jasonbourneagain

It's Cinderella in reverse. Yet, it's well done like the Disney cartoon, but this is in real movie life. It's modernized with our social internet, the ubiquitous people dancing all the time in front of our tv's, and fairy tale romance.

I suppose even us adults can sit back, laugh and enjoy an unique romance unfold before our eyes.

I doubt anyone has been hooked this bad and it probably serves the guy right for being a hypocrite. At first, he condescendingly criticizes others and his wife for wanting to have fun and gamble a little in life. You can see it in his wife's face that she's excited and intrigued by the atmosphere. It's apparent that she has not taken much chances in her life. The same with her husband, Franklin, but he's much more judgmental of those who want to have fun and doesn't want anything to do with it. He detests gambling. While Flora doesn't win with her nickel slot adventure, it's interesting how Franklin gets involved and then has to gamble once again. I guess that's the part that bugs me because it can happen to people with an addiction. I mean I don't think they "hear" voices and become delusional, but some basic that they have grabs a hold of them. I guess that's what bothered me about it. I enjoy gambling, but don't think I can be addicted even though I've spent thousands of dollars on it. I set my losses to that which I can afford, but you still wonder if you can control yourself if you get hot and win big. You feel that you can't lose. This has happened to me at the craps table.

Pippo the Clown is played by a mute person (Mickey Shaughnessy) who is distributing balloons to advertise the S and S carnival nearby. He meets a young, sweet and very pretty blonde girl (Yvette Mimeux) and they hit it off. He is able to make her laugh with his pantomime. Unbeknownst to him, her husband Tom Regan (Christopher Dark) is jealous and foul tempered. He had just lectured his wife on flirting with some men at a bar they are visiting. What is he doing bringing his wife who is under 21 to a bar? Pippo is just entertaining his wife, but the husband gets enraged anyway. Pippo likes his wife's silky hair as it is smooth and soft, so the husband cuts it off grabbing a pair of scissors the clown had in order to give it to him. What makes it quite good is Pippo has two large front teeth painted on, but his real mouth is just above it as we find out that he's mute. The story leads to a deadly confrontation at the carnival and Pippo is accused of killing the girl. However, what happens to the husband afterward is what goes "One Step Beyond." John Newland returns in the epilogue to make sure everyone understands the circumstances.

Then we have to draw the line. This episode is black comedy that's smelly and entertaining. The doctor who pronounced Grandpa dead comes by to examine him again and verify that he has no heartbeat and no breath so he's dead. Doc says he's deader than a Thanksgiving turkey. He even shows the living corpse his own death certificate. Still, Grandpa who looks ghastly in his mortician's makeup refuses to admit he's dead. He continues to stink, rot and come down to eat with his daughter and grandson.

Grandpa has decayed even more when the preacher comes by to tell him that he's not making a "social" call, but to tell him that it's time to go. However, he failed to convince Grandpa with his preaching that he takes a drink from the moonshine jug. He tells mom and son that he's got other parishioners to visit. But Mom doesn't know what to do so asks him what to do. He says all that's left is prayer and takes the moonshine jug with him. The flies are gathering around Grandpa, so his grandson asks him if he wants a flyswatter. Mom still doesn't know what to do even though she prays. However, the son has a plan to find out how to get Grandpa to be convinced that he should go. The ending is awesome.

If you liked the first Halloween (1978), then you'll probably like this one as it brings back Jamie Lee Curtis as Grandma Strode. It's nostalgia for Halloween. This time Laurie Strode is older, wiser and well prepared in terms of armory and panic room shelter, but she sounds very paranoid to her daughter and husband. While it is understandable that a independent woman like Strode would be this way after confronting a supernatural boogeyman during her youth multiple times, it is not understandable to her gun-hating daughter and son-in-law. Her daughter, Karen, was mistreated, i.e. abused by Mother Strode and the authorities agreed.

The problem with the Halloween series has always been continuity and lack of explanation for Michael Myers. Some people think he's human like the two reporters and psychiatric doctor who treats him in this movie. There is still a lack of overall explanation as to the supernatural nature of patient Michael Myers. The first two Halloween movies labeled him as The Shape instead of boogeyman in the credits.

Myers has a regular halloween mask that he broke into a store and stole, but it also seems to have supernatural powers as it doesn't get damaged even though getting hit by a tire iron and stray gun shots. Since Myers is a known danger and has these powers, as explained by Donald Pleasance as Dr. Loomis in the original, there should have been greater care taken in transporting Myers. He should have been moved separate in an armored vehicle and locked down with a busload of police security.

