AMERICAN GRAFFITI ON THE BIG SCREEN

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DdPR6wVZA8Y/UfXbTL4GVGI/AAAAAAAAZ14/BJ20Yj8FcEw/s1600/Picture+1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="274" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DdPR6wVZA8Y/UfXbTL4GVGI/AAAAAAAAZ14/BJ20Yj8FcEw/s640/Picture+1.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 1973 cast: Richard Dreyfuss, Paul LeMat, Charles Martin Smith, Candy Clark, Ron Howard rating: *****</td></tr> </tbody></table> After growing up watching AMERICAN GRAFFITI, and seeing it fifty or more times since childhood, and always on television, there are a few noticeable particularities when viewed in an actual theater on the big screen...<br /> <br /> Producer Francis Ford Coppola’s first film, a low budget horror flick titled DEMENTIA 13, is on the marquee outside Jerry's Cherries Used Car Lot, where Richard Dreyfuss’s Curt Henderson, kidnapped for the night by a gang called The Pharaohs, caused havoc for a local police car by tying a cable to its underbelly: And before that when Curt and his new acquaintances are inside a pinball alley, the Laura Scudder’s brand Potato Chips are in abundance behind the Moose Lodge guys… John Milner, played by Paul LeMat, has a pack of Camels rolled up in his see-though white-sleeve…<br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SoNjpbfqPJo/UfXg-cqOHMI/AAAAAAAAZ3o/jMfw80LcpOo/s1600/Picture+6.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="274" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SoNjpbfqPJo/UfXg-cqOHMI/AAAAAAAAZ3o/jMfw80LcpOo/s640/Picture+6.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Producer Francis Ford Coppola's exploitation flick DEMENTIA 13 on the marquee</td></tr> </tbody></table> And various adult characters: like the poor fella who gets his front bumper bashed, the jerk cop Holstein, the liquor store clerk, the chaperone told to “Kiss A Duck,” really look straight out of the Eisenhower era – okay so JFK was president by this time, but you get the drift…<br /> <br /> The bottom line is AMERICAN GRAFFITI is meant to be viewed the way originally intended: the bigger the better.   <br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QVyRyb686YA/UfXdvAcnvSI/AAAAAAAAZ3Q/wH4TkQqt4V8/s1600/Picture+17.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="280" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QVyRyb686YA/UfXdvAcnvSI/AAAAAAAAZ3Q/wH4TkQqt4V8/s640/Picture+17.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jim Bohan's Holstein refers to Paul LeMat's car as that "thing" like the Death Star guard to Chewbacca</td></tr> </tbody></table> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> Not to toot the old horn, but yours truly notified the theater management… ten minutes before the movie played at Bella Terra in Huntington Beach, California… that the previous screening of NATIONAL LAMPOON’S ANIMAL HOUSE was all but ruined by a minimal amount of audio… In other words, the sound was so low it hindered the entire experience...<br /> <br /> If GRAFFITI, with wall-to-wall music playing throughout, blaring in and out of cars while providing a subliminally expository narrative, had the same sound problem, and so, once again, a sublime movie, part of the ongoing Landmark Classic Series, would be ruined. And who wants to hear the irritating noise of popcorn bags being ransacked by hungry audience members, or banal comments spoken when you’re trying hard to listen to what’s really important?<br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XBI9adPXvj8/UfXbvBOuMrI/AAAAAAAAZ2I/pIwpDsXo5i8/s1600/Picture+10.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="272" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XBI9adPXvj8/UfXbvBOuMrI/AAAAAAAAZ2I/pIwpDsXo5i8/s640/Picture+10.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The beautiful Jody Carlson and the silhouette of Mackenzie Phillips </td></tr> </tbody></table> Well during the first ten minutes, the sound was low… The music was on a mid-passable level while the dialogue seemed like whispers. Ugh... not again! A really bad case of déjà vu!<br /> <br /> But then, right as Milner’s flirting with the gorgeous girl, played by <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2012/07/jody-carlson-in-american-graffiti.html">Jody Carlson</a>, in the Studebaker, who winds up handing off thirteen-year-old Mackenzie Phillips’ Carol for the night, something miraculous happened: the sound turned up and thus, the experience was entirely awesome.<br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DtPUKv7u8QM/UfXb9gAKnsI/AAAAAAAAZ2Q/AMsJbkgh6Ng/s1600/Picture+15.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="276" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DtPUKv7u8QM/UfXb9gAKnsI/AAAAAAAAZ2Q/AMsJbkgh6Ng/s640/Picture+15.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After being a corpse in BULLITT and MAGNUM FORCE, Suzanne Somers gets another silent role</td></tr> </tbody></table> The AMERICAN GRAFFITI story is simple: A group of kids spend the night cruising a busy boulevard. The next morning, two of the four guys will go off to college. At first Ron Howard’s popular guy Steve Bolander is all ready for the trip, and it’s Curt Henderson who’s balking at the big move.<br /> <br /> Henderson, the central of the four central characters, winds up seeing a beautiful girl in a white T-Bird… Suzanne Somers never looked so hot, with the exception of MAGNUM FORCE, perhaps… and spends the rest of the film either trapped by the gang, led by Bo Hopkins as Little Jo, or chasing this dreamboat up and down impossible twists and turns.<br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2QACQJjqxVY/UfbGf8GmZxI/AAAAAAAAZ34/LjmLeTdDNB8/s1600/Picture+13.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="270" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2QACQJjqxVY/UfbGf8GmZxI/AAAAAAAAZ34/LjmLeTdDNB8/s640/Picture+13.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cindy Williams and the always-lovely Kathleen Quinlan </td></tr> </tbody></table> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> But it's not all cruising around, there's a love story, kinda... Centering on Steve and his girlfriend Laurie's constant bickering on whether they should remain a couple: after all, Steve is taking off the next morning and long distant relationships rarely work.<br /> <br /> Laurie Henderson, Curt’s sister, is played by Cindy Williams – while it’s difficult <i>not </i>seeing HAPPY DAYS verses LAVERNE AND SHIRLEY, the two actors are terrific and do a fantastic job despite a somewhat cliché romantic-quibbling storyline that it took co-writers Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz to help Lucas with, since he (in his own opinion) wasn’t good at writing about relationships. <br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TfOwzcVYAlg/UfbG4HxrbxI/AAAAAAAAZ4A/-f0cEO8l7T0/s1600/Picture+16.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="274" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TfOwzcVYAlg/UfbG4HxrbxI/AAAAAAAAZ4A/-f0cEO8l7T0/s640/Picture+16.