SNMR 7.12: "Halloween"

Do you really think it's a coincidence that I'm reviewing this movie today of all days? I think not...

GREEN'S "SEE ANYTHING YOU LIKE?" REVIEW:

I'll tell you what - movie studios would love such bang for the buck more often these days. Consider that this movie was made for just over $300,000 and took only 20 days to shoot. Oh, it also grossed over $50 million at the box office. Impressive, especially when you consider that admission to the movies back in 1978 was dirt cheap in comparison to a movie ticket today.

The story begins with a young boy, Michael Myers, stabbing his teenage sister to death on Halloween night, 1963. Flash forward 15 years later; on a rainy night, Myers escapes from the insane asylum he's lived in since, returning to the house he lived in as a child.

On her way to school on Halloween morning, Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) is asked to drop off a key at a house her father, a real estate agent, plans to sell. It is the abandoned for years Myers house, rumored to be haunted. As she turns away from the house, she is noticed by the secret resident of the house, who then begins to follow and stalk her all over town...

What separates this film from the host of contemporary horror/slasher films is the subtle creepiness and distinct lack of gore. Carpenter allows us limited points of view: We're either looking out from the killer's eyes or seeing him at a distance for most of the movie. There are only a handful of scenes in the film (involving Myers) that utilize the traditional third party point of view. When we do see Myers from this perspective, he's wearing only a plain, emotionless mask. Add in Carpenter's solo piano music score that quite effectively intensifies the suspense and creepiness.


For a movie debut, Jamie Lee Curtis handles herself like a pro and says (in the extras) that this was the best role she had until "True Lies" came out in 1994. Veteran actor Donald Pleasence (as Dr. Sam Loomis) is okay as the cookie cutter plain psychologist with a premonition of bad things happening. Laurie's high school friends (Nancy Loomis and P.J. Soles) are adequate.

I'm not a fan of the horror movie genre and had never bothered with this movie (still haven't seen any of the sequels and don't plan to) before needing to watch it for this review. Good thing I was able to get it for under $6. I have no idea why this film was so successful at the box office. It's an above average film for the genre but nothing to rave about.

The extras on the DVD version that I watched were fine, especially the "Halloween Unmasked 2000" featurette, with cast and crew retrospective interviews. Seeing/hearing the various theater, television and radio trailers was interesting. How times have changed.

*** out of *****

Halloween (1978, R, 92 minutes), starring Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis, P.J. Soles, Nancy Loomis, Tony Moran and Nick Castle. Screenplay by John Carpenter and Debra Hill. Directed by John Carpenter.

SNMR 7.11: "Transformers"

Before we begin: Happy 10^th birthday, M!!

Since M's birthday happens to fall on a Saturday this year, I decided to let him pick the movie that I would review for today's column. He did a good job. Thanks, M.

GREEN'S PLEASE DON'T RUIN MY CHILDHOOD MEMORIES REVIEW:

"I bought a car. Turned out to be an alien robot. Who knew?" deadpans Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf), a slacker high school kid trying to raise cash to buy a car, by selling his grandfather's possessions at school and on eBay. Driving his "new" Camaro, he attracts the attention of Mikaela (Megan Fox), a super hot popular girl at school. Turns out one of his grandfather's possessions is more important than he realizes. Because of this, Sam is sought out by two groups of sentient robot aliens who have been at war for centuries in a quest to posses the All-Spark, a life giving cube of power.

Elsewhere, the Defense Department computer system is being hacked at the highest levels during a cover up attack on a US Military base in Qatar. The Secretary of Defense, John Keller (Jon Voight) recruits a team of young computer experts, led by Maggie (Rachael Taylor) and her friend Glen (Anthony Anderson) to help stop the hackers.

Optimus Prime and the Autobots, along with Sam and Mikaela, join forces with Maggie, Glen, Secretary Keller and the survivors of the Qatar military base attack to battle Megatron and his evil Decepticons to try and prevent them from getting the All-Spark.

I'll freely admit that I purposefully stayed away from this movie during its theatrical run two years ago because I really didn't think that it would be any good. Plus, I remembered watching the Transformers cartoons as a kid in the mid 1980's and owning many of the toys and didn't want to ruin the nostalgia of it.

This past summer, M asked me if we could see the sequel in the theater. I reminded him that we hadn't seen the first movie, so what would be the point of seeing the sequel first? Coincidentally, around that time I happened to be shopping with V and M at one of the stores where I buy a lot of my DVD's and saw the two disc version of Transformers for around $10. I knew that was a good price and, bowing to my weakness for inexpensive DVD's, caved and bought it.

We watched it that night and thought it was cool. Somewhat grudgingly I had to admit that I was impressed. With Steven Spielberg and Michael Bay as executive producers and with Bay directing, I should have realized this would be a well made and fun movie. The special effects, especially the mind-blowing transformations of the robots into their earthly vehicular forms and back again, are stellar.

The screenplay, written by ALIAS alums Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, has a better than expected storyline, hailing back to the 1980's cartoons. We get a good back story while bringing out the human elements. Of course, with a special effects laden movie like this, the story and actors play second fiddle to the CGI action sequences, battle sequences and explosions, which the actors generally acknowledge.

The cast has a good mix of veteran actors and up and coming stars who work well together. One thing I thought was very cool - that the same actor who voiced Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen) for the 1980's cartoon was brought back as the voice of Prime in this movie, further linking the animated and live action versions.

The special features DVD has some excellent behind the scenes interviews with many of the cast and crew mixed with short featurettes on how some of the scenes were created. I always enjoy this stuff and would have liked to see more of it on the disc.

**** out of *****

Transformers (2007, PG-13, 143 minutes), starring Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Rachael Taylor, Tyrese Gibson, Josh Duhamel, Jon Voight, John Turturro, Anhony Anderson and Peter Cullen (voice). Story by John Rogers, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman. Screenplay by Roberto Orci and Robert Kurtzman. Executive Produced by Steven Spielberg and Michael Bay. Directed by Michael Bay.

SNMR 7.10: "Confessions of a Shopaholic"

GREEN'S POCKET FULL O' CREDIT CARDS REVIEW:

There isn't a store in the world or a sale small enough to bypass the notice of Rebecca Bloomwood (Isla Fisher) who is a shopaholic in denial and up to her eyeballs in debt because of it, as her many credit card bills attest. Bloomwood is a journalist who dreams of writing for 'Alette,' her favorite fashion magazine. Not only does she not get the job, she doesn't even get an interview because the position was filled internally. Another interview she stumbles into for a financial advice magazine goes horribly wrong... That night, in a drunken state, she mails two letters: one thoughtful and well written and one, well, not so thoughtful. Predictably the letters get mixed and before you know it, the most unlikely person is writing a financial advice column.

I had thought about going to see this movie during its theatrical run but kept deciding against it for whatever reason. While I did enjoy the movie, I'm glad I got to see it for free. "Confessions" certainly is a breezy puff piece, and if you can accept that, you'll enjoy this movie more. Despite it's light airiness, the film does raise three relevant issues: 1] that we live in a buy it now, pay for it later and don't give a second thought about it society (until the bills start rolling in); 2] because of #1 how easy it is to get swept up into financial troubles with the use of one of more credit cards (believe me, I know about this) and 3] exactly how collection agencies and debt collectors do not operate, thanks to the FDCPA or Fair Debt Collection & Practices Act. This I know all too well as I am someone who has worked extensively in this field for most of my adult life.

I think that I liked this movie as much as I did because I can relate to points 1 & 2 and appreciate the humorous look at #3.

Isla FIsher is good in the role of Rebecca Bloomwood. Hugh Dancy was also believable as the tough editor with a soft spot for the cute redhead. It took me a bit to realize who was playing the part of Alette and it turns out to be Kristin Scott Thomas, normally a decent actress but here with a very bad French accent. Joan Cusack and John Goodman were nothing short of brilliant in the 'oh-my-gawd-those-are-your-parents?' role. I really didn't care for dose of common sense and best friend Suze, played by Kristen Ritter. Not the character, per se, but I think they could have chosen a better actress for the role. Robert Stanton does a great job with his smarmy debt collector character, Derek Smeath.

***½ out of *****

Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009, PG, 105 minutes), starring Isla Fisher, Hugh Dancy, Krysten Ritter, Joan Cusack, John Goodman, Kristin Scott Thomas, John Lithgow, Leslie Bibb and Robert Stanton. The screenplay was written by Tracey Jackson, Tim Firth and Kayla Alpert based on novels by Sophie Kinsella. The film was directed by P.J. Hogan.

SNMR 7.9: "True Lies"

GREEN'S HIGHLY INAPPROPRIATE USE OF GOVERNMENT RESOURCES REVIEW:

Helen Tasker (Curtis) thinks her husband Harry (Schwarzenegger) is just a boring computer salesman. What she doesn't know is that he's really a super spy for the U.S. Government's "Omega Force" a CIA-like unit. When Harry finds out that Helen is being seduced by a horny used car salesman (Paxton) he decides to take matters into his own hands, enlisting his partner Gibson (Arnold). Oh, yeah there's an Islamic terror group operating out of the Florida Keys that is threatening to blow up major US cities with stolen nuclear warheads. Conveniently Harry will use his James Bond-like skills to foil the bad guys and rescue his wife and daughter from the terrorists

This is one of those movies that is just plain fun to watch. I remembered just how so in preparing for this review, as I hadn't seen this movie in about five years. Aaaahnold will never be given credit for being a half decent actor but he is because he can play the serious action hero and he can play the softer roles with unexpected comedic timing.

What makes this film a winner is the standout performances of the supporting cast. Tom Arnold and Bill Paxton are fantastic as the wise-guy sidekick and the smarmy used car salesman aka wannabe secret agent. Jamie Lee Curtis had never done a big screen action flick like this before and handled herself quite well as Mrs. Aaaaahnold. Even the cameo by Charlton Heston is good. If the film has a weak link it would be Tia Carrere as bad girl Juno Skinner. But even she manages to fill her role adequately.

Sure the Arabs as bad guys story is well worn, even for a film that came out in 1994, years before Al-Queda, The Taliban, Osama BL and 9/11 but it works nicely. The screenplay has some clever lines and is fast paced.

James Cameron's abilities as a big time action director have never been in question as far as I'm concerned. His resume of writing, producing and directing is right up there with the big boys of big action, Spielberg and Lucas.

If you haven't watched this movie in a while, it's definitely worth a rental. I used to own it on VHS and recently added the DVD version to my library, well worth it for under $10. However, I would love to see Cameron come out with a two disc version of this movie with more special features than the current DVD edition has to offer.

***** out of *****

True Lies (1994, R, 141 minutes), starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tom Arnold, Jamie Lee Curtis, Bill Paxton, Tia Carrere, Eliza Dushku, Art Malik and Charlton Heston. The screenplay was written by James Cameron, based on a screenplay by Claude Zidi, Simon Michael and Didier Kaminka. Directed by James Cameron.

SNMR 7.8: "Sunshine Cleaning"

GREEN'S BURNING DOWN THE HOUSE REVIEW:

Rose Lorkowski (Adams) is a single mom trying desperately to make ends meet so that she can send her son to a private school. She learns of a possible opportunity through her high school ex-boyfriend and Mac (Zahn), who is a police officer and whom she's having an affair with. The job opportunity: crime scene clean up. She rakes in her slacker sister Norah (Blunt) to help and together they start the business. All is going well until an unfortunate accident derails the company.

This offbeat comedy drama didn't get a wide release in theaters (at least in my area anyway) so you may not have even heard of it.

Both Amy Adams and Emily Blunt are decent in their performances here. Alan Arkin is good as the salesman father, adding a bit of levity to the film with his schemes. Sunshine Cleaning is Megan Holley's first writing credit, according to imdb.com. It's not bad for a first screenplay. I thought the characters could have been developed a bit more, for example the relationship between Rose and supply store owner Winston (Collins) which is clearly hinted at but goes no further. Christine Jeffs, in her third directorial assignment, does a good job keeping the story moving, given the material, but does nothing to wow you. The story does have a decent ending, wrapping everything up in a semi-satisfying fashion.

After watching this film I still wasn't sure what to make of it. You know, did I like it or not? The answer is that it's a good movie but not great. What was helpful for me was a short featurette of an interview with two women who have their own real life clean up business and could relate to personal experience some of the situations from the movie.

I had wanted to see this movie when it played in the theater, but never did, and I'm glad. When Cleaning came out on DVD I bought it solely because Amy Adams is in it, as I've enjoyed the other movies I've seen that she's been in. This movie is a decent rental choice.

**½ out of *****

Sunshine Cleaning (2008, R, 91 minutes), starring Amy Adams, Emily Blunt, Alan Arkin, Steve Zahn, Clifton Collins Jr. and Mary Lynn Rajskub. Written by Megan Holley and Directed by Christine Jeffs.

SNMR 7.7: "Seven"

GREEN'S SPECIAL DELIVERY FOR DETECTIVE DAVID MILLS REVIEW:

Grizzled police detective William Somerset (Morgan Freeman) is a week from retiring into the peaceful life. Newcomer to the department, fresh faced detective David Mills (Brad Pitt) can't wait to get into it. Until the grisly murder cases start happening. Now each is obsessed with finding the killer who is murdering people in accordance with the seven deadly sins. Gluttony and Greed are the first. Then come Sloth, Lust and Pride. Who is the killer and why is he doing this? That's what the detectives want to find out. When they catch a break in the case they think they've prevented the last two crimes from being committed. Or have they?

I remembered watching this film only once before, in the late 1990's, long after it came out on videocassette, and didn't remember exactly how it went. I knew the basic plot and realized from director David Fincher's reputation that there were probably going to be some unexpected twists. As the film went on I recalled what they were and braced myself for what I knew would be a grisly ending. (Fincher, in 1997, would direct one of my all time favorite movies, The Game, which was my first exposure to his directorial style.)

Morgan Freeman provides another stellar performance and Brad Pitt is actually really good, too. As you know, Pitt is either hit or miss with me. Gwyneth Paltrow's character, Tracy Mills, could have been filled by any actress. The then relatively unknown Paltrow got the part, I believe, because she was dating Pitt at the time this film was made. The script, written by Andrew Kevin Walker, is tight and suspenseful. Walker himself makes a cameo appearance as the first corpse Somerset discovers. Fincher's direction is dark, disturbing and creepy which is actually perfect for the film. The lighting is dark and subdued and the visual effects are well done. Even the opening credits are disconcerting and the fact that the end credits scroll down the screen instead of up is a wonderfully weird way to end this movie.

I actually watched the two disc special edition of this movie and recommend the extra features included therein.

This genre of movie is generally not my favorite, but it is well done all the way around and is definitely worth revisiting.

****½ out of *****

Seven (1995, R, 127 minutes) starring Morgan Freeman, Brad Pitt, Gwyneth Paltrow, R. Lee Ermey and Daniel Zacapa. The film was written by Andrew Kevin Walker and directed by David Fincher.

Autumn begins today

Summer is now officially over as of the time of this post. Yup, 17:19 EDT marks the Autumnal Equinox here in the Northern Hemisphere ~ according to the Farmers Almanac, 2009 edition. It is depressing when my favorite season ends. But not nearly as depressing as the first day of winter.

such is life.

The best thing about autumn is that football season is in full swing on all levels. And that is good. Real good.

SNMR 7.6: "We Are Marshall"

GREEN'S "UP FROM THE ASHES THEY AROSE" REVIEW:

For most of us, November 14, 1970 was just another day. I personally was almost 17.... months old and remember it not at all. But if you lived in football crazy Huntington, West Virginia at that time, it's a day you'll never forget. That's the day Southern Airlines flight 932 crashed, killing all 75 people on board. Most of those people were part of the Marshall University football team. This film is about the rebirth of that school's football program and the restoration of the essence of a close-knit community racked by tragedy. The story centers around Jack Lengyel, a young football coach hired to restart the football program and begin the healing process. Lengyel's young team only won two games in 1971 and Lengyel only won nine games total as Marshall's coach from 1971-1974. However, Lengyel's legacy will forever be remembered at Marshall University, which has since become a highly successful college football program.

Matthew McConaughey is a very good, versatile actor and has proven to be able to handle dramatic as well as comedic roles. His performance in this film is necessarily solemn and reserved, due to the film's subject matter, yet very inspiring. The rest of the cast is good, though no one is outstanding. McG does an excellent job directing this movie, keeping the story moving without getting bogged down, which could have easily been the case. This is a movie that offers a nice tribute to those people that died in the crash and bringing awareness to an event that, for many outside of West Virginia, has long since been forgotten. The success of the Marshall University football program in the last 15 years has almost certainly eased the pain.

If you haven't seen this movie, I heartily recommend it.

**** out of *****

We Are Marshall (2006, PG, 131 minutes), starring Matthew McConaughey, Matthew Fox, David Strathairn, Ian McShane, Kate Mara, January Jones and Kimberly Williams-Paisley. The film was written by Cory Helms and Jamie Linden and directed by McG.

Could this be true? Let's hope so.

Since the last one was so good, could we possibly have a 5^th Indiana Jones movie?

That would be so cool.

Patrick Swayze (1952-2009)

Wow. Patrick Swayze has died of pancreatic cancer at the young age of 57. What made him famous was two roles in particular: Johnny Castle in "Dirty Dancing" (1987) and Sam Wheat in "Ghost" (1990). As good as he was in those movies, the role that I will always remember Patrick Swayze for is in the two "North and South" television mini-series, which aired in 1985-1986, where he played Orry Main. The two miniseries were based on novels by John Jakes ~ fantastic historical fiction.

I think the first film I ever saw Swayze in was "The Outsiders" (1983), which came out when I was in the 8th grade - Mrs. Rancourt took us on a field trip to see it at the movie theater. We were reading the novel, by S.E Hinton, in her English class at the time.

Patrick Swayze seemed to be one who always carried himself with grace and humility in his public life. That seems to be a rare trait with most Hollywood celebrities. He certainly wasn't a self promoter, that's for sure.

