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454,911 | 11,228,318 | 911,103 | 7 | Three Days of the Chicken is another amusing episode of Andy Barker P , I . | The Middle Eastern proprietor of the restaurant near Andy's has had no choice but to accept bad chicken from a local factory . Andy accepts the case at the same time his wife has a party in her back yard . Simon and former Detective Lew are along for the ride . There are plenty of amusing lines and some silly visual touches to keep this show on an even steady pace . Loved Andy's wife's line mistakenly calling the restaurant head " Willy " instead of " Wally " then saying , " Well , he should change his name . He's an American now . " And can you believe that old man Lew is afraid of some live chickens ? And how about Andy still wondering why he is still being followed just as Simon says , " That's because you're still signaling ! " This episode was surrounded by an Office marathon so here's hoping AB P . I . got some extra numbers because of that . . . |
454,491 | 11,228,318 | 148,238 | 7 | The Greyhound and the Rabbit was a pretty funny Columbia cartoon I watched on YouTube | Just watched this Columbia Color Rhapsody ( though the print I saw was in black and white ) on YouTube . It's basically a series of visual gags that takes place on a greyhound race track with the racers chasing a mechanical rabbit attached to a gate ( though the rabbit seems lifelike , at least for a cartoon ) . Among many funny ones : An announcer getting his dentures knocked out by a typewriter moving its whatever - that - thing - that - goes - left - to - right as operated by the person next to him , one dog making his " move " playing checkers , the rabbit attaching and reattaching his tail , when the dogs are in " photo finish " - one of them applies makeup as they all stop freeze-frame-like . So with all I just said , I'd recommend this Sid Marcus-directed cartoon , The Greyhound and the Rabbit . |
454,533 | 11,228,318 | 1,058,907 | 7 | Last aired Creature Comforts episode was amusing enough | In this , the last " Creature Comforts " episode that aired on CBS , there's some small clips of various animals mentioning what celebrities they look like . I liked it when one of the lobsters said he was told he looked like Charles Atlas ( that muscle guy in the comic book ads that I remember from the ' 70s ) ! Then in Winter , we see a groundhog trying to analyze the weather just before seeing his shadow then he runs back to his treehouse ! Also , a male horse discusses spooning with his female mate before that mate asks what he's talking about ! In The Zoo , a gorilla says he wants porn ! And so ends another segment of ordinary people's voices coming out of clay-animated animals ' mouths for the last time due to low ratings . Not as funny as the last two episodes but still amusing enough . Hope to see something again from the creators of Wallace and Gromit real soon . Until next time . . . |
454,115 | 11,228,318 | 1,248,345 | 7 | The One with the Cast of " Night Court " was a good , if not great , episode of " 30 Rock " | This is the reunion of friends . . . from ' Night Court ' . So says Kenneth as the three former cast members-Harry Anderson , Markie Post , and Charlie Robinson ( with no-show John Larroquette unable to adjust his schedule ) - stage the finale wedding between Harry and Christine that never came ( perhaps because Jenna's werewolf lawyer character caused the show to " Jump the Shark " ) . Elsewhere , that " Friend " that's on this ep is Jennifer Anniston who's Liz and Jenna's old " Fatal Attraction " roommate who has designs on Jack . Not as funny as the last two episodes especially since the Anniston plot seemed a little overdone but still enjoyable nonetheless and I did like it when Claire ( Jen's character ) suggested a threesome and Jack had to consult Liz before refusing it . Seeing Ms . Post complaining about not getting Emmy nominations because of her hotness was perhaps the best thing about this episode along with Tracy mentioning to Kenneth about how there would be an audience laughing when the cast from the former 8 : 30 pm CST on Thursday show ( which " 30 Rock " now inhabits ) leaves in a huff as they wait for the reaction in silence . Hope the next with Steve Martin is better . . . |
454,977 | 11,228,318 | 810,544 | 7 | This " Colgate Comedy Hour " was a pretty entertaining summer edition | On this " Colgate Summer Comedy Hour " , after Don Wilson announces the night's cast lineup , comic Gene Sheldon ( in pantomime for the whole show ) wakes up in bed on stage in a spotlight which he puts out with a slingshot . Then singer Connie Russell warbles " One Arabian Night " in a harem outfit with appropriate backup from the Nita Bieber Dancers . After another bit from Sheldon ( who keeps reappearing in a running gag with a banjo throughout ) , Don Wilson appears on stage to introduce stand-up Jay Lawrence who reads a Variety review of himself from two weeks before on the show that's not too flattering . He then does a British announcer with mumbled words . Then he impersonates a swimmer trying to break a record on the English Channel . Then The Gaylords sing about a shoemaker . Then The Will Maston Trio appear tap dancing with first Sammy Davis , Sr . and then Maston himself doing solos before Sammy Davis , Jr . sings " Because of You " imitating four ( although he says five ) vocalists : Nat King Cole , Tony Bennett , Vaughn Monroe , and Billy Eckstine . He then impersonates James Cagney , James Stewart , Cary Grant , himself , and Jerry Lewis before playing some drums . Then Connie Russell returns singing " You've Changed " . Then Gene Sheldon plays his banjo and has some further trouble with the spotlight . Sammy Davis , Jr . then returns singing " Hey You " before The Gaylords come back with " I Love You " . Then Don Wilson gets interrupted by Sheldon ( with Davis on drums ) starring at him after which Davis dances and sings " The Birth of the Blues " with his father and Uncle Will watching on stage and the Nita Bieber Dancers performing with him . Then after Gene pulls the rest of the night's cast and Connie sings one more song , it's good night from Hollywood . . . No host dominated from this late summer broadcast from 1954 but the lion's share of air time seems to come from the one whose star rose the highest here : Sammy Davis , Jr . He's in fine form throughout from his singing to his impressions to his drum playing to his dancing . If Mr . Sheldon seems familiar to you , you've probably seen him in such Disney projects like " Zorro " or Babes in Toyland with Ed Wynn and Annette Funicello . He's just a little amusing here . Special Guest Connie Russell , which probably made her the main attraction here , displays her feminine charms in abundance especially in the beginning number . Jay Lawrence is pretty funny though some of his material may be dated . The Gaylords were also entertainingly amusing especially when they warbled in other languages . And it's nice to see Don Wilson outside of his regular gig on " The Jack Benny Program " . All in all , this was a reasonably entertaining live program from the ' 50s . |
455,245 | 11,228,318 | 1,248,336 | 7 | The Bubble was another pretty amusing episode of " 30 Rock " | In this episode , we find out Liz ' Dr . Drew lives in a bubble due to his handsome looks and is inept at everything as a result , Jack causes Tracy to quit the show when he inadvertently tells him how rich he is , and Jenna decides to have her hair cut on " Today " to get more attention than Tracy . . . Written by series creator Tina Fey , " The Bubble " is more subtly amusing than hilarious though as always , there are many clever lines and visual gags that make the whole thing go down easy in that most unique " 30 Rock " way . Loved Jenna's reference to both " the Rachel " and " Felicity , season 2 " in reference to her upcoming haircut and Jack's getting his black accountant to disguise his voice as Bill Cosby in a failed phone call negotiation with Tracy . Then there's Jon Hamm's ineptness at both tennis and motorcycle riding . . . |
454,493 | 11,228,318 | 1,248,333 | 7 | Larry King was a pretty funny , if not hilarious , episode of " 30 Rock " | In this one , Jack and Elisa are having relationship problems , Liz and Kenneth attempt to recover Liz ' cell from a cabbie , and Tracy on " Larry King Live " tells everyone to panic when the Asian markets fall . . . Not quite as funny as previous eps of " 30 Rock " and I can't help thinking the staffers looking for Tracy's money in his office is excuse for them having something to do especially the Scott Adsit character since this is one of his rare appearances this season but there are still some pretty funny lines and scenes and it's touching how the Kenneth character really is in certain situations . Also touching was Salma Hayak's exit for this arc . Hope she's available for a comeback . And how about Liz ' nana's " lullaby " song being " 99 Luftballons " . . . |
455,077 | 11,228,318 | 999,889 | 7 | Happy Birthday Elton ! makes a fine 60th celebration for the Rocket Man | Broadcasted on MyNetworkTV on April 5 , this 60th birthday celebration for Sir Elton John was a mostly enjoyable concert special that showcased some of his best hits from the last nearly 40 years from " I'm Still Standing " to " How Wonderful Life Feels " . When Robin Williams introduces him , he amusingly says Elton made " Liberace look Amish ! " You also see plenty of British and American celebrities say their own tributes on air . I loved the animated one contributed by Bette Midler . Near the end are stills of John in some of his most outrageous outfits including his famous Donald Duck suit . Many celebrities were in the audience including a stunning appearance of Anne Hathaway . Also stunning : Lily Allen in the tribute comments section . Happy belated birthday , Sir Elton ! Hope you have many more as enjoyable as this ! P . S . John's longtime songwriting partner Bernie Taupin also wishes Sir Elton Happy Birthday on stage and appears on the tributes . |
454,181 | 11,228,318 | 587,136 | 7 | The Burns and Allen show marks an amusing television debut | Having had their own successful radio show for the past seventeen years , this marked the first time George Burns and Gracie Allen appeared on live television . It begins as Burns steps from the curtain and explains what it's like to be a straight man . We then see Gracie opening her window as she trims the hedges with George's razor ! A book salesman comes and tries to sell Gracie some encyclopedias but gets confused by some of her nonsense logic and keeps getting his hat smashed whenever Gracie puts some of his books down ! After this scene ends , George introduces musical act The Skylarks and then does some banter about George's singing . Then Gracie drops in on the Mortons and asks Blanche ( Bea Benaderet ) to go to the movies which Harry ( Hal March ) at first refuses but relents to avoid an argument with Blanche . Announcer Bill Goodwin then drops in on George as he tells a story of how he was stuck on an airplane running out of gas and mentions to control tower , " Do you use Carnation Evaporated Milk ? " leading to a plug for the show's sponsor . After this ends , Bill almost walks off the set before George tells him to use the door . " Now , wasn't that better ? You see , we've got to keep this believable , " George says as he tells us it's now three hours later . He talks to Harry to make plans to get out of going to the movies with their wives by inventing a card game called Kleebob hoping the confusion would free them to go the boxing match . But Gracie recognizes the rules having played a similar game a week ago when George wanted to get out of something else with his wife ! Goodwin then comes by himself to plug another Carnation product before George and Gracie say good night . Very amusing first episode of a transplanted radio show that shows how in command of the camera Burns , Allen , and the rest of the cast were . Gracie , especially , is very funny whether wondering how milk came from carnations or mentioning how she never gets dizzy prompting Harry to choke from his drink ! The sponsor's product , while obvious , is amusingly integrated into the plot . The only real intrusion is the musical act which would eventually be phased out except for musical-like episodes . The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show on television marked the peak of the comedy team's success that would last until 1958 when Gracie retired . Well worth seeing wherever you can find any episodes ! |
454,368 | 11,228,318 | 893,453 | 7 | Godsend is a welcome continuation of Heroes in the new year | It's been two weeks in TV time since the last episode as we open with Peter in a hospital bed . Watching him rest are his brother Nathan and their mom . Simone comes by and brings flowers . Claire is in the kitchen with her father pretending to have little memory of the day her former cheerleader friend Jackie was killed . Back at school , she encounters Zack and tries to refresh his memory of their unique friendship but Zack has no recall . Niki has had a hard time in jail , especially whenever Jessica appears as D . L . and son Micah try to cope without her . Mohinder finds out Eden was once known as Sara Issacs and that her dead body is somewhere in Canada . Matt and his partner try to infiltrate Horn-Rimmed Glasses ' workplace in order to find Syler but all they find is paper . And Hiro and Ando are in the Mueseum of Natural History in New York as Hiro discovers a sword of a Japanese legend and attempts to take it in order to get full powers back . Meanwhile , Peter has dreams of destroying New York and gets out of the hospital to find a man from those dreams who claims to be invisible . Nathan and Simone later go to Issac's apartment where they find Issac who tells Simone he's now clean and that he's still in love with her . Hiro and Ando arrive at this time and mention while they have the sword , it's a fake and someone named Linderman has the real one . . . What I've just mentioned are mainly set-ups for many exciting encounters that will happen in future episodes . Nice scenes between Claire and Zack as they reenact his filming her stunt from the pilot episode . Funny use of Hiro in using his reduced powers during the sword-taking scene . Also humorous was Matt's telling his wife about his mind-reading abilities . Touching scene of Niki and her son before Jessica took over and got herself abducted by the guards . And interesting scenes between HRG and Mohinder about a possible , if reluctant on Mohinder's part , team-up . Lots to think about before the next episode . And I'll be waiting with bated breath . . . |
454,785 | 11,228,318 | 37,831 | 7 | Jerky Turkey is funny cartoon from Tex Avery at MGM | An amusing Tex Avery cartoon made near the end of World War II . Basically , a pilgrim who doesn't want to wait in line goes to " Ye Black Market " building to get a live turkey . The turkey who offers himself sounds like Jimmy Durante . Various chase gags are executed like the one where the pilgrim paints on a brick wall outside scenery to fool the turkey . Turkey goes through that scenery . Pilgrim tries to chase turkey through only to smash himself . The kind of gag that would be more perfected in Chuck Jones ' Road Runner cartoons . Many other gags involving modern gadgets follow . Highly worth seeing for any Tex Avery fan . Don't miss a final gag involving someone constantly carrying the sign , " Eat at Joe's " . . . |
454,622 | 11,228,318 | 22,045 | 7 | Lady , Play Your Mandolin ! is a highly amusing first Merrie Melodies short | If it wasn't for the fact that the male and female leads had triangle ears and long bushy tails , they would've been mistaken for Mickey and Minnie Mouse ( maybe Walt Disney did and threatened to sue so Leon Schlesinger told his cartoon directors Hugh Harmon and Rudolf Ising-former Disney animators-to stop making Foxy cartoons ) . Anyway , Foxy rides on his horse to a bar in a desert town to see his girlfriend play the title song . This being pre-Code ( and no stigma of cartoons being only a children's medium then ) , there's lots of drinking of alcohol treated in a humorous manner especially of the horse at the climax . Historically important since this was the first Merrie Melodies short after a year of Looney Tunes with Bosko as the star . Highly amusing though a long way from the classics that starred Porky Pig , Daffy Duck , Bugs Bunny , etc . Still , worth seeing for any animation buff especially of Warner Bros . cartoons . |
453,894 | 11,228,318 | 37,828 | 7 | Jasper and the Beanstalk is another entertaining George Pal Puppetoon | Just watched on Google Video Jasper and the Beanstalk , a George Pal Puppetoon series entry about a little black boy and his adventures with a talking scarecrow . This one has the scarecrow giving Jasper some " magic beans " which grows into a giant beanstalk . The harp that Jasper rescues has a voice that sounds like the great Lena Horne but could possibly be just a perfect impersonation . Since this is only a 7-minute short , not much explanation is given of whether this was only a dream or otherwise but one doesn't care after a while since nearly all of it is entertaining . It would be nice to see this and other George Pal Puppetoons , however , in better condition than I've seen on Google or YouTube . |
455,204 | 11,228,318 | 12,467 | 7 | Modeling is a pretty amusing early Out of the Inkwell entry | As Max tries to get Ko-Ko more enthusiastic in movements , a sculptor tries not to make a male model's bust too accurate since the model has a big nose . After Max draws some snow , an ice pond , a cabin , and some skates on Ko-Ko , he goes to the sculptor and model to advise . As the clown skates , he ends up drawing the model's face on the ice as he skates . Luckily the ice lines disappear before Max and the others can see it . Suddenly , a bear appears as Ko-Ko follows him into the cabin . A cow then appears along with a lamb . They disappear again when the cabin self-destructs as Ko-Ko and the bear get out . The clown then makes a snow sculpture of the model and this Max sees as he throws clay at the clown's head which hits it . Ko-Ko then sneaks off the drawing board and goes to the bust where he constantly moves the big nose as he goes under it making the model fall down his chair ! Ko-Ko escapes covered in clay even after the three men grab the cover . As the model leaves in a huff , he aims the clay at the sculptor but accidentally hits a side of Max's face . The clown then goes back in the inkwell and closes it with Max frantically opening it and seeing nothing but ink spilling out . . . Pretty amusing early Out of the Inkwell entry with wonderful movements of the clown skating . Worth a look for Fleischer enthusiasts . |
