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455,000 | 11,228,318 | 150,578 | 8 | The Flamboyant Arms is a highly amusing Deitch / Terrytoon short | This is a latter-day Terrytoons short from the Gene Deitch era . It stars Clint Clobber , a janitor for an apartment . In this one , he has to hurry up and make sure the building is spic and span for inspection by the building's owner . Of course , everything goes disastrously wrong from sewer trash rising to lights blinking to water pipes blowing to Clobber electrocuting himself ! Well timed pacing by director Connie Rasinski makes this one of the funnier cartoons from the late ' 50s . Well worth seeing on YouTube for anyone who's a fan of Deitch or Terrytoons . Maybe someday , a collection of many of these forgotten animated shorts will be made available for viewing on DVD . |
454,025 | 11,228,318 | 25,270 | 8 | See the hilarious unrestrained Ritz Brothers in Hotel Anchovy | Of all the comedy teams that ended up in the movies in the 1930s , Jimmy , Harry , and Al-The Ritz Brothers-were probably the most unrestrained ever and are probably not as appreciated as a result . In Hotel Anchovy-a short made for the low-budget comedy short studio with the ironic name of Educational-their film debut , they are a manager , bellhop , and detective trying to keep customers from checking out so they can get all the money that's coming to them without fear of losing some of it as the female owner tries to sell the title hotel to a couple of bidders . The brothers Ritz run rampant as they insult various guests , confuse the bidders , and keep running into a suicidal man who keeps failing ! Most of the really funny frantic stuff with the bidders are at the end and , boy , what energy they have here ! This is probably where Sid Ceasar and Mel Brooks got their inspiration so for that we fully thank them ! |
454,111 | 11,228,318 | 20,952 | 8 | The Haunted Ship is an entertaining early Van Beuren talkie cartoon | The Haunted Ship is an early talkie Van Beuren cartoon . It depicts a couple of humanized cats-one tall , one short-flying a plane when thunder and lightning hits causing their plane to fall in the ocean . They encounter various skeletons-like that of Davy Jones-and many fish and turtles . Four of those turtles drunkenly sing , " Sweet Adeline " . Another turtle becomes an accordion for the tall cat to play . Entertaining mix of music and scares makes for a very fascinating cartoon of the early ' 30s . I think the cat duo was meant to be a precursor of the later human Tom and Jerry characters that were Van Beuren stars a year or so later . Well worth checking out for animation buffs . |
454,625 | 11,228,318 | 73,640 | 8 | Rudolph's Shiny New Year was a nice sequel to the previous Rankin / Bass claymation special | Just finished this , the sequel to Rankin / Bass ' " Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer " . With Red Skelton as narrator Father Time as well as the Baby Bear , Frank Gorshin as the knight Sir Ten-To-Three , Morey Amsterdam as the caveman-O . M . ( One Million ) , Hal " Great Gildersleeve " Peary as the whale Big Ben , Paul Frees as various voices , Don Messick as Papa Bear , Iris Rainer as Mama Bear , and , returning as Rudolph , Billie Mae Richards . Written once again by Romeo Muller , " Rudolph's Shiny New Year " is a wonderful Tall Tale about how the reindeer with the shiny nose managed to make sure that it didn't become December 31st forever . Even as an adult , I was enthralled by the way Muller kept making things up as the story went along and didn't care a lick about logic or stuff like that as long as it was still believable . Although when Red said this story took place just after the events in the previous special , I did question why Rudolph's antlers had shrunk to when he was a kid . Other than that , I still highly enjoyed " Rudolph's Shiny New Year " . P . S . I just found out Frees and Amsterdam were born in the same city as I , Chicago , Ill . |
454,059 | 11,228,318 | 148,632 | 8 | Post War Inventions is a very funny outing from Paul Terry | Gandy takes Sourpuss to a place that has a pill that becomes instant dinner when water is added ( as Sourpuss finds out when he takes several of the pills with water and throws all of them up ! ) , has a kitchen that has an automatic pie maker ( which the cat ends up in ) , has an instant machine that cuts hair ( and leaves the cat bald ) , has a television set that has a lovely lady singing ( and just as Sourpuss starts to kiss her , Gandy turns to the fights and one of the fighters gets off the screen and beats the cat ! ) , and a robot butler . Then they wake up . . . Highly funny outing from Terrytoons made just as World War II was ending . Well worth seeking out for any animation fan of Paul Terry and his output . |
454,620 | 11,228,318 | 22,956 | 8 | Goopy Geer is another entertaining Merrie Melodies cartoon from Harmon-Ising | Goopy Gear is the title character in this Merrie Melodies cartoon from Hugh Harmon-Rudolf Ising Productions in association with Leon Schlesinger and distributed by Warner Bros . He is a piano-playing dog who plays while the customers dance . There's the gorilla waiter who I just saw in Lady , Play Your Mandolin ! Same goes for that alcohol-drinking horse who sees his reflection in the mirror and some hallucinations there as well ! My favorite gag in here is when the waiter orders some soup and the chicken swims in it for a while before it is served ! Loved the keys-playing sequences the best . Worth a look for anyone interested in early animated cartoons from Warner Bros . |
455,115 | 11,228,318 | 135,571 | 8 | Fat and Lean Wrestling Match is Melies ' cartoonish version of wrestling | We see two women covering themselves with blankets . When they uncover themselves , they are now two men . These two men start to wrestle . One of them manages to throw the other around . The other one then literally knocks his head off as well as his arms , legs , and feet ! He then puts the dismembered parts together when he places the body together on the bench . The women come back to take the men away from the screen . Two different men appear who are much bigger . The bigger of the big manages to flatten the other one like a pancake . After the flattened one comes back to normal , he throws the other one up before that other one lands back on him ! They wrestle a little before the less heavy of the big men manages to pin him down and jump on him , causing his arms , legs , and head to disassemble on impact ! After he leaves , the disassembled man assembles and walks out of screen . The end . It is here that Georges Melies takes a popular fairground sport and gives it a cartoonish feel on film . It certainly should be fascinating to today's wrestling fans who think wrestling was invented only recently ! |
455,141 | 11,228,318 | 64,217 | 8 | Death of a Gunfighter was Lena Horne's only straight drama | In continuing to review African-Americans on film and television in chronological order for Black History Month , we're now at 1969 with Death of a Gunfighter with Lean Horne in her only straight role though you do hear her recording of the song , " Sweet Apple Wine " in the beginning and end credits . Though she's billed above the title with Richard Widmark , her role of Claire Quintana is very much a supporting one that's mainly there as one of the few people who stands by Marshal Frank Patch ( Widmark ) as the townspeople are fed up with his violent ways of dealing with justice . Also among the supporting cast are Michael McGreevey as Dan-a young man who also likes the marshal , Darleen Carr-sister of The Sound of Music's Charmian Carr-as his girlfriend Hilda , Jacqueline Scott-probably best known as Richard Kimble's sister Donna on " The Fugitive-as the widow , Laurie Mills , of the first man killed by Patch at the beginning of the movie , Harry Carey , Jr . as Rev . Rork , John Saxon as county Shriff Lou Trinidad who tries to get Patch to get out of town peacefully , and , in a nice surprise from his later role as Archie Bunker , Carroll O'Connor as the bar owner , Lester Locke , who bides his time in letting other people get Frank before he himself tries . Many of the cast I just mentioned and lots of others I haven't contribute great tension as the film chronicles the last days of the Marshal . Horne acquits herself nicely with her few scenes and it's nice seeing her and Widmark kiss at their wedding especially when one knows that Widmark played a racist opposite Sidney Poitier in his movie debut , No Way Out ( 1950 ) . Love the music score , by Oliver Nelson , and direction especially many of the close-ups . That direction , by the way , was credited to one " Allen Smithee " which is the name used when the real director doesn't want his own name used . In this case , they're Robert Totten-who had " creative differences " with Widmark , and Don Siegel-who had filmed the actor previously in Madigan . This marked " Smithee's " feature film debut . All in all , Death of a Gunfighter was another pleasant surprise for me . |
453,858 | 11,228,318 | 42,928 | 8 | The Scarlet Pumpernickel is an amusing parody of swashbucklers and studio pitches | In this one , Daffy plays himself as an actor tired of comedy roles so he pitches J . L . a script called " The Scarlet Pumpernickel " by Daffy Dumas Duck . The duck's the title character hoping to rescue the fair Melissa from the evil Porky Pig . The pig tries to get Sylvester to marry her to keep her from Daffy . Also involved is Elmer ( done for the first time by Mel Blanc instead of Arthur Q . Bryan ) and the Mama Bear from Chuck Jones ' Three Bears cartoons . Nice humorous touches throughout with Daffy , especially , in fine form . I noticed Sylvester doesn't have any whiskers here . Essential viewing for any Jones fan or anyone who loves animated spoofs of old movies . |
454,364 | 11,228,318 | 27,371 | 8 | The Blow Out was an interesting early Tex Avery cartoon featuring Porky Pig | The Blow Out was an early Warner Bros . cartoon that was the second made by " supervisor " Fred " Tex " Avery as director . It also starred Porky Pig in his early incarnation with original voice Joe Dougherty ( who stuttered in real life ) . Other voices featured were Sara Berner who was later gossipy switchboard operator Mabel on " The Jack Benny Program " , and Lucille La Verne who later voiced the Queen on Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs . She voices the bomber here . Porky is a kid here trying to buy an ice cream soda but finds he's five pennies short . So when he accidentally picks up a misplaced item from a passerby , he gets awarded one cent . After this gets repeated a few times , the pig finds the bomb-which he thinks is just an ordinary clock-and proceeds to give it back to the one who dropped it who of course keeps running away . Soon the cops follow . You may be able to guess what happens from here on but I'm not going to tell you . Needless to say , the ending is one you've probably expected from Tex Avery if you're familiar with his subsequent cartoons for both Warner Bros . and M-G-M . On that note , I definitely recommend The Blow Out . |
454,777 | 11,228,318 | 48,649 | 8 | Speedy Gonzales gave us the " fastest mouse in all Mexico " as we know him today | Despite the title , this is Speedy Gonzales ' SECOND appearance , after Robert McKimson's Cat-Tails for Two . This is , however , his first time in the costume and design we know him from . In this short , after another mouse gets done for in trying to get cheese past the guard-Sylvester , Speedy accepts the challenge . The red-nosed cat is ready for the " fastest mouse in all Mexico " but gets defeated at every turn . This Oscar-winning cartoon from Friz Freling gives us another classic Warner Bros . character that lasts for decades despite some PC controversy that almost got Speedy gone for good . Turns out many Hispanics consider Mr . Gonzales a hero for his exploits and don't find anything offensive about him . I certainly don't and I never understood why anyone would either . Anyway , while I don't consider this a great cartoon , it's certainly another highly enjoyable outing from Mr . Freling . |
454,184 | 11,228,318 | 860,036 | 8 | Heroes : Nothing to Hide slowly provides some details to main characters | Peter dreams of his former patient Charles Deveraux from when he was a nurse and tells him he can fly . He then wakes up and hears knocking . It's his girlfriend and Deveraux's daughter , Simone . She tells him her father died a few hours ago . Meanwhile , Peter's brother Nathan is having brunch with a reporter at his mansion with his mother and his wife who is confined to a wheelchair and has been for about six months . Peter comes in and embellishes a story about how his brother went to Vegas to find a female doctor to treat Peter's " mental illness " to explain reporter's question of Nathan's time with a woman there . That woman , Niki , wakes up from her defeat at the hands of her ex-husband who knocked her out by phasing through her . She calls Nathan for help in finding her son but Nathan declines . She then goes to a friend who she tells about her alter ego . It's about this time that her ex is on the road with their son when he arrives at a scene of a crash where there's some fire involved . Hiro and Ando also arrive . As the ex phases through a car door to save an unconscious passenger and then carries it out , Hiro stops time to save the ex from getting killed in the explosion . Afterwards , all go their separate ways . Matt the cop is assigned plainclothes to help in a case involving comatose bodies . Despite some of his mind not working properly , he does well enough to get another chance on a detective exam . Unfortunately , in reading the mind of the man who tells him about this he also finds out this man's been fooling around on his wife and punches him out ! In Texas , Claire's friend has found the tape of Claire's quick recovery from accidents in his bedroom so no need to worry about anybody finding out . However , Claire's little brother finds it and plays it on his computer just as Claire finds out . Little brother runs with Claire and friend after him and locks himself in the family van . Claire explains to sibling why she doesn't want parents to find out as brother finally unlocks door and gives Claire back tape . Finally , as Niki's ex and son Micah arrive at motel at night , Micah , alone , goes to an out-of-order pay phone and , as he touches it , miraculously gets phone to work as he calls his mother . Niki answers as her bad self startling Micah who asks for her real mother . The bad self , who identifies herself as Jessica , mentions some terms of which Niki comes back just when the ex comes over to Micah . As Micah hangs up phone his dad asks who it was . Macah answers that he was just pretending to call and , sure enough , as the ex takes the phone it is once again out of order . . . Not too much action but still compelling as we see revelations of Nathan's family life for the first time here . Nice intro of Rena Sofer as his wife . Loved her since I first saw her as Bonnie Haines in Ed . Also worth mentioning is the original Shaft , Richard Roundtree , as the bedridden Charles Deveraux . Quite effective in his all-too-brief scene , both here and in the first episode . Almost didn't recognize him without his mustache ! Overall , an intriguing episode that should provide more excitement for next week . |
454,464 | 11,228,318 | 34,241 | 8 | Sun Valley Serenade provides a hot number with Dorothy Dandridge and the Nicholas Brothers | In honor of Black History Month , I've been writing reviews of movies that African-Americans , in front and behind the camera , have been involved on in chronological order . So we're now in 1941 with Sun Valley Serenade . In a brief specialty number at the end of Glenn Miller's " rehersal " of " Chattanooga Choo Choo " , The Nicholas Brothers-Fayard and younger sibling Harold-tap dance up a storm after first doing some steps and singing with Dorothy Dandridge in her only appearance with her future husband ( Harold ) and his brother . They're the coolest thing in the picture and it's a shame that because of some Southern theatres ' resistance of black performers appearing with their white counterparts in the same scene ( unless they appeared in domestic or chauffeur / doorman / porter roles ) that that's their only appearance here . Otherwise , it's a mostly entertaining movie with John Payne providing some excellent physical comedy near the end , Milton Berle being his amusing wisecracking self , Miller playing his great classics with his band before disappearing in a plane during the war after finishing another picture , Sonja Henie as the refugee from Norway doing some pretty good acting for a skater , and Lynn Bari , who while her role as Payne's first love takes a back seat after Henie appears , does the best she can with the material she's given . Love the song she mouthed to in the beginning . Maybe the last skating number by Henie was a bit much but it was still enjoyable . So , all in all , I highly recommend Sun Valley Serenade . P . S . The porter that Berle talked to after Joan Davis ' first appearance was Fred " Snoflake " Toones who I just saw in The Green Pastures . |