"I believe in a higher power. I've studied Eastern philosophies, and I've studied the Koran. We've devalued everything worth believing in. Now we're tearing into religion. A line should be drawn. The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) and The Da Vinci Code (2006) borders on that. I was glued to the book, but afterwards I thought, 'My Lord, now we're tearing into God and our faith'. Are we going to be turning into a reality show, too? I certainly hope not." -Patrick Swayze

Here is a tribute story from the LA Times.

SNMR 7.5: "Grace is Gone"

GREEN'S HIDING THE TRUTH CAN DRIVE YOU CRAZY REVIEW:

Stanley Phillips (Cusack) is a Minnesota man who works for a home goods type store and misses his wife immensely, as she is serving in the Army and stationed in Iraq. He has trouble relating to his two daughters (O'Keefe and Bednarczyk) without her. When he gets the dreaded visit from two Army officers who inform him that his wife was killed in the line of duty, what remaining life he had drains right away. He wants to tell his daughters but can't summon the strength to do it. Instead he decides to take them on a long car trip to a Florida amusement park, only making one side trip to his mother's house, where he sees his brother (Nivola) instead of his mom. After a fun day at the amusement park and a side trip to a gorgeous Florida beach, he does finally tell his daughters the bad news.

Yes I really did need to tell you essentially the whole story line of this movie because there really is no suspense involved. You know almost from the beginning that something bad is going to happen, it's just a matter of setting up the story enough to reveal exactly what the bad news is all about. You also know that the daughters will eventually find out what happened, it's just a question of when will he tell them and what will the consequences be? It's also a look at grief and how differently each person handles it.

John Cusack gives his usual strong performance in a film that honestly was quite painful to watch. Painful, not because the story was bad but, because of the agony we have to go through waiting for him to spill the bad news and how unfair it was of him to keep it hidden for as long as he did. There's only so many ways to handle a personal subject such as this. Still, I toughed my way through it and even got a little misty eyed at the end, which I was surprised at. It's almost funny that this movie was only 84 minutes long but seemed like it took a full two hours (or longer) to watch.

** out of *****

Grace is Gone (2008, PG-13, 84 minutes) starring John Cusack, Shelan O'Keefe, Gracie Bednarczyk, Alessandro Nivola. The film was written and directed by James C. Strouse.

Green's 2009 NFL Predictions

A brand new National Football League season starts tomorrow night with one game, thirteen games on Sunday and two games on Monday Night Football, one of which is my beloved New England Patriots. This is also the 50^th Anniversary season of the AFL. All of the original AFL teams will be wearing throwback uniforms during certain games this season. I think when ever two original AFL teams play each other is when they'll break out the retro unis. For example, the Patriots will be dressed in red and white with old Pat Patriot on the helmet, as you see on the left, for their Monday Night game vs. Buffalo.

With the start of a new season, I thought I ought to give you my predictions (some of which more than likely will be wrong). Prognosticating is a tuff biz, but I can handle it. Someone's gotta do it - may as well me moi.
Last year I predicted good things for my Patriots and gave my thoughts on the reality that unfortunately came to pass, with #12 going down for the season less than halfway through the first quarter of the opening game against Kansas City. They still finished 11-5 but missed out on the playoffs due to the NFL's complicated but fair tiebreaker rules.

I gots news for y'all. Some of you may like it, others not so much.

Tom Terrific looked well, terrific, during the preseason and the record setting offense of 2007 is essentially in tact. So, NFL, you've been warned. Will Brady throw for 50 touchdowns again? Not likely. 35-40 is a distinct possibility. Will the Patriots offense break its NFL record 589 points scored from 2007? Possibly. They'll give it a run, anywhoo. This will be a hard team to defense and will give teams fits.

Here we have my predictions:

AFC EAST
1. NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS ----> Brady's back. MVP redux. Comeback Player of the Year.
2. Miami Dolphins ----> Will slip back to reality at or near .500
3. Buffalo Bills ----> T.O. gets the damn ball but it's not enough.
4. New York Jets ----> Sanchez' new favorite old TV show: Growing Pains.

AFC NORTH
1. Pittsburgh Steelers ----> Because they're the defending Champs, obviously.
2. Baltimore Ravens* ----> Tough D. Just a bit short on O.
3. Cleveland Browns ----> Could make a run at the division title if...
4. Cincinnati Bengals ---->Sadly, Head Coach Marvin Lewis 1^st to be fired in 2009.

AFC SOUTH
1. Indianapolis Colts ----> They'll be good as long as it's Peyton's place.
2. Tennessee Titans* ----> Was last years' record a fluke or are they really good?
3. Jacksonville Jaguars ----> Probably will win 9 or 10 games but miss playoffs.
4. Houston Texans ----> I can realistically see 8-8 this season but probably 7-9.

AFC WEST
1. San Diego Chargers ----> In a weak, rebuilding division, still finished 8-8 in '08.
2. Kansas City Chiefs ----> Cassel's dream '08 season redux? Not quite. Maybe 6 wins ~ sorry Matt.
3. Oakland Raiders ----> Better with Richard Seymour but still bad.
4. Denver Broncos ----> Chaos reigns in Denver. 5 wins max.

SEEDS
1. NEW ENGLAND
2. Indianapolis
3. Pittsburgh
4. San Diego
5. Baltimore
6. Tennessee

Wild Card Games:
3. Pittsburgh over 6. Tennessee
5. Baltimore over 4. San Diego

Conference Semifinals
1. New England over 5. Baltimore
3. Pittsburgh over 2. Indianapolis

Conference Championship
1. NEW ENGLAND over 3. Pittsburgh

NFC EAST
1. Philadelphia Eagles ----> How will they use Michael Vick?
2. Dallas Cowboys* ----> Will they win a playoff game this year?
3. Washington Redskins ----> Another late season collapse.
4. New York Giants ----> Just not good enough in a tough division.

NFC NORTH
1. Chicago Bears ----> Monsters of the Midway? No, but good enough.
2. Green Bay Packers* ----> some say QB Aaron Rodgers will be MVP in '09. Not me.
3. Minnesota Vikings ----> Favre should have stayed retired. Sorry Brett, it's time.
4. Detroit Lions ----> Lions win! Lions win! Only 3 games but it's an improvement.

NFC SOUTH
1. Atlanta Falcons ----> Matt Ryan leads Falcons to 2nd Super Bowl appearance. Same result.
2. Carolina Panthers ----> Just not enough in a tough division.
3. New Orleans Saints ----> Surprising late season collapse ruins the Brees.
4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers ----> Should never have fired Jon Gruden.

NFC WEST
1. Arizona Cardinals ----> Courtesy pick for Super Bowl XLIII loser. Seattle is better.
2. Seattle Seahawks ----> Could easily win this division by three games.
3. San Francisco 49ers ----> Better, but still need work.
4. St. Louis Rams ----> Lowlight of season - losing to Detroit to break their streak.

SEEDS
1. Atlanta
2. Philadelphia
3. Chicago
4. Arizona
5. Green Bay
6. New York Giants

Wild Card Games:
3. Chicago over 6. New York Giants
5. Green Bay over 4. Arizona

Conference Semifinals
1. Atlanta over 5. Green Bay
3. Chicago over 2. Philadelphia

Conference Championship
1. Atlanta over 3. Chicago

SUPERBOWL XLIV at Miami
1. NEW ENGLAND (AFC) over 1. Atlanta (NFC)

For the record, here are ESPN's expert predictions.

SNMR 7.4: "The Prestige"

GREEN'S "EVERY MAGIC TRICK HAS THREE PARTS" REVIEW:

Friends and colleagues, Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) and Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) are a duo of aspiring magicians, until a trick goes bad and Angier's wife drowns before she can be rescued. After this incident, Angier and Borden become enemies and arch rivals, each trying to be the best magician that the world has ever seen. Olivia (Scarlett Johansson) becomes Angier's beautiful new assistant but eventually switches sides and becomes Borden's assistant, telling him all of Angier's secrets in the process.

Ladies and gentlemen, for our next magic trick I will make this film disappear! Yeah, I wish. As you can tell I didn't like this film at all. I thought it was too long and that the performances of Jackman and Bale were flat and uninspiring.

I'm really not sure what to make of Hugh Jackman as an actor. Do I like him or not? Can't be sure at this point. Christian Bale seems to be in just about everything these days. He was good in the two "Batman" films and as John Connor in "Terminator: Salvation" and decent in "Public Enemies." Michael Caine does give a fairly good, typically steady performance as Cutter, the engineer behind Angier's more complicated tricks and the voice of reason. The actor playing Nikola Tesla seemed familiar to me but I could not place where I had seen him before. Turns out the part was played by David Bowie. Perhaps the reason I didn't recognize him was because the part gave no room for the flamboyancy I normally associate with David Bowie's acting gigs. Scarlett Johansson is a fine actress but sadly her talents are all but wasted in this movie.

Maybe the reason I didn't care for this movie has to do with what I consider to be a weak script or maybe it has to do with Christopher Nolan's uninspired, bland directing. The film is set in 1890's London and the costumes and sets reflect a dreary, depressing, kind of morbid London. Perhaps that's why I didn't like this movie. Yeah, that's it.

I had no desire to check out the DVD extras for this film. Normally I enjoy the bonus material. I'd pass on this one if I were you.

*½ out of *****

The Prestige (2006, PG-13, 130 minutes) starring Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, Scarlett Johansson, Michael Caine, Rebecca Hall, David Bowie and Andy Serkis. The screenplay was written by Christopher and Jonathan Nolan. The film was directed by Christopher Nolan.

This is a cool picture

That's Gino Cappeletti, WR/K for the AFL's Boston Patriots (1960-1970). Great photography.

SNMR 7.3: "Definitely, Maybe"

GREEN'S "DON'T MAKE ME STAPLE YOUR HEAD" REVIEW:

Maya Hayes (Abigail Breslin) is not happy that her parents are getting divorced. She wants her father, Will (Ryan Reynolds) to tell her the story of how he met her mother. He keeps resisting, saying it's too complicated. Finally he relents but tells her that he's going to change the names and some of the facts and see if she can't figure out who her mother is. There are three choices: Emily (Elizabeth Banks), Summer Hartley (Rachel Weisz) and April Hoffman (Isla Fisher). Who is it? I'm not going to tell you.

This is one of the best romantic comedies I've seen recently. The cast is absolutely wonderful. Ryan Reynolds has come a long way since the semi successful television series "Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place" which ran from 1998-2001, and is actually a fine actor. Abigail Breslin, even at such a young age, gets it. It's going to be fun watching her grow up through the movies she does. Lets just hope she doesn't become one of those child actor turned tragedy stories. I compare her now to a very young Drew Barrymore, who also 'got it' at a very young age.

As for the three actresses who form the core of the story, they are so different yet mesh well together. I'm really not familiar with Elizabeth Banks and don't recall noticing her in movies I've seen, but she has been in some, like the "Spider-Man" films. Rachel Weisz is usually pretty good in her movies, notably "The Runaway Jury" and two of "The Mummy" films. Isla Fisher is absolutely adorable in this film. Makes me want to rent "Confessions of a Shopaholic." Too bad she's engaged to such a putz. Kevin Kline is superb as the alcoholic voice of moral conscience Hampton Roth.

The script is well written and ably directed by Adam Brooks and has a good pace to it. The run time of 112 minutes is perfect. Not too short, so we don't feel like we're missing out on anything, nor too long so we don't get bored.

The DVD has some short but informative extras.

If romantic comedies is your thing, then I think you'll like this one. I can definitely, maybe see adding this DVD to my collection at some point. (And indeed I now have done just that.)

****½ out of *****

Definitely, Maybe (2008, PG-13, 112 minutes) starrng Ryan Reynolds, Isla Fisher, Rachel Weisz, Abigail Breslin, Elizabeth Banks and Kevin Kline. The film was written and directed by Adam Brooks.

Senator Edward M. Kennedy (1932-2009)

Longtime Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy died last night at age 77 after a long battle with brain cancer and exactly one year after speaking briefly at the Democratic National Convention.

You may not like Senator Kennedy personally or agreed with his politics, but you can't deny his great service to our country in the United States Senate.

Nor can you deny that Kennedy was a strong man, dealing with all of the tragedy that his family had over the years, yet still remaining a viable and visible presence in fighting for what he believed in.

Growing up and living most of my life in Massachusetts, I can tell you that Kennedy was idolized here by many, many people. You don't win as many terms in the Senate as Kennedy did if you're a slacker and not doing your job.

My prayers go out to the Kennedy family today as they deal with the passing of another member of their family within the last 2+ weeks.

Here's another article on the death of Senator Kennedy.

(l-r: The Brothers Kennedy: Robert, Edward and John)

SNMR 7.2: "Leaving Las Vegas"

GREEN'S SHOPPING CART FULL OF ALCOHOL REVIEW:

Ben Sanderson (Nicholas Cage) is an alcoholic who has hit rock bottom in his personal and professional life. After being fired from his job he decides to cut all ties to his life in Los Angeles and move to Las Vegas. There he can peacefully drink himself to death and no one will notice. What he doesn't count on is meeting worldly hooker Sera (Elisabeth Shue) with whom he forms a relationship based on mutual respect and unconditional acceptance and ultimately, love. Will their relationship change the course of their lives? Maybe, maybe not.

First of all, I have to say that I don't think Nicholas Cage deserved to win the Best Actor Oscar in 1995 for this role. Was he better than Richard Dreyfuss (my personal fave), Sean Penn, Anthony Hopkins or Massimo Troisi (who?) who were also nominated that year? No, I don't think so. Should he have been nominated? Sure, I'll give him that as he did turn in a moving performance, even if he over dramatized it a wee bit. Part of my thing with Cage is that he's either hit or miss with me. There's no middle ground.

I've always liked Elisabeth Shue as an actress, who more often than not gives you a solid performance in the roles that she plays. Rightly though she was nominated for Best Actress for her part in this movie, but did not win.

It's kind of unusual that the screenwriter/director would also have the music credit to his name but such is the case with Mike Figgis here and in other films he's worked on. I think that Figgis did a good job with the music for this movie as it seemed fitting to the story. His direction though was so-so. Didn't really do anything for me. In fairness, I have not read John O'Brien's original novel so am unaware how much of it was left out of the screenplay or what was changed. Perhaps the book is better. What I learned from reading the promotional material included in the DVD, is that O'Brien himself was an alcoholic who committed suicide at age 33, about two weeks after learning his book was going to be made into this movie.

Without realizing it, the DVD I watched was the unrated version of the film, with a few brief, extra (probably nude) scenes not found in the R rated theatrical version. What extra scenes there were didn't add anything to the story as far as I could tell.

I'm not saying this is a horrible movie but neither am I saying it deserved all of the praise it received. Still I enjoyed watching it - I only dozed off once but quickly recovered to scan back to what I missed.

*** out of *****

Leaving Las Vegas (1995, R, 112 minutes) starring Nicholas Cage, Elisabeth Shue and Julian Sands. The film was directed by Mike Figgis and based on the novel by John O'Brien.

Yankees visit Fenway for three HUGE games.

True enough, whenever the Yankees and Red Sox get together the games are huge. Never more so than the three game series that begins tonight at Fenway.

Entering this series, the Red Sox own an 8-4 advantage vs. New York this season. But those last four losses, a four game series sweep by the Yankees in New York earlier this month, were devastating losses.

That sweep is a large reason why the Red Sox find themselves in second place, 6 1/2 games behind New York in the standings, entering this series. That the Red Sox need to return the favor and sweep this series is a no-brainer if they want any shot at the AL East title in 2009. Even so a Sox sweep still would have them 3 1/2 games behind. Perish the thought, but if the Yanks sweep the Red Sox this weekend, they'd be 9 1/2 games out and the division race would be over for the Sox.

I've been reading articles around here lately that say the Sox need to focus on the Wild Card and forget about catching the Yankees. I say that's a load of crap. It's a defeatist attitude and is not helpful. Until the Red Sox are mathematically eliminated from wining the division I say they should focus on both the division and Wild Card.

But how do they do that?

As the much vilified Al Davis always says, "Just win, baby." Just play good ball and win as many games as possible and see what happens in the end.

The Red Sox do seem to be on a roll, sweeping the Blue Jays in Toronto the last three days, including an impressive win over ace Roy Halliday.

In any case, these next three games will be fun. Good drama as always, I'm sure.


Here are the pitching match ups for the series, beginning tonight:


Friday, Aug 21^st: New York 20, at Boston 11
Pettitte (9-6) v. Penny (7-7)
WP=Pettitte (10-6), LP=Penny (7-8)
20 runs in a game most allowed by Red Sox since 2000.


Saturday, Aug 22^nd: at Boston 14, New York 1
Burnett (10-6) v. Tazawa (1-2)
WP=Tazawa (2-2), LP=Burnett (10-7)
One good beating deserves an even bigger one - this time by the Sox.

Sunday, Aug 23^rd: New York 8, at Boston 4
Sabathia (14-7) v. Beckett (14-4)
WP=Sabathia (15-7), LP=Beckett (14-5)
Beckett allows career high five homers as Sox fall.


As always, this post will be updated after each game with the results and link to the recap and box score.

The last regular season series of the year will be Sept 25-27 at Yankee Stadium.

SNMR 6.1-6.30 Index Page

Okay my friends, the time has come for a summary of the movies I reviewed for series six of "Saturday Night Movie Review" (SNMR) and the ratings (out of five stars) that I gave them:

6.30 Friends With Money 2½ stars

6.29 City of Ember 2½ stars

6.28 Summer School 3 stars

6.27 Sunshine 2 stars

6.26 My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 stars

6.25 Independence Day 3 stars

6.24 Easy Living 3 stars

6.23 Paul Blart Mall Cop 3 stars

6.22 Charlie Bartlett 3 stars

6.21 27 Dresses 4 stars

6.20 Lost in Space 1½ stars

6.19 The Savages 3½ stars

6.18 The Incredible Mr. Limpet 2½ stars

6.17 Ghosts of Girlfriends Past 3½ stars

6.16 Rachel Getting Married 4 stars

6.15 What Happens in Vega$ 3 stars

6.14 Marley & Me 4 stars

6.13 Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day 2½ stars

6.12 National Treasure 2 - Book of Secrets 4 stars

6.11 National Treasure 5 stars

6.10 Eagle Eye 3 stars

6.9 Becoming Jane 3 stars

6.8 Police Academy 4 stars

6.7 Speed 4 stars

6.6 When Harry Met Sally 5 stars

6.5 The Devil & Daniel Webster 3 stars

6.4 Eight Men Out 5 stars

6.3 Coming to America 3 stars

6.2 The Story of Us 4 stars

6.1 Juno 4½ stars

Monday was weird

Weird but nice. Lemme 'splain.