There are other things that occur in the movie that are hard to explain, but it was still nostalgic for those who grew up with the Halloween series. I only saw I, II and III (no Michael) and H20. The rest were in bits and pieces and I have no recollection of those movies. There are the usual Myers scenes and killings in this one that won't disappoint the Halloween fans looking for more of the same. However, after some discussion with fans of this franchise, I think it's time to put this boogeyman to bed. There should be better boogeymen or monsters for Halloween as this one has gone stale. I gave the movie 6/10 for nostalgia and Jamie Lee Curtis returning as Grandma Strode. She did a fine acting job playing a cynical, gun-toting and survivalist grandmother who knows a monster when she meets one. Another good performance was put in by Andi Matichak who played Laurie's sympathetic granddaughter.

Alfred Hitchcock directed this episode because of having Vincent Price on his show with James Gregory. There isn't much to the story as one night a defense attorney John Gregory (James Gregory) visits famed detective Charles Courtney (Vincent Price) late at night. Courtney is knowledgeable about some of Gregory's cases. They share a brandy and Gregory asks about the Harrington case since Courtney was the detective who investigated it. He was called in because the murder was that of a well to do and famous man. The acting of Courtney as an arrogant detective who prides himself too much of his work is marvelous by Price. Gregory lets him talk because he knows the murderer in the case, but doesn't let on. At the end he explains that he has proof and that an innocent man was led to execution. It would be the first mistake in Courtney's illustrious career. Gregory knows Courtney is punctilious and boastful about his work so proceeds to blackmail him with the information should their paths ever cross again in the future. The backstory explains what happened and Courtney is flabbergasted to find out and takes matters into his own hands once Gregory lets him know what he is after. Hitchcock knows how to keep it simple and let the actors explain. He does his own bit of acting to explain what happened by coming on the set in the end.

I did not see the 1985 AHP Pilot episode together, but saw them in separate episodes. What led me here were three episodes from the original AHP presents. I saw "Bang! You're Dead!" with Billy Mumy as the little boy, "Man from the South" with Steve McQueen and Peter Lorre and the great atmospheric chiller episode "An Unlocked Window" with Dana Wynter and T.C. Jones. I finally was able to see all the 1985 versions and they were great updates in their own right. "Bang! You're Dead!" is still unfathomable that something like that would happen, but I suppose we think it can only happen to some other family and not ours. Yet, who knows what happens when the favorite uncle comes to visit and just so happens to have a loaded gun in his luggage? The one episode whose original I have not yet seen is "Incident in a Small Jail." I saw only the Ned Beatty and Lee Ving version and Ving's Curt Venner character is quite menacing. He makes you believe he did it or could do it while salesman Larry Broome seems like a caring typical traveling salesman. "Man from the South" was a nice update with John Huston, Melanie Griffith, Steven Bauer and cameo roles of Tippi Hedren and Kim Novak. I enjoyed the episodes so much that I went out and bought a Zippo lighter. It does work fine and would light ten times in-a-row easily. The trick would be to make sure both the fluid and flint were adequate. That said, being under pressure of having one's finger chopped off immediately may make one nervous and miss. Finally, "An Unlocked Window" episodes were both great, but I enjoyed the original better. Clearly, it was the atmosphere that was created and Hitchcock's crew did a masterful job in making a show with parts of his great crime and suspense masterpiece "Psycho" film. Still, the story was compelling in the '85 version. 9/10 stars for AHP Pilot.

The story lures the viewer in quickly. It's early morning and a young pretty woman (Neile Adams, Steve McQueen's real life wife at the time) is down to her last drink and orders a brandy at a Las Vegas casino cocktail lounge. She takes a sip and her shoe falls off. A down on his luck young gambler (Steve McQueen) helps her retrieve her shoe and makes conversation. He offers to have coffee and breakfast with his last $1.86 and she decides to join him. While he lights her cigarette, a strange little man named Carlos (Peter Lorre) interrupts to get a light for his cigarette. He buts into their meeting and leads their conversation into the man's lighter. He tells the couple that he's rich and has in mind a strange wager of his expensive sports car for something the young man has. The young man tells him he only has $1.86 and a casino chip, but that's not what he has in mind. Another stranger who overhears their strange bet can't help but get involved. I can see Peter Lorre doing his strange laugh after making the proposition. 9/10 stars.

Better Call Saul tries hard to not become what the fans want in Breaking Bad, but it's making its storytelling too unwieldy. First, the story of Jimmy further becoming Saul Goodman and Breaking Bad may have reached the point of no return. What Jimmy says at the end of the season 4 finale "Winner" may have foreshadowed the foregone conclusion. Is it? We still do not know for sure, but this was the farthest Jimmy has gone as Saul Goodman, lawyer. He's getting his license back with his girl friend Kim Wexler's help. Kim was really moved due to Jimmy's testimony in front of the appeals board and she was moved to tears. However, we say her shock when she hears what Jimmy had to say afterward. She was speechless. This puts their already rocky relationship back on the rocks again. Will it finally go kaput in Season 5? It sure looks that they are heading for a breakup. I can't see Kim staying with Saul Goodman.

