Movies you saw in August

watched Aladdin (1992) on the Disney channel because Robin Williams did the voice of the Genie. he was excellent with his impressions of just about every top actor from back in the 90's as was comic Gilbert Gottfried as the voice of the villian's foul-mouthed parrot Iago. the rest was typical Disney musical tripe. did a LOT of "page thru" to the Genie parts. ex for Williams and Gottfried, was pretty much

Disney did broadcast it without commercials as a tribute to Williams which I thought was a nice gesture

somewhat suprised NO movie channel has played Good Morning, Vietnam (1987) as of yet. Williams Oscar nominate portrayal of Armed Forces Radio DJ Adrian Cronauer one of his best AND most famous rolls

American Hustle (2013)  comedy crime drama about the FBI forcing a pair of con artists to set up a "sting" operation to try and catch corrupt New Jersey politicians and Mafia members on the take when Atlantic City first went legal for casino gambling back in the late 1970's. the storyline is loosely based on the FBI "AbScam" operation which took place back then. stars Christian Bale, Amy Adams and Bradley Cooper with Jeremy Renner, Jennifer Lawrence and has Robert De Niro in an uncredited bit part of a Mafia gambling Don.

really well acted by all involved, I think most Covers people would enjoy the storyline. starts off a little slow BUT picks up speed as it goes along and has a crazy "plot twist" at the end. it has a 93% "fresh" rating from Rotten Tomatoes and was nominated for ten Oscars including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay  AND all four acting categories BUT didn't win any. DID win the Golden Globe for Best Picture with a Best Actress for Amy Adams and Best Supporting Actress for Jennifer Lawrence

plays again on Starz movie channels again Saturday August 23rd, Sunday August 24th, Monday August 25th and Friday August 29th. definitely  a movie I will watch again to catch any nuance I missed the first time and I rate it    of four

Godzilla was decent enough.  There are a lot of things you could say to bash but it kept my attention.  Some scenes were not necessary but what they did correct was every time you saw Godzilla you wanted more.  I would rate it 2.5 out of 4.  

check out American Hustle, 165yds. I almost gave it it was that good

watched a 2008 A&E Network miniseries remake of the classic 1971 Sci-Fi movie The Andromeda Strain on the Encore-Suspense channel. I thought was very well done with Benjamin Bratt as Andromeda research team leader Dr. Jeremy Stone who was played by Arthur Hill in the original. greatly expanded on the "govenment conspiracy" of the original enough to make any of the "black helicopter" crowd reach for their tinfoil hats. hopefully will play on an Encore channel again soon. IF you like good SciFi it is definately worth watching. I rate it

watched The Tall Target (1951) on Turner Classic Movies about the alleged Baltimore Plot to murder president elect Abraham Lincoln inroute to his inauguration in 1861. stared person Powell and Adolphe Menjou with Marshall Thompson, Paula Raymond and the lovely Ruby Dee (who was one of the best arguments for integration back in the 1950's). interesting pretty much unknown piece of American history. relatively short movie at only 90 minutes. not great acting BUT I rate it   for the subject matter.

 this Covers automatic "censor correct" is getting silly. "person" Powell is the movie actor D-I-C-K Powell

couldn't psss up rewatching these two favorite courtroom dramas last night...

The Rainmaker (1997) staring Matt Damon, Jon Voight, Claire Danes and Danny DeVito with Danny Glover, Virginia Madsen, Roy Scheider and Mickey Rourke. somewhat suprised this movie is NOT listed in either the AFI or Movietone top courtroom dramas lists. plays again on Starz channel Wednesday August 27th @ 9:05 am pacific time

The Verdict (1982) staring Paul Newman and James Mason with Charlotte Rampling, Jack Warden,, Milo O'Shea, and Lindsay Crouse. "tour def force" by both Newman and Mason who were nominated for Actor Oscars along with the movie for Best Picture and Sidney Lumet for Best Director. listed # 1 on Movietone and #4 on AFI's courtroom dramas. plays on Retroplex movie channel again Wednesday August 1st @ 8:45 pm pacific time

BOTH definate

couldn't pass up watching Guy Richie's Snatch (2000) last night for probably the hundreth time. maybe the best "crime comedy" EVER. worth watching just for the "chocolate milk" segment which is hilarious. has become somewhat of a "cult classic". plays again on Starz-Edge againThursday September 4th @ 11:00 am pacific. one of my all time favorite "dark comedies" so obviously I rate it

watched the Russian produced movie Stalingrad (2013) last night. definately NOT as good as Enemy at the Gates (2001). the story is more about one German platoon trying to take a strategic building from a group of about a dozen Russians. excellent CGI in the battle scenes esp early on. somewhat more "personal" telling of the battle with two love stories intertwined in the plot. shows the "rattenkrieg" (war of the rats) room to room hand to hand fighting aspect of the battle. rate it

8mm (1999) pretty good mystery-suspense movie staring Nicolas Cage with Joaquin Phoenix, Peter Stormare and early work by the late James Gandolfini. Cage plays a private eye, assisted by porn shop clerk Phoenix, investigating IF a "snuff film" found in a recently deceased multi-millionaire's safe is real or not. Stormare was the director of the "snuff film"  and Gandolfini recruited the teenaged girl playing the victum. pretty good plot with excellent suspense and action in spots. played on HBO and hopefully will be on again soon. rate it

Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962) classic "film noir" boxing movie with Anthony Quinn as the washed up fighter Luis "Mountain" Rivera, Jackie Gleason as his manager Maish Rennick and Mickey Rooney as his trainer-cut man Army. 1962 was killer year for Oscars because of Lawrence of Arabia and To Kill a Mockingbird otherwise I am sure that the movie and either Gleason or Rooney could have had nominations the story is that well acted. "must see" classic for fight fans or those that just enjoy good drama. played on the Sony movie channel and hopefully will repeat either there or on Turner Classic Movies soon. rate it

Taken 2 (2012) fast paced action-suspense movie staring Liam Neeson as former CIA operative Bryan Mills, Maggie Grace as his daughter and Famke Janssen as his ex-wife Lenore "Lennie" Mills with Rade Sherbedgia (played "Boris The Blade" in Guy Richie's crime comedy Snatch) as the leader of the Albanian mobsters looking for revenge on Mills. non-stop action with plenty of chases and oodles of ordnance. I think Neeson as Mills is the best "don't fukk with me" killer since Jean Reno in the title roll of Leon (aka The Professional) back in 1994. plays all next week on Cinemax channels starting Monday Sept 1st. guess I will have to dig up the original Taken (2008). can't believe this only gets a 21% "fresh" rating from Rotten Tomatoes which just goes to show that action fans can NOT go by what a bunch of critics have to say. I rate it

Sex Tape

Meatballs

'48 hrs.'

A blast from the past..Good movie.

Divergent - another great movie i saw last night!

The November Man

I took your advice LeRink and watched American Hustle.  Maybe a bit slow at times for some but to me that is a classic and deserves 4 stars.  You won't see better acting and the entire tone and mood is perfect.  

Verdict is a classic.