My Week In Movies - October Week 2

Still playing catchup...

Gidget Goes Hawaiian (1961) I'm a big fan of the Gidget franchise and this is probably my favorite entry. James Darren returns as Moondoggie but the cast rest of the characters are recast. The ultra-adorable Deborah Walley takes over the title role, and comedy legend Carl Reiner steps in as her father. The second film is a more polished affair than the first, with some fairly elaborate musical set pieces. My favorite thing about this film is when a vicious rumor about Gidget starts to spread through her circle of friends. Somebody starts making up lies that Gidget is sleeping around with several guys. Even though the word "sex" is used a few times earlier in the film, they never come right out and say "Gidget is sleeping around." Instead they skirt around the issue by using phrases like, "had an unfortunate incident" or "spent time with boys that way." Pretty funny how innocently they would handle a situation like that 50 some years ago.

Murderball (2005) Here's another film I saw on the "50 Docs To See Before You Die" program and decided to check it out. It's about full contact Rugby at the Paralympic Games. These athletes strap themselves into souped-up wheelchairs and beat the hell out of each other on the court. It's a pretty intense sport and the film makes it all more intense by making the players human and showing them all beyond the game. It's an in-depth, unflinching look at the life of a paraplegic on and off the playing field.

My Week In Movies - In a Train or In a Bed

Cedar Rapids (2011) I wasn't expecting much from this office place comedy but I was pleasantly surprised. In fact, I'm naming this the best new movie I saw this month. The film follows the antics at a regional insurance convention. Sounds fun, don't it?! The cast is great with Ed Helms as a guy who is uncomfortable leaving his hometown to go to the convention in the big city. You just can't seem to go wrong with John C. Reilly as a crazy loud mouth associate who actually has quite a loyal heart. I was most surprised with Anne Heche, who I usually find to be somewhat of a talentless hack who's been riding off Ellen DeGeneres's gay coattails for the entire duration of her career. Heche is funny, sweet and sincere in this role as another convention attend who has more than one side to her personality. The other lead character is played by Isiah Whitlock Jr. who I'm not familiar with but was apparently in the HBO series The Wire. He's very funny in this picture too. Together, the ensemble make great friends and the film's story of friendship is a refreshing overtone to this cute, funny movie.

One Day In September (1999) There was a show on Current TV (yes, that's a real thing) that was counting down the 50 Documentaries You Should See Before You Die. I made it through all 5 hours of the show and had pleasantly seen a good number of the films featured on the show. There was also a list of films that I wasn't familiar with that looked really good. This was one of them. The Oscar winner for Best Documentary of it's year, this edge of your seat doc takes a look at the hostage situation that played out over the course of less than 24 hours at the 1970 Munich, Germany Olympic Games. I thought the film itself was a little disjointed and hard to follow at points, but the true life story itself could not be more gripping. The style of the film shifts from journalistic to cinematic at strange times and looses some of it's momentum in the process. But this is an excellent documentation of the horrible incident that occurred on that day and it's as action packed and intense as any cop drama you'll ever find.

Barely Legal (2011) With Netflix Streaming, I'll click on random movies and give them 5 minutes of my time to see if they can win me over. Usually, these modern day sex comedies are all horrible - shot on video and filling large portions of their run time with gratuitous shots of semi-pretty girls in various stages of undress. Barely Legal won me over in the first couple of minutes with a script that indicated there was someone with a sense of humor sitting behind the keyboard. Three female friends who all share a birthday decide they are all going to loose their virginity on their upcoming 18th birthday. While this is kind of a tired plot, it's the first time I've seen it done with the girls as the heroes of the movie. They throw a party and spend the next 90 minutes running into all sorts of problems that stand between them and the sheets. It's technically a bad movie. The production values are very low, the acting is not very good at times and the whole movie takes place inside one house. But there is some clever dialogue, a couple of really good visual gags and a good sense of humor that keeps things rolling along smoothly. If you're interested in seeing a Wii controller inadvertently used as a marital aide, then this is the film for you. This is the closest I've seen somebody nail the vibe of an old school 80's T&A flick in quite some time.