As some of you who read here regularly know, I've been divorced since April 2004. Since then I've not spent any great amount of time with K, until yesterday.

Sunday evening when we met to exchange the kids, she told V and M that she thought Monday would be a great day for the three of them to go here. They met the suggestion with a slightly injuring (oh, the ego) enthusiastic tone. I was excited for them becasue I knew they'd have lots of fun but disappointed because I wouldn't be there to have fun with them.

Tickets for this place aren't exactly cheap at $35.99 per person over 48" tall, to be exact. After I got home Sunday night, I was still thinking about their planned trip the next day and how much fun they'd have without me. So I went onto the web site and saw the promotion they were running which was that if you purchased 4 passes on-line, they'd only charge you $109.00 or $27.25 per ticket.

Seeing this, even at 22:30, I called K on the phone and told her about it. I told her that if she bought the four passes, I'd use the fourth one and reimburse her for it at the park, pointing out the savings of the reduced ticket price.

She agreed that this was a good idea and we agreed to meet at the park at 9:30 in the morning. The park opened at 10:00 and closed at 18:00 with the plan being that we would stay at the park all day. The only thing I asked her not to do was to tell V and M that I was coming. I wanted to surprise them.

Much to my delight they were in shock when they saw me in the parking lot as they drove past where I was parked. My presence was a nice surprise for them. They allow coolers inside the park so we each packed one full of food and drinks. Of course the park security has to inspect the coolers for alcohol, etc. upon admission, which for us was not an issue.

What a perfect day for this kind of activity. The temperature was around 95 and the water was probably in the mid 80's. with hardly any clouds in the sky. We went on several of the slides which were great fun, gave the wave pool a good go and made many laps around the lazy river. There was only one slide which we tried to do but eventually decided not to becasue of the long line. We stood in line for 30 minutes and in that time probably only moved 50 feet. When we decided to abandon the line, it was longer behind us than it had been when we got there. We could have easily wasted half our day standing in that one line.

I didn't do too badly dealing with the sun. Got a little red but not severely burnt like I normally do. It realy is amazing how nice of a suntan V and K end up with every summer. Certainly didn't get that from me. Normally I burn way too easily.

The one complaint about the park that I had was, surprisingly not the crowd, eventhough the place was packed. Packed I tell you! Where we decided to park our stuff was at a picnic grove on the grounds. Some brilliant park people decided to put small rocks down on the round as the base instead of something softer and less harsh on the feet. Liek grass or mulch or something. Rocks are fine when you're wearing sandals or shoes but not if you're barefoot and wet...

The other complaint I had was my own fault. I had brought a book and noteboook with me in case I wanted to take a break and read. I had these things at the top of my cooler, so they would stay dry. But when the day was done and I was on the way home, I reached in the bottom of the cooler to pull out a water bottle and part of my book and notebook went in the melted ice water. I didn't realize it until I arrived home and was unpacking the cooler.

I hate soggy books. Fortunately the book was inexpensive and I will be able to replace it. I also am attempting to dry out the copy that got wet, but it's still not the same.

Even though it was awkward at times to spend time with K, it was still a great day which we all enjoyed.

BB 11 episodes 14-16

Here are the links to this week's episode recaps. Watch the actual shows on cbs.com.

Episode 14 - Aug 9.
Episode 15 - Aug 11.
Episode 16 - Aug 13.

Chima won an easy HOH competition and her goal this week is to get Russell out of the house. With that in mind, she nominated Russell and Lydia the super pawn.

Kevin won an amusing PoV competition which had the house guests trying to lift eggs up a chicken wire fence and out a hole in the top of the fence without dropping them. The first to get 12 eggs out won. However, Kevin decided to not use his PoV power because he didn't want to upset HoH Chima. Lydia, Kevin's best friend in the house, was not happy to be left on the block.

Michele now has a solid alliance with Jeff and Jordan. She's still unsure about Russell because of the argument they had.

Jeff won America's vote and was granted the power of Coup d'etat, which was a surprise to some (especially Jordan, whose chin almost literally dropped out of her skull onto the floor. He indeed decided to use it and summarily dismissed Chima's nominations with two of his own: Natalie and Jesse. (YES!!). Not really surprising that Jesse was voted out 3-2. Jeff and Chima were not allowed to vote. Bye bye muscle man!! Chima is not a happy camper but I am, and that's what matters.

My house guest rankings: Chima and Natalie are whiny and annoying. I still have no use what so ever for Kevin but I will say that he is a smart, strategic player (he guessed Jeff had the power almost immediately). Lydia still is creepy with her tattoos and pierced tongue, and is more annoying and whiny than she was before. Russell isn't nearly as bad as I thought at the beginning, even though he's had his annoying moments. My favorites are still Jordan, Jeff and Michele.

SNMR 7.1: "The Life of David Gale"

Welcome to the new and improved "Saturday Night Movie Reviews" (SNMR) format, kicking off series seven of my long running column. As you'll see, I'm adopting the post format that Scribe and I use over on our BIG SCREEN blog, because I like writing a review this way much better. As I said, I'm pressing on with this column, even though readership and comments are down to virtually nothing because I always love to give my opinion about stuff, whether asked for or not. I also happen to enjoy movies. A lot. What a perfect combination! I hope you enjoy reading my reviews as much as I like writing them.

GREEN'S A FIXIN' FOR A TEXAS DEATH PENALTY STYLE KILLIN' REVIEW:

Using flashbacks can be a risky way to tell a story. Sometimes it works and other times it does not. Fortunately with this film it works just fine.

Bitsy Bloom (Kate Winslet) is a hardened, veteran New York reporter fresh out of jail for protecting her sources. David Gale (Kevin Spacey) is a former professor/ and anti death penalty advocate, now ironically himself a Texas death row convict, who was accused of rape and murder. Gale requests Bloom to do his lone, final interview. Believing he is guilty from the beginning she reluctantly agrees to go to Texas for the three day interview. What she learns during her sessions with Gale is revealing and shocking. During the course of the interview she is forced to reconsider her preconceived notion of Gale's guilt. Is he really guilty? Was it a set up? What she discovers outside of the interview is even more shocking. Can it be true? There's a twist at the end I didn't see coming.

Let's just say that if I tell you more of the story I'll ruin it for you.

This movie is a grueling look at the use of the death penalty in Texas, which annually leads the country in executions. It effectively raises the questions that always surround the use of the death penalty vs. lifetime imprisonment, which mainly revolve around, "Did they get it right?" However, this movie is not a mouthpiece for speaking out against the death penalty but attempts to provide a balanced view. It does indeed make you think about it and forces you to reach your own conclusions.

Veteran director Alan Parker (Pink Floyd The Wall, Evita, Mississippi Burning) does a wonderful job managing a superb trio of lead actors. Kate Winslet, Kevin Spacey and Laura Linney all give excellent performances. The supporting cast is also very good. Kate Winslet has long been one of my favorite actresses. Kevin Spacey is excellent more often than I like to admit and Laura Linney is still a very underrated actress.

The story has excellent depth and character development because at the end of the movie you are fully and emotionally invested in the result. It is interesting (as we learn in the DVD extras) that this was Charles Rudolph's first attempt at writing a screenplay, which gives hope for aspiring writers like me. However, I was disappointed to learn that this movie received no Academy Award nominations at all. None. Nada. Nyet. Zip. Zilch. Zero.

The DVD has some excellent extras which are entertaining, informative and worth watching.

You need to see this movie if you haven't already. If I can find it in the $5 DVD bin, I can see myself adding it to my movie collection one of these days.

***** out of *****

The Life of David Gale (2003, R, 131 minutes) starring Kevin Spacey, Kate Winslet, Laura Linney, Gabriel Mann, Leon Rippy and Rhona Mitra. The film was directed by Alan Parker and written by Charles Randolph.

Change coming to SNMR

Yes, I'm still going to keep my weekly "Saturday Night Movie Reviews" column going, as I begin the seventh series of reviews with this week's upcoming post.

Even though readership is down and comments are hardly made anymore, I'm pressing on with this column because I love to give my opinion about stuff, whether asked for or not. And I happen to enjoy movies. A lot. What a perfect combination!

In an effort to improve SNMR I'm changing the format. How exactly you'll have to wait and see. One thing that will never change is that I prefer to watch and always recommend the widescreen formatted version of any movie on DVD whenever possible.

Besides, if it weren't for SNMR it seems like I'd hardly post anymore.

BB11 episodes 11-13

Here are the links to this week's episode recaps. Watch the actual shows on cbs.com.

Episode 11 - Aug 2.
Episode 9 - Aug 4.
Episode 10 - Aug 6.

Russell won HOH in the first endurance competition of the season. In doing so, he made a deal with Jeff that he and Jordan would be safe this week and that Ronnie would be one of the nominees. True to his word, he did just that, nominating Ronnie and Lydia, even though Lydia is just a pawn, but she doesn't know it.

Michele won the PoV competition again and vowed not to use it, also wanting Ronnie out. Michele now has an alliance with Jeff, Jordan and Russell which seems to be a strong alliance.

Now that the cliques are gone everyone is on their own. This will eventually expose who are the weak players and who are the strong players.

This mystery power, the coup d'etat, will be awarded on Wednesday or Thursday and we'll see the results on Thursday's show. Here's how it works: America voted (online and via text) through Tuesday 8/4 on which house guest will get the power. The power allows the holder to overrule the HOH's nominations, one or both of them, to be used either this week or next. The key is that only the house guest who has the power will know that they have it and they are prohibited from telling the other house guests that they have it. The power can be used right before the live vote on this or the next Thursday.

I've personally voted for Jordan and Jeff (you can vote multiple times online). There was concern that someone on the outside linked to one of the house guests would use voting bots to skew the vote. Previously the house guests appeared on the ballot in the same spot. Now, each time you vote the house guests are listed randomly.

So, the plan is to get Ronnie out and I really think he will go, though the vote may be closer than I want to see, as it seems that Natalie, Jessie and Chima will vote to evict Lydia. Jeff, Jordan and Michele will vote to evict Ronnie. Kevin seems to be the swing vote, though I think he will vote to evict Lydia. Either way, I predict the vote will be 4-3 in favor of evicting Ronnie (and indeed it was exactly that...)

Personally, I still can't stand Ronnie and will be disappointed if he doesn't go home this week. (Fortunately he did! YES!!) Chima and Natalie are still annoying. I have no use what so ever for Kevin. Lydia still is creepy, and becoming more annoying than she was before. I'm lukewarm on Jessie. Russell is proving to be worth rooting for, considering he kept his bargain with Jeff. My favorites are still Jordan, Jeff and Michele.

SNMR 6.30: "Friends With Money"

Tonight's SNMR feature is "Friends with Money" (2006, R, 88 minutes), starring Jennifer Aniston, Catherine Keener, Frances McDormand, Joan Cusack, Jason Isaacs, Simon McBurney and Greg Germann. The film was written and directed by Nicole Holofcener.

PLOT SUMMARY: Four long time female friends get together regularly to discuss their lives. Three of the friends are married and rich. One isn't either married or rich, so she becomes the topic of frequent conversation. To Olivia (Aniston) their married lives are perfect while she's struggling to get by working as a maid. Just beneath the surface of the married couples seemingly perfect lives are the problems that can go along with marriage and family.

MY OPINION: The title of this film should be Dysfunctional Friends with Money. But I guess it's not because there has to be a little suspense, right? Well, no. Actually there's no suspense whatever as it's painfully obvious right from the start how broken and flawed each person is with in the circle of friends.

Frankly I only had interest in this movie because Jennifer Aniston is in it. This film is very slow, almost to the point of being boring. However dull it is, it does paint an interesting picture of dysfunctionality in its many forms and how that affects the relationships between friends. The fact that the writer and director are the same person I generally like but in this case it doesn't matter because of the subject matter. Thankfully, this film has a running time of just under 90 minutes, though it easily could have been longer, depending on how much dysfuntion we were meant to see.

Individually the four women lead characters appear to have bonded well in real life, which is one part of good screen chemistry. Even this however, can't save a weak script.

I would recommend this movie to you only if you're a fan of one of the actresses, all of whose movies you must have in your DVD collection.

**½ out of *****

John Hughes (1950-2009)

In another example of how fragile life is, movie writer and director John Hughes died on Thursday from a heart attack. He was only 59.

Hughes list of writing and directing credits is quite impressive. Click on the link in the title and see if these films don't bring back some memories, especially if you grew up in the 1980's, as I did. I'll bet that the majority of us can quote some of the lines from his films.

You may not have liked all of his movies or maybe thought they were too stupid or sappy, but they certainly were an indelible part of the decade. Many of the actors who worked in Hughes' films, at least in the articles I read, have nothing but fond memories of the man.

Hollywood has lost a great one.

Sox in the Bronx

The Red Sox (62-44) enter this series 2 1/2 games behind the Yankees (65-42) coming into this always crucial and always fun rivalry. Four game weekend series in the Bronx are never dull. This series should be more of the same.

The fact that the Yankees are 0-8 vs. Boston this year is stunning but hardly relevant now since the teams haven't played since June. I would think that the pressure for this series is still on the Yankees even though they are ahead in the standings, they still have to prove to themselves that they can beat the Red Sox. I expect a hard fought, well played series. Realistically I would be pleased if the Sox can split these four games and clinch the season series which would ensure any tie breaker scenarios for playoff positioning go Boston's way.

I'll also admit that the Sox have been in a funk since the All-Star break, while the Yankees have been playing some of their best ball of the year lately. I can take some solace in the fact that when these teams last met in June the Yankees were also playing well and Boston's sweep put them in a funk for a few weeks. Hopefully that will be the case here.

Here are the pitching match ups for the series:

Thursday, Aug 6^th: at New York 13, Boston 6
Smoltz (2-4) v. Chamberlain (7-2)
WP=Chamberlain (8-2), LP=Smoltz (2-5)
All I can say is, "Ouch, this one hurts."

Friday, Aug 7^th: at New York 2, Boston 0 (15 innings)
Beckett (13-4) v. Burnett (10-5)
WP=Coke (3-3), LP=Tazawa (0-1)
What a duel! What a heartbreaker! Ouch again...

Saturday, Aug 8^th: at New York 5, Boston 0
Buccholz (1-1) v. Sabathia (11-7)
WP=Sabathia (12-7), LP=Buchholz (1-2)
O offense, wherefore art thou? 3x ouch!

Sunday, Aug 9^th: at New York 5, Boston 2
Lester (9-7) v. Pettite (9-6)
WP=Coke (4-3), LP=Bard (0-1), SV=Rivera (32)
Red Sox lost weekend in NY complete - including 31 consecutive scoreless innings (most since 1974).


As always, this post will be updated after each game with the results and link to the recap and box score.

The Red Sox next shot at redemption comes Aug 21-23, when the Yankees make their final regular season Fenway appearance.

BB11 episodes 8-10

Here are the links to this week's episode recaps. Watch the actual shows on cbs.com.

Episode 8 - July 26.
Episode 9 - July 28.
Episode 10 - July 30.

Jessie nominated Jordan and Michelle for eviction this week, but his real target was Casey. This move is baffling to me because Casey was not coming after Jessie at all and told Jessie to his face before the PoV competition. Casey had thought (along with the rest of the house, except Jessie, that the plan was to backdoor Ronnie.

Michelle won the PoV competition and took herself off of the block, forcing Jessie to choose a replacement nominee, which was Casey.

So it's Casey vs. Jordan. That sucks because they are two of the house guests that I like. Before the eviction each house guest is allowed a minute or two to say something in their defense. Jordan didn't say much, since she said it all last week. Casey, on the other hand, really handed it to Ronnie and Jessie, apparently because he knew he'd be out. (He definitely was, being voted out 7-1.)

Julie announced that the high school cliques would be broken up and everyone is now on their own. If I were the producers of this show, I wouldn't have broken up the cliques for a few more weeks, but that's just me. She also announced that one house guest would be awarded a special power to overrule the HOH's nominations, one or both of them, to be used either this week or next. The key is that only he house guest who has the power will know that they have it and they are prohibited from telling the other house guests that they have it. The power can be used right before the live vote on this or the next Thursday. Hopefully someone I like will get it and use it to shake up the house. I've personally voted for Jordan and Jeff (you can vote multiple times).

The first HOH endurance comp was Thursday and it was quite amusing. The house guests were required to sit on a swing that spun like a merry go round - faster, slower faster. Also they brought out a huge foam diploma which the contestants would slam into each time they went around the circle. To make it worse they also intermittently sprayed the house guests with water, and I'm guessing it wasn't warm water.

As the live show ended on Thursday, they were still going at it. (Looking at the cheater blog, I know who won but I'm not saying...)

Personally, I still can't stand Ronnie. Chima and Natalie are annoying. I have no use what so ever for Kevin. Lydia still is creepy, though I don't mind her too much. I'm lukewarm on Jessie. Russell is getting better (less annoying). My favorites are still Jordan, Jeff and Michelle.

SNMR 6.29: "City of Ember"

Tonight's SNMR feature is "City of Ember" (2008, PG, 95 minutes), starring Saoirse Ronan, Harry Treadaway, Tim Robbins, Bill Murray, Martin Landau, Mary Kay Place and Toby Jones. The film was directed by Gil Kenan.