454,885 | 11,228,318 | 22,057 | 7 | Laughing Gas was an amusing Flip the Frog cartoon from Ub Iwerks | This Ub Iwerks cartoon starring Flip the Frog is typical of many early ' 30s cartoons that provides a thin plot line and goes in several directions at once though that's part of many of these shorts ' charm . In this one , Flip is a dentist who spends most of the cartoon trying to extract some teeth from a frightened walrus . Plenty of funny gags abound like the frog using a skunk for an anesthetic and an animated cash register grabbing another customer back because he forgot to pay ! While Flip , like other cartoon characters created so soon after Mickey Mouse's debut , doesn't have much of a personality , the animation and gags were usually enough to provide these now obscure icons some days in the sun . This was another short I found on Federator . |
454,121 | 11,228,318 | 28,148 | 7 | The Pups ' Christmas is another amusing Harmon-Ising cartoon from M-G-M | Just watched this Hugh Harmon-Rudolf Ising Happy Harmonies M-G-M cartoon short on YouTube . It's Christmas Day and the kids and their two puppies have woken up and opened the presents . Among them : a train with tracks provided , a doll that says " Momma " , a calico dog , a tank , and an airplane . It's the former that " shoots " at the pups and the latter that gets in the former's way . Those scenes provided most of the humor of this short which mainly relied on the cuteness of the pups ' actions . Since Harmon-Ising ( harmonizing , get it ? ) got their start with Walt Disney , that cuteness factor was not very surprising to me . With all that said , The Pups ' Christmas was another amusing cartoon that I'd say is worth a look for any vintage animation buff out there . |
454,759 | 11,228,318 | 28,157 | 7 | See Rainbow on the River and rediscover Bobby Breen | I found this obscure musical from the ' 30s under the " Louisiana " section in my local East Baton Rouge Parish Library under the title It Happened in New Orleans . What a wonderful discovery of a young juvenile singer named Bobby Breen from a time when most of America was enchanted by Shirley Temple ! He plays a New Orleans boy raised by former slave Louise " Imitation of Life " Beavers after his parents died in the Civil War . Besides her , Breen also has Matthew " Stymie " Beard as a friend . Then he finds out about his Yankee relatives and moves to New York . Only the butler can relate to him there . Wonderful songs from the 19th century dominate the film with the then-new title song sung at least three times . Wonderful support from May Robson , Charles Butterworth , Eddie " Rochester " Anderson as a superstitious doctor , and the Hall Johnson Choir . Nice humorous touches throughout . Worthy of rediscovery for old-time movie fans . |
454,072 | 11,228,318 | 928,267 | 7 | Run ! is another compelling episode of Heroes | Last week , we found out Claire's bio-dad was Nathan Petrelli . He offers the bio-mom lots of money which she accepts . Hiro and Ando offer to help a Vegas showgirl in exchange for info to Linderman's whereabouts . Jessica is assigned by Linderman to assassinate a Mr . Malsky who is guided by Matt as a newly hired guard . Mohinder calls a Zane Taylor in Virginia Beach , Virginia and offers to come over but Sylar gets there first . Claire's adopted mom gets a big headache from possibly HRG's constant mind wipings . Claire overhears Petrelli and her bio-mom but doesn't show herself as she throws a rock at Nathan's car as he leaves . Hiro and Ando sneak into showgirl's ex-partner's room to get her purse but Hiro leaves quickly while Ando is stuck under bed while showgirl's ex-partner sits . Hiro overhears showgirl's phone call about lying to the boys and gets punched by her then gets locked in while Ando goes with her outside . An agent gets Hiro out . Jessica knocks Matt out a window but Matt recovers after landing on ledge . Malsky is killed , however . Matt does recover suitcase of diamonds and is about to give them to police then changes his mind when he hears in their heads what they think of him . Mohinder arrives at Taylor's house and unknowingly gets Syler who demonstrates Taylor's powers that he stole-turning metal into liquid . HRG has grounded Claire because she skipped school . Clair's adopted mom can no longer remember her life . And Jessica has a new assignment-Kill Nathan Petrelli . . . Pretty exciting though still slow-moving . Hope the New York explosion comes soon so there can be some real action . I thought Matt was a goner for a while when he was unconscious on that ledge . Still love Hiro and Ando's exchanges about heroism . Claire gets more suspicious of her adopted dad . Syler sure has fooled Mohinder . Until next time . . . |
453,832 | 11,228,318 | 14,081 | 7 | Giants vs . Yanks is an amusing " Our Gang " short that's only partly about baseball | Unlike the other " Our Gang / Little Rascals " shorts I just reviewed , I watched this one , Giants vs . Yanks , on an old Goodtimes VHS cassette called " Our Gang Comedy Festival II " from 1989 that I watched previously when I bought it from New Orleans in 1995 . The print had alternate beginning credits from another distributor that renamed the series " Those Lovable Scallawags with Their Gangs " . As the title implies there is a baseball game in the short but that ends a little too soon as the gang then goes to the home of a wealthy couple that's been taking care of Jackie's little sister . Meanwhile , a doctor there has examined the couple's own baby and , finding out she has a contagious fever , quarantines the house for a week . That's enough time for the kids to wreck havoc all over the house to the couple's long-lasting consternation . Eventually , the doctor reverses his prognosis and the angry parents arrive to take their kids home . . . While there's plenty of amusing gags like a baby carriage being pulled by a horse , kids breaking glass and vases ( with the appropriate sound effects ) , and a goat running on a treadmill that pulls the bike that turns the clothes dryer around , there's also a bit much repetition in the house wrecking sequence of the parents ' horrified reactions . Still , I was mostly amused by the shenanigans . Some scenes might make you cringe like Farina crying after being knocked down by a large pillow and the whole jackknife bit with the toddler and Sunshine Sammy but otherwise it's all in good fun . By the way , instead of the LeRoy Shield score that's standard for many of the " Little Rascals " talkies , what you hear is the stock music that is used for many other silent comedies that are in the public domain . So , in summary , Giant vs . Yanks doesn't live up to its title but is pretty funny nonetheless . P . S . Sunshine Sammy's father , Ernie Morrison , Sr . appears here . |
454,765 | 11,228,318 | 5,475 | 7 | Her Painted Hero is a pretty funny outing from Polly Moran for Mack Sennett | This is the first time I've seen a film starring Polly Moran . Boy , what expressions she has on her , sort of a Carol Burnett quality to her face and body . In a nutshell , she stands to inherit some money after her uncle dies . When some members of a theatre nearby read about this , they , formally having rejected her , now rush to ask for her hand . She , instead , pines for the leading man of the play which she offers to back if he'll make her his leading lady . He does which he might have regretted since she causes many disasters to happen during performance . . . Plenty of slapstick fights happen during the party of men all there to ask for Polly's hand but the real laughs are during the play where the props fall down and Polly herself ends up literally hanging by a curtain ! Well worth seeing for that alone . This was another pretty funny outing from Mack Sennett . |
453,964 | 11,228,318 | 22,790 | 7 | Crosby , Columbo , and Vallee was another Harmon-Ising Merrie Melodies cartoon that was pretty entertaining | Just watched this Harmon-Ising Merrie Melodies cartoon for producer Leon Schlesinger in association with Warner Bros . on YouTube . It's basically a musical one with American Indians ( or Native Americans if you want to be PC ) singing the title song as to what the public was crazy about music-wise during this period . Nice dancing movements abound and there are some amusing gags near the end concerning fire , trees , birds , and the way the fire gets put out . There are also uncanny impersonations of Crosby and Vallee . So on that note , this cartoon is worth a look . P . S . Since this was the early ' 30s , the familiar Warner Bros . cartoon characters like Porky Pig , Bugs Bunny , and Daffy Duck have yet to be created . If the animal character designs seem a little close to what the Walt Disney animation looked like at the time , that's because Hugh Harmon and Rudy Ising had originally worked for Uncle Walt in the ' 20s before leaving just as a certain mouse made Walt famous . . . |
454,797 | 11,228,318 | 31,610 | 7 | Mama's New Hat is a highly amusing Captain and the Kids cartoon | First , about the series title : " The Captain and the Kids " was the name Rudolph Dirks named his comic strip creation after leaving his original syndicate , King Features , and moved to its rival , United Features , since " The Katzenjamer Kids " name was owned by King and was still drawn there by Harold Knerr . Now on to the story . Hans and Franz have bought a new hat for Mama for Mother's Day but it gets dirtied when they fall in a mud puddle . A horse nearby laughs . The kids sees the hat on the horse and sneakily switch it with their dirty one . The horse , hating the switched hat , stomps on it and follows the kids to their home . Mama loves the hat so much she doesn't notice at first that the horse is following her and trying to get it back . . . I'll stop right there and say there's plenty of funny gags concerning Mama's ignorance , like when she inadvertently steps on an elevator door on the ground and unknowingly drops down as the horse unsuccessfully tries to grab hat , as well as the horse's attempts at chasing everybody in the house and the things he ( or she ) keeps bumping into . The ending might be a little ridiculous but it's well animated and shows not everyone gets what they want . . . |
454,683 | 11,228,318 | 148,644 | 7 | Punchy de Leon is an amusing final Fox and Crow cartoon | Nine years after their debut in The Fox and the Grapes , The Fox and Crow made their last theatrical cartoon for Columbia ( and third for UPA ) with this , Punchy de Leon . As you've probably guessed by the title , this short concerns the efforts of the leading characters to find the Fountain of Youth for the king of Spain . Some amusing animation gags abound in the two competitors ' efforts of oneupmanship of each other though the topper comes at the end which , if you've seen many of similar cartoons , you'll figure out right away . While this was indeed the final animated appearance of these now-obscure characters , The Fox and Crow would continue in comic book form for DC for at least 18 more years . By the way , though no credit of him is on this IMDb listing , that certainly sounds like Daws Butler's southern voice that he later used for Huckleberry Hound briefly coming out of the Crow's mouth when he poses as a toll guard ! |
454,907 | 11,228,318 | 42,869 | 7 | Quicksand marks a change-of-pace for Mickey Rooney | Quicksand marks Mickey Rooney's attempt to break out of his MGM-Andy Hardy-type good guy roles and with Jim Brady he's off to a good start . James Cagney's sister Jeanne plays Vera , a cashier at the diner mechanic Brady and his coworkers eat at . She and Jim hit it off right at the start as they go downtown window shopping for a $3000 fur coat Vera wants bad . They later go to an arcade owned by Nick ( Peter Lorre ) , a former employer of Vera . Another girl , Helen ( Barbara Bates ) , also pines for Jim . I'll stop right there and say how exciting it is to see Rooney get in so much trouble so quick you'd almost forget his previous roles . My favorite scene is when he tries to rob the arcade at night and hits the machine that keeps playing a carnival version of " Blue Danube " by accident ! It's only when it's revealed that he might not have killed his boss that things go a little downhill . And I can't believe Helen would still pine for Jim after he reveals everything ! Otherwise , a mostly good thriller . Oh , and nobody can play creepy like Lorre . |
453,969 | 11,228,318 | 20,983 | 7 | Hold Anything is a pretty entertaining musical Bosko cartoon short | Since the previous reviewer mentioned most of the details of Hold Anything , I'll just mention that the mice look uncannily like Walt Disney's Mickey . Perhaps not surprising since directors Hugh Harmon and Rudolf Ising had previously worked for Disney as animators when he created Oswald the Lucky Rabbit with Ub Iwerks with the rabbit looking like the Famous Mouse with long ears and a fluffy tail . Another entertaining musical short that seems inspired by the fame of the first successful sound cartoon , Steamboat Willie , that put Mickey Mouse and Walt Disney on the map of iconic status . Worth a look for anyone interested in Warner Bros . animation before Tex Avery arrived to give it a new identity . |
453,896 | 11,228,318 | 18,509 | 7 | Trolley Troubles is an interesting early Walt Disney Oswald cartoon | Just watched this early pre-Mickey Mouse Walt Disney cartoon on YouTube . It starred Oswald the Lucky Rabbit who looks like Mickey with rabbit ears . Trolley Troubles has many amazing and funny silent cartoon gags involving the trolley , the tracks , a cow , a goat , and a crowd of passengers ( all resembling Oswald ) . And there's a Felix-the-Cat-like gag involving the rabbit's tail . Quite amusing and well recommended for anyone interested in anything involving Walt Disney , silent cartoons , and movie history in general . Oswald's resemblance to Mickey is probably because the person who helped create both characters was one Ub Iwerks . I can hardly wait for the upcoming DVD collection of Disney Oswald shorts later this year as well as a Walter Lantz series that has some later Oswalds . |
454,415 | 11,228,318 | 756,559 | 7 | Mighty Mouse : The New Adventures marked Ralph Bakshi's return to his roots | Just watched on YouTube " The Day of the Mice / Still Oily After All These Years " episodes of Mighty Mouse : The New Adventures . Day of the Mice has a real Sparticus-like one standing up to the cats and taking over Mouseville to the point of Our Hero , after coming back from vacation , is no longer needed and getting fat and lazy as a result . Hilarious scenes of cats being figuratively stepped on by the mice and of Mighty's impersonation of Jimmy Stewart from It's a Wonderful Life . And watch for a giant Pee Wee Herman ! Still Oily marks the return of Oil Can Harry after 20 years in jail . He's still obsessing over Pearl Pureheart but wait till you see the twist at the end ! Also watch for a cameo by the Gene Deitch era-Gaston . This series marked the return of Ralph Bakshi to his Terrytoon roots even though that animation company had long folded . With the help of John Kricfalusi , these cartoons were even more hilarious than the originals were . Well worth seeking out for animation buffs . |
455,203 | 11,228,318 | 7,567 | 7 | Wife and Auto Trouble is another Mack Sennett short featuring a young Mae Busch | Wife and Auto Trouble is the now old hat story of a meek man , his wife and mother-in-law , his brother-in-law , and the secretary he's having an affair with . It was a nice surprise seeing Mae Busch , long before her appearances with Laurel and Hardy , playing the secretary . Dig her jumping several feet in the air when the mother-in-law and wife appear in the office ! There's also some hilarious shooting involving all the main characters there ! Then there's the chase involving the Tri-Stone Cops ( formerly Keystone Kops ) that brings everything to an exciting climax and you have the typical Mack Sennett flourish . Another highly amusing effort worth seeing for silent movie buffs . |
454,598 | 11,228,318 | 150,543 | 7 | Fido Beta Kappa is another Famous Studios cartoon written by Irv Spector that I'd recommend | This is yet another Irv Spector-written cartoon from Famous Studios that I just found-this time on Cartoon Brew as linked from YouTube . In this one , the dog is no use to the master ( he mistakenly gives said master a tree branch instead of his rifle when they're confronted by a bear ) so that master threatens to send him to the dog pound . Instead , the dog begs to go to college so he gets sent to Dog Gone U . After graduation , that dogs talks more proper and proves smarter than the master when he's tested in safe guarding , duck hunting , and lightning spotting . Well , about that last one . . . Not as hilarious as the last two Spector-Famous cartoons I reviewed but funny enough that I enjoyed it . The last gag was especially hilarious though a bit more shockingly violent than I'd expect from a ' 50s cartoon . So for that , I recommend Fido Beta Kappa . |
453,939 | 11,228,318 | 150,530 | 7 | Flebus was an interesting short from Ernie Pintoff during the Deitch era of Terrytoons | This was an animated short from the Gene Deitch ( who , like me , is a Chicago native ) era of Terrytoons that I just discovered on YouTube . The title character is a short man who does various things that make people like him . That is until he runs into a big man named Rudolph who hits him on the head when he is offered anything . After this happens for a while , Flebus goes to a psychiatrist who tells him he's neurotic when Flebus asks why this man doesn't like him . The doctor tells Rudolph the same thing when he asks why he doesn't like Flebus . When they meet again , Rudolph and Flebus becomes friends because they now have something in common ! This short is more smile than laugh inducing but it's very interesting artistically with the limited designs from director Ernie Pintoff . He couldn't finish it though so Deitch completed it and made one of the most abstractedly made shorts ever associated with the usually conventional animated studio Terrytoons . The era proved to be short-lived , however , since the real boss , executive producer Bill Weiss , wanted to go back to the old characters like Mighty Mouse and Heckle and Jeckle and soon let Gene and many of his animators go . Some wonderful cartoons were made though of which Flebus was one of them . |