454,665 | 11,228,318 | 27,353 | 8 | Betty Boop and the Little King was another entertaining Max Fleischer cartoon | After Van Beuren decided not to renew their contract with King Features Syndicate for their comic strip , " The Little King " , Max and Dave Fleischer decided to try Otto Soglow's creation as a potential star for their series by testing him with their star Betty Boop . Here , his majesty and his queen are at the opera which the king is bored of to death . So he goes further down the street ( where we see the wonderful tabletop 3-D backgrounds the Fleischers were starting to use at this time ) to see Ms . Boop in a cowgirl outfit with horse in tow . In no time at all , the king sells pretzels and performs with Betty and the horse . I'll stop there and say how funny and entertaining this animated short was . The only demerit here is the voice used for this childlike king but that's it . So on that note , I highly recommend Betty Boop and the Little King . |
454,473 | 11,228,318 | 20,767 | 8 | Circus Capers is interesting early sound Aesop's Fables cartoon | If you've read the summary then you pretty much know what happens in Circus Capers . I'd like to comment on some of the animation . At the beginning , there is a group of trombone players whose instruments get elongated as they go forward . Next , there are a couple of elephants who each dance with a tambourine attached to their right legs . After that are a couple of giraffes clog-hopping forward . Then come the main characters : The " Mickey " - like clown and " Minnie " - like bare back rider . As the summary revealed , however , this " Minnie " is a two-timer who deserved what she got in the end ! Good for you , " Mickey " ! This is another Aesop's Fables cartoon produced and directed by John Foster and Harry Bailey after creator Paul Terry left Van Beuren to form Terrytoons . While this is a bit slow moving , it does entertain throughout and has a very satisfying ending when after " Mickey " blew his raspberry to " Minnie " , he moves his head forward for a close-up and winks as we iris out . If you're an animation buff who's interested in seeing early sound cartoons , Circus Capers is well worth checking out ! |
454,672 | 11,228,318 | 46,781 | 8 | Bird-Brain Bird Dog was a pretty hilarious end to M-G-M's Barney Bear theatrical cartoon series | Until Filmation revived him as well as Droopy for their " Tom and Jerry " show on Saturday Mornings on CBS in the ' 80s , this would be the last appearance of Barney Bear anywhere in any cartoon series for a while . Here he's looking for a dog to hunt birds . Unfortunately for him , the dog he bought is a member of a bird lovers club as evidenced by his being surrounded by a cheerful aviary . So when this dog encounters one in the forest , he plots with him to play tricks on Barney who keeps getting shot in the head or butt . Directed by Dick Lundy , this was a very funny way for this M-G-M cartoon series starring this bumbling bear to end . So on that note , I highly recommend Bird-Brain Bird Dog . |
455,085 | 11,228,318 | 282,945 | 8 | The Scoundrel's Wife ( or Home Front ) was a nice regional drama from Louisiana filmmaker Glen Pitre | After checking this out of the East Baton Rouge Parish Library a couple of weeks ago , I finally watched Cut Off native Glen Pitre's The Scoundrel's Wife ( or as printed in the movie proper-Home Front ) with my parents . My dad was bored and left partly through but me and my mom stayed for the whole thing and both enjoyed it . Tatum O'Neal plays Camille Picou , a widow during World War II who's ostracized in her community that's the same as the director's because of something she and her late husband did during the ' 30s . Her teen children Florida ( Lacey Chabert ) and Blue ( Patrick McCullough ) don't find out what until the end . Meanwhile , a doctor from Germany ( Julian Sands ) has arrived and takes care of many other men from there as they arrive from U-boats wounded and sick . That doesn't sit will with many of the residents including a Coast Guard Ensign ( Jack Burwell , played by Eion Bailey who I just found out lost the Batman role to Christian Bale for Batman Begins years ago ) who is under pressure to make an arrest . I'll stop right there and mention that Pitre the director takes enough time with his and wife Michelle Benoit's screenplay to figure out who's with who and how times were in the Pelican State during the early ' 40s . There's also an amusing turn by Tim Curry as the local priest also originally from Germany who likes to drink . Many fine performances abound in this regional drama and besides McCullough who's from Metairie , other Louisiana natives acting in this production are Michael Arata ( Coast Guard Commander ) who was born in New Orleans and John McConnell ( Dance Hall Owner ) who was born in my now hometown of Baton Rouge and has a radio show in New Orleans . Wonderful location shots of Lafourche Parish and Lockport flow through the movie . This is the third movie written by Pitre that I've seen , the others being Belizaire the Cajun and Hurricane on the Bayou which I saw at the IMAX theatre in the Cresent City . For anyone interested in Louisiana period flavor , I highly recommend The Scoundrel's Wife ( a . k . a . Home Front ) . |
455,148 | 11,228,318 | 152,935 | 8 | Teacher's Pest is another fascinating Famous entry from the ' 40s-'50s | I had originally mistaken this for a Baby Huey cartoon since a VHS tape I owned had put this title on it . Now I can say that Teacher's Pest is actually a Famous Studios Noveltoons starring a one-shot character named Junior , a little kid owl with glasses . He mother wakes him for his first day in school . Among his ancestors she shows him are NepOWLean , and Night Owl ( " The Black Owl of the family " ) . On his way , Junior encounters a sleeping wolf . When wolf wakes up , Junior says , " I can't let you eat me right now since I have to go to school . " Wolf gets the idea to switch signs that says " School " on one side and " Wolf's House " on the other . Wolf then disguises his house and himself waiting for the little owl . Junior almost goes the RIGHT way before the wolf grabs him and welcomes him as he prepares his kettle and locks his door . Then he hears the mother knocking ! As she is let in she sees the boiling pot with Junior in it and gets smart . Junior runs but his mom is stuck so he runs back and beats the wolf to a pulp as the cartoon ends with him singing , " Though I'm just starting kindergarten / I'll be graduating soooon " . . . This was a pretty bizarre and hilarious cartoon that may be a little intense for anyone under 6 but should probably provide some ghoulish chuckles for anyone older than that . When I first saw this on a bargain basement VHS tape years ago , I was amazed how good the print actually was ! It actually looked brand new save for some skips in frames during the opening credits . And it had the original Paramount logo instead of the NTA or UM & M logo from other Famous cartoons . That's probably because this came out in 1950 since those other companies I mentioned owned the cartoons that came out before that . Anyway , this is well worth seeing for anyone interested in animation from this studio at this time . P . S . The line " So round , so packed , so fully stacked " heard in many of these vintage cartoons was from the radio commercials for Lucky Strike cigarettes . I'm guessing they provided many laughs from theatrical audiences when these cartoons first came out . |
454,906 | 11,228,318 | 38,057 | 8 | Fritz Lang's Scarlet Street gets a fine performance from Robinson | Scarlet Street was one of the most interesting film noirs for me because of Edward G . Robinson's characterization of a meek man forced into crime instead of his usual tough guys . I loved an early scene he had with co-worker Samuel S . Hinds about inviting him to his house . That set the tone of what a nice man Robinson is here . Then he saves Joan Bennett from an attacker and they have a dinner where he lets her believe he's a wealthy painter instead of a clerk who just celebrated his 25th anniversary at his company with a gift watch . What he doesn't know was that her " attacker " was her boyfriend Dan Duryea who likes to slap her once in awhile . While you can see some twists come a mile away , the performances of the three leads and many of the supporting ones are so compelling that you're with them and director Fritz Lang every step of the way . Writer Dudley Nichols ' dialogue is so snappy with irony that while the whole thing is treated seriously you can't help but laugh at some scenes . I especially liked Durea's " For cat's sake , he's lying " at the end of his cross-examination after hearing Robinson's claiming he " copied " Katherine's ( Bennett ) paintings ! Good performances from the actresses playing Katherine's roommate and Robinson's wife Adele . Well worth seeking for film noir fans . |
454,843 | 11,228,318 | 1,055,790 | 8 | Gnothi Seauton is another pretty exciting episode of " Terminator : The Sarah Connor Chronicles " | Having sent herself and the Connors ahead to 2007 by a computer that was hidden in a bank vault at the end of last week's episode , Cameron , after three days , now tells Sarah about getting new ID's . Sarah and Cameron go to an old friend named Enrique who tells them he's now retired and sends them to his nephew , Carlos . Carlos agrees to make the fake cards for $2000 . Meanwhile , tired of being a " statue " at home , John goes to a mall where he goes on computer to find about events that happened between 1999 and the current time but gets interrupted by an employee there before he finds out about his mother's death of cancer in 2005 . He does find out about Charlie Dixon , Sarah's fiancée , and sneaks into his house where Dixon's pleasantly surprised . John hits him before he can get any closer and leaves . Later , Charlie's wife asks him if he's all right . He says yes but his face reveals otherwise when she leaves . When the Connors and Cameron go to the safe to get the money , they hear footsteps . It's the " teacher " terminator from the previous episode ! They escape . After paying the money and getting their ID's , Sarah , knowing Spanish , overhears Carlos reveal his uncle as a rat . She goes back to Enrique who tells her he did not betray her . While she pointed her gun , it's Cameron who shoots from behind as Sarah cries over Enrique's dead body . It's later revealed from an FBI hidden recording that he lied to Sarah . . . Another exciting episode of " TTSCC " . Loved seeing Cameron do exact movements and attitude of a lady next to her as she stood outside while Sarah was dealing with Carlos . Also cool seeing her get knocked out by a car and thrown outside a window several stories down and then get back up several seconds later as if nothing happened ! And finding out that the wife of Charlie was also Penny of " Lost " from a TV Guide blog was another thing that was awesome ! Both episodes , while having some action , were slow in plot pace but next weeks preview shows the program should up the excitement considerably . So until next time . . . Update / 08-Correction : The terminator after the Connors and Cameron at the safe was not the teacher from the previous episode ( he was still in his skeletal phase with his head missing which he recovered here ) but a different one entirely . If the two out of five that didn't find my comment useful was because of that mistake , I now stand corrected . |
453,928 | 11,228,318 | 1,055,791 | 8 | The Turk is another compelling episode of " Terminator : The Sarah Connor Chronicles " | While Cameron and John arrive for their first day in their new high school , they encounter a metal detector . After the third beep for Cameron each time she enters , John explains she has a large metal plate on her head so she's now let through without incident . Meanwhile , Sarah visits Mrs . Dyson as she visits her late husband , Miles ' , grave . Miles was responsible for creating Skynet that made the machines that destroyed the world in the future . He had also destroyed it in T2 . Sarah shows the widow some pictures . She recognizes one of them as an Andy who was an intern there . He now works in a cell phone store . When Sarah buys something there , he asks her out for dinner . After some hesitation , she accepts . At his house , among the items is a poster with the familiar robot hand playing chess . Andy explains that this robot is so advanced it has yet to be defeated by any human ! Elsewhere , the FBI agent has a female partner to contend with . Back at school , Cameron encounters some mean girls and after they leave overhears another girl crying about being insulted by some nasty things supposedly written about her on various doors and walls . After she leaves , Cameron tells John just before they find a crowd outside waiting for someone to jump off the school roof . It's the crying girl ! Unfortunately , it's too late to save her . Oh , and the terminator left for dead in the pilot episode manages , in heavily covered clothing , to write a math solution on a board of a scientist who agrees to help him try to solve it . That terminator already has the blood that's needed . . . Okay , while I've provided many of the plot points , I don't want to reveal too much if you want to be surprised by how it's going to end . I do like many of the humor that concerns the cyborg Cameron like her appearance in underwear at the beginning and Sarah's telling her not to kiss her " or anyone else " . Her encounters with the mean girls was also funny . There's also some grossly cool images at the end and I loved Sarah's final line in narration , " Now we are all sons of bitches ! " in quoting one of the atomic scientists from the ' 40s . Nice exposition episode . Should be even more exciting two weeks from now ! Until next time . . . P . S . The agent's partner is played by Catherine Dent , a native of the city I live in , Baton Rouge , La . , who I first saw as the Texas waitress in Steven Spielberg's mini-series , " Taken " . |
454,697 | 11,228,318 | 82,533 | 8 | Joe Dante's The Howling has plenty of scares throughout | Earlier this week , I saw An American Werewolf in London in its entirety for the first time in my life . Now I just saw another werewolf movie from 1981 from beginning to end in my first viewing : The Howling . With direction from Joe Dante and a script co-written by John Sayles , this flick was almost as awesome as the John Landis ' England-based comedy-horror pic . Dee Wallace , who would later be better known as the mother in E . T . , is fine as the television reporter who is recovering from an unpleasant encounter with a serial killer as she and her husband ( Christopher Stone ) take in a retreat in the woods with a community waiting there for them . Many effective werewolf transformation scenes abound although some may take so long that you want to laugh after a while . Still , good support from Robert Picardo , Dennis Dugan , Kevin McCarthy , Slim Pickens , Patrick Macnee , John Carradine , and in cameos , Roger Corman , Sayles , Forrest J . Ackerman , and frequent Dante regular Dick Miller as Walter Paisley , a name he first used in Corman's A Bucket of Blood . Great use of scares throughout up to the ironic finale . So give The Howling a try with maybe An American Werewolf in London as its second feature . . . P . S . Like AWIL , there's references to The Wolf Man with clips shown on a television screen and a picture of Lon Chaney , Jr . in a cabin somewhere . |
454,511 | 11,228,318 | 1,055,796 | 8 | Vick's Chip is an interesting appetizer of " Terminator : The Sarah Conor Chronicles " for the next and last episode of the season | This episode , Vick's Chip , was the first of a two-hour season finale to air . Derek finds the chip that Cameron took from the Terminator leaving Sarah and John expressing doubts about her intentions . Cameron declares she just wanted to find info about Vick that may provide more clues about how to destroy Skynet . So John watches on his computer screen the POV from Vick concerning his wife Barbara who was an employer in charge of a traffic system that led to the Skynet's creation . Since Barbara is later seen on the chip recording as being murdered , Sarah orders for her body's search in the woods . The corpse found there is not her but someone else who was against the renovations . Sarah and Derek go underground to try to sabotage the traffic lights but are caught by cops so they run for their lives . Later , Derek and John take Cameron's chip to the traffic source and successfully cause a jam delaying any possibility for Skynet to form . Oh , two more things here : Sarah reveals to Derek that she knows he murdered Andy and if he lies to her again she'll kill him and Cromartie , still disguised as an FBI agent named Laslo , is diverted in his search for John Connor by Cameron using John's friend as the one who identifies himself as his alias name . . . Pretty good if not great episode of " Terminator : The Sarah Connor Chronicles " that provided a nice backstory about this Vick and his attempts to get what he was ordered for before killing his " wife " when all was accomplished . Interesting contrast between Sarah who worries about people dying for their causes and Cameron who dismisses the corpse in the woods as " meat and bones " . With that , let's go on the the next episode . . . |
