me of two things; one that movies today are all blood and gore and two that suspense is a dying art in the movies.

This is just creepy enough.

Not going to make an AFI top 100 list or anything, but a good little flick.

Jack the Giant Slayer (2013)

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Stars:  Nicholas Hoult, Ewan McGregor, Stanley Tucci

Holy crap, you will not remember a moment three days later.  Just crap.  Don't bother. 

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

IMDB LINK

Stars:  Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden

Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
1965	Nominated	Oscar	Best Actor in a Leading Role Peter Sellers
			Best Director Stanley Kubrick
			Best Picture Stanley Kubrick
			Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium Stanley Kubrick Peter George Terry Southern

Sometimes you watch things, and they are so trapped in their own time period that they don't resonate in our time.  This movie is one of those.

In 1964 this must of been a shocking movie.

Today it seems horribly dated.  We are no longer afraid of the nuclear bomb, the Russians, or that a strike on our homeland is even a likely option.  We no longer live in a cold war, superpower world.

Its a cool look back, but i doubt i will watch it twice. 

On Golden Pond (1981)

IMDB LINK

Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
1982	Won	Oscar	Best Actor in a Leading Role Henry Fonda Henry Fonda was not present at the awards ceremony. His daughter and co-star Jane Fonda accepted the award on his behalf.
			Best Actress in a Leading Role Katharine Hepburn Katharine Hepburn was not present at the awards ceremony. Presenter Jon Voight accepted the award on her behalf.
			Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium Ernest Thompson
	Nominated	Oscar	Best Actress in a Supporting Role Jane Fonda
			Best Cinematography Billy Williams
			Best Director Mark Rydell
			Best Film Editing Robert L. Wolfe
			Best Music, Original Score Dave Grusin
			Best Picture Bruce Gilbert
			Best Sound Richard Portman David M. Ronne

Stars:  Katharine Hepburn, Henry Fonda, Jane Fonda

Katharine Hepburn at 74 and Henry Fonda at 76 are epic in this movie.  Jane Fonda at 44 looks amazing. 

Henry passed away the following year.  Henry had once studied acting with Dorothy Brando, mother of Marlon Brando.  At 76, he was the oldest person to win a best actor Oscar.  He and his daughter Jane Fonda were the first father-daughter couple to be Oscar-nominated the same year (1982).  At the time of his Oscar win, Fonda was too ill to attend the award ceremony. Instead, his daughter Jane accepted the honor for him. "My father is so happy….Me and all the grandchildren are coming over with [the award] right away!" she told the audience.

Katharine Hepburn holds the Guiness World Record as the only movie star to win four Academy Awards, all for her leading roles in Morning Glory (1933), Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), The Lion in Winter (1968), and On Golden Pond (1981).  In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked her the top American screen legend of all time.  In the 1990s, Katharine Hepburn developed a progressive neurological disease, but this did not keep her from keeping up an active lifestyle in her Connecticut hometown and even from acting in select roles. Her last Hollywood film credit came in 1994, more than 60 years after she made her memorable debut in A Bill of Divorcement. Katharine Hepburn died on June 29, 2003, at the age of 96 in the same house in which she had grown up. "Life is hard," she once said. "After all, it kills you."

Jane had long wanted to work with her father in hopes of repairing their strained relationship, and achieved this goal when she purchased the screen rights to On Golden Pond (1981) specifically for her father. 

This is a must see for me, evey two years or so.  Emotive and powerful it moves me everytime. 

Run out and go see it. 

 

X-Men: First Class (2011)

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Stars:  James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Kevin Bacon

OMG, let me be the last one to suffer this.......crap acting, crap story line, and TOO much CGI.

please dont. 

His Girl Friday (1940)

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Stars:  Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy

Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell rock this out.  She wants to be a regular person, but her regular boyfriend cannot stand the test of competing against Grant.

A total must see and part of the AFI list i am working my way through.

Grant loves to tease him, and Bellamy is always the good sport.

Enjoy.

Personal Services (1987)

IMDB LINK

Stars:  Julie Walters, Shirley Stelfox, Alec McCowen

Wow I hadn't seen this since 1987, and back then it blew my mind.

Now it just makes me snicker.

A total 6/10 kind of movie.

Not a horrible watch, but pretty predictable.

All and all a meh, average movie.

It was fun to look back at the morality of the 1980's. 

Have you seen it, if so give me a comment!!!!!