454,347 | 11,228,318 | 67,314 | 7 | Kotch comes recommended for Matthau and Lemmon fans | Just watched Kotch , the only film Jack Lemmon directed with his pal Walter Matthau starring . Matthau plays Joseph Kotcher , a retired businessman who's staying with his son Gerald ( Charles Aidman ) , daughter-in-law Wilma ( Felicia Farr , who was Lemmon's real-life wife ) , and their baby son Duncan . Since both parents work and Joe isn't always responsible with his grandson ( Wilma mentions Duncan getting some beer foam and pizza from his grandpop ) , they send him to a retirement home . This happens despite the babysitter they hired , Erica ( Deborah Winters ) , being not so responsible herself since she has sex with her boyfriend in Kotcher's home with Joe as witness . Needless to say , Joe and Erica form an unlikely bond when she gets pregnant and he decides to go on the road instead of agreeing to the old folks home . I'll stop right there and say while I thought that the movie was going to be a little treacly with scenes of Matthau and the baby on the playground and the Marvin Hamlisch-Johnny Mercer song " Life is What You Make It " playing ( which amazingly got an Oscar nomination ) , it got a little better with Joe's amusing tangents throughout the picture . Erica took a little more getting used to since her tangents were initially irritating but she calmed down eventually . I was worried for her , however , when she first rode in Kotch's creaky 1940s car especially since neither wore a seat belt when they were running fast ! The funniest scene to me was when they stopped at a gas station and , as they were going to the ladies ' restroom , the sign near the door said , " Ask Attendent for Key " ! This happens as Erica's water broke and the attendants were very fixated on their motorcycle . Also appearing here are Larry Linville in his film debut as Erica's brother and guardian who provides some amusing moments a year before becoming Frank Burns on " MASH " , and Ellen Geer , actor Will Geer's daughter , who plays Joe's late wife Vera in flashbacks in touching scenes . She was also Lemmon's ex-wife Frances on The Odd Couple II , and recently played Katherine Mayfair's aunt on " Desparate Housewives " . Not a great dramedy , but Lemmon the director provides some nice touches that makes one keep watching for the little moments that Matthau provides in a role that got him a second Oscar nomination . Worth a look for fans of both . |
453,812 | 11,228,318 | 27,390 | 7 | Bottles is a little amusingly atmospheric musical cartoon short | At a little over ten minutes , Harmon and Ising's Bottles is one of the longest one-reel cartoon shorts I've seen from the ' 30s . It's basically about a druggist who's up overnight mixing a potion for a poison bottle . As he falls asleep on the counter , the bottle comes to life and pours some of its liquid on the druggist's neck as he shrinks to a small size and wakes up . It's here that things get surreal with various medicine and alcohol bottles that come to life and sing and dance with the druggist joining in . Prominent among them are three baby bottles with diapers singing about doing nothing but crying because " no one will change our di-di " . Quite amusing and a little bit atmospheric . Worth seeing for anyone curious about MGM cartoons before Tex Avery and Tom and Jerry came aboard . |
454,132 | 11,228,318 | 883,000 | 7 | Jack the Writer is another funny episode of 30 Rock | As Liz tries to rally her staff on material , the receptionist keeps distracting the mostly male members with her clothing and various positions so Liz tries to get her to do something else but her staff keeps looking at her so Liz tells her to leave before one of her staff tells Liz that her last suggestion sucked . Boss Jack manages to get himself invited to these meetings to the consternation of Liz and the rest of her staff . Meanwhile , Tracy gets the page Kenneth to do various chores for him such as getting a nacho from Yankee Stadium . After Liz gets Jack off her staffs ' back , Jack doesn't speak to her for awhile . They make up when Jack gets tickets for a music act Liz enjoys but goes back to boss-employee after Liz asks to eat pizza on the roof in front of Jack's superiors . . . Another funny episode with highlights being Liz's talk with receptionist on her clothing and receptionist's dress gift to Liz which gets laughs from her crew . Funniest episodes yet . |
454,098 | 11,228,318 | 883,001 | 7 | 30 Rock : The Aftermath is still uneven though a bit funnier | While a bit funnier than the pilot , " The Aftermath " is still uneven in spots . Liz Lemon introduces Tracy Jordan to her writing staff . We find out that The Girlie Show is now called TGS with Tracy Jordan . Tracy shoots some promos with Jenna Maloney where he keeps getting her name wrong . Liz and Jenna accidentally keep their mics on when they talk trash about Tracy . When Liz talks to Tracy and does the same about her staff she is seen on television monitors . Tracy then offers to get everyone together on his yacht . As Liz tries to find the bathroom , she finds from a maid hiding in the closet that the yacht is stolen so she tells everybody to jump ship . The next day , Jack Donaghy congratulates Lemon on the staff unity and manages to keep Jordan's yacht scandal out of the papers . . . except for a drunk pose on the front page of one of Jenna ! Liz is insulted when Donaghy thinks Maloney will like it , then Maloney comes and tells how excited she is about the free publicity as Liz puts a deadpan look on her face . What is a bit uneven is the Maloney character wanting respect one minute and then glad of being on the tabloid cover next . Also , Rachel Dratch was originally supposed to play the role now taken over by Jane Krakowski . To still get some airtime , Fey has her Second City partner doing various roles in each episode but they are cameos that short-shrift Dratch's talents . The food being thrown at Liz by her staff after she insulted them on the monitors is also a bit much . However , both Alec Baldwin and Tracy Morgan are doing fine in their roles and hopefully we'll see more of the writing staff and producer as the series moves on . I just hope NBC gives the series a chance after the show's less-than-spectacular ratings of the first two weeks ! |
453,968 | 11,228,318 | 20,784 | 7 | Congo Jazz is another pretty entertaining Bosko cartoon short | In Congo Jazz , Bosko is a hunter who is chased by a tiger . He shoots but the bullet comes out with a whimper instead of a bang . Eventually , Bosko pulls a flute out and serenades the tiger to the edge of a cliff before kicking him off . He then encounters a couple of young apes . One of them gets in trouble with Bosko so he opens the baby's butt-fur and attempts to spank him ( this was obviously pre-Code ) . The father arrives . Feeling threatened , Bosko offers some gum . The father ape obliges . They then make beautiful music together when both play with their tongues . All the jungle animals join in . It all ends with two laughing hyenas laughing at Bosko's expense though Bosko himself does too . . . Another musical Bosko that has its own charm despite no real plot to speak of , just gags connected by music and setting . Pretty entertaining though a far cry from later Looney Tunes that became classics after Tex Avery and other " new blood " arrived in 1936 . . . |
454,278 | 11,228,318 | 31,709 | 7 | Nancy Drew . . . Reporter is a breezy second entry in movie series | Before Veronica Mars , there was Nancy Drew , the teenage amateur detective with an attorney father created in a series of juvenile novels by " Carolyn Keene " ( not a real name ) . Nancy Drew . . . Reporter was the second of four films that starred Bonita Granville as the title character for Warner Bros . Directed at a fast pace with crackling dialogue and humorous and suspenseful moments throughout , this movie is a breeze at just 68 minutes . Wonderful supporting cast includes John Litel as Nancy's father , Frankie Thomas as Nancy's boyfriend Ted , and Mary Lee and Dickie Jones as Ted's sister and her friend who cause trouble wherever they go . The last two had a future association with Gene Autry with Lee appearing in some of his ' 40s movies and Dickie ( later Dick ) also appearing with him then starring in later TV series " Range Rider " and " Buffalo Bill , Jr . " for Autry's production company . Though it stops the story , there is a wonderful swinging version of Nursery Rhymes as sung by Granville , Thomas , Lee , and Jones . Dickie would also be famous as the title character voice of Walt Disney's Pinocchio . Well worth seeing for fans of Drew and ' 30s programmers . P . S . Joan Leslie and Florence Halop appear as classmates of Nancy in the newsroom field trip sequence . |
454,129 | 11,228,318 | 902,135 | 7 | Hugh Laurie and Beck on Saturday Night Live | Since this episode aired on October 28 , 2006 , expect some jokes or sketches about both Halloween and the upcoming congressional elections . Lorne Michaels , the executive producer , appears in the cold opening mentioning the recent network cuts as he gives five minutes of his program to a foreign correspondent . It's Borat , played by Sacha Baron Cohen , a Kazakistan reporter . He basically speaks in broken English constantly repeating " Swing ! " from Wayne's World while shaking himself . After a lot of tasteless , but funny , material Borat says , " Live from New York , home of the Jew ( grimaces ) , it's Saturday Night ! " After opening credits , Hugh Laurie comes on stage speaking in his natural British accent and talks about English humor ( " which is spelled with a ' u ' where I'm from " ) . He also points out England is " where my right nipple is , if I had one " after given a map of the United States . First sketch is a parody of a paranormal show in which Bill Hader , Fred Arminsen , and Amy Poelher try to identify what Hugh's fart is saying . Hilarious ! In a Fox World Series sketch , Maya Rudolph is the winner of the National Anthem contest so she begins the game with a shrill rendition mixed with some lyric's to " Take Me Out to the Ball Game " . On TV Funhouse , we are shown an actual Republican public service ad showing Osama bin laden's photo with a quote of " kill all Americans " emphasized . The cartoon Bush then shows a couple of spoofs : The first one has a cut-off of Ted Kennedy saying " We'll cut and run " before Frenching Osama with Barak Obama in Count von Count makeup with a " Count Obama " T-shirt saying , " One abortion bill , two abortion bill " . The second has a pregnant woman opening the door for trick-or-treaters with Hilary Clinton coming out of her womb and then licking pregnant woman's face ! That one scares W . as he asks Cheney how much longer . " Two years " is the answer as credits roll . It should come as no surprise that Al Franken was one of the writers of this cartoon . On Hardball , Chris Mathews ( Darrell Hammond ) talks to Republican Ken Mehlman ( Andy Samberg ) about one of the congressman being a TCBY strangler . Mehlman says he's already been replaced by John Wayne Gacy , Jr . ( Photo shows him looking exactly like his father ) . Democrat chairman Howard Dean ( Jason Sudakis ) mentions his party will raise taxes for everyone including " the very , very , poor " and " we're bad on defense " though the poll shows the public disagreeing . He then challenges Mehlman to a fight as sketch ends . Laurie is once again standing on home base as he sings a protest folk song while muffling what he's protesting about . In a hotel sketch , Laurie is representing the queen and telling coordinator Kristen Wiig what the queen expects when she comes like " wanting to have mini tables and chairs so she can feel superior " not to mention wanting " mini-guards to run from the queen " . Needless to say , Hugh won't show up when she arrives . Beck sing his first set , " Nausea " with small marionettes of his band to the right of them . On Weekend Update , Amy begins by saying President Bush will change from saying " Stay the Course " to " Think Outside the Bun " . Seth Myers mentions New Jersey's favorable ruling of gay civil unions leading to Armisen and Hader portraying an Italian gay couple who say " oh ! " a lot . Commenting on the upcoming elections is Congressman Tim Calhoun ( Will Forte ) . Among his beliefs : " I've always loved pages . . . I'm a voracious reader . . . of child pornography . . . studies . " " I did not approve this message . " In a hospital sketch , Kenan Thompson has a broken leg but doesn't trust Dr . Forte's diagnosis . Neither does his " wife " Laurie who is in blond wig and a dress . It ends , after Kenan falls down trying to leave , with Laurie telling us to trust your physician even though they don't do like the TV doctors ( Hugh seems to imply on a particular doc he plays on Fox . . . ) . On the Late Late Movie ( announcer asks , " Are those still around ? " ) , English villagers are looking for Dr . Frankenstein . The Monster ( Bill Hader ) says that he's not here and directs them to the other side where Dracula ( Jason Sudakis ) tells them to go back . Monster again tells them they're in the wrong castle and then accuses them of racism ( because of his green skin ) . Then his arm falls off as the The Late Late Movie ends ( with announcer saying , " Seriously , I thought these things ended 10 years ago . " ) . Next Beck performs , " Clap Hands " with him playing guitar and harmonica while the other members bang utensils on plates at a table they're sitting at with a turkey displayed and marionettes again performing at their side . Finally , Laurie and Armisen are partners at a law firm interviewing Poehler for a job and complimenting her achievements with " oooouuuu " . When Amy gets hired , she does some " oooouuuu " herself before getting fired because it's interpreted as sarcastic by the partners . After that are the goodnights . . . Most of the highlights I've mentioned are from the first 30 minutes . The show loses a little steam after Weekend Update but it's consistently amusing throughout . Beck's performances were certainly some of the most unusual I've seen in the history of SNL . Hugh certainly holds his own throughout . So overall , a good show . Next time , Alec Baldwin and Christina Agulera . |
454,613 | 11,228,318 | 1,245,067 | 7 | Automatic for the People was just okay compared to the last episode of " Terminator : The Sarah Connor Chronicles " | While I agree this episode was a setback from the previous season premiere , Automatic for the People was still a pretty enjoyable episode of " Terminator : The Sarah Connor Chronicles " . The most enjoyable scene for me was when Cameron in that hot outfit at the pool table was asking Bob if it was still her turn after sinking nearly every ball her first time out ! It was also a nice surprise seeing a pregnant Busy Phillips as the woman selling Sarah the house at the beginning . She's been a favorite actress of mine since I first watched her in " Freaks and Geeks " . And thanks to someone at tvguide . com for identifying that concerned guy at the nuclear plant as the one who played Ryan Chapelle on " 24 " . When Derek Resse later discovered him hung in his house and we saw his cyborg replacement , those provided some very exciting fight scenes with Cameron and Sarah . The only concern I have is with John letting Riley into the new house so soon after meeting her so it was reassuring when Cameron sees no danger from her yet . Overall , a pretty good episode so until next time . . . |
454,579 | 11,228,318 | 896,490 | 7 | The Velocity of Sara is an exciting , if unsatisfying , final episode of Vanished | As we begin this final episode , Sara is driving in a stolen car at night being chased by her captors in a helicopter . When they land , they search the now empty car and find Sara gone . Unbeknowst to them , Sara is hiding in front of a big tree that none of them are aware is nearby . As daybreak comes , Sara has slept in front of a house in Warm Springs as she gets awakened by a little girl who lives there . It is about this time that Lucas and Lin Mei find the stolen car with bloodstains on it . They manage to find the guy who drove it and while Lin Mei leaves , Lucas threatens to do him bodily harm if he doesn't tell the truth . He does . Lucas has also met with Jeffery Collins ' father and confronted him about his silhouette in young Sara's torture scene . He mentions visiting there a couple of times then leaves in a huff . Peter Manning the fisherman gives proof he's the father of Sara's child to Judy Nash . Nash goes to her boss to try to get her exclusive on the air . No dice unless Sara is proved to be the mother . Lucas and Lin Mei come to the Collins house to tell Jeffery and ex-wife Jessica that Sara called the night before . Jessica says she didn't know but the ex-husband doesn't believe her . The children , Max and Marcy , try to figure out how to get to Ben when Max calls about Ben's credit card charges pretending to be him . He finds out the last five were for a cab in Washington , D . C . Ben is there to get a gun . He joins a club to get it quickly . He finds Rainer , follows him , and when Rainer turns around in his home , shoots him . It's around this time that we find out that Lucas and Lin Mei's boss has contact with Sara's kidnappers . Seems he's in cahoots with them and , later on , with Jeffrey's father and Judy's boss in that secret organization we keep seeing . Back at the house that Sara stays , she finds out the kindly mother who let her stay is calling her husband about the reward offered by the senator . Sara then steals the keys and escapes in a stolen car but not before the daughter calls to her parents . Lucas and Lin Mei then arrive for questioning after which they arrive at a bus station and find out Sara has bought a one-way ticket to Massachusettes . Peter at this point had given up on finding Sara or his daughter but at night on his boat Nicky , there Sara is explaining who she really is but Peter doesn't really care as they embrace . . . Okay , so Sara knows she once was Nicky and had abandoned Peter . When Sara was brainwashed at 19 , what was Jeffery's father interest in doing so ? What did he have against Jeffery's relationship with her ? And what deal has he struck with the FBI man and Judy's boss concerning Sara and their secret organization ? I'm afraid these questions will never be answered nor will we find out what will happen when Sara is exposed with Peter . Overall , a pretty good final episode that , nevertheless , was obviously not supposed to be . Kudos to the entire cast though I wish Gale Harold had been allowed to stay on especially after Eddie Cibrian had ripped into his boss almost the same way Harold would have done . Oh , well . With Vanished now completed , that's one less of many shows , new or otherwise , I have to worry about catching up on though there's 24 coming in a few weeks . . . Update / 07-What I just reviewed was actually Episode 13 , Warm Springs . |
