The Andy Griffith Show

Okay, I'm sure everyone and their dog has seen at least one episode of this show in their lifetime.

I vaguely remember an episode or two playing in syndication while I was growing up, and I didn't much care for it.  Give me the Brady Bunch or get me back to Gilligan's Island, pronto!

Now that I'm older, I wish I lived in Mayberry.

Or at least towns like Mayberry still existed.

The show is sweet, corny, and just plain fun.

The entire cast is great, from the main actors to the random townsfolk who play large or small roles in the grand scheme of things.  I mean really, who doesn't love Otis?

All in all, it's a wonderfully enjoyable series.  I'm sure it will jump the shark at some point, my guess will be around the time that Barney departs the show.  Don Knotts is an underrated comic genius.

Until then, whenever it's late and we want to put on a quick 20 minutes of quiet entertainment to wind down the day, this is always an excellent choice.

5 out of 5.

Red Tails

Red Tails is possibly the best WWII movie since Pearl Harbor.

Unless I can count Captain America, then forget it.

But back to Pearl Harbor.  That was a great Hour Long movie surrounded by 2 1/2 hours of pointless drama and fluffy love story.

Red Tails takes the opposite approach and attempts to tell a great story, and sneak about 20 minutes of love story throughout.

And for the most part, it succeeds.

To compress the accomplishments of the Tuskeegee Airmen into a 2 hour movie does a disservice to what they were able to accomplish as an experiment that was doomed to fail.  It is alluded to in the movie, but again, trying to compress for time, it is nothing short of remarkable.

The movie wasn't a big hit in theaters, which is a shame.  Is it because it's about "black history" so the demographic is limited in appeal?  Possibly, but that's a shame.  The Red Tails are not black history, they are American History.

If they don't fly, the bombers don't make it to target or come home.  The war drags on.  The outcome would likely be the same, but it could have taken longer, and cost countless more lives.

Nope, I'm chalking this one up to one of the better Hollywood takes on the efforts honoring the generation that saved the world from Nazi tyranny.

4 out of 5.  A little long, you can blame that on the love story.  But at least it wasn't Pearl Harbor.

: )

Moneyball

Hmmm.

It's a baseball movie...

About being a General Manager?

Odd, to say the least.  But it works.  Due in large part to the fact that Brad Pitt can carry a movie on his back, which for the most part he does.  Aside from Jonah Hill playing... Jonah Hill...but dialed down to a 2....  everything else is tangential.

Based on a true story, it showed that a small market baseball team could be comprised of affordable athletes that go toe-to-toe with the big spenders in Boston and New York.

The movie itself will get a 3 out of 5 on the Netflix scale.  While good, I can't see many people outside of baseball fans (I know many of them still exist...) flocking to watch this one.  Plus I don't find any inherent replay value of watching it again so wanting to own it would be out of the question.

If only it had been about the NFL...

: )

War Horse

Boy Meets Horse.

Boy Loses Horse.

Boy Finds Horse.

It sounds so simple.  It's a love story, without the girl.

Set in the background of World War I.

It seems far-fetched, until you realize that it is helmed by Steven Spielberg.  Then you realize everything is going to be alright.

And it is.

The story is nothing short of Spielberg at his best.  The scenery is gorgeous, and the action clips along at a marvelous pace.  The journey that the horse is on is nothing short of amazing.  He touches the lives of everyone who encounters him, English and German alike.

You'll laugh.  You'll cry.

That's what Spielberg does.

And we are the better for it.

I'm going to give this one a 4 out of 5 star rating.

Chronicle

So, last night's movie was "Chronicle".  Apparently I was the only one in the house who thought it wasn't a complete waste of time.

Which means I must be the smartest guy in the room! : )

So we have a "found footage" genre movie wherein three teenage boys find a nifty space rock that grants them telekenetic powers.

2 guys are popular, one is an unpopular loser who is the cousin of one of the popular boys.

You can guess in a movie wherein people are granted superpowers...someone is going to go bad....the writing is on the wall as to who it's going to be.

Still, it was a fun enough romp with a movie that played like an episode of Heroes. 

From the first season, when it was actually a cool show to watch.

In fact, the final act played out in such a way, I actually swore I was watching Heroes.

So I'll give it a thumbs up.  Not a waste of time.  Nothing I would likely go back and watch again, but I have definitely seen worse.

Like the 4th Season of Heroes.

: )

Why Brody?

"Smile you sonuva..."


So why is Chief Brody hanging out as the background for this blog?

Why not?  Do you want to tell this man he can't be here?

But in truth, he is here because "Jaws" is the single-greatest movie ever made.

Ever.

Yeah, suck it "Citizen Kane".  My shark eats your sled.

"Casablanca"?  Please.  You can always have Paris, I'll be content with swimming with bow-legged women...


So that gives you a bit of an idea of where I come from in my views towards movies.  I can totally respect the artform, the craftsmanship and put in the context of the time and conditions with which the movies were made....


But in the end, I want to be entertained.  If a movie can do THAT, then it will earn higher marks than the most well-crafted artistic movie ever made...that was dull as dishwater... : /  in my opinion.


I could be wrong.   But rarely about movies.

: )

The Iron Lady

Hollywood attempts to tell the story of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.  And when you think of the PM, naturally, the first thought is:

Meryl Streep!

Because really, is there any role she cannot play?

I think only one, and that's the role of "Bandit" in "Smokey & the Bandit".  Otherwise, the sky is the limit for her.

Now, over the years, we have developed a system for movie tolerance.  It's the "Twenty Minute Rule".  If, by the first 20 minutes of a movie, we are not engaged, engrossed or enthralled by the happenings unfolding before us, it is safe to remove the movie, no harm, no foul, and send it back.

Now, I am the more patient movie-goer, and I let many a movie roll for the entire running time in the "hopes it will get better."  Sometimes it does... sometimes I simply say "meh..." and those movies quickly fade from memory.

So as "The Iron Lady" unfolded last night, we were treated to a Margaret Thatcher who was alzheimerific, or delusional, and the movie was bouncing between now and then.  Fine fine, I can tell my way around a movie without getting too confused.

So I wasn't confused.

I was simply bored. 

Not sure I even made it to 20 minutes.


Final Rating: 2/5

Reviews for the Sake of Reviewing

I figure it is everyone's responsibility to put as much information on the "Information Superhighway" as possible.

So this will be the dumping grounds for my thoughts on all of the movies that Netflix sends to me and I take the time to watch like a good movie-goer.  Or, that I stream while waiting for the next movie to arrive.

Fair enough?


Besides... what are the odds that anyone will read these?  Not very likely.  But I'll have fun anyway.

: )