The Fall (2006)

At a Los Angeles hospital in the 1920s, Alexandria is a child recovering from a broken arm. She befriends Roy Walker, a movie stunt man with legs paralyzed after a fall. Hilarity ensues as at her request, Roy tells her an elaborate story about six men of widely varied backgrounds who are on a quest to kill a corrupt provincial governor. Alexandria's imagination starts to run wild as her vision of the story gets more and more vivid and the line between fiction and reality begins to blur. But Roy has his own motives for befriending Alexandria that include procurement of Morphine.

Trivia: The film was shot on 26 locations over 18 countries. The director claims that there are no special effects in the film despite its surreal looks. Everything was shot on real locations. A miscommunication between the casting agent and Catinca Untaru (Alexandra) led her to believe that Lee Pace (Roy) was a real-life paraplegic. Director Tarsem Singh found that this brought an added level of believability to their dialogue, so he decided to keep almost the entire cast and crew under the same impression. Singh had to speak to the actor playing Alexandria's father and explain that his role was smaller than it appeared, since the script implied that he played the role of the bandit (actually played by Pace) in the fantasy scenes. Apparently it was hard to keep up the lie - a makeup artist walked into a room to find Pace standing and almost passed out from shock. The cinematic poster for this movie is based on the Salvador Dali painting, "1935_03_Face of Mae West Which May Be Used as an Apartment", circa 1935.

I saw Bedtime Stories this weekend (the review will be up in a couple of days) that had a man tell a story to two children and the story was acted out by the three of them and included other people in their lives. It was okay, a fun little romp. This movie blows it out of the water. It was a lot sadder then Bedtime Stories which is a comedy, and it deals with a lot of heavy issues including suicide, but it is still a lot better movie. Alexandria's imagination of the story is so vivid and full of color it is like a painting. It truely has no bounds. This picture was just so lush and beautiful. The thing I like the most is that the story was told by an American man about a native indian, a bandit, an explosives expert, a runaway slave, an East Indian swordsman, and Charles Darwin, but instead of just having Alexandria imagine the cliches that we associate with these name, her vision was of far away places and had a distinct far east feel. Her imagination was allowed to roam free. This is a gorgeous film, you should find it and see it.

Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008)

An evil elf, Prince Nuada (Luke Goss) breaks an ancient pact between humans and the magical creatures, as he declares war against humanity. He is on a mission to release The Golden Army, a deadly group of fighting machines that can destroy the human race. As Hell on Earth is ready to erupt, Hellboy (Ron Perlman), our favorite red hero, Liz (Selma Blair), firestarter and Red's girlfriend, Abe Sapian (Doug Jones), the fishy brains of the outfit and the rest of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense set out to defeat the evil prince before The Golden Army can destroy humanity's existence. Their only hope lies with Princess Nuala (Anna Walton), Nuada's twin sister. Hilarity ensues.

Trivia: Peter Jackson approached Guillermo del Toro to direct Halo, and even though del Toro considered it, he turned the offer down so he could direct this sequel. Del Toro also turned down I Am Legend, One Missed Call, and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince for the same reason. This is actually the second time del Toro opted for a Hellboy movie over a Harry Potter movie. He also turned down Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban to direct the first Hellboy. As in the first movie, the agents that accompany Hellboy are named for things found while digging in the earth, albeit decidedly tougher than the first group: Marble, Flint, Steel (true, this is an alloy that is mostly iron, but Iron is not a common last name). The movie mentions Bethmoora, a city in the fiction of the early 20th century visionary writer Lord Dunsany. Also note that the Golden Army is hidden in Ireland, Dunsany's homeland. The term "glamour" used for the fairies' cloaking skill also originates in Dunsany's "The King of Elfland's Daughter". Just like the first film, none of the cast member's names are written on the posters, mentioned in the trailers or shown in the opening credits. The number 7 appears throughout the movie, most notably when it is stated that the Golden Army consists of "70 times 70", but also during the scene in the auction house, where the crown piece is listed as lot 777, with a starting price of $7,000,000. As the Angel of Death, Doug Jones could only see out of the crack across the mask he wore. Also, the mechanical wings he was wearing weighed about 40 pounds. Doug was originally supposed to walk around the set, but when it was discovered that he could barely stand, they instead hung him from a wire. This is why The Angel of Death floats. The Angel of Death's voice is done by Doug Jones doing each line twice, once in a higher pitched voice and then in a lower pitch, and then the two takes were blended together.

Wow, has it really been over a month? Anyway, Hellboy. This is one of the few times the sequal is better then the original. Guillermo del Toro pulls out all the visual magic for this one. Visually the movie is absolutely beautiful. The magical creatures seen and wonderful, especially Prince Nuada, Princess Nuala, and the Angel of Death (which could have easily stepped out of Pan's Labrinth). The Prince and Princess were beautiful and ethereal, while the Angel of Death was disturbingly beautiful. While the story will never seriously contend for a screenwriting award, it was still a good story and better then the first. Ron Perlman is solid and Selma Blair pulls liz off a lot stronger then before. Good solid movie.

The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008)

Upon moving into the run-down Spiderwick Estate with their mother (Mary-Louise Parker), twin brothers Jared and Simon Grace (both played by Freddie Highmore), along with their sister Mallory (Sarah Bulger), find themselves pulled into an alternate world full of faeries and other creatures. Hilarity ensues when mysterious noises start to appear while everyday object start to disappear, the family blames Jared. When Jared finds a hidden room belonging to his great uncle Arthur Spiderwick, he finds Spiderwick's Field Guide and uncovers the fantastic truth of the Spiderwick estate and of the creatures that inhabit it.

Trivia: Film prints were shipped to some theaters under the fake title -- "Widow". The movie contains plotpoints from all 5 Spiderwick novels but most of the fouth novel is left out.

Okay, let me get this straight. You took 5 novels, right? 5 Novels to pull information out of, according to Amazon.com, 672 pages and all you got was a measly 97 minutes? What is up with that? You spend the money to invest in cutting edge special effects dozens of CGI characters and you can only come up with 97 minutes of movie? Yes, it is a children's movie but still, who said children's can't be engaging? Did you ever think that the reason children are all supposedly inflicted with very short attention spans is because we are forcing them into it? I have not read the Spiderwick books so I can only go with what I saw so I recommend renaming this movie The Undiscovered Country because that is what it is. There is a whole new world out there that looks really promising but you only get a glimpse. Like I said, there are literally dozens of fantasy characters but only 4 of them talk. The rest are basically soldier trolls that run around. Thimbletack, a little mouselike creature pretty much just shows up and with one or two sentences is excepted into the family so to speak. Hogsqueal is rescued by Jared Grace and the next thing you know, they are bosum buddies. And speaking of Jared. He finds the Field Guide left by his great uncle and 3 hours into reading it, he has a full and complete knowledge of this new world and can navigate through it easily. We get to a point where the hero's quest is revealed. Now we are getting somewhere, right? Adventure, perils, struggles? Nope. He pulls the book out, flips it open to a page in less then a second, reads some words outloud and poof, quest complete. Then there is Simon. He didn't even read the book and he can grasp the concepts and fashion pretty devestating weapons to use against the bad guys. That is pretty devestating to the bad guys, completely harmless to the good guys. Whoo Hoo! Oh yeah, there is a "Wait a minute, who are those guys and when did they come from" moment added in for good measure. If you want the wonder this movie provides AND prefer a good story, watch The Bridge To Teribithia. Way better movie.