455,010 | 11,228,318 | 873,358 | 7 | Saturday Night Live starts 32nd season with Dane Cook and the Killers | On the September 30 , 2006 cold opening , we are at a South Carolina town hall where the state comptroller ( Jason Sudeikis ) is speaking . All of his supporters , including President George W . Bush ( Will Forte ) , are there . Bush annoys some people with his constant speaking during the speech . Sudeikis ends up saying , " Live from New York , It's Saturday Night . " New montage is revealed for the 32nd season opener with Sudeikis , Bill Hader , and Kristen Wiig no longer featured players . In fact , there are no featured players this season . Dane Cook then does a 10-minute monologue about how some friends committed suicide , and some YouTube videos . First sketch is about Federal Aviation's meeting about what constitutes liquid ( no , not turkey sandwiches ) . Next , Hugo Chavez ( Fred Armisen ) has a McLaughlin Group-style discussion with other foreign leaders about the evils of America and Bush . In " Al Pacino Balances His Check " , Pacino ( Hader ) calls someone at Wells Fargo ( Wiig ) to transfer some of his savings to checking . Musical guest The Killers perform their first song , " When You Were Young . " We then see Amy at the Update desk being greeted by Brian Williams ( yes , the real one ) , who is expected to be the new co-anchor . Actually , it's Seth Myers . Williams leaves disappointed . After commercial break , Don Pardo , for the first time since Norm McDonald , introduces the new Weekend Update team . Amy begins by mentioning that two foreign leaders refuse to shake hands at the White House which is made more awkward when Osama bin laden shows up . Senator George Allen ( Sudeikis ) apologizes for saying the word " macaca " , Dustin " Screech " Diamond ( Andy Samberg ) tries to plug his sex video , and Myers ends with an item about a robber trying to steal a Tickle Me , Elmo doll getting subdued by a Give Me a Reason , Bert one with a picture of Bert with a switchblade behind Seth . Update simply ends with Amy and Seth saying good night and shaking hands . Next sketch has Cook and Forte as water delivery men who get caught hiding empty bottles from boss Wiig ( amusing scene of bottle after bottle falling in closet lasts about two minutes ) that ends with them getting fired and Forte mentioning a friend from SNL who will submit the sketch we just saw and also mentioning having another friend from Studio 60 while Cook mentions knowing someone from 30 Rock ( though the show in that one is actually titled , " The Girlie Show " ) . The Killers perform their second song , " Bones " then , after another commercial break , Amy appears as a spaced out Farrah Fawcett plugging a save the ocean life PSA before leaving set to appear in a closing time sketch . This sketch has Cook and Sudeikis forcing customers to leave bar by any means necessary . Finally , a Geico commercial parody with Samberg as a college student and Maya Rudolph as Whitney Houston mentioning her past drug problems . Mostly amusing show with the highlights being Hugh Chavez , Federal Avation meeting , and another Update piece with Bill Clinton ( Darrell Hammond ) and Condi Rice ( Rudolph ) as well as Pacino , some of the water bottle sketch , and a digital short called Cubicle Fighting . This was Cook's second show and he did fine throughout . The next episode will have Jamie Pressley with musical guest Corinne Bailey Rae . |
454,641 | 11,228,318 | 148,512 | 7 | Mysto-Fox is a rare Fox and Crow cartoon from Columbia that seems to exist in only black-and-white | Just watched a black-and-white version of this originally Technicolor Columbia / Fox and Crow cartoon on ThadBlog as linked from Daily Motion . In this one , Mysto-Fox puts out a sign in front of the carnival for a rabbit audition . Guess who applies . Seeing the Crow put on rabbit ears and tail and barely fooling the Fox with his disguise is pretty amusing as are some other stuff the Crow pulls on the Fox . But the Fox himself isn't so naive as evidenced by the short's ending . Mysto-Fox was pretty entertaining and hearing the Fox almost use Bugs Bunny's familiar trademark line made me think how Mel Blanc was the original voices of these characters before he signed an exclusive contract with Warner Bros . So with that said , Mysto-Fox is recommend to anyone who's curious about these rare Columbia cartoons . |
454,529 | 11,228,318 | 71,583 | 7 | The Groove Tube is still entertaining despite some dated ' 70s moments | Just finished watching The Groove Tube which I first saw about 23 years ago when I was a teenager staying up way past my bedtime watching HBO with my brother and his best friend . We had also watched Animal House just before that so we saw two movies that starred an SNL alumna and had some naked breasts . Good thing our parents were asleep the whole time ! Anyway , there were lots of weird and funny things in this movie that were eye-openers like the Brown 25 sequence of the Uranus Industries commercial ( " with the taste of beef stew " says the announcer as what is apparently human excrement comes out of a white tube . Ewww ! ) or the face of the puppet talking about VD ( a scrotum with a small penis with eyes glued on ) . Chevy Chase and Richard Belzer made their feature film debuts here . Chase is hilarious whether doing a Geritan spot with a woman stripping , having his hands have sex in a " Let Fingers Do It " commercial , or singing " Four Leaf Clover " with co-writer / director Ken Shapiro drumming his hands on his head . Belzer teams with Shapiro in " The Dealers " movie , and on " Channel One Evening News " with one wild bit having Belzer as a black prostitute trying tricks on reporter Ken who plays Lionel here . " Lionel , that sounds like a train that I'm going to ride like a Choo-Choo ! " Other outrageous bits include " The Koko Show " with Shipiro as a kid clown show host who , after ordering the " people over ten " to leave the room , reads requests of his viewers like passages of " Fanny Hill " ! Or how about the Olympics segment with a German couple making love being announced by two men ( one of them Spanish ) as they get explicit while " Please Stand By " keeps interrupting on the screen ! Or the animated segment on " The Dealers " which depicts dancing toilets after Shapiro ingested some marijuana ! Not everything's so dirty . Besides the " Four Leaf Clover " skit , at the end there's a highly amusing music segment with Ken lip-syncing his own recording of " Just You , Just Me " while dancing with suit and briefcase around the city with occasionally a cop ( co-writer Lane Sarasohn ) joining in . So , in summation this is one weirdly , funny movie that seemed to influence other like films ( Tunnelvision , Kentucky Fried Movie ) and possibly Saturday Night Live ( which made Chevy that show's first star ) and , despite some dated elements , can still amuse today . P . S . While I liked hearing Curtis Mayfield's " Move On Up " during the gorillas dancing / hitchhiking beginning sequence , I did wonder what the point was with the sequence of the hitchhiker and the woman who picked him up , having them running from the car , stripping on the run , and then having the naked man get caught by the cop who stopped on the road . Guess it's one of those ' 70s streaking things . . . |
454,175 | 11,228,318 | 29,448 | 7 | Pudgy Takes a Bow Wow is amusing late Betty Boop entry | This is one of the post-code Betty Boops in which she can no longer sing songs that hint at sexuality or show any skin ( usually the leg ) . Also , instead of Bimbo and Koko , Betty hangs with a little pup named Pudgy . In this one , Betty sings about being a Chinaman and an Italian organ grinder , both of which are depicted stereotypically . Pudgy is backstage resting until a stray cat comes that chases Pudgy or vice versa . When they end up on stage with Betty , they try to be more civil but once the curtain closes down , watch out ! Despite the stereotypes , a pretty amusing cartoon especially when Pudgy and the cat are around . Well worth seeing for Fleischer fans . |
454,360 | 11,228,318 | 1,055,792 | 7 | Heavy Metal is another pretty compelling episode of " Terminator : The Sarah Connor Chronicles " | After a month of writing reviews of movies and / or TV shows relating to Black History Month , this is my first attempt to go back to the current TV season starting with the fourth episode of " Terminator : The Sarah Connor Chronicles " . In this one , John goes off on his own in finding out about these future cyborgs with Sarah and Cameron following close behind . And the FBI agent and his partner come closer in finding out about their own case involving these killers . . . It took a while but I'm starting to understand what's going on as the series continues finding its own path . Plenty of suspense and some witty lines abound ( loved Sarah's " Please shut up . " after Cameron thanks her for one of Sarah's sarcastic observations ) . There's also some cool action from Sarah as she knocks the hell out of one guy and John seems calm here except at the end when his hand is shaking . Probably could have used some more action but next week's preview looks promising . So until next time . . . |
454,822 | 11,228,318 | 1,091,289 | 7 | Second episode of " The Big Bang Theory " is another funny one worth watching | In a nutshell , Sheldon and Leonard are moving a heavy box into Penny's apartment which they discover is a mess . Sheldon , being a narcissistic clean freak attempts to clean it up but stops when Penny arrives . He later comes back while Penny is asleep with Leonard reluctantly helping . When she finds out , Penny bans them from her place . After talking with the quiet one of their friends , she changes her mind . . . This was another pretty funny episode of " The Big Bang Theory " that had a hilarious exchange in the beginning between Sheldon and Leonard when , after inviting Penny for a Superman marathon in their apartment , they debate how Superman could or could not logically rescue Lois Lane from a helicopter fall in mid-air . Loved also the physical comedy involving them moving the heavy box up the stairs to Penny's apartment . Well worth viewing between " How I Met Your Mother " and " Two and a Half Men " . Hope CBS keeps this one on the air for awhile ! |
454,682 | 11,228,318 | 1,091,291 | 7 | Fourth episode of " The Big Bang Theory " is very amusing thanks to guest star Laurie Metcalf | After Sheldon insults his new boss at his party at the university and gets fired , he spends time at home doing " experiments " on scrambled eggs and flabbergasts Penny when he goes grocery shopping with her . So Leonard brings Sheldon's mom ( Laurie Metcalf , another former co-star of Galecki's from " Rosanne " ) to talk some sense into her son . As Sheldon gets his job back , his new boss and his mom start to get acquainted . . . With this episode , we find out Sheldon's background as the son of a southern religious mother with father long departed . Some very good lines from guest star Metcalf whom I guess we'll see even more in the coming weeks . Not too hilarious but a very amusing episode of " The Big Band Theory " overall . |
454,211 | 11,228,318 | 1,091,290 | 7 | Third episode is another charming one for " The Big Bang Theory " | After playing some computer games with his friends , Leonard overhears his crush , Penny , giggling outside . Turns out she's kissing a guy which Leonard finds out about when he brings her mail which he stole earlier . Since Penny's with someone , Leonard tries to make a move on a female lab partner named Leslie ( Sara Gilbert , a former co-star of Johnny Galecki's on " Roseanne " ) . Nothing there , so now Leonard tells Sheldon his feelings of Penny rejecting him . Sheldon points out that Leonard never asked Penny for a date . So Leonard asks Penny , after she reveals she dumped her guy , for dinner which Penny thinks is with his friends . Although the dinner is awkward , they do make small talk and all seems to go well until Leonard hits his head under the table and asks Penny if that's ketchup she sees on the floor . Back home , Penny says goodbye unaware she and Leonard had their first date while Leonard tells his friends how " great " it was . . . Plenty of pretty funny lines especially Sheldon's . Amusing brief appearance by Ms . Gilbert . A short interlude in an older singles dance class is a highlight . Hope " The Big Band Theory " did better ratings-wise this week . Will post again next week . . . |
454,076 | 11,228,318 | 67,229 | 7 | I Drink Your Blood is one enjoyably shocking and weird horror movie from the early ' 70s | A day or so after watching the first half of Torgo's Drive-In ( Guru , the Mad Monk ) on Google Video , I finally watched the second half-Jerry Gross ' production of David Durston's I Drink Your Blood . With Satan-worshiping hippies being fed rabies in meat pies by a boy getting revenge on their attacking his grandpa and teenage sister , what's not to like ? And the fact that one of the females contaminates some construction workers after they all have sex with her makes even more cheesy fun when we see them all run like the craziest bunch of loonies around ! Actually , the story is quite involving and I did care for the victims and was on the edge of my seat during the climatic battle as they fight for their lives . And , my , how shocking many of the killings were with the live chicken's neck being cut the first of many real spine-tinglers ( Doesn't make me stop eating them however ! ) And all this between stilted dialogue and way weird Moog synthesizer music makes this one of the most wonderfully bizarre horror films from ' 70s I've seen yet . That black guy's saying in a stereotypical gay voice about rounding up his people all in a row especially made me giggle . What can I say except see this movie if you're in the mood for one of these nasties . P . S . Like the previous feature on Torgo's Drive-In , this one had out-of-sync dialogue that almost marred the whole experience . It also had film ads for the concession . The trailers attached were for Blood Orgy of the She Devils , The Love Cult , and Girl in Gold Boots . |
454,663 | 11,228,318 | 27,273 | 7 | Thelma Todd shines in last short performance | This is the last short Thelma Todd did with Patsy Kelly before her death from mysterious circumstances . All-American Toothache concerns an upcoming college football game that will be lost unless quarterback ( and former Our Ganger ) Mickey Daniels passes his dentistry exam which hinges on his getting a wisdom tooth . Todd and Kelly are waitresses who work in a nearby diner that many of Daniels ' teammates go to . When they mention to Todd their troubles concerning Mickey , Todd manages to convince Kelly ( without telling her why ) to have her wisdom tooth pulled . As they sit in the waiting room , they hear drills so loud that Patsy almost leaves before coming to where the drills were from and finding out that they were overhearing two men trying to fix a sink ! The actual dentist , Mickey's teacher , is puzzled when Thelma tells him they want his student , not him . This results in a mix-up between Mickey's teammates and his fellow dental students . Very amusing banter between Thelma and Patsy and hilarious performance from Mickey Daniels ( especially when you hear his donkey laugh ! ) . It almost loses steam in the end but there's one more twist at the end that I won't reveal here . Good direction from usual Our Gang helmer Gus Meins . If you're a Hal Roach completist , by all means seek this one out ! |
454,465 | 11,228,318 | 135,652 | 7 | Siren of the Tropics marks Josephine Baker's starring feature debut | If you watch Siren of the Tropics with the mindset of the 21st century , try not to pay too much attention to the melodramatic plot about a tycoon trying to keep his daughter from marrying someone he doesn't think worthy of her . This seems to be an excuse to send the daughter's suitor to a faraway jungle to search for jewelry in order to prove the daughter's worth . It is here that we meet Papitou , Josephine Baker's character , who falls for the suitor after saving his life . Papitou follows the suitor back to France and is spotted by some theatrical agents dancing with orphan children . They decide to form a show with her but she won't perform unless she is promised to see the suitor . They call the suitor's potential father-in-law to arrange a meeting . Since the potential father-in-law knows what would happen if his daughter sees Papitou embrace her husband-to-be , he agrees . If you've seen some dramas involving mixed races made before the 1970s , you may be surprised by what happens here . The main reason to see this is to marvel at Ms . Baker's Charleston dance at the end . If you're interested in seeing early African-American film performances , especially Josephine Baker's , this one is definitely worth seeking out ! |
