Choke was written by the author of Fight Club and it has that same kind of slightly alternate world view. Choke is the story of Victor Mancini and his multi-faceted life as a sex addict, an Historical Reenactor, a son, a friend, and a con artist. When we meet Victor he is at a Sex Addicts meeting and instantly hooks up with one of the women in the support group. Our hero, such as he is, works at a place that looks like Williamsburg, Virginia-one of those spots where everyone dresses up like it’s 1750 and talks with a lot…
Category: good movie
Juno The Lighter Side of Teen Pregnancy
Juno is the story of a pregnant 16 year and how she deals with it with wit and wisdom. Juno reminds me of a long episode of The Gilmore Girls. Juno is filled with brilliant dialogue that no high school kids could ever come up with and way cool adults who like nothing more than hanging out with high school kids. There are also a lot of odd little details such as a phone shaped like a hamburger and Juno’s fondness for stripes. I knew nothing about Juno before I saw it, other than it was about a pregnant high…
Valkyrie starring Tom Cruise
Valkyrie is the story a failed assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler. Tom Cruise plays a German who has had enough of Hitler’s Germany and wants to start a new, better German without the Führer’s master plans. Valkyrie is the name of a military operation that would secure power after Hitler’s death-and is an integral part of Tom Cruise’s plans to free Germany. Valkyrie is a very good movie, and much like Apollo 13, it really doesn’t matter that you know the outcome. At every step of the operation there is a chance, a good chance, that our hero will succeed…
The Day The Earth Stood Still
Spoilers within. There’s only one of two things you need from a movie critic-one that you always agree with, or one that you never agree with. Gary Cogill is a small time movie critic in Dallas. He has a long bio and list of accomplishments-and I have not trusted his advice on films since he recommended The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover. That film is right up there with Peter Jackson’s King Kong when it comes to all time worst movies. Which brings me to The Day The Earth Stood Still starring Keanu Reeves. NOT The Worst…
The Secret Life of Bees-The Movie
Spoilers within- The Secret Life of Bees was a great book and is a very good movie as well. I found it interesting that The Secret Life of Bees was Produced by Will Smith and Jade Pinkett-Smith. Maybe the Will Smith stamp on a film will be the next Oprah’s Book Club. It would be nice to think so. Set in 1964 in the South at the time of the signing of the Equal Rights Amendment, this is the story of a little white girl who runs away from her slightly crazy father and moves in with a group of…
Miss Potter Starring Renee Zellwegger
In honor of Beatrix Potter’s birthday, which was July 28-I watched this charming film about her early life as a published author. Renee Zellwegger does another good job of pretending to be British. Beatrix Potter was a bestselling author in an age before bestselling authors were rock stars. She made a lot of money, but her Mother never really understood how or why. Her mother was a wonderful Victorian relic that looked down on all tradesman, which included publishers and lawyers. Miss Potter stars Renee Zellwegger as Beatrix Potter well on her way to Spinsterhood and well past her sell…
Chuck Barris as hitman in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind is an offbeat and wonderfully weird film. The premise here is that slightly whacked and less than talented game show host and creator Chuck Barris was a hit man for the CIA in his spare time. Chuck says that he likes game shows because he has always been amazed at what people will do for a new refrigerator. The story is a bit silly, to say the least, so it is outright amazing when George Clooney and Julia Roberts, among others, walk onto the screen. Clooney directed this little gem, and I guess I should…
Sunshine Hard Sci Fi Here Comes the Sun
Sunshine is about the end of the world. Sort of. It’s really about the eight person crew on a mission to re-ignite the sun, which is burning out. The story is set either fifty years, or two hundred and fifty years or some unknown length of time, in the future. This is the second mission sent to deliver the payload that will jump start the sun. This first failed to complete the mission for unknown reasons.The model for just about every hard SF story ever written is called Cold Equations. This is a sci fi classic that tugs at the…
Hairspray-Bring Back the Good Old Days
Hairspray is a good, old fashioned, all singing, all dancing musical. This is not a musical that apologizes for being a musical, it is one that embraces it. People break into song for no reason, dance in the streets, change clothes and sets at the drop of a hat, and seem to be having the times of their lives. This is a fun movie to watch.John Travolta reportedly turned down the role of sleazy lawyer Billy Flynn in 2002’s Chicago, so that part could be played by the can’t-dance, can’t-sing talents of Richard Gere. So I was a bit surprised…
28 Weeks Later-Die Die Everybody Die
28 Weeks Later picks up where 28 Days Later left off. It is full of pointless violence and gruesome gore splatters the screen. The general theme here is that the threat has past and life can return to normal. Of course, it doesn’t quite go that way. The discovery of a sole survivor gives a doctor the hope of a cure, but this survivor is more Typhoid Mary than savior. Cue the blood thirsty zombies. . .Like the first movie it is basically one long chase scene following a group of people that gets smaller and smaller as the film…