454,725 | 11,228,318 | 756,729 | 8 | Molly Shannon does a nice dramatic turn in Year of the Dog | Year of the Dog was one of two movies ( the other was The Black Book ) I chose to see at the about-to-close Regal Entertainment Group's ( previously United Aritsts ' ) Siegen Village 10 Theatre in Baton Rouge , La . , on its last day of operation of June 7 , 2007 . I went to the 1 : 45pm showing which had about maybe 7 or so people in attendance . What I saw was an interesting indie about a middle-age woman's emergence as an animal activist after the unfortunate death of her beloved dog , Pencil . Molly Shannon , best known for her comedic talents on SNL , brings a melancholy depth to her sad sack character as she grows out of her skin into a different person despite friends like Regina King and Laura Dern wanting her to stay the same . John C . Reilly is the next door neighbor who briefly dates Shannon after the dog's death . And Peter Sarsgaard is the dog trainer who gives Molly a new dog and helps her handle him . While all of the above characters have some amusing quirks only King and Reilly provide some genuine laughs . Shannon truly shows some dramatic chops here in the way she changes from meek to brave in the space of the more-than-90-minute running time . Reilly's change in what we perceive of him is one of the most funny scenes in the movie . It is refreshing to see Sarsgaard in a role different from his villainous role in Flight Plan ( I've also seen him host SNL ) . The pacing may be slow for some tastes but I liked it just fine . Not perfect but a compelling effort from writer / director Mike White . |
454,523 | 11,228,318 | 1,091,293 | 8 | Sixth episode of " The Big Band Theory " makes the show get better | As Leonard , Sheldon , Wolowitz ( Simon Helberg ) , and Koothrappali ( Kunal Nayyar ) go to their apartment after playing paint-ball , Penny invites them to her costume party . Before that begins , they all prepare dressing as The Flash . Since no one wants to look alike , Leonard dresses as Frodo , Koothrappali as Thor , Wolowitz as Robin Hood ( though he keeps getting mistakenly identified as Peter Pan ) , and Sheldon as the Doppler Effect ( though some think he's a zebra ) . While the party starts at 7 and they arrive at 7 : 05 , Penny tells them no one really arrives on time . As the night goes on , they still haven't talked to anybody else so they all , well at least Wolowitz and Koothrappali , separate while Sheldon and Leonard stick to each other . They find Penny talking to her old boyfriend so Leonard cuts in with his friend in tow . The ex and Leonard exchange words that threatens to become heated but Penny manages to put a stop to that . Later when drunk , Penny plants a big one on Leonard and confesses she thought her ex had changed . Leonard , not wanting to take advantage of Penny's condition , lets her go . Meanwhile , Koothrappali , who normally has trouble talking to a woman , gets lucky with someone who thinks he's a good listener ! . . . Another funny episode and it's nice to see L and S's friends have almost equal status in this Halloween special . With " The Big Bang Theory " getting better with each episode , I'm glad CBS gave this a full-season order . Will review again next week . . . |
454,063 | 11,228,318 | 1,091,292 | 8 | Fifth episode of " The Big Bang Theory " is another funny outing | Leonard , Sheldon , and their two friends are at Penny's restaurant playing a game that mixes Civil War generals with various sci-fi heroes . Penny tells them they have to order something or they'll get thrown out . Leslie , Leonard's lab partner , comes by and asks if he'll agree to play cello for her music group . He agrees . Once there , Leslie has to make obvious what her intentions are so Leonard doesn't get confused . Meanwhile , Sheldon asks Penny over to his place in order to get her to tell him what the tie on Leonard's door with music playing inside means . With Penny now knowing about Leonard and Leslie , Leonard makes his move on Leslie but she tells him she won't be available to him " until at least New Year's " . So a relationship is over before it really began . . . Another funny episode of " The Big Bang Theory " with the welcome return of Sara Gilbert as Leslie . Many funny double-entendres abound . Most of the best lines , as usual , come from Sheldon . Glad to know this show is doing well for the CBS Monday lineup . Will post another review next week . . . |
453,983 | 11,228,318 | 655,428 | 8 | Jack Frost is another funny episode of " Mystery Science Theater 3000 " | Okay , I just finished watching this American-dubbed version of the Russian-Finnish Jack Frost on " Mystery Science Theater 3000 " on YouTube . The girl playing Nastenka was quite beautiful and is obviously the " Cinderella " character here but I thought this film was about Jack Frost , you know , the title character who doesn't even appear until the movie's almost over ? Good thing Mike and the ' bots are there to make fun of every boring and / or confusing scene that occurs . Too many riffs to mention here but there were several references to the " It's " character on " Monty Python's Flying Circus " including when we see a bunch of bearded men , " . . . a bunch of Michael Palin impersonators ! " LOL ! There's also a Yogi Bear reference concerning a bear character ( " . . . pic-nic basket . " ) and one of three famous fictional pigs ( " Wilbur ! Gordy ! Babe ! " ) when we see three such-looking animals being led on a leash . Also loved hearing Mike imitate the " Benny Hill Show " theme when trees start running in under-cranked speed . The film itself actually looked beautiful ( when it didn't get blurry ) so I'm thinking the original unedited version in its native language was probably artistically superior but this American-dubbed one does seem cheesy much of the time . Not all of the riffs were hilarious but there weren't too much dead spots either so , once again , this was another nearly excellent episode of " MST3K " . |
453,922 | 11,228,318 | 18,678 | 8 | The Battle of the Sexes is a departure from D . W . Griffith's usual fare | After years of doing period dramas like Broken Blossoms , Way Down East , and Orphans of the Storm , D . W . Griffith takes us to present day 20s with The Battle of the Sexes . A young blond curly-haired woman ( Phyllis Haver ) flirts with a married real estate developer ( Jean Hersholt ) in order to get some bonds from him . The developer had just celebrated his wife's ( Belle Bennett ) birthday with his teenage son ( William Bakewell ) and daughter ( Sally O'Neil ) . He tells his family he's working late . The children and mother decide to go to a nightclub . They catch their father with the blond woman inside said nightclub but leave before father catches them . Wife confronts husband about affair . They separate . Daughter later overhears blond woman talking to friend about how she only cares about father's money . I'll stop right here and just tell you how Griffith affectedly puts humor in some scenes like the father's attempts to lose weight , or the blond woman's attempt to attract father by positioning her shirt to show more cleavage . There's also a touching mother's birthday scene at the beginning , and near the end great scenes involving confrontations between father and daughter and blond woman and her real paramour ( Don Alvarado ) . If you only know Griffith as the director of the racist The Birth of a Nation , this is as far from that movie as you get from him . For D . W . Griffith completists and silent movie fans , I highly recommend you seek this one out ! |
454,821 | 11,228,318 | 1,035,917 | 8 | Second episode of " Chuck " improves on the first | With this , the second episode of " Chuck " , the title character tries to keep a normal facade despite his now-frequent computer images planted in his brain . Agent Sarah now works at the Weinerlicious fast-food place next door in order to keep tabs on him . Agent John from another agency not associated with Sarah , now a co-worker with Chuck and his friend Morgan at Buy More , constantly warns him to stay away from her . A scientist contacted by both agents offers to examine Chuck's brain and later agrees to remove those images . As the doctor eventually drives away , an explosion happens . . . I'll stop right there and mention that the continuity from last week seemed almost seamless . I liked most everything that happened this episode like when a lot of young boys suddenly check into Weinerlicious to check out Sarah or the fights between her and John . And to see Ellie's boyfriend " Captain Awesome " get a first name , Devon . And how about Chuck's handling the helicopter finale ! Many good stuff here though I found the dinner scene a little uncomfortable and perhaps too contrived for my tastes . And next week should be even more exciting with Chuck on his first official assignment . Hope the ratings are strong enough for NBC to keep " Chuck " going for the entire season . |
453,763 | 11,228,318 | 36,046 | 8 | Isle of Forgotten Sins is a rousing low budget adventure from Edgar G . Ulmer | Isle of Forgotten Sins is one of those rarities I discovered at my local library . In this case , this was one of Edgar G . Ulmer's low-budget poverty row pictures he made for PRC . John Carradine and Frank Fenton are rivals for gambling club owner Gale Sondergaard but they put aside their differences for a chance to get sunken treasure . Ms . Sondergarrd and her girls ( which includes a crafty Veda Ann Borg ) come along but all of them seem to be pawns for Sidney " Charlie Chan " Toler and his partner Rick Vallin . Also briefly appearing is Bill Edmonds-Mr . Martini in It's a Wonderful Life-as the island chief . Enjoyably and breezily fast-paced ( whenever possible ) B-movie that benefits from Ulmer's expert direction and a suitable underscore by Leo Erdody ( who like me was born in Chicago , Ill . ) mixed in with some public domain classical music . The composer is billed by his last name here . If there's some quibble , it's how some scenes obviously reveal how some boat scenes use a toy model and the underwater ones reveal the diving suit , which is also a small plaything , being manipulated . Otherwise , great fun with even some singing from one of the girls not marring the storyline too much . |
454,861 | 11,228,318 | 1,035,922 | 8 | Chuck Verses the Alma Mater is another very good episode of " Chuck " | Ever since he got kicked out of Stanford , Chuck has been hesitant about going back there . So much so that he doesn't want to investigate his former professor who falsely accused him of cheating on his tests or see a football game with Awesome and his former frat buddies . But a library book - " The Fall of the Roman Empire " - from there that he has yet to return provides some numbers on the spine that Chuck figures plays into the case so he reluctantly goes . Meanwhile , at Buy More , Morgan plots to have new assistant manager Tang be less of a control freak . . . A very good episode of " Chuck " that explores , via flashbacks , his relationship with late roommate Brice and why he betrayed him in the end . Also loved the ways Chuck got to communicate with many so many college CIA recruits with a simple phrase on his cell as well as that Asian girl from Buy More brutally sexually teasing of Tang in order to get his keys . " Chuck " just keeps getting better with each episode ! Note : this being the week that NBC promotes the environmental uses of green , there's some mention and scenes of it during the pep rally and from Tang and a PSA during the show with Morgan and Casey . |
455,147 | 11,228,318 | 1,035,920 | 8 | Chuck Verses the Sizzling Shrimp is a very good episode of " Chuck " | As Chuck , sister Ellie , and Morgan go out on the town to a restaurant in Chinatown , Chuck sees an Asian woman that reveals to his computer brain that she plans to kill someone . Later , while Sarah and Casey try to stop her , Chuck sees the man that the woman plans to kill get out on his wheelchair . He helps him to his limousine just as that woman comes out and sees her tied-up brother taken to the trunk of the car . Chuck inadvertently allowed the villain to escape ! He vows to help her get her brother back with reluctant assistance from Sarah and Casey . Meanwhile , Ellie wonders why Chuck doesn't show up for " October Mother's Day " ( won't explain it here ) and Morgan is desperate to keep his job at Buy More . . . Lots of references to classic movies with my favorite line being the Star Wars one : " Help me , Charles Bartowski , you're my only hope ! " from Morgan . The wheelchair man named Lo Pan also appeared in Big Trouble in Little China with that name . Loved the way Morgan got some good scenes like when he seemed to help a beautiful lady customer who in turn offered her number then asked for it back when his fellow Buy More workers embarrassed him by saying not-so-good things about him . Or the one when he and Ellie bonded over Chuck's absences . And then there's the Buy More manager who , since Morgan's the Hispanic employee , says , " If you had quit , Afirmative Action would have been all over me . " This is the most smoothly run episode of " Chuck " yet ! Hope the ratings are good enough for NBC to give this series a full-season pickup . . . |
453,978 | 11,228,318 | 461,770 | 8 | Enchanted is a nice parody / tribute to fairy tales from Walt Disney Pictures | Walt Disney Pictures ' original animated / live-action musical comedy Enchanted is a mostly wonderful tribute / parody of various fairy tale films that made the company the most enchanting for family entertainment . Amy Adams is simply luminous as Giselle , the maiden who finds herself caught between James Marsden's Prince Edward from her animated life and Patrick Dempsey's Robert Phillip in the real New York one . Also featuring Susan Sarandon as the evil Queen Narissa and Timothy Spall as Nathaniel , her henchman . Then there's the chipmunk Pip , voiced by Jeff Bennett in Andalasia and the director Kevin Lima in New York when Pip can only communicate in chipmunk sounds . Finally , there's Idina Menzel as Robert's fiancée , Nancy , and six-year-old Rachel Covey as his daughter , Morgan . All players I've mentioned contribute wonderfully to this movie that lives up to its title . My favorite sequences , however , both involve Giselle when she sings her heart out in New York . The first involves when she calls to some animals to help clean Robert's apartment when he's gone and many of them are rats and roaches ! Then at Central Park when she starts singing to Robert about finding true love , he at first tells her to just keep walking then she encounters some Calypso musicians and they start joining in and then just everyone within walking distance do the same . Well , except Robert who insists he can't sing or dance ! The songs by Disney veterans Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz move along at a breezy pace . Also nice to see previous animated Disney princesses Jodi Benson ( Ariel ) , Paige O'Hara ( Belle ) , and Judy Kuhn ( Pocohantas ) make cameo appearances and to hear Julie Andrews herself narrate . All in all , Enchanted is another Disney movie that should be entertaining enough for all ages who want that feel-good happy ending with some clever satire that makes , in the words of Andrews ' Mary Poppins character from that Disney picture , " the medicine go down " . |
455,209 | 11,228,318 | 9,996 | 8 | Winsor McCay's The Centaurs is fascinating even in fragments | I saw three versions of this on YouTube ( as linked from Google Video ) . One of them had a heavy metal score that seemed WAY unsuitable . Beautiful images of the forest and the half human-half horse figures that still makes one take his / her breath away some 86 years later . Would be nice to see if any other fragments have survived of this most fascinating film from the father of animation , Winsor McCay . As it is , it's still interesting to watch a young centaur couple try to get the approval of the older one and then have have a young boy who says " thank you " at the end . And thank you , Mr . McCay for all your contributions to the art of animation . |
454,085 | 11,228,318 | 75,066 | 8 | The Pink Panther Strikes Again is another hilarious Inspector Clouseau comedy | For once , here's a Pink Panther movie that follows the continuity of the previous one as former Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus ( Herbert Lom , as always ) is still at the mental institution that he was committed to in The Return of the Pink Panther . It's now three years later and he's due to get out . Then Clouseau ( once again , Peter Sellers ) arrives . Guess what happens . The set pieces that follow are at their absolute hilarious best and while this movie entry of the series does seem more fantasy laden than others , it still has somewhat of a believable premise . Also great to once again see Francois ( Andre Maranne ) and especially Cato ( Burt Kwouk ) and to see Graham Stark as a hotel clerk who does the old " Does your dog bite ? " joke with Sellers to once again hilarious effect . This Pink Panther movie may be a little more dated than the others since there are depictions of then-President Ford ( Dick Crockett ) and then-Secretary of State Kissinger ( Byron Kane ) though it seems fitting that Ford is here since he has a reputation for doing falls ( which Crockett does here ) especially considering Chevy Chase's portrayal of him on " Saturday Night Live " during this time . One of the assassins is played by Omar Sharif-famous for Dr . Zhivago-and when a sexy spy played by Lesley-Anne Down mistakes him for Clouseau when sleeping with him in the dark , she falls for him when the real detective shows later ! Wonder if Sellers was really turned on when he saw Ms . Down's nude body like that because I certainly was ( and I wish I could have actually seen it ) ! Ditto goes for that bedroom scene at the end though it's unfortunate what happened afterwards ! Oh , and during Henry Mancini's theme on the animated opening credit sequence from Richard Williams Studio , we see The Inspector watching on a movie screen various classic movie scenes that all end with the Pink Panther being unmasked on them ! One of which happens to be " The Hills Are Alive " sequence from The Sound of Music that happened to star director Blake Edwards ' wife , Julie Andrews ! The end cartoon spoofs a more recent movie blockbuster that must have had the cinema audience at the time in stitches ! Nothing more to say except I highly recommend The Pink Panther Strikes Again . Next up , Revenge of the Pink Panther . . . |