Classic Hilarity Ensues: A Look Back

Today I am reposting one of my favorite reviews ever. I had a lot of fun writing this one. Enjoy - Will P.S. be sure to try out my Super Duper Summer Trivia!

King Kong (1933)

Carl Denham, a film director famous for shooting 'animal pictures' in remote and exotic locations is unable to find an actress to star in his newest project and so is forced to wander the streets searching for a suitable woman. He chances upon a poor girl, Ann Darrow, and convinces her to get on a ship with nothing but men and sail around for at least six weeks with no stops at any ports and be in his picture by buying her dinner. I mean really, just because you buy her dinner doesn't mean you can...ahem, back to the story. The crew sails from New York with only Denham knowing the final destination. He is looking for a mysterious island that is not on the charts. It is Skull Island and it hides a secret, a beast known only as Kong. Meanwhile on the ship, first mate and dastardly devil Jack Driscoll starts to fall in love with Ann and Ann with him. Mmmm...first mate. Denham reveals this movie's theme, beauty and the beast. This is pre-Disney, so no talking teapots. The crew finds the island and land to find a politically incorrect inappropriate stereotypical native civilization performing a ritual concerning Kong, I swear one of the natives looked just like Buckwheat from the Little Rascals. The natives become fascinated with Ann, the "golden woman" and thinks she would be Kong's type, but the crew returns to the ship with Ann. That night the natives come aboard and kidnap Ann to become the bride of Kong, he has a thing for blondes, I guess. Kong is revealed to be an 18 to 24 foot tall gorilla, depending on where he is at the time, who takes Ann back to his lair for a little jungle fever. A rescue party lead by that cad Driscoll goes to search for Ann, but all are killed by Kong, all that is except that rascal Driscoll who is able to rescue Ann and return to the village. Kong, enraged that some guy would steal his wife goes on a killing spree of the politically incorrect inappropriate stereotypical natives. Denham is able to gas the giant ape and takes him back to New York for some fun. Dubbed "King Kong, the eighth wonder of the world" the great beast is chained to a stage with very strong "chrome steel." When Kong hears that his babe will be married to that scoundrel Driscoll the next day, he goes crazy. Hilarity ensues. Kong searches for Ann who in the mean time has gotten a hotel room with that wretched Driscoll. Kong finds Ann and tries to persuade her to return with him to the island. He says he will clean up the island for her and get rid of all those pesky dinosaurs and he would stop monkeying around with the boys and that they could have a good life together. Ann's answer? Scream. Which seems to be her answer to a lot of things. Kong, feeling boxed in with all the buildings and commuter trains running about, takes Ann to someplace more quiet so they can talk. He has heard the the Empire State Building has a magnificent view so he takes her there. In a classic case of police brutality, the authorities use airplanes to shoot and kill Kong, you know because if you watch Cops, domestic violence is never a good call to get for a cop. Denham then blames Ann for everything with the line, "T'was beauty killed the beast." Typical, blame the woman, if she hadn't been wearing the blonde wig, if she hadn't come on to Kong with all the screaming and the jiggling of her legs and her suggestive dress. That has been happening since Adam and Eve. So the moral of the story: If you gots the Jungle Fever, make sure she is down with it too, or you could end up as a bullet riddled corpse on a New York street, which, come to think about it, isn't that unusual.

Trivia: King Kong's roar was a lion's and a tiger's roar combined and run backwards. Close-ups of the pilots and gunners of the planes that attack Kong were shot in the studio with mock-up planes. The flight commander is director Merian C. Cooper and his observer is producer Ernest B. Schoedsack. They decided to play the parts after Cooper said that since they created Kong, "we should kill the sonofabitch ourselves".

Okay, so I had a little fun with the plot summary above. Everybody knows the plot of this classic movie. King Kong is one of the most recognized, if not the most, character ever created. The movie has had a major influence in film history. It was truely a groundbreaking movie. Movies like Wallace and Gromet: Curse Of The Wererabbit is still using the same techniques that Willis O'Brian used to bring Kong to life. King Kong was the first movie to really give a visual effect a character and identity. Kong comes alive. When we look back on it from our perspective, it is primative and sort of campy, but we still believe Kong is alive and we can connect with him. We still feel sad when he dies at the end of the movie. Not bad for an 18 inch puppet. The movie still stands up to today's mega visual effects movies.

Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull (2008)

Good morning and welcome to this special edition of Hilarity Ensues. Today we are celebrating our 3rd blogiversary and we have a special treat for you. I have lined up a special interview. I am really excited about this one but I feel I have to warn you now. We have asked that spoilers be limited as much as possible but our guest is old so he may forget so consider yourself warned. And with that on to the interview.

Hilarity Ensues: I would like to welcome Dr. Henry Jones, Jr. to our blog. Welcome Dr. Jones.

Indiana Jones: Please, call me Indy, the only people who call me Dr. Jones end up being bad guys.

HE: {using my best Sean Connery impression} I thought y'all named the dog Indiana.

IJ: That's funny, did you think that up all by yourself? {mumbles} Geez, if I had a dime for every time someone said that...

HE: Um, okay, Indy. It has been 19 years since we last saw one of your big screen adventures, what have you been doing?

IJ: Well, I have been teaching mostly, I still have some adventures but you know I am getting older, it ain't as easy as it used to be.

HE: What about the War? The last time we saw you was pre-WWII.

IJ: Yeah, I did a few things in the war.

HE: Don't be modest, I heard you describe as a war hero. Well, this time your adventures are in South America, can you give us a little taste?

IJ: Sure, well, you see, there was this cave and when you went in you really had to watch yourself because any false move would get you skewered. I was looking for a golden idol and I was pretty sure it would be booby trapped so I took in a bag of sand, but I miscalculated and when I switched the idol for the bag, I set off the trap and had to get the hell out of there. Then there was this boulder that started to roll...

HE: Um...Indy? I think that was from Raiders of the Lost Ark.

IJ: Was it? I am getting old you know, it ain't as easy as it used to be. That was in South America wasn't it?

HE: Yes, it was. Have you learned to speak Hovitos yet?

IJ: No, I didn't think it was necessary after Belloq died. Okay, where was I?

HE: The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull.

IJ: Oh yeah, the crystal skull. Magnificent specimen, made out of seamless quartz, it had dramatic magnetism.

HE: Dramatic Magnetism?

IJ: Well, yeah, you see sometimes it would strongly attract metal, even gunpowder thrown in the air, and sometimes, like riding in the back of a jeep, it would not. Sometimes it would attract things like Dog Tags but leave guns alone. It even attracted gold, which isn't magnetic. All you had to do was drape it in burlap and it was no longer magnetic. That was a nice touch.

HE: Speaking of the crystal skull, what are your thought about leaving biblical legends behind for more far-fetched legends like...well, it is hard to explain without giving it away.

IJ: You mean the alien?

HE: Um, yeah, at least it wasn't me that gave it away.

IJ: You think anybody that has seen the commercials couldn't figure that out? Aliens are everywhere, you can't avoid them, and some of them are better friends then humans. Without Chewy I could never have made that Kessell Run like I did, he was...

HE: Indy? Han? Can we get back to KOTCS? So you aren't worried about the unbelievability of an alien element?

IJ: Heck no, look who wrote the story. George and his space stories have been very good to me. Besides, how believable was a big golden box hidden in a room for thousands of years being able to sustain thousands of live snakes? Or a beautiful French woman being the last descendant of Jesus? Oh wait, wrong grail.