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ron Howard and Cindy Williams with Kathleen Quinlan's Peg silently instigating</td></tr> </tbody></table> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> While the main actors were kickstarting their careers, Ron Howard, billed as Ronny Howard, who was the biggest name of the lot, had the task of making people forget he was Opie on ANDY GRIFFITH for all those years. Although his story is the least interesting, he succeeded as a teenage actor.<br /> <br /> And then people would know him as Richie Cunningham (HAPPY DAYS was inspired by GRAFFITI but actually spun-off from an episode of LOVE AMERICAN STYLE) until he trailblazed as a successful director later on.<br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BJ5aMidkxZE/UfXcW3_ET-I/AAAAAAAAZ2g/hGQ7j78PF7Y/s1600/Picture+5.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="274" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BJ5aMidkxZE/UfXcW3_ET-I/AAAAAAAAZ2g/hGQ7j78PF7Y/s640/Picture+5.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Candy Clark, Charles Martin Smith and Ron Howard</td></tr> </tbody></table> The funniest segments belong to Terry The Toad Philips, the nerd of the group who, played brilliantly by Charles Martin Smith, is like a pinball being rolled from one unlucky situation to the next, providing an entertaining adventure since he's naïve, vulnerable and open to anything...<br /> <br /> Especially after meeting the only Oscar nominated actor in the film…<br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wEt9MmCeDOI/UfcKBWt26kI/AAAAAAAAZ5Q/KSQrV6Ubd2k/s1600/Picture+1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="292" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wEt9MmCeDOI/UfcKBWt26kI/AAAAAAAAZ5Q/KSQrV6Ubd2k/s640/Picture+1.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Candy Clark's eye shown through Charles Martin Smith's glasses</td></tr> </tbody></table> Candy Clark as the bleach blonde Debbie really vanishes into a character, and doesn't seem like she’s playing an extension of herself. It's a performance that goes way outside the box. Candy plays Debbie as someone who knows what she wants, and finally found a nice guy/chump who will buy her booze and drive her around town. Yet she has heart. Experience with soul.<br /> <br /> In one aspect, Toad and Debbie’s story is a progression of Curt’s, being that Debbie is Toad’s ultimate dream girl and yet his dream’s a reality – and often a nightmare.<br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nZCLtu9bcAw/UfXceukoeNI/AAAAAAAAZ2o/sbG3KEnGZWg/s1600/Picture+9.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="268" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nZCLtu9bcAw/UfXceukoeNI/AAAAAAAAZ2o/sbG3KEnGZWg/s640/Picture+9.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Joe Spano promising Toad a knuckle-sandwich</td></tr> </tbody></table> Then there are those subtle performances that stand out better when they’re thirty feet tall and shining bright… How Wolfman Jack, posing as a radio employee, talks about his cherished popsicles… HILL STREET BLUES actor Joe Spano’s duck-tailed snarky bravado when talking down Debbie in front of Toad… Kathleen Quinlan as Peg, Laurie's gossiping best friend, whose subtle manipulation at the dance adds color to the sequence... And the sexy skating waitress Budda (Janna Bellan), ready and willing to give Steve the very best of going-away presents...<br /> <br /> There's the obnoxious used car salesman on the giant chair... The teacher who puts out his match really hip-like before walking off with Kay Lenz... The conceited blonde guy, Kip Pullman, with his arms bobbing as the car rides over bumps after hearing from Curt that Bob, his ex girlfriend’s girlfriend, has an immense crush… And on and on it goes: Folks you just have to see the movie to know what all this inside-info rambling is about.<br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Dlq1B8nddk4/UfXcni2AXsI/AAAAAAAAZ24/E-Xn2RUp198/s1600/Picture+2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="262" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Dlq1B8nddk4/UfXcni2AXsI/AAAAAAAAZ24/E-Xn2RUp198/s640/Picture+2.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Paul LeMat and his sleeve-wrapped pack of Camels</td></tr> </tbody></table> Now back to John Milner, the Han Solo of the film. And while Lucas didn’t make STAR WARS until a few years later… And Harrison Ford’s Bob Falfa winds up being Milner’s drag race rival… He’s the most memorable character, and embodies 1962 more than anyone else. Like the era itself, Milner still grasps firmly onto the '50s, detesting new things like The Beach Boys. "Rock and roll's been going down hill ever since Buddy Holly died."<br /> <br /> A combination of James Dean and the guy we’ve all known, who has yet to grow up to accept responsibility, the devil-may-care rebel, saddled with the 13 year old bratty girl, has to shed his flirtatiously freewheeling ways and is suddenly forced to grow up for the night. Plus his reputation is being challenged: Leading to the dawn drag race backed by Booker T. and the MG’s soulful dirge Green Onions. Despite his shallow exterior, Milner has layers.<br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Z2AFK_Ezulg/UfXcyhKFfuI/AAAAAAAAZ3A/dJaY-hM4XRM/s1600/Picture+12.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="274" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Z2AFK_Ezulg/UfXcyhKFfuI/AAAAAAAAZ3A/dJaY-hM4XRM/s640/Picture+12.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The boys square off in an insult battle before the first drag race</td></tr> </tbody></table> The coolest action sequence occurs <i>before</i> the initial trail run drag race. “Who’s that, do you know him? He’s following awful close,” Carol says when Bob Falfa attempts pulling up behind Milner...<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BfGyKhUTOvE/VEGNanycctI/AAAAAAAAkLg/RDz1Emc0_4o/s1600/American-Graffiti-1973-John-and-Carol-Wander-the-Graveyard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BfGyKhUTOvE/VEGNanycctI/AAAAAAAAkLg/RDz1Emc0_4o/s1600/American-Graffiti-1973-John-and-Carol-Wander-the-Graveyard.jpg" /></a></div> Milner puts on his brakes and Falfa, steering quick to the right, jumps into the next lane, quickly leaps ahead of Milner and the camera neatly pans over... as Milner’s yellow Deuce Coup finally winds up beside his rival…<br /> <br /> George Lucas was never given due credit as a great director, and here his style goes hand-in-hand with precise editing: his then-wife Marcia Lucas (who edited Martin Scorsese's ALICE DOESN'T LIVE HERE ANYMORE and supervised TAXI DRIVER), along with JAWS editor Verna Fields, help make this not only a classic film but an experience that you’re really hanging out with these people in the span of a single night, right up close and personal... And it’s better, more boss and bitchin' with each and every viewing, especially up there on the big screen!<br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NSS6I8bmeJY/UfXd0yfFEoI/AAAAAAAAZ3Y/0pg0VRl0sG8/s1600/Picture+8.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="268" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NSS6I8bmeJY/UfXd0yfFEoI/AAAAAAAAZ3Y/0pg0VRl0sG8/s640/Picture+8.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=AMERICAN+GRAFFITI">SHOP AMERICAN GRAFFITI TILL YOU DROP ON AMAZON</a></td></tr> </tbody></table>