The Train Robbers (1973) There's a few names from classic Hollywood that will bring me to a picture without knowing much else about the movie. Jimmy Stewart, Cary Grant and John Wayne to name a few. So, when I saw that John Wayne co stared with my current classic movie crush Ann-Margret, I was on board. Even though Wayne didn't really make comedies, he's such a fun presence on the screen. I especially love his movies from the 1970's where they have a touch of classic Hollywood mixed with modern cinema. The Train Robbers is great and has an old fashioned feel to it, even for 1973. Wayne and his buddies escort Ann-Margret to the hiding place of stolen gold which her dead husband was responsible for. She plans to turn the gold in to clear her hubby's name and The Duke and Co. split the reward money. Along the way, there is some good old fashioned shoot-outs, chummy cowboy banter and the star attraction: the beautiful Mrs. Ann-Margret.

Carnal Knowledge (1971) So then the following night, I followed up The Train Robbers with another Ann-Margret picture, Carnal Knowledge. This is a tale of two buddies played by Jack Nicholson and Art Garfunkel. The film follows them through four different stages of their lives. Starting in college and ending after each of the guys is divorced, the segments of the film represent the different stages of love throughout one's life. Candice Bergen plays a love interest in their college years. I've always loved her in Murphy Brown and other movies I've seen her in young or old. She's great here. Later on in life, Nicholson meets up with Ann-Margret who at first is supposed to be older than him but quickly she looks as lovely as ever. There's a bit of nudity on the part of Mrs. Margret here which I wasn't expecting...but I can't say I'm complaining either. The film is slow at times. It actually reminds me of some of Woody Allen's more serious pictures as far as style and pacing. It feels very influenced by Annie Hall and Manhattan, except that Carnal Knowledge was made many years before those two.

Vanishing of the Bees (2009) My wife seemed disappointed in me that I invested an evening watching a documentary about honey bees. Little does she know the effects of the mysterious Colony Collapse Disorder. A few years ago, beekeepers started discovering empty beehives with no trace of dead bees to be found. Not much is known about the disorder but there are many theories most of them leading to the way mankind has treated this planet. Cinematically, there's not much to BEE had in this documentary, but the information here will have you BUZZING with anger and alarm. vanishingbees.com

September Movie Count: 24
Best New Movie: Cedar Rapids
Best Rewatch: The Muppet Movie
Worst Movie: Paul
2011 Movie Count: 155

My Week In Movies - Piranhas Are Better Than Sharks

Shark Night 3D (2011) Folks, this is one horrible movie. It's not scary. It's not funny. It's not campy. It's not gory. It's not very interesting. It's about a group of college kids who go on a trip to a beach house and then they all get eaten by sharks. The sharks look only slightly more realistic than the special effects in a made-for-TV movie on SyFy. The plot involves one of the absolute dumbest motivations for a bad guy ever! The 3D is just about as unnecessary as it can get. Not once do the filmmakers use the 3D gimmick to their advantage. I thought this was going to be silly over-the-top fun like Piranha 3D, but I was wrong. The only thing this film has going for it is the beautiful Sara Paxton in the lead role and former American Idol star Katherine McPhee as one of her friends. Even the fact that the entire cast is in bathing suits for the majority of the running time can't excuse the existence of this poor film.

Pom Wonderful Presents The Greatest Movie Ever Sold (2011) With is third film, Morgan Spurlock seems to have hit the same wall the Michael Moore has - he thinks his films need a gimmick. While Moore constantly tries to cram an in-your-face stunt into every one of his movies, Spurlock too feels the need to duplicate the pattern of his first movie (Super Size Me) and put himself into the middle of the subject he's investigating. In this instance, the subject is product placement in films. That's an interesting topic that hasn't been exposed in a documentary yet, however Spurlock takes it a step further and spends most of the film trying to find real sponsors to finance his film through advertising. It's a gimmick that works some of the time, but chunks of the film with him meeting with various potential clients seemed forced. The expose is at it's best when it uncovers the truth behind advertising in movies.

