Thank You For Smoking

Who:  Amber & Jonathan
What:  Thank You For Smoking
Where:  @ home - recorded off cable
Why:  It looked interesting

This movie was enjoyable.  It was cute.  It was very clever.  I'm just not sure I understood the point.

Not that I needed to understand the point, I enjoyed my time watching it.  But if it had a point, it was way over my head.

Aaron Eckhart (as usual, I forgot his character's name already) is a lobbyist for tobacco.  Basically his job is to talk about all the positives tobacco has to offer.  He kicks butt at his job.

The entire movie is about his smooth talking adventures around Washington DC and various business trips, which his 13 year old son attends with him.  Aaron is a good guy.  He's a good dad and is teaching his son well.  

Just because his job involves smoking doesn't make him a bad guy.  Maybe that's the point of the movie ... don't judge a book by it's cover.  Or maybe the point is 'be educated and make your own choices'.

Heck, all I know is that it was fun to watch Aaron Eckhart smooth talk his way across the US.

Be Kind Rewind

Who: Jaclyn
What: Be Kind Rewind
Where: @ Home
Why: I don't know why anymore...

Be Kind Rewind is about a couple of buddies (Jack Black and Mos Def). One of them works in a junkyard (Jack Black) and the other works at the local video store...that only carries VHS (Mos Def).

When the video store owner goes away, he leaves Mos Def in charge. Well something happens to JB's character which magnetizes him. Of course, when he visits his friend in the store, he ends up erasing all of the VHS movies.

When the two of them realized what happened, they have to act quickly to fix the problem since the store owner checks in with one of the regulars there and she's coming to rent a movie.

Believing that she won't know the difference, they quickly shoot a home movie of Ghostbusters (the movie she wanted) and stuff it in the case, ready for her arrival. Once more of the customers come for rentals, they have to start making other movies.

45 minutes into this movie, I wondered why I was still watching it. It sounds like a funny concept but it's SO slow and the acting is SO horrible that when it finally hit the hour mark, I stopped it and returned it...no rewinding necessary.

Be Kind (to yourself) and don't bother.

The World's Greatest Athlete

Who: Bill
What: The World's Greatest Athlete
Where: Turner Classic Movies
Why: It's a classic Disney movie.

I've never seen anything like this in my entire illustrious career!
-- Howard Cosell


The Walt Disney Studios have produced some notable sports-themed films in recent memory: Invincible, The Greatest Game Ever Played, Miracle, Remember the Titans, The Rookie and others. But going back much further to 1973, Disney’s idea of a sports movie came in the form of The World’s Greatest Athlete.

Marrivale College’s head coach Sam Archer (John Amos) is in charge of perennially-losing teams for football, baseball, basketball and track and field. Seeking some relaxation, Archer and his assistant coach Milo Jackson (Tim Conway) travel to Africa where they encounter an exceptionally athletic young man called Nanu (Jan-Michael Vincent) who was orphaned and raised in the jungle. Archer and Jackson convince Nanu to go back with them to Marrivale, much to the concern of Nanu’s mentor Gazenga (Roscoe Lee Browne). At the college, Nanu excels as an athletic superpower, culminating in an exciting track and field finale where the visiting Gazenga seeks to temper Nanu’s attempts at breaking several NCAA records through witchcraft.

“Realistic” is a term that could never be applied to The World’s Greatest Athlete but it still makes for a fun family-friendly comedy. Even the romance between Nanu and his tutor Jane (Dayle Haddon) is mostly played for laughs. Three legendary ABC sportscasters are seen in cameos: Jim McKay, Frank Gifford and especially Howard Cosell. Cosell’s over-the-top commentary is not far off from what he actually did on Monday Night Football and most every other sporting event telecast by ABC from the late 1960’s through the mid 1980’s. It was a brilliant move on the part of Disney’s casting people to get Cosell to appear as himself.