charles martin smith, cindy williams, george lucas, harrison ford, paul lemat, richard dreyfuss, ron howard, seventies

AMERICAN GRAFFITI ON THE BIG SCREEN

year: 1973 cast: Richard Dreyfuss, Paul LeMat, Charles Martin Smith, Candy Clark, Ron Howard rating: ***** After growing up watching AME...

TURBO VS DESPICABLE ME 2

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KUbfC_MPGlI/UfVgY2nb8XI/AAAAAAAAZ1o/1m1URrWJuNk/s1600/turbo-movie-poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="296" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KUbfC_MPGlI/UfVgY2nb8XI/AAAAAAAAZ1o/1m1URrWJuNk/s640/turbo-movie-poster.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2013 cast: Ryan Reynolds, Paul Giamatti, Ken Jeong, Steve Carell, Kristin Wiig rating: *1/2 rating: **</td></tr> </tbody></table> Since Disney, many years ago, provided a human-like Volkswagen Bug racing in Monte Carlo, perhaps the competing DreamWorks could have a Snail competing in the Indy 500 make sense. Even for a cartoon this premise is farfetched and downright preposterous, but the worst scenes are those leading up to the big race.<br /> <br /> Actually, the first twenty minutes aren’t too bad: getting to know <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000;">TURBO</span>, a snail who dreams of being a race car driver… or rather, being the car and driver both… while working with his snail buddies in a community that lives a suburban home’s vegetable garden.<br /> <br /> While the movie works for kids during the initial setup in the colorful garden world, there are scenes where crows swoop down and quickly kill several snails. Of course we never get to know those particular characters to make those deaths sad, but they are shocking.<br /> <br /> Although when Turbo’s best buddy Chet (voiced with melancholy sarcasm by Paul Giamatti) gets snagged by one of the killer crows, Turbo, who gained the power of becoming a jet-powered hot rod after being sucked inside an engine during a local race, goes to the rescue and both snails wind up saved, or captured, or both, by one of the most annoying cartoon and/or computer-animated characters in history: a fat twenty-something Latino named Tito whose uncle owns a taco stand, one of several stores in a forsaken outdoor mall with shops run by other completely uninteresting characters. For some reason, Tito and his friends race snails in a mechanic's garage, and here they discover a lucrative potential for advertisement.<br /> <br /> The commercials and trailers set up the other hot rodding snails, voiced by Sam Jackson and Snoop Dogg to name a few, as if they were actually part of the storyline, and yet they have hardly anything to do with Turbo’s goal, instigated by Tito to save his uncle’s store: competing in the Indy 500 against a conceited human superstar. All scenes leading up are tortuous and lame, and you’ll be glad once the revving competition is underway since it means the end is near. <br /> <br /> Meanwhile <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;">DESPICABLE ME 2 </span>is a kiddie film with potential… for adults. The premise centers on Steve Carell’s formerly world-renowned villain: after adopting daughters, Cru has, along with a bevy of one-eyed alien minions, turned into a mundane suburban father. Till Kristin Wiig’s Lucy brings Cru back into the  business to, like Hannibal Lecter, help find a similar bad guy. The best scene has obvious love interest Lucy taking Cru to her underground compound in a car much like James Bond’s in THE SPY WHO LOVED ME. Leading to an intriguing premise: within a large busy mall, one of the store owners could be the next villain who wants to take over the world. It’s during the undercover investigation the film drags with prolonged musical numbers and an overlong conclusion dealing with a familiar enemy (to Cru). The aliens running around clumsily are humorous but can get tiresome after a while.<br /> <br /> Despite the flaws, children <i>will</i> keep interested throughout, unlike TURBO: youngins were yawning halfway through that slugfest.

2013, action, computer animated, kristin wiig, paul giamatti, race car, samuel l. jackson, steve carell

TURBO VS DESPICABLE ME 2

year: 2013 cast: Ryan Reynolds, Paul Giamatti, Ken Jeong, Steve Carell, Kristin Wiig rating: *1/2 rating: ** Since Disney, many years ag...

THE WOLVERINE

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m0DgofgG26M/U0GwjDZL95I/AAAAAAAAeSE/wTt-EfYLyjc/s1600/wolverine.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m0DgofgG26M/U0GwjDZL95I/AAAAAAAAeSE/wTt-EfYLyjc/s1600/wolverine.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2013 cast: Hugh Jackman, Tao Okamoto, Rila Fukushima, Famke Janssen rating: **</td></tr> </tbody></table>  By the time Viper, a beautiful blonde vixen with unearthly powers, unleashes a forked tongue, spitting colorful venom on her targets, the entire purpose of having THE WOLVERINE take place in the super-slick modern day Tokyo, resembling a Noirish Ninja thriller, is somewhat diminished – everything seemed so ultra-real beforehand. <br /> <br /> And yet, because of her input alone, our hero's having a more difficult time than usual: feeling vulnerable and human in the process. He’s even suffering bad dreams about former lover Jean Gray, obviously meant to tie the other X-MEN films together but seeming like unnecessary (and corny) intrusions.<br /> <br /> The plot is very basic: Wolverine is hired to protect the granddaughter of a dying man he saved during the Second World War. She’s targeted by the Asian mob i.e. The Yukuza, leading to fast-paced action scenes, like one atop a speeding bullet train, which, although fun and involving, are wedged between prolonged bouts of filler dialogue and a superfluous romance.<br /> <br /> The handsome cinematography resembles a stylistic graphic novel, especially as we journey from the crowded city to a pale moonlight fortress, but the turnout, ultimately revealing the main villain in a fist-pounding finale, is downright anticlimactic: by the end you’ll realize there wasn’t much behind even the most memorable sequences.

2013, action, comic book, franchise, hugh jackman, marvel, sequel

THE WOLVERINE

year: 2013 cast: Hugh Jackman, Tao Okamoto, Rila Fukushima, Famke Janssen rating: **  By the time Viper, a beautiful blonde vixen with u...

