46yroldmale

Sergio Di Zio wonderfully underplays his role as Harold, the Christmas angel that has a no nonsense approach to true love. I am coming at this from a different perspective than most people who will watch this film because I have lost love to death, knowing that I will never again be with my wife during this life. Casual couples who take one another for granted may be caught up in in the same predicament as Corrine and Dave in the film if they refuse to put themselves out for love. At the center of the simple storyline is that Corrine's grandfather had to go off to war and never came back. He loved fully, but his relationship was cut short through no fault of his own. In what I think is the pivotal scene when angel Harold unbelievably asks Dave, "You're not willing to fight for her?" we see the pathos of true love and his all-consuming disappointment in casual love. I certainly felt it. I was with Harold all the way. Don't take love for granted, it's embedded in human beings and human beings are fragile creatures.

My goodness. As I am writing, this movie has a 5.8 rating. How anybody could choose to watch a movie called A Bride For Christmas and come away disappointed with this movie is completely lost on me. I mean, what were they expecting? Were they perhaps caught off guard when there was a wedding/Christmas theme? I was expecting a bride, and Arielle Kebbel was a really, really good one. She so reminds me of watching Katherine Heigl in little movies like this one she used to make not too many years ago. She is adorable here, which is what I was expecting in a movie where "Bride" is prominent in the title. I was expecting a wedding and I was expecting Christmas. Past that I was hoping for a well written script. This one is sweet, thoughtful and pretty clever considering it sticks to familiar story lines. What it comes down to is whether you want to watch a well made movie about A Bride For Christmas or you want to watch something else. When I sat down for this movie, I was expecting they'd show me a sweet movie about a cute bride at Christmas. Given those parameters, this Christmas movie highly exceeded my expectations.

Hiding behind the facade of being the perfect politically correct movie, as it turns out this may have been the most ironic movie of the year. The film does a wonderful and sensitive job of showing how gay relationships are as sweet as heterosexual relationships, evoking the pain as well as the potential of fulfilled romance in coming out. The irony, of course is that all the marketing of the movie is toward the film being a heterosexual Valentines Day movie; "She said yes!". Why keep that aspect of the film behind closed doors? If it was because they were looking for a "Crying Game" type moment it would be understandable, but I think in 2010 we are way beyond gay being shocking, and it would be wrong headed to think the movie would have you come away thinking that a loving, gay relationship is supposed to be anything less than natural.

Tippi Hedren is in this movie so I was watching for her. I didn't know Tippi Hedren was going to be in the movie until after it started and I saw her name in the credits. I'm not actually a Tippi Hedren fan so I didn't expect I'd recognize her - because it's been 46 years since The Birds and when you've got 46 years between watching one movie to the next then you can expect there's going to be some changes. So I'm watching this movie trying to figure out who Tippi Hedren is. I know it's not the main character because she's young and Tippi's got to be, well, at least 46. The main character is this young girl who looks kind of like a duck. I don't mean to be rude but I don't know how better to describe the new Brittany Murphy look; which I do not like. It couldn't possibly be what Ms. Murphy wanted the day she when into her doctor's office and said, "Big lips please". Any doctor that would take that pretty little face and do what he did has to be a quack. So, to be honest I was having as hard of time recognizing Brittany as I was Tippi. It kind of ruined the movie for me, because I went in knowing it wasn't going to be a guy movie anyway, but then when I found that Brittany had gone all platypus I was really thinking, what's the use? Because the story is weak, the movie plods, and Brittany has duck lips.

"Jumanji in space". That's the line on this little stinker. Don't believe it. Much more like "Annoying Children in Space". If it tickles you to watch really annoying brats in odd situations then this is a dream movie for you. As I watched the movie on CD I was so uncomfortable that I figured it must have bombed like crazy in the theaters, and that based on how much it must have cost to make I also figured the director never got a big budget movie to screw with again. I was right about the bomb! I was right about the budget! And...the director goes on to make mega budget, mega successful Iron Man. Only in Hollywood. What ever success there is in the future for director Favreau, this frustratingly annoying, whiny, nonsensical mess is an unfortunate stain on his resume.

