"Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. You may quote me."

Harvey, 1950. Three Stars.

I've wanted to see this movie ever since hearing Weird Al's "Harvey The Wonder Hamster" when Alapalooza came out in 1993. I grew up with Weird Al's song-based hilarity (even though Al TV always managed to escape my youngster radar, I don't know how!!). But Alapalooza, along with the film Jurassic Park*, went hand-in-hand in creating my pre-teen, 5th-grade world, so as weird as it sounds, it was kind of a seminal part of my life. Explains a lot, eh? :D

Somehow, Harvey the Wonder Hamster got me hipped to this movie Harvey. I knew it wasn't hamster-related, but maybe the grown-ups in my life were like "Oh yeah, Harvey. He's an invisible 6-foot rabbit." Anyways, this Weird Al song had somehow led me to knowledge about this movie starring a guy who had an invisible giant rabbit friend. And I thought it sounded great, so I wanted to see it.

Last week I was flipping through the TV guide and I saw that it was on HBO. So I set up a DVR recording for it and watched it. It got four stars so, because of that and because I had heard about it for over half of my life, I thought this movie was gonna be killer. And, I liked it. I wasn't head-over-heels about it, but it was very well-done, and pretty enjoyable. I think it has a really nice and unique point-of-view, and maybe it was, like, super-duper uproarious back in it's day. But, I liked it and I'm really happy that I saw it. If you get a chance to see it, I recommend checking it out.

Everyone in this was great, especially Jimmy Stewart. Also I really liked the script lettering used in the beginning credits.

I didn't know this: it was based on Mary Chase's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, and I was glad to see that she co-wrote the screen play. I'd love to see this on stage. This movie adaptation felt like a movie and was pretty open, rather than just feeling like something that was created for stage, so it'd be interesting to see how it's played out in its original state on stage.

I found out that Harvey was re-done for TV in 1972. It seems like the only real notable thing about it was that it was Madeline Kahn's TV debut (and third film). I love her!! Also Jimmy Stewart continued to play Elwood P. Dowd on stage (and in this '72 re-do). I guess if you're awesome at something, stick to it.

"Well, I've wrestled with reality for 35 years, Doctor, and I'm happy to state I finally won out over it. "

*I was in a public school academic enrichment program in 5th grade, you Quincy kids will remember it as "E.L.C." That's right, I was a "labbie"!! (And to this day I still get shit from people like TIM about it, haha!) One day a week me and a few other kids in my class would take a bus to another school and meet up with other kids and learn rad stuff. Like how to use computers, paint watercolor landscapes, do word problems (they sucked but they were way less sucky than doing regular math problems), and do calligraphy... Basically a bunch of interesting and creative things that most public schools usually aren't able to offer. It also taught us responsibilities by giving us responsibilities around the classroom (but apparently didn't teach me how to use a thesaurus to not use the same word twice in a sentence, ha!). And we did a few big projects, like we learned how to write giant multi-paged reports! And I did mine on my young love: basketball! With a diorama of offensive and defensive positions! And I wrote letters to my favorite basketball-related peeps about basketball, and Jim Calhoun wrote back to me! And so did Red Auerbach, on official Celtics stationery! So cool! ANYWAYS, for one of our projects we were split in to groups and had to figure out how to solve the world over-population problem if it ever happened. The group with the best solution got to go see Jurassic Park. My group's underwater biodome KICKED ASS and we won!! So, not only was Jurassic Park a flippin' cool-ass movie, but I got to see it for free as a result of an academic achievement. And that's one of the reasons Jurassic Park means a lot to me. And also we got pizza after the movie. I love pizza! Double score!!!!

"Well, there was a lot of crying, so, I believe everybody had a good time." -OR- "She thought I was wonderful. She was the first woman I ever fooled."

Heaven Can Wait, 1943. Three and a Half Stars.

I found myself looking through the TV guide for movies, as I so often do, and came across this one: A playboy recollects his life to the gatekeeper of Hades. And it was from the 40's. Sounded interesting, so I set up a recording for it.

