Movie Reviews

oh gawd yesh...they even silence the campfire scene! its sacreligous i tell ya! (sometimes they even change characters names!)
my fave mel brooks movie is High Anxiety....that's one of the reasons i went on to get my degree in film;)

Watched 'Spaceballs' last night (thanks to you guys talking about Blazing Saddles I went looking for Mel Brokk's films in the limited DVD collection I have here) and will watch The Producers tonight (original version).
Have to say the scene in Spaceballs where the Alien creature highkicks across the bar and sings 'Hallo my honey' cracks me up.

The original version of The Producers is probably my favorite Brooks film. What a cast!! Did you know that the original choice to play Franz Liebkin was going to be Dustin Hoffman? He turned it down because he had been offered a role to play opposite Mel's wife in a little film called The Graduate, and the rest is history. Of course, the late, great Kenneth Mars was then cast as Franz, and I think both The Producers and The Graduate are better for having made those choices. Mars was perfection as the Crazy Kraut, Zero Mostel was magnificent as the boitserous down-on-his-luck Max Bialystock, and Gene Wilder got his start in this film and made a wonderful timid, neurotic accountant, Leo Bloom. There aren't enough s for me to give this one, so I'll give The Producers !!! < That's the highest honor for a comedy, don't you think?)

Total agreement from me.

oh man....Rick Moranis in Spaceballls.....i woulds have watched it because of Mel but Rick made it even better. (man did i used to have a crush on that dude!)
I agree with the Producers...and pity the people who will only see the new version and think that is it. the remake was okay (I love Nathan Lane) but the original was just too perfect. I never have looked at a little blue blanket the same since!

Pretty much anything Mel Brooks does is fine with me! Anybody else have a favorite of his? Mine has to be Young Frankenstein.

I saw the stage version of The Producers in its pre-Broadway run in Chicago. They often do that in Chicago. It was fun, and I like Nathan Lane, but the original is by far the best.

Totally agree with everybody about the original couldn't stand the musical.

Watched National Treasure II last night with Nicholas Cage, Ed Harris and Jon Voight.
Not good as the first but still a nice Saturday night romp.

suzzzz....i was sort of a Brook scholar back in college so i could give a 'fave' for almost everything Mel's done. i even like the obscure stuff like the 12 Chairs (frank langella...a VERY young frank at that...and very beautiful music). My memory is shotty in places but i think that's where a song i carry in my head came from...I met a man who saved a fortune that was plendid, but he died the day he planned to go and spend it..shouting Live while you're alive. noone will survey. there's no guarantee!

Watched The Trip tonight.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1740047/

As Jeane would say, esh. It had it's amusing moments and these guys play well off each other, but essentially I found myself waiting for it to be over. It may just be me; as a woman in her late 50's, I simply don't care about 40's male mid-life angst.


(I give it 2 instead of 1 because the Michael Caine and Woody Allen impressions really were fun, and the scenery, though bleak, was gorgeous.)

jeanebellini wrote:suzzzz....i was sort of a Brook scholar back in college so i could give a 'fave' for almost everything Mel's done. i even like the obscure stuff like the 12 Chairs (frank langella...a VERY young frank at that...and very beautiful music). My memory is shotty in places but i think that's where a song i carry in my head came from...I met a man who saved a fortune that was plendid, but he died the day he planned to go and spend it..shouting Live while you're alive. noone will survey. there's no guarantee!

Jeane, I just went to IMDb and looked up The Twelve Chairs and watched the trailer ... I've seen it! Not sure when, had to be ages ago, but I remember Dom DeLuise in it for sure! I remember it was uneven, a bit confusing, but very funny.

I havent seen The Twelve Chairs in many years, but I remember some real laugh out loud moments. I'll have to make it a point to see it again sometime soon.

Watched She Wore A Yellow Ribbon last night. It's the third of John Ford's Ft.
Apache trilogy. To me it's the weakest one, still had an all star cast of John Wayne,
Ben Johnson, John Agar and Joanne Dru. Still wonderfully photographed and scored.
I give it

Tonight, with nothing else on offer, I looked trough my own collection and watched The Terminal, the old Tom Hanks movie of the guy forced to live in the NYC International Airport Terminal while his small Middle-European country sorts out its revolution. Even though it's longish and I've seen it before, I remember why I bought it. Touching, gently funny, heartfelt and completely engaging from beginning to end.

Hey thanks for the recommendation.

suzzzz i've seen The Terminal a few times...not just for hanks but tucci as well;)
the 12 chairs might be kinda weird to watch 1) because of the era if was made in (they made some trippy flicks then) and 2)it was based on a russian...i don't know..folk tale?

Saw 'Real Steel' yesterday. Oddly I wasn't sure wether I was going to like it or not, but I really enjoyed it. The blurb on it is that it's set in the near future, where robot boxing is a top sport.
Hugh Jackman stars opposite Evangeline Lilly(Lost) and Dakota Goyo (who plays his son and was last seen as a young Thor).
Basically it's The Champ with robots. Not a dry eye in the house towards the end. Strangely enough it was the robots I felt sorry for. Beating each other up.
Humour aplenty and good acting combine to make this a really enjoyable movie.

Another assignment crossed off my Bob List: Watched X Men tonight. I actually liked it a lot! Of course, with two such nobles as Stewart and McKellen on board, how could it go wrong? Well, easily, I suppose, but IMO it didn't. I liked it much better than the super hero movies; it seemed much more human and real. I know that's a crazy thing to say with the characters being "mutants" and all, but the whole thing seemed thematically much deeper than the usual save-the-world/action/adventure comic book fare. Hard to explain. But I do thank you for this one, Bob.

Tonight I watched Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Loved it. I really don't care that some (not here) have snarked about the Narnia movies, I love seeing the books I love so much brought to visual life. Disney spares nothing to make them as beautiful as they should be.

Borrowed a copy of Casablanca last night What can I say.

Sue Short wrote:

Borrowed a copy of Casablanca last night What can I say.

I couldn't agree more. We'll always have Paris.

Returned books to the library today and couldn't resist checking out the DVDs. Took home "You Again" which is in my Netflix queue. Disappointing. Cute premise (coming face to face with the mean girls from high school now that you're successful, etc. etc.) and stellar cast, at least among the oldies (Sigourney Weaver, Jamie Lee Curtis, Betty White, even Cloris Leachman in cameo), but draggy and lacking the nuances that would have made you care. Glad I didn't waste my Netflix 2-day wait on it.

Suzzzz wrote:Tonight I watched Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Loved it. I really don't care that some (not here) have snarked about the Narnia movies, I love seeing the books I love so much brought to visual life. Disney spares nothing to make them as beautiful as they should be.

I totally agree Suzzzz. Much loved books with money thrown at them to make truly enjoyable films.

Dolphin Tale was a touching and sweet feel good family film. Winter the dolphin--playing herself--was so cute.

I give it

I'm honestly afraid to watch Dolphin Tale; I'm afraid it will break my heart too much.

Watched the "new" True Grit tonight. It was good, but I could only understand about half of what Rooster/Bridges was saying. Not sure but what I prefer the old, straightforward John Wayne version (though, not having seen it in decades, it's hard to compare). In any case, this one certainly deserves