453,790 | 11,228,318 | 62,353 | 8 | What on Earth ! was a nice satirical animated short from The National Film Board of Canada | Just watched this Oscar-nominated animated short on YouTube . Presented by " The National Film Board of Mars " , What on Earth ! has a narrator telling the Mars audience about the life there is on Earth that feeds on a pump of gas . It seems he's referring to the cars that dominate the highway . We also find out about the " Earthling " s " retirement " parking place and how they " reproduce " . And then there are those " parasites " ( humans ) that inhabit these " Earthlings " . . . This satirical animated short from The National Film Board of Canada hits the mark of how the Mars people think the cars are the living creatures since the road is dominated by them . And considering how there hasn't been any evidence of actual life on the red planet yet , there's no chance of anyone there being offended by the material here . So on that note , I cautiously recommend What on Earth ! |
454,775 | 11,228,318 | 40,361 | 8 | The Foghorn Leghorn is a classic starring the loud-mouth rooster | Once again , Henery Hawk is looking for a chicken to catch and once again , he doesn't know what a chicken looks like . When he sees his father looking at Foghorn Leghorn , the father , because he doesn't like his son tagging along , tells him he's not a chicken but a " snook " . Supposedly because his ego is deflated , Foghorn keeps trying to convince Henery he really is a chicken . Of course , there's also the Barnyard Dog he has to deal with . . . Seeing the Southern rooster make some awful puns always gets a smile from me and occasionally even a laugh and it's always great to see him and the Barnyard Dog play tricks on each other . While Henery also provides some amusement , I was glad when he was eventually jettisoned for some other supporting characters like Prissy and her intellectual son . Anyway , The Foghorn Leghorn is another classic from the Robert McKimson unit . |
454,750 | 11,228,318 | 909,393 | 8 | Black Tie is another funny episode of 30 Rock | While Liz and her staff are improvising " Yo Mama " jokes , Jack invites her to a prince's ball . He insists it's not a date . Liz accepts . Jenna finds out and asks if she can come . Liz declines . After hearing Pete talking to his kids on the phone , Tracy tries to get him to loosen up by bringing his " homies " to him . At the ball , Liz finds Jenna who got in by showing the guards one of her breasts . Jack finds his ex-wife there too . The prince is handicapped with legs that need fluids . I'll stop right there and just tell you this was one of the funnier episodes this season of this freshman comedy series . Great guest turns by Isabella Rossellini , Paul Reubens , and SNL cast member Will Forte . Tina Fey's reactions are some of the best in this episode . Jane Krakowski as Jenna is hilarious . And Scott Adsit's Pete finally has a story of his own in the series . Once again , to anyone who has not yet watched this show , I highly recommended it . |
454,908 | 11,228,318 | 972,117 | 8 | Rainn Wilson / Arcade Fire is one of the better SNL episodes | The cold opening of this February 24 , 2007 edition takes us to CNN where Wolf Blitzer ( Darrell Hammond ) is reporting on the Iraq War . The crawl at the bottom , however , keeps wanting to report on the Anna Nicole Smith case . " Anna ! Anna ! Anna ! " the crawl keeps saying as it moves . Ms . Smith's face then keeps appearing in place of Blitzer's who is now moving with the crawl as he says , " Stop ! " Rainn Wilson then appears with two fake Smith reports , the second time as he gets held up by a cameraman ! After cutting in to Larry King ( Fred Armisen ) , Hammond says , " Live From New York , It's Saturday Night ! " Wilson comes on stage and shows around the studio which suddenly turns into a parody of his series " The Office " with Kirsten Wiig looking and acting like Pam , Jason Sudeikis as Jim , Keenan Thompson as Stanley , Amy Poehler as Angela ( Wilson at this point hilariously becomes Dwight ) and producer Lorne Michaels doing Michael complete with " World's Funniest Boss " cup . Rashida Jones also appears as her character , Karen , from the series . First sketch after that has four men ( Wilson , Sudeikis , Bill Hader , and Will Forte ) at a bar listening to Loggin and Messina's " Everything's Gonna Be Alright " and recounting increasingly bizarre tales of what happened when they first heard that song . Wilson's tops them all when he mentions having anonymous sex in a bathroom and having " pee coming out of the other guy's ear " as the song was playing in the intercom . It ends in Pulp Fiction style with all four sticking up the bar . An SNL Digital Short has Rainn as an executive trying to cut corners with an increasingly bizarre group meeting with characters like invisible man and sub sandwich . Even Arcade Fire gets in the act ! The building their all in then gets demolished . Next is the Nuni sketch with Wilson and Wiig playing a magazine staff encountering a toast chair with mayonnaise , a disco ball chair that keeps spinning , and son Andy Samberg's cotton candy hair , beard , and lower body ! Yikes ! Then there's a police room ID sketch with Poehler and Mya Rudolph as the detectives trying to get peeper Wilson to find a criminal . He keeps asking to make more like he's peeping to no avail . In the end , Amy and Mya kiss while peeper watches behind a locked door . . . Next , Arcade Fire performs " Intervention " ending with a Pete Townshend-like guitar smashing finish . On Weekend Update , Amy mentions , " The British are leaving , The British are leaving ! " upon news they're taken out of Iraq . Judge Larry Sedlin ( Armisen ) cries about getting no respect . Prince William ( Andy Samberg ) vomits after finding out what fighting a war is about causing Seth to ad-lib " This always happens when Andy Samberg , uh , I mean Prince William comes here . " Following that three office workers ( Wiig , Forte , Wilson ) blandly discuss various oddities involving sex , drugs , and crime . We then get a commercial parody of Black Snake Moan with Keenan and Rainn . Next , a New Age music group trying to beat Eyna for the next award without falling apart . Finally , Arcade Fire performs " Keep the Car Running . " Most of the sketches worked because of Wilson's presence as he kept performing to the best of whatever character's ability . This was one of the better shows of the season . My favorite was " The Office " parody . Come back , Rainn , when you're next available . |
454,215 | 11,228,318 | 839,995 | 8 | Richard Donner's cut of Superman II was mostly an improvement on the previous Richard Lester one | While I remember enjoying Superman II when I was a young teen in 1981 and the way Richard Lester directed most of it , I was a little ecstatic to finally see this Richard Donner cut or what most of his version might have been . Certainly the way Margot Kidder was figuring out Clark Kent's true identity in this version was way more believable here with the way she kept edging on Christopher Reeve's character constantly after drawing a suit on Supes ' picture in the Daily Planet than the one in Lester's cut when she suddenly had an epiphany after just seeing him without his glasses . And seeing Marlon Brando here as Jor-El was better use than seeing Susannah York as Lara in the previous one . I think I would've preferred seeing Lois continue to deal with her knowing Superman's secret identity than use that " turn back time spinning the world " crap again . That certainly makes Clark's revenge against that bully less satisfying . I also remember the ABC network version that had some deleted scenes that were included in that version such as Gene Hackman's Lex getting arrested at the Fortress of Solutude instead of just being left there by Lois and Superman or Clark the next day at the Daily Planet bumping into a man who tells him to " try sleeping a little bit more , buster ! " that are in the Deleted Scenes section of this disc and one more scene of a boy riding a horse getting killed by Ursa as she throws something at him as she says , " He'll never be a man ! " that isn't . The first two slows the movie somewhat but the last one defines how evil the villains really are . Oh , and as a " Cheers " and James Bond fan , I was pleasantly surprised to see John Ratzenberger as a NASA operator and Clifton James as a sheriff ( probably the same one from Live and Let Die and The Man with the Golden Gun ! ) . So for the most part , I loved Superman II : The Richard Donner Cut . P . S . One more interesting note between the Donner and Lester versions : In the previous one , Lois sleeps with Superman after he becomes normal while in this one Superman does it with her before that . |
454,125 | 11,228,318 | 27,446 | 8 | Christmas Comes But Once a Year is a wonderful Fleischer Color Classic | You can tell a Max Fleischer cartoon by some of the backgrounds having a 3-D effect such as in Christmas Comes But Once a Year having a realistic looking exterior of an orphanage or the fluorescent umbrella Christmas tree at the end . In between those two images , we see the orphans getting presents that break down causing them to do the same . Grampy from the Betty Boop cartoons ( and his only appearance in color ) overhears the commotion and comes in to cheer them up by taking various appliances inside and making various toys out of them . He then dresses up as Santa and brings joy to them all . The end . For any lover of Fleischer , Christmas , and vintage animation , I highly recommend Christmas Comes But Once a Year . |
454,137 | 11,228,318 | 969,961 | 8 | Songs from the Labyrinth marks Sting's foray into centuries-old music | This special from PBS chronicles Sting's playing , performing , and recording the music of one John Dowland , a songwriter and musician from the 16th century . To perform the songs as they sounded then , Sting plays the lute and collaborates with Edin Karamazov , an expert on Dowland's music . We also get biographical information from a couple of historians , David Pinto and Anthony Rooley . And , yes , Sting performs throughout , either for an audience or in a yard somewhere . Near the end , he also gets a chorus with him . While I found most of the special fascinating , I was a little frustrated that I couldn't understand everything Sting was singing perhaps because the English language was slightly different then or maybe I am not too familiar with the songs to really decipher the meanings behind the words or feelings being described . Nevertheless , the special and the music was compelling and maybe I'll get the CD . |
454,935 | 11,228,318 | 20,678 | 8 | Below Zero is one of the early talkie Laurel and Hardy shorts | In this one , the boys are musicians who have trouble attracting customers for two hours . After they decide to move , Ollie finds out why when he looks at the building's name . At their next stop , one woman pays a dollar to " move a couple of streets " while others throw snowballs . Then there's a real large woman who puts a kibosh on the whole thing by throwing the instruments in the street . So with no means of getting paid , Stan discovers a wallet on the ground . Before a thug threatens to take that away from them , a cop arrests him and gets offered dinner from the grateful boys . I'll stop there and mention that with this being in the early talkie era , there's a minimum of dialogue between Laurel and Hardy as most of their humor is still visual with the gradual slapstick building in fine form throughout the first 10 minutes before the more dramatic part with the cop comes in . But there's one freak ending that Stan especially is fond of that ends this short hilariously . So on that note , I highly recommend Below Zero . P . S . Look for L & H regulars Blanche Payson , Tiny Sandford , Baldwin Cooke and Charlie Hall in their supporting parts . |
454,194 | 11,228,318 | 22,714 | 8 | Bosko's Party is a very entertaining Bosko short | I'm with the previous reviewer , this was a very entertaining short with plenty of gags and the wonderful musical number , " Suger , That's What I'll Name You " as sung by Honey . Loved the cat trying to get out of that flowerpot . Or the pig being too large to hide under the bed until Bosko takes a pin and " deflates " him enough to let him lower the bed . Or Honey getting dressed , recognizing the audience , hiding behind something as a mirror reflection still allows us to see her . Or the dog in the aquarium chased by Bosko . That dog is the same one that appears at the end with Bosko while he's saying , " That's all , folks ! " while the dog is barking . Is he a precursor to Bruno ? Anyway , worth a look for anyone looking for early Warner Bros . animation . |
454,246 | 11,228,318 | 39,088 | 9 | A Christmas Dream or Vanocni sen is a wonderful holiday short from Czechoslovakia | Just watched on YouTube as linked from Matinée at the Bijou this vintage live action / puppet animation short from the Czech Republic called A Christmas Dream here in the U . S . A little girl throws away her old rag doll after getting some new presents . Santa appears to get the girl dreaming about her old doll dancing , playing the piano , sliding on it , and getting a large fan to create a strong gust wind that threatens to create havoc but the girl and the doll manages to put a stop to that . Seeing the doll and a few other toys come to life is the charm of this short especially when the live action girl reacts most enthusiastically . The directors were the brother ( I think ) team of Karel and Borivoj Zeman . They seemed to be channeling George Pal when making this . So with all that in mind , I highly recommend A Christmas Dream or as it's known in its native language , Vanocni sen . |
455,099 | 11,228,318 | 403,017 | 9 | Fast Food Matador is spicily musical in tone | We begin in an abstract version of New York ( with an abstract version of the destroyed World Trade Center ) . Then we start hearing Latin-flavored music with a female group singing of a man surviving traffic like a bullfighter to deliver food to customers . They also sing about a bull driving a car and trying to defeat matador . Like I said , very abstract but highly entertaining . Very worthy entry in Volume 5 of The International Tournee of Animation . At the end is a disclaimer about how bullfighting is illegal in the US and that no bull was harmed during the making of film . For fans of musical animated shorts , I definitely recommend you seek this one out ! |
454,771 | 11,228,318 | 427,327 | 9 | Hairspray is one of the most enjoyable movies I've seen this year so far | I tried to see this movie last week with my friend but it was sold out for the showing we went for so we ended up seeing I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry instead ( I gave that movie 6 stars for some good humor and mostly positive message concerning gays though I was turned off by some of the homophobia and Rob Schneider's Asian stereotyped character ) . Having seen Hairspray just hours ago , I have to say : This is one of the most entertaining movies I've seen this year so far ! Everyone in this cast deserves praise : John Travolta ( mostly successful as Edna Turnblad with her swaying hips and speaking voice , though it's obviously a male doing the singing on the songs . Dosen't matter , it's still enjoyable ) , Michelle Pfeiffer ( perfect as the ice-cold beauty who can't let go of her past ) , Christopher Walken ( always good to see him dance , which I've enjoyed since watching him on " Saturday Night Live " ) , Zac Efron , James Marsden ( a hoot as Corny Collins and now the second X-Man-after Hugh Jackman-who has great vocals ) , Amanda Bynes , Elijah Kelley , Queen Latifah ( Loved her in Chicago , love her here ) , Brittany Snow ( perfect contrast from one ' 60s dance role of Meg Pryor on " American Dreams " to here as Amber Von Tussle ) , Allison Janney , and , in her very first performance on film , Nikki Blondsky as social crusading optimistic dancer Tracy Turnblad . From " Good Morning Baltimore " to " You Can't Stop the Beat " , the music never stops completely and it keeps the energy going even through something as serious as a protest march which is handled well by Queen Latifah and her number ( " I Know Where I've Been " ) here . Both my friend and I enjoyed this movie so much , we both rated it a 9 . P . S . Loved the cameos by original movie Hairspray participants Jerry Stiller , Rikki Lake , and , especially , original writer / director John Waters . |