I don't really have much to say, except, it was pretty good! Well at least I enjoyed it! It wasn't as "naughty" as I expected, but that's fine: The story told is from the Victorian era, so there was a big importance in "preserving decency" and "the family honor" and all that. So I thought it was fitting that Van Cleve's "affairs" were only alluded to.

I don't think he deserved Martha though, but at least he wasn't a completely selfish person that he was before he met her...

I really liked "His Excellency" and the "waiting room" to Hell. I can't help being fascinated by the extravagant sets mostly found in this period of films.

Also, someone cross-stitched the credits at the beginning... Or someone painted them to look cross-stitched. Either way, a lot of talent and time went in to that!

This movie is based on the play Birthday by Leslie Bush-Fekete. I'd like to check it out some time. It's too bad this movie didn't keep the Birthday title; the story was strongly focused on the passage of Van Cleve's birthdays in order to mark the events of his life, so it makes much more sense than "Heaven Can Wait" (which was an entirely different play that inspired a movie in the 40's and it's remakes/re-imaginings in the 70's and 00's).

"Oh, that's pretty, Mr. Grimsby." "Yeah, it's a bit mild. I think I ought to tear her dress off her other shoulder."

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, 1947. Three Stars.

I remember reading the book in high school, and I liked it, even though I thought it was pretty sad. Part of the reason I liked it (and part of the reason I was actually frustrated while reading it) was because, sadly, I could relate to Walter Mitty. I don't remember the details about the story, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't as fun as this movie.

I was expecting a kind of dark flick. But it was actually really funny and enjoyable! Both the characters and fantasies were played with satirical and fantastical intent, which made it all fun. Danny Kaye's little reactions to things were priceless. And, Mitty turned out to be a hero and taking control of his life, which this sap loves.

This is the first time I've ever seen Danny Kaye in something, I think. Strange, huh? He was great! At first I got him confused with Donald O'Connor (who was always my favorite actor from Singin' in the Rain!*

Also, Boris Karloff is in this! Most excellent!

I really like the opening credits, with the "credits" on panes of glass that swing open. I'd like to know how they did that. And I loved that dog, "Queenie". What a good actor, behaving then barking on cue! One of my favorite parts, though, is the fantasy number where Mitty's a hat designer. It's funny and unique and racy. It was weird, though, to see only like two "musical" numbers (rather than this being either a total musical or a straight-ahead non-musical venture).

"Your small minds are musclebound with suspicion. That's because the only exercise you ever get is jumping to conclusions."


...OH NO there's a Secret Life of Walter Mitty re-make scheduled to come out this year? Starring Mike Myers as Walter Mitty?? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Sounds awful!!


* My gramma and my dad used to make me and my sibs watch musicals when I was little. My gramma would have us watch stuff like Lil' Abner and Bye Bye Birdie (which is another favorite of mine). And to this day, I've only seen the first half of The Sound of Music, because it used to come on two VHS tapes, and my gramma made us go to bed after the first tape (no complaints from me though, it was boring!). My dad had us watch stuff like West Side Story, Jesus Christ Superstar, and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. He also introduced us to movies like Taxi Driver, Midnight Cowboy, River's Edge (which I got to stay up late on a school night to watch!), and Blue Velvet (which I think he showed us by accident!). My mom, on the other hand, introduced us to B-grade sci-fi/horror flicks, and she used to watch "MST3K" with me back in the day. I partly give my family credit for my eclectic taste in movies!

"I think that's the shit, man. Raw intelligence." –OR– "I don't fuckin' know either. I guess we learned not to do it again."

Burn After Reading, 2008. Three and a Half Stars.

Oh, Coen Brothers! Your joints are such a delight.

This movie was quite enjoyable! And Brad Pitt ruled in it. And I looooooove Frances McDormand. And I dug George Clooney's performance, too. It's usually a little hit-or-miss with him for me (but mostly hit. I just think I'm a little sick of seeing so much of him sometimes). Anyways, the characters that he and Tilda Swinton played opposite each other were perfect!