The second story was about Lalo. Lalo's story made me think there is too much clever storytelling going on in Better Call Saul and it's stopping it from becoming another Breaking Bad series. What was incredulous is how Lalo was able to do the things that he did and not be pursued by the police. How does Lalo not end up being wanted by the police for his actions? What he did and got away with was hard to believe. First, he plows into a car and leaves it severely damaged in the street in order to not lose Mike. The victim must have called the police to give them a description of Lalo and his car. Not only that he goes into ninja mode to climb up into the ceiling, find an air duct and climb into the secure TravelWire room and kill the employee in broad daylight in mere seconds. They could not show how he did it because he would have to fly up into the ceiling and come down the other side in seconds while the employee's back was turned.

Prior to this, how does Lalo decide to follow Mike when the rest of Gus' men left in other cars? He gets extremely lucky and ends up seeing Mike talk with Gus. All this on his first day of surveillance. No wonder Saul was scared in the one Breaking Bad scene where Lalo is mentioned. Lalo is a ninja assassin who goes into stealth mode when necessary to do whatever damage and killings in order to promote his agenda.

Better Call Saul gives way to subdued action in order to promote its story telling and it is getting in the way of becoming an all-time great tv series like Breaking Bad. The shows have been up and down this season and you can put me down for this show being a enigmatic in-betweener. Season 4 turned out the same way with its up and down episodes and it may be the worst season we have had. Too much "cute" story telling is getting in the way of showing off its action.

Director Brian De Palma was an engineering major, until he saw Alfred Hitchcock's "Vertigo" which greatly influenced and moved him. De Palma explained Vertigo as one of the greatest films of all time and "a film that is a metaphor for the filmmaking process" according to Roger Ebert. Hitchcock and Vertigo inspired him to change direction from science and engineering and take an interest in directing. He learned from the Master of Suspense how to put together film and story together in order to present a tale of horror and mystery. I watched "Sisters" when first learning that it was De Palma's first foray into writing an original horror murder mystery. The twist in the story right off the bat is not learning whodunit, but how did it all come about. Director, screen writer and story writer De Palma moves the story along in a clever manner using split screen, pov and motion techniques he learned. We see how the villains were able to escape the police and how the witness was able to see the murder. De Palma smartly weaves some comedy into the situation as the police come and are not able to find any evidence of murder even though the suspect lets them into her apartment along with the witness. This is unheard if the suspect actually did the killing as she could have easily prevented them from entering without a search warrant. The main antagonist is Danielle Breton (Margot Kidder) as the resident of the apartment and who has quite an interesting background and back story to fill.

Thus, starts a tale and we, the audience, have been lured into De Palma's intricately crafted story. Everything is riveting up to the point of our female protagonist, Grace Collier (Jennifer Salt) as she makes progress with the help of private investigator Joseph Larch (Charles Durning). They are strangers, but come together as Collier is hired as a contract journalist for a major story investigating Danielle Breton and her sister, Dominique Blanchion (Breton's twin also played by Margot Kidder). Collier and Larch are able get the twin sisters' original file by chicanery and she takes it to Life magazine reporter, Arthur McLennen (Barnard Hughes), who did the original story. McLennen explains the background of the sisters being Siamese twins joined at birth and brings credibility in contrast to the young Collier.

De Palma has always been a polarizing director to his fans because he has crafted films which set the audience on edge and his fans have come to appreciate his creative story telling. He also has done films that have not done well at the box office. The fact that he has studied Hitchcock and uses some the techniques that he learned from the Master of Suspense is attractive. He relishes the music of Bernard Herrmann which was a big part of making Hitchcock's films as dramatic as they were. Reading that De Palma talked with Herrmann about his film and was able to secure his services made it a film to be reckoned with. The young cast and talented people involved before they became famous added to the masterpiece that was to come.

Now, why isn't Sisters one of the best all-time horror/comedy films if it has all of this going for it? It is a film that draws you in well enough and one can appreciate the Hitchcock style of film making, but it fails to deliver the suspense and gut punch even though there is the final twist at the end. In the second act, we see the story splinter off and some of the characters from Act 1 are forgotten. The story is moved along as in Act 1 just fine, but there is a lack of buildup of the drama and suspense that we got in Act 1. We see the complex tale of the sisters unfold in a clever dream sequence. However, there is no danger. No suspense in its telling. What we get is the police finally believing Ms. Collier and her story, but the twist of what happened to her does not allow the police to make their case. The story had elements of Hitchcock's Psycho involved, but did not deliver the suspense and relief in the end. Nevertheless, this was a tremendous effort by Brian De Palma for his first major drama and horror/slasher story. I gave it 7/10.