454,630 | 11,228,318 | 1,339,246 | 9 | The 31st Annual Kennedy Center Honors was a very classy awards show | Just finished watching this annual awards special which had the following honorees : actor Morgan Freeman , choreographer Twyla Tharp , surviving Who members Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend , Country music singer George Jones , and singer / actress / director Barbra Streisand . Let me first mention some disappointments : When Denzel Washington mentions a " children's show " that Morgan appeared on in the ' 70s ( and they show a clip of ) , he neglected to mention the title : " The Electric Company " which entertained many children like myself when it aired on PBS from 1971-77 . Also , he didn't mention the first movie that got Freeman critical acclaim as well as his first Oscar nomination : Street Smart . Maybe that's because he played a pimp on that one . Not exactly the kind of role that inspires the American Dream . Also , The Who's musical tribute seemed too short to me especially compared to that of George Jones . That said , all the tributes were wonderful . I especially loved the NY police and firemen who survived singing the " teenage wasteland " line from " Baba O'Riley " back to Daltrey and Townshend . And how hilarious was Jack Black's speech at the beginning of their tribute ! And how wonderful were Kelli O'Hara and Nathan Gunn when they sang " Somewhere " in the Streisand tribute . And while I'm not really a Country music fan , I did enjoy Laura Bush's beginning speech and the musical tribute that followed . Finally , the couple that danced the " Sinatra Suite " - which played the entire recordings of " Strangers in the Night " , " That's Life " , and " My Way " - in Ms . Tharp's tribute were class exemplified . The same goes , as always , to host Caroline Kennedy . On that note , I salute all the 2008 Kennedy Center honorees . |
454,972 | 11,228,318 | 30,604 | 9 | While Porky in Wackyland was the original , I sort of like Dough for the Do-Do better | Having now watched Porky in Wackyland on YouTube months after seeing it's almost shot-for-shot identical remake , Dough for the Do-Do , on the first Looney Tunes Collection DVD , I have to admit : I sort of liked the remake better . There are two main reasons for this : the later color version had the " rubber band " sequence that was the most hilarious part of that version and it ended with Porky taking " the last of the Do-Dos " with him with the hundreds of other similar creatures saying " Yep , he got the last of the Do-Dos " and dancing their crazy dance after Porky left . Here , Porky just stays put as he gets astonished seeing all the other birds surround him suddenly as they say their line and that " band " ( with Mel Blanc's unique " instrumentation " ) is nowhere to be found here . That said , Bob Clampett deserves all the credit for doing such a surreal cartoon not long after becoming a " supervisor " ( director ) for Leon Schlesinger . I'm guessing even Tex Avery hadn't yet reached such heights during this time for the same producer . And there were some gags that were deleted from the remake that added some enjoyment here like the prisoner saying , " Let me out ! " constantly while just holding some bars in open space then getting beat up by a guard ! There's another gag in the beginning of a fearsome creature about to scare Porky who just says " Boo " real quiet when he confronts the pig . With all that being said , if you haven't seen Dough for the Do-Do , I definitely recommend Porky in Wackyland . |
454,803 | 11,228,318 | 101,258 | 9 | Wong Kar-Wai's Days of Being Wild is one of the most compelling foreign-language films I've seen so far | Days of Being Wild is the first film I've seen directed by Wong Kar-Wai as well as the first time I've seen any of the actors that I'll now list here : Leslie Cheung , Maggie Cheung , Andy Law , Carina Lau , and Tony Leung . Those beginning scenes with Leslie and Maggie are some of the most erotically charged I've seen in movies yet and I haven't seen too many adult dramas as you've probably guessed if you've read all my comments so far . The gradual , quiet , and eventual shattering desperateness that involves most of the characters made this movie very compelling even during very slow scenes in which nothing happens . Both Maggie and Carina Lau are sexy in their own way with their individual scenes with Leslie Cheung and their one confrontation is one of my favorite scenes here . Also loved Andy Lau's policeman character and his keeping Maggie company as she recovers from her affair with Leslie . Just about everything is compelling about Days of Being Wild though I admit being confused with Tony Leung's only scene at the end . Knowing that an unfinished sequel exists based on that frame makes me hope to one day get to be able to view it eventually . . . |
454,781 | 11,228,318 | 43,943 | 9 | Putty Tat Trouble is another Tweety and Sylvester cartoon | As Tweety shovels show out of his nest , Sylvester in one building and an orange tabby in another are eyeing him for food . After their respective masters let them out , they both try to get the yellow canary for themselves . Guess what happens . That's right , it's a tit for tat in bird catching ! Tweety also meets a friend in a toy drinking bird that bends back and forth in a glass of water and Sylvester and the tabby end up in thin ice with Tweety cutting around them . I think you know what happens after that ! Friz Freling once again mines great humor out the cat-and-bird team as so-called innocent Tweety really one-ups Sylvester . Highly recommended , Putty Tat Trouble is on disc 4 of The Looney Tunes Golden Collection , Vol . 1 . |
454,555 | 11,228,318 | 122,374 | 9 | An All-Colored Vaudeville Show was a very entertaining music short | This musical short from Warner Bros . - Vitaphone was what the title says in the following order : 1 ) The 3 Whippets-Three dancers that do somersaults , back-flips , and one of them stands at the top of two chairs with each foot on each chair without falling , 2 ) Adelaide Hall-a female singer who does a little dance , 3 ) The Nicholas Brothers-siblings Harold and Fayard , both under 20 , tap-dance up a storm , and 4 ) Eunice Wilson and The Five Racketeers-another fine female singer with a song who then gives the stage to the backup group that then sings " Tiger Rag " ( a . k . a " Hold That Tiger " ) , which is the unofficial theme song for the LSU Tigers , with Eunice then appearing at the end dancing as this very entertaining music short ends . If there was one negative thing I saw here it was the giant watermelon backdrop that was the background of the last act . I saw this on The Green Pastures DVD as an extra . |
454,949 | 11,228,318 | 660,875 | 9 | They're Tearing Down Tim Riley's Bar was possibly Rod Serling's last harrah on " Night Gallery " | William Windom is Randolph Lane , a worker at a plastics company for the last 25 years who's been off drinking and reminiscing at the abandoned - and - about - to - be - torn Tim Riley's Bar . His boss ( John Randolph ) doesn't like it and is considering replacing him with his underling Harvey Doane ( Burt Convy ) who's quite a hotshot . Only his loyal secretary Lynn Alcott ( Diane Baker ) still treats him kindly . Lane's been having memories of his homecoming from the war and how happy he seemed to be when he first worked at his company as well as how sad he didn't get to say goodbye to his now-late wife . I'll stop there and say while Rod Serling wrote a very compelling tale of the effects of aging and how those years can pile on like a sledgehammer ( a suitable word considering the story ) due to alcohol and not having enough time to smell the roses , he backtracked on the ending which was probably forced on him by the network . Still , " They're Tearing Down Tim Riley's Bar " was possibly his last compelling work as a writer before his untimely death four years later . To which I can only add , rest in eternal peace , Mr . Serling . |
453,856 | 11,228,318 | 41,760 | 9 | Porky Chops is a very funny Arthur Davis cartoon | In a nutshell , Porky Pig is a lumberjack who's chopping down a tree that occupies a squirrel who wears pajamas , hangs a " Brooklyn Dodgers " banner over his bed , and reads the racing forms from the newspaper . The squirrel tries various ways to shoo the pig away like putting aluminum siding on the tree and then disguising it with varnish as Porky fails to chop with various axes that keep losing their sharp heads . Many funny chase gags abound and a twist involving a bear especially pays off here . This cartoon came from the short-lived Arthur Davis unit and it shows how talented Davis really was with the timing of the gags and pacing that also marked his predecessor , Bob Clampett . Too bad , due to budget constraints , Warner Bros . later had to cut Davis ' staff . Porky Chops is highly recommended . |
454,261 | 11,228,318 | 28,249 | 9 | This version of Show Boat is still the essential one of film | Show boat is coming ! So says a black worker at the beginning of this James Whale-directed movie version of the classic Jerome Kern-Oscar Hammerstein II musical from Edna Ferber's novel . He's played by one Eddie Anderson , years before his famed role as Rochester on the radio and later television version of " The Jack Benny Program " . And what a show boat it is ! It's led by Charles Winninger as the always optimistic and tolerable Cap'n Andy . His reenactment of the boat play's climax by himself with all the physical comedy he does was a hilarious highlight of the picture . Another great performance comes from Helen Morgan who stops the movie with both " Can't Help Lovin ' Dat Man " and " Bill " . And then there's the one and only Paul Robeson singing " Ol ' Man River " that makes the song his and his alone especially with the inserts that has him displaying the lyrics ' meaning visually . Hattie McDaniel also provides some amusing moments with Paul , especially on " Ah Still Suits Me " , that makes some of their stereotypical characterizations tolerable . As for the romantic leads , Allan Jones and Irene Dunne , their duets are wonderful but Dunne is the better actor here and seeing them unite singing at the end seemed a little forced . Despite all that , this is still one of the best movie musicals made during the first decade of the talkies . And so , like " Ol ' Man River " , this picture just " keeps on moving along " . |
454,270 | 11,228,318 | 433,383 | 9 | George Clooney's Good Night , and Good Luck . makes a fine dramatized documentary | In making Good Night , and Good Luck . , director George Clooney has made a nearly perfect dramatization of the issues legendary CBS newsman Edward R . Murrow ( perfectly played by David Straithain ) had with the " junior senator from Wisconsin " , Joseph R . McCarthy and the way he tried to " infiltrate " Communists in the United States . There's also some suspense when one of Murrow's assistants receives some info from an associate of McCarthy that accuses Murrow of having some " Red " connections himself . That assistant , played by Robert Downey , Jr . , tells the associate that no one would believe him since publicly , Murrow has proved to the public what a patriot he was since his radio reports from Britain since World War II ! Clooney acquits himself nicely taking the supporting part of Murrow's producer Fred Friendly . One Friendly scene that really impressed me was an argument with a Colonel ( played by " 24 " s Glen Morshower ) whose military base had basically fired a soldier named Milo Radulovich because of his father's Communist sympathies branding the son as a " risk " . The Colonel did not want that story to air . While many of Straithain's lines as Murrow came verbatim from many of " See It Now " s transcripts , there are some liberties taken with when some events took place ( like when the Army-McCarthy hearings were on live , Ed was not doing his other show , " Person to Person " since that show aired on primetime and the hearings were on the afternoons ) . Also , seeing Diane Reeves performing her jazz stylings in rehearsal at an adjacent CBS soundstage throughout the movie was obviously meant to ironically comment on many events depicted here such as " How High the Moon " coming before Murrow eulogizes on a fellow newsman's death ( that of Don Hollenbeck who's played by Ray Wise ) . The screenplay by Clooney and Grant Heslov ( who plays a young Don Hewit here ) , contained enough info to explain why Murrow felt the way he did about the senator and why his boss , CBS chairman Bill Paley ( Frank Langella ) who Ed is on a first-name basis with , would initially support him before complaining of an " upset stomach " concerning the newsman's point-of-view . Other good performances come from Jeff Daniels as a liaison between Murrow and " See It Now " s sponsor , Alcoa ( by the way , check out the irony between the " glamorous " smoking of many of the characters and the way " Person to Person " s sponsor , Kent Cigarattes , tells you how good smoking is in addressing viewers skepticism of many TV messages ! ) and , as a Louisiana resident who loves to point out performers from the Pelican state , New Orleans native Patricia Clarkson as another Murrow employee who's secretly married to Downey . If there's some quibble with this movie , it's with the long footage devoted to accused " Communist spy " Annie Lee Moss which almost stops the movie though Murrow's explanation at the end does make some points . So to anyone interested in this fascinating piece of television news history , I highly recommend Good Night , and Good Luck . |
455,139 | 11,228,318 | 416,236 | 9 | The Spiderwick Chronicles provides wonderful family entertainment | This was another movie I picked at random for me and my friend to see during our free time . It was playing at a theatre that he's supposed to start working at soon . This was an enchanting movie concerning goblins , fairies , and ogres as well as children affected by divorce and an old lady who misses her long-lost father . There's also some nice humorous touches concerning another creature named Thimbletack who only calms down by drinking lots of honey . He is voiced by Martin Short . Also in the cast are Nick Nolte who voices Mulgarath and appears as him in human form , David Strathaim as Arthur Spiderwick , Jordy Benattar as his young daughter-Lucy , Joan Plowright as the now much older Lucy , Mary-Louise Parker as the mother Helen Grace , Andrew McCarthy as her ex-husband Richard , and as her children , Sarah Bolger as Mallory , and Freddie Highmore as Simon and Jared Grace . I and my friend were pretty much captivated by everything that went on in this movie though initially I was a little irritated by how Mallory kept on harping on little brother Jared . Anyone with kids or is a kid at heart should also enjoy this wonderful production from Nickelodeon Studios . So on that note , I definitely recommend The Spiderwick Chronicles . |
454,941 | 11,228,318 | 604,624 | 9 | ' Twas the Night Before Christmas was a touching holiday episode of " The Honeymooners " | I just watched for the first time on YouTube this holiday episode of " The Honeymooners " from their only season outside of being a sketch on " The Jackie Gleason Show " . There's a partial touch of the O'Henry story , " The Gift of the Magi " , here with the standard , but well-earned , laughs whenever Norton ( Art Carney ) shows up . The sentimental speech Ralph gives at the end almost seems tacked on though it's still touching just the same and then Jackie brings his fellow cast members on stage for one more bow as he wishes us a Merry Christmas . All I want to say now is watch the episode and enjoy the chemistry between Audrey Meadows , Joyce Randolph , and especially , Glesaon and Carney in one of the best shows to come out of The Golden Age of Television . . . |
454,833 | 11,228,318 | 235,193 | 9 | Ask Grandma is a sweet and hilarious " Our Gang " short | This Hal Roach comedy short , Ask Grandma , is the thirty-eighth entry in the " Our Gang / Little Rascals " series . Mickey is depressed because his mom wants him to be a " hothouse flower " when he'd prefer to be a weed . In other words , he'd rather be with the other boys and ride the two-plane merry-go-round outside instead of going out for ballet lessons . The only family member he can confide in is Grandma as she loves to do backflips and they play catch and spar together . When he sees bully Johnny pick on little chubby Joe , he confronts him . Then he sees the note his mom gave him with " No Fighting " listed and backs off with Johnny teasing him . There's also a girl , Mary , that both Mickey and Johnny are smitten with and as his rival manages to get her to ride the two-plane ride , Mickey gets jealous and tells his grandma of his feelings for Mary . Grandma encourages those feelings and after Johnny once again teases Mickey , tells him to " keep on slammin ' " . He does just that and is encouraged by nearly everyone , even Mary who's seen Johnny's brutal side and happens to think Mickey's " cute between the freckles " , except at first by his mother . Then she is reminded by Grandma of her tomboyish ways ( provided in flashback with Mickey playing her as a child ) and eventually promises to let her son be a " regular boy " from now on . . . This was one of the sweetest and hilarious " Our Gang " episodes ever with Grandma coming off best in terms of excitement and personality . It's too bad that neither IMDb nor the definitive book on " Our Gang " , " The Little Rsacals : The Life and Times of Our Gang " by Leonard Maltin and Richard W . Bann , has the actress that played her in the cast list . Her scenes with Mickey are so full of joy that you wish you knew someone like her in your life . Mary is at her most alluring here and the way she kisses Mickey and his reaction is one of the most priceless I'm seen of their shorts so far . The fight at the end with Mickey almost defeated by Johnny and his father before Grandma socks the father was the short's highlight and reminded me of a similar ending for the later " Little Rascals " talkie , The First Seven Years with Jackie Cooper that I was charmed by as a child . So as with many of these other silent " Our Gang " shorts I've discovered on YouTube , I highly recommend Ask Grandma . P . S . Once again , I've got to give props to the poster who added the LeRoy Shield music from the " Little Rascals " shorts as performed by the Beau Hunks Band . |
