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? 

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.

One to Add to Your Collection (Christmas Edition)

This will mark the first entry that will serve as my countdown of my 12 favorite Christmas movies of all time.  I'll even go as far as to make it 12 to correspond with the 12 days of Christmas.  Although admittedly, I have no idea where that even originated.  That'll be an entry for my main site once I do a little research on it.

#12 -  The Preacher's Wife

"The Preacher's Wife" was probably one that had slipped a lot of minds.  Honestly, I had almost forgotten about it until it came on television the other day.  It usually doesn't surface until this time of year for a couple of reasons: it's a seasonal movie anyway, but more importantly, it stars  Whitney Houston who many people have dismissed over recent years due to her behavior.

Don't forget that Denzel Washington was the co-star here.  This was probably one of the last family-oriented movies he made to broaden his appeal before he focused primarily on action and drama movies.  His role as the guardian angel Dudley is played with just the right amount of modesty so that you almost forget it's a megastar playing the part.

What makes "The Preacher's Wife" special is the soundtrack.  Whitney was in her prime (and also her pre-crack days) showing that she still had the chops.  You could play that soundtrack today and there would be very few gospel cds that could compare to it.  It was nice to see her return to her gospel roots in this...just before she went to the dark side.

I guess this was remake of some movie called "The Bishop's Wife".  Is it just me or has anyone else never heard of the original?  Even though the acting was as top-notch as it could be (and you can't expect too much when Whitney is the star), the music helps you overlook that.  At least for me it did.

One to Add to Your Collection

Mafia and/or gang movies have been around for much longer than I've been around.  Back in the early black-and-white picture show days, filmmakers relished in the glory of the prohibition era with their own takes of gangsters like Al Capone and the such.  However, with new generations came new criminals.

"Goodfellas" follows a Mafia family over a 30-year time period.  It's seen from the eyes of Ray Liotta's character who has dreamed of being a gangster as a kid then has his dream to to fruition.  Even though it's seen from that character's perspective, the driving force of the movie is actually the other members of the family with whom he interacts.

Joe Pesci easily is the most captivating piece of this film.  He steals every scene he's in as Tommy DeVito, the short-tempered member of the mob family.  Not to take anything from Robert DeNiro's role in this picture, it's Pesci who give "Goodfellas" its teeth.  It's no surprise that the both of them reprise these personas in "Casino", another Martin Scorsese film which might as well have been called "Goodfellas 2".

What I liked most about this film is it managed to incorporate two of my favorite pieces of cinema:  the biopic and the crime drama.  Scorsese created one of the most prolific films of the 90s by taking us behind the scenes of a New York crime family.  You get to see how there truly is no honor among thieves and how when the heat is on, loyalty can run very thin.

"The Godfather" trilogy (with the exception of the third one which probably should have never been made) set the standard for gangster movies.  That's what first fostered my infatuation with those type of films.  However, it was "Goodfellas" that took it to the next level by showing how crime families had evolved in later years.  It made it more relatable by putting it in my era.  For all intensive purposes, "Goodfellas" is "The Godfather" for my generation.

One to Add to Your Collection

Thanks to the Thanksgiving holiday, I was again in the mode of family-themed things and reminiscing about past events.  That means remembering more movies that I got into thanks to the folks.  One that came to mind in this instance was the entire Star Trek fascination.

Both Mom and Dad were big Star Trek fans back in the day.  When they found out Star Trek was finally coming to the big screen, they couldn't wait to see it and took us too to the now defunct River Hills in Des Moines.  I don't know if it was what they expected but I was thoroughly disappointed.  I'm going to give the series a pass on that one because back then, I'm thinking just the fact of having all of those icons from the original series on the big screen was probably enough to start the craze.  Unfortunately, it didn't matter that the story was terrible.

They got it right big time with the sequel "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan".  Someone got the brilliant idea to take one of the best episodes from the original series and extending it into a full-length movie.  This included getting Ricardo Montalban onboard to reprise his role as Khan. 

The reason this one worked so much better was due in part to many factors.  First and foremost, it again reunited the original cast to draw in the fans from the series.  They took the huge risk of killing off Spock, probably one of the most-beloved characters from the show.  However, they set it up in such a way that anyone with common sense knew he would be coming back, which also gave them an out for yet another sequel.

Secondly, they actually decided to include real action in this one.  It had come out during the height of the original Star Wars trilogy so they knew they had to step up the sci-fi action portion of it if they wanted to capture the same type of audience.  Looking back, the special effects pale in comparison to today's cinema but for then, they were awesome.

