Oscar Month Twofer: Doubt (2008)

Hilarity ensues as a charismatic priest, Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman), is trying to upend St. Nicholas' strict customs, which have long been fiercely guarded by Sister Aloysius Beauvier (Meryl Streep), the iron-gloved Principal who believes in the power of fear and discipline. The winds of political change are sweeping through the community, and indeed, the school has just accepted its first black student, Donald Miller (Joseph Foster). But when Sister James (Amy Adams), a hopeful innocent, shares with Sister Aloysius her guilt-inducing suspicion that Father Flynn is paying too much personal attention to Donald, Sister Aloysius sets off on a personal crusade to unearth the truth and to expunge Flynn from the school. Now, without a shard of proof besides her moral certainty, Sister Aloysius locks into a battle of wills with Father Flynn which threatens to tear apart the community with irrevocable consequence.

Trivia: The Broadway play ran for over a year, with 525 performances. The play won four Tony awards: Best Play, Best Director (Doug Hughes), Best Actress (Cherry Jones), and Best Featured Actress (Adriane Lenox). Oprah Winfrey reportedly lobbied for the role of Mrs. Miller, but John Patrick Shanley refused to even give her a reading.

Hmmm, let's see, why am I reviewing this movie during Oscar Month? Did it get nominated for any Oscars? Oh yeah, three. One for Meryl "I always get nominated" Streep for Best Actress. One for Amy "See I can play dramatic roles" Adams for Best Supporting Actress and one for Viola "Whoo Hoo, two scenes one nomination!" Davis for Best Supporting Actress. Okay, let's take these one at a time. Viola Davis was in a total of two scenes. That's it, two. The first is an extended dialogue with Meryl Streep's character, Sister Aloysius. In the second, she appears only for about 10 seconds and does not speak. I don't mean to denegrate Ms. Davis (who plays the mother of the boy Father Flynn is accused of acosting) , but she was only in two scenes. They were nice scenes but really. I know Michael Shannon was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in Revolutionary Road and he was in two scenes, but he really made an impact on the movie. Viola Davis didn't have as much impact. Wasn't there anyone else? Next Amy Adams. She is okay in her role as the young nun who didn't know quite what to do or who to believe but not groundbreaking. Then there was Meryl Streep. The Mercedes of the bunch. The top dog. The queen of acting. The, well, you get my point. Sometimes I think the Academy falls back on what they know. They know Streep. Was she good? Yes. Was she scary? Yes. Was she imtimidating? Yes. Was this her best work? Nope. Of course a subpar performance from her could beat plenty of career performances by others, but not this year. I did like how the movie kept you guessing all the way through if the father was guilty or not.

Oscar Month: Changeling (2008)

The year was 1928, Los Angeles. As Christine (Angelina Jolie) said goodbye to her son, Walter, and departed for work, she never anticipated that this was the day her life would be forever changed. Upon returning home, Christine was distressed to discover that Walter was nowhere to be found. Over the course of the following months, the desperate mother would launch a search that would ultimately prove fruitless. Yet just when it seemed that all hope was lost, a nine-year-old boy claiming to be Christine's son seemed to appear out of thin air. Overcome with emotions and uncertain how to face the authorities or the press, Christine invites the child to stay in her home despite knowing without a doubt that he is not her son. As much as Christine would like to accept the fact that her son has been returned to her, she cannot accept the injustice being pushed upon her and continues to challenge the Prohibition-era Los Angeles police force at every turn. As a result, Christine is slandered by the powers that be, and painted as an unfit mother. In this town, a woman who challenges the system is putting her life on the line, and as the situation grows desperate, the only person willing to aid her in her search is benevolent local activist Reverend Briegleb (John Malkovich). Not much hilarity there to ensue.

Trivia: Based on the true story of the Wineville Chicken Coop Murders, also known as the Wineville Chicken Murders. There is a roadside café named "Bummy's" which appears early on in the film. This is possibly in memory of Clint Eastwood's long time collaboration with Production Designer Henry Bumstead, who passed away in 2006. His nickname was "Bummy". Both Hilary Swank and Reese Witherspoon lobbied for the role of Christine Collins. Clint Eastwood cast Angelina Jolie at the suggestion of Executive Producer Ron Howard, who noted that Jolie's "look" would fit best with the time period. J. Michael Straczynski first learned of the story of Christine Collins from an unnamed source at Los Angeles City Hall. The source had stumbled across case files regarding the Wineville Chicken Coop Murders among other discarded documents scheduled for destruction. Straczynski took the files himself and became obsessed with the case, doing extensive research over the course of a year. Virtually every event depicted in the film appears as cited in legal documents, with dialog often taken verbatim from court transcripts. The exception is the insane asylum sequences which are based more on conventions of the time than documented events. Straczynski wrote his first draft of the screenplay in only eleven days.

Angelina Jolie is nominated in the Best Actress catagory for this period crime drama, and she does a good job as the mother wondering what happened to her child and fighting against the police. The movie is nice a simple and beautifully shot as most of Eastwood's movies are. It is worth seeing. But I am going to talk about movie posters. The one at the top of the page is the American version. The one to the left is Spanish (at least I think it is, it is written in Spanish). (click on the posters to see larger versions of them.) The second one is a powerful poster with a woman looking in on a child that might be her son or it might not be. You can see the concern on her face. The face is instantly recognizeable as Jolie, so you get the star power on the poster. It is a nice poster. The American one on the other hand. What the heck is up with that? Jolie looks huge. She also looks hungry. Hungry enough to eat the small bite size kid in front of her? Maybe. The picture is not enven that flatterying of her. I think the second poster is a much prettier picture of her. It also gives the impression of being in the past. If I saw the first poster without knowing what the film was about I couldn't even start to guess what it was about. No clue. And what is with the solid white background? There are many times when the foreign posters are superior to the domestic versions. Why is that? Because they think we can't understand it? Because they think if the poster doesn't have the stars full face promenantly shown we will fail to recognize them, no half hidden face, no reflections? They think that if the poster is to artsy that we will not watch it? Dear Hollywood, we are not idiots, (well at least some of us aren't. See Meet The Spartans: $38 million dollars at the boxoffice.)