A responsible adult carries the duties and trials of his or her world; day in, day out, day after day. When it comes to watching a movie I want to be entertained. I stay away from "catharsis" movies where you have to feel bad to feel better. Quite naturally I think, I feel better when I smile. I cannot define this movie as either cathartic or entertaining. If it is fair to classify there being a higher level of movie making, this film could be the standard. It brings to life a horrific event and it brings the event home. These figures from the nightly news became real people to me. They became my neighbors. They became family. I felt pride and hurt. I grieved for their loss. It enlarged my heart and reminded me of a resolve I had already made (and too often forget) to be a better human being. This film should not have been rated R. How can a film that should be shown in every high school be given an R rating? One thing that has been hard to shake after seeing this film is how much garbage comes from the entertainment world. I don't think I was aware that a movie like this could be made, but now that I know it can, I want more.

Movie begins awkwardly, takes a while to find its rhythm, and then just as its movement begins to becomes captivating, it suddenly spins off and falls on its ballroom butt. Gere tries to come to the rescue during the fatal twirl and explains to us (by way of his shrew wife) why after an hour of learning the right moves he's suddenly stepping on the toes of the collective movie audience. Something about loving said wife too much (cue the tear) to ever want her to know that he wasn't satisfied with his perfectly boring life. I personally became mad hot with that explanation for leading a pretty decent movie into the dance hall dumper. Not to be a total naysayer, understated Jennifer Lopez is pretty good in this movie.

When I got up to walk out about half way through the movie, I only looked back to see if anyone was following me. I left the theater at about 8:00pm Monday, July 4th. I was at the Thousand Oaks mall, which is under a hill where fireworks would be sent skyward in another hour. I walked over to the mall's 4 story parking structure and took the stairs up to the top. They had kept all cars off that level so that families could come and set up chairs and blankets in preparation to see fireworks. There were possibly hundreds of people there, interacting, happy, enjoying each other. It was so peaceful. What a contrast to a movie depicting these same people as a wild mob that would kill each other just to take a ride on an old mini-van. I hated this movie because it was an exercise in frustration. Hopeless, helpless, selfish, panicked people being swept along in the midst of miserable events. To me, that's not entertainment.

My mind's going' a hundred miles a minute. I've got an idea for a double sequel that'll knock the socks off of all them big shots in Hollywood (or is it Tokyo? I just can't tell any more). A guy, we'll call him Sam Michael Gillman, hears from his friend in Japan that he needs a house sitter to watch his place for a week. Well, Sam has never been to Japan so he figures this will be a good opportunity to go there on the cheap. Before he boards the plane he figures he should pick up some English language videos to watch while he's there. He gets to Japan and he has a taxi take him to his friend's house, only he mispronounces the name of the street and the taxi driver takes him to The Grudge death house by mistake. Oh my!!! Sam goes in the house. Fortunately for him, even though there was actually no one LIVING in the house at the time, the electricity and phone still work. So, Sam makes himself comfortable and puts one of his videos into the VCR. It's a strange video with a girl in a well and a spooky glowing ring. When it's over the phone rings and he's told he would normally have 7 days to live but in this case death happens to be on holiday in Japan, so she's coming right over. In the meantime, there is a noise that seems to be coming from the attic. Sam thinks all this is very odd. He looks up on the stairs and there is a black cat, a little Asian boy, a young somber Asian lady, and this really angry fellow. He's trying to make out what they want. He is strangely compelled to pick up the cat, help the little boy, and then go up and join them in the attic. Whatever it is they want, they are alternating from looking like just regular folks to appearing as horribly scary ghost people! Sam is intrigued and is thinking this must all be quite normal in Japan, when there is a knock at the television. Suddenly, and without warning, on this dark and stormy night, the girl that was in the video crawls through the television and walks slowly toward Sam. "Are these friends of yours?", Sam asks the TV ghoul, pointing to the stairs. All the odd dead people look at each other and try in vain to communicate with froggy croaking sounds. What will happen?! Will they duel to the death? (Er, probably not to the death). Whatever happens, it's bound to be really scary! And bound to have an ending that is nonsensical and goes nowhere!