453,817 | 11,228,318 | 45,697 | 9 | Chuck Jones ' Don't Give Up the Sheep is hilarious ! | A sheepdog named Ralph says hello to another one named Fred as they both punch time clocks with Ralph clocking in . He's keeping watch over the sheep that a wolf ( who looks like While E . Coyote ) keeps trying to capture but always is caught by Ralph who keeps punching him . The wolf tries many ways to fool him like playing with the time clock so that Ralph has lunch early . There's also a sawing gag between the two that ends with the laws of gravity being violated ( but then , I never studied law ! ) . At the end , as Ralph is beating the wolf , Fred clocks back in and takes over as Ralph leaves ! Once again , Chuck Jones mines hilarity from the mundane and comes up aces every time ! Don't Give Up the Sheep is highly recommended . |
454,680 | 11,228,318 | 1,054,847 | 9 | The Kindness of Strangers is another good episode of " Heroes " | Twins Maya and Alejandro have escaped from a jail in Houndaras with an American named Derek and are now in Claire's stolen vehicle somewhere in Mexico . They stop when they see a man unconscious on ground . It's Sylar ! After they pick him up , he identifies himself by his real first name , Gabriel , and seeing the book authored by his former mentor / nemeses Chandra Suresh , offers to help his co-passengers go to New York to meet him . In New Orleans , Micah gets acquainted with his cousins : one is a boy his age who loves wrestling that Macah helps illegally get a pay-per-view using his powers , another is nearly grown-up Monica who's passed a management test for her place of employment , Burger Bonanza . In New York , Mrs . Petrelli confesses to Mr . Nakamura's murder but Matt in reading her mind knows she is lying and she in turn tells him in her mind to give it a rest . Her son Nathan comes by to embrace his mom before he and Matt reveal something about themselves ( revelation here : the baby of Matt's ex-wife turns out to be the child of one she fooled around with ) as they look at a group picture of mostly dead members of a circle that included Nakamura , Petrelli , Bob ( Mohinder's boss ) , and a bald man who is Matt's dad who he hasn't seen since he was thirteen . In California , while Claire had promised her dad not to make too many waves , she does lie about going to the library in order to hang with West at night on the Hollywood sign to talk about their situations . Claire comes home late and then tells about rejoining the cheerleading squad to avoid any more questions about her boyfriend . Noah than has a secret meeting with the Haitian about going back to Odessa . Back in Mexico , Derek shows Sylar at a stopover the wanted poster of the twins . Sylar instructs Derek to call the police before killing him . He then leaves with Maya and Alejandro . At her working place , Monica is told by her boss that her management application has been rejected . She later gets told to close early but someone then barges in with a gun and threatens her . However , she defeats him using a move she just saw on wrestling pay-per-view hours before . Is it possible she has powers that has her quickly learning something she sees on television ? At his and Mohinder's apartment , Matt gets Molly to track his dad . She succeeds but falls into a coma as she asks Matt for help in his mind . . . Surprising revelations about Matt's family connections concerning his ex-wife and her child as well that about his father . Looks like Molly's his surrogate daughter . Cool new character in Monica . Nice to see Nathan clean shaven again ! Isn't that burger manager the same boss of Buy More on " Chuck " ? Lots of intriguing stuff for this week's episode . Can't wait for next week when " Veronica Mars " star Kristen Bell comes aboard . . . |
454,006 | 11,228,318 | 59,243 | 9 | Blake Edwards ' The Great Race is one of the finest comedy epics ever ! | After about 25 years of only seeing part of this hilarious epic comedy from Blake Edwards on TBS's " Academy Award Theatre " and having taped this unedited version on AMC about 15 years ago , I finally got to see the entirety of this just three hours ago and I've got to say I'm very glad I did ! First off , Jack Lemmon ( audience cue : " Boo ! Hiss ! " ) is excellent in playing both the villainous Prof . Fate and later on the lookalike Prince Hapnick ( what a laugh he does ! ) . As The Great Leslie , Tony Curtis ( " Yay ! " ) provides the amusement of constantly shining his white teeth with Edwards ' assistance of course . And then there's Natalie Wood who as reporter Maggie Dubois is frequently trying to one-up Leslie and others on her superiority concerning women's rights . Of the three , Lemmon comes off best as he's consistently funny throughout with great help from Peter Falk as inept assistant Max . Keenan Wynn as Leslie's right-hand man Hezekiah is less so but manages okay with what he's got . Other fine support come from Arthur O'Connell as Maggie's newspaper boss , Marvin Kaplan as his assistant , Vivian Vance as the wife of said boss , Hal Smith as a town mayor , Denver Pyle as the sheriff , Ross Martin as a fence / sword dueler with Leslie , Larry Storch as Texas Jack , and Dorothy Provine as singer Lily Olay . Screenwriter Arthur A . Ross ( who's from my original hometown of Chicago , Ill . ) provides great punchlines for the stars and Edwards constantly fills the screen with several visual touches , including the biggest pie fight ever , that bring to mind the great silent comedies of the early 20th century . In closing , while The Great Race is a little overlong , it's still entertaining enough from beginning to end and should provide enough enjoyment for the whole family . Oh , and how touching to print at the movie's beginning " For Mr . Laurel and Mr . Hardy " . . . |
454,812 | 11,228,318 | 52,651 | 9 | A Broken Leghorn is another funny Foghorn Leghorn cartoon | In Robert McKimson's A Broken Leghorn , Foghorn feels sorry for Prissy being teased because she can't lay an egg . So he puts one under her which gets hatched right away . He turns out to be a little rooster . Feeling jealous since he was the lone rooster for such a long time , this Southern loud-mouth then offers to give this little guy lessons on his trade in order to get rid of him . They all backfire , of course . While the idea of a grown-up attempting to kill a child sounds gruesome here , knowing Foghorn will always be the fall guy erases most doubt of the entertaining value of this short . While the ending lacks oomph , just about everything that happens to Mr . Leghorn was nothing short of hilarious to me including seeing his beak fall off at one point just like Daffy Duck ! So , for that , I highly recommend A Broken Leghorn which is on disc 4 of The Looney Tunes Golden Collection , Vol . 1 . |
454,192 | 11,228,318 | 151,935 | 9 | Pencil Mania is one of the most creative Van Beuren cartoons | This is a very entertaining cartoon that pre-dates Chuck Jones ' Duck Amuck by about 21 years in which a short fellow named Jerry draws various objects sometimes to the consternation of his tall partner Tom . Yes , this is the Van Beuren Tom and Jerry , two humans created long before the more famous cat-and-mouse team from MGM when the Van Beuren ones were already discontinued . In summation , Jerry draws an egg that spills on Tom's face , he draws a saxophone whose notes turn into ducks , he draws wooden shoes with a couple of birds dancing on them , he draws some vegetables with faces that sing " Yes , We Have No Bannanas " that then turn into a hero , his girlfriend , and a villain with pencil-thin mustache . All this makes the short one of the most creative from the Van Beuren studio so anyone interested in the early days of talkie animation especially the Van Beuren kind should seek this one out . |
454,427 | 11,228,318 | 1,031,336 | 9 | Do Not Disturb is the last available episode of " Bionic Woman " | After getting sloppy on her job due to her anger over Antonio's death , Jonas sends Jamie on a vacation at a retreat . Jamie brings sister Becca along . Just as she's settling in , Jonas calls Jamie to assign her to keep an eye on an assassin who has orders from him to kill a spy that's selling secrets to Korea . Jamie finds that assassin dead from a drug overdose . She now insists on the job which falls into her lap when that spy turns out to be the father of a boy Becca just met at the retreat . . . This was the last episode of " Bionic Woman " filmed before the WGA strike went into effect . As such , it's a marked improvement over many previous episodes especially since this time I found myself understanding and caring about what is going on here . Liked the revelation of the female psychiatrist of having once slept with Antonio . Also nice to see Jamie reveal a little about her work life to Becca at the end . It seems a little ironic that just as the strike took effect and ratings were going down that this show seemed to slowly pull itself together . One can only hope that once the strike ends ( soon , I hope and with the writers getting what they demand ) , everything falls into place for this new version of the 70's series " The Bionic Woman " . |
455,180 | 11,228,318 | 578,698 | 9 | Felicity : Pilot helps to mark the WB's final broadcast | Sunday , September 17 , 2006 , marked the official last night of the WB network . It was marked by showing pilots of the following shows : Felicity , Angel , Buffy the Vampire Slayer , and Dawson's Creek . Felicity is the story of a high school graduate who decided to go to college in New York after a boy she barely knew as a teenager signs something in year book after graduation that makes her change plans that were decided by her parents . So there she meets high school crush Ben ( Scott Speedman ) , as well as new best friend Julie ( Amy Jo Johnson ) and resident adviser Noel ( Scott Foley ) . She also has a weird roommate named Megan ( Amanda Foreman ) and sends messages on tape to former French tutor Sally ( voice of Janeane Garofolo ) . A good start to a mostly realistic show about college life and its good and bad times . Written by J . J . Abrams and directed by Matt Reeves , the shows creators and executive producers , they picked fresh-faced Keri Russel for the title role and she is perfect in showing the character's uncertainty and eventual acceptance of New York living , 2 , 000 miles from her hometown of Palo Alto , Calif . A worthy show that helped put WB on the map , it's as good a start as any to mark WB's farewell broadcast . Here's to you , Felicity Porter ! |
454,950 | 11,228,318 | 745,802 | 9 | The Time Element is a fascinating find for fans of " The Twilight Zone " | Since I own the book " The Twilight Zone Companion " by Marc Scott Zicree , I had a vesting interest in seeing what in essence was the de facto pilot of the show called " The Time Element " which became an episode of " Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse " . In this one , it's 1958 and Pete Jenson ( William Bendix ) is seeing a psychiatrist ( Martin Balsam ) and telling him of the same dream he's been having for about a week . It's in a hotel in Honolulu on what he later finds out is December 6 , 1941 , the day before Pearl Harbor . He tells both a newspaper publisher and a Navy ensign about his predictions but gets rebuffed both times . He wakes up just as the planes are coming . I'll stop there and just say Bendix is mostly good in his role and provides some good humor in his scenes with Jesse White as a bartender . Balsam also is compelling as the psychiatrist especially when he proposes a theory of what would happen if someone actually came back in time and died in the past . Though some of what he says may be partly contradicted by the ending with Jensen's picture at his bar , this was still a nearly excellent outing for the premise . The version I saw on YouTube had something that was missing that I read about in the book . It was Desi Arnaz ' explanation of what just happened : " We wonder if Pete Jenson did go back in time or if he ever existed . My personal answer is that the doctor had seen Jenson's picture sometime before and had a dream . Any of you out there have any other answers ? Let me know . " One critic at the time was so mad at that " explanation " he simply wrote , " GO HOME , DESI ! " After so many years , it's gratifying to finally see what Rod Serling had initially written for his proposed series that became a bona fide classic these past 50 years . Well worth seeking out . |
454,340 | 11,228,318 | 1,256,599 | 9 | The Bad Fish Pardigm was a nearly excellent second season premiere episode of " The Big Bang Theory " | As Leonard and Penny are walking to Penny's apartment after their date , a camera is watching their every move . When Leonard arrives back at his place , we find Howard and Raj playing the scenes from that camera from their computer . Leonard thinks his date went well but Raj and Howard beg to differ as they keep replaying Penny's reactions . Sheldon , as usual , doesn't care . The next day , as Sheldon and Penny are washing clothes in the laundry room , Penny tells him a secret she doesn't want Leonard to know : She lied about graduating from community college . Sheldon says he'll try and wonders when she and Penny were ever friends . After a while , though , Sheldon tells Penny he can't do it and Penny says find a way . So he moves out of Leonard's apartment and crashes first with Raj , who gets annoyed when Sheldon insults his favorite Indian actress , and then Howard's mom's house as the son gets irritated at Sheldon's counting favorite Catwomen actresses and X-Men . When Howard brings a slightly drugged Sheldon back to Leonard , Sheldon tells all . That makes Leonard the next day give Penny a flyer for a community college which insults Penny even more as she closes the door on him . At least she still doesn't know about the overhead cameras . . . This was a very funny episode of " The Big Bang Theory " that was presented as the second season premiere . The dialogue between Sheldon and Penny in the laundry room was so hilarious ! In fact , pretty much everything about Sheldon was spot on . Can't wait for the next episode when Sara Gilbert becomes a regular as the returning Leslie Winkle . Until next time . . . |
454,447 | 11,228,318 | 149,779 | 9 | Ballet-Oop is a very good UPA cartoon | I just saw this UPA cartoon on YouTube . It concerns a ballet teacher and her attempts to get her four girl dancers ready for a competition in three weeks . It takes a lot of hard work but when the day comes the girls are ready . During the actual ballet story there's a narration provided by a male member of the audience who's tells his wife he knows this one and gets so excited telling the story to her she has to remind him to be quiet once in awhile ! Directed by Robert Cannon with Bill Melendez as one of the animators . Charming music by George Bruns . Loved the actual ballet depiction and I highly recommended this to any UPA enthusiast out there . |