PLOY SUMMARY: Some unnamed disaster came upon the world some 200 years ago, forcing the construction of an underground city called the City of Ember, where humankind now lives. Now no one remembers life as it was on the outside and tales of the outside are considered myth and it is against the law to leave the city. However, the generators that power the city are failing and the city itself is crumbling. Most are resigned to their fate that they'll die when the generators finally go out. But the builders of Ember left instructions and a key in a metal box that was sealed for 200 years, when the scientists and engineers guessed it would be safe to leave the city. For 153 years the box was passed down from mayor to mayor, each unknowing of what was inside, until the box was forgotten. As time passed the box eventually opened as programmed. Now two kids, Lina and Doon, have the box and are trying to figure out the secret message before the generator dies. Will they figure out the riddle or die trying?

MY OPINION: I love movies like this where the premise has loads of promise. Stories of survival with a twist of mystery I usually find compelling. This movie is slow in the beginning but once the story comes together flows pretty well to a semi-satisfying but highly predictable conclusion, espcially the very last scene which is totally contrived and unrealistic. The movie's special effecs are decent and director Gil Kenan does an okay job developing the plot and characters. As witrh most novel to film adaptations of this kind, I'm sure the novel by Jeanne Duprau is far better and contains more expository detail of the story.

**½ out of *****

Books of the Month - August 2009

coming soon, I promise.

BB 11 episodes 5-7

Here are the links to this week's episode recaps. Watch the actual shows on cbs.com.

Episode 5 - July 19.
Episode 6 - July 21.
Episode 7 - July 23.

Ronnie nomiated Laura and Jeff for eviction this week. Since he found out about Laura's complaining about him (even though she was 100% dead on balls accurate), it was no surprise that she was nominated. Jeff is the pawn, even though he probably had no idea that he was going to be.

Jeff won the POV competition and took himself off of the block, forcing Ronnie to choose a replacement nominee.

Ronnie had been getting everyone together and letting them know that he was 99.9% sure he was going to nominate Russell as the replacement for Jeff. Most all of the other houseguests said that they'd go along with that and vote him out, which I think would be a smart idea. That's certainly what I thought he would do....

But ooooooooh no. Ronnie, proving to everyone in the house what a weasel he is, nominates Jordan. Jordan! Jordan!

Apparently he's had it in for Laura the whole time, because she could see through his crap and probably said so a bit too loudly.

So it's Laura vs. Jordan. That sucks becasue they are two of the houseguests that I like. If I had to guess though, I'd say that Laura will be sent packing. (Indeed she was, being voted out 8-1.)

The only problem now is that Ronnie isn't making any friends in the house. Any chance of repairing the relationship between himself and Jordan and Jeff is shot. He better hope that he or his brains clique win the HOH on Thursday (they did not) - otherwise he's a sure bet to get nominated. I hope he does get himself booted out of the house. It would serve him right.

Can't stand the guy.

Jessie won HOH again, so we'll see what remains of the brains and athletes alliance. Jessie is unpredictable, so it's hard to say who he might nominate tonight. If I had to guess, I'd say he's going to nominate Chima and Ronnie - totally blowing up the alliance.

SNMR 6.28: "Summer School"

Tonight's SNMR feature is "Summer School" (1987, PG-13, 97 minutes), starring Mark Harmon, Kirstie Alley, Robin Thomas and Courteney Thorne-Smith> The film was directed by Carl Reiner.

PLOT SUMMARY: A high school gym teacher is forced to teach a summer school remedial English course to a bunch of underachievers at a California high school.

MY OPINION: "I'm Chainsaw."
"And I'm Dave."
(together) "We'll see you at the movies."

For me this is one of the most memorable lines of the film because it was one of the lines we frequently quoted in college. Even back then I was a big movie fanatic.

Which is why I find it hard to believe that this movie came out 22 years ago this week. This was, in my opinion, one of the most underrated comedies of the 1980's. I hadn't watched this movie in about fifteen years prior to watching it recently. I was amazed to find that the majority of the jokes in this movie still made me laugh. Veteran producer/director/actor Carl Reiner directed this movie and did an excellent job with a lot of unknown actors, buoyed by a few established actors (Mark Harmon, Kirstie Alley) in the lead roles. At least one of the unknowns (Courtney Thorne-Smith) has gone on to a successful acting career (Melrose Place, According to Jim).

It's interesting that Harmon and Alley have had more successful careers in television than on the big screen. Of course, this film came out just as a still thin Kirstie Alley was beginning her successful stint on Cheers and Mark Harmon is still thriving on NCIS.

Yes, the movie is quite silly and rather dumb in the grand scheme of movie history but still a whole lot of fun.

*** out of *****

It's about time!

A long overdue honor, in my opinion:

Rice to have jersey retired by Red Sox

Associated Press - July 22, 2009

ARLINGTON, Texas -- The Boston Red Sox are retiring Jim Rice's No. 14 jersey.

The team said Wednesday it will honor Rice in a ceremony at Fenway Park on Tuesday, two days after Rice is inducted into baseball's Hall of Fame.

It will be the seventh number retired by the Red Sox.

Rice, an eight-time All-Star, batted .298 with 382 home runs and 1,451 RBIs in 2,089 games for the Red Sox from 1974 to 1989.

He was the American League MVP in 1978, when the Red Sox captain hit .315 with 46 homers and 139 RBIs. He had 406 total bases, still the only time an AL player had 400 total bases since Joe DiMaggio in 1937.

BB 11 episodes 2-4

Here are the links to the recaps for last week's Big Brother shows, found on cbs.com. You can also watch the actual episodes there, if ya like.

Episode 2 - Sunday, July 12.
Episode 3 - Tuesday, July 14.
Episode 4 - Thursday, July 16.

Lydia and Chima weer nominated for eviction. Russell won the POV competition and took Lydia off of the block. HOH Jessie nominated Braden as a replacement.

The vote was a 5-5 tie for who to evict. When it reached that point, I knew Braden was toast as Jessie had to break the tie. Chima lives for another week.

I don't like Chima - she's a whiner. Nor do I like Ronnie - he's a goober and a double crossing schemer. I can do with out Kevin, too. His harsh words to Braden in his good-bye video were totally unnecessary.

Lydia wouldn't be so bad except for those tattoos and pierced tongue are a major turn off. She really wasn't too nice to Braden in his good bye video either. In her case she was more justified as Braden had said some pretty mean things to her to set her off in the first place.

I like Jordan (love that sexy Southern accent!), Natalie and Laura. Jeff and Casey are cool. I didn't care for Jessie in BB10, though he's more likable this time around. I'm wary of Russell the (self proscribed) "love muscle". He's too full of himself.

Ronnie, the snake in the grass, won the HOH competition over Michelle, so that means that the brains clique - Ronnie, Michelle and Chima are automatically safe from eviction this week.

I have no clue who he'll nominate, since he's playing both sides.

SNMR 6.27: "Sunshine"

Tonight's SNMR feature is "Sunshine" (2007, R, 107 minutes), starring Cliff Curtis, Chipo Young, Cillian Murphy, Michelle Yeoh, Chris Evans and Rose Byrne. The film was directed by Danny Boyle.

PLOT SUMMARY: The sun is dying. Earth's last, best and only hope for survival lies in the hands of seven astronauts whose mission is to deposit a Manhattan sized nuclear device into the sun at close range. When faced with a mission changing opportunity, what do they decide to do? How will it effect the outcome of the mission?

MY OPINION: After I signed this movie out of the library, I saw it in the store for $4 but decided not to buy it. I used to only buy movies if I had seen them previously and knew that I liked them and would want to see them again. Or in extreme cases if the cover art was too enticing. Lately neither of those options are considered because I figure, eh, it's only $4 or it's only $5. So I indulge. This time though I resisted the temptation and am ultimately glad that I did.

See, this is your typical disaster movie where you know from the start that everyone is going to die, you just don't know when or how. You also have an idea that the mission will succeed, but there's always a lingering of doubt in the back of your mind that it will fail.

Director Danny Boyle takes a cast of virtual unknown actors and does a pretty credible job keeping the action moving. If there was ever a question about Boyle's directorial skills, they were answered with the project he took on after this, which only won him a few prestigious Academy Awards.

The special effects in this movie are well done. However, despite Boyle's best efforts the storyline is contrived.

Not a bad movie, but not all that great, either.

** out of *****

Walter Cronkite (1916-2009)

There are some deaths that rightly should rock the world. This is one of them.

Television news icon Walter Cronkite, 92, has died, according to CBS News.

For a generation, Walter Cronkite was the Evening News. As a youngster growing up, up until his final broadcast in 1981, my parents would always have CBS News on after dinner. Cronkite's steady monotone voice was all there was. This was long before most homes had two and three televisions in the house, before cable and the multitude of news outlets available 24/7, before the advent of the home computer and the internet, before the advent of video stores and movies on tape.

You don't earn the moniker "the most trusted man in America" for nothing.

Walter Cronkite is gone, his iconic status in American television history long since secure. He will be missed.

"And that's the way it is."

Choose wisely, Mr. Cooper.

When I was out and about yesterday meeting K to give her back V amd M for the week, one of the things I wanted to do was look at the magazines. Specifically, magazines like US Weekly, People, OK! - magazines that do a good job snooping into the lives of of our favorite famous Hollywood-athlete types. You know to see who is dating whom, who is splitting up and all of that kind of stuff. This week these magazines all have more cover stories relating to MJ's death and memorial service more than two weeks ago. But I'm not as interested in that story.

Aw, let's cut to the chase.

I wonder what Bradley Cooper is thinking...

First these magazines report that he and my fave Hollywood crush (co-stars in "He's Just Not That Into You") are dating. Then I read that he was seen on a couple of "dates" with Renee Zellweger. One mag reports that Cooper dumped Aniston in favor of Zellweger, whom he's now filming a movie with. Another reports that Cooper and Zellweger are just friends and that he's still dating Aniston. Yet another magazine reports that Aniston is pissed off about Cooper and Zellweger being seen together. And finally a fourth magazine reports that Coooper is not serious about dating either Aniston or Zellweger but just playing the field..

Come on Bradley, make up your mind!

Sometimes I wish celebrities would learn to stay out of the tabloid spotlight, even though it would mean I wouldn't be able to read about them. Those are the couples that seem to last in the Hollywood circles. Couples like Courteney Cox and David Arquette, Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart, Geena Davis and whomever the doctor is that she married, Johnny Depp and whomever he's ddating/married to, or - well you get the point.

At the same time I can understand (I think) the need to keep your name afloat in the Hollywood buzz. If you're being talked about, that seems to mean you'll have no shortage of scrpits to choose from and you'll stay working.

Still, is paparazzi publicity really the kind of publicity you want?


Maybe I'm crazy. Maybe, as a Hollywood outsider, I just don't get it.


Somehow, I don't think so.

=========

Yes, I do enjoy reading the tabloid magazines when I'm standing in line at the checkout counter at the stores I shop at.

Big Brother 11 episode one

Big Brother is back for it's 11^th go around.

The first episode aired this past Thursday. Episode two is tonight at 20:00 EDT.

The weekly schedule is Sundays at 20:00 EDT, Tuesdays at 21:00 EDT and Thursdays at 20:00 EDT.

I haven't made any decisions about who I'm going to root for yet - but so far I'm not impressed with any one of the 13 houseguests.

I'm going to attempt to do a recap post every Sunday during the season with links to summaries of each episode. All of the episodes should be available to watch on cbs.com one to two days aafter they air on television. Of course, you can always find updates online, on blogger and even twitter.

SNMR 6.26: "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"

Tonight's SNMR feature is "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" (2002, PG, 95 minutes), starring Nia Vardalos, John Corbett, Lainie Kazan, Michael Constantine, Gia Carides, Louis Mandylor, Andrea Martin and Joey Fatone. The film was directed by Joel Zwick.

PLOT SUMMARY: Toula is thirty and unmarried. Nothing wrong with that by most standards. But when you're a Greek woman, unmarried at 30 is considered a failure because Greek women are supposed to marry Greek men and have lots of Greek babies. Toula finally meets Ian Miller and falls in love with him. The problem is that he's definitely not Greek. How will Toula's family handle this? Will they accept the stranger into their family? Will Ian be able to deal with Toula's very large and loud family?

MY OPINION: This is a film that had a lot of hoopla surrounding it when it first came out seven years ago. I never bought into the hype and never watched it until recently. While this is a good film, I can't really understand all of the hype that was made about it, probably because my family is relatively small and spread out all over the country, so we don't regualrly know each other's business.

Nia Vardalos wrote the screenplay and it was nominated for an Academy Award in 2003. She does an excellent job in the lead role. John Corbett is also very good as the man trying to fit in to an ethnic family that is large and extremely close knit. This is a film that expresse the importance of family and family values. It's also about accepting change when change comes along, even if it is not wanted or expected.

The story is very believable and has a nice pacing to it. You almost feel like part of the family.

*** out of *****

Which is better... or worse?

OPINION TIME: What do you think?

Which is better... or worse?

If you get so upset at work that you blow up at your boss and quit OR if you lose the ability to care about your job, gradually let your performance suffer so that eventually you get yourself fired?

SNMR 6.25: "Independence Day"

I try to be topically relevant whenever possible with my movie reviews, so I wanted to review a movie with a 4th of July theme. I could have chosen "Born on the Fourth of July," but wasn't in the mood to watch a Tom Cruise movie. Therefore, I've decided on the other obvious choice. Tonight's SNMR feature is "Independence Day" (1996, PG-13, 153 minutes), starring Will Smith, Bill Pullman, Geoff Goldblum, Judd Hirsch, Robert Loggia, Randy Quaid, Vivica A. Fox and James Rebhorn. The film was directed by Roland Emmerich.

PLOT SUMMARY: Mysterious signals are being received by the military and no one knows what to make of them. Before we realize what's happening, giant alien spaceships are hovering over every major world city. Using our satellites against us the aliens coordinate one giant attack and destroy all of our cities with massive laser weapons. Fortunately, the President gets out just before the White House is blown to smithereens. Can a ragtag group of people and what's left of our military defeat the aliens? Let's hope so.

MY OPINION: I remember not liking this movie the first and only time I watched it, thinking that it was rather corny and that there was no way in heck some lame weaponry we had could outgun the aliens' firepower. This time I thought the movie was better than I remembered it. Of course, I forgot the part about Area 51 in Nevada, where fortunately for us, we've had a bit of this same alien technology under wraps since the 1950's and have figured out somewhat how to use it.

The story is similar to many other alien invasion type movies and specifically reminded me of "The War of the Worlds" and "The Day the Earth Stood Still." The writing is okay and has some clever lines in the script, which adequately serves the purpose. The special effects are excellent, and this movie won the 1997 Oscar for Visual Effects.

I didn't recall such a good cast with lots of well known actors. Overall the performances were good, but not fantastic.

The movie has a run time of 153 minutes and I thought the movie dragged a bit in setting up the arrival of the aliens. All in all though, this is a decent movie.

*** out of *****

CCXXXIII

That's a pretty cool looking Roman numeral for 233 - the age of the United States today.

Happy 4^th of July, everyone!

Aphelion

Today is the Aphelion - the astronomical term for when the earth is the farthest distance from the sun that it can possibly get.

That's 94,505,009 miles, in case you're counting.

Karl Malden (1912-2009)

If you're gonna die, this is how you ought to do it. Live until you're in your late 90's and die of natural causes.

That's the way Karl Malden, 97, went out. Sad thing is his death didn't get nearly the attention Farrah's death did. Michael Jackson's been dead for a week + and he's still getting press.

I really never was familiar with the work of Karl Malden, except for seeing him in the second Poseidon Adventure movie that came out in 1979. Malden's biggest role was on television in the five year run of the "Streets of San Francisco," which he starred in along with some guy named Michael Douglas. This is a show I don't remember ever watching in syndication but seems worthy to check out if it's on DVD.

Just what you wanted to know

It's been a long time coming. And I knew you'd want to know this.

Big Brother 11 premieres on CBS in just 10 days.

That's Thursday, July 9^th at 8:00 PM EDT, in case you were wondering.

I wonder what this crew will be like. Who to like, who to dislike, who to root for and who to root against.

I didn't watch seasons 1-8 of Big Brother. Now I'm getting into my third season of watching - though I won't go so far as to get the live 24/7 feeds.

I like Big Brother, but not that much.

A refresher: Dan (in black) was the winner of BB10. Memphis finished second and Keesha, who got screwed over at the end, finished third.

Billy Mays (1958-2009)

When will the madness stop?

Television pitch man extraordinaire Billy Mays, 50, died this morning in his Florida home. An autopsy is scheduled for Monday.

Mays hawked a variety of products over the years on television, especially the "Oxi-Clean" line of products. Though his booming voice could be grating (seemed like he pitched everything) there is no question that the guy could sell stuff and, judging by the volume of items he pitched, was good enough at it that it made him a millionaire.

It will be interesting to see what the official cause of death will be. The guy was a month or so older than Michael Jackson, who died last Thursday. Whassup with all these 50 year old people dying?

SNMR 6.24: "Easy Living"

Tonight's SNMR feature is "Easy Living" (1937, NR, 88 minutes, B&W), starring Jean Arthur, Edward Arnold, Ray Milland and Luis Alberini. The film was directed by Mitchell Leisen.

PLOT SUMMARY: In the right place at the right time is exactly where Mary Smith (Arthur) happens to be when an expensive mink coat falls on her head from the sky as she's sitting on the top floor of a double decker bus. Actually, the coat was thrown off of the balcony by an angry J.B. Ball (Arnold) because it was purchased by his wife without his knowledge and despite the fact that she has a closet full of mink coats. Ball is the Bull of Broad Street, a wealthy banker and stock broker whose son (Mlland) doesn't want his father's money, preferring to make it on his own. Soon all kinds of weird things begin to happen to Smith, because she is assumed to be J.B. Bull's mistress.

MY OPINION:This DVD is highly touted as one of the best screwball comedies of he 1930's and perhaps of all time. It's a good comedy to be sure, but hardly the best ever. The situation is highly improbable, and it works on the premise that these coincidences or accidents happen in a snowball effect, one after another after another. Jean Arthur has quickly become one of my favorite actresses. While I think she's been better in other movies, she does a fine job here. I've seen a few of Edward Arnold's films and the jury is still out for me on how good of an actor he was. This is the second movie that I've seen with Ray Milland in it. He seems to have been a good actor but I haven't seen enough of his work to tell for sure.