I was caught up in the moment. Michael Moore, out on the street exposing "the man". I thought Michael Moore was this nation's greatest hero and that we should make him a really big birthday cake. I mean a REALLY BIG cake. One that Michael Moore could enjoy. I've heard that regular cakes to Michael Moore are just like cup cakes to people like you and me. So, I was hoping that he could get all the happiness possible for his wonderful exposés. When I saw his Fahrenheit 911 he convinced me that Bush was the anti-Christ. I caught the Michael Moore vision that America is a reached toilet bowl. I wanted to move to France. I had just finished my third French lesson when a friend of mine asked me to watch Fahrenhype 911. It turns out that Michael Moore had his own agenda and was dishonest in his movie! It made me wonder if maybe other times he's been less than honest. I was very sad. Sometimes it's probably better to just live in a dream world where you believe in things that aren't true. If that's the world you want to live in, than do not watch this movie! And, I suppose you shouldn't watch Michel Moore's movie either. Instead, if you want to see a funny liar, watch the Jim Carry movie Liar, Liar. You can watch that, laugh out loud, and not feel all dirty.

Basically my family had to take me to this movie kicking and screaming because I just don't like spiders. I don't like anything about them. I know we're all suppose to like how they eat all the flies and bugs of the world, but to me that doesn't make them any more attractive. "Look Timmy! There's a spider near your bed sucking the life out of that fly. I wonder what he'll do when he gets hungry in the middle of the night? Now get to sleep." So a movie about a Spiderman sounded like it would be the grossest thing of all. And the thought of him sucking on that cute Kristen Dunst was a horror too awful to imagine. But, I went anyway, and I'm glad I did! It turns out that Spiderman is...oh wait. I'm supposed to say there is a spoiler here. So, Spiderman is not really a spider at all. That's just some kind of movie hype. He's really a man who dresses up in a spider suit. Except it's really not a spider suit because it's not all fuzzy and it doesn't have suit fangs. There's no drinking of blood or sucking, in fact, the movie doesn't suck one bit! Oh boy! That's my review; it doesn't suck. Oh, and how about this... this movie's going to be around for a while, it's got eight legs! Oooooo-Ahhhh!

Based on the immediate success of Michael Moore's movie I am left to postulate that this movie is "The Passion of Christ" to the ultra-secular. In a world that finds itself more polarized every day, Michael Moore has become the champion of those who struggle to give us nothing to believe in.

And another thing. Michael Moore is into giving fat people a bad name. It's like, "Look at me! I'm a common fat-slob from Middle America." Well I've seen Middle America, and let me tell you, on their good days they are never fat slobs! Oh sure, some days everybody wants to just relax and not worry about their appearance. But when middle America's going to be featured in a big time movie, they get up and shave and put on a clean shirt. Large does not translate to slob. Michael Moore is a poster child to the secular left, but by choosing to look like a fat-and-smelly he does not represent any kind of traditional American.

I thought it'd be kinda fun to write a review while I was totally blotto. Is that the right word? Like, drunk. Because writing a review sober got really dull. So, now I have a beautiful perspective on this Van Hesling mess. And it was a fine mess I got myself into! Like Laural and Hardy, get it! HA! Don't you hate exclamation marks?! They are so presumptuous! And you know what?! This was a really fun movie. It was just like being on a thrill ride that goes up and down and back and forth and round and round...oh boy, I feel like I'm gonna puke. Fortunately I wasn't drunk when I was sitting in my theater seat, which was so much like a thrill ride. BANK TO THE RIGHT! NOW TO THE LEFT! It was just like that. So, if you want a thrill ride, go to Disneyland, or this movie. Or, maybe you like 6 Flags. I like Disneyland's Space Mountain, but it's been closed forever while they are making it into a new ride. It's taking them 3 years to change the best ride at Disneyland. Why don't they just leave it alone and take 3 years to make a different ride? I'll tell you why, because they put all the new rides over in California Adventure! Is that a rook or what?! But fortunately they put all the goodies into just one ride here, called Van Hesling! Like, flying bat women! They are the coolest thing from any movie ever made. And it's a really long movie, so you get your moneys worth even if you buy some bon bons. I've never bought bon bons, but I sure would like to someday. But until then, I give this movie a nine out of ten. Don't you hate it when somebody says they really like a movie but they won't commit to give it a full ten out of ten. Like, "I'm too cool to give any movie but Citizen Kane ten out of ten because I don't want to lose the respect of all my fans who are just waiting until I write my next review so they'll be able to go to a movie again." Yeah, so there you go.