454,923 | 11,228,318 | 418,753 | 9 | Inside Deep Throat is a compelling look at the film's impact on censorship laws | As Blockbuster was emerging as the nation's video store in the late ' 80s , they had some policies that made some video store patrons try more localized , adventurous places . One was that they didn't stock any X - ( or today NC-17 ) rated movies . That would include such non-porn films like Last Tango in Paris , Henry and June , or this one , Inside Deep Throat . However , they do have Unrated movies meant for over 17 customers available like Dawn of the Dead , Zombie , and Kids-a drama about the sexual exploits of teenagers . To me , that seems like the most hypocritical stance a corporate chain could take concerning a movie's content and the judgment to make whether such movie should be made available to the general public . This documentary makes the point that before Deep Throat was released in the summer of ' 72 at a Times Square movie theatre , there were hardly any porn films that made such a fuss that the government wanted to shut down movie houses that showed it . It also looks at the lives of the three important people involved and how they were affected : director Gerard Damiano didn't make a dime because he sold his share to the mafia who controlled the financial end , male star Harry Reems was going to be jailed for 5 years before the charges were dropped , and star Linda Lovelace ( actual surname Boreman ) , initially defending her participation in the film , then denouncing it after writing an autobiography called Ordeal , then coming back to pose in sleazy magazines because she was dead broke , eventually died that way when she was injured in a car accident in 2002 . Damiano seemed to want to make the point in the film interviews that with the success of his movie , porn was entering the mainstream but emerging obscenity laws would make that an impossibility . Which probably meant that any X-rated movie would make that automatically porn no matter the content simply because of the stigma . NC-17 was supposed to change that in 1990 but there are some newspapers that won't show ads for such films or movie theatres exhibit them . So unless cuts are made in certain director's pictures in order to show in the most possible screens , the only other alternative is showing it Unrated except Major Studios won't accept that in their contracts , only independents do ( this is why Miramax-a Disney subsidiary-couldn't distribute the aforementioned Kids so head Harvey Weinstein formed another distributing company-Shining Excalibur-for the sole purpose of keeping Kids from getting an NC-17 or clipped for an R ) . I've probably talked enough here so I'll just say that Inside Deep Throat puts in perspective what it was like in the ' 70s when both the sexual revolution and feminism was emerging and not on the same paths and how they affected society to this day . Whether what the results that became were good or bad depends , as always , on your point of view . |
454,471 | 11,228,318 | 544,171 | 9 | Dean and Jerry hilarious in Colgate Comedy Hour | This broadcast of December 19 , 1954 starts with Dean and Jerry in their dressing rooms trying out various Colgate products as the announcer mentions the sponsor's product names we see Dean and Jerry display on the screen . Then a big production number of how the show is canceled when Martin and Lewis come on stage and they sing Lose That Long Face while The Nick Castle Dancers all perform . The first sketch takes place in a restaurant that Dean runs . On a chalkboard it says , " Soup 15 cents " . Dean tries the soup , looks around the chalkboard and says , " There was supposed to be a chalk that I was going to use to mark this out to say Soup 10 cents but I can't find it ! " He starts to eat dinner . Jerry looks out the window and starts to make faces to indicate he's hungry . This goes on for a few minutes before Dean offers him a job . Jerry runs to indicate how quick he can be . A lot of customers come in . Jerry chops a long line of prop spaghetti noodles resulting in accidentally chopping a man's coat in half ! Bus call causes customers to leave without paying . Dean gets angry at Jerry and tries to train him as waiter . There's a hilarious set piece involving a big block of ice during this scene . More customers come in . To keep them from taking next bus , Jerry ties bus to counter stools . Bus takes those stools away ! Dean puts Jerry on stove as sketch ends . Dean sings Without a Word of Warning to a female cast member on stage . Next sketch has Martin and guest Vera Miles adopting Jerry here playing Orville . When Dean comes home from a hard day's work Jerry overreacts by hugging and sitting in his chair causing it to fall several times , and trying to take his shoes off by pulling on them while sitting on his legs ! Dean then says he didn't really want children and then wife Miles tells Orville about " present " under couch which Dean opens and reads a humorous and touching speech about little boys which results in Martin and Lewis sympathetically punching each other . Then the Nick Castle Dancers do another number . Then Jerry does a solo piece about having nothing to do for three minutes before Dean sings Mambo Italiano . They then introduce special guest " Phil Abrams " before Love in Bloom plays and it's actually Jack Benny who comes on stage . He just says , " Well . . . " before Dean and Jerry rush him off stage . Their next number is Every Street's a Boulevard which they performed in Living It Up . They introduce Jack Benny for real at the end and Jack mentions " Money's not everything since I got paid nothing to be here . " in mock disappointment . ( Of course , this might have to do with the fact that Jack was then a CBS employee on an NBC show ! ) Then as Jack leaves , Dean and Jerry reprise their last number as the credits roll . Good show throughout considering the conflict that was already brewing between Martin and Lewis before their split two years later . I saw a good print kinescope on a DVD collection of various Martin and Lewis shows so if you love this team by all means seek this one out ! |
454,724 | 11,228,318 | 1,235,057 | 9 | Believe It or Don't is a rare live action / animated short that survives from the work of Charles Bowers | Just discovered this unusual live action / animated short on the Europa Film Treasures site . It's made by the now obscure experimental film maker Charles R . Bowers , an American . A parody of the Ripley's " Believe It or Not " shorts series , Believe It or Don't has three narrated segments : a circus act entirely performed by peanuts with stick hands and legs , a hen that lays eggs from which toy autos come out of , and a humanized lobster who looks like a saloon singer walking the streets but actually becomes cheery when he plays the xylophone ! While the short looks primitive today , Bowers ' Believe It or Don't retains its entertainment value especially during the last sequence that should still amuse some little ones under the age of 10 . Highly recommended . |
454,595 | 11,228,318 | 770,716 | 9 | B . C . : The First Thanksgiving was a funny animated special I just watched on YouTube | While writing in " Thanksgiving Cartoons " in the search blank in YouTube , I discovered this B . C . animated special was listed . What a great surprise to find this cartoon after partially knowing about it for years ! Directed by Warner animation veteran ( and Chuck Jones protégé ) Abe Levitow , " B . C . : The First Thanksgiving " does Johnny Hart's classic comic strip a great service to its creator which is not surprising since Hart co-wrote the script . Hilarious stuff like B . C . ' s discovering fire ( not to mention his Jack Benny-like voice and characterization ) and the other cavemen chasing the turkey as the turkey keeps playing tricks on them are among the highlights of many in this inventive and satirical animated special . I also loved the jazz-rock with a little bit of country-flavored score . There was also another character who talked liked Bogart . Among the voices were Daws Butler , Don Messick , and singer Joanie Sommers as both the Cute Chick and the Fat Broad . I highly recommend this for anyone searching on YouTube . |
454,959 | 11,228,318 | 368,794 | 9 | Todd Haynes ' I'm Not There . is a fascinating non-conventional look at Bob Dylan | As a filmmaker , Todd Haynes certainly is an acquired taste . From the bootlegged doll movie bio of Superstar : The Karen Carpenter Story to the ' 50s-style Far From Heaven , Haynes makes movies that conventional-watching audiences must find puzzling . And so it is with his portrait of Bob Dylan in his various phases of his life and music with countless actors playing him using different names each time . Of them , Cate Blanchett probably plays the most familiar one during Dylan's " electric " period when audiences were booing him for changing his style from pure folk to rock and admirers like poet Allen Ginsberg ( a spot-on performance by David Cross ) hung around . Richard Gere represents the more fictional aspect of him during the time he played in Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid and seemed to channel the period as through a revisionist western . And then there's Heath Ledger playing him during the singer's domestic life and his arguments with his wife and her female friend about women's lib . Nothing really connects here until the climax at the end and when it's all over , you'll either really be relieved at such and want to go on to something else or want to watch it all over again and explore other things Dylan . I'm Not There . is certainly a unique way of looking at the life and times of one of the most important musical figures of the last century . |
455,044 | 11,228,318 | 68,373 | 9 | Richard Williams ' A Christmas Carol is a compelling if brief version | I just saw Richard Williams ' Oscar-winning but made-for-TV version of A Christmas Carol on Google Video . Having seen and heard so many versions over the years , I find this the most beautifully animated version with its illustration-style renderings of London and its people in the 19th century . As compelling as the drawings are though , I find the story at 24 minutes a little too short for my tastes so the transformation of Scrooge at the end is not as complete as I would like it to be . That said , it was nice to hear Alastair Sim once again portray the lead character as he had done in the 1951 version . As the Cratchit family and Tiny Tim have said over and over again , " God bless us everyone . " |
454,568 | 11,228,318 | 34,877 | 9 | The Hungry Wolf was another fine Harmon-Ising cartoon from M-G-M | This is an M-G-M cartoon produced by Harmon-Ising that I found on the Cartoons , Model Sheets , and Stuff site as linked from DailyMotion . The title character sees a rope as sausages , a rolling pin as corn , and finds cheese on a mousetrap but after getting nicked by the trap and chasing the mouse for the cheese ( during which he manages to rip the wooden floor and some of the wall ) , the wolf seems resigned to his starvation . Then a little bunny comes in . . . Okay , I'll stop there and say that while things seem bleak for the bunny , things take a turn to some kind of salvation that insures a happy ending for all involved . So while there is some humor here , this is a mostly a more dramatic animated short that gets one feeling for both the bunny and the wolf . Oh , and the author of the site I just mentioned noticed the mouse's resemblance to Jerry of Tom and Jerry which I can see and am not surprised by since they're from M-G-M too . So on that note , I'm recommending The Hungry Wolf . |
454,394 | 11,228,318 | 931,394 | 9 | The Baby Show is another funny episode of 30 Rock | When Cirie mentions her engagement during Jenna's surprise birthday party , Liz suddenly gets an urge for a baby especially after seeing the makeup lady bring hers . Jack is having phone arguments with his mother about her moving in with him . Tracy cannot stand Joss ' constant impersonation of him and threatens Liz to go over her head to Jack about it . After Liz tells Joss about this , Joss impersonates Jack on the phone to Tracy . He then impersonates Tracy to Jack the same way . When they both find out , they convince Joss to fool Jack's mother and Tracy's wife this way to keep from being fired . Makeup lady then asks Liz to carry her baby which Liz accidentally takes to her apartment . Makeup lady then takes a week off as Liz is temporarily cured of her maternal instincts . . . After a couple of really hilarious episodes , this one is funny with some drama concerning Liz's character . Nice welcome return of Chris Parnell as Dr . Spaceman as well as Rachel Dratch's character of the cat wrangler from the pilot episode . Excellent use of Lonny Ross as Joss with his dead-on impersonations of Tracy Morgan and Alec Baldwin . If you haven't seen 30 Rock yet , I suggest you start now since this show is definitely on fire ! |
454,106 | 11,228,318 | 136,337 | 9 | Ko-Ko's Reward is another enjoyable Max Fleischer cartoon short | In Ko-Ko's Reward , Max has his daughter ( possibly his real one ) with him when he once again draws Ko-Ko the Clown and his dog , Fitz , with their heads initially on the wrong bodies . After the switch , the little girl gets a little bored and puts magic ink which allows her to become an animated drawing herself as she goes on the drawing board which has a shack illustrated on it . Since Ko-Ko , Fitz , and Max didn't see her enter , however , Max tells his cartoon stars to find his daughter as Ko-Ko and Fitz step outside the drawing board to search a nearby amusement park for her . When they return to the board , they encounter a skeleton , Fitz finds a witch who boils him into hot dogs before he turns back to normal , and they are chased by a sheeted ghost before it's revealed to be the little girl who laughs at the whole thing ! As she goes back outside and changes back to her live-action self , Max tells her to reward Ko-Ko and Fitz for finding her . She obliges be kissing them . . . I saw this on YouTube which had music by Leroy Shield for Hal Roach shorts and sound effects added , all to great effect . Some of the most charming Fleischer shorts ever came from this era . This one had the added enjoyment of some chills especially the hot dog one that probably wouldn't go well on Saturday morning TV today . Still , well worth seeing for anyone who loves all things Fleischer . |
454,152 | 11,228,318 | 603,072 | 9 | This Elizabeth Montgomery-hosted episode of " The Hollywood Palace " was very entertaining | Just watched on YouTube as linked from the Classic Television Showbiz blog , this episode of the ABC variety series " The Hollywood Palace " . The guest host for this October 1 , 1966 edition was the star of the network's very popular show of the time , " Bewitched " : Elizabeth Montgomery . She comes on stage accompanied by four male dancers as we hear an offscreen chorus singing the words to her show's theme ( which was never heard on the series itself ) . Ms . Montgomery then introduces the first act : The Reberte Trio-three male acrobatics . They were an okay amusement though it was nice to hear the late Neal Hefti's " Batman " theme here . Next up is The Baja Marimba Band , a wonderful Mexican music-styled band that performs two numbers . Then Jackie Mason comes on as he comments on George Murphy and Ronald Reagan just starting their political careers , how a plumber wouldn't make a good president ( how ironic since McCain and Obama are now talking about " Joe the Plumber " ! ) , and Nixon being picked for president again after so many losses ! After a Sherwin-Williams commercial , Paul Lynde and Liz perform a scene from Shakespere's " MacBeth " with Mr . Lynde doing his part mostly straight while Ms . Montgomery gets hilarious as she tries fixing her hair , gets rid of her gum on the podium , and and flubs one line with the word " nightie " or " nightgown " ! Then Vic Damone comes on and sings a couple of Rodgers-Hart's songs - " Bewitched , Bothered , and Bewildered " and " Falling in Love with Love " as well as " I Cried for You " . Liz then comes on as she and Damone reprise the " Bewitched " song in a more upbeat and humorous manner considering Ms . Montgomery's TV Show . After another commercial for Head and Shoulders , Liz and Paul appear as a married couple playing darts as " Harriet " asks " George " for a divorce . He refuses before leaving for an assignment for a nuclear product . Then Damone comes out from behind a sofa and asks " Harriet " to come to London with him . She refuses since she's still married . Then a bomb goes off . . . Then Liz says goodnight , mentions Adam West as the next guest host , and goes with the male dancers backstage as they ride on their brooms . Then after the ABC logo appears , there's one more commercial for Tareytown cigarettes . Obviously , this was way before the 1971 TV smoking products ban . . . The IMDb cast list for this episode mentions a couple of other acts that I didn't see on YouTube so this is probably not a review of the complete episode as it originally aired . Nonetheless , this was a very entertaining episode of " The Hollywood Palace " especially with Ms . Montgomery providing her comic and singing talents in full force here . Also was a treat to see her with Mr . Lynde outside of their " Bewitched " parts of " Samantha " and " Uncle Arthur " . Mr . Mason was also funny here even with the dated references to past politicians since many of his comments of them actually could describe some of the ones in office today . He also made a little fun of Ed Sullivan and his hand gestures though he said here they were friends again . And what a treat to see and hear Mr . Damone since I only know him from a " Dick Van Dyke " episode as " Rick Vallone " there . So on that note , I highly recommend you go to YouTube and watch this vintage episode there . |