If you've never seen this movie before, that's fine - neither had I. It's not my favorite movie, but at 88 minutes of run time, it's short enough to be a worthwhile rental. Check it out if you can find it.

*** out of *****

Michael Jackson (1958-2009)

Michael Jackson, 50, died at UCLA Medical Center this afternoon. He died of apparent heart failure after collapsing in his home, though no official cause of death has been released. The LA Coroner's Office will perform an autopsy and determine the official cause of death.

No matter your feelings toward Jackson - BUT love him or hate him - you can't deny that the music industry has lost a legend and an innovator. A void that will not easily be filled. You must give the man his due for the impact he had on the music industry.

I've never been a huge Michael Jackson fan, but there are occasions when I enjoy his music. Even better, some of Weird Al Yankovic's best songs were parodies of Jackson's songs, like "Eat it" and "Fat" to name a few. I think there are more but can't think of them.

Personally, Jackson creeped me out. He was one weird, messed up individual.

One of the questions that will never really be answered is the child molestation charges and trial Jackson had a few years ago. Did he or didn't he? Yeah I know he was acquitted but- so wasn't OJ. And you don't think for a minute that he was innocent, do you?

The saddest part for me about Jackson's death was his age. Fifty is still too young to die. He was not quite eleven years older than me. Kind of scary to think of dying that young....

Here's the story from the Los Angeles Times reporting on Jackson's sudden death.

Here's an update on the casue of death, still under investigation.

Farrah Fawcett (1947-2009)

One of Charlie's original Angels is now an angel herself.
Farrah Fawcett, 62, died earlier today in Santa Monica, California, after she lost her long and much publicized battle with Cancer.

Many teenage boys had Farrah's famous red swimsuit poster (shown at right) on their wall in the late 70's and early 80's. I might have been one of them.

Fawcett gained fame with 1976's smash television show "Charlie's Angels," starring along with Kate Jackson, Jacklyn Smith and the voice of Charlie, John Forsythe. She surprisingly left the series after the first season to pursue a film career which never really took off. She did earn an emmy nomination for the made for television movie "The Burning Bed" (1984), in which she played an abused wife.

CNN is sharing quotes from friends who knew and worked with Farrah, including her Angels co-stars, Smith and Jackson.

Last year I bought the first and second seasons of Charlie's Angels on DVD. I'll bet that DVD sales of that show will increase in the next few days due to her passing.

XL

Happy Birthday to me.




Yep, I've reached the big 4-0. And I couldn't be happier about it. The decade of my 30's started out real good with the birth of my son, but after that it was pretty much a crappy ten years. Easily the worst decade of my life, so far.

What will my fifth decade of life bring? I have no idea but I'm ready for it. Bring it on.

No mid-life crisis here. Nope. Sure I'm not where I want to be personally or professionally, but there's plenty to look forward to. Life is just too good.

Yeah, I'm generally an optimistic person.

What am I doing today? Aside from one errand that I've got to do this morning, which I may blog about at some point, absolutely nothing. Well, nothing else is on the schedule, let's put it that way.

Ed McMahon (1923-2009)

Ed McMahon, 86, died today, apparently from complications from bone cancer and pneumonia. The official cause of death has not been released yet.

McMahon was born in Detroit, MI but grew up in nearby Lowell, MA.

I wonder if, when Ed got to the pearly gates, St. Peter announced his arrival like this: "Heeeeeeeeeeeeeere's Ed!"


Or maybe, upon his arrival at the pearly gates, St. Peter handed Ed a Publisher's Clearing House direct mail piece/ sweepstakes packet, complete with full color ads for all of the useless crap PCH peddles to get you to enter their lousy contests. I wonder if Ed's picture was on the outside of the envelope... St. Peter then says to Ed, "You can't enter (heaven) if you don't enter the sweepstakes." or maybe, "no purchase necessary to enter (heaven)."

Or maybe not.

Summer solstice

Summer in the northern hemisphere officially begins now. Happy am I when my favorite season is here!

We opened the pool yesterday at my parents house. Even though the water was c-c-c-c-old and there was some algae at the bottom of the pool, it looked awfully good.

Oh, yeah. Happy Father's Day to all those of you to whom it may apply.

SNMR 6.23: "Paul Blart Mall Cop"

Tonight's SNMR feature is "Paul Blart Mall Cop (2009, PG, 91 minutes) starring Kevin James, Jayma Mays, Keir O'Donnell, Bobby Cannavale, Stephen Rannazzisi and Shirley Knight. The film was directed by Steve Carr.

PLOT SUMMARY: Paul Blart (James) keeps trying and failing the test to become a New Jersey State Police officer due to his hypoglycemia. So instead he is a security officer at a mall. A job he takes very seriously. Way too seriously. When the mall is taken over, on Black Friday, by thieves who are trying to steal the access codes to the stores credit card machines and thus steal all of the money brought in on the busiest shopping day of the year, it's up to Blart to outwit the bandits, save the day and get the girl.

MY OPINION: V, M and I saw this movie in the theater back in February and again last night on DVD. I must say it's a better movie than I thought it was going to be. Yeah, I realize the plot sounds corny, but that's only because it is. The main reason I wanted to see this movie in the theater and own it on DVD is because the mall that the movie was filmed in is the very same mall that is in the town I grew up in. I also watched one of the scenes being filmed (and actually was standing no more than 250 feet away from Kevin James in the crowd of non extras who were watching the proceedings) which was quite cool.

Is this the best movie I've ever seen? Certainly not. But it is what it is - a screwball comedy - and good fun, too. Steve Carr does a decent job directing and the cast is good - but not great. The most annoying thing for me about this movie is why did it have to be set in New Jersey? Couldn't they have found a nice mall actually in New Jersey to film in? Or couldn't the story have taken place in Massachusetts where the mall is actually located?

Anyway, this is a silly movie with a nice ending. Sure, go ahead and rent it or borrow it from your library.

*** out of *****

SNMR 6.22: "Charlie Bartlett"

Tonight's SNMR feature is "Charlie Bartlett" (2007, R, 97 minutes), starring Anton Yelchin, Robert Downey, Jr., Hope Davis, Kat Dennings and Tyler Hilton. The film was directed by Jon Poll.

PLOT SUMMARY: Charlie Bartlett (Yelchin) is a seventeen year old rich kid who has been thrown out of many private schools. His mother (Davis) decides he should try a public high school for a change. When he does, he's not popular and virtually unknown. After being beat up by the school bully, Charlie reads up on psychological behavior and begins to give advice to other students and prescribe medications to them that he gets prescribed to him by his family's on call shrink. Suddenly Charlie is the most popular kid in school and attracts the eye of Susan Gardner (Dennings) who happens to be the daughter of the most hated man in school - Principal Nathan Gardner (Downey, Jr.).

MY OPINION: I had seen the previews for this movie on several recent DVD's I've watched. The movie looked interesting but nothing I'd go out of my way to get. Then when I realized that the title character is played by Anton Yelchin, who also happens to be Checkov in the new Star Trek movie and a young Kyle Reese in the new Terminator movie, that ratcheted up my interest in this movie considerably.

This movie has been compared to Ferris Bueller's Day Off for the student - principal relationship that each film has. But that's as far as I'll go with the comparison. Ferris Bueller was the ultimate 80's high school slacker film and still a classic. This movie takes a more serious turn towards the second half of the film. Hope Davis makes for an excellent ditzy but well intentioned mother and Robert Downey, Jr. is very good as the beleagured principal who gets tired of hearing the name Charlie Bartlett. Yelchin and Dennings performances are so-so.

Jon Poll has an impressive history as a comedy director, having helmed the last two Austin Powers movies and the two Ben Stiller films Meet the Parents and Meet the Fockers. He does a good enough job with this movie but doesn't show us anything we haven't seen before.

This movie is decent for a rental, but I wouldn't go out of my way to own it.

*** out of *****

Yanks for three at Fenway

The New York Yankees visit Fenway Park for a critical three game series beginning tonight, with first place in the AL East on the line. The Yankees come into this series in first place, up by one game in the division over the Sox.

The Red Sox have swept the series so far in 2009, winning the first five of the eighteen game season series. While that's impressive, it's a streak that can hardly be expected to continue much longer. The Yankees are too good and the rivalry too intense for that.

The pitching match ups for the series go like this:

Tuesday, June 9^th: at Boston 7, New York 0
Burnett (4-2) v. Beckett (6-2)
WP=Beckett (7-2), LP= Burnett (4-3)

Wednesday, June 10^th: at Boston 6, New York 5
Wang (0-3) v. Wakefield (7-3)
WP=Wakefield (8-3), LP=Wang (0-4), SV=Papelbon (15)

Thursday, June 11^th: at Boston 4, New York 3
Sabathia (5-3) v. Penny (5-2)
WP=Saito (1-0), LP=Sabathia (5-4), SV=Papelbon (16)

Wow, 8-0 vs. New York so far in 2009. Something like this hasn't happened in the Sox-Yankees rivalry since 1912, when the Red Sox won the first 14 games of the season against the New York Highlanders, including the first ever game at Fenway Park.

As always, the post will be updated after each game with the results and link to the recap and box score.

After this series, the teams next hook up for a four game tilt at the New Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, August 6-9.

---------

Today is the beginning of year five of this here wonderful slice o' blog heaven, which began June 9, 2005. I've never had to delete anything or change URL's since day one. All 1,000+ posts are available in the archives on your left. Please indulge yourself! Happy reading.

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Last but certainly not least, today is my little sister's 26^th birthday. Happy Birthday, C!

SNMR 6.21: "27 Dresses"

Tonight's SNMR feature is "27 Dresses (2008, PG-13, 111 minutes), starring Katherine Heigl, James Marsden, Malin Ackerman, Judy Greer and Edward Burns. The film was directed by Anne Fletcher.

PLOT SUMMARY: Jane (Heigl) is the boss' (Burns) assistant and right hand woman. She's also secretly in love with him. It's such a big secret that everyone knows, except the boss himself. Jane also loves weddings and has been a maid of honor at twenty-seven of them. She does everything for the brides to be and can't say no to any of them. She also loves the wedding columns from the Sunday paper written by Malcom Doyle (Marsden). When her sister Tess (Ackerman) comes to town for a visit it's all good until she falls for Jane's boss - and he falls for her, or thinks he does. It's Jane's worst nightmare that she's asked to be the maid of honor at her sister's wedding to the man she pines for. Meanwhile Jane meets Kevin at one of the weddings she's attending, but can't stand him because he's so cynical about weddings and the "billion dollar" wedding industry. Sure enough Kevin keeps showing up where Jane is and the sparks (and jabs) fly.

MY OPINION: The title of this movie raised my eyebrows as I wondered if the movie itself was going to be any good. I had never seen Katherine Heigl in anything and legitimately wondered how god an actress she is. (No, I don't watch Grey's Anatomy). Turns out, in this romantic comedy she's pretty good. I had never seen James Marsden in anything until the month that I first watched this movie - suddenly he's in everything! (I had also watched "Enchanted" and "Superman Returns" that same month; Marsden was in those movies, too.) Malin Ackerman, who I'd never seen in anything before this is great as the bridezilla sister. Edward Burns gives a steady deadpan performance, which nicely plays off of Heigl and Ackerman's characters.

What you have here is a smart, intelligent and funny romantic comedy. Sure the story is sappy and somewhat predictable- that's what romcoms are all about! The script is well written and had some good one-liners in it. Detroit native Anne Fletcher, in her second directorial effort, does a good job of not letting the story get bogged down.

The DVD extras were also enjoyable.

**** out of *****

David Carradine (1936 -2009)

David Carradine, 72, apparently committed suicide yesterday in Bangkok.

Why would anyone want to take their own life? I'll never understand that. If it's true, then that's too bad.

My most impressionable memory of David Carradine came when he played the totally despicable South Carolina plantation owner Justin LaMotte in the 1985-1986 television miniseries "North and South" & "North and South Book II."

He was good in the "Kill Bill" movies, which I reviewed over on BIG screen last year.

Overkill

I've noticed that when I do some things, I take them to the extreme. Call it overkill, if you will.

For example, I tend to buy too many books and DVD's. Can never have too many books (or movies) I say. I say this to V and M constantly.

Going on a trip, do I pack lite? Oh, no. Gotta make sure I have enough clothes to cover all weather situations.

Staying at K's house over the last month or so on the weekends, I brought way too much stuff with me. Stuff to do in case I got bored. I hate being bored. Most of it I never even used.

Save stuff? Oh, yeah. Big time. Some would call it clutter. I could probably throw away a lot o stuff and not miss it - not even know it's gone. Problem is, I get the feeling that as soon as I throw something away, I'm going to need it. So if I save it I'm assured of never having to deal with it again.

My latest bout of overkill has to do with my current job dissatisfaction. Can't stand my job right now. Dread going to work every day - too much stress there I don't need. Anyway, I've been updating my resume recently and have been (passively for now) looking for another job. On Sunday night I was surfing around on amazon.com and found some books about job seeking, career matches and networking. So good did they each sound that I couldn't decide which book would be the most helpful. So I bought nine of them. Nine! Spent $103.00 on all these books I may only use/read/need once.

Now the question is, which one do I read first?

SNMR 6.20: "Lost in Space"

Tonight's SNMR feature is "Lost in Space" (1998, PG-13, 131 minutes), starring William Hurt, Gary Oldman, Matt LeBlanc, Mimi Rogers, Heather Graham, Lacey Chabert and Jack Johnson. The film was directed by Stephen Hopkins.

PLOT SUMMARY: Based on the 1960's television show, the movie follows the exploits of the Jupiter II spacecraft, the Robinson family, Major Don West and Dr. Zachary Smith. Smith, in a failed attempt to sabotage the mission, gets trapped in the Jupiter II after liftoff and awakens the Robinsons, who were put in a suspended animation/sleep for their long journey. Once in space, with many systems on their ship destroyed or damaged, the Robinsons attempt to get back to earth, avoiding aliens and pitfalls along the way.

MY OPINION: I remember going to the movies in 1998 and seeing a big promotional poster hanging on the wall of the theater, pronouncing this as the biggest blockbuster of the summer. Though I didn't see it in the theater, I wanted to, but never got around to it. I recently checked it out of the library recently only because I wanted to see how Matt LeBlanc would do in a role other than Joey on Friends. His performance was good, but a little stiff. That's okay because Mark Goddard, who played Major West in the TV show was a little stiff too. William Hurt is passable as John Robinson but he's no Guy Williams. Gary Oldman, as good an actor as he is, was miscast as Dr. Smith. Judy Robinson, played by Heather Graham, was given more to do in this film than her character had in the TV show. Mimi Rogers, Lacey Chabert and Jack Johnson were decent as Mrs. Robinson, Penny and Will respectively but won't wow you.

This movie does a good job of explaining the origins of the Jupiter II's mission, how Major West became associated with the mission and Dr. Smith's dirty deeds. Once out in space, the story loses focus and goes off into too many directions and falls flat. Some of the visual effects are well done, others (like the alien space monkey thing) not so much. You can have the best special effects ever but if the story is bad there's usually not much chance of saving the movie. Some movies are so bad that they are good - but this isn't one of those.

The best part about the film is that Mark Goddard, Marta Kristen, Angela Cartwright and June Lockhart all have cameo roles in the beginning of the movie and the voice of the robot, as in the television series, is voiced by Dick Tufeld.

The special features on the DVD include interviews with June Lockhart, Marta Kristen and Angela Cartwright and a complete episode guide to the TV series.

This movie had the potential to be great and could have been with a better script. Now that I think of it, this would have been a much better, or at least more interesting, movie if they had picked up the story where the television show left off (the show was cancelled in the third season with the Jupiter II forever lost in space) and we were able to see if/how the Robinsons were able to return to earth. That's what I would have done anyway.

Watching this movie made me desire to watch the television series again. Campy as it was the TV show was a far superior product.

"Danger, Will Robinson! I repeat, danger!!" View at your own risk.

*½ out of *****

SNMR 6.19: "The Savages"

Tonight's SNMR feature is "The Savages" (2007, R, 114 minutes), starring Laura Linney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Philip Bosco and Peter Friedman. The film was directed by Tamara Jenkins.

PLOT SUMMARY: Wendy and Jon Savage (Linney and Hoffman) are brother and sister who live in different parts of New York, living their own lives with not much contact between them. They are suddenly drawn together by a phone call from Arizona informing them that their father Lenny (Bosco) has lost his mind after his longtime girlfriend dies. Having nowhere to go and apparently suffering from dementia, Wendy and Jon are forced to deal with their father, a man who was never a committed parent, and take care of him. Now they must face a choice: find him a nursing home where he can receive the care he needs or continue to take care of him themselves, all while delicately juggling their own lives and learning all about dementia and mental illness..

MY OPINION: This film takes a good, hard look at the effects of dementia and how you deal with it when your parent is the one affected by it. How one parent's illness can disrupt your family's lives. This is not a comedy, but what funny moments there are are played up very nicely by Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman. The script is emotional and heartfelt. Director Tamara Jenkins over all does a good job keeping the film moving, but there are a few moments when the story sags just a bit. The touching human element to the story is that, even though Lenny wasn't the greatest dad and not always there for his kids, his kids came through for him when he needed it most. That's the power of love.

This is a worthwhile rental, especially if you have experienced or are experiencing a parent who suffers from dementia.

***½ out of *****

12.....twelve.......12!.........twelve?

I find it hard to believe that my oldest child, V, turns 12 years old today. Yet it is an unavoidable truth.

How in the heck did that happen? Where has the time gone?


V,

Happy Birthday sweetheart. I hope you have a great day today. I'm so proud of you. You're growing up so fast. I love you, always.

Love,

Dad

---------

My dad's birthday is tomorrow. Happy 65^th, Pop.