The Muppet Movie (1979) There are just so many reasons why this is one of the greatest movies ever made. First of all, it's a perfect example of how to take a television property and translate it to the big screen. The Muppet Movie has all the elements of comedy, music and heart of The Muppet Show - just blown up on a bigger scale in set in the real world instead of a theatre. The Muppet's first big screen outing is also the most perfect example of the right way to do cameo appearances. Just about every speaking role by a human in this picture is played by someone famous. Bob Hope, Richard Pryor, Steve Martin, Lee Marvin, Mel Brooks and even Orson Wells all pop up throughout the colorful adventure. The music in the film is all top notch including the now-standard Rainbow Connection and one of my all-time favorite songs, Movin' Right Along. Compared to today's family films with loud pratfalls and even louder flatulence, Kermit the Frog and Company's silver screen debut is an old fashioned, good hearted time at the movies.

Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday The 13th (2000) I'm not quite sure what the deal with this film is. It's seems to have a pretty decent sized budget and it's competently directed but it was just dumped on to TV and video when it was released. Perhaps it was upstaged by the higher profile Scary Movie. Anywho, this is a pretty good parody film which riffs on mostly Scream but also I Know What You Did Last Summer and then about 50 other movies. When Dawson and his friends at school start getting mysterious notes, they are all written on "From The Desk of the Killer" stationary. Now, that's funny right there. I don't care who you are! Unlike the more recent parody films that have been released, this one actually makes fun of all the movies it touches upon. There's actually a pretty funny Grease scene in here. You would think with a staring lineup of Coolio AND Shirley Jones this would have been a big hit - Oh, Hollywood! Netflix Streaming

Going In Style (1979) This older comedy came highly recommended from another blogger so I thought I'd give it a try. It's about three elderly gentlemen who are bored with their lives so they decide to spice things up and rob a bank. Their disguise is pairs of Groucho glasses, which seems to be about the only funny thing in this movie. Dreadfully slow and kind of depressing - I didn't enjoy this at all. George Burns is such a pleasure to watch doing anything...but this caper film just wasn't up my alley. Netflix Streaming

My Week In Movies - Did I Mention Herbie is Awesome

Waiting For "Superman" (2010) I watch alot of documentaries so I can confidently say that I didn't think this movie was all it was hyped up to be. Sure, the problem with this country's public school system is horrible and something that everybody should be concerned about. But as a movie, this film played more like an extended news report than a feature film. It bounces all around from topic to topic and never really offers any solutions or suggestions on how to fix our problems. Every once and a while, one of these documentary films breaks into the mainstream film market and it's usually something to sit up and pay attention to, but this one felt like it was more the issue that was getting all the attention instead of the actual film product. It did win the National Board of Review Best Documentary prize, but it wasn't even nominated for an Oscar or Golden Globe. Perhaps the biggest problem with me and this film is that I have children in the failing United States public school system, so there wasn't much this film opened my eyes to. Rated PG - there's a few casually dropped "hell" and "damn" as well as some smoking.


The Virginity Hit (2010) Here's an example of a film trying to do something different but then not having any actual material to back up the idea. Instead of making another run of the mill, generic teenage sex comedy - the filmmakers here decided to film their tale as if it were all shot by the kids in the story. It's American Pie for the YouTube generation, except unlike American Pie: it's not funny. There is virtually no point to this movie about a group of guys who set off on a quest to get their buddy's V-card punched and videotape the whole experience. There's not much to laugh at in this picture and you just can't get by the fact that the cast was obviously picked for their resemblance to the dudes from Superbad. Just a horrible excuse for a sex comedy with too much going on and none of it being funny. Rated R for language, sexual situations, drugs and nudity.