 

The Apartment (1960)

IMDB LINK

Stars:  Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurray 

Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
1961	Won	Oscar	Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White Alexandre Trauner Edward G. Boyle
			Best Director Billy Wilder
			Best Film Editing Daniel Mandell
			Best Picture Billy Wilder
			Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen Billy Wilder I.A.L. Diamond
	Nominated	Oscar	Best Actor in a Leading Role Jack Lemmon
			Best Actor in a Supporting Role Jack Kruschen
			Best Actress in a Leading Role Shirley MacLaine
			Best Cinematography, Black-and-White Joseph LaShelle
			Best Sound Gordon Sawyer (Samuel Goldwyn SSD)

 

Listed as a Comedy, i would disagree.  This is a dark look at the things we must do to get a bit of love in this world. 

 

Comedy or Drama aside, this is a well acted movie in a way we rarely get to see today.

 

Jack Lemmon is the bumbling up and comer.  Shirley MacLaine is just darling as she stumbles through love in a youthful way. 

 

A template that all rom-coms still follow today, except in this movie the acting is stellar.

 

Enjoy. 

 

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

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Stars:  Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Jeff Goldblum

A look at the veterans returning from Vietnam?

A look into the fear of sleeper terrorist cells?

A product of the cold war years?

All of the above?

This is a pretty good flick. 

You tell me what you think it was reflecting from its time period................or is it just a scary movie?

Boxing Helena (1993)

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Stars:  Julian Sands, Sherilyn Fenn, Bill Paxton

Not a box office smash, but a great look into our darkest desires.

This is like a blend of Fatal Attraction and American Psycho.

As such it is a dark look into obsession into women, men, sex, control and desire.

This shocking movie must of jarred the audiences in 1993. 

It lasts as a piece of art, and a difficult look into our needs.

Enjoy it once.

Dick Tracy (1990)

IMDB LINK

Stars:  Warren Beatty, Charlie Korsmo, Madonna

Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
1991	Won	Oscar	Best Art Direction-Set Decoration Richard Sylbert Rick Simpson
			Best Makeup John Caglione Jr. Doug Drexler
			Best Music, Original Song Stephen Sondheim For the song "Sooner or Later (I Always Get My Man)".
	Nominated	Oscar	Best Actor in a Supporting Role Al Pacino
			Best Cinematography Vittorio Storaro
			Best Costume Design Milena Canonero
			Best Sound Thomas Causey Chris Jenkins David E. Campbell Doug Hemphill

What a great movie if you are a comic book lover.  The sets, the clothes, the sounds, the sets are all designed to make you feel you fell into a comic book.

Fun for the entire family.  Madonna plays both a tragic female cliche and a feminist device for change and power.

I fully enjoy this every 10 years or so.  So should you.

Clerks II (2006)



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Stars:  Brian O'Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Jason Mewes

Funnier than the first one.

Raunchy and a secret pleasure for me.  Like Bad Santa......not for the kids.

This is one long OMG moment followed by another.

Epic must see. 

PS: I'm taking it back.  Run Pillow pants run!!!

Quartet (2012)

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Stars: Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay, Billy Connolly

What a charming movie.

Yes they are octogenarians, yes they are older than dirt, but they are funny as hell.

A great look into the friendships we all wish to have at that part of our lives.

Totally enjoyed it. 

Behind the Candelabra (2013)

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What a great look into the life of a legend.

Michael Douglas and Matt Damon are impressive.

Gay, bigger than life and a man whose private life changed the cultural perception on palimony and then changed the laws on common law status.

Also a man who sued all that charged him with being gay, even though there was not a straight moment in his life, he lived with shame shame shame. 

I enjoyed this.

Go get it.

Double Indemnity (1944)

IMDB LINK

Academy Awards, USA
Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
1945	Nominated	Oscar	Best Actress in a Leading Role Barbara Stanwyck
			Best Cinematography, Black-and-White John F. Seitz
			Best Director Billy Wilder
			Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture Miklós Rózsa
			Best Picture (Paramount).
			Best Sound, Recording Loren L. Ryder (Paramount SSD)
			Best Writing, Screenplay Raymond Chandler Billy Wilder

Stars:  Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson

What a great little film-noir piece from the early 40's.  Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck are amazing. 

She is desperate and manipulative.

He is manipulated and coy.

and Robinson is a perfect character actor in a great role.

A great Sunday afternoon flick.

Enjoy. 

Freaks (1932)

IMDB LINK

The Motion Picture Code, a system of industry self-regulation, would be strictly enforced beginning in 1934, and would continue to influence Hollywood films into the 1950s.

This sneaks in before that.

A dark look at humanity. 

THis was hard to watch.

A scary look, and if you choose to watch, please read about the alternate ending.

This movie should of kept the origninal ending.

Thoughts?