Better Call Saul is a well written, tightly scripted and innovative show and the Wiedersehen episode was probably the best show of season 4 next to Breathe and Coushatta. What was great was seeing what Kim was talking about when she said, "Let's do it again" in the cold open. Next, we saw Lalo and Nacho going to Casa Tranquilla nursing home to visit Hector and we hear the vengeful story of how Lalo and Hector tortured the proprietor of a hotel and burned it down to teach him not to disrespect their cartel. We find Lalo went back inside the rubble and found the hotel's front desk bell. He presents this to Hector as a gift which was prominently featured in Breaking Bad. Afterward, we hear Slippin' Jimmy discuss with Kim his idea to pull off scams together in order to get new clients out of a harsh sentence like they did with Huell. Kim disagrees and wants to use their services for good helping deserving people and not just criminals. Of course, what Slippin' Jimmy laid out was his idea for Saul Goodman. The following scene was the one I was waiting for in anticipating that someone like Kai or Werner was going to be blown to smitereens due to their rebellious attitude or indiscretion. The show was about good bye. It could've been good bye to Kim and Jimmy after Something Stupid, but Coushatta brought them back together again. Thus, we were expecting something to happen. Instead, we just got more storyline. I'm not complaining about advancing the story, but to get it in every scene and act, then it gets boring. There is too much being told at once or additional filler, so the show gets carried away with its plots. The plots go on too long as they're just filler. All this to say that Better Call Saul needs more action like Breaking Bad had. We still have four years to go before Breaking Bad and it has been painstakingly slow to develop the story to just this point. Perhaps we need more time jumps to just cut to the chase. If Better Call Saul were foods, then we are getting too much nutrition and not enough fatty, sinful, unhealthy pleasurable foods. For example, Lalo tossing trash out in the parking lot should not be the memorable part of a scene. Better Call Saul gets carried away with its own creativity and cinematography.

A believable and chilling story about a selfish, arrogant and very mean country salesman named Ed Fratus. Right off the bat, he spoils a little girl's day. She is playing with a butterfly and minding her own business. Fratus seems like an okay salesman, but a good one knows his customers and treats them fairly. Not Ed Fratus. He's just out for himself and to make a quick buck selling trinkets that people haven't seen before. He keeps saying that he won't come back unless they buy more from him. Later, we witness an accident to a local farmer's son with their bull. The father and two sons are driving the third son to a doctor, but they come upon Ed driving leisurely to another location. There was no need for Fratus to do what he did, but he ends up being true to his character just caring about no one but himself. It was no skin off his nose as he says. Thus, what happens to Fratus towards the climax is just desserts. Robert Emhardt does a great job playing Fratus so that we end up hating him. We end feeling relieved and justified to see what happened to mean Ed. The audience wants to see justice done and they are rewarded.

Iron Fist is a comic book hero who is supposed to be able to summon his super powerful fist of iron and superior martial arts skills to defeat super opponents and gangs. He has a super powerful punch. He was trained by monks in a snowy mountain world of Kun Lun. He's a billionaire. He has all this going for him, but he's only one of the champions. Danny Rand is only one of the Iron Fists in history. Yet, we know he's the chosen one, so should be able to defeat his immortal opponents whenever they show up. However, we see him struggle to get a bite to eat. His girl friend, Colleen Wing, has to fight in order to raise money to keep her martial arts dojo going. Her boy friend is a billionaire, but she has to get bloodied and bruised in order to be the bread winner. Ward Meachum, a regular human, is more heroic than Danny Rand. He's the one kicked around by his father Harold, who is one of the antagonists who is trying to return from hiding from The Hand for whatever reason. There is Bakuto who is the leader of The Hand organization. Harold Meachum is an arrogant bully who likes to teach his son how to run a corporation by berating him and beating him up. That's about the gist of what I got from season one. The show is very convoluted and does not make much sense. I probably skipped the parts when the show got boring which was often. The season could have been condensed to six episodes and the viewers would not have missed much. The supervillain called The Hand is presented and the secret organization of villains, but who knows which villains are in that organization. Collen Wing's fights in the cage and gets bloodied and bruised, but she ends up winning. Tough way to earn a few bucks in order to keep her dojo going so she can train students who are worthy, but poor. She is also there to help Iron Fist fight members of The Hand. The rest is a battle to see who ends up owning the Rand Corporation. 4 stars out of 10. I won't be watching much of season 2 as season 1 was really bad and confusing.

Roger Corman's movies are supposed to be bad, but usually aren't boring. This looks like a hastily put together mish-mash of film he shot and couldn't use. I saw the movie poster and thought it was a 50s - 60s type schlocky sci-fi/horror flick that he's known for. It is a movie in a collection of B sci-fi/horror movies on DVD. Right off the bat, the intro does not seem to fit the genre. Even the opening screen credits look ridiculous. There's a lot of hammy and cheesy acting throughout and if you have the patience to watch it until the end, then a creature finally does come out. It looks nothing like the movie poster. It's difficult to watch because of the convoluted story and uneven pacing. I can't recommend this for viewing for any 50s - 60s horror/sci-fi movie buff or Roger Corman fan. Afterward, I read on wikipedia that it did poorly at the box office due to misleading advertising. Also, Robert Towne worked with Corman in The Last Woman on Earth in 1960. That movie wasn't bad. Afterward, they got together and created this fiasco.