Alternate title: Star Wars.... Use the Force Neo!.... Go Millennial Falcon. Go!.... You can't beat the entire Imperial army! Or can you?.... They should have brought the twin Wookie brothers back from Reloaded. They'd have fit in so well here.... `Obi Oracle, you're my only hope!'.... Why's it so hard to believe Neo's a Jedi?

I'm writing this on the Sunday of the second weekend this movie has been in the theaters. That's the weekend that Runaway Jury made 8 million dollars and Scary Movie 3 made 50 million. It's October! No movie makes 50 million on a weekend in October. This just proves that when Hollywood gives us what we really want we'll throw gobs of cash at it. Perhaps we have, once and for all, put Hollywood on notice that from now on we want Scary Movie remakes or we want nothing! Like Runaway Jury for example. I was sitting in the theater during the opening credits and this powerful feeling came over me that I was about to see something substantial. Like one of those old time classics where they pack the movie with lots of stars and a sophisticated story line that'll give you two hours, drawing you in and making you think. And sure enough, that's all I got for my money. I was obviously confused by clever advertising gimmicks that drew me away from the true classic that must have been Scary Movie 3. I looked around the packed but smallest theater in the megaplex to see who else came to the Jury movie. Mostly a bunch of old people. Figures. So I am left to wonder, is it that old people aren't cool enough to know when they could be seeing the hottest October movie ever? Do the names Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman mean more to the old folks that John Cusack and Rachel Weisz mean to the youngsters? I didn't see Scary Movie 3, but Runaway Jury had it all, and I can't help but think that this weekend, a whole lot of Scary Movie goers got punk'd.

Most everyone who is not a card carrying `arti'st' likes their comedians to be funny. Around the water cooler, a comedian is always defined by his funniest role or craziest bit. At my water cooler, we like Adam Sandler in Wedding Singer, Waterboy and Billy Madison. We're probably going to rent Punch-Drunk Love when it comes out on video. No rush because even though we heard that Adam Sandler is great in the movie, we didn't hear anything about it being very funny.

When it comes to Jack Nicholson, we never know what to expect. He's a funny guy and a dramatic guy. I suppose after a movie star/comedian makes a few popular funny movies, he wants to be Jack Nicholson. He wants people to come see his dramatic roles and be just as satisfied as we are with their comic roles.

I'm telling my water cooler buddies that if you want to enjoy Anger Management you've got to go into it understanding that it's a Jack Nicholson movie. Jack is overbearing. And he's so Jack Nicholson. You just can never quite figure him out, which is part of the Nicholson mystique I think.

I don't believe Adam Sandler can afford to have a mystique. I want to see what I know, and I know funny. He is not very funny in this movie. So, it's best to be caught up in the story instead of the actor. It's a simple scenario; can Sandler's Dave Buznik overcome the constraints of anger management therapy as conducted by Nicholson's Buddy Rydell? Buznik is a nice enough fellow, but he's kind of spineless, which makes it hard to really like him. It also makes it very hard to understand why beautiful girlfriend Linda (Marisa Tomei) could find any long-term romantic interest there. That she does makes this a more fulfilling movie. In fact, her side of their relationship is really the heart of the film, which makes me think a springtime release date, when love is in the air, is very appropriate.

A lot will be written about the movie cameos. There are many top-notch movie shorts in this larger film that could stand on their own very easily. Chicago's John C. Reilly in a diaper was wonderful. Heather Graham at the bar was, well, it was what you'd expect from Heather Graham in a bar. And there are many others.

In the end this is a good film with a good heart.