HE: Who is Mutt Williams? And what is this affinity for dog references?

IJ: He is a Johnny Strabler wanna be with his slick backed hair and the comb.

HE: Johnny Strabler?

IJ: Yeah, Marlon Brando, The Wild One? Don't you watch any movies?

HE: I guess I missed that one.

IJ: Anyway Mutt comes to me with a note from Ox, that's Professor Oxley, you should ask him what he thinks about aliens sometimes. Well, Ox was in trouble and Mutt's mother thought I could be of some help.

HE: Who is Mutt's mother?

IJ: Are you sure you want me to say? I mean the spoiler thing you said earlier and all.

HE: If the readers have made it this far, there is no way to stop them now, besides she is in the commercial.

IJ: Okay, Mutt's mother in Marian Ravenwood Williams. You know, from Raiders of the Lost Ark. Ah, Marian. We had fun making this movie. Looks like it is about time for me to go. Thanks for having me, and congratulations on three years.

HE: No, thank you, this has been a pleasure. But before you go I have one more question. In The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, does hilarity ensue?

IJ: What do you mean?

HE: You know, hilarity, does it ensue?

IJ: I don't get it, is this supposed to make sense?

HE: Well, it's kind of me signature gimmick. I also say hilarity ensues some time during the movie.

IJ: Okay, um, oh, that is the name of your blog. Ha, that is pretty funny. Just let me tell your readers. Dear Readers, hilarity ensues from the first minute on. How was that?

HE: Thank you. That was Dr. Henry "Indiana" Jones, Jr. And to my wonderful readers, Thank you for your readership, I couldn't do it without you, well, I guess I could, but what would be the point? Thank you for three great years. Be sure to try my current trivia quiz "Father Knows Best"

The Adventures Of Rocky And Bullwinkle (2000)

35 years after their television show was cancel, we find our heroes living day to day in a deteriorating Frostbite Falls on the residuals from reruns. While in Pottsylvania Fearless Leader (Robert DeNiro, yeah, that Robert DeNiro), Boris Badenov (Jason Alexander) and Natasha Fatale (Rene Russo) hatch an evil plan to take over the world by brainwashing the poulation of the United States and getting the voters to vote for Fearless Leader. All then need is a cable television station. Check, they create RBTV (Really Bad Television). They need to get to America. Check, they dig a tunel. They need to become real and not just cartoons. Check with the help of a Hollywwod Producer that buys the rights to the Rocky and Bullwinkle Movie. Hilarity ensues when FBI Agent Karen Sympathy (Piper Parabo) is assigned to stop the trio in the only way they have every been stopped before, with the help of moose and squirrel.

Trivia: The Whassamatta University infirmary is labeled "J. Ward", a homage to Rocky and Bullwinkle creator, Jay Ward. This film was originally in pre-production in the early 1990s, with Danny DeVito and Meryl Streep set to play Boris and Natasha. Legal problems with copyrights prevented the film being made until several years later. The students in the film were actually real students of Chapman University, where part of the film takes place. June Foray, one of the surviving members of the original "Rocky and His Friends", who created the voice of Rocket J. Squirrel, does Rocky's voice for this film. She also recreates the voice of Natasha (when Natasha is in cartoon form) and her ubiquitous "old woman" voice from the old series as the voice of the narrator's mother. For the narration, Keith Scott is doing an imitation of the voice of the late William Conrad, who had been the narrator for the original animated adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle, "Rocky and His Friends".

It is pun filled, low brow, infintile at times and has a ton of movie cliches and doesn't take itself seriously. That is why it is funny. I will admit that I am not a die-hard Rocky and Bullwinkle fan (I don't go out of my way to watch it) but I will stop and watch it if I come across it. The thing that makes the Rocky and Bullwinkle series fun to watch is that it doesn't cater to one kind of kid like some, well, most of the cartoons of today. Any age could watch it and it would be funny. And in fact it is even funnier the older you get. Today if a cartoon isn't trying to teach a child some moral lesson it isn't worth making. This leads to boring cartoons. They are to generic, too politically correct, too something. I have no idea how kids can sit there are watch that stuff over and over and over again on DVD. Talk about brainwashing kids, there is something fishy there. Of course DeNiro did seem to have a pretty pained look on his face when he was delivering some of his lines (especially when he had to do the Taxi Driver monologue, "You looking at me?") and Natasha didn't have enough lines. I know Badenov is supposed to be the main villian but in the original series Natasha had the best lines.

And don't foget to take a crack at the trivia questions below. Have a happy Memorial Day Weekend. See ya on the other side.

IMDB Top 250: Iron Man (2008)

Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) is a playboy. He is also the owner of Stark Industries, a company that he inherited from his father. He is also a genius engineer when it comes to making weapons. This is good because Stark Industries is the primary provider of weapons to the U.S. military. On a trip to Afghanistan to show off his new weapons system, Starks convey is attacked and Stark is captured by rebel insurgents. During the attack he is hit by shrapnel and is in danger of dying if the pieces left in his body reach his heart. To counter act this he builds a device that magnetically protects his heart. Meanwhile the insurgents want him to build them a missile system just like the one he was showing off. Hilarity ensues when he decides to build himself a suit, a suit of iron.

Trivia: Rachel McAdams was Jon Favreau's first choice to play Pepper Potts, but she turned the role down. The role eventually went to Gweneth Paltrow. Jon Favreau describes the film as "a kind of independent film-espionage thriller crossbreed; a Robert Altman-directed Superman, with shades of Tom Clancy novels, James Bond films, RoboCop, and Batman Begins." In the comics, Tony Stark participated (and became Iron Man) in the Vietnam War; later this was retconned to the Gulf War. In this film, the character's origin was retconned to Afghanistan, as Jon Favreau did not wish to make the film a period piece but instead give it a realistic contemporary look. Stan Lee, the creator of Iron Man, had originally based Tony Stark on Howard Hughes, whom he felt was "one of the most colourful men of our time: an inventor, an adventurer, a multimillionaire, a ladies man and finally a nutcase." Robert Downey Jr. further described his portrayal of Stark as "a challenge of making a wealthy, establishmentarian, weapons-manufacturing, hard-drinking, womanizing prick into a character who is likable and a hero." To prepare for his role as Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr. spent five days a week weight training and practiced martial arts to get into shape. In the scene where Pepper discovers Tony removing the damaged Iron Man armor, you can clearly see Captain America's shield partially constructed on a workbench. This same scene was shown in many trailers, but the image of the shield was edited out. To prepare for his role as Obadiah Stane, Jeff Bridges read some of the "Iron Man" comic books that featured Stane, and grew a goatee and shaved his head (which he said was something he always wanted to do). Gwyneth Paltrow only needed to travel 15 minutes to get to the studio. She claimed that this is a part of the reason she took the role, as she could be home with her two children during the entire shoot. The comic book version of Jarvis is a human, Jeeves-like butler, serving Tony Stark and the Avengers, the superhero team Iron Man helped to found. In the film, Jarvis has been re-imagined as an artificial intelligence. According to Peter David's novelization, "JARVIS" is an acronym that stands for "Just A Really Very Intelligent System."