This film is #14 of the Zatoichi series and distinguished itself from the other Zatoichi movies in that it had a lively and interesting storyline and some lessons behind it. This film also has a history of being hard to find in that it was not originally released for the English market in the United States until Criterion provided the complete collection. The screenplay is by Kaneto Shindo who is a well-respected filmmaker in his own right and did Onibaba. The eye-pleasing cinematography continues with a wider scope and panorama that was in #12 of the series Zatoichi and the Chess Expert. There are some beautiful natural scenes shot for the larger movie screen. The color is vibrant and attractive. It is directed by Kazuo Ikehiro who did two other Zatoichi movies and he didn't disappoint with this one as the story breezes along.

The opening action sequence takes place on a boat where Zatoichi deals with a brazen pickpocket who challenges and beats the victim and those who witnessed it after being exposed for his crime. He was about to get away with until Zatoichi brought his own brand of justice. Next, we see Zatoichi climb many steps in order to get to a Shinto temple. There he prays to the Shinto spirits to atone for all the people he killed. He says when he set out he did not mean to kill anyone and to make amends he vows to make a pilgrimage to all 88 Shinto shrines. Zatoichi's introspection follows from the previous two movies and #13 Zatoichi's Vengeance where we see his brand of moral code is revealed.

It's not long before violence meets the peace seeking Zatoichi. Zatoichi even allows himself to be cut by the sister of a man he killed in self-defense. The man Zatoichi killed was trying to kill him for the a bounty placed on his head. The horse the bounty hunter was riding takes him to a village in a curious scene. This is supposed to be the spirits telling him to go there. Zatoichi would have to put his quest for peace and meditation on hold. When one's new friend, Kichi, the sister of the bounty hunter he killed, and the unarmed farmers are being bullied by the bad, then it is time to take military action.

Besides Zatoichi developing his personal code of ethics, he faces a dilemma in taking the side of the farmers in his battle against a powerful country yakuza. If there ever was a vicious tyrant that Zatoichi is to face, Boss Tohachi, played by Isao Yamagata, is the one. Zatoichi wants the farmers to help him fight the well equipped gang, but they decide to hide in their homes and let Zatoichi go at it alone for them. If Zatoichi gets killed, then they figure they can negotiate with Boss Tohachi. Zatoichi faces a moral dilemma between helping his new friend Michiko and helping selfish farmers who won't even stand up and fight to rule their own lands. Kichi, who has fallen in love with Zatoichi, wants him to leave so he won't get hurt or killed. It is one solution to his dilemma if Zatoichi did leave, but he stays to fight by himself. It's part of his code. He stands in the middle of the town road while the country yakuza face him on the opposite side reminiscent of High Noon. The fighting scenes are well choreographed and overall this makes for an interesting addition to the Zatoichi series. The extra money that was put in to hire better writers, directors, and film crew definitely show up in the end product.

This is the ninth in the series of Zatoichi the Blind Swordsman movies and I am sick of the generic titles. This one could've been titled Zatoichi's New Year instead. However, that wouldn't be right either. The new year is supposed to be promising and a time of celebration. This one is a let down and ends on a down note. It's not a good movie to watch for the new year.

Zatoichi himself is upbeat in the beginning and wants to see the sunrise from Mt. Myogi for the new year. The local entertainers and merchants are upbeat about putting on a festival and making money.

However, their optimism is soon doused by the local yakuza gang who brings a proclamation of exorbitant taxes by the corrupt tax official. They will barely make enough to survive, so some think of pulling out. Then Zatoichi is fortunate to be put up with three nice women in their room. He meets a lovely maiden who is looking for her father. Another is trying to protect her brother who got involved with the local gang and was set up as the patsy. Zatoichi is his usual self -- drinking sake, eating, gambling, giving massages, being humble and fighting and killing most of the bad guys.

He later meets the town drunk who is crafty and tells him a tale to remind him of his own father. Could this old man be Zatoichi's long lost father? This story builds drama with interesting characters and a big cast, and it pulls you in, but I was expecting a much better ending. There's no payoff at the end despite Zatoichi seeing the sunrise as there are just too many unresolved emotions and loose ends.