Strong casting is a major reason why this movie works. Soon after its release, John Amos was cast as James Evans, the father in the classic sitcom Good Times. This was followed by a starring role in the ground-breaking mini-series Roots. Tim Conway was already well-known for his frequent (and later co-starring) appearances on The Carol Burnett Show. He would appear in several more Disney live-action comedies through the rest of the 1970’s, most of them with Don Knotts. Jan-Michael Vincent was often seen in heavier, dramatic feature film roles. His career culminated with the 1980’s action series Airwolf. Actress/Model Dayle Haddon had been appearing on many magazine covers and could have been cast in other Disney movies. A pictorial in Playboy published soon after the movie’s release changed those plans. She would continue to act and model, and has most recently been a contributor to CBS’s The Early Show and in early 2008 named a spokesperson for UNICEF. Roscoe Lee Browne was a distinguished award-winning character actor appearing in countless movies and television shows. Nancy Walker (Archer and Jackson’s landlady Mrs. Petersen) was also a recognizable supporting player primarily on television in Rhoda, McMillan and Wife and her many “Bounty”-full years advertising paper towels. Comedian Billy DeWolfe appears only briefly as Merrivale College’s Dean Maxwell, but his voice is still heard every Christmas as the inept Professor Hinkle in Frosty the Snowman.

No doubt that the all-star casting contributed to the movie’s box office success. The World’s Greatest Athlete was among the top-grossing films of 1973.

Judge Dredd

Who:  Amber
What:  Judge Dredd
Where:  @ home - off cable
Why:  Why not?

Diane Lane in an action cop movie?  Who knew!

This movie is set in the future.  Cops are now called "Judges".  They catch you committing a crime, they try you on the spot and sentence you.  The future is not a fun place to be.  There is crime everywhere, and the Judges are pretty cool people.

The coolest judge of all is Sly Stalone, or Judge Joseph Dredd.  He's a spandex wearing bad boy!  And by "bad", I mean really good.  He loves the law (almost a little too much), and loves upholding it.

Too bad his clone of a brother (seriously!) is a bad boy.  And by "bad", I mean really evil!  He commits a crime, and convinces everybody that Dredd is guilty.  Dredd and Rob Schnider (seriously!) are sent to jail.  Jail involved flying on a plane to some awful place.  A pack of crazy religious brothers shoot the plane down.  Dredd kicks some butt, and he and Rob Scheider escape.

Meantime, in the horrible future city, Diane Lane and the other Judges are being attacked by the clone brother.  The clone brother is trying to make more evil clones ...  Dredd comes in to save the day!

Did I mention the horrible graphics?

This movie wasn't all bad.  It was a bunch of cheesy lines and random action, but I enjoy random action!

Quantum of Solace

Who:  Amber & Jonathan
What:  Quantum of Solace - James Bond
Where:  AMC Pleasure Island
Why:  Jonathan likes James Bond

I might classify "action" as my favorite movie genre.  Although I don't like movies where I have to think really, really hard.

This movie was a little confusing, but I was able to follow it, which is kind-of a big deal.  I'm not a James Bond super fan, so I went to see this movie for a the action, no the James Bond-y stuff.

This movie starts where Casino Royal leaves off.  If you didn't see Casino Royal (the last James Bond movie), just know that James Bond is mad and wants revenge for something that happened in that movie.  I won't ruin the ending for you.

If you like car chases - check this out.  If you like boat chases - check this out.  If you like airplane chases - check this out.  If you like running chases - check this out!  We just needed a train chase of some kind, then this would've been the perfect storm.

Basically James Bond (Daniel Craig) jet sets around the globe (Russia, Italy, South America, etc...) trying to catch some bad guys.  There is a Bond girl (of course), but she's pretty tough too.  Both Bond and this girl are out for revenge.  Ironically, their revenges are different, but the involve the same group of bad guys.

There is a cheesy named other Bond girl as well.  Her last name in the movie is "Fields".  I'll let you guess what her fruity first name is.