As I said a few time I think, Marvel Comic adaptations need to be judged on their own merit, compared to other Marvel Comics adaptations. In that context Iron Man is a great film. We aren't talking Oscar worthy or anything but that is not what they were going for. On the other hand, this also fits into the Summer Blockbuster category. It fits well there too. This is just a very fun film to watch. It is amazing what a good actor can do for a film and Robert Downey, Jr. is, among other things, a very good actor. He really makes this film. It just wouldn't be the same without him. Gweneth Paltrow is very cute in her role as Stark's secretary/assistant Pepper Potts (what a great name).

Here are some things to look for: Stan Lee's cameo, he said it was his most fun cameo. Be on the look out for the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Engagement and Logistics Division. The characters have fun making fun of it. And by all means, stay till the end after the credits for one last scene, you won't be disappointed.

Remeber to check out my latest quiz (Water Water Everywhere) and send in your answers.

Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer (2007)

The whole gang is back. What gang you say? Why the Fantastic Four. Reed Richards, aka Mr. Fantastic (Ioan Gruffudd) can stretch his body to, well, fantastic lengths. Susan Storm, aka The Invisible Woman (Jessica Alba) can bend light to make herself invisible and can create force fields, and, lets face it, has a fantastic body. Johnny Storm, Susan's brother, aka the Human Torch (Chris Evans) can light his body on fire and can fly, he is also fantastically arrogant. And Ben Grimm, aka The Thing (Michael Chiklis) has a body made from rocky and he is very strong. In the time between movies our fantastic heros have become fantastic celebrities, and it seems a fantatsic wedding has been fantastically planned. Susan and Reed are getting hitched...finally. Fantastic hilarity ensues when there is an unwanted wedding guest. A silver man on a flying silver surf board crashes the party and did I mention that he is here to destroy the world?

Trivia: Stan Lee plays himself in a cameo as a rejected wedding guest, in a tribute to his own fictional comic book incarnation. It has become a tradition for Lee to have cameo appearances in live-action adaptations of his comics; he appeared in the first Fantastic Four film playing the Baxter Building's mailman, Willie Lumpkin. The cameo scene where Stan Lee is refused entry to the wedding is in keeping with the comic series. In the 1960s story of Reed Richards and Susan Storm's wedding, two characters, obviously representing writer Stan Lee and artist/plotter Jack Kirby, are also not allowed to attend the wedding. Although the film uses the premise that the Silver Surfer gets his powers from his board, this is clearly not the case in the comics. In the comics, the Surfer is able to fly on his own and use his full gamut of powers without the aid of his surfboard. He uses it, however, as it significantly decreases the energy required for flight. The wedding dress Jessica is wearing in the wedding scene is a custom made design by the German luxury fashion brand Escada.

Sequels, Superheros sequels especially are hit and miss. This one pretty much missed. It is an okay movie sure, but I would expect more from Marvel, of course few of Marvel's superhero movies are actually very good. Most of them are okay. So after looking back at it, as a Marvel superhero movie it is good. In the first movie Johnny was the comic relief. You need a comic relief on a team for it to work well. They decided to go overboard and everybody is comic relief in this one. It is the too many cooks in the kitchen syndrome that has hampered superhero movies over the years. How to out do the original movie, which was good, not great, but good. So they took one of the few things that worked in the first one and multiplied it by four. Reed becomes a love sick absentminded professor type. Susan has a whole sctick when she inadvertantly switches powers with Johnny and ends up burning her clothes off, which would have greatly increased the entertainment of the movie except for the fact that it is PG so nothing was seen...dammit. Johnny seems to be the most serious of the group. It did have some thought provoking parts, well, kind of thought provoking cerning the fact that everyone know who they were. No secret idenities here. I can see where a secret identity could come in handy.

Pathfinder (2007)

When a native woman finds the remains of a viking ship on the shores of North America 500 years before Columbus she find the lone survivor to be a young boy. She adopts him as her own and 15 years later he is at the brink of manhood. That is when hilarity ensues. The Vikings, led by Fran Tarkington, come back and start killing everyone for no apparent reason then they are bigger and stronger and, well, they are Vikings. The only hope for the whole American continent lies on the shoulders of this young man because only he knows the ways of the Viking.

Trivia: Actors wore hockey shoulder pads underneath their viking costume to make them appear larger and fiercer. Despite knowing that the Vikings' helmets didn't historically have large animal horns on them, the film makers decided to add them in anyway. This would work with the modern audiences who have an ingrained stereotype of what a Viking should look like in their mind. Moreover, the horns make the Vikings look more terrifying. The Vikings in the film are actually speaking Icelandic, which is the closest language to old Viking. The Pathfinder's house was constructed around a real tree which was found at the location and had to be re-enforced. The design of the Indian huts was partly inspired by the famous opera house in Sydney, Australia.

Apparently Vikings a vicious hulks of men bent on killing everybody they can find but it also appears that they don't make Vikings the way they used to because a man who was trained as a Viking at the age of 6 (and wasn't good at it then) can grow up in another culture for 15 years with only a single sword to train with and without help from anyone else, a young native woman, and a brave who is mute is able to kick the butts of the biggest Vikings in the group. I will admit, the first few Vikings that this guy kills could have underestimated him but you would think that after a while they would realize that he could fight. This movie also seems to want to point out that the Natives are in the same situation. The wise old pathfinder and elder of the tribe is able to fight and hold his own against the Vikings when the young warrior braves just rush in and get slaughtered in seconds (because they failed to head the white man's warnings. So white man who grew up as a native and old guy = good fighters. Young Indian Braves = bad fighters. I never thought I would say this but Antonio Banderas did it better, as in portraying the Viking culture in the 13th Warrior. Oh yeah, I forgot. They used stock footage of an avalanche. Stock footage!? What the heck? It was right out of a documentary about alpine skying or something. Uggghhh!

Enchanted (2007)

Once upon a time in the kingdom of Andalasia, a beautiful young maiden named Giselle (Amy Adams) lives in a cottage in the forest. But before she can marry the dashing Prince Edward (James Marsden), hilarity ensues when Giselle is sent tumbling down a magical well - and finds herself in the non-animated, extremely disenchanted world of modern-day New York City. There, she befriends a cynical divorce lawyer, Robert (Patrick Dempsey), who isn't so sure that her prince is coming to rescue her. Giselle's spontaneous singing and fairy-tale demeanor enchant everyone around her as she waits for Prince Edward. But she's about to discover that love in the real world isn't always as easy as sharing a single True Love's Kiss - and that she'll need courage, spunk and maybe just a little enchantment if she's ever going to find her own happily-ever-after.

Trivia: The bus driver's hair is shaped like Mickey Mouse's ears, as well as the green pepper slices on the pizza Robert and Giselle are served at the Bella Notte restaurant. In the scene where Prince Edward is standing on top of a moving bus, billboards for Hairspray (the Broadway Production) and Superman Returns are visible. James Marsden, who plays Prince Edward, stars in Superman Returns, and the movie, Hairspray, based off the Broadway Production. In the scene where Edward is on top of the bus, the people riding on tour buses next to him laughing and pointing at him weren't extras, but actual real tourists. The actresses who provided the voices for three previous animated Disney princesses make appearances in the film: Jodi Benson (‘Ariel’ in The Little Mermaid), Paige O'Hara (‘Belle’ in Beauty and the Beast), and Judy Kuhn (Pocahontas). Also, Julie Andrews, who starred as the title character in Disney's live-action Mary Poppins, provides her voice here as the Narrator. Cathleen Trigg's character's name is Mary Ilene Caselotti. This is a tribute to Mary Costa, the voice of Disney's Sleeping Beauty, Ilene Woods, who did the voice of Disney's Cinderella, and Adriana Caselotti, the voice of Disney's first princess, Snow White in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The law firm where Robert works is Churchill, Harline and Smith, the surnames of the songwriters from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Two of the elderly men dancers appeared together in West Side Story. One of the elderly men dancers appeared in Mary Poppins as a chimney sweep.