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seusne ytiraliH. (okay okay, I'll go back to normal) "I was born under unusual circumstances." That is how Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt) describes his birth. You see, when he was born his body was that of an 80 year old. The thing about Benjamin is that as time went by he grew younger, but like all of us, he is not able to stop the passage of time. The story follows his diary as he lives his life in New Orleans (abandoned by his father and taken in by Queenie (Taraji P. Henson) who runs an old folks home), and his adventures into the world. Along the way he meets a lot of people, including Elizabeth Abbott (Tilda Swinton) the wife of a diplomat and spy in Minsk, Russia, Captain Mike (Jared Harris) a tug boat Captain, and Daisy (Cate Blanchett) the young granddaughter of a resident of the old folks home, and his life long love.

Trivia: Filmmakers worked closely with Levi's to obtain clothing items from their Levi's Vintage Clothing collection to authenticate various time periods captured throughout the film. Principal photography was targeted to last a total of 150 days, excluding the time it would take to create the visual effects for the metamorphosis of Brad Pitt's character to the infant stage. Brad Pitt stated it took 5 hours each day to complete the make-up required for the role. The second Hollywood feature film, after Denzel Washington's Deja Vu, to film in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

Well this is the first and maybe only shoo-in for a Best Picture Oscar nomination this year. It definitely is the type of movie that Oscar loves, a dramatic and romantic love story that stretches over years and years. But does it have a chance? Well, in a word, yes. This is a solid movie with a solid cast. Brad Pitt. He does a great job with the different ages that he plays, you feel his struggle to live his life. Cate Blanchett. She is at her loveliest in this role, and she gets to dance. Tilda Swinton. She is only in the movie for about 10 minutes out of almost 3 hours but she ends up stealing her scene from Pitt. The makeup and special effects. They were awesome. We all have seen age makeup where an actor looks older then they really are, but it was the younger look that was so impressive. At one point Pitt looked like he had just finished Thelma and Louise the day before not 17 years before. Blanchett also gets the youth treatment. It is a good film and is considered by most as the Oscar frontrunner. We shall see.

The Dark Knight (2008)

One year has passed since Batman (Christian Bale) stopped Ra's Al Ghul's plan to have Gotham eliminated and the mysterious disappearance of Dr. Jonathan Crane AKA the Scarecrow, and after the city was nearly plundered with his toxins. Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) and his vigilante alter-ego the Batman (Christian Bale), continue the seemingly endless effort to bring order to Gotham, with the help of Lt. James Gordon (Gary Oldman) and newly appointed District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), a new white knight in Gotham. But a new threat has now emerged into the streets. Hilarity ensues as The Dark Knight (Christian Bale) faces a rising psychopathic criminal called The Joker (Heath Ledger), whose eerie grin, laughter, and inhuman morality makes him as dangerous as what he has yet to unleash. It becomes an agenda to Batman (Christian Bale) to stop the mysterious Joker (Heath Ledger) at all costs, knowing that both of them (Christian Bale and Heath Ledger) are on opposite sides. One has no method at all and seeks to see the world plunge into the fire he has yet to light and the other is the Joker (Heath Ledger) [Okay, Just kidding]. One represents the symbol of hope and uses his own shadow to bring the peace and order he has yet to accomplish doing.

Trivia: This is the first Batman film to not have "Batman" in the title. As a joke, one bat suit was made with nipples, as in Batman & Robin. It was presented to Christian Bale as the real bat suit, but he knew instantly it was a joke, having seen a few design pictures during preproduction. He did pose for some publicity photos in the "nipple" suit. When asked, "Why Heath Ledger as the Joker?" Christopher Nolan said, "Because he's fearless." While filming on the streets of Chicago in April 2007, the filming was carried out under the fake movie title "Rory's First Kiss" named after Christopher Nolan's son Rory. Fliers regarding the filming carried this fake title, complete with a fake "RFK" logo for the movie and an address for the film's production offices. To prepare for his role as the Joker, Heath Ledger lived alone in a hotel room for a month, formulating the character's psychology, posture and voice (the last one he found most difficult to do). He started a diary, in which he wrote the Joker's thoughts and feelings to guide himself during his performance. He was also given Alan Moore's comic "Batman: The Killing Joke" and "Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth" to read. Ledger also took inspiration from A Clockwork Orange's Alex and Sid Vicious. It's Sir Michael Caine's opinion that Heath Ledger beat the odds and topped Jack Nicholson's Joker from Batman: "Jack was like a clown figure, benign but wicked, maybe a killer old uncle. He could be funny and make you laugh. Heath's gone in a completely different direction to Jack, he's like a really scary psychopath. He's a lovely guy and his Joker is going to be a hell of a revelation in this picture." Caine bases this belief on a scene where the Joker pays a visit to Bruce Wayne's penthouse. He'd never met Ledger before, so when Ledger arrived and performed he gave Caine such a fright he forgot his lines. Bruce Wayne develops and wears a new Batsuit in the film. This Batsuit was an improvement on the outfit from Batman Begins, and made Christian Bale more comfortable and agile in his performance. It was constructed from 200 unique pieces of rubber, fibreglass, metallic mesh, and nylon (producing an impression of sophisticated technology), with elastic banding added for tightening the costume to fit Bale. The gauntlets had their razors made retractable and able to be fired. The suit's cowl was based on a motorcycle helmet and separated from the neck piece, allowing Bale to move his head left/right/up/down, and comes equipped with white eye lenses for when Batman turns on Bat-sonar. The Joker make-up was composed of three pieces of stamped silicone, which took less than an hour to apply to Heath Ledger on each day of shooting. Ledger described it as "new technology which is much quicker to apply than regular prosthetics"; he felt he was not wearing any make-up at all. In only 6 days of release, The Dark Knight made more money than Batman Begins entire domestic run.