SNMR 6.18: "The Incredible Mr. Limpet"

Historically, I haven't reviewed many movies for kids in this column. A month or so ago I decided to pick up this movie, which I enjoyed as a kid, for my kids. That said, tonight’s SNMR feature is “The Incredible Mr. Limpet“ (1964, G, 99 minutes), starring Don Knotts, Carole Cook, Andrew Duggan, Jack Weston and Larry Keating. The film was directed by Arthur Lubin.

PLOT SUMMARY: Set in the 1940’s, Henry Limpet (Knotts) is a man from the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, New York who loves fish. In fact he loves fish so much he’d like to become one. After a hard day at work and getting rejected by the US Navy as a classified 4-F, Henry and his wife along with his friend George, who is a sailor in the Navy, decide it would be relaxing and fun to take a trip to Coney Island and relax with a picnic.. While leaning over the pier into the water, Henry falls into the ocean and everyone thinks he’s drowned. Except for now Henry has his wish - he’s a fish!
Henry discovers that he can make a loud thrumming noise under water, which he discovers is excellent for getting rid of predator fish, and the Nazi U-Boat fleet, who are dominating the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Henry leads a Navy destroyer to where a German submarine is hiding and helps them blow it up. Henry then realizes that he can help the US Navy win World War II, which America has just entered after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Henry becomes the Navy’s secret weapon, and helps us thrash Nazi Germany and win the war. Henry, as a man was useless to the Navy but as a fish, he becomes the Navy’s newest hero.

MY OPINION: This kids movie used to be one of my favorites growing up, and was for a time a staple of Saturday morning cinema on television. Cleverly blending live action and animation sequences, this film, along with Mary Poppins, paved the way for other live action - animation blended films. Don Knotts was one of those actors who to me was just funny naturally, though this is more of a straight, serious role for the comedic actor. The story is clever when you’re a kid, but not so much as an adult. I bought this movie for nostalgic reasons and because it was inexpensive. I watched it with V and M this afternoon, since I didn‘t have access to the Internet here at my ex’s house. V thought it was a cute movie and enjoyed it, M not so much.

This is a great movie to keep the kiddoes occupied for a bit and for a trip down memory lane.

**½ out of *****

This time... I win.

I took a vacation day yesterday from work. Got to sleep in and everything. Boy it was nice. But there was another reason for taking a day off in the middle of the week...

Lemme 'splain.

Back on December 30^th as I was heading toward the highway to make my way up to Nashua, I got pulled over for speeding by the mighty Burlington Police. I was cited for going 50 MPH in a 35 MPH zone. I had just gotten out of work; it was a few minutes after 4 in the afternoon. The road I was traveling on has many businesses on it, and like me, there were many people just getting out of work for the day and plenty of traffic on the road, making it near to impossible to get up any kind of speed on this four lane (two lanes each direction) road. I was in the lane closest to the double yellow line.

As I was going down a slight hill, the cop - who was stationed in the entrance/exit of a parking lot, saw me and as I approached where he was, started to pull out into the road. Both me and the car in the lane next to me stopped and motioned to the officer to go ahead and pull out into the road, thinking that he was going to go chase someone. Instead he motioned both of us to pass him. As soon as we did, sure enough, he pulled out and the lights came on. But it was me that he wanted!

Shocked, I immediately pulled over and that's when I got the ticket. $150 big ones.

After the cop pulled away and I was back on the road, I began to mutter to myself all the way up to New Hampshire, about how idiotic getting that ticket was.

I now had a deadline of 20 days to either send in money I didn't have or send in the ticket with the box checked asking for a court hearing. I always appeal my speeding tickets because even if I eventually lose, it gives me extra time to save up the cash and I can budget in an extra $10 per week or whatever fits. The last time I appealed a speeding ticket didn't go so well, because I lost.


Then I noticed it. Or should I say I noticed what I didn't see. Definitely going to request an appeal on this one.

What did I not see?

The officer neglected to fill out the part of the ticket that records how it was determined that I was going as fast as I was. Right then I knew an appeal had a chance of being successful.

I waited until just about the 20 days grace period expired before I sent back the ticket. For the longest time I didn't hear anything about my appeal and figured the matter had been dropped.

What I didn't know is that my hearing was originally scheduled for April 7^th at 2:30 PM. But when the notice of hearing was returned to the court because of a bad address, they had no choice to reschedule it.

I finally received the hearing notice in the mail about a month ago. Yesterday afternoon at 2:30 was the rescheduled time.

In Nashua, they hold traffic hearings in a real courtroom, with a real judge, and it looks awfully official.

Woburn (MA) District Court, is nothing like I expected, at least as far as traffic hearings go. Quite a let down, actually. On Monday after work, I took a dry-run over to the courthouse and found out where the parking was and which was the main entrance into the building. I didn't want to have another out-of breath experience, like this.

These hearings are held in a bare-bones library-type conference room. I made sure I got there The only people present were the clerk-magistrate, a representative from the Burlington Police and me.

The clerk-magistrate advised me that the officer had been sworn in previously (I was the third hearing that afternoon) and then he asked me to raise my right hand, swear to tell the truth, the whole truth so help me God?

Umm, yeah.

The police officer then was asked to state the charges and he basically read what was written on the ticket, even stating that it was unknown how the officer who pulled me over determined how fast I was driving. Then I was asked if I had anything to add.

I just said that I wanted to point out that the officer failed to fill out the ticket properly by not noting how it was determined how fast I was driving and that at that time of day with all of the traffic from people getting out of work it would be hard to reach a speed of 50 MPH.

It took the clerk-magistrate all of 30 seconds to agree that I was not responsible for the $150.00 fine. In fact, the whole process took less than five minutes, once I actually was actually called into the room.

Personally, I think that the officer who stopped me needed to reach an end of the month quota of tickets issued and didn't really care if the fine was actually paid or not. A speeding ticket isn't really all that difficult to fill out, and I'm sure he's filled out a lot of them.

SNMR 6.17: "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past"

Since I've been doing this weekly column, I rarely, if ever, have reviewed a movie that was still running in the theaters, much less a movie that opened a mere eight days ago. But this week I went to see this movie and didn't want to wait to review it until after it came out on DVD.

So, tonight's SNMR feature is "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" (2009, PG-13, 100 minutes), starring Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, Michael Douglas, Breckin Meyer, Lacey Chabert, Robert Forster and Anne Archer. The film was directed by Mark Waters.

PLOT SUMMARY: Connor Meade (McConaughey) is a successful photographer and notorious womanizer. Love 'em and leave 'em is his motto. When Connor is summoned back to Rhode Island for his brother's wedding, he runs into the one woman who he has always loved, his childhood friend, Jenny Perotti (Garner) and the ghost of his dead Uncle Wayne (Douglas), who is the legendary womanizing influence in Connor's life. Uncle Wayne tells Connor that he's to be visited by three ghosts, representing his girlfriends of the past, present and future. He says that Connor better listen and change his ways or else...

MY OPINION: I've wanted to see this film since I saw the previews for it a few months ago because I've been a fan of Jennifer Garner's for several years and I generally like the romantic comedies Matthew McConaughey inevitably stars in. But there's another reason, which I'll mention in a bit.

Do you think Charles Dickens would be pleased if he knew how many spin offs there have been using the premise of his story "A Christmas Carol" over the years? Obviously this movie continues in that tradition, but in a different and new way.

The story is good and so is the acting. Michael Douglas has long been one of my favorite actors. He's so cool in virtually every role he's been in. McConaughey has a charm and likability in the characters he plays, even though some will say he plays the same type of character in every movie he's in. At 100 minutes, the run time is just about right. Not too long and not too short.

It will be interesting to see what kind of special features will be included when this movie comes to DVD, probably sometime in September. I can see myself easily adding this movie to my DVD collection when that time comes.

***½ out of *****

What was the other reason I wanted to see this movie? Well, for one it was filmed entirely in Massachusetts, which I like and this scene was filmed at the Martha Mary Chapel in Sudbury, MA, on the grounds of the Longfellow Wayside Inn - where I was married, way back in 1994.

Dom DeLuise (1933-2009)

Scribe is right. Dom DeLuise, 75, was such a great comic actor who will sorely be missed. His comedy seemed to be effortless. Some people just know how to be funny naturally and DeLuise was one of those people.

In my mind, DeLuise was a very underrated talent. Maybe because he, according to stuff I've read, was very soft spoken. Nothing I've read, however says one bad thing about the man. In this day and age of media-oversaturation, that's no small feat.

Here's a story from abcnews.com on Mr. DeLuise, who apparently died of cancer.

Look....it's the new Yankee Stadium

The Red Sox make their first ever appearance at the new Yankee Stadium for a brief two game series this week. Fresh off their 3-0 series domination of their New York rivals last week, the Red Sox enter this series at 15-10 and the Yankees at 13-11.


Monday, May 4: Boston 6, at New York 4

Lester (1-2) v. Hughes (1-0)
WP=Lester (2-2), LP=Hughes (1-1), SV=Papelbon (7)


Tuesday, May 5: Boston 7, at New York 3

Beckett (2-2) v. Chamberlain (1-0)
WP=Beckett (3-2), LP=Chamberlain (1-1)

Apparently this is only the third time in Red Sox history that they've opened 5-0 vs. New York. Those other seasons were 1912 and 1985, according to NESN.

After this the Sox and Yankees next get together will be June 9-11 at Fenway.

SNMR 6.16: "Rachel Getting Married"

Tonight's SNMR feature is "Rachel Getting Married" (2008, R, 113 minutes), starring Anne Hathaway, Rosemarie DeWitt, Bill Irwin, Tunde Adebimbe, Mather Zickel, Anna Deavere-Smith and Debra Winger. The film was directed by Jonathan Demme.

PLOT SUMMARY: Kym (Hathaway) is coming home for her sister Rachel's (DeWitt) wedding. The problem is she's coming home from rehab and carries with her all kinds of emotional baggage and bombshell drama, igniting long simmering tensions within the family.

MY OPINION: This film is an excellent look at how one person's dysfunction can upset an otherwise solid family unit. Anne Hathaway is one of the most talented and versatile young (under 30) actresses working in Hollywood today, as her nomination for Best Actress indicates. Her tension filled chemistry with co-star Rosemarie DeWitt seems very natural. It seemed to me that I had seen DeWitt in something else, but even after looking over at her body of work on imdb.com, can't place what it was that I saw her in. Weird, because I'm normally very good at recognizing where I've seen actors before even if they only have small roles.

The script is well written and very realistic. This film has that hand-held, home movie look, which works well for the story, giving the viewer a feeling of being part of the family, but can also be dreadfully annoying at times.

This is definitely a worthwhile movie to rent.

***¾ out of *****

135th Kentucky Derby

Hard to believe the Kentucky Derby is over for another year. Yeah I know it's always the first Saturday in May, but wow, it seemed to sneak up on me this year.

Well, as you no doubt already know, Mine That Bird, at 50-1, pulled off the second largest upset in Derby history with his win today. And it wasn't close, either.

This horse came out of nowhere to win, literally. It really was quite amazing to watch, especially on slow motion replay. Mine That Bird dodged in and around other horses to get to the inside rail and took off from there.

Can Mine That Bird end the longest drought in Triple Crown history and become the first horse to win all three races since 1978?

We'll see in two weeks at the Preakness Stakes.

Here's another article on the race.

5/3 UPDATE: It would be unfortunate if this happened. Especially for people like me who could give a hoot about horse racing, except for the Triple Crown races.

Bea Arthur (1922-2009)

Bea Arthur, 86, died yesterday of cancer. Known for her deep voice, comedienne and comic actress Arthur made her mark primarily in television, starring in the series "Maude" and "The Golden Girls"

Here's a story from abc.com

SNMR 6.15: "What Happens in Vega$"

Tonight's SNMR feature is "What Happens in Vega$" (2008, PG-13, 99 minutes) starring Cameron Diaz, Ashton Kutcher, Rob Corddry, Lake Bell, Treat Williams and Dennis Miller. The film was directed by Tom Vaughan.

PLOT SUMMARY: Slacker and slob Jack (Kutcher) gets fired from his job by his dad and goes to Las Vegas to let off some steam. Uptight neatnick Joy (Diaz) gets dumped by her fiancee' just before she was to throw him a surprise birthday party. She goes to Las Vegas to blow off some steam. Predictably they meet, get drunk and get married. When they realize what they've done they want a divorce. Complicating things is that Jack wins $3 million dollars on a slot machine with Joy's quarter. Both Jack and Joy believe they are entitled to all of the money. That's where the battle of the sexes begins.

MY OPINION: This story is very predictable, but that's okay. When you watch this movie you're not interested in Oscar winning performances, you're watching for the comedy. You're watching for rediculous situations to see how the characters deal with them. Diaz has proven that she can do drama as well as comedy equally well and doesn't dissappoint. The jury's still out for me on Kutcher, who is likeable enough, has a still hot wife, but is only a marginal acting talent. The supporting actors are good, especially the straight man role for Dennis Miller as the judge who sentences the couple to six months of hard marriage.

I have to admit that I was amused by this movie. It's a good waste of 99 minutes.

*** out of *****

A New Season - a Rivalry Renewed

Yes, it's that time of year again for the Red Sox and Yankees to renew their rivalry with the first three of eighteen meetings in the 2009 season. Entering the series, both teams are 9-6 and tied for second place behind Toronto, two games off of the pace. No matter what the situation, Yankees v Red Sox is always good fun.

As I always do, I'll update the post after each game, providing a link to the recap and box scores.

The pitching match ups:

Friday, April 24: at Boston 5, New York 4 (11 innings)
Chamberlain (0-0) v. Lester (1-2)
WP=Ramirez (2-0), LP=Marte (0-1)


Saturday, April 25: at Boston 16, New York 11
Burnett (2-0) v. Beckett (2-1)
WP=Okajima (1-0), LP=Albaladejo (1-1)

Sunday, April 26: at Boston 4, New York 1
Pettite (2-0) v. Masterson (1-0)
WP=Masterson (2-0), LP=Pettite (2-1)

A nice little sweep of the hated arch rivals to cap a perfect 9-0 homestand and 10 game winning streak. Each game provided much drama and definite excitement if you're a Red SOx fan, as I obviously am.

The Sox will visit the new Yankee Stadium for two games during the first week in May.

Perspective is good

Have you ever thought about what one TRILLION dollars looks like?

All this talk about "stimulus packages" and "bailouts"...

A billion dollars...

A hundred billion dollars...

Eight hundred billion dollars...

One TRILLION dollars...

What does that look like? I mean, these various numbers are tossed around like so many doggie treats, so I thought I'd take Google Sketchup out for a test drive and try to get a sense of what exactly a trillion dollars looks like.

We'll start with a $100 dollar bill. Currently the largest U.S. denomination in general circulation. Most everyone has seen them, slighty fewer have owned them. Guaranteed to make friends wherever they go. Now you can see why they're called Benjamins... [$100]















A packet of one hundred $100 bills is less than 1/2" thick and contains $10,000. Fits in your pocket easily and is more than enough for week or two of shamefully decadent fun. [$10,000]














Believe it or not, this next little pile is $1 million dollars (100 packets of $10,000). You could stuff that into a grocery bag and walk around with it. [$1,000,000]























While a measly $1 million looked a little unimpressive, $100 million is a little more respectable. It fits neatly on a standard pallet... [$100,000,000]




















And $1 BILLION dollars... ten standard size pallets.... now we're really getting somewhere... [$1,000,000,000]



















Next we'll look at ONE TRILLION dollars. This is that number we've been hearing so much about. What is a trillion dollars? Well, it's a million million. It's a thousand billion. It's a one followed by 12 zeros. [$1,000,000,000,000]






You ready for this?



It's pretty surprising.




Go ahead...





Scroll down...








Ladies and gentlemen... I give you $1 trillion dollars...















(And notice those pallets are double stacked!)

So the next time you hear someone toss around the phrase "trillion dollars"... that's what they're talking about.

Just printing this amount of money would take a while, but the time it will take to pay it back with interest, is immense! This is a really BIG deal!!

SNMR 6.14: "Marley & Me"

Tonight's SNMR feature is "Marley & Me (2008, PG, 115 minutes), starring Owen Wilson, Jennier Aniston, Eric Dane and Alan Arkin. The film was directed by David Frankel.

PLOT SUMMARY: John (Wilson) and Jenny Grogan (Aniston) are newspaper reporters and a newly married couple. One day John decides to surprise Jenny with a puppy. They pick out of a litter a quiet little Labrador. Three weeks later on the very first trip home, the dog gets the name Marley -- thanks to a Bob Marley song playing on the radio. The movie follows the life and adventures of the mischievous dog through the trials, tribulations and joys of the Grogan family.

MY OPINION: I first saw this film when it opened in the theater last Christmas, primarily because I wanted to see Jennifer Aniston's new movie. It was not at all what I expected. It was better. I was expecting a screwball comedy along the lines of the Beethoven movies but instead saw a comedy/drama that has its funny moments but also a serious side as well.

The script is excellently adapted from the book by John Grogan, which is probably based on some of his columns - which is precisely what makes this story work. It is eminently believable and you have reason to be invested in and care about the lives of the characters, including the dog. As anyone who grew up with a dog or pets in general, you know how easily attached you can become to that particular pet, no matter how much it chews, humps or pees on stuff it shouldn't.

I really didn't think Wilson and Aniston would have a good on-screen chemistry but they do. Alan Arkin gives a good performance as John Grogan's boss, the no-nonsense newspaper editor. Kathleen Turner, who has aged badly, is wasted in a brief role as the dog trainer.

This film is definitely worth a rental (who doesn't love a movie about loyal pets? but keep a box of tissues handy) and in my case the addition to my DVD collection.

**** out of *****

SNMR 6.13: "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day"

Tonight's SNMR feature is "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day" (2008, PG-13, 92 minutes), starring Frances McDormand, Amy Adams, Lee Pace, Ciaran Hinds, Shirley Henderson and Mark Strong. The film was directed by Bharat Nalluri.