I really liked this movie. It has that charmer Reese Witherspoon. Now there is an actress for you. I didn't even know. I took my wife to this movie even though I thought it was probably a chick flick, because I wanted to show I could still date after all these years. We went out to dinner first. I had two enchiladas and a taco. It use to be you could go to a Mexican restaurant and it wouldn't cost you an arm and a leg, but boy are those days over. We had a coupon for ten dollars off, so we got out of there for under $20. We drove over to the movie and we were like 45 minutes early, so we walked over to Sears and looked at a variety of stuff. That's the thing about Sears, big variety. And tools. After that we watched the movie. I was watching that Reese Witherspoon pretty closely, and I can tell you she acted up a storm. Lightening and everything. And it's no chick flick. It's a bonafide date movie is what it is. Every heterosexual dating couple should be required to go to this movie. I don't know how such a law would be enforced, so maybe it shouldn't be required. But, if it was required then there would be more dating going on, and that would be good. And there would be more happy couples because the movie makes daters smile and feel good inside. I don't think I'd have liked it so much if I wasn't a dater. Because of this movie I've decided I like being a dater. Sadly, I'm out of Mexican restaurant coupons, and great date movies like this one are very rare.

That I didn't like this movie is of little consequence. Everybody else liked it, so what does it matter what I think. However, there is one big fat scary detail that I do think needs to be pointed out. We're making this movie into one of the most successful movies of all time and the indisputable fact is that the lead can't act! What's Hollywood going to think? I'll tell you what they're thinking, that the masses can't distinguish bad acting. When Tom opened this movie in one art house he knew the lead was a stiff. He rightly thought to spare us from Nia. "Rita, it doesn't matter if we make the money back. Sure we should have insisted Nia let a real actress do the role, but you live and learn!" If even a guy who sees everything in black & white like me has new suspicions that the masses are fine with bad acting, then it must not be too hard to figure out. I mean, sure, the chances are that this sort of thing won't get out of control, but if it does, don't blame Tom. Or me. Blame Rita.

"Ooooo-klahoma, where the hmmm hmmm hmmm hmmm down the plains..." Wouldn't it be fun to be in a play?! It would be great. I'd be in a play, but I can't remember lines and I can't sing. But at least I can write a review! Like this one. I haven't written one for a long time, so I thought I'd start slow, with a movie no one's bound to ever see. Or, at least that would be my recommendation. This movie is way old! Nobody should watch this movie because it's so old. 1934 is old, but this movie was made retro back then, so you feel like it must have been made in the 20's. In the 20's it cost like a penny to go to the movies. That's mighty greedy for this oldie. It's an adventure movie. I know because I saw the version that had the Bond girl in it. You know her as Dr. Quinn, but I, as a movie buff, know her as "that Bond girl." The Bond girl version was much superior because they decided to make it in such a way that it was watchable. Leslie Howard is a stiff. Everyone's a stiff. Maybe if there was any musical score at all it would have helped the actors to at least put on a bit of the bouncy. Don't watch this. Watch the bond girl. She's bouncy!

To understand how I view J.P.III you really have to know my thoughts on J.P.I. How many times have you gone to a movie and had a life altering experience? It didn't actually change my life, but it certainly altered my perspective on technology. When I went to J.P.I in the summer of 1993, those were real dinosaurs up there on the screen. Of course, I knew they were really just movie magic, but that night it was mighty easy to believe in magic. My favorite thing about J.P.I was the sensitivity portrayed between the key characters. The Allen Grant character interacting with Laura Dern, and especially with the kids. Then they had sarcastic Jeff Goldblum playing against the sensitivity, which made him very funny and enjoyable to watch. But, make no mistake about it. It was the heart in that movie that made it so wonderful. A few years later, J.P.II came along. What was that all about? Spielberg went with the sarcasm of Goldblum to make the movie work. What was he thinking? You figure a person like Spielberg knows what he's doing, and then you find out he may well have been flying blind after all. So, what's good about J.P.III? The monsters are good, especially the flying ones. The sense of humor is pretty good. Allen Grant exudes the sensitivity that is so important to make these J.P. movies work. Macy is the bomb. I & II have wonderful characters. What's wrong with III? I think they really missed the boat with the fear factor. In J.P.I, everyone on the island understood what a tremendously scary situation they were in, and they convinced me! It was not the scary dinosaurs that invoked the terror in me, it was the terror I felt from the human characters. In J.P.III it was just wrong that, unless there was a dinosaur breathing in their face, most the characters seemed oblivious to their dire situation. My son said the movie wasn't scary. Well, no wonder he felt that way when even the participants seemed to think they were merely hiking through a boy scout camp, unless they happened upon a monster. Ad to this that Tea Leoni was miscast, and you have my only gripes. But, all-in-all, this movie was very fun and worthy for you to be exited to see.