I grew up watching Gilad on TV, so I took particular delight in the boat work-out scene with John Malkovich.

"I'm bigger, than ever. I'm bigger, I'm back. I'm better —I'm back, than ever—I'm back. You fuckers, I'm back."

"Our enemy has realized that they are fighting guys from the future."

Body of Lies, 2008. Three Stars.

Tim and I found ourselves randomly tuning in to the middle of this movie on TV. After both professing that we'd both been meaning to check out this flick, we found it on On Demand and watched it from the beginning.

I don't, and can't pretend to, know how accurately all of the different cultures, governments, and actions are portrayed in this movie. So I'm going on how good the actors are, and how engaging the story is.

So, I was pretty engrossed with the story and the characters. And yup, all the actors are great! It's always nice to see Leo in a good movie, and I was thrilled that Russell Crowe played a not hot guy. And I'm always happy to see Mark Strong, he seems to crop up in the darndest places. And Golshifteh Farahani! She is so pretty, and seems so cool in real life. Among other things, she's currently living in France and furthering her music career with musician Mohsen Namjoo; she had previously been in the Iranian band "Kooch Neshin" (which I think means "Nomads"?), which had remained underground in Iran since rock music and lady singers are forbidden.

Mike Patton (yay!) does a song on this soundtrack (with Serj Tankian, yuck), and the end credits feature a not very Guns N' Roses-y Guns N' Roses song (yuck).

"Yeah it was funny, it was a fart-free set!"

Funny People, 2009. Three Stars.

This movie is very good. But I thought there would be more focus on the comedy since there were so many good comics and actors in it (plus I had spent a lot of time on RAAAAAAAANDY's website). Also, there's a lot of dick talk. I'm normally fine with stuff like that, but after awhile it got a little excruciating, especially from Adam Sandler's caustic character.

Anyways, the comics are funny, the cast is perfect, and there are lots of great cameos. James Taylor's appearance was probably one of the funniest parts! But this movie ended up getting surprisingly serious. And a little scary. And sad. And it felt like a very long movie. And it got pretty painful to watch. But still, it's good and I'd recommend checking it out if you come across it.

I'm starting to get excited about Aubrey Plaza. I love her in "Parks and Recreation", and she's great in this too. And I just found out that she's going to play Julie Powers in the Scott Pilgrim movie (so perfect!). Which I'm still not looking forward to. I love everyone involved but I don't think it can do the comic book that I love so dearly the justice it deserves. But I'll still see it. Hopefully by not keeping up with the video blogs and all that jazz, everything will be a surprise and I'll love it.

"It's a gift... and a curse."

"Monk", 2002–2009. Three and a Half Stars.

Speaking of excellent shows coming back from the brink of awfulness, there's also "Monk"!!

So, this show was great. But the last few seasons, however, got really stagnant; there wasn't much room for innovation until Monk was able to grow, and he couldn't grow until he started to solved Trudy's murder. (I always thought it was curious that a character so important to the main character in this show ended up being played by two different actresses, the first Trudy being Stellina Rusich.)

Well, because the series would end with the solving of Trudy's murder, this last season was phenomenal! Monk finally starts progressing and growing as a person, the characters around him also develop, and situations aren't dictated by his predictable reactions to everything. It was also cool to see how he finally got his badge back (which was something he always sought during the series), but since he (and the department) has changed and grown so much over the years, he realized he was happier just doing his Monk thang on his own. And, did anyone see the two-part series finale? It was so perfect! Everything I could have wanted and more.

Also, I'm a little bit of a sap, and I really like that Sharona and Disher got together, and that Disher is heading his own department in NJ. Mostly I'm very happy that Disher finally got so less annoying!! Unfortunately, Julie's character remained pretty flat. And I really think it's the character, not the actress (she was good in that episode "Mr. Monk and the Critic"!).

If you've never watched an episode of this show in your life, and you wanna get in to it, I suggest checking out the first few seasons, then a few of the first Natalie seasons, then the last season. Those will all give you a decent Monk experience. Then, if you like it, check out the rest of the seasons. It's easy to check out episodes of this show since, if it's anything like it is now, USA will be re-airing Monk marathons for ages to come.