What can I say? As an admitted Disneyphile, this movie just called to me. I didn't get a chance to see it in theaters so it garnered a top spot on my netflix queue. What I love about it is how it can have fun with itself. It doesn't take itself seriously and how could it? Andalasia is pure Disney charm. Amy Adams works well as the out of place princess and you couldn't help but like her. James Marsden is hilarious as Gisselle's prince charming (um...I mean Prince Edward). Three of the songs were nominated for Oscars this year and each had the Disney magic behind them. The "Happy Working Song" is pure Disney (I keep saying that) with Amy Adams accompanied by pigeons, rats, and coachroachs (relax, it is actually pretty charming). "So Close", the romantic dance near the end was just beautiful. But it was "That's How You Know" that was the best. It was a full on production number in the middle of Central Park. It blended the fairytail feel with a live music feel if that makes any sense. Disney is at it's best when it isn't trying very hard to be anything else but just trys to be Disney.

Don't forget to send in your answers for this weeks quiz.

Live Free Or Die Hard (2007)

NYPD Detective John McClane (Bruce Willis) has faced some brutal terrorists in his career, but now, he's about to face what may be his most dangerous enemy yet. McClane receives a call to bring in a hacker named Matt Farrell (Justin Long), because there has been a breach in an FBI computer system. Farrell is one of the many hackers who are suspected in the attack, and all known hackers are to be questioned. But after McClane gets to Matt's apartment, a group of men show up and try to kill McClane and Matt, who barely escape with their lives. As it turns out, a group of terrorists led by Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant) are systematically shutting down the United States computer infrastructure. Hilarity ensues when they crash the stock market, crippling America's economy. It turns out that Matt knows enough about hacking to know exactly how Gabriel is shutting down the USA. Gabriel, a disgraced former Department of Defense employee, plans to bring the country to its knees, but he doesn't count on McClane and Matt figuring out what's going on. Gabriel wants McClane and Matt out of the way, and for McClane, the situation becomes personal when an enraged Gabriel kidnaps his daughter Lucy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), who is a student at Rutgers University in New Jersey. Gabriel may think he now has the upper hand on McClane, but he has no idea how far McClane is willing to go to rescue Lucy.

Trivia: The French title translates as "Die Hard 4.0: Return to Hell". The movie's title, Live Free or Die Hard, is a reference to New Hampshire's State Motto "Live Free or Die". Consequently, the New Hampshire state film office received several phone calls asking where in the state the movie was filmed (none of the action was set on New Hampshire and focused on a little New York but mostly Washington). According to Bruce Willis and Director Len Wiseman in the DVD Commentary, the story originally involved McClane's son, Jack. Originally, he was supposed to be the computer hacker John has to deliver to the FBI. Eventually that idea was dropped and the hacker became the Matt Ferrell character. It was then decided to bring in his daughter Lucy to keep up the series continuity of McLane always having a personal stake in what happens in the story. When filming the scenes of John walking through the corridors talking to Gabriel on the two-way, there were no written lines of dialog for Bruce Willis, according to Len Wiseman on the DVD Commentary. So what they did on set was have Willis hold the two-way up to his mouth and speak gibberish so it looks like he's talking to Gabriel. If you'll notice, there are a couple of times where the two-way isn't all the way up to Willis's face and you can see his mouth doesn't match the dialog being spoken. When introduced to an agent Johnson, McClane says: "Johnson, again?". A nod to the two agents Johnson in Die Hard, despite the fact that McClane and the two agents Johnson never spoke to each other or met face to face. The name "Tovarek", which Mai Lihn (the very hot Maggie Q) uses as an FBI agent, is a Polish word and one of it meanings is "hot chick" (the correct Polish word is "towarek", but it's pronounced like this). The car that is stolen in the film by McClane and Farrell is a 2006 E60 BMW 5 series, which was chosen due to a poll that found that people wanted films that had more BMWs in it. The main reason being that the alternatives (Audis and Mercedes-Benzes) were too common and not bold and imposing enough to go with the characters in the film. The particular BMW model (5 series) was chosen because the director, Len Wiseman, found "the 3 series too common, the 7 series too uptight and every other car either too feminine or compensative for a midlife crisis.... Everything McClane isn't, yet".

When in doubt, go back to what made you a bunch of money. Recently this has been happening a bit: see Rocky Balboa, Rambo. However, this is actually a very good movie.The action is not too farfetched (well there is a little poetic license, but what do you expect, it's a Die Hard movie). You would also hope that it wouldn't be that easy to disable America now, or at least the eastern seaboard. By the way, in the Die Hard universe, what did the rest of the country go through when Washington and New York went down? I say this because the bad guys go to one of the power hubs in West Virginia (I'll talk about this later) and it seems that the guards and stuff were pretty much oblivious to what was happening 200 miles away (yeah, they guards did go to the helicopter pad and say that they couldn't land there, but you would expect someplace that vital to be surrounded with a military response if a cyber terrorist attack was in progress). Oh yeah, West Viginia. McClain and Farrell drive to Middleton, West Virginia, yep, I said drive. I checked (excpet there isn't a Middleton that I could find) the closest point in West Virginia to Washington is just under 200 miles (who knows if Middleton is right on the border or not). Now I know this is McClain's movie and he is the hero, but couldn't he get someone else to go check out the power plant instead of driving two to two and a half hours (he didn't look like he was speeding or anything)? I mean he did have a contact with the FBI a few blocks away (at this point the cell system was down). Then while he is at the power plant in West Virginia, Farrell says the Kevin Smith is in Baltimore, except he says he is "close" in Baltimore. I checked, Baltimore is also just under 200 miles away. At least this time they take the helicopter. This is why Die Hard is and always will be supperior to any reincarnation. Die Hard happened in one building, so you don't have to worry about these time issues. But out of the other three movies, this is probably the best.

Top 250

3:10 To Yuma (2007)
Number 194 on IMDb's Top 250

Rancher Dan Evans (Christian Bale) heads into Bisbee to clear up issues concerning the sake of his land when he witnesses the closing events of a stagecoach robbery lead by famed outlaw Ben Wade (Russell Crowe). Hilarity ensues when Wade is arrested in Bisbee and Evans finds himself one of the escorts who will take Wade to Contention to catch the 3:10 train to Yuma and prison. Evans will get a much needed $200 for the service. Evans' takes on the job of taking Wade to the station not only to save his land but to prove to himself that he can be more than just a naive rancher in the eyes of his impetuous and gunslinging son William Evans. The transport to Contention is hazardous and filled with ambushes from Indians, pursuits by Wade's vengeful gang and Wade's own conniving and surreptitious demeanor that makes the ride all more intense.

Trivia: The movie was funded in conjunction with New Mexico's Film Investment Program. The weekend before shooting was scheduled to wrap, a freak storm dumped nearly 2 feet of snow on the supposedly drought plagued town. Labourers shoveled the snow from the buildings' balconies and roofs and distributed 89 dump trucks worth of dry soil on the ground. Backhoes created an 8 foot tall rampart of snow just beyond camera sight lines for the remaining 6 days of shooting. The short story upon which the film is based was published in Dime Western Magazine in 1953. The action begins in the hotel room with a deputy sheriff guarding a 21 year old robber. As the bad guy posse rides into Contention City you can clearly see seven men on horseback. But when William is asked how many men are approaching he responds "Seven, or eight." This is a nod to the original version of the movie in which the number of men changed back and forth between seven and eight.