I liked Kiyoko (Minako Ohashi) right off the bat as we see her talk about her disappointment with an arranged marriage in Japan, and so she came to America to have an "independent American experience." She gets a job as a kitchen helper and tries to learn English by herself in the evening. She talks about what she wants to do in America such as visit Yosemite and see the Golden Gate Bridge. However, she has difficulties expressing herself in English. A few minutes later, we meet Ken (Ken Nakagawa), a Japanese-American man, who has a dead end job and dreams about being a rock n' roll star. We meet him as his girl friend is walking out on him because he's boring. Ken sits there, stares blankly, and eating his Cheerios while she dumps him. Maybe he should have had his Wheaties that morning. We see Ken is very American with his liking for donuts and disliking manju or Japanese pastry in a cafe scene. The story builds slowly, but Kiyoko and Ken meet and they end up getting married in a marriage of convenience, so she can stay in America. The rest shows us Kiyoko's friends at work and Ken's friends in his band, maintenance worker job, and his dad and sister's family. There are some good supporting characters and there is some good humor as they give their opinions to both Kiyoko and Ken about each other. Lana (Kate Connell) arranges for the two to meet and likes Ken even though he doesn't talk much. On the other hand, Shari (Judi Nihei) belittles Ken as boring. The payoff is watching Ken change from being boring with his mundane life to someone who starts to care about Kiyoko and would like for their marriage to succeed. Kiyoko doesn't have the same thinking and expresses herself in Japanese, but Ken does not understand. There are some lighthearted comedic moments, and the film succeeds in expressing the relationship between Kiyoko and Ken and what obstacles they must overcome for a real relationship to blossom.

I started LMAO when the old lady spirtualist mentioned astral projection. It's a great way for people who do not have a life to live. I was thinking this was a great creepy 'B' movie before that and could accept the two Ghostbusters, but I started laughing so hard my sides hurt when the old lady put on the gas mask with the long nozzle. My Bloody Valentine? It was great comic relief. Then we had that awesome seance scene which led to the raw meat on Whannell and Dalton battling Darth Insidious of Star Wars. There was even the two girls from The Shining tossed in and the ghost family looked like The Night of the Living Dead. Was that Linda Blair as the old bride? I finally got the joke. There probably were some other references that I missed like Freddy's glove and Jason Voorhees' hockey mask. This movie was absolutely hilarious. It was an enjoyable thrill ride of a movie because of the satire.

I just came back from an advanced screening and found this movie intense and entertaining for a story that we all know about and that it's a prequel to the 1982 John Carpenter's The Thing. John Carpenter's The Thing wasn't a big hit either until it came out on DVD. That said, one cannot help but compare it to the sequel while watching this prequel, so I understand why some reviewers will base their opinion on the comparison. However, it's not fair to evaluate this movie as such instead of on its own merits. Carpenter's film was compared to Howard Hawks' 1951 The Thing From Another World, and they weren't the same, yet Carpenter's version did not get it due until it came out on DVD.

Now, that I ranted about not comparing the The Thing 2011 to The Thing 1982, early on in the movie, one cannot help but compare the movies and evaluate the stories and their pacing. I realize that sounds contradictory. However, just when you think this movie doesn't have the same feel for the characters and their development, it takes off with what it and Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. and his crew brings to the table. Kate Lloyd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) is no Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) in Alien, but she and the other characters do enough, especially The Thing, to pick this movie up and move it along. The Thing prequel should grip you, revolt you, and scare you enough by putting you in the situation the characters are in. Furthermore, Lloyd didn't have the luxury of being in the sequel as Ripley. I am not sure if people who aren't fans of The Thing will rate it highly, but I think they will. There is enough in this film to move the intense and gripping tale, which everyone knows, along. If you can enjoy this movie for itself, then you should have a good time like I did. I would even say there is a twist in the ending, but one can check it out for themselves. As for The Thing fans, I think there is enough to get them peaked and talking after this one is over.

ETA 8/13/2018: I had to review this movie again after finding out they had a practical effects version which the director was intending to show to the audience. I saw some of the comparisons and it was a shame that the practical effects by Amalgamated Dynamics Inc (ADI) were not used. They seemed very much top notch effects. Instead the producers chose to do CGI over the practical effects and it creates a not as real feel to it. I thought after screening this film that it was an enjoyable enough movie if one didn't compare it to John Carpernter's The Thing. But it would be difficult to not to.compare it to one of the greatest practical effects films of all time. That movie was really creepy and had more than one WTF moment. This one isn't like that even though it was okay as a standalone movie. I apologize for the rushed review and now feel compelled to lower my initial evaluation when a better/pretty good "prequel" was shot. Instead of what could have been a gold mine, we got the shaft.

What's missing in my mind is this movie wasn't an Alfred Hitchcock movie. But maybe AH wouldn't have done "Dial M for Murder" (1954) if he did this one. Who knows? Also, I read elsewhere that this film was edited heavily, so maybe we're really missing a true classic here.

Certainly, Marilyn Monroe is fabulous in her role as Rose Loomis, a beautiful, attractive woman, but one whose morals are questionable and is a sociopath.

The film isn't written as a star vehicle for her, but her performance just draws the viewer in and then grips the viewer. She was a great actress in addition to her beauty and sex appeal. I think her portrayal really puts the noir in film noir in this movie.