Whenever I see Craig T. Nelson ("Coach")'s name in credits, for a split second I think it's actually Michael J. Nelson ("Mystery Science Theater 3000") and I get excited. I know that's weird. And don't get me wrong, I'm always happy to see the dad from Poltergeist!

"You're still such an odd little fruit. Is that a women's jacket?"

"Scrubs", 2001–Present. Three and a Half Stars.

When "Scrubs" first started to air, I thought it looked like another uninspired hospital show, so I never bothered to watch it. Then, in 2007, on a rare day that I was at the gym, a bunch of "Scrubs" episodes were being shown. That's when I fell in love with the show. It was funny and weird!

I got all caught up on the episodes by obsessively DVR-ing and watching all of the repeats that are constantly being re-aired on multiple stations. I was so happy because there were so many episodes to catch up on, and I thought the new-to-me hilarity would never end. But because I'm so good at being obsessive, and because reruns are so popular with TV channels, I was caught up in less than a year.

But thankfully, new episodes were still airing!

Unthankfully, starting a couple of seasons ago, and especially the entirety of the last season, the show began to bite the big one. The fresh and fun characters were getting old and predictable, J.D.'s enjoyable eccentricities started turning into pathetic zaniness, and it was like the show just didn't care about itself any more. I thought that last season was the final season, but it ended on that weird episode that felt like it should have been like the third or fourth episode of the season, and it was just so weird.

Surprisingly, that wasn't its final season though! It moved to a new network. And the latest season has started and is safely under way. I am loving it!

Lots of changes! And successful changes! The actual Sacred Heart hospital is a different building, and it's built closer to the "school". So there are two fresh locations right there. There are much-needed new story archs and general things that happen, but it still fits within the the "Scrubs" universe. Interesting of all, there's like a new "crew" of med students, and they work well with the already established characters. And, there's a new "J.D.", and she's a hot chick! Who is interesting and neurotic and funny! Her name is Lucy. In the first few episodes, we follow around both J.D. (who, after the first few episodes, is gone. It's sad, but very needed.) and this girl, Lucy, and we hear both of their inner monologues. Now we just hear Lucy's. I didn't think this would work out, but it totally does so far!

Dr. Cox? Still there. And still remains one of my most favorite characters on television. The Janitor? Not there anymore unfortunately, but the explanation of his departure was "classic"! Also unfortunately, there are two "bumbling" security guards that seem to have taken over his "place" on the show, and they're my least favorite parts of the new season. Turk is still there, and is currently looking for a new best friend at work. Elliot's there too, and is pregnant with J.D.'s baby. Ted left early on in the season, but did so on a high note. Todd's still totally there, which is most excellent. Dr. Kelso left, but didn't really, because now he's living in one of the dorm rooms. Haven't seen Carla, though she has been mentioned, but have seen Jordan. Other characters like Dr. Beardface are around in the background, so I don't know why I haven't seen Hooch yet. I hope he comes back. Hooch is crazy.

New main characters: Cole is hilarious (and James Franco's lil bro in real life). Already talked about Lucy, but yeah, she's endearing. I'm enjoying Drew. He's like the chill character, but is also interesting. Maya's the super hot Australian student that keeps cropping up. And Denise is back, as a resident physician and also these new kids' student advisor.

I give this show three and a half stars because of its previous awesomeness, and also its ability to bounce back from the brink of craptasticness. I might be in to this season so much because I had completely given up hope on this show, so things just might seem amazing in comparison. But, if you're like me and also completely gave up hope on this show, just give a few of the new episodes a shot and see what you think.

And I found this Scrubs wiki, if you're new to the series or just need to catch up on the extreme amount of characters.

“FUCK PICASSO!” a.k.a. “Is Picasso more important than your family?”

Pollock, 2000. Three and a half stars.

Bud Cort’s in this??

Also, so is Greg from Flight of the Conchords???

And Val Kilmer plays De Kooning????

…Awesome!