Chloe (2009) Last week we watched Julianne Moore in a gay marriage having a straight affair. This week we watched Julianne Moore in a straight marriage have a lesbian affair. I have to say, as far as affairs go I preferred the later. But as far as movies, this wasn't so hot. Moore suspects her husband, Liam Neeson, of being unfaithful so she hires a hooker, played by Little Red Riding Hood herself Amanda Seyfried, to attempt to seduce her husband to see if he's get it in him. The affair between husband and hooker goes a little too far and Julianne Moore gets caught up in the heat of the moment. A little too much actually as she also finds herself in bed with the prostitute. It was actually a pretty decent film, but it's just got that little missing something-or-other that makes it feel like a direct-to-DVD movie instead of a full fledged feature film. It's in heavy rotation in all the Redboxes, so that about sums it all up. We watched it on Netflix streaming. Rated R for very heavy sexual themes including situations and language. There is also a bit o' violence too.

Herbie Rides Again (1974) To prepare myself for meeting Herbie face to bumper at the Antique Auto Museum this past weekend, I popped in my copy of the second of the five Herbie movies. I don't know if I could say I have a favorite of the Herbie films, but this is a real solid entry as Herbie helps an old lady save her home from an evil land developer. (As you know, I have a soft spot in my heart for cinematic evil land developers.) Hollywood legend Helen Hayes, whose onscreen career goes back to 1917) stared in this hit movie. It was her first comedic role and she grabbed a Golden Globe award nomination for Best Actress thanks to it. And that's no small task when you are sharing your screen time with Herbie. What is also interesting is that Mrs. Hayes chose this as her next role after winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her previous role in Airport. If you haven't seen a Herbie movie in a while, or if your kids aren't familiar with him, you should pop on in for a solid night of family entertainment. Rated G.

Zapped! (1982) The comedy powerhouse duo of Scott Baio and Willie Aames started here in this comedic spin on Stephen King's Carrie. I was 9 years old when this movie came out, yet somehow it feels like it's always been on my radar. I've always wanted to see it, but it's just been one of those films I've never caught up with. The poster/box art promises Baio with super abilities to make girls skirts fly up. What a great premise to base 90 minutes of entertainment on! Unfortunately, there's not one single skirt flipping scene in the entire movie. In fact, Baio's character doesn't use his telekinetic powers for much of anything. There's some really good moments and one-liners in this hit teenage comedy, but overall it's kind of a dud. The principal of the school is played by Robert Mandan who you might remember as Chester Tate on Soap, but to me he'll always be Jack Tripper's father-in-law on Three's A Crowd. (I love that show!) Mandan provides some great moments in a subplot involving the principal using a dating service. Overall, don't promise me a movie with the plot of making girls skirts fly up and then don't deliver! Rated R for language, sex and nudity. There is also some drug use.

Weekend With The Babysitter (1970) I've been into some drive-in classics lately, reading about them and tracking some of them down on DVD. This one keeps coming up as a minor classic, it's actually a follow-up to The Babysitter from a year earlier. The first half starts off pretty interesting but then it just drags on for the second half. Candy, the babysitter, shows up for the evening just as Mrs. Carlton is getting ready to take her son to her mother's house for the weekend. It turns out Candy has her dates mixed up! Candy ends up sticking around to hang out with Mr. Carlton. They discuss his work, they go to a bar and then they get high in the back of a van. (Vans were like entertainment centers in the 70's.) The next day, Candy and Mr. Carlton spend an ungodly amount of time riding motor cross bikes. Then they have sex. On the third day, they go and save his wife who is now held captive on a boat by some drug lords. All in a weekend's work for The Babysitter! Rated R for language, violence, sex & nudity and it's the 70's so there's drugs too.