The Guardian (2006)

Who: Bill & Melanie
What: The Guardian
Where: Rented DVD from Netflix
Why: Melanie said it looked like a decent movie

Ben Randall (Kevin Costner) is a legendary rescue swimmer for the United States Coast Guard’s Aviation Survival Technician Program (AST). His successful rescues at sea number in the hundreds. But Ben is aging and his marriage is failing. When one rescue goes tragically wrong, he is forced to either retire or become an instructor with the AST’s training program. Reluctantly choosing to teach he soon confronts an eager, arrogant, but good-hearted young candidate named Jake Fischer (Ashton Kutcher). Ultimately Ben and Jake discover they have much in common. The story follows Jake’s progress through training and ultimately beating the odds to become a rescue swimmer, while Ben finally decides to retire and work on saving his marriage.


On DVD, The Guardian has two different endings-- the version that was actually used, and an alternate ending that was filmed in case the original wasn’t well received by studio executives at Touchstone Pictures or preview audiences. While we personally did not like the actual ending, it is more realistic and when you see the director’s reasoning for it, you understand why it was chosen.

Overall, we liked The Guardian, although it should have been at least a half-hour shorter. An unnecessary subplot involving Jake and a “casual” girlfriend (played by Raising the Bar’s Melissa Sagemiller) adds little to the overall story. Still, Costner and Kutcher are very good and convincing in the lead roles. The supporting cast also boasts familiar faces; notably, Sela Ward as Ben’s wife Helen, and Dule Hill (Psych) as fellow trainee Ken Weatherly. A number of actual Coast Guard rescue swimmers are featured as extras. A DVD rental is recommended, particularly for the bonus features which detail stories such as Kutcher’s participation in the AST’s training program and the impact of Hurricane Katrina on the film’s production.

Madagascar Escape 2 Africa

Who:  Amber & Jonathan
What:  Madagascar Escape 2 Africa
Where:  AMC at Pleasure Island
Why:  It looked cute

I like to move it, move it!  You like to move it, move it.  We like to move it, move it.  You like to ... MOVE IT!

Most sequels (especially animated sequels) are so overdone and a little ridiculous, but this movie was pretty good!  I don't remember the first one much, but I'd say it's just as good at the first.

At the beginning of the movie, they give you a quick recap of the 1st movie, in case you forgot how they got from the NYC zoo to Madagascar (thank you - I didn't remember that at all).  Then the movie jumps right to the 4 animals boarding an airplane (one they obviously found in the middle of the jungle) and are planning to fly back to NYC.  Good thing the penguins know how to fly (irony!).

Of course the beat up plane doesn't make it very far.  The animals have crash landed in Africa.  They all have a sense of deja vu ... wait a minute ... the 4 animals were originally from Africa!  Ironically the plane has crashed where Alex the lion used to live.  And his parents still live there!

There's a back story about the penguins and some monkeys trying to fix the plane.  There's a back story about a group of people from NYC on a safari trip.  More back story about all the animals finding their nitch with all the wild animals.  Etc, etc ...

All in all, this was a great movie!  I highly recommend it.

The Pink Panther

Who:  Amber & Jonathan
What:  The Pink Panther
Where:  @ home - on cable
Why:  Jonathan picked it

This movie wasn't half bad!  I expected to hate it because ... I'm going to sound like a jerk, but I find it really hard to understand accents.  And Steve Martin has a super strong fake French accent.

Steve Martin is a cop in France.  He is a bumbling moron.  A super famous French soccer coach is murdered after the biggest game of the year!  He's killed on the field in front of everybody.  Who could've committed such a crime?  Was it the Chinese soccer team?  Was it a French soccer player?  Was it Beyonce?

Seriously, why is Beyonce in this movie?  You have a great voice, but I don't want to ever see you in movies again.  I'm just not a fan.

The head of the French police asks Steve Martin (Inspector Cloo-so) to solve the case.  He figured Cloo-so will bumble around for a while, all while he swoops in to solve it himself, and win some fancy award.

Cloo-so bumbles around France, he bumbles around NYC following Beyonce around.  She seems awfully guilty!

Of coure Cloo-so figures out everything (you knew he was going to).  Beyonce sings a song (you knew she was going to).  And the Pink Panther theme song is still pretty darn cool!

P.S.  The best part is Cloo-so trying to say "hamburger" with out a French accent.  Brilliant!  I can't stop quoting it!