Everyone was really good in this. I was pleasantly surprised by all the well-known actors in this, especially the ones playing well-known artists.

I like Jackson Pollock’s drip paintings, and the idea behind and execution of his paintings and what they meant for the art world. But I didn’t know much about this personal life, so I couldn’t tell ya if Ed Harris got it right or not. This was an interesting movie though, and I liked it!

The choppy storytelling/timeline is pretty effective: It was like if Pollock was thinking back on his life, and only the most important, powerful parts to him popped up, and since it’s memory, it doesn’t flow perfectly together. It does, however, require more work for the viewer to become involved in the act of watching the movie, and there’s always the possibility of being confused and annoyed. I like it (I like being completely immersed in a movie), but I’m sure that if I were in a different mood, I could have lost patience with it.

There are quite a few “conversations” in this flick. I had a difficult time following the “blue painting” conversation, but I loooooooved the “Let’s Have a Baby” scene/speech.

It was sad to see Lee so fervently focusing on promoting Pollock's work rather than working on her own paintings (though to his defense, in the movie Pollock always made it a point that she has a space to do her own work in). Well, near the beginning of the movie, when he said “You’re a good woman painter,” I guess it set the tone for their whole professional relationship (and I wanted to hit him).

One thing I got sick of was the “stuff’s happening” music. UGH.

I’m pretty jealous that Ed Harris got to recreate Pollock’s paintings in front of the camera. How much fun is that? I’d like to find out that whole process.

Here’s a list of all the clothing items from this movie that I want, and where it can be found time-wise:

- The first cardigan seen in the Opening Scene

- Lee’s dress 55-ish minutes in

- The sweater at 1:29

Aw man, there were way more dresses in this movie that I liked, but I forgot to write them down.

"Ah!" "What happened?" "I saw the inner me."

Bicentennial Man, 1999. Three Stars.

I finally decided to watch this movie because I like robots. Tim warned me that it was epic; I, however, was all, "Whatever, it's Robin Williams as a robot, there's no way this story can get complex." I WAS SO WRONG. THIS IS SUCH AN EPIC MOVIE. It's long, and a lot of stuff happens.

Sam Neill gets a robot for his family as a surprise. Er, isn't getting a robot AN IMPORTANT FAMILY DECISION? You can't just don't show up with it one day! And, as this movie demonstrates, it can only increase tension among family members.

Robot Robin Williams was immediately embraced by Sam Neill. HELLO am I the only one that has any concern about Skynet??

RRW playing the piano is an effective and interesting way to show passage of time.

I think it's cool that, though a robot, he actually restored humanity to the family... well, at least some members.

Hey Future Government: Can you really justify Robin Williams Robot being human when he doesn't have an organic origin? It's just creepy. And I love robots and romance and stuff. But it's still creepy.

Jay from The Sarah Silverman Program is totally in this! And I've since discovered that he has been in many other things, including "Mr. Show" (which I'd been recently reintroduced to).

And, JIMMY JAMES! I'm always happy to see him in movies!

Now I plan on reading the novella. I've never read any of Isaac Asimov's actual books. (And I call myself a sci-fi buff...)

"Here's to you, you motherfuckers."

Charlie Wilson's War, 2007. Three and a Half Stars.

This was a good, interesting movie! I wasn't familiar with this story (I feel so lazy admitting that!), so, you know, it was pretty flabbergast-inducing.

Some big-name actors here (Tom Hanks, Amy Adams, Julia Roberts, Philip Seymour Hoffman), and all were great!

Amazing Quote at the end of the movie:
"These things happened. They were glorious and they changed the world...
...and then we fucked up the end game."
— Charlie Wilson

"I don't want to be human! I want to see gamma rays! I want to hear X-rays! And I want to — I want to smell dark matter!..."

"...Do you see the absurdity of what I am? ...I'm a machine! And I can know much more! I can experience so much more. But I'm trapped in this absurd body! And why? Because my five creators thought that God wanted it that way!"
— Brother Cavil

"Battlestar Galactica", 2004–2009. Five Stars.