My Week In Movies featuring The Greatest Movie EVER

The Little Mermaid (1989) This will come as no surprise to anyone reading this blog, but I absolutely adore every single frame of this movie! The Little Mermaid holds my personal record for movie I've seen most times in the theatre...7 to be exact. (The Flintstones is second place with 6 screenings.) I had to twist my kids ankles to watch it because they think it's a girlie movie which brings me to my thesis on why I hate the Princess marketing campaign. But once we were two minutes into the movie, both my boys were totally into it. And for good reason, the music is fantastic, the colors are awesome to look at and the story is so tight and zippy that you can't deny The Little Mermaid is a masterpiece of film making! (And easily the best Disney film since 1967's The Jungle Book.) Rated G - nothing offensive but some little ones find the climatic ending a little too intense.

The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947) This wasn't the first time I've seen this classic comedy, in fact I'd probably mark it down as one of my favorite older movies. Cary Grant is always awesome. He plays an artist who becomes the object of affection to high school student Shirley Temple. Through a series of wacky
"only-in-the-movies" mishaps, Grant is court ordered to pretend to be interested in the younger girl in the hopes that her crush will die off quicker. It all results in madcap black & white hilarity! If you are only familiar with Shirley Temple as the little curly haired doll singing Good Ship Lollipop, let me just got on record here as saying Mrs. Temple grew into a pretty hot teenager. (I can say that because she was 19 when she filmed this movie and I'm pretty sure the statute of limitations has run out on lusting after a teenager in a 64 year old movie.) After her string of popular movies as a little girl, she took some time off from acting and then staged a comeback in her teen years. Most of those films are obscure finds on video and DVD, Bobby-Soxer is considered one of her later classics. Good stuff! Not rated because it's old.

Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel (2010) This engrossing documentary should be mandatory viewing for anyone whose given someone a hard time about saying they read Playboy for the articles. In fact, naked girls and other such things only make up about 5% of this movie. Not only did Hefner usher in the sexual revolution, he was also instrumental in the civil rights movement. He is a vastly creative man who projects and talents reach out in many different directions. I've seen a few television documentaries on Hugh before, and this one forgoes interviewing subjects who've been documented before. In fact, I was more than a little disappointed to only find my gals from Next Door only pop up in a few archival clips. This is an engrossing, well done documentary that stays away from cheap titillation and focuses on the story of one of modern times most influential people. Rated R nudity (almost exclusively stills from the magazine,) sexual discussion and some profanity.

The Ugly Dachshund (1966) I was so proud of my kids when they chose this classic Disney comedy as our Friday night movie. This is light, fluffy Disney entertainment at it's best with Dean Jones and Suzanne Pleshette as a young couple with a houseful of dogs. Mrs. Garrison loves her four dachshund puppies while Mr. Garrison prefers his Great Dane. The real problem is Brutus, the great dane, thinks he a tiny little dachshund...and then the fun begins. Great Danes can't be as mischievous and rascally as dachshunds! Oh, the destruction! There's three major set pieces to this film, each involving mass chaos when the dogs go on a destructive rampage. Each scene more elaborate than that last. When you watch the film, and remember that this was made in the mid-60's, you gotta wonder what kind of animal actor laws they had in place back then. It sure looks like they hurled those dogs into all sorts of things. There was no CGI back then, and 1960's special effects usually stick out like a sore thumb. But hey, what do we know? This is a great, fun movie. Not rated but classic wholesome Disney fun in every frame.

The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea (2000) You would think that I would be appalled at a made-for-video sequel to one of my tippy top all-time favorite movies. This lower budget production is by no means a "good movie" but it's not all that bad either. The story this time picks up a few years after the original tale with Ariel and Eric happily married sharing life with their daughter Melody. Ursala's sister shows up to seek revenge for her sister's death, and before long Ariel has to get her fins back and "return to the sea" to help rescue her daughter. The animation is not horrible, but, again, it's not very good either and poor Ariel looks off-model in several scenes. There's not much of an attempt to make this go-around a musical. There is a brief opening number and a closing number but that's about all that is needed since the songs are no where near as good as the stable of classics from the original film. It's Disney, so of course it's all rated G - even the climax is a little softer for the younger kids to stomach.