455,094 | 11,228,318 | 135,169 | 7 | Boy ! What a Girl ! should prove a fascinating find for fans of Tim " Kingfish " Moore | While Boy ! What a Girl ! is a silly race musical comedy from the late ' 40s , there's at least one noteworthy thing about it : It stars Tim Moore years before he became well known as George " Kingfish " Stevens on TV's " Amos ' n ' Andy " . This is his only film role playing a character since he had been a specialty act previously in maybe one or two movies . He's quite funny here in drag pretending to be Mme . Deborah Martin ( really Sybil Lewis ) in order to secure backing for a show whose co-backer , a Mr . Cummings ( Alan Jackson ) , falls for the pretend Deborah . Also falling for him , er , her is landlord Donaldson ( Warren Patterson ) . All three are a hoot to watch here . Mr . Jackson's daughters , Francine ( Sheila Guyse ) and Cristola ( Betti Mays ) , are in love with the would-be producers , Jim Walton ( Elwood Smith ) and Harry Diggs ( Duke Williams ) and would only be allowed to marry them if the pretend Deborah approves . The real Deborah is watching the whole thing as well as several musical acts hoping to be incognito for a while . That's all I'll mention except that both the comedy and music segments keep the movie running at a breezy hour and 9 minutes . Among the entertaining song spots : Ms . Mays performing " Crazy riffin ' " , Slam Stewart singing with his trio " Oh Me , Oh My , Oh Gosh " ( Slam's most famous composition is " Flat Foot Floogie " which was recently played in The English Patient ) , Deek Watson-who I previously watched in Abbott and Costello's Pardon My Sarong when he was one of The Ink Spots-doing " Just You Change Your Mind " and " Baby , You're the Cutest One " ( His most famous composition is " ( I Love You ) For Sentimental Reasons " ) , and drummer Sidney Catlett doing his thing before Gene Krupa-the only white cast member here-replaces him briefly . Anyone interested in a rare comedy find from the race movie era , Boy ! What a Girl ! is one worth looking for . P . S . In continuing to point out people associated with my birth state of Illinois , Mr . Moore was born in Rock Island , Mr . Catlett died in Chicago in 1951 , and Mr . Krupa was born there in 1909 . |
454,679 | 11,228,318 | 1,035,919 | 7 | Chuck Versus the Wookie is another pretty good episode of " Chuck " | Some steam was picked up with this episode because of the presence of rouge spy Corrina ( Mini Alden ) . An occasional partner to Sarah and , apparently , lover to Casey , she shakes things up by agreeing to " double date " with Morgan , Chuck and Sarah by watching a movie on TV while planning a heist of a stolen diamond . Chuck , displeased to learn that Sarah was another girl that loved his late ex-roommate from college Brice , decides to trust Corrina this time around . Big mistake . I'll stop there and mention how I loved the fights between Corrina and Sarah . I also loved seeing how weak Casey is whenever Corrina strips for some lovemaking especially when he's tied up in bed ! And Morgan is less irritating here as he first finds himself in love with the bad agent then tries to recover when she drops him . And the way she comes on to Chuck ! You know what he'd like to do to her if there wasn't Sarah around ! Sarah herself gets some points for revealing her middle name to us if not to Chuck : Lisa . Like last week's episode , the dialogue between characters was more interesting than the actual plot but that's enough for now . Will be back here next week . . . |
454,210 | 11,228,318 | 1,035,918 | 7 | Third episode of " Chuck " has the title character on his first assignment | In this , the third episode of " Chuck " , the title character is sent on his first spy mission : go to a cocktail party with Sarah to find a killer of someone who deals in paintings . He's also up for a promotion for assistant manager at Buy More . Agent John Casey , who works with Chuck at Buy More , asks if he knows how to tango . Chuck takes lessons from his sister Ellie's boyfriend , " Captain Awesome " . He later finds out he got taught the girl's side . Chuck's Buy More co-worker and friend Morgan offers to help with the Nerd Herd in working with some computers left over from Chuck's rival for promotion , Tang . Unfortunately , he gets locked from inside and is stuck since Chuck , who's at his assignment at this point , has the key . Chuck dances with a woman at the party who turns out to be an assassin . Things start to get hairy for Chuck but Sarah and John are on the way . . . I don't think I completely got the plot but I enjoyed many of the fight scenes that John and Sarah got into . And when those goons went in Buy More looking for Chuck , I loved the way John beat one of them with a microwave just as he was going to shoot Chuck and the way John beat the other one into refrigerators before putting him into a large ice box ! Also loved the exchanges between Sarah and Chuck as to what he'd do if they were on an actual date . The actor playing Morgan may need to dial it down a bit but otherwise this was a good episode . |
453,823 | 11,228,318 | 40,422 | 7 | Haredevil Hare was our introduction to Marvin the Martian | While Bugs is initially reluctant to go on a rocket to the moon , the carrots that are dropped inside makes him change his mind . After he lands there , a Martian ship also stops there . A funny-looking little man in a Roman soldier outfit comes out and speaks in a funny voice ( though it's different than the eventual voice we know him from ) . This guy , who we eventually know as Marvin the Martian , nonchalantly tells Bugs , after he asks what he's doing with his space modulator , that he plans to blow up the earth . It takes awhile before the rabbit stops him so Marvin then sends his dog after him . Bugs outsmarts the dog by changing one word in their exchange that makes the dog give his explosive back to Bugs . There's a chase and . . . Oh , just watch the short . Nice introduction of a space series that also incorporated Daffy Duck and Porky Pig in another Marvin the Martian cartoon called Duck Dodgers . . . Highly amusing throughout . |
454,702 | 11,228,318 | 106,449 | 7 | Body Bags is scarily atmospheric for John Carpenter and Tobe Hooper fans | Body Bags was John Carpenter's attempt to produce an anthology series for Showtime . This movie is all we have of what it would be like with the director appearing as a morgue attendant who drinks formaldehyde as he hosts the three stories . Amusing lines abound throughout . The first segment titled " The Gas Station " has a young woman ( Alex Datcher ) on her first night as the titled attendant all alone . First there's Pete ( David Naughton ) getting some gas and flirting with her . Then a stranger asks for bathroom keys . When he doesn't return the lady investigates . . . Watch for cameos by horror directors Sam Raimi and Wes Craven . Robert Carradine also appears . Carpenter's direction makes this a pretty good atmospheric start . Second segment called " Hair " has Stacy Keach wanting badly to keep from going bald . David Warner on TV provides the solution . Soon , Keach and his girlfriend , Sheena Easton , can't stop making love . But soon after his barber cuts some of the new hair , they start to move . . . Hilarious and creepy at the same time , this one is so wonderfully weird that I'd rather you be surprised at this one . Carpenter hits the bulls-eye with this segment . Look for Deborah Harry as a nurse and Kim Alexis as a beautiful blonde who Keach notices in slow motion . Final segment " Eye " has Mark Hamill as a baseball player who's scoring is off the charts . Then he gets in a car accident that causes him to lose one eye . Doctors Roger Corman and John Agar give him a new one but then Hamill starts acting strangely which makes his wife ( Twiggy ) very worried . . . Tobe Hooper really gives the chills with this one as he haunts with various images that really give Mark Hamill something to work with . The end is especially frightening with the closeup of a bible passage spread with blood after Hamill stabs his " criminal " eye . So , in summation , see Body Bags if you're a big horror fan of all of the above directors I've just mentioned and I hope you don't end up in John Carpenter's morgue . . |
454,646 | 11,228,318 | 1,035,912 | 7 | Pilot episode of Chuck should provide enough excitement for another NBC hit | Just saw the pilot for the new hour-long spy series " Chuck " . It has a pretty amusing premise : The title character played by Zachary Levi lives with his sister and her boyfriend . This sister ( Sarah Lancaster who I remember from " Everwood " as Madison ) tries to get her brother to date again after a long-ago breakup he hadn't gotten over . Also hanging around is best friend and fellow worker in the Nerd Herd of Buy More , Morgan ( Joshua Gomez ) . Then one day , Chuck gets an e-mail from his old college roommate Brice Larkin ( Matthew Bomer ) who's not an accountant as Chuck thought but a spy who gets killed before sending his message . Suddenly , Chuck has images in his mind . And a woman named Sarah ( Yvonne Strzechowski ) and a man named John ( Adam Baldwin ) start appearing in Chuck's store . . . This was a pretty fast-paced and humorous start for what I'm sure will be a clever and exciting new action series for NBC and should attract many Heroes fans ( like me ) wanting to watch something as entertaining while waiting . Should be another hit for the Peacock network ! Directed by McG ( Charlie's Angels and Charlie's Angels : Full Throttle ) . |
454,520 | 11,228,318 | 1,035,921 | 7 | Chuck Verses the Sandstorm is another good episode of " Chuck " | Every week it seems Chuck has trust issues with his handlers , Sarah and Casey . This time another person he meets named Laszlo gives a good reason for him to have them : He mentions the bugs hidden in his house . After finding them he confronts Casey about them , Casey tells him its for his own good although he hates the conversations about sandwiches Chuck has with Morgan . Chuck is also up for an assistant manager position at Buy More and tells Morgan to grow up . Morgan enlists the help of Devon ( " Capt . Awesome " ) . As he bonds with Laszlo watching James Bond movies , Chuck's unaware of how dangerous Laszlo really is . . . That conversation about sandwiches on a deserted island that irks Casey so much is a highlight of the episode as is the whole costume party that climaxes the hour with Chuck and Morgan really bonding over the annual Dune sandworm outfit they always dress in at this time of Halloween . I recognized a fellow agent that appears here as Samantha's superior on " Samantha Who ? " last week . He sure is one strange looking dude ! Also loved the whole scene of Awesome telling Morgan to tuck his shirt as a way of acting more mature . Looks like they really are trying to make him a little less irritating though I still loved when he revealed to Ellie's boyfriend that when he was 12 , he stayed under the bed to look at her undress ! Hope the ratings pick up this week ! |
454,651 | 11,228,318 | 33,918 | 7 | Moon Over Miami was enjoyable fluff for audiences wanting escapism | Having just been to Miami for the first time in my life , I finally decided to check out this Betty Grable musical from 20th Century-Fox that took place and was partly filmed there after having taped it from AMC 10 years ago . The flimsy plot about gold diggers is a bit longish but many entertaining musical numbers and some humor does put it over on me quite smoothly . Certainly the cast , which includes Robert Cummings , Don Ameche , Carole Landis , Charlotte Greenwood , Jack Haley , and especially Ms . Grable are very charming here with wonderful Technicolor photography and melodically tuneful songs by Ralph Ranger and Leo Robin . In short , Moon Over Miami was just an entertaining piece of fluff that went over well for audiences that survived the Depression and was just about to enter World War II . . . |
454,904 | 11,228,318 | 776,023 | 7 | The Hellcats is a pretty funny episode of " Mystery Science Theater 3000 " | After watching the original , uncut theatrical version of The Hellcats , I was anxious to watch MST3K's version . Loved many references to " How the Grinch Stole Christmas " that Joel and the ' bots threw at the screen . They also point out how pointless many motorcycle scenes as well as those that depict the cycle gang partying and copping a feel on some of the hot ladies are . They also make fun of the leading man , Ross Hagen ( who starred in another MST3K victim , The Sidehackers ) , and the director , Robert Slatzer , who has a role as a drug dealer here . The in-between segments has each of the characters doing a visual diary of their day in the Satellite Of Love complete with flashback scenes provided by Cambot . I loved the one when Joel points out pictures to the ' bots making them guess if it's funny or not . They correctly pick Sally Field as The Flying Nun as not ! LOL ! Very good episode of " Mystery Science Theter 3000 " . With the Christmas season coming , I may review Santa Claus Conquers the Martians next . Until then . . . |
454,557 | 11,228,318 | 25,529 | 7 | Duke Ellington in his brief number was the highlight of Murder at the Vanities | Since this is Black History Month and I'm reviewing the achievements of many African-Americans on film in chronological order , I got this movie on VHS from the library because Duke Ellington and his Orchestra were in it . Their jazz version of Franz Liszt's " Rhapsody " was the highlight of this mostly overlong murder mystery-musical comedy mixture . Many other numbers I liked were Kitty Carlisle's especially " Sweet Marijuana " , Carl Brisson's " Cocktails for Two " as well as his duet with Carlisle on that earlier , and the ones by Gertrude Michael who's great as the woman you love to hate . Jack Oakie and Victor McLaglen probably go a little too long with their love / hate banter as the producer and detective but they grow on you . And Toby Wing is a sexy dumb tease as Nancy who keeps trying to say something to Oakie but gets a " Not now " from him every time . While many of the characters have a motive for the murders that happen , I wasn't surprised by the revelation of who done it . And get a load of how naked the women here are ( though of course their breasts are covered , either by their hands or some flimsy top ) . This was very obviously pre-Code . Worth a look for any film buff interested in this sort of thing . P . S . As a long-time Louisiana resident , I like noting when someone was born here as Carlisle was a New Orleans native . |
454,286 | 11,228,318 | 140,812 | 8 | Any Bonds Today ? is one of the most fascinating of early Bugs Bunny rarities | I have recently discovered the blog for the new Matinée at the Bijou that PBS had revived after an absence of about 20 years . So on their listings of previous episodes , there was one devoted to propaganda shorts encouraging participation in the armed forces of World War II . One of those was a nearly 2-minute musical short cartoon from Leon Schlesinger called Any Bonds Today ? that had Bugs Bunny singing the title song recently written by Irving Berlin " asking you to buy your share of freedom today-y-y-y " . The wabbit also briefly changes into Jolson with black-face before being joined by Elmer and Porky for the finale . As directed by Bob Clampett , this was pretty entertaining and still provides some pleasure at seeing an emerging popular cartoon character displayed in an important Public Service spot for mass audiences at the time . For any offended by the few seconds of burnt cork on Bugs ' face , be aware that this was accepted public humor at the time with no malice whatsoever . So for anyone interested in World War II history or that of Warner Bros . cartoon rarities , I highly recommend Any Bonds Today ? |
454,168 | 11,228,318 | 33,046 | 8 | Shop Look & Listen is another Friz Freleng cartoon featuring the characters of Little Blabermouse | This is basically the sequel to Little Blabbermouse with the same W . C . Fields-like mouse character and the little blabbermouth boy mouse that bothers him . Once again they tour a big department store after hours with exhibits like Whistler's Mother ( who whistles ) , The Thinker ( who says he thinks while looking over his tax form ) , and a painting of two Indians-or Native Americans to you modern audiences-with one killing the other before saying , " Now , Me , Last Mohican ! " There's also a robot card table with one getting shot at because of his ace up his sleeve ! Once again , Friz Freleng has made a pretty funny cartoon featuring these two characters though like the last one , it's more due to the gags not involving them than their repetitious chatter , amusing though they are . Not surprising that neither appeared in another cartoon though the mouse-with-a-W . C . Fields-like-voice did inhabit a later Warner Bros . character named Merlin the Magic Mouse in the late ' 60s . Nonetheless , Shop Look & Listen is worth a look . |
454,238 | 11,228,318 | 85,622 | 8 | Title role in The Grey Fox is one of Richard Farnsworth's most compelling | When Richard Farnsworth died a few years ago , among the films cited were his Oscar-nominated roles in Comes a Horseman and The Straight Story , and his supporting roles in hits like The Natural and Misery . The Grey Fox rarely got a mention which is a shame because it's one of Mr . Farnsworth's most compelling as we follow his portrayal of the real-life stagecoach robber Bill Miner after being freed from jail and his attempts in living a straight life with his sister and her husband . But times have changed the last 33 years and so in the early 20th century , Miner goes back to his old habits and robs trains ( he got the inspiration watching The Great Train Robbery ) , then poses as George Edwards in a British Columbia town with his cohorts in tow . He also later falls for a feminist who takes pictures . . . I'll stop there and say while Miner does bad things , he gets some admiration for the gentlemanly way he does them , hence his " gentleman bandit " moniker . If you're interested in western rarities and are a fan of Farnsworth , I highly recommend The Grey Fox . |