THREE ACTRESSES REFLECT NIGHT OF THE COMET

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yvIhqlklCxU/VHwVdsrh3nI/AAAAAAAAlNU/c3AfD5OQ5fg/s1600/n1_zps5e7a1fa6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yvIhqlklCxU/VHwVdsrh3nI/AAAAAAAAlNU/c3AfD5OQ5fg/s200/n1_zps5e7a1fa6.jpg" width="137" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Catherine Mary Stewart</td></tr> </tbody></table> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VExLXfhxurc/VHwViTA5oHI/AAAAAAAAlNc/ms4Lx-LvOGM/s1600/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VExLXfhxurc/VHwViTA5oHI/AAAAAAAAlNc/ms4Lx-LvOGM/s200/1.jpg" width="137" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kelli Maroney</td></tr> </tbody></table> “At the time that we were shooting it and when it was released, I didn’t really think a lot about its popularity or longevity. I knew it was a quirky little film," Catherine Mary Stewart wrote in a Cult Film Freak Interview. "Even the producers weren’t sure exactly what to do with it. Thom Eberhardt, the writer/director, had always intended it to be tongue in cheek – a kind of salute to the old-fashioned horror genre with a twist of wry humor... The producers looked at it in terms of being a serious horror film, perhaps knowing that there was a more solid market for that sort of thing... Fortunately, it ended up the way Thom had envisioned, which of course makes it stand out and adds some sort of weird validity to it." <br /> <div style="margin: 0px;"> <div style="text-align: right;"> </div> </div> <div style="margin: 0px;"> <br /> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hGpAlXYk6XY/U4wsOJcS1cI/AAAAAAAAfjs/SGupMx2liKU/s1600/nightcomet2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hGpAlXYk6XY/U4wsOJcS1cI/AAAAAAAAfjs/SGupMx2liKU/s1600/nightcomet2.jpg" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An Armed Regina</td></tr> </tbody></table> <b><span style="background-color: white;"><i>NIGHT OF THE COMET is a very unique zombie film, one that has gathered a dedicated cult following since its somewhat subtle release in 1984... </i></span></b><br /> <b><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white;"><i>Not relying on overblown blood and guts, it’s basically a character-study of two sisters, CATHERINE MARY STEWART as Regina and KELLI MARONEY as Samantha, waking up to discover a comet has destroyed the Earth's population... </i></span></b> <br /> <b><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white;"><i>But before this catastrophe happens, Samantha has another battle: a slap-fight with evil step-mother Doris, played by horror film staple SHARON FARRELL...</i></span></b> <br /> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: left;"> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EccfRx35g0Q/TY_HcdNMNOI/AAAAAAAAAJk/PJjQ--SIZ3Q/s1600/when+sharon+farrell.jpeg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="211" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EccfRx35g0Q/TY_HcdNMNOI/AAAAAAAAAJk/PJjQ--SIZ3Q/s320/when+sharon+farrell.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kelli with Sharon Farrell</td></tr> </tbody></table> </div> <div style="margin: 0px;"> KELLI MARONEY: "It was chaotic... Sharon and I kept doing it a few times, but those scenes are hard to make look real. Because I had already done this type of scene on Ryan’s Hope with my 'Mom' Louise Shaffer, I told her to just slug me a good one so we wouldn’t be there all night...<br /> <br /> It actually hurts a lot more to fake it countless times than to just take a punch in film. I was choreographed to throw myself over the couch and tumble to the TV set. That was planned. Strange little cartoon moment that people really enjoy.”</div> <div style="margin: 0px;"> <br /></div> <div style="margin: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: white;"><b><i>And since bitchy stepmothers are people too, let’s get SHARON FARRELL’s perspective on the fight…</i></b></span></div> <div style="margin: 0px;"> <br /></div> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-r9YABl9p8Zc/TY_IIHROBmI/AAAAAAAAAJ4/7ddQ6Nlhb30/s1600/61711_141749862535969_106638979380391_223355_2100323_n.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-r9YABl9p8Zc/TY_IIHROBmI/AAAAAAAAAJ4/7ddQ6Nlhb30/s200/61711_141749862535969_106638979380391_223355_2100323_n.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Slapping Good Scene</td></tr> </tbody></table> <div style="margin: 0px;"> SHARON FARRELL: "She said, ‘Just really slap me, and I’ll really slap you, and we’ll fake the sock.’ And she just flipped over the back of the couch, but the slaps were real. But the punch was not… I would have broken my hand. And we would have been hurting too much for that. But a slap… You can do a slap if you just do the palm of the hand and hit the cheek you can do it. It’s always better to fake it but… We were shooting so fast we just… Kelli just… She just took over then. She just said, ‘Hit me… Slap me… I’m gonna slap you, Sharon, and you slap me.’ And she was a good little actress… She was a wonderful little actress."</div> <div style="margin: 0px;"> <br /></div> <div style="margin: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: white;"><b><i>SHARON FARRELL is an important character: for not only does "Doris" die along with most of humanity as the comet flies over the earth, but her character’s the only human shown actually watching it... making her the symbol of the earth’s demise.</i></b></span></div> <div style="margin: 0px;"> <br /></div> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hrMBRYxxyis/TY_HQpPDBOI/AAAAAAAAAJc/EfM0MEutK5c/s1600/60245_141749945869294_106638979380391_223363_5714775_n.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hrMBRYxxyis/TY_HQpPDBOI/AAAAAAAAAJc/EfM0MEutK5c/s200/60245_141749945869294_106638979380391_223363_5714775_n.jpg" width="187" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Last Shot of Humanity </td></tr> </tbody></table> <div style="margin: 0px;"> SHARON: "The director threw a football across, and that was our Comet. He just took a football… I think it was… He took Chance’s [Sharon's son, Chance Boyer, who plays of the young survivors]… He wanted to be Terry Bradshaw during those days… And he wanted to carry a football. They have this little boy carrying a doll and he said, ‘I don’t want to carry a doll, I’ll carry a football.’ So the director took Chance’s football and he threw it across and that was our Comet... We all followed it with our eyes in horror."</div> <div style="margin: 0px;"> <br /></div> <div style="margin: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: white;"><b><i>And since both sisters (both having chosen to stay indoors rather than watching the comet) survived, they now must deal with zombies: the first involving Catherine Mary Stewart’s character “Regina,” who, outside the theater where she slept with her doomed boyfriend, deals with a zombie bum…</i></b></span></div> <div style="margin: 0px;"> <br /></div> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GE-4-1zMhzw/TY_HtuhUcyI/AAAAAAAAAJo/pGRqRpOdBeM/s1600/I%2527ve%2Bheard%2Bfrom%2Blots%2Band%2Blots.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GE-4-1zMhzw/TY_HtuhUcyI/AAAAAAAAAJo/pGRqRpOdBeM/s200/I%2527ve%2Bheard%2Bfrom%2Blots%2Band%2Blots.jpg" width="174" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Catherine Mary Stewart</td></tr> </tbody></table> <div style="margin: 0px;"> CATHERINE MARY STEWART: “That may be my favorite scene in the movie. I love all that rough and tumble stuff. There was no stunt double for me, except to actually ride away on the motorcycle. I don’t know how to ride those things. The zombie was a stunt guy, so I felt safe because I knew he knew what he was doing when he threw me. Then I got to crack him with a 2 X 4. Such FUN! Everything was fun for me in that scene.”</div> <div style="margin: 0px;"> <br /></div> <div style="margin: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: white;"><b><i>The world coming to an end, and all your friends and family and everything you know of are gone… can’t be easy for these characters, especially the sweet and vulnerable “Samantha,” who, while being told of this catastrophe by “Regina,” simply refuses to listen or believe it...</i></b></span></div> <div style="margin: 0px;"> <br /></div> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jC51gIsWDfk/TY_ORo3zOII/AAAAAAAAALY/nt53iHIj92w/s1600/Night_of_the_Comet-_02.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jC51gIsWDfk/TY_ORo3zOII/AAAAAAAAALY/nt53iHIj92w/s200/Night_of_the_Comet-_02.jpg" width="191" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Cereal Moment</td></tr> </tbody></table> <div style="margin: 0px;"> KELLI: “That was our first day of shooting. My coach, Roy London, suggested that I play that I am talking non-stop and running around so that she will not be able to get a word in edgewise, and so can’t say the words out loud that everyone is gone. It’s a classic denial scene and that’s what powered me through it. When she says: ‘Where are the g-damned kids?’ I shut the door on her. Then I feign some more disbelief—because as long as I don’t believe it, it isn’t true, right?"</div> <div style="margin: 0px;"> <br /></div> <div style="margin: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: white;"><b><i>And “Regina,” being the bearer of bad news, has her take on the scene…</i></b></span></div> <div style="margin: 0px;"> <br /></div> <div style="margin: 0px;"> CATHERINE: “What is cool about scenes like that is that they are like a double-edged sword for my character and in that way it makes it more believable to the audience, because while I am trying to convince Sam, I’m also trying to convince myself. Maybe in some way Reggie is hoping Sam has an explanation and it gets more and more frustrating when her response doesn’t answer anything. I think Reggie is in denial in the beginning too. So the scene isn’t as simple as me trying to explain something to Sam, which makes it meatier to play.”<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> </div> <div style="margin: 0px;"> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vi8W0shxy0M/U4wqvvPqZ9I/AAAAAAAAfjM/c0Dq3ZjEuNM/s1600/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vi8W0shxy0M/U4wqvvPqZ9I/AAAAAAAAfjM/c0Dq3ZjEuNM/s1600/1.jpg" width="123" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sisters Till...