The Marine

Who:  Amber
What:  The Marine
Where:  @ home - free HBO weekend
Why:  It has John Cena in it

I figured a movie made by "WWE Films" won't be winning any awards anytime soon, which means it was made for me!

This was just a good old fashioned action movie.

John Cena (character's name was also John) is a Marine.  A Marine with huge muscles!!!  John Cena is a WWE wrestler, and a nice looking man.  He breaks a Marine rule and is discharged.  He is devistated, but his wife is glad he's home and out of harms way.

Meanwhile, some bad guys rob a jewelry store and kill some cops.

The wife recommends they hop in the car and go for a drive.  Unfortunately, they end up at a gas station with the thieves.  One things leads to another, and the wife is kidnaped.  And the chase begins!!

John miraculously survives being blown up 3 times, shot at about 100 times and eaten by alligators.  Will he save his wife?  Well, of course he will.  It's still a fun, pointless, action packed movie.

Did I mention John Cena is pretty hot?

Grandma's Boy

Who:  Amber & Jonathan
What:  Grandma's Boy
Where:  @ home on cable
Why:  Nick Swardson is in it

(Back story - Jonathan and I saw comedian Nick Swardson in concert about a month ago)

This movie was really funny!  I remember seeing previews and thinking "LAME!"  But it was really good.  I would see it again.  It's a "Happy Madison" movie, so you'll see all the usual suspects from all of Adam Sandler's movies

The main guy (crap - I already forgot his name!) lives with a buddy.  They both enjoy smoking pot.  Of course they get evicted.  Main guy (I'm going to call him Bob) ends up crashing with his grandma and her 2 old lady roommates.  His grandma is really, really cool!  She cooks for him all the time.  He helps out by doing chores.

Bob is a video game tester.  He works at a cool office and plays video games all day long.  So even though he's a pot smoking guy living with his grandma, he's still a responsible guy.  He's bragging around to work that his 3 women roommates are running him raged with orgies and porn all the time.  In reality, the 3 old ladys have worn him out with basic chores.

I'm finding this movie hard to write about.  What I've just written sounds in credibly lame.  

But, just trust me, this movie is FUNNY!  Kevin Nealon as the video game boss is great.  Skinny guy from Dodgeball is the video game genius - he's great.  Nick Swardson as the kind-of nerd/kind-of cool guy (who lives with his "roommates" or "parents") steals the whole movie!  Search for this movie on your DVR!

Grindhouse - Planet Terror

Who:  Amber & Jonathan
What:  Grindhouse - Planet Terror
Where:  @ home - free HBO weekend
Why:  I've been dying to see it!

Let's just say, I can see why Grindhouse didn't make any money at the box office.  This sucker is long!  I only watched the first movie, and I was tired.  I don't think I could've handled seeing both movies at the same time.

Planet Terror is the movie with the girl with the machine gun for a leg.  I know you know what I'm talking about!

It was actually a pretty cool movie.  There is a crazy radiation leak, and it turns pretty much everybody into a zombie.  There are a handful of people who are immune (for some reason), and they go around killing zombies.  The zombies can be killed (I think), if you blow them away with a powerful gun.  Luckily everybody seems to have an incredibly powerful gun.

When I say killing zombies, I mean blowing them apart.  I think I saw more blood in this movie than at a blood bank.  Who knew a gunshot to the chest made you explode?

Did I mention there was a chick with a machine gun for a leg?

Grindhouse was supposed to be a throw back to stupid 70's horror movies.  So sometimes the screen is kind-of fuzzy, you see film real lines, and during a sex scene (w/ machine gun leg chick), the 'film reel' actually melts.

This movie ends, I think, at Tulum in Mexico.  It's where Jonathan and I visited during our last Disney Cruise.  If it's not Tulum, it looks just like it.

If you have FOREVER to kill, then check out Grindhouse.  If you only have 1.5 hours to kill, then check out Planet Terror.  It's worth it just to see what happens to Quinten Terrintino's wang.  Ouch!  Seriously ...