Where it falls down somewhat is the portrayal of the Ketterings and the Cutlers after they enter the film. Certainly, it's an off-beat contrast to the Loomises, but I wish they played their roles in a more straight fashion than as comedy.

Henry Hathaway was a pretty good director, but with the right cast and direction, this movie could have been an all-time classic. If someone found the deleted film and put together a collaborative Director's Cut version, it would be interesting watching.

I boosted the movie to an 8 because of two of nature's greatest phenomena -- Niagara and Marilyn Monroe.

I saw this film when it first came out in theaters and didn't find it very scary at all. Thus, I became a bit bored and didn't pay that much attention to it. I remembered it being more of a comedy and John Goodman had a great scene where he comes out with his full exterminator gear on.

Being younger at the time, I liked the dark, atmospheric, creepy features with some blood and gore, e.g. Evil Dead and Evil Dead II, Alien and Aliens, The Thing, etc. All right, I'll admit it. If the movie had a lot blood and gore and was still a good movie, the better!

Flash forward seventeen years and I'm a Dad now with two young kids. My younger daughter is six and I found out she's afraid of spiders. Not deathly afraid of them, but just a little. Of course, I read about what movies they can watch and see if it is acceptable for them.

I remembered this movie and thought I preview it to see if it was acceptable. Unfortunately, my mind was somewhere else and didn't look carefully enough to see it was PG-13 until I received it from Netflix. Boy, I really didn't remember much about the movie! I ruled it out on the rating alone, but thought I preview it anyway.

This time, I was looking at it from the view of someone who is a bit afraid of spiders. If one looks at from that point of view, then this movie is much more enjoyable. Part of it is being grown up, but sometimes you watch the same movie and it has a different affect on you.

This movie works a lot better if one can associate psychologically with Dr. Ross Jennings (Jeff Daniels) who has arachnophobia. The movie is a lot more fun if you watch it from that aspect instead of expecting a type of horror movie which I mentioned above. There are some chills and thrills in store if you can keep that in mind. It has a mix of horror, sci-fi, and comedy, so you have to keep that as well in mind. This movie isn't so much atmospheric, but set up to draw you in psychologically. One has to pay some attention to the dialog to understand how it does that and to experience ARACHNOPHOBIA for yourself.

Eeek! Thus, I raised my rating from before to a generous 7 stars and dub it a good, if not great, popcorn movie. Besides, Steven Spielberg of Jaws and Jurassic Park fame is associated with it; Even if it's basically just in name only as Exec Producer.

This movie came on the heels of the hit "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?" It is a horror, drama and thriller genre movie with an aging, but famous, glamorous movie starlet in the lead to lure you in. WHTBJ was the first movie I saw, and it was very interesting to me because the stars in it were Bette Davis and Joan Crawford.

Both were glamorous movie stars of the 1930s, 40s and 50s, when they were both in their prime. They each had fought hard to climb to the top of their profession. Later, they fought each other literally. They each won much critical acclaim for their performances and Joan Crawford won a best actress Oscar for "Mildred Pierce" (1945) while Bette Davis won for "Dangerous" (1936) and "Jezebel" (1939). They were queens of the golden era in Hollywood where the stars acted like, well, big Hollywood stars. They supposedly dressed up just to go out to the supermarket.

However, by the 1960s, they both had not worked for about a decade and their past glamor had faded. They both latched on to a lower grade horror genre to get back to work and into the spotlight. "Strait-Jacket" was Joan Crawford's second foray into this horror genre. Although the story is interesting, it would quickly become another forgettable horror picture if it wasn't for the acting of Joan Crawford. Crawford is very demanding of her part in this picture, almost overbearing, but I was glad the director gave in to her demands. Crawford really pulls off a grand performance and milks many a scene. Some of the scenes if they were really written that way, one would think it ridiculous, but coming from Joan, it is part camp, part bizarre and fully believable. She really pulls it off and gets away with her digressions.

For example, there is a scene where Joan's character, Lucy Harbin, is nervous and has been talked into dressing and looking as she did twenty years earlier by her daughter. Later we learn that this is dangerous behavior for Lucy.

Lucy is very nervous because she does not feel ready to socialize again having spent the past twenty years in an asylum. She is to meet her daughter's handsome boy friend and fiancé. We see her being nervous trying to put ice in a cup before he comes. But when they finally meet an amazing transformation comes over her. The whole scene is priceless and I could not believe how Lucy ended up lighting her cigarette!

I handed out way too many stars for this movie, but I would give it the full 10 for Joan Crawford's performance and ad libs in this type of role. I say that a bit tongue-in-cheek, but if you give this movie a chance and learn a bit about Joan Crawford in the meantime, I don't think you will be disappointed.