</td></tr> </tbody></table> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4X2Y6g9BNEA/U4wq80wYE1I/AAAAAAAAfjQ/aXM_gOkRdhI/s1600/2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4X2Y6g9BNEA/U4wq80wYE1I/AAAAAAAAfjQ/aXM_gOkRdhI/s1600/2.jpg" width="123" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The End, Literally!</td></tr> </tbody></table> <span style="background-color: white;"><b><i>These two sisters are anything but prissy… With a mercenary father, they’re both tough cookies, wielding guns like commandos during a scene in which they do some target practice on an empty street…</i></b></span></div> <div style="margin: 0px;"> <br /></div> KELLI: “It was fun. Everyone on the set loved it when we had gun-play! Plus we were all pretty tired and firing a round or two off lets off some steam, and Thom added, ‘Daddy would’ve gotten us Uzis’ at the last minute because the prop guns kept jamming... So, he said, if that happens in the next take, say… so, I did. Sometimes the best things come out of what’s actually happening on the set rather than a pre-planned ‘moment.’"<br /> <br /> <div style="margin: 0px;"> </div> <div style="margin: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: white;"><b><i>Then, after shooting the guns, they sit on a cop car and have a deep conversation about life and death…</i></b></span></div> <div style="margin: 0px;"> <br /></div> <div style="margin: 0px;"> CATHERINE: “Those are nice moments. It’s important to have lots of contrasts in a story. I think intimate, human moments like those in amongst the insanity of the story are important for the audience so that it keeps it on a level that they might be able to relate to as opposed to just slamming them with one improbable situation after another.”<br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7SNc7JBhDsk/VHwXq9D3iII/AAAAAAAAlNo/mdr1t_aOoxo/s1600/title00_130124731.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="362" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7SNc7JBhDsk/VHwXq9D3iII/AAAAAAAAlNo/mdr1t_aOoxo/s1600/title00_130124731.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Catherine Mary Stewart shops armed at the mall</td></tr> </tbody></table> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> </div> <div style="margin: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: white;"><b><i>So what are the sisters gonna do if they’re the last girls on earth? Well heck, there’s a mall right around the corner…</i></b></span></div> <div style="margin: 0px;"> <br /></div> <div style="margin: 0px;"> CATHERINE: "Another fun, crazy scene! We had the whole Sherman Oaks Galleria to ourselves, which was pretty bizarre in and of itself but it helped us with our characters. As I mentioned earlier, I love the rough and tumble stuff, so the firefight with the zombies was a gas. Things blowing up; squibs firing off everywhere; and ultimately the showdown with the zombies after we’ve been captured and tied up. So funny! Talk about running the gambit of emotions!"</div> <div style="margin: 0px;"> <br /></div> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JR8qxybTTjs/TY_JKIbe7mI/AAAAAAAAAKg/K58gITp2rIM/s1600/dancing%2Bin%2Bthe%2Bmall.jpeg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JR8qxybTTjs/TY_JKIbe7mI/AAAAAAAAAKg/K58gITp2rIM/s320/dancing%2Bin%2Bthe%2Bmall.jpeg" width="224" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">These Girls Just Wanna Have...</td></tr> </tbody></table> <div style="margin: 0px;"> KELLI: "That night we just went in and trashed everything. It was tremendously freeing for all of us. We just improvised things as we went along, like with the shoes and the TV. Thom wanted it to be kind of a homage to those gangster films of the ‘30s."</div> <div style="margin: 0px;"> <br /></div> <div style="margin: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: white;"><b><i>And not to forget another main character, STAR TREK VOYAGER and LONE WOLF McQUADE actor Robert Beltran as “Hector,” a truck driver survivor who helps the sisters throughout the film: the lucky dog eventually becomes Regina's love interest...</i></b></span></div> <div style="margin: 0px;"> <br /></div> <div style="margin: 0px;"> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WoSqGzi3-nQ/TY_IUvJldWI/AAAAAAAAAKA/IyG1rfXnT0k/s1600/0.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="189" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WoSqGzi3-nQ/TY_IUvJldWI/AAAAAAAAAKA/IyG1rfXnT0k/s320/0.jpg" width="166" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Robert Beltran</td></tr> </tbody></table> CATHERINE: "Robert Beltran is a pretty sexy guy. He was so charming and mellifluous, with a mischievous twinkle in his eye. As Reggie, I had no trouble being attracted to him. I liked the scenes with him in the radio station because they were intimate and a little more adult. They had a different tone to them than in the rest of the movie. Reggie reveals a more vulnerable side, I think."</div> <div style="margin: 0px;"> <br /></div> <div style="margin: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: white;"><b><i>NIGHT OF THE COMET is, for the most part, a zombie film, but the main villains aren’t zombies but government researchers slowly dying from a radiation leak in their compound, and they want to kill, and then do tests on, the survivors: one in particular played by a recognized actor...</i></b></span></div> <div style="margin: 0px;"> <br /></div> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gzyX3Q34S4k/TY_IxjnNamI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/ZVDTivGIIxk/s1600/your%2Bcharacter%2Bends%2Bup%2Bin%2Ba%2Bgovernment.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="195" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gzyX3Q34S4k/TY_IxjnNamI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/ZVDTivGIIxk/s200/your%2Bcharacter%2Bends%2Bup%2Bin%2Ba%2Bgovernment.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Geoffrey Lewis</td></tr> </tbody></table> <div style="margin: 0px;"> CATHERINE: "I loved the scene where I’m being interviewed by Geoffrey Lewis’ character, Carter. I think Reggie is confused, defensive, scared and with the fact that she is a young woman, hopeful that this scientist is who he says he is and will take care of her.<br /> <br /> She answers the questions as only a teenager would, perhaps not quite realizing the gravity of the situation in the beginning. I love Carter’s reactions to some of her responses... He’s trying so hard to stay focused and not only is he feeling the affects of the comet, but he had to deal with this nut."</div> <div style="margin: 0px;"> <br /></div> <div style="margin: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: white;"><b><i>So after our heroes battle, then defeat, both zombies and scientists alike, they are, along with two young children, the Earth’s new population: </i><i>"Hector" and "Regina" are the new “Adam and Eve,” but “Samantha” needs her own man, and at the very end, she meets him...</i></b></span></div> <div style="margin: 0px;"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yfJowjAVqFw/Ue3Spd-ndgI/AAAAAAAAZ0o/61Xvd3PW3ko/s1600/title00_174253138.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="318" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yfJowjAVqFw/Ue3Spd-ndgI/AAAAAAAAZ0o/61Xvd3PW3ko/s640/title00_174253138.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kelli Maroney getting what could be a fatal shot by Mary Woronov</td></tr> </tbody></table> </div> <div style="margin: 0px;"> KELLI: "Being that in the original first draft Sammie was supposed to die, this was added afterwards. In a comedy, at the end everyone has to be paired off—you couldn’t have just left Sam by herself, because that’s not a happy ending. I don’t know how many people realize that DMK is the person who kept beating Regina in the video game at the beginning in the movie theater. So, Thom rapped up the whole story by doing it that way. Ingenious, huh?"</div> <div style="margin: 0px;"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-j5V7kfJOUbs/Ue2MEaA6gzI/AAAAAAAAZys/BUuZcOdM31M/s1600/n3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-j5V7kfJOUbs/Ue2MEaA6gzI/AAAAAAAAZys/BUuZcOdM31M/s640/n3.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/catherinemarystewart">CHECK OUT THE CATHERINE MARY STEWART OFFICIAL FACEBOOK PAGE</a></td></tr> </tbody></table> </div> <div style="margin: 0px;"> “I’m so proud to be a part of this film simply for the same reason I was attracted to the script in the first place. It was a story about two young women, who find themselves in a dire situation and have to muster everything they have to survive, and they do! They do it themselves. I think it’s a very strong message to send to young women everywhere and I hear from women who were influenced in a very positive way by that message. I love that.” CATHERINE MARY STEWART<br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-bottom: 6px; padding-left: 6px; padding-right: 6px; padding-top: 6px; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div style="margin: 0px;"> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-idDeq_in4B0/UHhbFkOMcNI/AAAAAAAAOZQ/_eLmDO-dK-c/s1600/comet2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="356" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-idDeq_in4B0/UHhbFkOMcNI/AAAAAAAAOZQ/_eLmDO-dK-c/s640/comet2.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="640" /></a></div> </td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: center;"><div style="margin: 0px;"> <a href="http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Night-of-the-Comet/70061282?strkid=2143401470_0_0&strackid=628b958ca6609557_0_srl&trkid=222336">RENT NIGHT OF THE COMET ON NETFLIX</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Actress-Kelli-Maroney/403124429783625">AND KELLI MARONEY'S FACEBOOK FAN PAGE</a></div> </td></tr> </tbody></table> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7RsG5WsShNM/Ue7aEAelvaI/AAAAAAAAZ1I/-3ysUT_Mheo/s1600/photo-21.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7RsG5WsShNM/Ue7aEAelvaI/AAAAAAAAZ1I/-3ysUT_Mheo/s640/photo-21.JPG" width="478" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Out of Print DVD Autographed by Catherine and Kelli and eventually Sharon</td></tr> </tbody></table>