At 122 minutes this movie was 30 full minutes longer then the original that was released 50 years and one month earlier. So, needless to say, there was a lot more in this movie then the original. This is probably one of the few remakes to actually be as good as the original. The orginal, you may remember starred Glen Ford as Wade and is a solid movie, but it was short, at least by today's standard (today only comedies seem to be less then 100 minutes). The extra length gave Wade and Evans more of a change to interact which is one of the really great parts of the movie, not the gun play, not the landscapes, not the horses, though all are wonderful, it is the mind games Wade plays on Evans and the men. Wade truely seems to be playing and really looks like he is enjoying it.

Transformers (2007)

A long time ago, far away on the planet of Cybertron, a war was being waged between the noble Autobots (led by the wise Optimus Prime) and the devious Decepticons (commanded by the dreaded Megatron) for control over the Allspark, a mystical talisman that would grant unlimited power to whoever possessed it. The Autobots managed to smuggle the Allspark off the planet, but Megatron blasted off in search of it. He eventually tracked it to the planet of Earth (circa 1850), but his reckless desire for power sent him right into the Arctic Ocean, and the sheer cold forced him into a paralyzed state. His body was later found by Captain Archibald Witwicky, and before going into a comatose state Megatron used the last of his energy to engrave a map, showing the location of the Allspark, into the Captain's glasses, and send a transmission to Cybertron. He is then carted away by the Captain's ship. Hilarity ensues as a century later, Sam Witwicky (Shia LeBeouf) buys his first car. To his shock, he discovers that it is not a camero, but Bumblebee, an Autobot in disguise who is there to protect Sam, the Captain's glasses and the map carved on them. But Bumblebee is not the only Transformer to have arrived on Earth - in the desert of Qatar, the Decepticons Blackout and Scorponok attack a U.S. military base, causing the Pentagon to send their special Sector Seven agents to capture all "specimens of this alien race," and Sam along with his girlfriend Mikaela (the aptly named Megan Fox) find themselves in the middle of a grand battle between the Autobots and the Decepticons, stretching from Hoover Dam all the way to Los Angeles. Meanwhile, within the depths of Hoover Dam, the cryogenically stored form of Megatron awakens...


Trivia: Producer Don Murphy decided, after listening to feedback from Transformers fans, to use the voices from the "Transformers" (TV cartoon series). Veteran voice actors Peter Cullen and Frank Welker, who provided the voices for the iconic Transformer leaders Optimus Prime (Cullen) and Megatron (Welker), were auditioned personally by director Michael Bay, who feared that their aged voices would be noticeable. Cullen was confirmed to reprise his role, but Welker's voice was too light for Megatron's new beastly look, and so Hugo Weaving took the role of Megatron. However, Welker reprises his role as Megatron in Transformers: The Game. Bumblebee's original alternate mode in "Transformers" was a Volkswagen Beetle, but this was altered to a 1977/2009 Chevrolet Camaro (against Don Murphy's wishes). This was because Michael Bay felt that the Camaro held a more friendly quality than the Beetle, and he wanted to avoid comparisons with Herbie the Love Bug. As a tribute to the series, a yellow Volkswagen Beetle appears next to him at the car shop (and as a joke Bumblebee damages it!). The Decepticons were to have more dialogue in the film, but most of their lines were cut out to keep them mysterious (screenwriter Roberto Orci reasoned that the more a villain talks, the less threatening they are). To please the fans, though, Megatron's classic berating of Starscream ("You have failed me yet again, Starscream...") from "Transformers" was put in the film. Sometimes, the camera was kept in a bulletproof glass box while shooting, due to the intense nature of the stunts. Shia LaBeouf quipped, "The camera's in a bullet-proof box, but what about me?" Optimus Prime is composed of 10,108 pieces. The Decepticons outnumber the Autobots eight to five. This was a deliberate move by the writers to emphasize the Autobots' teamwork, and the threat the Decepticons pose to the world. As that there were no running 2009 model Camaros, Bumblebee was actually created by Saleen inc. The same tuner that created Barricade. Working with the Pontiac GTO along with data and wheelbase drawings of the 2009 Camaro provided by GM, Saleen cobbled together, from the floorboards up, a running "Camaro" in just 30 days.


If you noticed my labels below, I have a new one (HD) that is because for Christmas I got myself an HD TV and an HD DVD player (Whoo Hoo!) so I watched this in High Definition. The ultimate toys for a movie buff. Anyway, back to the movie. It was really short of plot. I mean there was a lot of plot but it was pretty thin. And if you are going to have a Transformer movie, show the Transformers, not the whimpy Shia LeBeouf (although that meant that you got to see a lot Megan Fox, which is a VERY good thing, an uberhot woman who knows cars AND has a bad girl streak?). And they also have a beautiful analyst (Rachel Taylor) at the DoD that figures it all out. Um...Anyway, they also try to add humor into the mix. Why does every retro 70's TV show that is made into a movie have to have added humor inserted? I mean, yes, i was funny to watch the Autobots trying to hide from Sam's parents (who never seemed to look out any of their windows) but it took a little away from the character of Optimus Prime. Have some of the others give you the humor, leave Optimus out of it. There is also said to be a lot of religious overtones in the movie, good vs. evil, Opitmus as a savior like figure spouting grandios phrases to brainwash our kids or something like that. I guess I could see it a little but i was nowhere near what I thought it would be and I don't think people give kids enough credit. Kids are smart too. They can figure this stuff out on their own, it's just a freaking movie people.

Beowulf [Digital 3-D] (2007)

n Denmark in the year 507 a.D., elderly King Hrothgar (Anthony Hopkins) and his people are terrorized by the misshapen half-human, half-demon Grendel (Crispin Glover). Hrothgar orders the mead hall sealed and sends out a call for a hero to come and rid the kingdom of Grendel. Several months later, Beowulf (Ray Winstone) answers the call. Beowulf and Hrothgar's
queen, Wealthow (Robin Wright Penn) are clearly attracted to one another. Hilarity ensues as Beowulf prepares to battle the vile Grendel. And to make it fair, since Grendel uses no weapons, Beowulf will face him naked.

Trivia: According Ray Winstone, he and his fellow cast spent days filming in blue skintight suit, "showing up all your lumps and bumps in all the wrong places. Which can be hard when you're standing in front of Angelina, who looks stunning in hers." According to visual effects supervisor Jerome Chen, close to 300 cameras were used to motion capture the performances, compared with 64 to 72 for The Polar Express (2004).

Well, after much hilarity ensuing in my own life, I am back to torture you with my well intentioned yet sometimes lacking reviews. Beowulf. I watched this in Digital 3-D and it is stunning. This isn't your parent's 3-D. The action is smooth and the image is crystal clear. The only thing is that currently it is only being used for animated movies. That will change with the release of Journey 3-D with Brendan Fraser next year, the first live action Digital 3-D movie (the preview looks awesome), but back to the movie. Be sure to watch this in the 3-D format because it will enhance the movie tenfold. The movie itself is a tad simple and at times maddening in the animation. The motion capture is great for the action, but things like the eyes of the characters is still lacking. There just doesn't seem to be much life in the eyes at times and occasionally the backgrounds disappoint. The action more then makes up for the occasional lapse in the animation and once or twice you actually forget you are watching an animated movie. The motion capture does a fantastic job capturing the performances of the actors and with actors like Anthony Hopkins, John Malkovich (the king's adviser), Robin Wright Penn, and Angelina Jolie (the water demon, those are her legs in the poster) you get some good performances. The camera also is unhindered because of the fact that it is animated so you are treated to some exceptional camera angles that you would be hardpressed to duplicate in anything but CGI. So to sum up, if you watch this film, be sure to see it in 3-D.