PLOT SUMMARY: Set in the days just prior to WWII, Miss Pettigrew (McDormand) is a nanny who has just lost her job and is down on her luck. At an employment agency, she happens to overhear the contact information for a job that's just become available. So she niftily borrows the information. When she's hired as a 'social secretary' for high society singer and actress Delysia LaFosse (Adams), Miss Pettigrew's common sense approach to life brings order and clarity to the hectic lifestyle LaFosse is trying to live and bith women find strength in themselves that they didn't know they had.

MY OPINION: This movie was good but could have been much better. I'm assuming that there was a lot more to the novel on which the film is based, because it seemed like the film was way too short. I love the enthusiasm and energy that Amy Adams brings to her characters and this role is no exception. Frances McDormand was good as was the supporting cast of boyfriends.

This is a movie that has it's moments, but not enough of them.

**½ out of *****

Angelina Jolie v. Jennifer Aniston

Scribe thinks that Brad Pitt traded up in the looks department when he went for Angelina Jolie over Jennifer Aniston. I say he traded down. So I thought it'd be fun to put them side to side and see who is better looking. Of course, looks and Hollywood style glamour are in no way an accurate guide to judge a person's character or what's inside a person's soul. But.... Since physical attractiveness is all we've got to go on for this little excersise, let's consider the candidates. Of course, it's a matter of personal opinion but I still want to know what you think.

In all fairness, there were a great many photographs to choose from, and the choices were not easy. When selecting these pictures, I tried to find similar shots for each: a head shot and a bust shot.

Ok Brad, ya big goofball, you either are married to or have been married to both of these women. What does Angelina have that Jennifer does not?

First, a few pictures of Angelina and Jennifer together, side-by-side...







On the left, we have Angelina and on the right we have Jennifer.

First we have the head shots... then the bust shots:



































Of course, if you've not been living in a closet, you know where my preference lies.











No contest.

Can't really say I'm surprised...

No, I can't. Really. Say. I'm. surprised. To find out that Jennifer Aniston and John Mayer have split, especially after reading this article and Mayer's new song about it.

For a few weeks now I've been trying to confirm if the celeb couple did indeed break up- looking at the gossip mags, like US Weekly, Life & Style and People and getting mixed messages. Some apparently said they were still together and others said they had split.

Now I obviously don't know the details of the split, and I don't want to know. I just hope they split amicably. Most people, I'd hope, don't want to hear of nassssty splits. I certainly don't. I just hope they realized that whatever they had wasn't working and mutually decided to call it over. At least they weren't married and didn't have any kids. Those kind of splits have the very large potential to be messy.

I believe I wrote a post about Aniston and Mayer when they first started dating (actually it was when they split the first time and I believe I predicted it wouldn't work. One of those reasons I stated is their age difference and life priorities. Hey, with some couples such an age difference is no big deal and issues can be worked out.

There's always been something about Mayer that wasn't right, in my opinion. Reading (granted in the tabloids) about the high profile relationships he's had and that they've all ended badly made me wonder what she saw in him in the first place. Also, he seems like a party-boy and maybe even a heavy drinker.

Not to say Aniston is perfect, because she certainly isn't. I've read that she's obsessive/compulsive and has a hard time letting go of the fact that Brad Pitt effectively dumped her for Angelina Jolie (a clear downward trade for the Bradster in my opinion, looks-wise).

No matter if either of them is really as bad as has been written or even if they're not nearly so horrible as the bad news hungry, gossipy public has been led to believe, each one of them deserves to be in a happy, loving relationship. Maybe Aniston realized that "He's Just Not That Into You." Maybe she read the book after starring in the movie of the same name. Both were good by the way, even though the book is geared towards women.

Since I've seen the movie and since I've read the book (which was quite amusing BTW) - I have two observations:

A) Are most men that bad? Are there men out there who actually pull all that crap on women?

and B) If A is true, why do women fall for those types of guys?

SNMR 6.12: National Treasure 2 - Book of Secrets

Tonight's SNMR feature is "National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets" (2007, PG, 124 minutes) starring Nicholas Cage, Justin Bartha, Diane Kruger, Jon Voight, Helen Mirren, Ed Harris and Harvey Keitel. The film was directed by John Turteltaub.

PLOT SUMMARY: Benjamin Franklin Gates must prove his family's innocence when confronted with evidence that a family mamber may have been deeply involved in the plot to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln. In so doing, Ben, Abigail and Riley must discover the location of the lost city of gold and kidnap the President of the United States to gain a crucial clue.

MY OPINION: I liked this movie almost as much as I liked the first one. Almost. This movie to me seems a bit more campy than the original, but is still enjoyable. The reason I didn't like this film as much was due to the lack of a compelling "bad guy," who isn't really bad. Ed Harris, fine actor that he is, just can't seem to pull it off convincingly enough. Cage, Kruger and Bartha once again are excellent. The script is good and there is plenty of action to keep the story moving at a good pace.

**** out of *****

Post 1,000: One of the best investments I ever made

When I was a kid I used to love to play catch with my dad. It was fun, quality time that we spent together, bonding in that special way that only a father and son can do. He bought me a Wilson Jim Rice autograph model glove which I used for my little league years and up until my birthday in 2002, when K bought me the glove I presently use. As I got older, I would ask my father to play catch and more often he would say no, that he had other, more important things to do. Of course, he didn't always say no, but the times he said yes got fewer and farther between and I missed that sense of togetherness we had.

When M was born in 1999, I hoped that one day he would ask me to play catch with him, just like I used to ask my dad. When he was still a baby, I bought him a cute little kiddie glove at Building 19, holding it aside for future use. When M was a toddler and we had the house in Merrimack, I would take him outside into the street (we lived at the end of a dead end street, so traffic was never an issue) and I would lightly toss him a ball and he'd always miss. I wondered then if he'd ever learn to catch a baseball. We were bonding and having fun (or at least I was having fun).

Naturally, when this day came, I was excited and ecstatic - the realization of a dream I'd had since long before I became a dad myself.
For the rest of that summer, M and I would go out behind the apartment and play catch, usually for 15-20 minutes at a time. The more we played, the better M got with his throwing skills. Catching the ball was still a hit or miss prospect. We had fun every time and life was good.

During the course of the summer of 2007, I found my old baseball glove and thought M might be able to use it - but the lacing had broken due to wear. That sucked. M is going to need a bigger glove soon, I thought. Should I buy him a new one? Maybe I can get the old one re-laced? Who does baseball glove re-lacing, anyway? Certainly a new glove would be the cheaper option, but than what will I do with this old glove?
Yup, re-lacing was the way to go.

Fortunately these days you can find just about any service or company you want on-line. So I went to the trusty old Google page and typed in the search for "Baseball Glove Repair." Sure enough, the top listing that I found was this site. Good enough. After checking it out, looking at before and after pictures of old baseball gloves brought back to life, a picture of the lace colors to choose from and checking the prices, I decided it was worth the chance to send my glove there (the company is located outside of St. Louis) and have them re-lace it. All together it cost me around $60.00 for a complete re-lace job including shipping/handling. Their web site says they can turn around a glove in about 10 business days, sometimes less. Sure enough about 10 days later I had my glove back, with brand spanking new black lace. And what a quality re-lacing job they did! The glove is good to go for another 20 years!

Towards the end of the summer, I told M about my old glove and that I had it re-laced for him. He tried using it but said it didn't fit his hand too well. No worries, I thought - he'll grow into it.

By that point, V had shown some interest in playing catch with M and I, more so I think to be included in our activity than any real interest in it. What was I to do, since I had no old glove for her to use? Even if I had an old glove for her she couldn't use it, since M and I are both right-handed and V is not. Simple enough - one Friday night we went to the Sports Authority and I bought V her very own lefty glove. V doesn't play catch with us very often, but I always ask her and even if she doesn't want to play, she knows that she can. The option is always open to her and that's what matters.

Sure enough, in the spring of 2008, M started using my old glove - his new glove - and he loves it. I can't tell you how many hours we've gone outside to play catch or what a simple pleasure it is to spend time with M, throwing a ball back and forth.

Now that the spring of 2009 is here and the piles of snow are gone, we've been outside the last few weekends playing catch. Every time we go outside to play and I see him use the glove, I smile inwardly to myself, and think, 'how cool is that?' That my son will use this glove for the next ten or fifteen years, until his hand outgrows it - and one day, possibly give it to his son to use.

Sixty bucks invested and I've now got a great family heirloom that can be passed down through the generations to come.

About two weeks ago, my dad found his glove on a shelf in the basement, with it's own set of broken laces. Knowing what excellent work they did on M's glove, he sent his glove out for re-lacing, and just this week he got it back in the mail - good as new!

SNMR 6.11: "National Treasure"

Tonight's SNMR feature is "National Treasure" (2004, PG, 131 minutes), starring Nicholas Cage, Diane Kruger, Justin Bartha, Sean Bean, Jon Voight, Harvey Keitel and Christopher Plummer. The film was directed by John Turteltaub.

PLOT SUMMARY: Benjamin Franklin Gates (Cage) is the latest in a long line of treasure hunters, looking for a tremendous treasure that has been hidden since before the American Revolution and guarded by many puzzling clues. Now on the trail of the treasure, Ben must steal the Declaration of Independence in order to see the next clue. Ben's one time benefactor, Ian (Bean) is now his rival and will do anything to get to the treasure first. In order to do it he has to fool the Director of the National Archives, Abigail Chase (Kruger) and outwit the FBI who is hot on his tail.

MY OPINION: For some reason, this is a film that I always wanted to see but never did until recently. Thought about buying the DVD but the stores I went to only seemed to have the full screen edition and never the wide screen edition. All I can say is wow! I knew that this movie would be good but I wasn't prepared for such a fast paced and amusing tale. Also, I've traditionally been a bit iffy on the talents of Nicholas Cage. This film goes a long way to erasing those concerns. Sean Bean is an excellentactor and makes for a great bad guy that you almost want to root for.

The script is smartly written and the story sucks you right in. The action is constant and the movie has a good flow to it. Sure it's a bit hokey but that's okay. I'm eventually going to buy this DVD (the wide screen two-disc special edition), because this film is worthy enough to merit repeat viewings. I liked this movie and I think you will too.

***** out of *****

SNMR 6.10: "Eagle Eye"

Tonight's SNMR feature is "Eagle Eye" (2008, PG-13, 117 minutes) starring Shia LaBoeuf, Michelle Monaghan, Billy Bob Thornton, Rosario Dawson and Michael Chiklis. The film was directed by DJ Caruso.

PLOT SUMMARY: Two strangers are drawn together by a mysterious female voice who keeps calling with instructions. Failure to follow the instructions usually ends up with something really bad happening. Who is the voice and what does she want? Why were these two people chosen? Can they accomplish all the mysterious voice intends for them to do before it's too late?

MY OPINION: I liked this movie. It was fast paced and had plenty of action right from the beginning all the way through to the end. Excellent car chases and crash scenes help to make this an edge of your seat thrill ride. Because this movie is so fast paced, sometimes stuff that was happening didn't make sense and I found that I had to replay some scenes to understand what I was seeing.

The script is nothing you haven't seen before, taking pages from other sci-fi movies like "I, Robot", "The Terminator", "The Matrix" and even "Krrish". Director DJ Caruso does a decent job of holding it all together. Shia LaBoeuf is a talented young actor who will be around for a long time, but in this movie, he and Michelle Monaghan are just serviceable in their roles. This is the kind of film where the actors are almost secondary to the action itself so you could basically insert any other male and female actors with a modicum of talent and you'll wind up with a similar movie. Billy Bob Thornton gives his usual, steady, performance. I thought Michael Chiklis was an excellent casting choice.

Still, if you like action movies then this one shouldn't disappoint. Because of the pacing, I think this is a film that will get better with repeated viewings.

*** out of *****

Vernal Equinox

Spring begins right now in the Eastern United States.

Not a moment too soon, I'd say.

I'll happily be done with winter for a while.

Won't miss it a bit.

Natasha Richardson (1963-2009)

I was wondering who the first notable Hollywood death would be for 2009. Kind of a morbid thought, but now we know. It's always disheartening to me when someone reasonably close to myself in age passes away. My prayers go out to her family. It must be especially hard on her two boys, aged 13 and 12, or it will be as they grow up without a mom. It must be hard for her mom, Vanessa Redgrave, knowing you've outlived your child.

The circumstances of her passing make it all the more tragic. This is just one more example of how fragile life can be, and how fortunate we are to be alive.

Her work isn't as well known to me as that of her husband, Liam Neeson. Still, I remember seeing her in "Nell" and a few other movies. From the articles I've been reading, Richardson, 46, was well liked and respected in Hollywood and on Broadway.

Here's the article on Richardson from people.com.

SNMR 6.9: "Becoming Jane"

Tonight's SNMR feature is "Becoming Jane" (2007, PG, 120 minutes) starring Anne Hathaway, James McAvoy, Julie Walters, James Cromwell, Maggie Smith and Anna Maxwell Martin. The film was directed by Julian Jarrold.

PLOT SUMMARY: This is the biopic of 18^th Century English novelist Jane Austen (1775-1817).

MY OPINION: I had wanted to see this film for a while because I think Anne Hathaway is a very good actress and because I have, at present, two film adaptations of Austen's novels among my DVD collection. Hathaway doesn't disappoint in this film portraying the title character, including her decent English accent. What helped her performance is that she's a real life Jane Austen fan (as she reveals in the featurette included on the DVD) and wanted to do the character justice. James McAvoy is good as LeFroy, though one wonders how much artistic license was taken with their relationship in the movie compared to what it was in real life. As usual with these biopic films, the script is basic to bland, yet compelling because we, as an audience, are interested in the life of one of the greatest, certainly now influential writers (if high school English curricula are to be believed) of the English speaking world. It's interesting that Austen was able, in her short life, to overcome her social situation as a female writer and thrive in it, even though not many accolades came her way during her lifetime.

All in all this is a decent film and in no way a waste of two hours of your life. I'd consider adding this movie to my DVD library once the price reaches the $5 mark.

*** out of *****

Daylight Savings Time begins today

2:00 AM this morning - in just under two hours - Daylight Savings Time will begin in the Eastern United States.

This is always a good sign, when we set our clocks ahead by one hour. More daylight we have. So what that it will be darker when we wake up in the mornings for a while. I'll take that trade-off any day, any time.

Don't forget. You've been warned. Have a nice night.

----

Happy Birthday, K.

No SNMR this week

My laptop is infected with some type of virus right now which I haven't been able to defeat yet. As a result, there will be no SNMR feature this week, since I'm unable to access what I wrote. Not that any of you care or will miss the column, since I get very few comments these days. (I'm using someone else's computer to write this post.)

Hopefully we'll be back next Saturday with a new movie review for y'all.

Books of the Month - March 2009

This month's Book of the Month selections were an easy choice for me to make. After recommending this series in December 2008 and this series last month, it only seemed natural to recommend these two books as well.

This month's selections close out the series of the Belgariad and Malloreon in, what I think, is some of David and Leigh Eddings best work. I generally don't read real life biographical or autobiographical material because I find it very tedious reading. But in "Belgarath the Sorcerer" and "Polgara the Sorceress" you have autobiographies of the two fictional characters that form the pillar of the Belgariad and Malloreon, which intertwines the history of the world the Eddings' have created that is totally engrossing.



I have read the two five-book series many times, but I had only read these two books once before, when they were each first published. I had a hard time putting them down then and an equally hard time putting them down this time. When I finished with "Polgara the Sorceress," I almost wanted to start reading the Belgariad again. Almost.



If you loved the ten previous volumes as much as I did, then these books will be a welcome addition to your collection.

Purchase your copies here and here.

Bonus: For those of you aspiring writers who want to enter the world of fantasy writing, here's how they did it.

SNMR 6.8: "Police Academy"

Tonight's SNMR feature is "Police Academy" (1984, R, 96 minutes), starring Steve Guttenberg, Kim Cattrall, Bubba Smith, Leslie Easterbrook, George Gaines, G.W. Bailey, David Graf and Michael Winslow. The film was directed by Hugh Wilson.

PLOT SUMMARY: With the election of a new mayor, the Metropolitan Police Academy is now accepting anyone and everyone. So now a group of social misfits and losers decide to join the Academy for training. And are the results hilarious!

MY OPINION: It's hard to believe that this film came out in theaters nearly 25 years ago and is still one of the funniest movies made in that time. I hadn't watched this movie in about 12 years before this week and I enjoyed it tremendously. The ensemble cast is quirky and brilliant and you can't help but like these characters. They make a stereotypical and otherwise humdrum script much better. The sight gags are corny but still make you laugh. The podium sequence with Commandant Lassard (George Gaynes) is one of the signature sequences of the film.

I watched the 20^th Anniversary DVD which includes excellent interviews with most of the cast. As with all good things Hollywood, these films got campier and more stupid with each sequel, but this film is the best of the bunch.

**** out of *****

Thirty-one and done.

Boston area television, weather man icon Dick Albert, a 31 year veteran of WCVB-TV channel 5, gave his last weather forecast on Thursday night, riding off into the sunset of retirement.

Albert came to Boston in 1978 and became a fixture on the local airwaves, becoming affectionately known as 'Dickie' by friends and fans. He put his personal touches on the weather forecasts, making the weather report interesting, if not fun to watch.

Albert also made it a habit to visit kids in schools and share his weather knowledge with them. I can remember him visiting my classroom once. It was when I had Mr. Mancini for math and science. I was in the sixth grade, which would have been 1980-1981, I believe.


Thanks for the memories, Dickie. Have fun doing other stuff.

81st Academy Awards

Well, It's Oscar time again and I, once again, offer you my guesses as to who the winners will be. My guesses are in BLUE, actual winners will be noted afterwards in RED italics.