YES FIVE STARS! ITS MY HIGHEST RANKING!! This was such a stupendous series. There is so much to say. But I will only say a few important things.

Yeah I'm in to Science Fiction, which is why I started watching it. Interestingly, I'd never seen any of the original series (neither '78 nor '80), and I kind of refused to watch "Battlestar Galactica: The Miniseries" because I thought it looked dumb. But when they made it into a TV series, I decided to give it a shot. AND I LOVED IT!! Robots! Apocalyptic themes! Space travel!

But wait, there's more! There's also amazing acting! Drama! Mind-blowing character development! Heavy religious and philosophical themes! I consider this more of a drama/thriller than a straight-up sci-fi show.

After the first or second season, I did go back and watch The Miniseries. And yup, it was good!

I LOVE HOW THE SERIES ENDED. I won't mention anything because I don't want to spoil it, but if you want to fight about it in real life, just name the time and the place!!

There was a separate miniseries called "Razor", which was pretty intense. Though it was a little difficult to watch at some parts, I dug it.

I haven't watched this; I'm generally not a fan of webisode "extras" that go along with TV series. Has anyone seen 'em though? Recommend watching them?

All of the actors are PHENOMENAL, and it would take up too much of my time and patience to write all about it here. But I want to mention, the one actor I'm most impressed with is Tricia Helfer, who plays the Six models. She's pretty darn hot, and it's no surprise to me that she was a model. But I am surprised that she was relatively new to acting when she started the show. She did an AWESOME job playing the different Six Cylons, which had the most significant and varied personalities and looks, most notably "Caprica Six" (both the version that Baltar sees and the real life one, who are both so different), and the abused & raped victim-turned-warrior "Gina Inviere" found on Battlestar Pegasus. Lately I've been noticing her on some other shows too, like "Burn Notice" and "Chuck". I hope she keeps up the good work!

I recommend this show. It might be a good idea to start with the Miniseries first, then watch Season 1. And if you're not feeling it after Season 1, then you can choose to stop watching if you want. But I suggest watching all of the seasons before you come to a conclusion.

So, there's going to be a movie called "Battlestar Galactica: The Plan". It's about everything that happened, but from the Cylon point of view. I'll check it out, it could be pretty interesting!

I am, however, not really looking forward to "Caprica", which is supposedly a new TV series happening later this year. It deals with the Adama family and happenings on Caprica 50 years before "BSG." So it'll deal with topics like the development of the Cylons and how the war came about and such. This could be a terrible, terrible spin-off, but I'm still probably going to give it a chance.

"But Benny Said." "Fuck Benny."

Carlito's Way, 1993. Three Stars.

Good movie! I really liked opening sequence. It was fun to see Sean Penn! And Viggo! And I totally recognized Nathan Petrelli!

That Pacino can sure act! Cool seeing him play a somewhat similar character to Scarface, but, you know, making different life decisions.

"That ain't no etch-a-sketch. This is one doodle that can't be un-did, Homeskillet."

Juno, 2007. Three and a Half Stars.

I was hesitant to check out this movie because of all the hype. But I finally rented it when it came out on DVD. And, it's highly enjoyable! And really funny!!

It's not just another "quirky oddball comedy" for "Gen Y", which is what I was afraid it was gonna be. This is a really great story, and has a great cast playing wonderful and interesting characters. Ellen Page owns the character Juno MacGuff. She's really amazing. It's so good to see a unique teenage female character on the silver screen.

Being a teenage girl at one point myself, I find myself stressed out by, yet also weary of, the typical topics and attitudes surrounding teen pregnancy. This movie, however, deals with this issue in a fresh light, and it's refreshing that it's not only what the movie is about.

I'm always a big fan of Michael Cera! Jennifer Garner really surprised me, in a good way, with how good she is in this. And it's always awesome to see Jason Bateman getting work!!

"I don't think the government's the one screwing you. Five in a hole."

The Hoax, 2006. Three and a Half Stars.