catherine mary stewart, eighties, horror, interview, kelli maroney, sharon farrell

THREE ACTRESSES REFLECT NIGHT OF THE COMET

Catherine Mary Stewart Kelli Maroney “At the time that we were shooting it and when it was released, I didn’t really think a lot abo...

RED 2

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xT0JX3P_G2M/Uex-UDKFX2I/AAAAAAAAZyE/KQHYiejBtJ8/s1600/red2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xT0JX3P_G2M/Uex-UDKFX2I/AAAAAAAAZyE/KQHYiejBtJ8/s640/red2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2013 cast: Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren, Anthony Hopkins, Brian Cox rating: ***</td></tr> </tbody></table> If someone had the task of counting all the bullets fired in RED 2, the location-hopping follow-up to the DC COMICS graphic novel turned veteran actor ensemble, they’d have an easier time figuring how many grains of sand make up the Sahara Desert. Okay, that’s an exaggeration… And exaggeration is exactly what makes this movie so fun to watch.<br /> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> Bruce Willis, as retired agent Frank Moses, is the man everything centers around. His very normal small town girl Sarah, played by Mary-Louise Parker, is along for the ride and, much like the original, can’t believe she’s part of the bloodshed. Thankfully this time she isn't so befuddled, and really wants to learn how to, along with John Malkovich’s crazy Marvin and Helen Mirren’s gun-toting Victoria, take down the bad guys and find a missing nuclear reactor. So once again we’re thrust back into a modern day Cold War: The Russians are present but not as villains – Catherine-Zeta Jones plays Frank’s former lover, a sexy Soviet agent bringing jealousy out of Sarah’s character, who uses her sexuality to help the group weave in and out of painted corners.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> The entire film goes from one gun-blasting situation to the next, each with a new European location and obstacles around every turn. Anthony Hopkins plays a highly regarded bomb expert who flipped his lid after spending thirty years in prison; he makes an awful secondary comic relief but there's more here than meets the eye. And in the token youth department Byung-hun Lee as Han, out to kill Frank at all costs, provides a few good karate kicks along the way. And with an overkill of perpetual violence, diminishing what could have been more creative espionage, this is all about the characters. Despite the fact that Malkovich isn't as crazy or humorous, he’s not trying so hard to be the quirky "Murdoch" (A-TEAM) and plays a relatively mellow second fiddle to Willis, who, at this point, can sleepwalk though action sequences and it wouldn’t make any difference… He and his pals are having a blast despite the bombarding cliches. </div> <!--EndFragment-->

2013, action, bruce willis, ensemble, helen mirren, john malkovich, sequel

RED 2

year: 2013 cast: Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren, Anthony Hopkins, Brian Cox rating: *** If someone had the task of counting ...

THE CONJURING

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-O9IAY48qa1k/UenthxJP8YI/AAAAAAAAZxk/QMYhNUy3IS8/s1600/conjuring.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-O9IAY48qa1k/UenthxJP8YI/AAAAAAAAZxk/QMYhNUy3IS8/s640/conjuring.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2013 cast: Lily Taylor, Ron Livingston, Patrick Wilson, Hayley McFarland rating: *1/2</td></tr> </tbody></table> Horror movies are fun and exciting, like a rollercoaster. They attract audiences who, gathered together like masses at a carnival, are expecting something in particular. And to get truly scared, beyond being jolted by a sudden noise, like a door slamming or, in this case, phantom hands clapping, is what's really important. A good horror flick has to earn the reward of internally spooking the hell out of, or into, a theater who paid for that thrill, or those thrills, to give them their money’s worth. So now, in 2013, THE EXORCIST is even scarier because the scariest thing in THE CONJURING is when (beware of spoilers) our leading lady geist, after causing animals to die and mentally torturing frightened children, finally shows up, looking a whole lot like possessed child Regan MacNeil… with spiderlike abilities. And there’s even a full blown Vatican-backed exorcism at the end, which, as Lily Taylor is thrust around every corner of the cellar, seems more like a Satanic Pro Wrestling Smackdown than a horror film.<br /> <br /> The main story centers on a family in the 1960’s, with dad Ron Livingston (OFFICE SPACE), the already-mentioned Lily Taylor (a cult favorite for many years, specializing in the frantic and unglued) and a brood of young daughters that wind up being poked and prodded by an invisible trickster after midnight, but the curious mom gets most of the brunt along the way. The other main characters are real life paranormal researchers Lorraine and Ed Warren, "famous" for their AMITYVILLE case. Sporadic scenes of the couple lecturing college students, right in the middle of the family being haunted, are downright intrusive. And when Elaine takes center stage (her own daughter in jeopardy) we practically forget about the haunted house, now too crowded with an eclectic investigative team... including a macho cop named Brad Hamilton (80s kids will enjoy this reference)... to make us feel vulnerable for when the ghost, who’s more like an escaped convict at this point, decides to open and close more doors, loudly.<br /> <br /> And the question everyone asks when watching any haunted house story, “Why don’t they just move out?” is answered by Ed Warren (paraphrasing), “You can't escape it... This ghost will stick to your family… like gum on your shoe.” Well it’s been two hours since watching this overrated, anticlimactic and downright ponderous mess and, to put it simply, there’s no gum… on either shoe.

2013, horror, lily taylor, ron livingston

THE CONJURING

year: 2013 cast: Lily Taylor, Ron Livingston, Patrick Wilson, Hayley McFarland rating: *1/2 Horror movies are fun and exciting, like a r...

RYAN REYNOLDS & JEFF BRIDGES IN R.I.P.D.