Thirdly and maybe not quite as important was the idea to get Montalban involved.  At the time, he was a huge star with "Fantasy Island" which created automatic recognition for all of us who weren't old enough to remember Star Trek's original run.  We were vaguely familiar with the Star Trek crew but in a day when network television was the juggernaut and "Fantasy Island" was a weekly top  10 show, we all knew Mr. Roarke.  As a matter of fact, I didn't   realize until the last couple of years that he was actually wearing a chest plate to get the pecs for that role.  I just assumed he had buffed up off steroids.

I just watched this flick again recently and it's amazing how it still holds up after all the time.  Even though the special effects are very dated, the story of Khan's infatuation with revenge against Kirk and how that relationship affects everyone around the both of them was brilliantly done.  After a dozen or so Star Trek movies, this one is still the best one in the franchise.  Plus, who can forget one of the best movie lines of all time...

"Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaannn!"

One to Add to Your Collection

This one should have gotten done much earlier.  Since I have now made it one of the signature parts of the banner for this page (at least until I get bored with the design and change it up again), "The Blues Brothers" deserves its recognition as one of the best movies ever made.

Mom took Teandra and I to see this when it first hit theaters back in 1980.  Being only 10, there were a lot of jokes in the movie that I didn't get, yet that didn't stop me from enjoying it.  Even then, it captivated me with the outstanding music all throughout it and the non-stop comedy all the way from the leading actors to the cameo appearances.  How could you possibly go wrong with the likes of James Brown, Ray Charles and Cab Calloway?! 

Dan Akroyd has naturally done much work since then but he will forever be immortalized with his role as Elwood Blues.  The same goes for Jon Belushi.  Even if he wasn't taken from us too soon, he had already left his mark as Jake Blues.  There couldn't have  possibly been any two actors better fit for those parts. 

Being the huge "Star Wars" fan that I am, this was the first film where I saw Carrie Fisher out of character.  It was bit strange at first picturing Princess Leia being a lethal stalker.  Fortunately, the rest of the flick was already so amazing that I quickly overlooked that fact.

There are some movies that are so timeless that sequels should never be made.  For that reason, I will continue to contend that "Blues Brothers 2000" never happened.  The entire cast of the original movie deserved much better than that.  That legacy should have never been sullied with that fiasco.

"Blues Brothers" was the first experiment from "Saturday Night Live" to take one of their skits to turn it into a movie.  Contrary to what "Wayne's World" fans may think, it is still the best SNL skit ever made into a full-length movie.  It set the bar so high that it was near impossible for any furture SNL alums to ever match it. 

One to Add to Your Collection

A while ago I was reading an article in one of my favorite rags, Vibe magazine, and they were doing a quick blurb on the favorite movies of celebrities.  Chris Rock reported that he loved "Chasing Amy" so much that he had seen it three times.  I had heard of the movie before but never seen it.  My thought was if Chris Rock liked it that much, it had to be good.

I started off a little backwards being a Kevin Smith fan as this was the movie that got me interested in his work.  After seeing it, I had to backtrack and then see "Mallrats" and "Clerks" to fully appreciate his brilliance.  It was definitely worth the time and effort as he is now on my list of directors whose work is a must-see for me.

"Chasing Amy" follows the story of two comic book writers, Holden and Banky, that have been lifelong friends.  Their friendship and even business partnership becomes threatened when a girl, Alyssa,    enters the picture.  For the first time, Holden contemplates an intimate relationship that is more time consuming than anticipated. 

The thing that Kevin Smith specializes in is his writing.  A lot of movies will rely on the charisma of certain actors and/or the actions to deliver some of the best lines.  The way that Smith writes is so cleverly done that any character could deliver the dialog and it works.  It just so happens that it's a huge plus when there are actors like Jason Lee doing key portrayals.

This movie definitely isn't going to be for everyone.  Another thing Smith is known for is not holding back anything when it comes to his work.  No language, taboos, actions or anything is off limits.  It's about as far from a family film as you can get.  But again, it's written so well that it works. 

If you are a fan of character-driven films then there's no way you won't enjoy this one.  Unlike Chris Rock, I've seen "Chasing Amy" much more than three times and the number just keep on rising.

One to Add to Your Collection

When "Boiler Room"  was first released in theaters in 2000, I had put off watching it.  Not sure why at the time since even then I knew it had actors in it whose work I had enjoyed watching.  After eventually seeing it on dvd, I was so enamored with it that I had to watch it again and again.