Probably the best job in the world would be to market movies. I would love to get paid to make the trailers and those 30 second TV commercials that make people excited to see a movie. Sometimes, the trailer sells you something the movie is not. It succeeds at tricking you into the theater on false pretenses.

What is just as common, and quite the pity, is when the commercials trick you into NOT seeing the movie. Such was the case for me with Finding Forrester. What I took away from the TV ads, it turned out, was not what the movie is about. For example, in the precious 30 seconds of ad time they show a scene where Sean Connery tells his young friend that if he writes a book then he can get girls to go to bed with him. Oh, boy! Just what we need, Sean Connery in an "American Pie" rip off. What else was I to think? That was bad marketing. The ads convinced me this was going to be a cliche ridden, high brow smut-i-thon. Well, it's not. It turns out to be thoughtful and thought provoking. They seemed to want us to believe the movie would insult our intelligence, but instead it is enlightening. Excellent acting, good characters, entertaining story. I liked it a lot.

Engaging story about a large boat.

We have quite convincing evidence here that James Cameron actually is "King of the World."

***********Possible Spoiler*****************

Contrary to her seeming sincerity, Rose lets go.

Hello! Please read my review.... Okay, maybe today I'm a bit pathetic. But did you ever wonder, if someone writes a review on IMDB, and nobody reads it, perhaps it's not really there at all? And if my review only exists in my own mind, then I begin to wonder about my own existence all together. And if you're going with me here, and you find this line of reasoning provocative, then you're just the person that should see this movie! Ah-ha! I got ya, didn't I? You thought I was REALLY pathetic when all the time I was just being trite. Oh, well. Don't let it bother you. Now, as for this movie, it does have a rather bizarre story line. Something about the earth having a spirit and man might destroy that spirit. Excuse me?! I can comprehend the earth having a spirit. But man destroying it? The movie was positive about mans spirit being indestructible. So how can it be that mere man can destroy the earth's spirit? Of course, perhaps I just didn't get it. Which is okay because it's not like ANYBODY'S ABOUT TO READ THIS ANYWAY!!! But, just in case this is read, how about that Aki! She was amazing. My son is in love with her and I think that is just fine. I mean, I have this theory. Some people say it's not natural to have such a strong emotional feeling for a digital character. But, how different is it than the feelings we have for flesh and blood actors? I watch Linda Darnell in "The Mark of Zorro" and she makes my heart beat fast and furious. I think I've been in love with her since I first saw that movie on TV in the 60s. Now, how real is Linda Darnell? Even if I met her today she'd be all dead and unattractive. So, it wasn't Linda I fell for, but that celluloid creation on the screen. It's no different for Aki. And, what did I like about Aki? I liked her sense of vulnerability. A strong woman with a sense of vulnerability gets me every time. Oh, and nice hair. That gets me most times. So, I'm thinking you should see this movie if you like unique, or technologically new stuff, or if you like women with 60,000 beautiful hairs, or if you like strong, yet vulnerable, women.

For some reason, I was expecting this movie to be slow and mellow. I don't want to give anything away, but it was really more like just the opposite! If I was watching this at a drive-in, I'd bring my own popcorn. Man, when I left this movie I got in my car and drove home. It's all about quarter mile car races that only last 10 seconds. 10 seconds! And yet they made a 2 hour movie out of this that doesn't let up. That's pretty impressive, and I liked it.

I was running down the list of the greatest movie ever when I came to this sleepy little number. The critics love this movie. As my 15 year old son would surely say, "what were they high on?" It moves like a snail on sandpaper. Gene Hackman is annoying. The only positive thing is the Will Smith sequel, which is very good. If you're a classic art film lover then maybe this is for you. To me it's just another sad-sack 70's film where everything goes wrong, at a snails pace. You know what would have been a better movie? If it was more of a documentary and the the director just snuck around and taped Gene Hackman's real live private conversations! Oh boy, that would be a hoot! I wonder what he'd have said to his milkman (because they had milkmen back in 1974- back in the golden age of classic film making)? Unfortunately, the director went another direction.