THE KING'S SPEECH

Saw an early screening of this movie thanks to the OC Film Society. GREAT FILM!

Let me be perfectly clear this is a GREAT FILM.

See it you will not be disappointed.

Was lucky enough to be involved in a question and answer session with the screenwriter. His story of how the "story" came about was fascinating and inspiring. Gives one hope the Hollywood system, does work.

SEE IT!

SEE IT!

SEE IT!

Yogi Bear Great kids Fare

Saw an early screening of this movie thanks to the OC Film Society. Fun Kids Movie.

Guess what its in 3D!

This movie holds a special significance for me, my ten year old son wanted to sit with his friends and not me :( and to top it off one of them was female. Hate when they grow up -

The movie itself was fun, good kids movie. They did some of the standard 3D special effects.

Loved seeing how much fun all the kids were having in the audience. My Four year old nephew had a super time.

If you have kids this movie is worth it, no kids - pass

TRUE GRIT - COEN VERSION

Saw an early screening of this movie thanks to the OC Film Society. To say this is a remake does not do this film any justice . The Coen's nailed this movie, sure I am a Coen fan, but they nailed it with this movie.

Mattie was perfectly cast.

Jeff Bridges Narrowly edges out John Wayne as Rooster, that's a huge complement from me, I love the Duke. Bridges Is great in this role, hope to see him in more of the same.

I liked this movie so much I am planning to head back out and see it hen it opens.

The scenes were set up brilliantly, lots of eye candy.

Dialogue sharp and witty. Made you feel like you were in that time.

I almost shed a tear at the end.

The original  movie John Wayne won his Oscar . I never understood the casting of Glen Campbell but hey it was still good. Matt Damon was and is a better choice.

See it - money well spent -

Cheers

The Fighter

Saw this movie at early screening courtesy of the OC Film Society. I went in not knowing what to expect, well that's not exactly true , I didnt want to like this movie. I guess I felt it was a Rocky rip off.

I was Wrong.

This Movie was borderline great. Mark Walberg turned in an excellent performance, in fact you almost didn't even notice how good a performance it was due to Christian Bale. Bale was down right awesome in his role. He played a perfect crack addict and should win the oscar/golden globe for best supporting actor.

See this movie.

Nuff said!

Greatest Fight Scenes Ever

Fun, Fun, fun -

What better than a great fight scene!

Nothing in a film is more satisfying than a fight, especially one where a bully or a bad guy gets the snot kicked out of them. Toss in an underdog or an element of revenge and you have the recipe for a great fight scene! To me, a fight scene is an art form unto itself, and plays with structure meaning there is a beginning, middle, end, toss in some realistic moves, good stunt work, and BAM you have a great scene.

This list is about the Scenes, most are great films too, if you have not caught one of these films you should!

Here you go

10.  Kung Fu Hustle 2004 - Sing Vs. The Beast - The Iron Palm. This movie has a lot of great fight scenes in it. They play like a great ballet. The final fight between Sing and the Beast, excellent. What  like about the fight, besides the great action, is the way it ended , with Sing offering to teach the Beast and the Beast breaking into tears knowing he is facing his new master.

9. The Warriors 1979 - Warriors Vs. the Baseball Furies - "Warriors come out and play" This scene makes it do to sheer guts of the warriors, baseball furies have bats and the Warriors have only their fists. This movie has many a great fight scene. Being based on what some consider one of the greatest adventures in human history , Anabasis by Xenophon, this movie lives up to it's Greek roots.

8. Raiders of the Lost Ark 1981 - Indiana Jones Vs. The Bald Nazi - This scene almost did not make it. The scene that almost beat it out was the sword fighter vs. Indy , where Indy just shoots him. This scene has a great villain, a bald Nazi, and an awesome ending !

7. The Karate Kid 1984 - Daniel son Vs. Cobra Kai - Sweep the Leg Jonny - Miagi Fix - Say what you will about this movie, that final fight is a great scene. Has all the great elements, underdog, bully, great bad guy - an awesome comeback, The girl , Same Director as Rocky . . . . . . .

6. Rocky 1979 - Rocky Vs. Apollo Creed - There aint gonna be no rematch - The underdog defined - Come on Rocky works out in a meat locker. Love it when Apollo's manager watches Rocky working out on the TV and you can  hear the ribs in the slab of beef breaking. Seems fitting one of the better movies of all time makes the great fight list.

5. Gross Pointe Blank 1997 - John Cussak Vs. Benny the Jet - This has some classic fight elements to it - The fight starts at long range, meaning kicks, moves to mid range, hands and then finishes with ground. Cool fight, I liked the movie too, dont think I would have liked it as much without the fight though.