Geez it has been a long time since I wrote a review. I am going to save comments about Heath Ledger until later. Currently The Dark Knight sits on the IMDb Top 250 Movies list at the lofty position of 3. This is actually a slip for it since from the first days of the movie it sat at number 1. So is it the best movie ever made? Probably not. But it was damn good and fun to watch. The length got a little long towards the end but though I thought about it, I didn't look at my watch. There was action through out and they kept you at the edge of your seat. The actors. Christian Bale turned in a servicable Batman. Gary Oldman as Detective Gordon was good. Maggie Gyllenhaal was way better then Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes. Aaron Eckhart turned in a good Harvey Dent/Two Face. Which brings me to a point. The two villians. Batman movies in the past have suffered from multiple villians. Heck, comic book movies in general usually do (See Spider Man 3) and this movie is no different. If I could have gotten rid of anything it would have been Two Face. Don't get me wrong, the movie did a whole lot better with the two then the franchise had earlier and Two Face's story worked in well with the rest but this movie was all Joker and could have easiler been only Joker and survived just as well. Two Face could have been saved for the next movie. So this brings me back to Heath Ledger. This is his movie, don't even think otherwise. He ownes the movie from start to finish. The scenes with him just seem better. I was waiting for him to come back on screen. Jack Nicolson owned the Joker back in 89, but Heath Ledger performed a hostile takeover. The darkness of these movies compared to the Batmans in the 90's also really helped. Heath got to play an infinitely scarrier Joker then Jack did. It is a shame Ledger passed away. The Joker could have definitely been in another movie.

By the way, I actually got to see this with a bunch of friends in a fancy old style theater (with decorations and stuff from a bygone era) and an organist in Oakland, California. It was an awesome way to see it. And I plan to take my brother to the Imax version sometime soon. So I got that going for me, which is nice.

Dirty Harry (1971)

1971. San Francisco is under the terrorizing eye of a psychopathic sniper called Scorpio, who claims in one of his written letters to the SFPD, that he will keep killing until his demands are made. Inspector 'Dirty' Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) is a no nonsense San Francisco police officer with his own ideas of how to handle police work. Callahan has a reputation of losing partners and is not to happy when he is assigned a new partner for the Scorpio case. It becomes a menacing task for Callahan, as he's been assigned to apprehend the menacing killer at all cost. Hilarity ensues as the case later unravels into a cat-and-mouse game between the two men. One killer with a sinister, distasteful laugh. The other, a killer with a badge.

Trivia: The title role was originally intended for Frank Sinatra who had to pull out because of a hand injury. The script then passed to Paul Newman, who also turned it down but said it would be a perfect vehicle for Clint Eastwood. Audie Murphy was first approached to play the Scorpio Killer, but he died in a plane crash on May 28, 1971 before his decision on the offer could be made. It is widely accepted that this movie was loosely based on the events surrounding the Zodiac Killer who was actively killing people in San Francisco at the time. After Harry has foiled the bank robbery at the beginning of the film, he strides over to the one surviving robber. In doing so, he walks in front of a theatre which is showing Play Misty for Me, which Eastwood directed and starred in. The final scene where Harry throws his badge in the river is a homage to a similar scene from High Noon. Although Harry was supposed to use a Smith & Wesson Model 29 .44 Mag, the actual gun used was the Model 57 in .41 Magnum. All the outdoor scenes were actually filmed in San Francisco except for the bank robbery which Dirty Harry foils, when he first utters his immortal phrase, "Do you feel lucky?" This scene was shot on a set. A police department in the Philippines ordered a print of the movie for use as a training film. In the final scene, Clint Eastwood really did throw his badge into the quarry pond. The SFPD issued another badge with the same number to replace it.

"I know what you're thinking. 'Did he fire six shots or only five?' Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?" This is probably one of the most recognized movie quotes of all time and it really shows you Callahan's character. He is blunt, he is cynical, and his methods are definitely unorthodoxed, but he gets the job done and as long as justice prevails the ends justify the means. This is one of the founding films for this type of cop, the hard, rugged loner who always seems to be in trouble with his superiors, but it is also a kind of subgenre of lone lawmen that has been around in Westerns for decades. The problem now, and I think I have mentioned it before, is that I didn't see it when it came out (I was one and Mom and Dad wouldn't take me, dangit!), so I didn't get to see it as a groundbreaking movie. It is a very good cop movie, but I have seen movies like it before. This lowers the mental impact a movie like this should have given me. Sometimes, well most of the time, seeing an older movie like this really impresses me and I marvel on how good they made movies back in the day as it were, but Dirty Harry was just good, not mindblowing good or anything like that. Maybe after reviewing so many movies I am starting to get more cynical, or hopefully, just more discerning and selective as to what a "great" movie is.

Sleuth (2007)

Hilarity ensues as two extremely clever British men are in a game of trickery and deceit. Andrew Wyke (Michael Caine), an aging famous author who lives alone in a high-tech mansion, after his wife Maggie has left him for a younger man; and Milo Tindle (Jude Law), an aspiring actor, equipped with charm and wit, who demonstrates both qualities once again). When Wyke invite Tindle to his mansion, Tindle seeks to convince the former into letting his wife go by signing the divorce paper. However, Wyke seems far more interested in playing mind games with his wife's new lover, and lures him into a series of actions he thoroughly planned in seeking revenge on his unfaithful spouse.

Trivia: This is the second film of Michael Caine's to be remade with Jude Law taking over the Michael Caine role. Previously, Law appeared in Alfie. Michael Caine switches roles in this movie. Caine played the Tindale role with Lawrence Olivier in the Wyke role in the original 1972 version. The film was shot entirely in sequence. The remote used by Andrew Wyke is actually an Apple Universal remote used to control Apple Computers/iPod Docks.

With just about every remake, it is inevitable that if you have seen the original you will compare it to the original and it is hard to review it without being influenced by the original. I have seen the original. The '72 version starring Caine and Lawrence Olivier was a light hearted psychological mind game, not just between the two men, but with the audience. The twists and turns in the movie kept you captivated and it was a tour de force for the two actors and looked like they were really haveing a lot of fun. I highly recommend it. Now back to this movie. The basics of the story are the same so you don't get the same jolt when certain things happen, but on the other hand, Caine's character is completely different then Olivier's. How it is different would spoil the movie for you. All I can say is that both Caine and Law did good jobs playing off of each other, and the movie would probably have rated a little higher for me if I had not seen the original, but once the cat is let out of the bag you can probably bet it isn't going to go near another bag for a long time. (I hope that made sense to you because it sure didn't to me.)

Don't forget to get your trivia game answers in to me.

Bubba Ho-Tep (2002)

The "true" story of what really became of Elvis Presley. We find Elvis (Bruce Campbell) as an elderly resident in an East Texas rest home. He switched identities with an Elvis impersonator years before his "death", then missed his chance to switch back. Elvis teams up with Jack (Ossie Davis), a fellow nursing home resident who thinks that he is actually President John F. Kennedy, and the two valiant old codgers sally forth to battle an evil Egyptian entity who has chosen their long-term care facility as his happy hunting grounds as hilarity ensues.