455,257 | 11,228,318 | 233,415 | 8 | Cat , Dog , & Co . was another funny " Our Gang " effort | This Hal Roach comedy short , Cat , Dog , & Co . , it the eighty-seventh in the " Our Gang / Little Rascals " series . It's also the next to last silent one . The beginning H . M . Walker inter-title reads , " Be kind to all animals-Even an oyster appreciates sympathy . " As Joe , Harry , and Farina race their kiddie cars , which are all propelled by a pulling dog under each one , a lady snitch tells them she's notified the society about this and the cat they chase up a tree . The Mrs . President of the Be Kind to Animals Society ( Hedda Hopper ) convinces all three to show compassion to every living creature . Joe first demonstrates this newfound lesson when , after seeing Jean and Mary Ann attempt to step on fleas that bother Pete the Pup , tells them not to hurt even the smallest living thing . One of them ( in animated form ) then says , " Hooray ! A friend ! I'll stick to him ! " which he does to Joe throughout the short in constant irritation . Then Weezer gets a talking to after trying to chop a chicken's head but it takes a dream in which he's being tried before a jury of giant poultry with a prosecuting monkey and an owl judge he previously threw things at to convince him . So the gang frees dogs , rabbits , and mice to the consternation of various passersby as they twitch and grimace at every turn before the policeman tells them all to put them back in . And then there's Pete with the flea problem again . . . Another funny " Our Gang " short that milks as much laughs as possible out of the " Be Kind to Animals " theme . Highlights are Weezer's dream trial especially when one giant chicken pecks him on the head and the nightmarish ending , before he wakes up , as they all try to devour him ! That sequence , as well as the animated flea that also was in an earlier " Our Gang " short-Thundering Fleas , was the work of Roy Seawright whose subsequent work would include the invisibility effects in Roach's " Topper " series and who would then become an associate of animation director Tex Avery . About Ms . Hopper , she would eventually become a famous Hollywood gossip columnist that occasionally printed " Our Gang " items , especially about Farina . One more note : while silent , Cat , Dog , & Co , did have synchronized music score and sound effects ( like dogs barking or chickens clucking ) , originally on disc only , that was pretty effective here . |
455,179 | 11,228,318 | 832,175 | 8 | Vanished : The Feed keeps the story moving | At the end of last week's episode , a modern casket was recovered from an old Civil War cemetery buried under sea . All that was found was an earring . Agent Lin Mei compares it to the earrings in the computerized pictures of the former mayor's dead wife . Perfect match . Also , there are scratches inside that tell us the woman was buried alive . Meanwhile , Ben Wilson is getting beaten up by someone sent by his " lawyer " to shut him up . Instead , Agent Kelton shoots this someone and has Ben transferred to safer facilities . Peter Manning , the man who claimed Sara Collins was really his fiancée Nikki Johnson , finds the tape of him with her stolen and goes on television with tabloid reporter to make his story public . Senator Collins meets with Manning and tells him to back off . The Supreme Court nominee who had carried an affair with Collins ' daughter Marcy and had pictures of Nikki Johnson removed from her former bar calls someone who is preparing to dig a grave . . . This may be a lot to follow but I'm still intrigued by what happens next . Ming-Na and everyone else keeps getting better and the story is moving forward with live pictures of Sara at an undisclosed location on computer screens though this Quinn woman managed to get the plug pulled before anything else gets found out . Can't wait till next week ! |
454,569 | 11,228,318 | 35,240 | 8 | This Max Fleischer version of The Raven was a highly amusing surprise for me | This was another cartoon I found on Uncle John's Crazy Town blog . This was a Max Fleischer Color Classic that ran for two reels which is approximately 14 minutes instead of the usual six . Very loosely based on the Edgar Allan Poe poem , the title character is a reformed criminal who now sells vacuums . His old friend , the fox , convinces him go to a castle in which a Scottie inhabits . What follows is some highly amusing gags concerning the fox's attempt to rob the safe while the raven demonstrates disastrously how his vacuum works though something equally funny redeems the raven and the vacuum at the end . Oh , and the rhyming lines and accompanying classical , as well as some big band , music also works here . If there's one big quibble , it's that I wished the version I watched hadn't looked so faded as the colors really looked washed out . Otherwise , I recommend The Raven as this was one of the last shorts made by Max and Dave Fleischer before Paramount forced them out of their studio , renamed it Famous , and then moved the building and the remaining crew back to New York from Miami . |
453,918 | 11,228,318 | 35,244 | 8 | Cecil B . DeMille's Reap the Wild Wind is good old-fashioned entertainment | Reap the Wild Wind is Cecil B . DeMille's contribution to such sea-faring adventure classics as The Sea Hawk or 20 , 000 Leagues Under the Sea . John Wayne plays a ship captain , Ray Milland plays a lawyer , and Paulette Godard a feisty southern belle who comes between them . There's plenty of fights , a trial , and an entertaining squid . There's Susan Hayward , Robert Preston , Louise Beavers , and Raymond Massey . There's a wonderful music score and beautiful Technicolor . There's a playful monkey and a talking dog ( coutesy of Milland's ventriloquism ) . And it begins with DeMille's narration to set the tone for an action-packed , if occasionally talky , picture . This is good old-fashioned filmaking at its finest ! For fans of all of the above , plus Hedda Hopper in her last role not playing herself , I highly recommend you definitely seek this one out ! |
454,128 | 11,228,318 | 893,363 | 8 | Potapych : The Bear Who Loved Vodka is an entertaining 4-minute animated short | This is a four minute computer-animated short about a Russian bear named Potapych who makes friends with a man named Mishr sharing vodka drinks and having a good time partying everywhere they go . But then it ends in a poignant but satisfying way . Despite its short running time , this short makes its point in the most succinct way : you're nothing without friends and happiness . Wonderful use of Russian-style music and a narrator . I saw this on a recommendation of Jerry Beck at Cartoon Brew . The person who made this should definitely have a long career ahead of him . So by all means , if you're an animation buff and you take Mr . Beck at his word , make it a point to see this one . |
454,562 | 11,228,318 | 23,855 | 8 | A Bundle of Blues is a nice showcase for Ellington and featured singer Anderson | As the credit for Duke Ellington and his Orchestra slowly blinks back and forth , it dissolves to the marquee with the name still standing . Then we go right to the performance with the band playing one composition before going into " Stormy Weather " with featured singer Ivie Anderson , then one more jazz instrumental with a couple of female dancers before it's called a reel . . . This was another musical short compiled for the DVD collection " Hollywood Rhythm Vol . 1 : The Best of Jazz and Blues " . Since there's no contrived plot to mess things up , this was quite a find indeed . What there is here are some unusual wipes like during the " Stormy Weather " number when Ivie is transposed from the stage to a house inside as she watches rain through a window which wipes through other areas with storms brewing . Some of the wipes during the instrumentals are shaped like musical notes . So on that note , A Bundle of Blues is essential for anyone interested in everything Ellington . |
454,869 | 11,228,318 | 30,682 | 8 | Riding the Rails is another cute Betty Boop / Pudgy cartoon I watched on YouTube | This is another latter-day ( read : post-Code ) Betty Boop cartoon I watched on YouTube . It also features her puppy dog , Pudgy . Betty takes the train to work and tries to leave Pudgy behind but , unbeknownst to her , the dog goes along for the ride . . . Plenty of funny gags concerning automatic train doors , a woman hitting a man after Pudgy touches her leg , a heavyset man crowding some people on a bench , and the train itself making a face . There's also a thrilling chase concerning Pudgy and the train that results in one final gag in the present Betty gives him . In summary , if you don't mind the cleaned-up version of Betty here and can't get enough of her dog , I highly recommend Riding the Rails . |
454,431 | 11,228,318 | 208,121 | 8 | Enter Hamlet is one of several unique shorts by one Fred Mogubgub | Just discovered this unique short on Cartoon Brew . It's one of the works of Fred Mogubgub that was displayed there linked from YouTube . The others were The Pop Show and The Great Society , neither of which have been listed in Fred's IMDb entry . Enter Hamlet is a collage of images in cartoon form of a word put in balloon in each jump-cut scene as that word is said by the narrator Maurice Evans during his " To be or not to be . . . " soliloquy recording . Since I saw this on YouTube , I don't think I saw the clearest picture . Still , I was pretty fascinated by what I saw so if you're interested in what I just described this one is worth seeing . So are The Pop Show and The Great Society which are fascinating images of live-action photos in jump-cut collages . |
454,839 | 11,228,318 | 110,598 | 8 | Muriel's Wedding was a fine early showcase of Toni Collette and Rachel Griffiths | Just saw this Australian dramady , about a heavyset woman dreaming of a wedding in order to improve her self-esteem , for the second time with my parents . My mom , a big ABBA fan , loved the music but wasn't too crazy about the movie which possibly had a little too much sex talk for her tastes . Dad was amused by many of those scenes and half-quoted some of those lines . Besides the wonderful songs from the international Swedish quartet , there's the very compelling performances of Toni Collette in the title role and Rachel Griffiths as her best friend Rhonda . Their seriously flawed characters ( Muriel steals things and lies constantly , Rhonda frequently smokes even after being diagnosed with cancer ) nevertheless compel empathy because of their mix of stubbornness , honesty-when chips are down , and loyalty to each other . Many of the supporting characters , mainly Muriel's siblings and other " friends " , seem one-sided but others , like Muriel's no longer happy parents and the South African athlete she marries for convenience , have some depth to them . P . J . Hogan , later to helm the Julia Roberts hit My Best Friends Wedding , wrote and directed a pretty humorous and unsentimental depiction of being single and trying to grow up despite your surroundings . So on that note , I highly recommend Muriel's Wedding . |
454,000 | 11,228,318 | 149,692 | 8 | Apache Kid is one really weird pre-Code Krazy Kat cartoon | This is a really weird cartoon from Columbia Pictures ' Winkler / Mintz Studios starring Krazy Kat who , while based on George Herriman's comic strip character , is characterized much differently here . He plays the piano at a beat down nightclub while his girlfriend warbles a tune in between kissing him from the top of the piano . After doing their Apache dance , this girl gets kidnapped by a big bully of a cat . That's all I'll say except there are lots of pre-Code weird imagery like the way the villain grabs the girl by her upper body part or when one of the nightclub patrons smokes a cigarette shaped like a real camel ! I didn't find myself laughing as just marveling at how much the animators twist many animals and objects into such unusual shapes or positions that became rarer as years and decades passed on . So for that reason , I highly recommend Apache Kid . |
455,022 | 11,228,318 | 151,830 | 8 | Walt Disney's Once Upon a Wintertime provides wonderful animated winter settings throughout | Originally released as part of the omnibus animated feature Melody Time ( 1948 ) , Walt Disney made Once Upon a Wintertime as a separate short subject five years later . With the score consisting entirely of Francis Langford's rendition of the title song with a very long instrumental bridge , we watch a young adult couple riding on a sleigh accompanied by a similar male and female rabbit one down below on the blades . Then some little argument ensues before some thrilling thin ice danger brings everyone to a crescendo before the romantic happy ending ensues . Beautiful animation throughout and one gets that warm feeling nearly the entire time despite the cold setting . Well worth seeking out on YouTube which is where I watched this when I linked from the Saturday Morning Blog . |
454,604 | 11,228,318 | 38,969 | 8 | Despite some stereotypes , Song of the South can still entertain | Having not taken the chance to watch Song of the South when it was rereleased in 1980 and 1986 , I thought I'd never see this since there have been no further showings in America in neither cinemas , videocassettes , nor DVDs nor on any U . S . TV channels . It wasn't until I discovered the Saturday Morning Blog that I finally found this Disney movie on myspace there . Now , while I understand some objections about the roles of African-Americans in something other than a dignified manner in which they have to kowtow to white Americans and speaking with a dialect that may seem embarrassing today , I don't think that any of them depicted here are treated all that badly even if the roles themselves do lend to some standard stereotypes of the time . And James Baskett , who deserved his special Oscer when the Academy presented it to him , does wonders as the understanding Uncle Remus who brings out the best in positive attitudes to Johnny ( Bobby Driscoll ) and Ginny ( Luana Patten ) . As Disney's first live-action child stars , Driscoll and Patten are charming in their studio debuts as a rich boy who befriends a poor girl who's two older brothers ( Gene Holland and Georgie Nokes who played Little Harry Bailey in my favorite movie , It's a Wonderful Life ) do nothing but bully them . Glenn Leedy as black boy Toby also has some good chemistry with Driscoll . I especially liked the scene where they play with a frog . Among other notables in the live-action cast are Lucile Watson as Driscoll's grandmother , Hattie McDaniel as Aunt Tempy , and then real-life husband and wife team of Erik Rolf and Ruth Warrick as Johnny's parents . The best parts though are , of course , the animation of the Remus tales with Baskett voicing Br'er Fox , Nick Stewart as Br'er Bear , and Johnny Lee as Br'er Rabbit , the last two actors familiar to fans of the " Amos ' n ' Andy " radio and TV shows as Lightnin ' and Algonquin J . Calhoun , respectively . Seeing Br'er Rabbit trick both Fox and Bear constantly provided so much laughs for me . Kudos to Wilfred Jackson for the direction of such fast-paced scenes . The live-action scenes ( by Harve Foster ) weren't so bad either and both are fine whenever they're mixed especially during the Baskett " Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah " number that probably helped get that song the Academy Award that year . Parts of the ending ( like the last scene between Johnny and his parents ) might have been a bit sugar-coated for my taste but other than that , Song of the South was a very enjoyable family movie for me and it's a shame the Disney studio feels it can't show this anymore here because of political correctness . At least when Warner Bros . put out Cabin in the Sky , Hallelujah ! , and The Green Pastures on DVD , they have some disclaimer explaining the context of the material . The Disney Company could do the same here . In summation , I highly recommend Song of the South for anyone willing to tolerate something of another time that still entertains . P . S . I have to mention the fact that Wilfred Jackson and Erik Wolf were both born in my birthtown of Chicago , Ill . |
455,104 | 11,228,318 | 403,147 | 8 | I Should See . . . well , read below | In I Should See , the narrator is comparing motion pictures and still life . He seems to prefer the former for as he is talking we see two men , one of whom is loading up his camera , the other is posing with a woman doing various things namely undressing her . As we see photos flashing we see the woman with her shirt off revealing her black bra . As the flashing photos continue we see the man fooling with the bra until the moment her breasts are to be fully revealed then the narrator says , " Damn . No more pictures . " as screen is now completely black . Damn indeed . Good in a kindly erotic way . This is one of two shorts in The International Tournee of Animation , Volume 5 , that is directed by Paul De Nooijer . The other one is At One View . |
455,046 | 11,228,318 | 30,465 | 8 | Mother Goose Goes Hollywood was an entertaining Disney Silly Symphony featuring celebrity caricatures | I just recently ( as of today ) discovered a blog devoted to Cab Calloway called The Hi-De-Ho Blog . One section showcases caricatures of the legendary entertainer in various cartoons from Max Fleischer ( whose shorts Cab actually was involved in ) , Warner Bros . , M-G-M , and this one from Walt Disney in which Mother Goose characters are depicted as Hollywood celebrities . Mr . Calloway is one of the " four blackbirds in a pie sequence " and while that may have an unfortunate stereotypical connotation ( which may be true of some of the white celebrities too ) , seeing " Cab " , " Fats " , and " Louis " do their musical stuff was enjoyable . The only real negative portrayal of an African-American here was that of the lazy , shiftless , Stepin Fetchit character . Other depictions of celebrities I liked were that of W . C . Fields with Charlie McCarthy with Fields as Humpty Dumpty , The Marx Brothers sans Zeppo as the Fidlers Three ( Harpo appears here as a redhead and not a blonde ) , and Laurel and Hardy as Simple Simon and the Pieman with welcome use of Marvin Hatley's L & H musical theme " The Cukoo Song ( Dance of the Cukoos ) " . If there's one celebrity that may be obscure even to old movie buffs , it might be that of Joe Penner whose catchphrase " Wanna buy a duck ? " anticipates a very familiar Disney character . So despite some negative stereotypical characterizations , I recommend Mother Goose Goes Hollywood for any animation buff especially those of old-time movie star caricatures . |
455,013 | 11,228,318 | 812,745 | 8 | I Married Joan : Jealousy is pure hilarity | A member of Joan's women club is dealing with a jealous husband because the club's guest speaker , a Dr . Salazar , is staying with them . Joan agrees to have the doc stay at her house since her husband , Brad , doesn't get jealous . During his speech , Salazar mentions that the husband doesn't care for his wife if he doesn't get jealous so Joan says things to her husband to make him jealous later in the day . When Salazar comes to the Stevens household , Joan tells him her concerns about Brad's non-jealous attitude . Salazar explains that her husband is a different type and things would get worse if he did get jealous . Brad does indeed act in a strange way when he sees his wife touching the doctor's face as the doctor says goodbye ! There are plenty of hilarious scenes after the doctor comes back and Joan has to hide him that had me in stitches such as when Joan lied on him as he rested on a chair after he drank a sedative meant for Joan ! And watch for Joan's efforts to get him out of the house as he staggers to the door ! Funniest episode of I Married Joan so far . If you're a fan of Joan Davis and Jim Backus , by all means check this one out ! |