4. From Russia with Love 1963 - Sean Connery Vs. Robert Shaw - Set a fight up on  a train in tight quarters. . .. .simply genius. Love it when Bond gets a chance to show off his hand to hand skills. This is one of my favorite Bond films.

3. The Matrix 1999 - Neo Vs. Agent Smith - Mr. Anderson - Great adversary and a chosen one, love that set up - When Neo figures out that he can kick the Agents A$$, great payoff scene  . . .  Loved the film! Too bad the sequels sucked . . ..

2. Kill Bill Vol. 1 2003 - The Bride Vs. The Crazy 88 and Oren Ishi - Revenge! my favorite motivator in film - limb hacking, blood squirting action. There is some great swordplay here - What is better than two chicks fighting?  Tarrantino set this scene up beautifully.

1. Monty Python and the Holy Grail 1975 - King Arthur Vs. The Black Knight - Tis but a flesh wound - All of the fights on this list fought to be number one , but any fight where I can use the dialogue in ever day life deserves the number one spot. I seriously use the flesh wound line weekly. Lets call it a draw!


There they are -

There are more that maybe could change places with a few on the list . . .. .

Here are the also rans:

The Quiet Man - John Wayne Vs. Victor McLaughlin

The Princess Bride - Indigo Montoyas Vs. The Man in Black

Enter the Dragon - Bruce Lee Vs. Anybody :) he kicks A$$

They Live - Rowdy Roddy Piper in the Alley Scene

Predator - Arnold Vs. The Predator -

Empire Strikes Back - Luke Vs. Vader

Yojimbo - Sanjuro Vs. Unosuke

Lethal Weapon - Riggs Vs. Joshua

Evil Dead 2 - Bruce Campbell Vs. his own right hand

Robin Hood 1938 -Robin Hood Vs. Sir Guy of Guisbourne


That's it -


Cheers

Walt

Top Ten Horror Movies of All Time -

Here's my top ten Horror flicks -

Let me take a stab at it!

Some of these still creep me out-

10. Matango (1963) Shipwrecked survivors slowly transform into mushrooms. Spoiler alert, the final scene in the hospital where our "survivor" roles over and we see his infected face!  That got me one fine Saturday afternoon watching Monster Theater!

9. Let The Right One In (2008) Swedish film, "Lat Den Ratte Komma In" Have to include a vampire Flick! The lead vampire is sooo much better than the 'emotional' vampires from Twilight and True Blood. She does what vampires do best, leave a bloody trail of victims!

8. Motel Hell (1980) Good Old farmer Vincent and his sister Ida. Best tasting meat products in the country! Oh and the traps - Gurgling heads buried neck deep, creep me out as I type . . . . . 

7. The Omen (1976) Have to include a Dick Donner Directed movie! Love the Biblical end of times Christianity themes. Can not believe anyone would name their kid Damien after seeing this movie. South Park did a great parody.

6. The Shinning (1977) Toss in Jack and Shelly Duvall (she is scary looking on here own) mix with a little Kubrick and you have a classic horror movie. Come on, a hotel built on an Indian burial ground? Of course terrible things are going to happen :) all work and no play . . . . . . . . .

5.Dawn of the Dead (1978) Have to include a Zombie flick  .. especially one directed by George A. Romero. The blood and gore are fantastic in this movie. The dead reanimated. . . no one knows the cause . .. recipe for a delicious movie.

4. The Thing (1982) Kurt Russell, John Carpenter combo made for a much underrated movie. Isolated in the Antarctic wilderness sets up the perfect grounds for a shape shifting parasitic extra terrestrial monster. Paranoia  . . who can you trust?

3. The Exorcist (1973) This film won two Oscars . . need I say more. Does your head spin around? Made me want to carry a crucifix and bible in my car. Have run into the child star, now much older, at many a Comic Con.

2. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) Wes Craven , say no more you know its good. I snuck into the Mesa theater to see this film, so glad I did! My arm had bruises from my date (who also snuck in), she did not let go the entire film. Freddy Krueger, a great character, tends to make the rounds (drinking) daily in Laguna Beach.

1. Alien (1979) "No one Can Hear you Scream in Space" One of my favorite directors, Ridley Scott, gave us this gem. Never look at a synthoid the same way again. An awesome Dinner scene!

There are more that almost made the list, I took time to think about each one and really think they deserve their spot.

But, that said, here are the also rans  . . the ones that almost made it to the top ten: Halloween, Psycho, Carrie, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Night of the Living Dead, Dracula (1931), Hellraiser, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), Poltergeist, The Silence of the Lambs, Jaws

I love "top ten" lists
Reason?
Gives me ideas on what to see, I love film and if one shows up on a top ten that I haven't seen -I know it is time to go see a movie!

The films above are all solid pictures if you have somehow missed one , put it one your list of movies to see!

