Keeping It Reel

One to Add to Your Collection

USA Today ran a brief article the other day about some good New Year's Eve-themed movies to check out.  I didn't even realize there were enough to qualify for such a category.  One that they mentioned was good enough that it should be enjoyed all year round:  "When Harry Met Sally".

You could say that this is a definite chick flick.  Fortunately, Billy Crystal does his part to make sure that isn't the case.  He infuses just the right of sarcasm and wit all throughout the film to appeal to guys that enjoy good comedy.  Still, the underlying theme of the story is a romantic comedy so it draws in the ladies too.

This was made at a time when Meg Ryan was still known as one of America's sweethearts.  In fact, it may have been "Sally" which started that image for Meg.  It's rather ironic since the scene she is most remembered for from that movie was her faking an orgasm in the restaurant.

"When Harry Met Sally" also featured the talents of the late Bruno Kirby as Harry's best friend Jess.  One of my favorite moments in the movie-- and there are several of them --is when Harry and Sally try to set each other up with their best friends up and the best friends end up hooking up instead.  It's Bruno's performance here that aids in making this movie so entertaining.

This flick was one of the very first movie I added to my dvd collection once I switched formats from videotapes to dvds.  Even though I own it, I continue to watch it even when it's on regular television.  It still kills me that Harry thought it was odd that Sally alphabetizes and critiques her movie collection.  What's wrong with that? 

Fantastic Four : The Rise of the Silver Surfer

Contrary to all the negative pub it received, I actually liked the first movie so I'm looking forward to this one.  I never have been a huge Silver Surfer person but I don't recall him ever having the powers they show in this movie.  Regardless, I'm diggin' them.  Add that and the fact that there's rumors Galactus AND Doom are going to be in this one and this has the makings of another Marvel smash...

A Dream Come True

Don't you just love it when a movie is all you expected and a WHOLE lot more?  You would think that with the star power of Eddie Murphy, Jamie Foxx and Beyonce that "Dreamgirls" already had high hopes.  Not to mention that it was interpreted from an already extremely successful Broadway musical.  Still, I had no idea what I was in for.

I had heard somewhere that the story was based VERY loosely off the real-life Supremes and a little bit of Motown's humble beginnings.  It didn't matter if that was the case or not.  So far, every movie I've seen with the premise of tracing a music group's ascension to stardom and the bumps along the way always seem to fascinate me for some reason.

With all the stars that are strewn throughout this movie, there is one person that gives "Dreamgirls" its heart AND soul.  Former American Idol standout Jennifer Hudson.  There's a moment about 3/4 the way thru the film when she busts out Jennifer Holiday's "And I Am Telling You".  I never would have thought anyone could carry that like Holiday but she BLEW IT UP.  They could have ended the film right there with that performance.  It's a good thing they didn't though because she comes through again at the end and rips it up with the song "Dreamgirls". 

There has only been one other film I've been to where the audience actually applauded at the end:  "The Empire Strikes Back" - 1980.  Personally, I have never understood that concept because it's not like we're at the premiere or as if any of the people responsible for the movie can hear you clapping for them.  However, when they roll the end credits and show each actor/actress one by one and show Hudson's name, you almost had to applaud.  Who cares if she wasn't there to hear it.  The gal was unbelievably phenomenal.

It's also good to have Eddie back.  I don't mean back on the big screen after a few years, I mean the old Eddie from our day of his "Raw" and early "Beverly Hills Cop" lore.  It's the unedited adult-oriented Eddie that my generation grew up with before he started appealing to our shorties with his family fare.

Simply put, "Dreamgirls" was amazing.  I left the theater awestruck.  Any expectation I had set for that movie based was so far surpassed that it seemed inconceivable.  I had heard that the original play had come to Des Moines and I could kick myself for not going to it, no matter how long ago it may have been.  I know I won't be missing it the next time it comes thru.  Don't let this treasure pass you by.

My rating:  A+

One to Add to Your Collection

Football movies are usually pretty reliable sources of entertainment for any sports fan.  At least for me they are.  Even when the actual football scenes aren't that realistic and may be borderline cheesy ("Necessary Roughness", "The Replacements") the fact that it's still a football movie bodes well.  Actually, those previous two weren't good examples because they really weren't very good flicks.  Anyway...

"Friday Night Lights" was a rare combination where it involved football, based on a true story AND good game sequences.  It's based on H.G. Bissinger's book of the same name which focuses on a 1988 Texas city of Odessa where football is everything.  It follows the escapades of that city's high school team vying for a state championship run with new head coach Gary Gaines, played by Billy Bob Thornton.

For me, it's always fun to watch movies that took place during my high school years.  This one was even better yet as it happened during my senior year.  Of course I don't remember this being in the news back then but at a time when there was no internet and we  didn't live in Texas, how would I have known anyway?