The Perils Of Gwendoline In The Land Of The Yik Yak (1984)

Hilarity ensues as Gwendoline (Tawny Kitaen), accompanied by a soldier of fortune, Willard (Brent Huff), and her French maid (Zabou), journeys deep into the jungle and desert to capture a butterfly that has eluded her late father's scientific quest. They eventually discover the lost underground realm of the Yik-Yak, an all-female society ruled by a queen who plans to kill Willard after he mates with a female gladiator champion.

Trivia: Tawny Kitaen is probably best known as the sexy vixen in several Whitesnake videos in the late 1980s, along with her then-husband, lead singer David Coverdale. She also married Chuck Finley, a major league baseball pitcher from 1986-2002, winning 200 games as a member of the Anaheim Angels, Cleveland Indians, and St. Louis Cardinals. Chuck Finley filed for divorce in Orange County (CA) Superior Court against Kitaen just 3 days after she was arrested for allegedly hitting him. Finley also obtained a temporary restraining order against her and temporary custody of their daughters. In her response, dated April 15, Kitaen acknowledged that she has become addicted to prescription medications for depression and migraine headaches and is currently seeking treatment. Gee that really livened up the mood.

The Perils of Gwendoline is a very good example of an 80s sexploitation B movie. It stars Tawny Kitaen and has more then it's fair share of the female anatomy showing but not enough to push it past an R rating. The plot is stretched to the breaking point, the acting is horrendous, and the effects are laughable. But that is what you would expect from a film like this. This is just fun, sit back, relax, and don't strain your brain fare. So what does it say about me when I like the loyal, slightly goofy, glasses wearing female sidekicks in these films better then the main eye candy? Hmmm. I'll have to get back to you on that.

Tarzan The Ape Man (1932)

James Parker (C. Aubrey Smith) and Harry Holt (Neil Hamilton) are on an expedition in Africa in search of the elephant burial grounds that will provide enough ivory to make them rich. Parker's beautiful young daughter Jane (Maureen O'Sullivan) arrives unexpectedly to join them. Harry is obviously attracted to Jane and he does his best to help protect her from all the dangers that they experience in the jungle. Jane is terrified when Tarzan ( Johnny Weissmuller) and his ape friends first abduct her as hilarity ensues, but when she returns to her father's expedition she has second thoughts about leaving Tarzan. After the expedition is captured by a tribe of violent dwarfs, Jane sends Cheetah to bring Tarzan to rescue them...

Trivia: When Johnny Weissmuller was approached to play Tarzan, he was under contract with BVD to advertise their underwear and swimming trunks. BVD strenuously objected to its spokesman appearing in just a loincloth - the company only wanted him to appear wearing its product. In return for letting Weismuller play Tarzan, MGM allowed BVD to run ads featuring the studio's contract players in BVD swimsuits (including Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, Jean Harlow and Marie Dressler). Tarzan's distinctive call was created by sound recordist Douglas Shearer. It was a normal call, manipulated and played backwards. Clark Gable was considered for the role of Tarzan, but was deemed too much of an unknown to play the ape man. At no point in this movie is the line "Me Tarzan, you Jane" spoken. When Jane and Tarzan meet, it is she who initiates the verbal exchange, repeatedly indicating herself and giving her name until he repeats it. She then points to him, indicating that she wants to know if there's a word for who he is as "Jane" is the word for who she is, until eventually he understands and says, "Tarzan." This film used considerable stock footage from Trader Horn also directed by W.S. Van Dyke, resulting in some very obvious back-projection effects, particularly toward the beginning of the picture.

I have seen enough Tarzan movies on Saturday afternoons to expect certain things. There would be animals, they would put an expedition in danger and Tarzan would come swooping in for the rescue. Well, I wasn't disappointed, but it was other things that surprised me. First, Jane shows up at her father's trading post in Africa unannounced then finds out her father will be going on an expedition into the deep African jungles and promptly invites herself. Her father protests for about 2 seconds then says okay when Harry Holt says he doesn't see a problem in it (besides the fact the she has only been in Africa for less then 10 minutes). Jane is very talkative and she was very hott, especially when she was showing her legs (who walks through the jungles of Africa in a dress?) And man was this movie politically incorrect, they whipped their porters mercilessly, and they were attacked by violent dwarfs ("Are those Pygmys" asked Jane, "No, they are dwarfs", and that was the funniest scenes in the whole movie, I mean they really looked like Oompa Loompas). And this movies is very violent. Tarzan kills people! I know they killed his ape friend first, but he sneaks up behind one person and hold his head under the water until he drowns. Oh yeah, Tarzan. This guy is, well, to use a modern term, an real horndog. I mean he kidnaps Jane 2minutes after meeting her, takes her to his love nest...umm...tree house home, he continually paws at her and grabs her, and Jane turns into a little giggling school girl, screaming and running around. I know this is an unconventional love story but it was hilarious.

Seven Brides For Seven Brothers (1954)

Adam (Howard Keel), the eldest of seven brothers, goes to town to get a wife. He convinces Milly (Jane Powell) to marry him that same day. Music ensues. They return to his backwoods home. Only then does she discover he has six brothers -- all living in his cabin. Music ensues. Milly sets out to reform the uncouth siblings, who are anxious to get wives of their own. Dancing ensues. Then, after reading about the Roman capture of the Sabine women, Adam develops an inspired solution to his brothers' loneliness . . . kidnap the women they want! Hilarity ensues.

Trivia: The film was basically shot twice in two separate formats, the widescreen cinemascope format and the standard format. This was done so that the theaters that did not have cinemascope available could still see all of the movie. This required the action to be choreographed for both formats. Scenes for the widescreen version were shot in the morning and, for the normal ratio, in the afternoon. According to director Stanley Donen despite the fact that it cost more than the widescreen version to make, the other version was never used. MGM considered this a B movie - they had higher aspirations for the more expensive "Brigadoon". For this reason, they slashed the budget on "Seven Brothers", forcing Stanley Donen to use painted backdrops instead of location filming. The censors weren't too happy about the line in the song "Lonesome Polecat" where the brothers lament "A man can't sleep when he sleeps with sheep". By not showing any sheep in the same shot as the brothers, the film-makers were able to get away with it. Rehearsals for the barn-raising sequence took 3 weeks. For the brides costumes, designer Walter Plunkett went to the Salvation Army, found old quilts and turned them into dresses. Because there was no way of distinguishing between them and the Town Suitors, MGM decided to make all the Pontipee Brothers red-headed.

MGM was the studio of musicals in the 40s, 50s, and 60s. Only in a musical would a group of men be able to kidnap six girls and end up, well...I guess you will have to watch it. The dances were well done and very colorful, the barn dance sequence was fun to watch. Umm...what can I say, you pretty much know what to expect with an MGM musical.