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
- NOMINATIONS BY CATEGORY - 81ST AWARDS -

BEST PICTURE: [presenter: Steven Spielberg]
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
"Frost/Nixon"
"Milk"
"The Reader"
"Slumdog Millionaire" **WINNER**

BEST DIRECTOR: [presenter: Reese Witherspoon]
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
"Frost/Nixon"
"Milk"
"The Reader"
"Slumdog Millionaire" **WINNER**

BEST ACTOR: [presenters: Brody, DeNiro, Douglas, Kingsley, Hopkins]
Richard Jenkins in "The Visitor"
Frank Langella in "Frost/Nixon"
Sean Penn in "Milk" **WINNER**
Brad Pitt in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
Mickey Rourke in "The Wrestler"

BEST ACTRESS: [presenters: Cotillard, Berry, MacLaine, Kidman, Loren]
Anne Hathaway in "Rachel Getting Married"
Angelina Jolie in "Changeling"
Melissa Leo in "Frozen River"
Meryl Streep in "Doubt"
Kate Winslet in "The Reader" **WINNER**

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: [presenters: Walken, Grey, Arkin, Kline, Gooding Jr.]
Josh Brolin in "Milk"
Robert Downey Jr. in "Tropic Thunder"
Philip Seymour Hoffman in "Doubt"
Heath Ledger in "The Dark Knight" **WINNER**
Michael Shannon in "Revolutionary Road"

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: [presenters: Swinton, Saint, Hawn, Goldberg, Huston]
Amy Adams in "Doubt"
Penélope Cruz in "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" **WINNER**
Viola Davis in "Doubt"
Taraji P. Henson in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
Marisa Tomei in "The Wrestler"

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: [presenters: Steve Martin & Tina Fey]
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
"Doubt"
"Frost/Nixon"
"The Reader"
"Slumdog Millionaire" **WINNER**

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: [presenters: Steve Martin & Tina Fey]
"Frozen River"
"Happy-Go-Lucky"
"In Bruges"
"Milk" **WINNER**
"WALL-E"

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM: [presenters: Jennifer Aniston & Jack Black]
"Bolt"
"Kung Fu Panda"
"WALL-E" **WINNER**

ANIMATED SHORT FILM: [presenters: Jennifer Aniston & Jack Black]
"Lavatory - Lovestory"
"Oktapodi"
"Presto"
"This Way Up"
"La Maison en Petits Cubes" **WINNER**

ART DIRECTION: [presenters: Daniel Craig & Sarah Jessica Parker]
"Changeling"
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" **WINNER**
"The Dark Knight"
"The Duchess"
"Revolutionary Road"

COSTUME DESIGN: [presenters: Daniel Craig & Sarah Jessica Parker]
"Australia"
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
"The Duchess" **WINNER**
"Milk"
"Revolutionary Road"

MAKE UP: [presenters: Daniel Craig & Sarah Jessica Parker]
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" **WINNER**
"The Dark Knight"
"Hellboy II: The Golden Army"

CINEMATOGRAPHY: [presenters: Natalie Portman & Ben Stiller]
"Changeling"
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
"The Dark Knight"
"The Reader"
"Slumdog Millionaire" **WINNER**

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: [presenter: Bill Mohr]
"The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)"
"Encounters at the End of the World"
"The Garden"
"Man on Wire" **WINNER**
"Trouble the Water"

DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT: [presenter: Bill Mohr]
"The Conscience of Nhem En"
"The Final Inch"
"Smile Pinki" **WINNER**
"The Witness - From the Balcony of Room 306"

FILM EDITING: [presenter: Will Smith]
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
"The Dark Knight"
"Frost/Nixon"
"Milk"
"Slumdog Millionaire" **WINNER**

VISUAL EFFECTS: [presenter: Will Smith]
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" **WINNER**
"The Dark Knight"
"Iron Man"

SOUND EDITING: [presenter: Will Smith]
"The Dark Knight" **WINNER**
"Iron Man"
"Slumdog Millionaire"
"WALL-E"
"Wanted"

SOUND MIXING: [presenter: Will Smith]
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
"The Dark Knight"
"Slumdog Millionaire" **WINNER**
"WALL-E"
"Wanted"

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: [presenters: Liam Neeson and Freda Pinto]
"The Baader Meinhof Complex" - Germany
"The Class" - France
"Departures" - Japan **WINNER**
"Revanche" - Austria
"Waltz with Bashir" - Israel

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE: [presenters: Alicia Keys and Zac Efron]
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
"Defiance"
"Milk"
"Slumdog Millionaire" **WINNER**
"WALL-E"

BEST ORIGINAL SONG: [presenters: Alicia Keys and Zac Efron]
"Down to Earth" from "WALL-E"
"Jai Ho" from "Slumdog Millionaire" **WINNER**
"O Saya" from "Slumdog Millionaire"

LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM: [presenters: James Franco, Seth Rogen, Janusz Kaminski]
"Auf der Strecke (On the Line)"
"Manon on the Asphalt"
"New Boy"
"The Pig"
"Spielzeugland (Toyland)" **WINNER**

HIRSHHOLT HUMANITARIAN AWARD: [presenter: Eddie Murphy]
Jerry Lewis **WINNER**

SCIENCE & TECHNICAL AWARDS: [hostess: Jessica Biel]

IN MEMORIAM: [presenter: Queen Latifah]

SNMR 6.7: "Speed"

Tonight's SNMR feature is "Speed" (1994, R, 116 minutes), starring Keanu Reeves, Sandra Bullock, Dennis Hopper, Jeff Daniels, Joe Morton and Alan Ruck. The film was directed by Jan DeBont.

PLOT SUMMARY: Disgruntled, retired ex-cop Harry Payne (Hopper) has it in for LAPD Jack Traven (Reeves) after he foils Payne's elevator job, ruining two years of planning. Now the bomber forces Traven to take on a new challenge: he must prevent a bomb from going off on a city bus by ensuring that the bus doesn't go slower than 50 MPH.

MY OPINION: I sort of remember that when this movie came out fifteen years ago that it got all kinds of negative press and bad reviews from the movie critics.
I even thought this movie sounded stupid when I first heard about it. Turns out this movie was right up there near the top of action movies made in the early-mid 1990's.
Maybe Keanu Reeves is not the best actor in the world, but his performance in this movie is good. This movie catapulted Sandra Bullock to fame as an actress, and she was actually reasonably good-looking in this movie - not that you care about stuff like that. Jeff Daniels turns in his usual solid performance. However, Dennis Hopper makes this great action movie even better with his likable bad guy.

The script is suspenseful and well written. Rookie director Jan DeBont manages the cast fairly well. The special effects are well done, too. There's only one scene that I found unrealistic, even though it looks cool when you're watching it. That's the scene where the bus jumps the 50+ foot gap in the highway. No way.

The edition I watched has some informative special features on disc two.

Still a gripper after all these years.

**** out of *****

Making plans is the easy part.

Finding a way to pay for those plans to become reality is another matter entirely.

But find a way I must, and soon.

A general timetable I've established in my mind that will help define these plans and reach these goals- or at least some of the more immedaite ones, anyway.

Discipline it will require.

Admittedly that's a skill I tend not to possess at times.

Or if I do indeed possess that certain skill, I've currently misplaced it.

Wouldn't say I've lost it all together, but some might venture down that path.

Sacrifice certain things I must in order to accomplish these lofty goals. The good news is they are attainable. All of them.

Sure, there are risks involved, but nothing worthwhile comes cheaply or easily (most of the time, anyway...)

Now where'd I put that discipline??

----

Oh stop worrying. NONE of these plans even remotely considers my quitting blogging. I'm not going anywhere anytime soon.

SNMR 6.6: "When Harry Met Sally"

In honor of Valentine's Day and hopeful romantics everywhere (like me), tonight's SNMR feature is "When Harry Met Sally" (1989, R, 96 minutes), starring Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan, Carrie Fisher and Bruno Kirby. The film was directed by Rob Reiner.

PLOT SUMMARY: Harry Burns (Crystal) and Sally Albright (Ryan) drive together from Chicago to New York upon graduating from College in 1977. Over the next twelve years, chance meetings and an eventual friendship turn into something more.

MY OPINION: Oh, please don't even tell me I ruined the ending for you with my brief little synopsis up there. Hard to believe that this movie was released 20 years ago this July. Also hard to believe that this movie was only nominated for one Academy Award (1990, Best Original Screenplay). Consider that this film has become the standard for Romantic Comedies, the film that all other Romantic Comedies since, have been or will be compared. I even went to the theater this week and watched a movie (likely to be reviewed at some point by me in this space) that had shades of this movie in it.

The acting is top-notch and so is the screenplay; with so many quotable lines (and you know you know them, too.) Crystal is at his comic best and Ryan plays the perfect straight foil counterpart. Even Carrie Fisher (forever seen by me as Princess Leia Organa, no matter what film she's in) and the late Bruno Kirby are great as the best friends.

The music soundtrack, arranged by Mark Shaiman and songs performed by Harry Connick, Jr., adds depth to the film. This movie vaulted Ryan to super stardom and helped cement Rob Reiner as one of the best directors of this or any era.

I've seen this movie dozens of times over the years and it is still an enjoyable experience. Timeless, powerful films will do that for you.

***** out of *****

too much time on my hands

I called out of work today. I've got the flu bug that's been going around. My temperature was 100.3 F this morning and 100.9 F as of 30 seconds ago. I've been generally sore and listless all day. Bored too. I've been resting off and on all day and intermittently playing on the computer.

My being ill though has afforded me the time to get into this old television series, which I picked up about a month ago. I remember when it was on regular television (the USA network, I think) but as usual for me, never got interested in it. How fascinating that I'm considering this an "old" television series, when it just came out a mere dozen years ago.

One of the reasons I bought the series is because some of my faithful blog commenters have said that if I liked "ALIAS" then I'd be sure to like this series, too. They even said that this series is better than "ALIAS" was.

That remains to be seen. After the first disc, La Femme Nikita holds much promise to at least be as good as "ALIAS" was.

The big 2-0-0.

Today marks the 200^th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birthday. As you know, Mr. Lincoln is my favorite President in American history. Sometimes I wonder how the history of our country would be different if Lincoln had not been assassinated. If Lincoln's reconstruction plan had been put into effect, how would the racial climate in this country have differed in the years and decades after the Civil War (or War Between the States if you're from the South) from what we know happened from the history books? Good questions all, and ones for which we'll never know the answer.

Oh, yeah. This guy was born 200 years ago today too. I only mention him because if I don't, American Guy probably will (make some remark about it, like he's done before.)

-----

Left work early today, I did. Not feeling too great, I am. Fever, chills and all that. I feel a nap coming on. Perhaps I'll fall asleep to a good movie.

Like Ahhhhnold, though, I'll be back.

And so I am. Back that is. K wasn't too happy with me when I informed her that I won't be taking V and M this weekend, due to my bout with feverish symptoms today.

I might not go to work tomorrow, depending on how I feel in the morning. The problem there is that, while I have the sick-time available to me, there's so much I won't get done that will be staring me in the face come Monday.

No, I don't get President's Day off, either. Wish I did.

The big 4-0.

Yeah, my turn is coming in four months or so...you want to fight about it?

But this post isn't about me. Really.

One of my favorite actresses turns 40 today. Can you guess who??


Duh.

Willpower I have not

Took a vacation day today, I did, ostensibly to get some stuff done that I never seem to get done during the work day or when the kids are around. We'll see how much I actually accomplish.

Met K this morning at the Wal-Mart in Amherst, NH to give her back the kids for the school week. Now that V is in the middle school I normally drop them off on Sunday evening, since her school day begins earlier than M's does. Today, however V is not going to school as she's had an up-and-down temperature this weekend, peaking at 100.4 last night. When K and I do meet on Monday mornings to do the kid exchange, it's usually at the hospital when K's shift is over. But today I had to return some things I bought for my dad at Wal-Mart over the weekend that he decided he didn't want, or more precisely because I got the wrong things.

While looking for something else, which I didn't find, I managed to locate a few other things I've wanted to get to replace stuff that broke. I went to a few stores looking for another something I didn't find and while there "happened" to wander past their selection of DVDs. Most of the time, willpower I have not, when I see movies for $4.99 each that I don't have. Today was one of those days, I'm afraid.

Rusty Nail

Lemme introduce to y'all, my nephew, who decided to join the wonderful world of blogging after I twisted his arm and held a gun to his head.

Naaah, I'm just kidding. The other day we were talking about movies we like and I told him about my blogs, that I do a weekly movie review on this blog and about BIG Screen and he thought he'd give it a try. Blogging, that is. Not movie reviews. Not yet, anyway.

So do me a favor and check out his blog and leave a comment or three. Remember what it was like for you when you first started your blog. ((You wanted people to read and leave comments!!! Duh.))

SNMR 6.5: "The Devil & Daniel Webster"

Tonight's SNMR feature is "The Devil & Daniel Webster" (1941, NR, 106 minutes, B&W), starring Edward Arnold, Walter Huston, James Craig, Anne Shirley, Simone Simon, Jane Darwell and Gene Lockhart. The film was directed by William Dieterle. This film won an Oscar in 1942 and was nominated for one other award.

PLOT SUMMARY: Jabez Stone is a New Hampshire farmer who has run into a string of bad luck. He'd be willing to sell his soul to the devil for a chance at a better life for himself and his family. Wouldn't you know it, the devil was listening! Stone meets 'Mr. Scratch,' who promises Jabez seven years of good luck and good fortune. Will Jabez realize what he's done in time? If he does, who can save him from the devil's clutches?

MY OPINION: This is a decent, if largely forgotten film. That's unfortunate because the performances are good, even by James Craig (Jabez) whose character becomes more annoying as the film progresses. Throughout the film I was trying to place where I've seen Edward Arnold (Daniel Webster) before and didn't figure it out until near the end (He was in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington."). The script, based on the short story by Stephen Vincent Benet, aside from a few lulls, is well written. The only disappointing thing about this movie is the choppy picture and sound on the DVD, which really ought to be cleaned up.

There was to be a remake of this movie in 2001, called Shortcut to Happiness, but due to a dispute wasn't finished until 2007. Even then it was in limited release and disappeared quickly after that. This version has never been released to DVD, despite starring Alec Baldwin, Anthony Hopkins and Jennifer Love Hewitt.

All in all, this is a good little movie.

*** out of *****

Super Bowl XLIII - 2008 NFL Playoffs

#2 Pittsburgh Steelers (-7; 46½ OU) v. #4 Arizona Cardinals: Believe it or not, this is a very intriguing match up for several reasons. This is the first Super Bowl trip for either head coach, but Cardinals head man Ken Whisenhunt and Assistant Russ Grimm used coach for the Steelers and were passed up when Mike Tomlin was hired to replace Bill 'The Chin' Cowher a few years ago. Both QB's, Kurt Warner for the Cardinals and Ben Roethlisberger for the Steelers have won a Super Bowl in their career and this would be #2 for each. It would seem to be a match up of Arizona's resurgent offense vs. the Steelers' superb defense.

I'll guarantee you this: No one thought that we'd have this match-up for this game. The Steelers are one of the AFC's best teams and hardly anyone should be surprised that they are representing the AFC. Even long suffering, die-hard Cardinals fans would not have predicted that their team would represent the NFC in the Super Bowl this year. I definitely didn't see it coming.

I never thought that the Cardinals would beat Atlanta at home, let alone a road game at Carolina and another home game vs. Philadelphia to get here. I would absolutely love to see the Cardinals win this game. Absolutely love it. But I really don't see it happening, because I believe the Steelers are that good. Will it be a close game? Probably, since Warner is a former Super Bowl MVP, and Cardinals WR Larry Fitzgerald can dominate a game all by himself and is playing his butt off during the playoffs, so far.

However, the one thing that bothers me about the Cardinals, is this. The Boston Globe's superb sports columnist Bob Ryan even wrote a great piece about it a few weeks ago, is that this Cardinals team, once they won their division, tanked a few games at the end of their schedule. For proof, look no further than that 47-7 December drubbing at the hands of the far-superior New England Patriots. As Ryan said in his column, the Cardinals didn't even bother to show up for that game in the snow.

Anyway, knowing my luck and my horrible predictions so far in this year's playoffs, if I pick Pittsburgh, that's gotta give the Cardinals a legitimate shot to win. So I'll go with Pittsburgh winning, in hopes that I'll be wrong again.Prediction: Pittsburgh 28, Arizona 20 Actual result: Pittsburgh 27, Arizona 23 Wow, what a game! I didn't watch all of it. I had to listen to the first half on the radio and turned it off when it looked like Pittsburgh was set to go up 24-7 in the 3rd Quarter. Then when I turned back to it, Arizona had taken the lead with under 3 minutes to go, 23-20. I then watched Pittsburgh's come from behind win. Two plays were the difference. At the end of the first half, Arizona was on the verge of scoring the go ahead touchdown, which would have given them a 14-10 lead at halftime. Instead a bizarro interception and 100 yard return for a Pittsburgh TD gave the Steelers the 17-7 edge after two quarters. Then that final drive and Pittsburgh WR (and game MVP) Santonio Holmes incredible game winning touchdown catch sealing the deal for the Steelers. I said to my nephew J that if the Steelers won on that phenomenal catch then they deserved to win. He agreed with me. Even though Arizona lost, I'm happy they made it a competitive game, where for a while it looked like the Cardinals were going to get blown out.

So I picked correctly the straight up winner but lost vs. the point spread. A truly inglorious end to my miserable playoff game picking. Eegads.

Super Bowl XLIV will be played in Miami on February 7, 2010.

Books of the Month - February 2009

I really didn't want to do these books for this month's selections, but since they have dominated my leisure time reading in the last several weeks, I figured I'd do 'em anyway.

The selections this month are volumes one and two of The Malloreon, by David Eddings. The first book contains volumes 1-3 of the original series and the second book contains volumes four and five. This story begins some 12 years after The Belgariad ends, continuing with some of the same main characters and introducing some new ones.





Purchase The Malloreon, Volume One (Books 1-3) here.

Guardians of the West was published in 1988. King of the Murgos and Demon Lord of Karanda followed in 1989. Volume four, The Sorceress of Darshiva, was published in 1990 and Seeress of Kell completed the second, five book cycle in 1992.

I started reading this series shortly after the first book came out in hardcover, and eagerly awaited each new volume, devouring it within days of its release.

While not quite as good as the original series, this story is still good and entertaining. I think you'll enjoy them.

Purchase The Malloreon, Volume Two (Books 4-5) here.