Trivia: Despite the fact that Elvis Presley is the main character, not one piece of Elvis's music is heard. Director Don Coscarelli explained that it would have cost about half the budget to license one of Elvis's songs for the movie. The shoestring budget for this movie was a little over a half million dollars, or roughly 1% of an average big-budget Hollywood movie. When Elvis turns on the TV and sees the Elvis Presley movie marathon, none of the clips are from any of Elvis's movies. Because the licensing costs would have been too much for the budget, they used stock footage and never showed the faces of the Elvis-like actors. Only 32 prints of the film were originally made as part of a limited platform release. The Soul of Southern Film Festival, in Memphis, Tennessee, paid for a thirty-third print, so that they wouldn't have to wait any longer to show the film. Several other festivals and theaters paid advances in order to secure prints.

This is what I like about movies, you can come up with a plot, Elvis Presley didn't actually die, but is living in a rest home with his black friend who thinks he is JFK and they end up battling an Egyptian mummy who is stealing the souls of the rest home to feed his spirit since they don't fight back and everyone expects them to die anyway. And then they get it made! Actually it is a very funny movie. Bruce Campbell is fantastic.

Lone Star (1996)

John Sayles' murder-mystery explores interpersonal and interracial tensions in Rio County, Texas. Sam Deeds (Chris Cooper) is the local sheriff who is called to investigate a 40-year-old skeleton found in the desert...As Sam delves deeper into the town's dark secrets, he begins to learn more about his father, the legendary former sheriff Buddy Deeds (Mathew McConaughey-hey-hey), who replaced the corrupt Charlie Wade (Kris Kristofferson) as hilarity ensued. While Sam puzzles out the long-past events surrounding the mystery corpse, he also longs to rekindle a romance with his old high-school flame (Elizabeth Pena). Sayles' complex characters are brought together as the tightly woven plot finally draws to its dramatic close.

Trivia: The hands seen laying out the bones in this movie belong to David Glassman, a forensic anthropologist at Southwest Texas State University.

Well, this was a good movie, but it really suffers from truth in advertisements. What I mean to say is that this was marketed as a murder mystery, both in the trailer and in the poster seen above. Then you get into the movie and maybe 20 minutes of the 2 hour and 15 minutes run time is about the murder and trying to solve it (McConaughey and Kristofferson were probably on for less then 5 minutes total). Mostly it is about Sam Deeds trying to get out of the shadow of his father and rekindle a relationship with a woman from his past. Oh yeah, there is a second story arc about a colonel returning to the army base in Rio County and his strained relationship with his father who owns the only "black" bar in the county. This story only serves to flesh out the character of the father who has a minor role in the events that happened 40 years ago. I think it would have been so much better if it had focused on the murder and political intrigue or if it had focused only on Sam and his efforts to rekindle his relationship. It just seems to fall short of accomplishing either. Chris Cooper is excellent as always but I think he seems to fit more into the Jimmy Stewart form of acting. His roles always seem to be the same. A man to is contemplative and introspective. Matthew McConaughey-hey-hey wasn't on the screen enough to tell if he was any good and the same with Kris Kristofferson.

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.

Death Of A President (2006)

A faux documentary broadcast in 2008 gives a news account, with talking head interviews, of the assassination of President George W. Bush on October 19, 2007. The fictional T.V. news broadcast relates how a hidden sniper fatally shot the president following an economic speech at the Chicago Sheraton Hotel, in front of which an anti-war rally was being held. A man of Syrian origins, Jamal Abu Zikri, becomes the prime suspect. Vice President Dick Cheney, promoted to president, uses the possible al-Qaeda connection of the suspect to push his own agenda. He calls for "PATRIOT Act III", giving the F.B.I., police, and other government agencies increased investigative powers on U.S. citizens and others, and contemplates an attack on Syria. But all is not as it seems as the investigation, which was under pressure to find the assassin, relied on dubious evidence even after another possible suspect is found, but this suspect couldn't have done it, could he? After all, he is American. Hilarity ensues.

Trivia: Preexisting footage of President George W. Bush and CGI effects help to create the scenes of his assassination. The majority of the actors in the film were not told the premise of the movie. The working title for the film was "D.O.A.P.," and the actors were not told what the plot was, except for their specific scenes. The idea of the film received substantial criticism from those who believed the subject was exploitative and in bad taste. The Republican Party of Texas described the subject matter as "shocking" and "disgusting". U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton (D.-N.Y.) told the Journal News of Rockland, Westchester and Putnam counties, New York, at the annual New Castle Community Day in Chappaqua, "I think it's despicable; I've never seen a movie so horrible in my life. I think it's absolutely outrageous. I mean, sure most people don't like Bush, but this is beyond bad. It's evil. That anyone would even attempt to profit on such a horrible scenario makes me sick". Co-screenwriter Simon Finch responded to the criticisms and said Clinton had not seen the film when she made her comments. The Bush Administration made no comment on the film. An extra named Robert Kramer, who appeared in the film as one of the ropeline extras during the assassination scene, asked to have his image edited out, alleging the filmmakers misled the actors as to the true intent of the pseudo-documentary.

Well, I'm back and what a way to restart the blog hmm? Death Of A President takes a look at the fictional future assassination of President Bush. To it's credit, it wasn't overtly political and didn't take an anti-Bush stance or anything like that that I was kind of expecting. And actually, it may have been better if it had been more political. It dealt with the events of October 19th leading up to the President being declared dead and the investigation that followed. It did not go into any detail concerning the political upheaval or even the world reaction that the assassination of a sitting U.S. President during time of war would have created. It also glossed over the whole reaction Americans would have had rather quickly. As for the movie itself, the use of stock footage was very good, one once did I notice that Dick Cheney's lips had been adjusted to say the name George Walker Bush instead of another name.

Harry Potter And The Goblet of Fire (2005)

Harry's (Daniel Radcliffe) fourth year at Hogwarts is about to start and he is enjoying the summer vacation with his friends. They get the tickets to The Quidditch World Cup Final but after the match is over, people dressed like Lord Voldemort's 'Death Eaters' set fire to all the visitors' tents, coupled with the appearance of Voldemort's symbol, the 'Dark Mark' in the sky, causes a frenzy across the magical community as hilarity ensues. That same year, Hogwarts is hosting 'The Triwizard Tournament', a magical tournament between three well-known schools of magic : Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. The contestants have to be above the age of 17, and are chosen by a magical object called Goblet of Fire. On the night of selection, however, the Goblet spews out four names instead of the usual three, with Harry unwittingly being selected as the Fourth Champion. Since the magic cannot be reversed, Harry is forced to compete and brave three exceedingly difficult tasks.