If you haven't noticed by now, I can be somewhat of a fluff film fanatic at times.  That means film that really don't have a lot of substance but are really just visual eye candy can sometimes captivate me.  That's what initially got me hooked on "The Fast and the Furious" and got me to be a Vin Diesel fan.  However, it was "Boiler Room" that had me really admiring his work.  

This film is the story of a young hustler, Seth Davis played brilliantly by Giovanni Ribisi, who tries to go legit in the world of Wall Street.  Ultimately, he finds out that even that isn't as legit as he thought it was and he's just hustling on a bigger stage.  So will he do the right thing?  He may not have a choice.

The dvd version of this has an alternate ending that I was really diggin'.  Even though the original one isn't too bad, the alternate one almost has more of a feeling of absolution to it. 

I don't really want to single out any one actor's performance in this piece because I personally think there are several that do exceptional jobs.  Nia Long, Ben Affleck, Jamie Kennedy and even Tom Everett Scott.  It was a nice break to associate him with something else besides "That Thing You Do".

It's a perfect story of how nothing succeeds like excess.  Anyone who's always looking for those get rick quick schemes definitely must check this one out.  Even if you just like good drama, this one's for you.

One to Add to Your Collection

I had first heard of the The Temptations thanks to a hit they had with Rick James in the 80s called "Standing on the Top".  I went thru some of the folks old albums and got hooked on the Tempts older stuff after that.  When I heard that there was a miniseries coming out on them back in 1998, I was all over it.

I ended up videotaping the series and kept that in my personal collection.  When it eventually came out on video, I got that too.  Naturally, when I made the transition to dvd, "The Temptations" was a no-brainer. 

What I liked most about this movie is even with all the hits from them that I knew, it turned me on to even more songs I had never even heard of.  "I Want a Love I Can See" and "I'm Losing You" are now two of my all-time Tempt classics that I never would have known about were it not for this movie.

I also had no idea of everything that group had been thru until watching this.  I remember D watching it being surprised that so many of them had already died.  If it didn't actually happen, it would seem almost too incredulous to believe.  And it's even sadder that the two remaining members, Otis Williams and Dennis Edwards (even if Dennis wasn't actually an original member), don't get along now to the point where they tour as two separate Temptations groups.

In addition, I had a greater appreciation for seeing their 80s video "Standing on the Top".  You could look at that just that three minute video and correlate it with the movie to tell all they had been thru and what they still had ahead.

Since it first aired, it continues to come on television non-stop.  Most of the time it will be on VH1's Movies That Rock or sometimes even BET.  No matter when it's on, I still watch it as if it's the first time I have seen it.  I still wonder how come the cat who played Paul   Williams, Christian Payton, hasn't gotten more work. 

Lastly, the thing that really did it for me was for a lot of these songs, these cats were singing their own parts and sounded just as good.  I would have never known it until I heard the studio version and the movie version of certain songs and they sounded different yet just as tight.  I could go on and on about "The Temptations" but you get the idea.  Get the movie.

The Standard

Simply put, that's what "Halloween" is.  From the moment it was released in the fall of 1978, it set the bar to which all future horror movies would be measured.  It's hard to believe that we're just two short years away from the 30th anniversary of the best horror movie of all time.  Rather fitting that that landmark should fall on an election year.

Naturally, I wasn't old enough to see it in theaters.  My first experience viewing it would be a few years later on cable.  I would venture to say that it may have been the first horror movie I ever remember watching.  That my have something to do with the fact of why I thought for the longest time that it was the scariest movie ever made.

They created the quintessential boogeyman with Michel Myers.  Nothing seems to kill him, he shows no remorse (thanks in part to   the timeless William Shatner mask) and because he makes no sound, you never know when he's coming. He's the one that should have went up against Jason instead of Freddy.  All Jason really is is the Michael Myers for a younger generation.

As I watch it again and again, it has lost some of its luster.  Partly due to the fact that I have now seen it so many times.  However, also because since then, movies have gotten so much more graphic that the simplicity of scares that "Halloween" provided now seems almost dated.  But it still has at least one staple that they don't seem to do anymore:  the trademark theme music for the villain.  In fact, I liked it so much it's been the ringtone on my cell phone for quite a while now.

This was also one of the few movies where the sequel was just as good as the first.  It's just too bad they had to keep pressing their luck and make so many more that just weren't that good.  Now there's news that Rob Zombie is on board to do a re-imagining of the series with a movie that will serve as s sort of a prequel to the original.  Worst case scenario, maybe it will make today's generation appreciate the authenticity of John Carpenter's creation even more.