I'm always ilways iffy about Richard Gere movies (I don't know why!), but I didn't know a lot about Howard Hughes, so I decided to check this out. Very interesting! And pretty good! That's all I have to say. I enjoyed it.

"People who eat Army food often end up dead."

Gas! -Or- It Became Necessary to Destroy the World in Order to Save It., 1971. One Star.

This was listed in the TV Guide as "Gas-s-s-s" and was intrigued! The description said, "Roger Corman's futuristic tale of a youth takeover after gas fumes kill everyone over 25." Since it sounded pretty awesome, I set up a DVR recording and watched it the next day.

Some things that happened during the film: Biker gang golf club. Football Town: "Rape Pillage Loot." Native American vegetarian commune: "You're having a protein deficiency hallucination." And the ending? Everyone that was ever in the movie climbed up out of a hole in the ground and there was a big dance party. This sounds fun and interesting, right?

IT'S NOT! Essentially, it is an obsolete counterculture comedy. At first I thought, "It's only 79 minutes, I can handle sitting through it." But I was so antsy and bored the whole time! At it's heart, it's basically one big boring hippie road trip. Though it did, however, bring up valid alternative viewpoints on established social hierarchies and countercultures at the time, and I appreciate that it was done in such a cool, weird way.

This movie probably went over my head. It's probably brilliant. I'd probably think it was the best thing ever if I were my age now back when this movie was released.

This situation begs the question: is it better to be the pinnacle representation of your time, or to be timeless? Both are legit goals. If you're a filmmaker, I guess it depends on what's important to you.

"Go ahead. Laugh. Laugh, and you won't hear us coming."

Pressure Point, 1962. Four Stars.

Awesome movie. Everything about it is brilliant. The acting, the story, the interaction with The Doctor and The Patient, and even the sad ending of The Patient. Yeah it's a movie about race, which when the movie came out was so taboo (heck it still is for some people!), but one of the most interesting aspects of this movie is the way the audience is led into The Patient's life and his history that ended him up where he is today. I looooooved the way the flashbacks were treated, almost like little plays going on in the same room as the characters. Everything about this movie was right-on.

Also, you can't beat the tagline: "FILMED IN BLACK, IN WHITE, IN RAGE!"

"Better bring out the big guns on this one. She's crazy with a side of crazy!"

Reign Over Me, 2006. Three Stars.


Sooooooo good! Awesome to see Adam Sandler play a pretty serious character. He was actually a little attractive in this...

The ladies love Don Cheadle!! THEY ARE OBSESSED.

"Make me a mah-tini, you fah-kin retah-d!"

Gone Baby Gone, 2007. Three and a Half Stars.

I'd heard that everyone loved this movie, and I'd been meaning to see it. So I finally rented it. Wasn't expecting much because of all the hype, but it actually turned out to be really good!

Yeah the actor's are great. And the characters are interesting. Coming from and still living in Boston and the surrounding area, I can say the shitty local characters were dead on. :D But the most impressive thing about this was the complex and heart-breaking story. Patrick does everything in his power to uphold the law that he holds so near and dear, but in the end, was is REALLY the right thing to do? Maybe I don't know how DSS works, but, couldn't they have rescued her from her neglectful, shitty mom and placed her in the loving care of Morgan Freeman? Was the kidnapping and fake murder really necessary? Perhaps I am naive.

"I've never seen a face like that before. That must be the look... the look of being old."

Logan's Run, 1976. Three Stars.

Yeah, I can't believe I hadn't seen this before now either! This is my kind of flick: a dystopian utopia with people willingly flying to their deaths. It's funny how they picked a dude that always looked pretty old (Michael York) for the lead in a movie where everyone's young! Also, the 70's-ness of everything makes the movie even more bizarre! Like the "hologram" of Logan's head? Super crazy-looking!

I didn't really understand that robot guy in the ice. Was he a guard trying to keep people from escaping? Or was he just his own, weird thing? Also, so there's no "Sanctuary"... or, because at the end everyone broke free on their own, was the movie trying to impart on it's dear viewers that one must make their own Sanctuary? Think about it. Deep stuff.