Cheers

Walt

Terrible Movies - True Stinkers - Time wasters - My Top Ten Bad Movies

This list was harder to come up with than the top Ten Best movies, because of the simple fact, there are sooo many bad ones out there to choose from!

These have come under careful scrutiny - Did I fall asleep in the theater? - Wish I had my money back? -Was I sick to my stomach? - Did I leave the theater pissed off? - Even my nine year old thinks it sucks!

Here you go the movies that sucked big time:

10. Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band  How can you screw up a great albuum? Turn it into a musical. Nuff Said -

9. Grease 2  I can admit it  . . . I saw it in the theater. . . . wish I didn't

8. Santa Claus Conquers the Martians I tried to like it I really did. Mystery Science 3000 did great things with this film, but it still did not help it get off the list.

7. Escape From LA  One of my guilty pleasure is Escape From New York, a great film. I sooo looked forward to this film, IT SUCKED, surfing what the???

6. Batman & Robin  My buddy turned to me as we were walking out  . . said that was awesome . . it was then I knew he was really, really stoned. Batgirl had a mustache! Even Arnold could not save this flick.

 
5. Howard the Duck  Being a huge comic fan I had huge expectations for this flick. It opened at the Lido, had a great seat in the balcony, all I can remember is the vicious shaking I got and these immortal words "get out,  you can't sleep here" I still had a full bucket of popcorn on my lap  . . .

4. Thin Red Line How can you screw up a war movie, with a great cast? Turn it into the Thin Red Lin. The second movie I have slept through. I re-watched this movie thinking I might have missed something due to my sleeping . . but no  . . it still stunk  . . made me mad I paid for it twice . . un-watchable. . .. I'm still bitter.

3. Star Wars The Phantom Menace Saw this opening night Edwards Big Newport, no I did not sleep through it, I only wish I had, it was horrible. Did the same director/writer who gave us Star Wars, give us this?? This movie made me sick - Jar Jar Binks???? Kill off the coolest character in a long time??Even my nine year old thinks this movie stinks.

2. Star Wars Attack of the Clones  Some of the worst acting ever. This movie did however have a great scene in it, in fact it almost did not make my list because of it, yes the Yoda fight - that was cool - Not enough though -

1. Battlefield Earth  The book was great. The movie sucked. So bad - beyond the place where a bad movie can become good, this movie should go away.

That's it -

A collection of terrible movies, don't believe me ? Go ahead see them if your brave enough.


Cheers

Walt

Toy Story and Toy Story 2

My son and I finished the Toy Story marathon this weekend

Talk about watch-ability!

Toy Story and Toy Story 2 are a cut above the rest -

What a perfect cast -

With kids you will watch certain movies over and over again, we have seen both Toy Story and Toy Story 2 many times.

The Toy Story trilogy is a perfect example of one you will watch over and over again. I am smiling as I type. Pixar nailed the buddy pick. Which begs the question why can't anybody else?? Talented guys over at Pixar.

Buzz is my favorite character, he is cool and funny. Tim Allen plays Buzz to perfection - Tom Hanks as Woody is no slouch ( I have been a Tom Hanks fan since Bussom Buddies )

This movie works on many levels - The evil toy destroying kid next door - to the Christmas present - To Zurg - the Andy relationship with his toys -

Part two is as good or better than the first, the Chicken Man - Newman!

Part two reminds me that sequels can be good , think Terminator II, Aliens, Wrath of Kahn, Godfather 2, Empire Strikes back.

I love seeing a good sequel.

Make sure you watch the credits at the end some funny stuff in the side bar.

Both Toy Story and Toy Story Two get my highest Rating

Short and sweet review

Cheers

Dave

My Top Ten Movie List of all Time

Here they are my top ten -

Tough to pick only ten, many factors went into these picks.
Factors including, awesomeness - shots - dialogue -action - great story telling - characters - watch ability ( can you see it over and over and over and still like it )

Now you know my scientific criteria - with out further ado here they are -

10 - The Incredibles - this movie is totally wicked - one of the best action films of all time - nice of you to drop by Do yourself a favor if you have never seen it, or thought it was only a kids movie buy it,  see it -

9 - Good Fellas - Great flick - Has one of my all time favorite shots - Panning down the bar and introducing each guy - also solidified Joe Pesci as a "Funny Guy"

8 - The Princess Bride - Any Movie with Andre the Giant deserves a spot in the top ten- So many Great Lines . . . .  My name is . . . and I'm going to kill you - By any chance do you have six fingers?

7 - Stagecoach - A list without a John Wayne/John Ford Movie is not a list - let alone a list without a western. " You may need me and this Winchester, Curly. Saw a ranch house burnin' last night" - Great Line

6- Animal House - First time I saw this movie I could not stop laughing . . . .of course I was 12yrs old  . . it still makes me laugh - Double secret probation - The principal at my high school used that one me!