The way in which "Lights" was shot is part of what makes it great.  They use a documentary-style technique where it has the feel that you're watching archival footage instead of actors.  It helps to lend to the credibility of the film, especially during the game scenes.

The dvd has extra bonuses where you get to see where the real people are today.  Not only that, it has shots and video of what they looked like at the time this occurred.  Even though Derek Luke did a marvelous job as Boobie Miles, he paled in comparison to the real version.  The video footage showed Boobie looking like a men among boys with his large stature and Bo Jackson-like runs.

It never even dawned on me that "Friday Night Lights" would make a great premise for a television show.  Luckily, it did to someone and it's turning out to be one of the current best shows on at the moment.  It all started with the movie that's a must-see for not only sports fans but anybody that appreciates good drama.

A Christmas Story

I had never gotten around to watching this movie until just now.  There's really no excuse for it either.  Especially when TBS has made it a tradition to have "A Christmas Story" marathon for 24 hours straight starting on Christmas Eve. It's another film where I had seen bits and pieces but never the entire thing.

For anyone else who's been putting it off as well, the story is about 9-year-old Ralphie Parker who only wants one thing for Christmas:  an official Red Ryder carbine-action 200-shot range model BB rifle with a compass in the stock.  He becomes obsessed with it.  Nevermind the fact that everyone reminds him he'll shoot his eye out.  It doesn't sway his determination one bit.

This was made in 1983 but is set in the 1940s.  This would have been back in the days when America was supposedly a more wholesome place.  That's why when Ralphie unintentionally drops an F-bomb, everyone acts as though he's just committed blasphemy.  True, no 9- year-old should be talking like that anyway but the overreaction it gets from these characters is priceless.

At one point, Ralphie blames one of his friends for his foul language, saying he heard it from him.  In fact, he heard it from his father.  Even the mom knows he heard it from that source because they have both heard him around the house cursing up in storm.  Since she's in denial, she calls up the mother of Ralphie's friend.  You can hear her beating her child senseless over the phone.  That would have been acceptable in the 40s and even in the 80s when this was made.  Nowadays, they'd call that child abuse.  Too bad because that type of discipline is exactly what's missing today which explains why we have so many children growing up with no respect for authority.

It turns out Ralphie does get the BB gun afterall so there is a happy ending.  Well almost.  He does nearly shoot his eye out after the several warnings that he had dismissed.  That was really his parents fault though.  Why would you shoot at a target with an aluminum sign behind it?  He should have went ahead and aimed at birds and animals like I did with my BB gun I had when I as a preteen.

I had already completed my top 12 list of Christmas movies before watching this one.  I honestly didn't think it would be good enough to make the list and it turns out I was mistaken.  "A Christmas Story" probably should supplant "The Preacher's Wife" in its #12 spot.  Not quite good enough that it should be shown ALL day during Christmas, but I will cave and say it deserves to be a Christmas classic.

My rating:  B+

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

Before we move right to the anti-climatic number one Christmas movie of all-time, let us review the top 12:

• 12 - The Preacher's Wife
• 11 - The Family Man
• 10 - Scrooged
• 9 - How the Grinch Stole Christmas
• 8 - Elf
• 7 - Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
• 6 - It's a Wonderful Life
• 5 - Friday After Next
• 4 - Santa Claus is Coming to Town
• 3 - Bad(der) Santa
• 2 - A Charlie Brown Christmas

And #1 of all- time...

1 - National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

There may have been other Christmas catastrophe movies before this, but none of them were near as good.  As far as I'm concerned "Christmas Vacation" set the standard for all the other movies that would come along later and try to recreate what happens when everything goes wrong during the most wonderful time of the year.

"Christmas Vacation" was the second in a series of "Vacation" movies.  After the first one became an instant classic, I was skeptical that they could make another one just as funny.  They were able to pull it off, even though it definitely should have stopped with this one. Ironically, this may have been the last good movie Chevy Chase ever made.

We find food-additive genius Clark Griswold trying to entertain a house full of family to celebrate Christmas.  As if it wasn't bad enough that the folks AND the in-laws are all crammed under the same roof, crazy cousin Eddie shows up uninvited with his whole clan.  It still cracks me up to see Eddie walking around in the thin, skin-tight sweater with a black dickie underneath.

I also like it how they switched the kids out with every "Vacation" movie.  They didn't even try to make them look remotely similar.  Not only that, they had no regards for age either.  The Russell in "Christmas Vacation" was clearly younger than Anthony Michael Hall's version of him in the original.  It was the little things like that will keep you laughing.

For anyone that enjoys a good Christmas movie as well as a good comedy, "Christmas Vacation" fulfills both of those needs.  It's one of the rare Christmas movies that can be enjoyed all year round.