This movie is produced and directed by William Castle who is known for trying to scare his audiences with tricks and gimmicks in a camp, horror style manner. This movie is no different in that it does contain his antics in depicting the grisly ax murders.

In a more serious vein, I wish this movie was done in a manner such as "Psycho." Just imagine if Alfred Hitchcock, Robert Bloch (author of the book "Psycho") and even an aging Joan Crawford put their talents behind a movie like this.

"Why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?" —Matthew 6:28-30

This was a wonderful movie that portrays the beauty, goodness and strength of the human spirit. I found "Lilies of the Field" entertaining as a comedy and drama while uplifting at the same time.

Sidney Poitier won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Homer Smith and deservedly so. He is riveting as an ex-GI, itinerant handyman and personable country boy who stops at a remote farm in the Arizona desert because his car has overheated. There he meets a group of five German nuns who is lead by their Mother Superior (Lilia Skala). The Mother Superior believes Smith or "Schmidt" as she calls him is a Godsend to help them build a chapel the nuns have cherished and have been praying for. She, in her forceful and forthright manner, persuades Smith to do some repairs on the roof and so Smith stays overnight.

Smith believes he is going to be paid, but the nuns have very little money and subsist by living off the land. Thus, the movie is set and Smith soon realizes that he isn't going to be paid for his labor and wants to leave to continue his journey, but he gradually is hooked by the five nuns with their faith and determination. The five nuns are like the lilies in the field. Poitier is very convincing as someone who feels like he's being duped, but cannot remain angry and frustrated long at the Mother Superior and the nuns despite their language and cultural differences.

Your spirit will soak up the joy of what true faith and prayer brings to the human condition as you watch this movie. Homer Smith never does get paid for his labor, but in return he gains much more than he ever anticipated. It's not the story in the book, but after wards, I envisioned Homer Smith returning once again to complete what Mother Superior had dreamed and prayed about in building a school and hospital to go along with her "Shapel."

Perhaps I had too high of expectations for this movie. Tim Burton has made some great films -- Beetlejuice, Batman, Edward Scissorhands, Nightmare Before Christmas, Ed Wood and Sleepy Hollow. He also made some turkeys in Batman Returns and Mars Attacks! Put Planet of the Apes down as another turkey, one of his worst.

This movie is billed as of the Sci-Fi Action genre, but there is little science in it. We are supposed to believe that a chimp and later Captain Leo Davidson (Mark Wahlberg) flies through a cosmic storm and is instantaneously transported through time into the future. Not only that, the ship that tries to save the insubordinate Davidson ends up crash landing on the same planet but in the present time. They were carrying a cage full of chimpanzees and one of them starts a colony on the planet. Some of the humans who survived start a human species, but yet on this future parallel world, for some unexplainable reason the chimpanzees evolve faster and become masters over the humans. The air and water is equal to that of our own Earth but mysteriously the planet was uninhabited before.

Given the chance, Burton can make some great character driven and imaginative movies such as Batman, Edward Scissorhands and Ed Wood. In Apes, he doesn't have a chance with the poorly written script and weak direction. The movie instead focuses more on the action and we don't see a buildup of Wahlberg's character except towards the end. Other characters are introduced, but there are few connections with the audience. Helen Bonham Carter's performance as Ari is worthy, but we don't know exactly why she feels a connection to humans enough to risk losing her life. Kris Kristofferson is there to be killed off. Tim Roth does a creditable job as the angry and malevolent General Thade, one of the descendants of first chimpanzees on the planet. Both Michael Clarke Duncan and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa are good as Attar, General Thade's friend and trusted warrior Krull who is Attar's foil and Ari's guard.

The cinematography, set designs, and technical aspects of the movie are fabulous. Rick Baker and Colleen Atwood does superb and remarkable work as the make up and costumes. Danny Elfman, who won an award for the Batman score, does a fantastic job again with Apes. This was a big budget picture and money was well spent in these areas.

The ending made no sense whatsoever. If you get that far, suffice it to say the final scene looked as if it was added just so there would be some storyline in order to make a sequel. I truly hope the producers of this stinker lost so much money, they won't dare try again.

I watched this movie as a Saturday matinée (rerelease) as a kid and will tell you it was funny, but not as funny as It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World which came almost a decade later with its Cinerama screenings. Cantiflas was a big Mexican star and I remember his name being plastered all over the place in the Mission District in San Francisco. His performance in this movie was excellent and should have been nominated for an Oscar. He did win a Golden Globe for best actor.

Watching it again about forty years later was still fun, but this time I was watching for cameos and the locations it was shot. The movie is an example of great family entertainment from the 50s (saw it the first time in the 60s). Jules Verne's imaginative story is pretty much straight-forward. I saw it on widescreen DVD which made it a real treat. The biggest treat was at the end for me. I have been reading about the genius and first great title designer Saul Bass and his capture of Around the World in 80 Days was absolutely awesome to watch. It's a movie within a movie.