Trivia: Mike Newell is the first British director the film series has had, he turned down directing The Constant Gardener to direct this film. Over 3,000 girls turned up at the auditions for the role of Cho Chang in London. Safety divers swam in with scuba regulators to allow them to breathe without having to surface. These scenes were shot in a huge purpose-built tank with a blue-screen background. Daniel Radcliffe alone logged around 41 hours 38 minutes underwater during the course of filming. At one point during training he inadvertently signaled that he was drowning, sending the crew into a huge panic to bring him back up to surface. Mike Newell originally decided not to have the make-up on Ralph Fiennes to give a more scary Voldemort. But he changed his mind after seeing a minimal make-up design by Nick Dudman. To complement the make-up, Fiennes shaved his head bald as well as his armpits. Stanislav Ianevski, who plays Viktor Krum, has only two lines in the entire film totaling 20 words. Katie Leung hadn't intended to audition for the role of Cho Chang. Her father had told her where the audition was being held and she decided to go before her shopping trip. Ralph Fiennes was not wearing any make up to cover his nose. In order to make the character scarier, film editors digitally removed it. Also, the "red, snake-like eyes" the novel describes were not added, due to the actor's thought that the expression in his eyes would provide a better idea of Lord Voldemort's insanity and malignity. The rock band at the Yule Ball is comprised mostly of members of Pulp and Radiohead. In the run-up to the movie, a Canadian folk group called the Wyrd Sisters filed a $40-million lawsuit against Warner Brothers, the North American distributor of the film, Jarvis Cocker from Pulp and Jonny Greenwood and Phil Selway of 'Radiohead for the use of their group's name. In the book, the band is called the "Weird Sisters" after the witches in William Shakespeare's "Macbeth" but was reportedly renamed the "Wyrd Sisters" for this film. Before the movie was released, however, Warner Brothers removed all references to either name for the band. Nevertheless, the Wyrd Sisters moved for an injunction in a Canadian court to prevent distribution of the film in Canada. This motion was dismissed by an Ontario judge. The animated hedges in the Third Task were based on Stanley Kubrick's abandoned idea for the hedge maze chase sequence in The Shining. "The Shining" was written by Stephen King, who is an avid fan of "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling.

You know, every time I watch this movie I go along and think , hmm, that's nice, gee, Harry gets to play the "well, I came in last but then I did something selfless so I get bonus points that ends up screwing Viktor Krum" card, oh, Mad Eye Moody is giving Harry insider information, hmm, that's nice Harry and Cedric are going to tie, HOLY CRAP! THEY LETS KIDS WATCH THIS? The last 15 minutes of this movie (and book for that matter) have some really mature subject matter, suitable for the PG-13 crowd but how many parents are going to tell their kids that "gee, sorry, your too young to watch Harry Potter. (Well, I guess if they read the book they know what to expect. This whole movie is dark, like the whole film was shot at night. We also get to see the kids become young adults and see them start to notice the opposite sex and all that adolescent stuff. The dance was hilarious, I would totally be Ron or Harry, sitting on the side scared to death to dance, but then again, I am painfully shy, which is probably why I am still single. Well, next up is the new one. I am really looking forward to this. Why you say? (you did say that didn't you?) Well, I am going to tell you anyway. I have decided to see it in IMAX 3-D! Whoo Hoo. I already have my ticket for tomorrow. Ain't the Internet wonderful, Each time I checked the times, yesterday and today, the rest of the day was sold out, and most of tomorrow was already sold out too, but I was able to get tickets for the time I was looking at online. Sweet.

Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets (2002)

When Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) is visited by an impish creature who warns him that danger lurks at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year, Harry decides to ignore his warnings to not return to school. But when the non-pure-bloods begin to get attacked by an unknown enemy, Harry begins to investigate the strange goings on at Hogwarts, including: a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher (Kenneth Branagh) who seems to be more in love with himself than his teachings, strange voices coming from nowhere and haunting Harry's footsteps, a new Slytherin Team Seeker who just happens to be non other than Draco Malfoy, and a depressed and sulking spirit who haunts the girl's bathroom. And, of course, the ensuing hilarity and the growing threat of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, who may just be the one planning the attacks. But, could he have an accomplice?

Trivia: Fourteen Ford Anglias were destroyed to create the scene where Harry and Ron crash into the Womping Willow. The "Let's just hope Mr. Potter will always be around to save the day" "Don't worry, I will be" dialogue was improvised by Daniel Radcliffe and Jason Isaacs. As Harry enters Professor Dumbledore's study, a portrait of Gandalf the Grey is included in the collection of the great wizard paintings. It is above the door-frame and slightly to Harry's right. While chatting with the Grangers at the bookshop, Mr. Weasley says, "I understand that other muggles are afraid of you." This makes little sense unless you know that both Hermione's parents are muggle dentists. The Weasley's car is a Ford Anglia. This is actually the same color and model car that author J.K. Rowling and her best friend from school used to ride around in when they were younger. She used the car for the book, and later the movie, out of her fond memories driving in it. The script originally said that Hermione would hug Harry and Ron in the final scene. As the then eleven-year-old Emma Watson was embarrassed about having to hug the boys in front of the entire cast, Chris Columbus allowed her to changed the scene so instead Hermione just hugs Harry then starts to hug Ron but the two get embarrassed and resolve to only shake hands. Watson also stated in a recent interview that she kept letting Daniel Radcliffe go too quickly, so the filmmakers eventually had to freeze the film for a few seconds to make the hug last longer than it actually did.

It is amazing how much the three main kids (Dan, Rupert, and Emma) grew up in just one year. They are also a little more comfortable in their roles in this one. The story in this one is a little different then the others. Voldemort isn't really a big part of the story (well, actually he is but he really isn't if that makes any sense). This film marks the end for Chris Columbus who directed the first two films. It also marks the end for Richard Harris as Dumbledore. Harris died shortly before the release. The style will change in the next movie without Columbus at the helm, but that is a story for the next film isn't it?