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0kLZ4gnXx9A/UznEdHA6DAI/AAAAAAAAeH4/v4-7Ic0AJnk/s1600/riptd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0kLZ4gnXx9A/UznEdHA6DAI/AAAAAAAAeH4/v4-7Ic0AJnk/s1600/riptd.jpg" width="165" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2013 rating: **1/2</td></tr> </tbody></table> While it really does resemble MEN IN BLACK in both style and structure, especially within the busy and bizarre offices of The Rest in Peace Department… home base for dead cops to find and arrest the undead lurking amongst the city masses… R.I.P.D. is more of a cross between GHOST and GHOSTBUSTERS...<br /> <br /> We begin with two crooked detectives, one played by Ryan Reynolds as Nick and Kevin Bacon as Hayes – but Nick is good deep down and pays the price for having doubts about stealing gold at a drug raid. Upon being killed right after a cool looking shootout, our anti hero descends upward into… not exactly heaven, hell, or purgatory but the Department where little of the film actually takes place.<br /> <br /> Much of the action occurs on the city streets as Nick endures his stubborn partner, a veteran “lawman” originally from the Wild West named Roy. Jeff Bridges fits the part so well he forgot he's not Rooster Cogburn in TRUE GRIT. With a slurred alum-tongued speech pattern and stock world-weary gruffness, Bridges makes a good Oscar to his Felix-partner Reynolds, who, surprisingly enough, can also play rough n’ tumble pretty well. After all, Nick has more to fight for – his wife’s being visited by his nefarious ex-partner... here’s where GHOST comes in...  and eventually the stolen gold connects to an otherworld plot where, like GHOSTBUSTERS, the undead could paint the town all sorts of bad colors. Some of the funniest parts show Nick and Roy the way humans see them: Roy’s a sexy blonde chick and Nick’s an old Chinese man. At times you’ll want more of the avatars present since Bridges and Reynolds, while likable enough, eventually play second-fiddle to the cartoonish special effects: whenever the dead show themselves in true form they bloat into monstrous Hulk-like beasts.<br /> <br /> Thankfully the movie's so short the flaws don’t really matter, and there’s a pretty decent balance of action and comedy, yet the humor doesn’t rely on one-liners as much as Roy's perpetual reluctance to accept Nick – and vice versa. But the best thing about R.I.P.D. is the direction, flowing like an edgy crime flick on its own right with a jazzy/funky soundtrack and a fun, gritty undertone reminiscent of GET SHORTY and OUT OF SIGHT.

action, comedy, cop, james hong, jeff bridges, kevin bacon, mary-louise parker, ryan reynolds, science-fiction, team-up

RYAN REYNOLDS & JEFF BRIDGES IN R.I.P.D.

year: 2013 rating: **1/2 While it really does resemble MEN IN BLACK in both style and structure, especially within the busy and bizarre ...

AFTER THE SUNSET: DOOMED CINEMATIC RELATIONSHIPS

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rATKIpq2QdQ/UeYY5uE5WcI/AAAAAAAAZug/YwAcX8XWIvk/s1600/breakfast+club.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="414" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rATKIpq2QdQ/UeYY5uE5WcI/AAAAAAAAZug/YwAcX8XWIvk/s640/breakfast+club.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Emilio Estevez and Ally Sheedy in THE BREAKFAST CLUB</td></tr> </tbody></table> Newly reformed anti-bullying but still popular jock Andrew brings cleaned-up teenage bag lady Allison to to a party. She’s dressed to the nines but something is (still) off with this formerly wacko Goth chick.<br /> <br /> “Dude, your girlfriend is really cute and all, but she just stole half the team’s wallets and right now, as I speak, she’s outside screaming like a banshee and making snow angels… in the swimming pool!”<br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UMoqrXFjOL0/UeYY9rXQBPI/AAAAAAAAZuk/Zt78vBQcHY4/s1600/pretty_woman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="344" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UMoqrXFjOL0/UeYY9rXQBPI/AAAAAAAAZuk/Zt78vBQcHY4/s640/pretty_woman.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Richard Gere and Julia Roberts in PRETTY WOMAN</td></tr> </tbody></table> Here’s a little piece of an argument in the future marriage of Edward and Vivian...<br /> <br /> “You’re a selfish prick – all you think about is money.”<br /> “Oh yeah! Well at least I didn’t bang guys for it!”<br /> <br /> That’s it… The divorce bells are ringing… He’s used her sordid past to win every argument!<br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gqEYTpy4ikE/UeYZCiOdibI/AAAAAAAAZus/SugGwOaLPGQ/s1600/star+wars.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="268" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gqEYTpy4ikE/UeYZCiOdibI/AAAAAAAAZus/SugGwOaLPGQ/s640/star+wars.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher in THE ORIGINAL STAR WARS TRILOGY</td></tr> </tbody></table> Okay so we’ll see how this marriage pans out in the upcoming sequels, but Han and Leia will be so old it really won’t matter – we would have missed all the arguments between a former smuggler born to lose and a princess born with a silver spoon in her mouth.<br /> <br /> “I can care less about the Kessel run: you need to have a real job and follow the damn rules!”<br /> And after they have children, where will Chewbacca sleep, in the doghouse?<br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GF7I8EqZvNI/UeYZHNQSLeI/AAAAAAAAZu0/idQWzcmqPFY/s1600/my+fair+lady.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="434" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GF7I8EqZvNI/UeYZHNQSLeI/AAAAAAAAZu0/idQWzcmqPFY/s640/my+fair+lady.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison in MY FAIR LADY</td></tr> </tbody></table> Oh we just love those May/December relationships… The older gent teaching the young beauty how to be classy…<br /> <br /> But wait until the first big sophisticated party, when Eliza Doolittle-Higgins meets a bevy of young rich men and learns, all by herself, how to flirt and eventually, cheat…<br /> <br /> So long, Henry Higgins! This unfair lady's got more phone numbers than J. Edgar Hoover!<br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eprenKR4mls/UeYZK5CFm0I/AAAAAAAAZu8/ctt9uJymDcU/s1600/better+off+dead.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eprenKR4mls/UeYZK5CFm0I/AAAAAAAAZu8/ctt9uJymDcU/s640/better+off+dead.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John Cusack and Diane Franklin in BETTER OFF DEAD</td></tr> </tbody></table> Heck, even the cutest couple in 80’s cinema can’t go around that whole VISA/Student thing…<br /> <br /> “Well Lane, you can move here to France since you were <i>better off dead</i> here in America… But as a guy who only has experience working burger stands, we recommend you stay in America.”<br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-thcJqYp0M04/UeYZPYQVfAI/AAAAAAAAZvE/o4yZlGxGyQo/s1600/grease.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="486" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-thcJqYp0M04/UeYZPYQVfAI/AAAAAAAAZvE/o4yZlGxGyQo/s640/grease.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta in GREASE</td></tr> </tbody></table> When their car finally lands the couple has to answer answers because of this phenomenal occurrence… Automobiles usually don’t just up and fly, especially in the 1950’s…<br /> <br /> Then, after a year, Sandy and Danny move to Australia so he won’t hang out with a bunch of thugs… Only he started his own gang: THE DOWN-UNDERS…<br /> <br /> While Sandy, back to being a prissy missy after slutting-out to win over the brute at the graduation carnival, wishes she married a local boy, perhaps a shepard... Hell, even a crocodile hunter has a steadier job than this duck-tailed (and eventually beer-bellied) bum...<br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yUT2QZqEIXs/UeYZT0bymqI/AAAAAAAAZvM/wluX4cqH9V4/s1600/animal+house.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="338" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yUT2QZqEIXs/UeYZT0bymqI/AAAAAAAAZvM/wluX4cqH9V4/s640/animal+house.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mary-Louise Weller and John Belushi in ANIMAL HOUSE</td></tr> </tbody></table> Well let’s just say Senator Bluto and wife were doing fine until he started eating golf balls at the Country Club…<br /> <br /> This is when the gorgeous and classy Mandy Pepperidge-Blutarsky wound up realizing she could find a man with much better taste…<br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qIQC0h3TnDU/UeYZapQgzrI/AAAAAAAAZvU/-eCmCk9yFmA/s1600/pulp08.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="280" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qIQC0h3TnDU/UeYZapQgzrI/AAAAAAAAZvU/-eCmCk9yFmA/s640/pulp08.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Uma Thurman and Ving Rhames in PULP FICTION</td></tr> </tbody></table> One night, Mia Wallace turns her to husband, Marcellus, who hasn't been quite himself lately, and says:<br /> <br /> “Alright honey, I came clean about the overdose. But you never did tell me what happened at that pawn shop…”<br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tnmKK__b8XU/UeYZeD7o0bI/AAAAAAAAZvc/cGk-E5epCEE/s1600/trading+places.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="438" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tnmKK__b8XU/UeYZeD7o0bI/AAAAAAAAZvc/cGk-E5epCEE/s640/trading+places.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jamie Lee Curtis and Dan Aykroyd in TRADING PLACES</td></tr> </tbody></table> While Dan and Jamie’s marriage in MY GIRL would probably last since both are boring and content and have a daughter to raise…<br /> <br /> This marriage would fail for the same reason as the PRETTY WOMAN post above…<br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bsK_tLsYWhQ/UeYZjuJnctI/AAAAAAAAZvo/tn583DWtHdE/s1600/star+trek.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="410" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bsK_tLsYWhQ/UeYZjuJnctI/AAAAAAAAZvo/tn583DWtHdE/s640/star+trek.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stephen Collins and Persis Khambatta in STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE</td></tr> </tbody></table> Decker chose a beautiful bald woman named Ilia instead of a job as second-banana on the Starship Enterprise, but then realizes:<br /> <br /> “Where the hell are we? This isn’t Earth! I want a grilled cheese sandwich! And for God's sake, why doesn’t your hair grow!!!”<br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4LrjrzvxJg4/UeYeaAlNAbI/AAAAAAAAZwE/OrVPPko9GSc/s1600/stephen-collins-as-cmdr-willard-decker-in.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="262" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4LrjrzvxJg4/UeYeaAlNAbI/AAAAAAAAZwE/OrVPPko9GSc/s640/stephen-collins-as-cmdr-willard-decker-in.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">DOOMED CINEMATIC RELATIONSHIPS BY JAMES M. TATE</td></tr> </tbody></table> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div>