455,163 | 11,228,318 | 50,556 | 8 | Jailhouse Rock is Elvis ' acting at his most compellingly insolent | After seeing Elvis Presley's second movie , Loving You , in which he was a young innocent who occasionally got into fights and accidental meetings with teenage girls , I played Jailhouse Rock in which he knocks down a man who dies , gets in penitentiary with a former country singer ( Mickey Shaughnessy ) , after time served coincidentally meets a female record executive ( Judy Tyler ) who-after hearing him sing-offers to take him , and then acts like a jerk when the success goes through his head . In this , Elvis ' third movie , his character-Vince Everett-is very surly and rude so frequently , you hope Shaughnessey , after getting free himself , really gives it to him ! On that note , this is one of Presley's most interesting acting performances I've seen him in yet having been used to his more goody-goody , " for the family " parts during much of the ' 60s . Tyler and Shaughnessy are also good for their parts as they provide plenty for the King to chew on . All the musical numbers , especially the title number , are spot on . Highly recommended for Elvis fans . Look for Disney regular Dean Jones in an early role as a disc jockey who plays Everett's record in exchange for a date with Tyler . |
454,754 | 11,228,318 | 819,062 | 8 | Alienation of Affections is another funny episode of I Married Joan | What starts out silly becomes hilarious when Joan encounters a man whose wife gets instantly jealous when she sees him near another woman ! Joan tries to get out of her mess by having her neighbor's husband pretend to be Brad but that husband's wife backs him out when he gets too convincingly intimate with Joan ! Mix that in with a milkman ( played by the highly amusing Hal March of The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show ) and a repairman and Jim Backus's constant out-of-the-loop shenanigans and you have one of the most funny outings of I Married Joan ever ! This show is seen late night Wednesdays on Family Net . Check you local listings if you want to see more of this worthy show . |
453,801 | 11,228,318 | 1,054,831 | 8 | Truth & Consequences is another exciting episode of " Heroes " | As Peter and Adam go look for the mysterious woman in the Company group photo , Hiro goes back in time in 1977 as this woman and his father Kaito has Adam arrested for fooling with this Shanti virus . This woman and Kaito argue about it with her wanting it destroyed . Instead , it's kept under wraps for the next 30 years . In Costa Verde , Calif . , Bob comes back to the Bennett household to give Noah's " ashes " and offer his condolences . He is not welcome . In Viriginia , Sylar and Maya are sitting near a lake when he tells her she can control her powers . To prove it , he says something that makes her almost want to kill him but she stops in time . Her brother , Alejandro , doesn't trust Sylar since he told him he's going to kill him and tries to convince his sister the same thing when he shows the article that reported Sylar's killing his mother . Sylar's confession convinces Maya it was in self-defense and since she's a killer also she sides with him . After she temporarily leaves , Sylar does kill her brother and just as Maya knocks , he comes out shirtless and manages to kiss her outside his door with her dead brother not far behind ! Ewww ! Okay , with that out of the way let's go on . . . Micah wants to show his late father's medal plaque to his New Orleans ' relatives but the backpack it's in is stolen . Turns out his male cousin gave or sold it to a gang . Micah almost beats him up but Monica convinces him to go to the gang to get it back . After she watches someone on a picture phone climbing up some walls , she executes her plan . Unfortunately , when the gang shows up , they find her hiding place and kidnap her . Micah attempts to rescue her . It's at this time that Mohinder calls Niki and tells her he's found a cure for her condition . Niki goes to Micah's room only to find he's gone . Mohinder has also been taking care of Noah who knows he's been revived with Claire's blood . He's not happy about that . Peter and Adam find this woman , Victoria Pratt ( Joanna Cassidy ) , who refuses to reveal where the virus is even after being tied up and held at gun point by both . Peter finds out when he reads her mind . Adam then shoots her after she is freed . As Claire spreads her father's " ashes " she expresses regret in not listening to him and tells West she wants her memory of him erased . He talks her out of it . We find out Elle has been parked nearby where Claire threatens her by smashing her window then as her hand heals in front of her also says she'll tell the world about her powers and blame her for her father's death . Back in Japan , Hiro promises to avenge his father's death and teleports to the Primatech Papaer building where he stops time and sees Peter with Adam . Only Peter is still moving as Hiro tells him not to trust Adam , Peter says he has no choice as Hiro moves in for the kill . . . Wow ! Except for the Sylar / Maya storyline , this was a very awesome episode ! Nice to see Claire mourning her father . Also nice to see two blondes facing off against each other . Should be exciting to see ! Oh , and one more thing to mention : Last we see of Sylar and Maya , they were in Molly's apartment on the phone with Mohinder . Uh-oh ! Hope next weeks " finale " ( with the writers ' strike still on , who knows when the next episodes after one more week will air ) ties most of the loose ends . Until next time . . . |
454,399 | 11,228,318 | 45,709 | 8 | Duck Dodgers . . . is an almost excellent cartoon for me | A lot of comments are saying this is one of the best cartoons ever . I'm not going to go that far but I give credit again to Chuck Jones and Michael Maltese for making some of the most creative cartoons in the history of animation . Loved the back and forth between Daffy and Marvin in trying to one-up each other whether it's claiming Planet X for Earth or Mars , pulling disintegrating guns on each other ( with Daffy's actually literally disintegrating ! ) , or passing bullets from their guns with threatening messages with Daffy's last one saying " Ouch ! " And space cadet Porky once again proves how smarter than Daffy he really is . So while I don't think Duck Dodgers in the 24 and a Half Century is a great cartoon , it's certainly a very good one . |
454,169 | 11,228,318 | 32,715 | 8 | Little Blabbermouse is an entertaining Friz Freleng musical cartoon | Just discovered this on the Misce-Looney-ous site linked from YouTube . In this one , a mouse barker who sounds like W . C . Fields tells his customers to take a ride in a basket for 10 cents . One little boy mouse who talks constantly bothers the Fields mouse but is tolerated by him when he offers his coin . On the ceiling ride in the store we see lots of products that literally live up to their names and many of them sing some popular songs that are in the Warner catalogue . I'll stop there and say what a very amusing and entertaining cartoon this was and with Friz Freleng as director it's no surprise how good musically this short was . One of the voices here is Thurl " Tony the Tiger " Ravenscroft who I didn't recognize as I watched this . Maybe I will when I decide to see this again . . . |
455,252 | 11,228,318 | 59,238 | 8 | Goofy's Freeway Troubles is another entertaining and educational Goofy cartoon | Just watched this Walt Disney educational cartoon starring Goofy on YouTube . This is the sequel to Freewayphobia # 1 and is the last time original Goofy voice Pinto Colvig would play this iconic character before his death in 1967 . This time , the Goofy character plays Stupidus Altimus-someone who's careless about everything especially driving and the many other things involving either packing , checking , or repairing his car . Quite a few hilarious visual gags like when the tire detaches from the running car on the freeway or when stripped to his boxers while stopping on the road , another running car takes away the polka dots on them ! And narrator Paul Frees can be both humorous and serious in making his points of how important a checklist is when preparing to take the automobile for a ride . So on that note , for Disney enthusiasts especially those of Goofy , I highly recommend Goofy's Freeway Troubles . |
454,302 | 11,228,318 | 21,806 | 8 | Dogs Is Dogs is a nearly perfect mixture of pathos and humor for " Our Gang " | This Hal Roach comedy short , Dogs Is Dogs , is the one hundred tenth in the " Our Gang / Little Rascals " series and the twenty-second talkie . With their father away , Wheezer and Dorothy are stuck with a mean stepmother and equally mean stepbrother in Spud . In addition , while Spud's dog Nero is allowed to play in bed with him because of his being pedigreed , Wheezer's Pete is dismissed as an alley dog . Since she's going out for awhile , Spud's mother tells Wheezer not to get her son dirty . During breakfast as Spud helps himself to some ham and eggs while Wheezer and Dorothy are stuck with the same old hash , Stymie comes in and manages to con skeptical Spud to cook some more ham and eggs by saying they can talk . As he , Wheezer , and Dorothy eat their breakfast , Spud has left and gotten himself stuck down a well that his dog pushed him into . Hearing this news , Wheezer and Stymie take their time in rescuing him and when they finally do , Spud threatens to tell his mom so they let go of the rope making him fall down again ! This time , Spud constantly tells them he won't tell then reneges again after he's finally out ! " Well , the dunking you got is worth the whipping I'll get ! " exclaims Wheezer proudly . At this point , Spud finds chicken feathers on Mr . Brown's farm and knows Nero's been striking again but blames it on Pete . So as Mr . Brown brings his gun , Wheezer , Stymie , and Dorothy , try to hide Pete in the hayloft before pelting Mr . Brown with eggs . A policeman stops Mr . Brown as he's readying to shoot Pete who gets sent to the pound since he has no license . A woman notices Weezer crying for his dog and pays the $2 . 00 to get Pete out . She turns out to be his aunt who explains her brother was too ill to care for Wheezer and Dorothy . With no love lost between the stepmother and the aunt , the aunt leaves her alone but not before literally kicking her butt ! As the car leaves , Weezer wishes Stymie was with him . He doesn't know it but his wish comes true when the bald-headed kid with the derby stows on the trunk tire as we fade out . . . With equal parts pathos and humor , Dogs Is Dogs is one of the most heart-wrenching and hilarious " Our Gang " shorts ever . The highlight is definitely Stymie's putting one over on Spud on the whole " Ham and Eggs talking " bit especially the quotes he gives them . Blanch Payson is certainly one of the meanest adults ever depicted in an " Our Gang " comedy and Spud himself makes later " Our Gang " - er Butch a pansy in comparison ! While Billy Gilbert usually goes for laughs , his Mr . Brown is appropriately cruel in trying to get rid of our favorite ring-around-one-eye dog Pete . And frequent adult " Our Gang " player Lyle Tayo makes the most of her scenes as the kindly aunt that rescues Wheezer , Pete , and Dorothy at the end . So in summation , I definitely recommend Dogs Is Dogs . |
453,795 | 11,228,318 | 1,054,832 | 8 | Powerless is okay if a bit rushed ending for " Heroes " Volume 2 | All right , so Claire , in wanting to expose The Company , has broken up with West , who doesn't want his power to go public . Matt and Nathan , having found out everything , are trying to stop Peter and Adam from going to the Primatech Paper building to get the virus . It's there that Hiro vows revenge on his dad's death at Adam's hand but Peter manages to keep him at bay with the electric magnetic powers he got from Elle . So Hiro cheers when Matt and " Flying Man " show up . When Mohinder goes to his apartment and finds Sylar there , Sylar seems a little nice especially when Maya is seen cooking and is glad to finally meet the doctor she's been told is " friends " with Gabriel . Sylar then pulls his gun revealing his intent : he wants the blood from Claire that was meant for Niki to go to him . Maya is surprised by Gabriel's sudden transformation , then gets furious after finding out from Molly the fate of her brother which in turn causes Sylar to shoot her dead ! It turns out to be short lived as Sylar makes Mohinder use it on her first to make sure it actually works . It does so the doc then uses it on him and it looks like he'll be shot by Sylar but then Elle comes in trying to stop him but he gets away . Elle is upset but Mohinder assures her she saved his , Molly , and Maya's lives . Macah goes to his mom to save Monica who's still kidnapped by a gang member . Despite being a little weak because of the virus , Niki manages to knock down this member and go to the warehouse where Monica is as flames threaten to engulf the place . Monica manages to get out but the flames explode before Niki could . Looks like Micah is now an orphan . As Adam and Peter knock down the guards and Peter opens the safe , Nathan , Matt , and Hiro come in with Hiro confronting Adam with Hiro's sword . Adam already has the virus in his hand but when Hiro teleports with Adam , the virus is left behind and is starting to drop when Peter quickly retrieves it . We later find Adam buried alive a deep six feet under in a coffin . Good job , Hiro ! Peter then destroys the virus into dust as Nathan and Matt watch . The Petrelli brothers have a touching reunion as Nathan calls a press conference with Matt using his mind to make sure people show up . As Noah arrives home with a surprised family showing up , he tells them , especially Claire to not expose The Company . He also tells them he's going back there to protect his family and says they'll be in a safe place . Claire still wants to expose The Company . At the press conference , Nathan is about reveal all when he is shot twice in the chest ! After we see Peter hold his dead brother , the next scene is of Mama Petrelli on the phone telling the receiver on the other end how that person has gone too far just the screen goes black and " End of Volume Two " flashes on . Next scene takes place in an alley as " Volume Three , Villains " is printed . Then we see Sylar injecting himself with the new blood after which , we see his hand attempt to raise a spinach can . He succeeds as " To Be Continued " appears afterword on the black screen . . . While this episode seemed to be rushed due the writers strike that was about to be called on , there was plenty of drama and action to make this another entertaining episode of " Heroes " . I did wonder about Caitlin but maybe we'll find out about her after this strike is over . Are Nathan and Niki really dead ? Considering some of Adam's blood was put in him , maybe Nathan will survive . It would be harder to explain how Niki survived that explosion but it's hard to tell who stays dead on a show like " Heroes " . In any case , with a title like " Villians " for the Volume 3 season , I hope the excitement really gets amped up ! So until next time . . . |
454,820 | 11,228,318 | 1,054,841 | 8 | Lizards brings more intriguing stuff to " Heroes " | When we last left " Heroes " , Peter , who has amnesia , was being beaten by some toughs in Ireland . After getting knocked out , a woman who's associated with them looks at his bloody face and gets startled when the stains disappear in thin air . In California , Claire , after recovering her mom's ring from boiling water wants to know why she has to pass as " normal " when she feels constricted . Noah explains about people wanting to torture her if they're found out . In New York , Matt investigates Hiro's father's death and questions Ando about the symbol discovered on the picture of the father just before the murder . Hiro is also briefly mentioned as we go back to 17th century Japan where Hiro , after finding his hero out cold , takes his costume and becomes " Takezo Sensei " as he uses his teleporting powers to make his foes ' weapons vanish from one place to another . This all impresses the lady who was fighting them beforehand and she waits for his kiss . But Hiro disappears as pink blossom leaves fall all around her . In Hounduras , the twins , Alejandro and Maya , struggle to find a way to get to America as a healer fails to heal Maya and , later at night , an elderly female guide dies inadvertently under Maya's bloody eyes before Alajandro makes the stain disappear and the guide gets up cursing them as she leaves . Mohinder goes to Haiti to cure someone who has the same disease that killed his sister in 1974 . It's the guy who worked for Noah by erasing minds ! Next we see after Mohinder injects the needle , he's back to where his employer that we saw last week asks about him and all Mohinder remembers is the assignment he just got from him ! Back at school , Claire watches in fascination a film about lizards regenerating after losing an arm and asks questions about humans doing the same thing which arouses the curiosity of the boy who flew last week . She brushes him off . And then finds her car stolen ! Back in Japan , Hiro is confronted by Takezo about his stolen costume when the lady comes and thanks Takezo personally . Because of her , he agrees to fulfill his destiny but then gets shot by arrows that seem to kill him . But , suddenly , the blood seems to disappear . Back in New York , Matt questions Mrs . Petrelli about the murder of Hiro's father . She admits to once having an affair with him but refuses to answer any more . Reading her mind , Matt gets some info about revenge but is told by her reading his mind to back off ! As Matt goes to meet son Nathan , they hear a noise and find Nathan's mother in critical condition as her picture is found with the symbol on it . In Ireland , one of Peter's tormentors finds a box and with it , now knows the name of the amnesia-afflicted victim . He offers to give him the box if he does something for him and the woman who treated him . Mohinder calls Noah and tells him about the Haitian . As Noah hangs up , he sees that Haitian in front of him as they get reacquainted . Claire , at home , cuts her smallest toe and , 30 seconds later , grows one back just as that boy sees the scene through the window . Claire goes outside to confront him but he disappears leaving a book by Mohinder's father that he recommended to her earlier as " To Be Continued " appears on screen . . . Wow , a lot to mention as you can tell by my long synopsis . All of them pretty intriguing . Disappointed not to be seeing DL , Niki / Jessica , Micah , or Sylar like the promos seem to be promising but as the weeks go , I'm sure we will . Should really make for another interesting season . On that note , until next time . . . |