Brick (2005)

In a modern-day Southern California neighborhood and high school, student Brendan Frye (Joseph Gorden-Levitt)'s piercing intelligence spares no one. He's not afraid to back up his words with actions or ensuing hilarity, and knows all the angles; yet he prefers to stay an outsider, and does - until the day that his ex-girlfriend, Emily (Emilie de Ravin), reaches out to him unexpectedly and then vanishes. His feelings for her still run deep; so much so, that he becomes consumed with finding his troubled love. To find her, he enlists the aid of his only true peer, the Brain (Matt O'Leary), while keeping the assistant vice principal only occasionally informed of what quickly becomes a dangerous investigation. Brendan's single-minded unearthing of students' secrets thrusts him headlong into the colliding social orbits of rich-girl sophisticate Laura (Nora Zehetner), intimidating Tugger (Noah Fleiss), substance-abusing Dode (Noah Segan), seductive Kara (Meagan Good), jock Brad (Brian J. White) and - most ominously - non-student the Pin (Lucas Haas). Only by gaining acceptance into the Pin's closely guarded inner circle of crime and punishment willt Brendan be able to uncover hard truths about himself, Emily and the suspects that he is getting closer to.

Trivia: The horn signal Brendan instructs Laura to give him (long, short, long, short) is the same as the doorbell signal Sam Spade tells Brigid O'Shaughnessy he'll use in The Maltese Falcon (1941). Brendan's earlier line to Laura, "Now you are dangerous," is taken from the film as well. To cheaply create the effect of something coming out of the tunnel and jumping up in the observer's face, the dream sequence in which Brendan sees Emily coming out of the tunnel is shot in reverse. You can see this because the water appears to be flowing out of the tunnel, while in all the other shots, it's flowing in. The car Tug drives is an original 1967 GT500 Shelby Mustang. The music score was composed by Rian Johnson's cousin, Nathan Johnson, with additional support and music from The Cinematic Underground. The score hearkens back to the style, feel and overall texture of noir films. It features traditional instruments such as the piano, trumpet and violin, and also contains unique and invented instruments such as the wine-o-phone, metallophone, tack pianos, filing cabinets, and kitchen utensils, all recorded with one microphone on a beat-up Apple PowerBook. Since Nathan Johnson was in England during most of the production process, the score was composed almost entirely over Apple iChat, with Rian Johnson playing clips of the movie to Nathan Johnson, who would then score them. The two later met in New York to mix the soundtrack. In his meeting with Trueman, Brendan refers to a teacher "Kasprzyk" as being "tough but fair". Mrs. Kasprzyk was an actual teacher of English (including Advanced Placement English) who was largely known as being tough but fair at San Clemente High School, the school where the movie was shot.

This is one of those movies that keeps you a little off kilter in the style Cruel Intentions. Both movies depict upscale teenagers that use highly sophisticated stylized language that is a little incongruous with the usual portrayal of American teens. But where Cruel Intentions centers on Sebastian's manipulations of his piers and Sebastian seems to be far ahead of most of the other characters, Brick is more of a mystery and has a lot of noir characteristics and you feel that the other characters are a lot closer to being on par with Brandan, especially the Brain and Laura. One thing is for sure, Brendan can really take a punch.

(p.s. there are still some questions in the Trivia question below that need answering)

Top 250

Solaris (1972)
Number 241 on IMDb's Top 250

The Solaris mission has established a base on a planet that appears to host some kind of intelligence, but the details are hazy and very secret. After the mysterious demise of one of the three scientists on the base, the main character is sent out to replace him. He finds the station run-down and the two remaining scientists cold and secretive. Hilarity ensues when he also encounters his wife who has been dead for seven years, he begins to appreciate the baffling nature of the alien intelligence.

Trivia: This was the most widely seen of Andrei Tarkovsky's films outside of the Soviet Union. However, Tarkovsky himself reportedly considered it the least favorite of the films he directed. The extended scene following Berton as he rides back to the city was filmed in Osaka and Tokyo. Foreign travel was not easily approved, and the reason this long scene was left in the movie was probably to justify that trip for the director and crew (Seriously, that shot was like 10 minutes long, just driving, no dialog). A Japanese city circa 1970 may not look very futuristic to modern audiences, but its impression on Soviet viewers at that time of the film's release was probably quite different. Tarkovski's diary reveals that they just missed the World's Fair, and they may have planned to shoot footage at it that would have looked far more futuristic.

Much better then the Clooney version. This movie actually filled out the story that the remake couldn't. Yes, it is slow, some times excruciatingly slow. But you get into the main character's thoughts better and the motivations of the crew are better defined. Yes, Clooney's version was "prettier" with the glowing gaseous tendrils around the planet, but this was more of a story. Now, in my opinion it probably not Top 250 worthy, but it was still good. It was just slow (a full hour longer then the Clooney version). Well this is the second Russian film I have seen and both have been Sci-Fi, go figure.

From Hell (2001)

It is 1888 in London, and the unfortunate poor lead horrifying lives in the city's deadliest slum, Whitechapel. Harassed by gangs and forced to walk the streets for a living, Mary Kelly (Heather Graham) and her small group of companions trudge on through this daily misery, their only consolation being that things can't get any worse. Yet things somehow do when their friend Ann is kidnapped and they are drawn into a conspiracy with links higher up than they could possibly imagine. Hilarity ensues as the kidnapping is soon followed by the gruesome murder of another woman, Polly, and it becomes apparent that they are being hunted down, one by one. Sinister even by Whitechapel standards, the murder grabs the attention of Inspector Fred Abberline (Johnny Depp), a brilliant yet troubled man whose police work is often aided by his psychic abilities. Abberline becomes deeply involved with the case, which takes on personal meaning to him when he and Mary begin to fall in love. But as he gets closer to the truth Whitechapel becomes more and more dangerous for Abberline, Mary, and the other girls. Whoever is responsible for the grisly acts is not going to give up his secret without a fight....will they be able to survive the avenging force that has been sent after them from hell?