list, mary-louise weller

AFTER THE SUNSET: DOOMED CINEMATIC RELATIONSHIPS

Emilio Estevez and Ally Sheedy in THE BREAKFAST CLUB Newly reformed anti-bullying but still popular jock Andrew brings cleaned-up teenag...

PACIFIC RIM

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-q6paCvSZdZE/UeTzt3LV7BI/AAAAAAAAZtk/bQpG7I2L0AA/s1600/pacific-rim.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-q6paCvSZdZE/UeTzt3LV7BI/AAAAAAAAZtk/bQpG7I2L0AA/s640/pacific-rim.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>year:</b> 2013<b> cast:</b> Charlie Hunnam, Rinko Kikuchi, Idris Elba, Diego Klattenhoff, Ron Perlman <b>rating:</b> **</td></tr> </tbody></table> If you think this is gonna be just like TRANSFORMERS, since the giant robots resemble the popular shape-shifting toy turned Michael Bay franchise, think more along the lines of GODZILLA meets INDEPENDENCE DAY as giant alien sea creatures rise from the depths and, every couple months, give the earth’s population quite a beating. So mankind has created robotic monstrosities that, guided by two humans in a cockpit joined by mutual memory-sharing brainwaves, take on the aliens in massive apocalyptic smack downs.<br /> <br /> This information is covered within the first ten minutes through a flowing expository narrative, and once the words PACIFIC RIM appears the real story begins when Raleigh Becket, a former war hero who lost his brother/partner in battle, is brought back to guide an important defensive robot. The sea creatures, bizarre hybrids of lizards, sharks and the RETURN OF THE JEDI Rancor monster, have upped a few notches and mankind has only days to exist.<br /> <br /> Much of the film takes place in the underground compound where head honcho Stacker Pentecost, provided his own melodramatic score after saying something important, gives Raleigh several opportunities to redeem himself a worthy warrior again. The twist comes in the form of lovely Asian Mako Mori who, having survived a creature attack as a child, works behind the scenes until she's brought to the forefront as Raleigh's partner.<br /> <br /> The two leads have decent chemistry – the lithe Asian beauty attracted to the reluctant American rogue. The training scenes leading up to Mako’s first fight are involving, bringing the quiet girl out of her shell and revealing a true Martial Artist. Meanwhile, outside the box, immense battles are filmed to be experienced: up close and jarringly personal. Thankfully director Guillermo del Toro doesn’t revel in shaky camera too much and the 3D is impressive. This is a spectacle made for a theater audience, that’s for certain... You’ll be knocked around with the massive contenders.<br /> <br /> But after a couple would-be climaxes the movie goes on much too long. Each fist-pounding battle starts looking all too familiar, and when we’re not at war there’s an overabundance of scientific theories and tactical plans on how to take out the creatures for good. When we’re not underground discussing the action we’re experiencing it in droves.<br /> <br /> What’s really needed is some kind of middle ground. Call it character-development… but the characters on board, played capably by B-list actors, have potential. They just aren’t given enough room to breath beyond all the (literally) Earth shattering noise.

2013, action, science-fiction

PACIFIC RIM

year: 2013 cast:  Charlie Hunnam, Rinko Kikuchi, Idris Elba, Diego Klattenhoff, Ron Perlman  rating: ** If you think this is gonna be...

ADAM SANDLER GROWS UP IN GROWN UPS 2

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hPfIIooKspw/Ud-RL6gQP_I/AAAAAAAAZrg/XMSTVO8krnk/s1600/grown-ups2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hPfIIooKspw/Ud-RL6gQP_I/AAAAAAAAZrg/XMSTVO8krnk/s640/grown-ups2.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2013 cast: Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Kevin James, David Spade, Salma Hayek rating: ***</td></tr> </tbody></table> Well the plot's already been established when successful Hollywood guy Lenny, played by Adam Sandler, revisited his hometown, a woodsy hole-in-the-wall where his childhood friends – including Chris Rock’s Kurt, David Spade’s Marcus, and token fat guy Kevin James as Eric – still reside. It took more than half the original film for Lenny to get accustomed to the change of scenery till everything fit like an old shoe. And now, since he’s decided to stay put with his wife and kids, the shoe fits a lot more comfortably.<br /> <br /> For a title like GROWN UPS there’s plenty of time centering on the kids, and yet it all connects. For instance Lenny, Marcus and Kurt’s troubled sons wind up partying with a group of college party animals at a rocky canyon lake. Not only is this location straight outta BREAKING AWAY, we have the local townies (i.e. our put-upon forty-something heroes) rediscovering their former hangout to the chagrin of the rich college jerks: all eventually squaring off in a massive rumble reminiscent of THE OUTSIDERS. But now we’re skipping ahead to the big party at Lenny’s pad where everyone winds up…<br /> <br /> Most of the film consists of the ensemble juggling bad luck misadventures. The funniest scenes have all four pals (sans Rob Schnieder) together, trading barbs at each other’s expense. The duller moments center on the smaller children or wives trying too hard to be like their fathers and husbands, which isn’t entirely their fault: dumb toilet humor doesn’t always work unless, like Sandler and company, you were born to be perfectly brainless. That said, GROWN UPS 2 is a superior sequel (silly dreck compared to a train wreck), not adhering to any particular corny plot or theme – just good times basking in 1980's pop culture nostalgia and, despite a few dull scenes stretching flat punch lines with pointless side-characters, it’s a party that works despite itself.

2013, adam sandler, chris rock, comedy, david spade, ensemble, kevin james, salma hayek

ADAM SANDLER GROWS UP IN GROWN UPS 2

year: 2013 cast: Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Kevin James, David Spade, Salma Hayek rating: *** Well the plot's already been establishe...