454,432 | 11,228,318 | 1,031,335 | 8 | In Trust Issues , Jamie suffers a tragedy on " Bionic Woman " | In this episode , Jamie and Antonio are assigned to protect a president of a country from an assassin despite his reputation for letting politically motivated killings occur from where he resides . Antonio , however , has a personal stake in his mission and leaves details out of Jamie's ears though she eventually figures everything out . Also , while Tom seems to get along with Jamie and her sister Becca , he also has a couple of fellow agents keep tabs on her . . . This was a very exciting episode with all the suspense of recent action movies like the Bourne series whenever Jaime is running to try to prevent some catastrophe about to happen . I found the tragedy occurring at the end touching and I found myself caring about him when it happened despite me making some not-so-complimentary comments about him before ( I'm sure anyone who've read my previous " Bionic Woman " episode reviews knows who I'm talking about ) . Some of the levity of the last two episodes are missing though it was amusing when that psychiatrist put that plant in her office in order to make Jamie feel at home . And it was nice to see Becca really wanting to make her big sister feel good about herself when she prepared dinner for her and Tom . With the ratings falling and the writers strike still in effect , I don't know how much time " Bionic Woman " has this season but I'm willing to watch till the end to see how further this reboot of the late ' 70s series develops so until next time . . . |
454,678 | 11,228,318 | 1,031,332 | 8 | Katee Sackhoff makes Sisterhood a very interesting episode of " Bionic Woman " | Well , this episode of " Bionic Woman " was a vast improvement over the first two and the big reason is because of Katee Sackhoff as the bad and complex first bionic woman Sarah Corvus . Her physically and line readings give this episode most of the life this series badly needs and makes Michelle Ryan as Jamie Sommers a bit more interesting as a result . The other story of Jamie babysitting a Canadian female teen because her father is with some weapons company was blah for me in contrast with the continuing sub-plot with Jamie's own teenage sister who I really deeply cared about after Sarah drugged her to blackmail Jamie into taking her someplace to cure her illness . If you've seen the episode , you know why Jamie can't help Sarah on such short notice . The next episode continues this storyline so I'll tell more about what happens there . . . |
454,993 | 11,228,318 | 30,589 | 8 | Pipe Dreams is another Harmon-Ising cartoon from M-G-M I would recommend | This is a Hugh Harmon-Rudolf Ising Happy Harmonies cartoon distributed by M-G-M . In this one , three monkeys representing " See No Evil-Hear No Evil-Speak No Evil " sing those words before each takes a turn smoking a pipe and seeing things like three singing cigars , a matchbox horse , a train that is connected by matchboxes , and some dancing wooden matches dressed like Mexican dancers-both male and female ! Beautiful animation and backgrounds throughout and while the smoking content here might make one give pause to show this to children , the hallucinatory result may make one want to not smoke at all if some of the images here bother them too much ! Pipe Dreams is recommended to any animation buff curious about these pre-Hanna-Barbera and Tex Avery M-G-M cartoons . |
454,243 | 11,228,318 | 1,213,584 | 8 | Glimpses of Java and Ceylon was another interesting James FitzPatrick Traveltalks short | In this James FitzPatrick Traveltalks short , we go to Java-where there's plenty of rice topple with lots of unusual ingredients and a " nightmare " dance with unique music of the time-and Ceylon , Sri Lanka now , where the men wear their hair long and do " feminine " stuff like sewing and cooking and water buffalo tell time by leaving work to go to bathe in the lake . Other stuff that were mentioned by narrator FitzPatrick I can't remember right now but trust me , there were many interesting sights that was captured in perfect color throughout the short . This was another of various films , clips , and opening titles that I found on the TCM site . Many of the shorts featured there are the FitzPatrick Traveltalks color films that were shown before the main feature in various theatres that were owned by M-G-M's parent company Loew's Incorporated . To anyone interested in these vintage series entries , I highly recommend Glimpses of Java and Ceylon . |
454,456 | 11,228,318 | 38,992 | 8 | Studio Visit is worth a look for Lena Horne's deleted bathtub number from Cabin in the Sky | This Pete Smith Specialties short , Studio Visit , is an extra on the DVD of Cabin in the Sky . In between Louis Zingone displaying his sleight-of-hand peanut shell game and a little girl named Helen Sue Goldy displaying her balancing act with her father while eating an apple , we get a deleted scene from aforementioned movie of Lena Horne , while washing herself in a bathtub filled with bubbles covering her naked body , singing " Ain't It the Truth " . While I can guess why it was edited out , I'm now wondering why it managed to get a showing in this short three years later and also why they didn't also show Louis Armstrong performing his own version , that is now lost , in the same film . So on that note , Studio Visit is an interesting curio for Horne fans . P . S . There's also a running gag of a crew member trying to put a kerosene lamp on a hanging wire that provides the short's finish . |
453,758 | 11,228,318 | 33,273 | 8 | Women in Hiding is a pretty compelling " Crime Does Not Pay " short subject | Before I begin , I'd like to note that the leading actress here , Marsha Hunt , was born in my hometown of Chicago , Ill . and is still alive at 90 , and that Barbara Bedford , who plays the head nurse , Miss Townsend , died in Jacksonville , Fla . , a city I once lived in , in 1981 . Ms . Hunt is Jane Taylor , a young woman whose unexpected pregnancy leads her to go to an illegal clinic whose medical staff makes its patients sign contracts that allows the mothers to give up all rights to the child , no matter what . When one of the mothers dies in childbirth , one of the staff attempts arson but Jane secretly alerts the cops in time . . . A very compelling caution to any expectant mothers or anyone in her family on the dangerous consequences of going to any back alley clinic to " care " for the baby . Seeing one of the mothers express joy on seeing her child for the first time after initially saying she doesn't want to look at it is very touchingly handled here and becomes heartbreaking when her reactions change for the worse when she finds out how the doctors sold her baby to a middle-aged married couple behind her back . I found this short on the DVD " Film Noir : Bringing Darkness to Light " which has four other " Crime Does Not Pay " short subjects inside . Worth a look for anyone who's curious about these vintage two-reelers . |
455,253 | 11,228,318 | 59,200 | 8 | Frewayphobia # 1 was a pretty entertaining and educational Goofy cartoon | Just watched on YouTube this Walt Disney educational cartoon starring Goofy . Or at least three of them , each given a Latin name representing what kind of car driver he is : Driverius Timidicus-the timid driver , Motoramus Figitus-the fidgety driver , and Negleterus Maximus-the neglectful driver . Each one demonstrates how disastrous their driving on the freeway is by doing several " don'ts " that get them into trouble with the last character providing the most laughs from me . The original voice of Goofy himself , Pinto Colvig , is allowed to be a little more insulting here since these Goofys are nothing like the more " aw shucks " version of the character like when Motoramus tells many of his other cars stuck in accidents to " Get a horse ! " Quite entertaining while providing a lesson on driving . So on that note , I highly recommend Freewayphobia # 1 ( a . k . a . The Art of Driving on the Super Highway ) . |
454,642 | 11,228,318 | 48,065 | 8 | Field and Scream is one of Tex Avery's last entertaining cartoons he made for M-G-M | Just watched this M-G-M / Tex Avery cartoon on Daily Motion as linked from the Cartoons , Model Sheets , and Stuff blog . This is a primer on fishing / hunting as represented by an everyday Joe named Ed Jones as the narrator tells of his trials in getting fish , duck , or deer . . . If you're familiar with Avery's sense of humor then you'll have no trouble imagining what to expect here though you might still be surprised by what happens ! By the time this cartoon was released , Avery had left M-G-M and went back to the Walter Lantz studio where he started as an animator . Field and Scream , while not great , is still highly entertaining for one of Avery's last shorts made for Leo the Lion . Highly recommend . |
454,704 | 11,228,318 | 106,589 | 8 | It's All in the Game is a fine latter-day episode of Columbo | It's All in the Game is one of the more fascinating of the latter-day Columbo movies for three reasons : 1 . Peter Falk wrote this episode . 2 . Faye Dunaway plays a character who flirts with the Leutenant in order to distract him from his suspicions . 3 . Columbo almost seems to fall for her . As another poster mentioned , I did see some kind of lesbian subtext in an early scene between Dunaway's character and that of Claudia Christian's in the latter's apartment before the big reveal at the end . Also appearing were Bill Macy as the building super and Shelley Morrison , years before playing Karen's maid in Will and Grace , as the murdered victim's maid who is amusing showing Falk how she cleans the refrigerator . So the Leutenant likes peanut butter and raisins . O-k-a-y ! Highly amusing and suspenseful and Ms . Dunaway deserved her Emmy . Definitely recommended for Columbo fans . |
454,221 | 11,228,318 | 1,039,338 | 8 | Pool Party was another funny episode of " Miss Guided " | With Mrs . Pool's ( Edie McClurg ) 40th anniversary as a teacher at the same high school coming up , Principal Huffy has picked Becky Freeley and Lisa Germain to plan a party for her since they were next on the alphabetical list . Problem is nobody likes her . In fact , the feeling is mutual . Add to that Bruce Terry and Terry O'Malley have been doing errands for her because of secrets she knows about each that neither wants anyone to find out . Things go so bad with the planning , however , that Becky and Lisa resolve to confront her with complaints . Just as Becky starts to say her peace , however , Lisa slinks away . It's just as well since what Becky says shocks Mrs . Pool so much that she dies seconds after Becky leaves while the students cheer her on . Despite this , the party goes on with Becky , Lisa , Terry , and Bruce saying what they didn't like about the just departed Mrs . Pool though there's some embarrassment when Bruce reveals he had sex with her . Oh , and during much of this , student Karey ( Charlyne Yi ) has been painting graffiti on cars because Becky's been telling her to take art to express herself . . . Written by creator Caroline Williams , " Pool Party " seems to take every characteristic of a mean teacher and put her in Mrs . Pool to the nth degree . Ms . McClurg seems to be so perfectly spot on as this bitchy woman that I didn't recognize her at first since I'm used to her portraying as something more demure and soft-hearted . And how funny to see Becky tell off like that before the unfortunate result . And seeing Bruce and Tim bond over their secrets and then Bruce's humiliation over telling about his relationship with the dead woman in front of the faculty was pretty hilarious ! Also loved what Karey wrote on Lisa's car with Becky laughing at the end . This was another entertaining episode of " Miss Guided " . |
453,830 | 11,228,318 | 235,378 | 8 | Fast Company is another worthy " Our Gang " comedy short | Fast Company is the sixteenth short in the " Our Gang / Little Rascals " series created by Hal Roach . Many of the boys here want to go swimming but Mickey has to make a delivery . On the way , he encounters a rich boy waiting at a station for his mom and as they get to talking they trade places since Mickey has never seen the inside of a hotel and the rich kid just wants to play . When the rich kid returns to the gang with the goat-pulling wagon , however , they resolve to go where Mickey is which is where the fun really begins . . . Plenty of very funny gags abound like Joe's heavyset parents arguing with the mother using a rolling pin to hit her husband that-when the target's head gets it-causes the appliance to jump up and down , Farina tries to drink some water from a hose that keeps squirting and unsquirting because of the other kid turning it off and on and when " she " finally gives up says to Ernie ( via inter-title ) " ' At ol ' water kaint make up its mind ! " , a hotel monkey using firecrackers to surprise many of the adult patrons , and the gang trying a pipe that later gives them a really unwelcome feeling . Long considered lost , I found Fast Company on YouTube with , I guess , the best prints that were available and with the wonderful LeRoy Shield score from the " Little Rascals " talkies added for sheer pleasure . Regular director Robert McGowan had suffered an injury when a camera platform collapsed just before this short began filming so Charley Chase ( under his real name Charles Parrott ) was hired in his stead though he couldn't finish it since he also had meetings with executives at Pathe , Roach's distributor at the time . So a year later , McGowan completed it and , with the help of Mrs . Roach , secured cameos for her children with Hal , Hal Jr . , 6 , and Margaret , 4 . When Mr . Roach saw them in the screening room , he was pleasantly surprised . So on that note , I highly recommend Fast Company . |
455,137 | 11,228,318 | 72,351 | 8 | Uptown Saturday Night was an enjoyable first teaming of Poitier and Cosby | In reviewing movies in chronological order that featured African-Americans for Black History Month , we're now at 1974 with Uptown Saturday Night . This was the first of three buddy comedies that paired Sidney Poitier with Bill Cosby . This was also Poitier's third directorial assignment after Buck and the Preacher and A Warm December . Instead of the perfect professional characters superstar Sidney had been playing for years , here he's just a working class man named Steve Jackson who's pals with Cosby's Wardell Franklin . As Steve's wife Sarah , Rosalind Cash has some nice , and partially racy , dialogue with Poitier but Ketty Lester seems wasted as Wardell's spouse Irma . With a script by Richard Wesley , Poitier shows some amusing touches though it does take a while for the story , about getting robbed as the two leads spend the night at an illegal gambling joint called Zenobia's before Steve finds out his winning lottery ticket was among the stolen items , to kick into gear . When it does you get treated to a hilarious supporting cast like Flip Wilson as the Reverend , Richard Pryor as Sharp Eye Washington , Roscoe Lee Browne as Congressman Lincoln ( dig the way he turns a frame of Nixon to that of Malcoln X and then puts on his African digs when he meets his " constituents " Steve and Wardell ) , Paula Kelly as Lincoln's wife Leggy Peggy who the boys previously met at Zenobia's , and dancer Harold Nicholas as Little Seymour Pettigrew . That last character has a hilarious encounter with Cosby and Poitier himself cuts loose with some jokes you didn't think would come out of him . Also loved many of the " fights " the Cos instigates . Then there's Calvin Lockhart as Silky Slim and Harry Belafonte as Geechie Dan Beauford . These are rival gangsters that Steve and Wardell seek out to help find the stolen goods . Belafonte looks like he's having the time of his life impersonating Marlon Brando's Godfather role though I found him fitfully amusing like when he threatened to " knock the black off " Poitier and Cosby . Still , Uptown Saturday Night was a mostly enjoyable comedy that I bought on DVD with A Piece of the Action on the disc's other side . Dig Cosby's beard ! |
453,864 | 11,228,318 | 63,415 | 8 | The Party is a nearly excellent non-Panther collaboration from Blake Edwards and Peter Sellers | After years of enjoying their collaborations on the Pink Panther movies , I finally got to see Blake Edwards'-Peter Sellers ' only non-Panther film , The Party . Playing a just-blacklisted Indian actor accidentally invited to a Hollywood party , Sellers inadvertently causes one disaster after another as guests just tolerate his presence despite no one really knowing who he is or why he's there . It's not until much later that producer Gavin MacLeod even remembers him for ruining his picture in the movie's beginning scenes . By then , Sellers ' character gets to know MacLeod's latest discovery ( and potential conquest ) Claudine Longet . Their scenes are some of the sweetest in this mostly very funny movie . And there's plenty very humorous stuff concerning mishaps caused not only by Sellers but also by a drunken waiter played to great hilarity by Steve Franken . It threatens to lose steam in the middle part but comes to a wonderful crescendo at the end . By all means , if you're a great fan of both Edwards and Sellers , don't pass this one by ! P . S . Having previously only known Ms . Longet from a shooting scandal of hers 30 years ago that was parodied on an SNL sketch the first season , I'm now glad to finally see her on screen as she was years before that unfortunate incident and hear her wonderful singing voice and French accent . |
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