Classic Movie Wednesday

Easy Rider (1969)

Two young "hippie" bikers, Wyatt (Peter Fonda) and Billy (Dennis Hopper) sell some dope in Southern California, stash their money away in their gas-tank and set off for a trip across America, on their own personal odyssey looking for a way to lead their lives. Hilarity ensues as on the journey they encounter bigotry and hatred from small-town communities who despise and fear their non-conformism. However Wyatt and Billy also discover people attempting 'alternative lifestyles' who are resisting this narrow-mindedness, there is always a question mark over the future survival of these drop-out groups. The gentle hippie community who thank God for 'a place to stand' are living their own unreal dream. The rancher they encounter and his Mexican wife are hard-pushed to make ends meet. Even LSD turns sour when the trip is a bad one. Death comes to seem the only freedom. When they arrive at a diner in a small town, they are insulted by the local rednecks as weirdo degenerates. They are arrested on some minor pretext by the local sheriff and thrown in jail where they meet George Hanson (Jack Nicholson), a liberal alcoholic lawyer. He gets them out and decides to join them on their trip to New Orleans in time for Mardi Gras.

Trivia: The Captain America jacket was designed by Peter Fonda and made by "two little old ladies" in Los Angeles. It was later sold at a charity auction. According to Peter Fonda, four police bikes were customized for the film. One was burned during filming, and the other three were stolen before filming was completed. Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and Jack Nicholson were actually smoking marijuana on camera. During Jack Nicholson's "UFO" speech, Dennis Hopper was intent on getting him very stoned on marijuana. The laughing that eventually broke up his speech was not planned, and when Nicholson repeats the line "it....it....would be devastating...." was the next take. The final campfire scene was left out of the original shooting schedule and was shot after both motorcycles had been stolen. Some of the film was shot on 16mm film instead of 35mm. This was demo footage shot a year before production began. Some of the weird lighting effects in the LSD scene came about because a can of film was accidentally exposed when it was opened before being developed. Peter Fonda was an experienced motorcycle rider and the bike he rides in the movie is seriously stretched and raked and has tall "apehanger" style handlebars. Dennis Hopper was not as experienced a rider, therefore his bike is less radically chopped. Peter Fonda wore the Capt. America jacket and rode his chopper a week around L.A. before shooting began to give them a broken-in look and to get used to riding the radically designed bike. The American flag on the back of the jacket and on the gas tank of the bike caused him to be pulled over several times by the police. The rednecks in the Louisiana coffee shop who taunt the boys, and the two in the pickup truck at the end of the movie, were all local residents recruited by the filmmakers. In the case of the coffee shop denizens, the filmmakers were preparing to audition a group of local theater people when Dennis Hopper saw Causey, Lafont, et al, watching them and making wisecracks and decided to use them instead. It was one of the first films to make extensive use of previously released musical tracks rather than specially written film score. This is quite common with films now but was quite unusual at the time (the exception being the Beatles films and some other special cases). Hopper and Fonda did not write a full script for the movie and made most of it up as they went along. They didn't hire a crew and instead picked up hippies at communes across the country and used friends and passersby to hold the cameras and were drunk and stoned most of the time. Captain America's (Peter Fonda's) chopper was so "squirrely" to ride that at one stage Jack Nicholson (who was on the back) squeezed his knees on Peter Fonda's side to balance himself and broke one of Fonda's ribs.

Well, this was an interesting movie. There isn't really much dialog, a lot of it is Hopper and Fonda driving across America, which is beautiful. The most interesting part of this was the "making of" documentary. These guys made this on a shoe string budget and with the help of friends. They were also pretty much high the whole time. When you see them smoking marijuana on screen, they are smoking the real stuff. The cocaine was powdered sugar, but the marijuana was real.

Top 250

The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
Number 54 on IMDb's Top 250

Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) is back and he wants answers or hilarity will not ensue. The problem is that he doesn't really know who he is, he just knows that he can kick some serious butt. Bourne tracks down a reporter that has been working on a story about him and has come into possession of new information about the government agency he was a part of. This leads Bourne on a journey from Moscow to London to Spain and finally to New York and his past.

Trivia: During one of the scenes in the New York CIA office, a picture of Donald Rumsfeld can be seen on one of the computer monitors. It took six weeks to film the climactic car chase in downtown New York City. During the final car chase in NYC all the car are going 35 MPH or lower. The NYPD was afraid of pedestrians getting hurt and wouldn't let filming crews go any faster.

If you have read the books, you will know that the movies have little in common with them besides the character of Jason Bourne. Actually the plot of "The Bourne Ultimatum" was made into The Bourne Supremacy. "The Bourne Supremacy" has nothing in common with any of the movies, so it is a little confusing. As a action flick, this has everything you would want, car chases, foot chases, chases across roof tops, chases through down town New York, Bourne gets to beat up a bunch of people who are trying to kill him, stuff like that. We do get to see the return of Joan Allen and Julia Stiles who are now kind of on Bourne's side and not trying to kill him, but we add David Strathairn as the head of Project Black Briar an upgrade to Treadstone which created Bourne in the first place. And now we have to talk about camera shake. You know what I mean, when a film maker uses a hand held camera and constantly moves it around to create an artificial shake that is reminiscent of documentary film making. It is supposed to give a movie a gritty edge and realism to it. And it does...in moderation. Paul Greengrass is obsessed with camera shake. Even when the characters are sitting still at a cafe table talking the camera is moving, shaking, like the cameraman just finished a gallon of coffee. during the fight scenes it was great (it is really used as a cheat in fight scenes and stuff because if the camera is constantly moving, the actors don't need to be as precise in the fight choreography and you can use the actual actors instead of stunt doubles, but I digress). So, in certain points camera shake is useful but not every single frame of the movie please.

Classic Movie Wednesday

Captains Courageous (1937)

Harvey Cheyne (Freddie Bartholomew) is a spoiled brat used to having his own way. When a prank goes wrong onboard an ocean liner Harvey ends up overboard and nearly drowns as hilarity ensues. Fortunately he's picked up by a fishing boat just heading out for the season. He tries to bribe the crew into returning early to collect a reward but none of them believe him. Stranded on the boat he must adapt to the ways of the fishermen from Manuel (Spencer Tracy) and learn more about the real world.

Trivia: Was the first MGM film to be shown on television, in 1955. Spencer Tracy was initially reluctant to take on the part of Manuel, mainly because he had to sing in several scenes and get his hair curled. His new curly locks provided a lot of amusement to his friends and fellow actors. Joan Crawford, for instance, referred to him as Harpo (after Harpo Marx, the curly-haired Marx Brother). This was one of the final films Lionel Barrymore made before his degenerative arthritis crippled him. The following year, he was hobbling around on crutches in Frank Capra's "You Can't Take It with You" (1938); after that, he was confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

Welcome to a new feature on Hilarity Ensues. Classic Movie Wednesday where I will review a classic movie on, well, Wednesday. Now what is a classic movie? Actually, it is just an old movie and Old Movie Wednesday didn't sound as good. I am going to say pre 1990 (well I had to pick a year), and yes, I know that is not very old, but this way I can pick up some of the great 80's flicks, although most will be older. And now to this film. Spencer Tracy won the Best Actor Oscar for this little gem. Freddie Bartholomew was great as the spoiled brat with a machiavellian bent who has to come to terms with his mostly absent father. Tracy becomes a surrogate father to Bartholomew and really has some great scenes. The rest of the cast is also pretty high powered with Lionel Barrymore as the captain and Mickey Rooney as the captain's son. The movie still has relevance today with it's look at fatherhood and growing up.

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