5 - Caddyshack - I get a call from a buddy anywhere in the world, when this movie is on -  What a great film - made me want to take up golf - I use lines from this film everyday life - looks good on you though

4 - Star Wars - One of the films that defined my early life - When I really want to show my geek side I can quote most of the movie from start to finish - First appearance of Darth Vader, boy that was a great movie moment -  Ben's house " your father wanted you to have this" - Vader's Force choke " I find your lack of faith disturbing" I could go on and on -

3 - Jaws - It is what you don't see that makes this film great - The sound track for the shark plays in my head daily - As well as the Line " We're gonna need a bigger boat"

2 -  The GodFather 1&2- Yes, a tie part one and part two - This movie is so good it gets quoted in other movies .  "Take the cannoli  leave the gun"  - One of my favorite scenes, The doorway as Micheal's wife leaves and Tom walks in and the door closes . .man what a superb moment -
 

1 - Casablanca - I have seen this movie hundreds of times, I still like it - I can remember my X wife asking me how I could watch a movie more then once and I replied you listen to songs over and over again right? That shut her up! So much of this movie has wound up in our culture - 'Ricks' - I'm a hopeless romantic at heart - This movie has it all -

I love this film

Some honorable mentions : The Bridge on the River Kwai - The Unforgiven - Spinal Tap - Airplane -Lawrence of Arabia - The Graduate -Shane- The Wild Bunch -Seven Samurai - The Magnificent Seven -Oliver -High Noon - My Darling Clementine -The Fugitive -Toy Story - The Usual Suspects - Rocky -Treasure of Sierra Madre - There are more for sure but those were close to the top ten!

Hope that gives some perspective on my tastes - 

More reviews to follow

Cheers 

Walt

The Year 1977 - Big Newport Theater - My Life Changes Forever

No, I did not get laid -

Two words

STAR WARS

My uncle and Aunt were up from San Diego wanting to spend time with their nephews , decide to take us to the new movie opening at the Edwards Big Newport - Star Wars

Sitting in the theater , already a sci fi junkie at age ten, I was munching away at my bucket of popcorn, my uncle and Aunt made sure they filled us up on good American movie food!

It opens -

Unfucking believable is all I can say - I am getting the same chills as I write as I did when I was ten sitting in that theater. Note: ever since then I can only sit in the same section to the right mid way back in the Edwards Big Newport -

First the Credits with the symphony behind it - Awesome -
Leah's ship being pursued by the Imperial star cruiser , then overtaken - My mouth was wide open -

Don't think it closed until the final credits -

One way I can tell if a movie is good is the same way I can tell if a taco is good - I want more!

I wanted more -

Waited outside with lines wrapped around the building a few times - sitting in lawn chairs -

Saw it ten times in the theater -

Again back to the ambiance  . . . sometimes it is the right place and the right time.

I have my uncle and aunt to thank for that experience  . . . many comic cons later  . . . .  Thanks!

I'd write more  . . .but if you haven't seen Star Wars  . . something is wrong with you -

Cheers

Walt

C.H.U.D. Need I say More?

Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dweller

After much thought and meditation I picked C.H.U.D. for my first review-

Released in 1984 it was a gem.

So underrated , some great performances -

Come on Homer Simpson is scared of them!

What made this a special movie for me was where I was when I saw it, sometimes it is about the ambiance.

The Year 1986- Summer - balmy 90 degrees in the shade

Surf Camp on Isle Natividad, a small island  off the Baja Coast,  served as my screening room.

The surf camp consisted of three small concrete buildings, with a small communal TV room in the middle , which also served as a bedroom. The TV was a small 26" color Sony with attached VCR - High tech for the time and super high tech for Baja. Complete the picture with scattered porns, mixed in with the classic film C.H.U.D. - The only music we had was a single Morrisey tape . . . I still can't listen to a Morrisey album.

Surfed out many beers into the late afternoon we decide to plug in C.H.U.D. -

My life changed forever

It is not that the movie was any great cinematic achievement -
Or the acting was Oscar quality -

You have to look at the movie as a whole, and in doing that - CHUD rules.

Yes I will say it again Chud rules.

The CHUD:

Monsters lurking beneath the streets; beings that were once human, but radioactive, chemical toxic waste has mutated them into hideous, flesh-eating creatures that prey on the homeless who live in the underground -

If you expect technical story/plot line breakdowns from my reviews better look elsewhere -
I hate the fluff that is thrown in with modern reviewers -

Movies are about having fun - I will not steer you wrong -

If a movie sucks it sucks - trust me ! It sucks

Well that is it for my first review

Welcome to my Blog - Thanks for stopping by !

Cheers

Walt