Trivia: The crew built four blocks of Whitechapel on location in Prague, including half a church. The title refers to a letter sent to George Lusk, the president of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee from an unknown man who claimed to be the murderer. Instead of a sender's name and address "from hell" was written on top of the letter, and apparently a piece of victims kidney was enclosed. Great care was taken to accurately reproduce the actual sites of the "ripper" murders. Illustrations and actual photographs from 1888 were used. Similar care was used to reproduce the wounds inflicted upon the ripper's victims. Although both Sergeant Godley and Inspector Frederick Abberline were involved in the Ripper murders (Abberline being the lead Inspector), they never worked together, and probably never even met until the arrest of George Chapman, a Ripper suspect. Though there were many rumors (and speculations) as to whether the victims knew each other, there is no real evidence that they did. After the Ripper has killed his final victim, the police officer describes the scene so that it can be written down as evidence. Those lines are taken directly from the report of the actual crime scene. The final murder is the only one that is the only one depicted in the film that didn't exactly follow the wound patterns found on the actual victim in 1888. The scene was toned down because that murder, Jack the Ripper's last, was so gruesome that the producers feared an NC-17 rating had they actually shown a likeness of the victim, whose was found with both breasts severed, every facial feature slashed and torn, and the belly cut open. There is a well-known photograph of this victim, still in her death pose, that is included in almost every book about the Ripper murders.

Wow, I made it through the whole synopsis without mentioning Jack The Ripper. Would there be such a fascination about Jack The Ripper if he had been caught? No. He would just be a foot-note in the history of London. It is the unknown that really gets us going. And, since the murders happened so long ago, we will never know what really happened or why, which leads to speculation and that opens the door for movies to jump in. This is one of them. It is a very good movie and puts out a theory that in itself seems plausible. It was an interesting theory that the five Ripper murders were specifically targeted and not random. It did a very good job of creating a feel of 19th century Whitechapel, one of the "bad parts of town." Heather Graham did a decent job of playing the poor waif (Warning*Major Spoiler* although the fact that the last victim wasn't Mary Kelly but was mis-identified as her so she could leave London and live her life in seclusion but alive was a little too hollywoodish of an ending for me.) I liked Depp's drug enhanced clairvoyant inspector, but I always seem to like his roles. I thought I had seen more of Depp's movies but I went back and discovered that I have only seen 15 of his 36 movies, I need to get to work.

Top 250

Hot Fuzz (2007)
Number 101 on IMDb's Top 250

Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg) is the finest cop London has to offer, with an arrest record 400% higher than any other officer on the force. He's so good, he makes everyone else look bad. As a result, Angel's superiors send him to a place where his talents won't be quite so embarrassing - the sleepy and seemingly crime-free village of Sandford, the current "Village of the Year". Once there, he is partnered with the well-meaning but overeager police officer Danny Butterman (Nick Frost). The son of amiable Police Chief Frank Butterman, Danny is a huge action movie fan and believes his new big-city partner might just be a real-life "bad boy," and his chance to experience the life of gunfights and car chases he so longs for. Angel is quick to dismiss this as childish fantasy and Danny's puppy-like enthusiasm only adds to Angel's growing frustration. However, hilarity ensues as a series of grisly accidents rocks the village, and Angel is convinced that Sandford is not what it seems and as the intrigue deepens, Danny's dreams of explosive, high-octane, car-chasing, gunfighting, all-out action seem more and more like a reality. It's time for these small-town cops to break out some big-city justice.

Trivia: Sandford, the "fictional" setting for the film, is the name of the town used as the setting for all Police training role plays. The combination for the lock of the Evidence Room is 999, the same as the telephone number of the police (and other emergency services) in Britain. Throughout the first half of the film, Danny asks Angel a number of annoying questions like "Have you ever shot two guns at once while diving through the air?" to which Angel responds "No -- you've been watching too many cop movies! The job isn't like that." Then in the second half of the film, every single thing that Danny has asked about, Angel has to do. He does shoot two guns while leaping through the air, etc. Somerfield is a real UK supermarket chain, and all of the scenes were shot in one of their stores. At a Q&A session following a screening of the film in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, Edgar Wright revealed that the film featured disguised cameos by two Oscar winners: Cate Blanchett and Peter Jackson. Jackson appears as the Santa Claus who stabs Nick Angel through the hand during the opening montage, and Blanchett appears masked as Angel's ex-girlfriend CSI agent, in which you never see her face.

This is from the guys that brought us Shaun of the Dead. This time they set their sites on action movies. Like Shaun, this movie starts out slow and steady but by the time I got to the last 20 minutes I was laughing hilariously. I was able to snea...I was able to catch this right after Shrek The Third so I had a wonderful Saturday afternoon double feature. If you liked Shaun of the Dead you will love this one.

Top 250

Stalker (1979)
Number 188 on IMDb's Top 250

Near a gray and unnamed city is the Zone, an alien place guarded by barbed wire and soldiers. Outside the Zone a man rises in the dead of night: he's a stalker, one of a handful who have the mental gifts (and who risk imprisonment) to lead people into the Zone to the Room, a place where one's secret hopes come true. That night, hilarity ensues as he takes two people into the Zone: a popular writer who is burned out, cynical, and questioning his genius; and a quiet scientist more concerned about his knapsack than the journey. In the deserted Zone, the approach to the Room must be indirect. As they draw near, the rules seem to change and the stalker faces a crisis.

Trivia: The Zone of the film was inspired by a nuclear accident that took place near Chelyabinsk in 1957. Several hundred square kilometers were polluted by fallout and abandoned; of course there was no official mention of this forbidden zone at the time. The original negatives were destroyed by a processing error at the laboratory, and the film had to be shot again from scratch with a new director of photography. It is said that the rushes of the first version of the film were kept by editor Lyudmila Feiginova in her home for years. They were destroyed by fire that also claimed her life. The insignia on the police officers' helmet features two letters: AT, the initials of the director, Andrei Tarkovsky. Towards the end of the movie, the Stalker's wife smokes cigarettes from a carton that bears the same AT (Andrei Tarkovsky) insignia as the policeman's helmet.

Not only is the my first introduction to Russian Cinema, but it is Science Fiction, which at the best of times is somewhat difficult to understand. So here is what I understand the premise to be. A stalker is a man who leads others into the zone and shows them a safe passage to the magically Room that can grant them wishes. But there is a catch, it seems the Room doesn't want to make it too easy so you can't walk straight to it, and even worse, you can't go the same way every time and you can not go back the way you came in because things change constantly so you have to be on your toes and be on alert at all times, which is why there are so few stalkers. On the other hand, the stalkers have to be dedicated and not use the Room themselves. All in all it was a good movie. The tension is maintained all the way through even though they are basically walking through a quaint countryside with a few ruined buildings. There are definitely two parts to this movie, outside the Zone and inside the Zone, both with their own look and style with a touch of Wizard of Oz thrown in. Outside the Zone is a dark bleak world shown in high contrast browns and blacks (akin to the look of Sin City) while inside is soft and colorful and full of life. I am pretty sure the director was going for the feel that the inside was more natural and comforting then the outside. Russian Sci-Fi. Wow.

Mississippi Burning (1988)

Two FBI agents investigating the murder of civil rights workers during the 60s seek to breach the conspiracy of silence in a small Southern town where segregation divides black and white. Hilarity ensues as the younger agent (Willem Defoe) trained in FBI school runs up against the small town ways of his former Sheriff partner (Gene Hackman).

Trivia: The film is inspired by the murder of voting rights activists J. E. Chaney, Mickey Schwerner, and Andrew Goodman. The film was considered very controversial at the time of its release because even though it was a work of fiction, it was obviously based on a actual case and many felt too many facts concerning the actual case were distorted or left out. During filming of rednecks-vs-reporters scenes on a bridge over the Big Black River near Bovina, Mississippi, two extras were nearly killed by a train when they ventured from a holding area onto a tall concrete-arch railroad bridge. They narrowly escaped injury by huddling on a tiny pedestal on the bridge's edge.

You know what, I like Gene Hackman. His no nonsense tough good old boy mentality is just fun to watch. He is the equivalent of comfort food, if that makes sense. It is comfortable watching him. I have been watching more and more out there type movies and even though it is fun and they are great, once in a while you just need to sit down and watch a hollywood blockbuster mainstream movie. Mississippi Burning is not the best movie I have ever watched, but it was fun to watch.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)

A narrator introduces himself at a Hollywood party: he's Harry Lockhart (Robert Downey, Jr.), a thief from New York, in L.A. for a screen test. He meets Gay Perry (Val Kilmer), a glitzy private eye who's to school him for his role; then there's Harmony Lane (Michelle Monaghan), a wannabe actress whose time has passed; the host is an aging actor who starred in detective movies, plus his daughter, with starlet looks and a choppy past. The next day, hilarity ensues as Gay and Harry stake out a house where Gay is to take surreptitious photographs for a client - what they find is a corpse. From there, twists and connections abound and bodies pile up. Who's double-crossing whom? And, has Harry found Harmony too late to save himself from misery?

Trivia: Val Kilmer had to quickly lose the 50 pounds gained for his plump role in Oliver Stone's Alexander (2004) in order to play his fit GQ character for this film. Gay Perry's cell phone ring tone is "I will survive". Warner Bros. was willing to produce the movie with a larger budget if Harrison Ford were to play the detective. When he passed, several other options were briefly considered before Val Kilmer was offered the role. Shane Black read several stories by Raymond Chandler when writing this script. As a result, the story is divided into chapters and the chapter titles come from Chandler works. Incorporates footage of Corbin Bernsen from Dead Aim (1987) in order to show his character Harlan Dexter as a young actor portraying "Johnny Gossamer". As a sign of support to Robert Downey Jr.'s recovery from alcohol and drugs, Val Kilmer refused to drink during the entire production.

Mick picked this movie for me to watch because he guessed one of my alphabet movies. This is a pretty unique movie in that it doesn't take itself seriously. Or at least Robert Downey Jr.'s narrator doesn't take the movie seriously and that is what makes it fun to watch. He will stop the film and restart it at a different place because he forgot to tell you something, he'll make fun of other movies and even make fun of his own movie. Which brings me to Robert Downey Jr. It is really a shame that he keeps having so many problems with drugs because he is a great actor, I like him in everything he has been in so far. His characters are always so fun to watch. Val Kilmer is always calm, cool, and collected. And Michelle Monaghan is pretty good looking, which is nice.

Hoodwinked! (2005)

Little Red Riding Hood: A classic story, but there's more to every tale than meets the eye. Before you judge a book by its cover, you've got to flip through the pages. For this story, we begin at the end. Furry and feathered cops from the animal world investigate a domestic disturbance at Granny's (Glenn Close) cottage, involving a girl named Red (Anne Hathaway), a wolf (Patrick Warburton), and an axe. The charges are many: breaking and entering, disturbing the peace, intent to eat, and wielding an axe without a license. Not to mention, this case might be tied to the elusive Goody Bandit who has been stealing the recipes of goody shops everywhere. Hilarity ensues as we meet characters we've never met before, including Boingo (Andy Dick) the cute bunny, Chief Grizzly (Xhibit) who is willing to arrest anyone, a very high strung squirrel named Twitchy, an enchanted goat that can only sing, and Nicky Flippers (David Ogden Steirs) who is trying to decipher what actually happened. All the while, the Goody Bandit is on the loose, trying to accomplish his master plan.

Trivia: In the scene where Nicky Flippers, played by David Ogden Stiers, needs to understand what Twitchy the squirrel is saying, he uses a tape recorder to slow down Twitchy's speech so that he can find out what Twitchy is saying and save the day. This is a reference to A Circle of Children (1977). In that movie, a teacher named, Dan Franklin, also played by Stiers, needs to understand what a young boy is saying and uses a tape recorder to slow down the boys speech so that he can find out what the boy is saying and save the day. The scene where Boingo tells Keith to change his name was not scripted "Keith, darnit change your name, please, that's not scary and I'm embarrassed to say it. Boris, try that. Keith, ya know, OOOO Watch out for Keith!". It was ad-libbed by Andy Dick while recording his lines. According to Todd Edwards at Anderson University's Chapel, this is the first fully independently-funded computer-animated feature film.

I know this movie was independently funded so they had to cut some corners but the computer graphics really disappointed me. At best they were a little bit better then cable television CGI cartoons that have sprouted up recently, which is a shame because this was a funny well written story. Little Red Riding Hood gets the Rashoman treatment (four different stories of the same events told by four different characters watching out for their own interests). The funniest thing is that the four main characters (Red, the Wolf, the Woodsman, and Granny), although they have their funny moments, act as straight men to the hilarity of the secondary characters. So little kids will like it because it is well paced and has action and squirrels and frogs and stuff like that, bigger kids may get most of the jokes, and the adults will like it for the story (although they will probably figure out who the bad guys is pretty quickly, it is still worth watching).