455,086 | 11,228,318 | 468,569 | 9 | The Dark Knight was another awesome Batman movie from Christopher Nolan | Before I comment on the movie proper , I'd like to mention two things : One , the person I went with-who works at this particular theatre and saw the midnight premiere-thought the bank manager role was played by Jimmy Smits but I immediately recognized him as William Fichtner from " Invasion " , the TV series he did with Eddie Cibrian . Also , when the Joker was threatening Rachel Dawes , it was the only time I was taken out of the picture since I said aloud that he was threatening Jake Gyllenhaal's sister with my friend mentioning her name since we both saw Heath Ledger and Jake in Brokeback Moutain a few years ago . Ledger is fine as the main villain though I stop at saying he's better than Jack Nicholson in the role or deserves an Oscar nomination though it would be fine if he did . And Maggie Gyllenhaal is an improvement from Katie Holmes as Bruce Wayne's former girlfriend though I remember liking Holmes fine too . And Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent , Dawes ' new beau , is also fine with his initial role as " white knight " district attorney later turning into what would become known as Two-Face . And I loved having Michael Caine as Alfred the Butler having a previous background in the battling jungles of Burma so he can tell his master of his dilemma there . Throw in Morgan Freeman's Lucius Fox and you've almost got a perfect movie . Certainly , Christian Bale as the Caped Crusader is even better here than in Batman Begins and he is to me , like many viewers , The absolute Dark Knight here . While the movie may be longish in spots , Christopher Nolan lets it be that way so he can make us really care for the characters . I certainly was very touched by the sacrifices the new Commissoner Gordon , as played by Gary Oldman , had to make throughout the picture especially when he had to deal with Two-Face and his family's peril near the end . So the many who went to see this once and want to do it again , what are you waiting for ? P . S . Having not recognized Anthony Micheal Hall previously , I'll have to look for him the next time I watch which may be soon too ! |
454,889 | 11,228,318 | 39,581 | 9 | The Long Night is a nearly excellent , if obscure , movie I recently discovered | When I went to my local library to check some DVDs , I stumbled onto this obscure flick that starred Henry Fonda , Barbara Bel Geddes ( in her film debut ) , Vincent Price , and Ann Dvorak . With that cast ( I just remembered that Elisa Cook , Jr . has a memorable role as a blind man here ) , with Anatole Litvak as director , and Dimitri Tiomkin conducting his score ( as well as some Beethoven pieces spread among it ) , I expected an excellent suspenseful movie and I got it ! Well , maybe nearly so since the speech Ms . Bel Geddes says to Fonda at the end is obviously contrived to address the audience as well as the leading character about the faith of people . Otherwise , the dialogue was mostly spot-on especially the heated exchanges between Fonda and Price who , as usual , is absolutely charming even in his creepiness . And Ms . Dvorak marks a nice contrast with her cynicism as compared with Ms . Bel Geddes ' optimism . Fonda himself goes the full range of emotions whether during the flashbacks or his present condition of being holed up in his apartment while the police are waiting outside . So for all that , I highly recommend The Long Night . |
454,124 | 11,228,318 | 152,497 | 9 | The Snow Man was a quite effective atmospheric Terrytoon cartoon | Just watched this Terrytoons winter cartoon on YouTube whose uploader mistakenly identified this as a Van Beuren one directed by Ted Esbaugh . Manny Davis actually made this one and he provides some amusement in the beginning when an Eskimo says goodbye to his seal , who barks like a dog here , into his igloo and sets his alarm clock for July ! Also , his fox blanket licks him before sleeping ! By the time the Eskimo wakes up , the seal had some offspring with the help of the stork that follows them ! While it's now July , there's still snow so all the animals wake up and make a snowman . Then after dancing around it , that snowman turns abominable scaring everyone away . . . During the abominable snowman sequence , nothing funny happens save for one scene when the snowman plays on the organ and does his Jimmy Durante impression saying , " Hot-cha-cha ! " Quite effective during these horror moments so I'd watch any kid under 6 who sees this on television , VHS , or DVD . On that note , I recommend The Snow Man to any animation buff out there . |
454,813 | 11,228,318 | 43,495 | 9 | Loved the cat's reactions in Early to Bet | This Robert McKimson cartoon , Early to Bet , stars a gambling bug who decides to bite a compulsive cat who's trying to give up . But every time the bug bites him , the cat always goes to this bulldog who makes him spin a penalty wheel when he loses the card game . Then after picking the file with the number that the arrow pointed toward , he looks at it and says , " No , not the Geshunheit . Not the Geshunheit ! NOT THE GESHUNHEIT ! " After a few more repeats of this , the dog declines the now-injured cat's attempts to play Gin so the bug takes the dog's place . Bad idea as the bug gets the card one number lower than 3 ! " No , not the Post ! " is shouted as the short ends . Loved the way the cat bounces up and down after the bug keeps biting him . Also loved the penalties he keeps getting . Early to Bet is another cartoon I highly recommend . |
454,814 | 11,228,318 | 41,275 | 9 | Daffy Duck Hunt brings the duck and Porky back to their original adversarial relationship | In the late ' 40s and early ' 50s while Chuck Jones was making Porky and Daffy cartoons that had the latter the " hero " while the former the " sidekick " , Robert McKimson was bringing back the adversarial relationship they originally had when they first met in Tex Avery's Porky's Duck Hunt . This short is similar to that in that Porky is once again a hunter who's looking for ducks . Daffy , of course , becomes the target but because he emptied many bullet shells of pellets , the shooting Porky does won't hurt him . At this point , the dog makes a deal with the duck for him to surrender to him so his master won't throw him out . Many funny gags involving the duck and dog follow . And dig the holiday twist that ends this short . So on that note , I highly recommend Daffy Duck Hunt . |
453,868 | 11,228,318 | 317,155 | 9 | Bruno Bozzetto's The Big Bang is pretty weird | A man is lying on a hammock reading and listening to the radio . Wife is tending garden . They each throw something on the ground . Wife tells husband to throw ground trash away . Husband digs ground . Wife points to trash can . Husband puts trash in garbage can . Garbage truck comes to take trash and dumps everything in large pile . Pile gets dumped in a large hole in earth that gets sown up by giant needle . When wife is again tending garden , something with a funny smell comes out . She starts praying to virgin statue . A dog strikes same hole and faints at smell . Husband gets his pickax to strike hole and everything explodes leaving us with space which dissolves into a picture observed by two small green men in a space ship . " The Big Bang " , asks one . " No , the Pig Bang ! " says the other as he laughs and we fade out . Pretty amusing short from the director of Allegro non troppo that makes you think . A worthy entry from the Volume 5 VHS of the International Tournee of Animation . |
454,988 | 11,228,318 | 67,587 | 9 | Play It Again , Charlie Brown is one of the late Bill Melendez ' better " Peanuts " specials | When I was growing up in the ' 70s and ' 80s , I somehow managed to watch nearly every Charlie Brown animated special that was made during that time and before . All except this one though I did manage to borrow from my elementary school library a book version that had pictures from the special . So thinking of that , I went to YouTube and I finally managed to watch " Play It Again , Charlie Brown " in its entirety . How giddy I was to at last see Lucy try to constantly show how much she loves Schroeder even though he only lives to play Beethoven on his toy piano . Loved the boy's reaction when Lucy kissed him : " Aaaugh ! I've been kissed by a girl ! Get me iodine ! Get me hot water ! " When Peppermint Patty suggests Schroeder play at the PTA meeting , Lucy thinks she's found a way to his heart . Then Patty mentions it's supposed to be a rock concert . . . Besides what I've just mentioned , there's also a wonderful scene of Snoopy , Charlie Brown , and Pig-Pen playing their rock combo while Lucy dances . There's also the " Beethoven now comes in spray cans " gag that actually works better here since you can hear the music from said object . As always , Mr . Charles Schulz goes to the heart of the matter when Schroeder refuses to " sell out " by playing something he's not in love with that gets its message out after so much observational humor in the previous scenes serves their entertaining point . In final , I'd like to dedicate this comment to the late " Peanuts " director Bill Melendez who passed away a few months ago . It's his hand that has made these cartoons so beloved and inspirational to children and adults alike these past 40 years and he , along with producer Lee Mendelson and musician Vince Guaraldi , should be very proud of how they handled Mr . Schulz ' creation all this time . |
454,960 | 11,228,318 | 1,001,579 | 9 | Cooter marks a hilarious second season ender for " 30 Rock " | With this being the season finale written by creator / star Tina Fey , here's the synopsis in a nutshell : Jack , having taken a position with Homeland Security because of Guiess ' coma and the aftermath in the last episode , calls Liz from D . C . and tells her he won't be back . Liz finds she's tested positive for pregnancy and has revealed to Jenna that Dennis is the father . Kenneth tells Pete about applying to be a page at the Beijing Olympics which Pete can relate to since he still resents then-President Carter for boycotting the Moscow one when he was practicing archery . " Peanut farmer ! " Turns out the deadline is due today and not two weeks from now so Kenneth's nemesis page purposely gave him the wrong memo . Thankfully , Jenna helps with her DVD on the page's qualities . Back in D . C . , Jack is mentoring a Cooter Burger ( Matthew Broderick ) the acting head of Homeland Security who keeps denying ceiling leaks and whose office has no pens . After his former receptionist Jonathan calls about Guiess saying something from his coma , Jack tries to quit but has to get himself fired so he asks for former love C . C . ' s help . An item about a " Gay Bomb " might do the trick . . . Lots of other stuff happens here but let me just say this was a pretty hilarious way to end the strike-shortened second season of " 30 Rock " ! Loved seeing the return of Dennis and C . C . Plenty of fine visuals to accommodate the many witty lines thought up by Ms . Fey . The " Three Months Later " cliffhangers should be enough for anyone to savor the next season when " 30 Rock " comes back for , once again , a full season . ( unless a possible actors strike goes into effect after June 30 . . . ) Now about that " Gay Bomb " . . . |
454,196 | 11,228,318 | 1,001,595 | 9 | Cleveland is hilarious next-to-last season episode of 30 Rock | Jack , having just come back from his Paris honeymoon with Phoebe , suggests to Liz that she and Jenna should have lunch with her . Liz finds she and Phoebe have nothing in common while Jenna compares them to the Sex and the City gals with Liz being the " one who is watching the show " . Tracy can't get financing for his Jefferson movie and finds out Bill Cosby and the Black Crusaders are after him . Floyd , having been passed for a promotion and a new apartment , goes with Liz to his hometown , Cleveland , and gets a job offer there . He wants Liz to move with him . . . Lots of funny stuff happening in this episode like Liz ' cell playing a Wagner tune that Liz likes because Elmer Fudd sang it as Jenna warbles " Kill the wabbit ! Kill the wabbit ! " Nice comment from Lester Holt on TV telling Jordan directly , " The Black Crusaders are coming for you ! " And an affectionately funny song about how great Cleveland is is spot on during the montage of Liz and Floyd traveling the city's sights . One more episode left before the season finale . I can hardly wait ! |
454,900 | 11,228,318 | 1,001,591 | 9 | Somebody to Love is another very funny episode of " 30 Rock " | Another funny episode of " 30 Rock " I had to catch up on nbc . com . In this one , Kenneth loses the pants of Jack's suit so he tries to earn some money to buy a new one by performing some of the writers ' dares like swallowing ketchup that expired a couple of months ago or scaring writer Lutz awake in a gorilla suit . Liz suspects a new Middle Eastern neighbor ( Fred Armisen ) is a terrorist . And Jack falls for a woman at a party named C . C . ( Edie Falco ) who he later finds is a Democratic senator . . . Not as funny as Greenzo , Somebody to Love is hilarious enough with welcome appearances of Tina's former SNL castmates like Armisen and Kristen Wiig who plays an actress who plays C . C . in a very funny Lifetime movie parody . " I'm . . . going into politics " , Wiig says after the dog shoots her in the face ! LOL ! Also loved Tracy's Rerun ( from " What's Happening ! ) impersonation in the cold opening . Some of the most memorable lines are , of course , from Alec Baldwin's Jack . When he mentions to Liz a party thrown by John McCain and Jack Bauer , Liz says she doesn't think he's real . Jack explains , " I assure you , Liz , John McCain is definitely real . " There's many more like that but why should I tell you ? Just watch . Will review another episode soon . . . |
453,945 | 11,228,318 | 39,431 | 9 | Good News is one of the most underrated MGM musicals | Good News is one of the most underrated MGM musicals from the ' 40s I've ever seen from that era . While leads June Allyson and Peter Lawford are no Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney ( who ironically , were the original considered leads for this movie version years ago ) , they sing and dance entertainingly enough for one to not notice after a while . Another underrated talent showcased here is one Joan McCracken who shines in the opening number and the later made-for-film specialty " Pass That Peace Pipe " , which was eventually nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song . And dig the " Velvet Fog " Mel Torme in his younger days crooning here ! Excellent debut for director Charles Walters and screenwriters Betty Comden and Adolph Green makes this one of the most spectacular musical comedies I've seen yet ! P . S . Among the extras on the DVD are two numbers from the 1930 film version of Good News , the title number and " The Varsity Drag " , both performed energetically and athletically by a young woman named Dorothy McNulty , later to be known as Penny Singleton from the Blondie movies . All of the above are well worth checking out ! |
453,997 | 11,228,318 | 152,329 | 9 | Scrappy's Ghost Story is another cartoon gem I discovered starring the now-obscure Scrappy | Just watched on YouTube this Columbia ( though the print I watched had the heading " Samba Pictures Inc . Presents " ) / Charles Mintz cartoon starring a now forgotten little boy named Scrappy . In this one , Scrappy is telling his little brother a ghost story in the dark by the lit fireplace . Then he encounters a real ghost . That leads to a musical sequence of other apparitions ( including some of caricatured blacks that might be considered offensive today ) scaring him and his little brother . I'll stop there and just say how entertainingly atmospheric and musical this cartoon was and how I love watching these now-obscure gems whenever I go on the internet . So on that note , I highly recommend Scrappy's Ghost Story . |
454,659 | 11,228,318 | 22,288 | 9 | George and Gracie are Pulling a Bone | Gracie's boss at the soda fountain tells her she's five minutes late . He also tells her to be polite to her customers or she'll be fired . Gracie asks her workmate if she could at least ask for a raise . A customer complains to manager about the service and refuses to pay . Manager says he'll accept that and offers to pay him two dollars to do the same to his competitor across the street . Customer says he got three dollars to do what he just did ! George goes to a nearby perfume saleswoman and exclaims he has a bone in his throat . She tries to sell him some supplies . George goes to Gracie's corner and she talks about being on an airplane for six months . And trying to get a parasite . And laws of gravity . All this while George keeps exclaiming about " a bone in his throat " ! Then Gracie gets busy with customers . . . Once again , Burns and Allen are amusing with the non-sequeters and puns and what have you . This was made right after their first ( or second ) short , Fit to Be Tied and even this early on George and Gracie are natural on screen . Definitely seek this out if you're a Burns and Allen fan ! |
453,762 | 11,228,318 | 435,638 | 9 | This documentary , Edgar G . Ulmer - The Man Off-screen , should prove of interest to his fans | When I went to my local library recently , I looked for something on DVD that was a bit different from the mainstream and the usual classics . This documentary of a director known as " King of the B's " certainly caught my eye . Here , we get interviews of people like Joe Dante , John Landis , Roger Corman , and Wim Wenders who learned many of their methods of making low-budget films entertaining from him . There's also Peter Bogdanovich who interviewed Ulmer and got his stories of working with various immigrant German filmmakers , that may be or not be completely true , into the public eye . Then there's many actors who worked for him like William Schallert , Jimmy Lydon , Ann Savage from Detour-perhaps Ulmer's best known work , and , from his last work The Cavern , John Saxon and Peter Marshall . Many of these people are riding in cars and may or not be conversing with each other . There's also scenes of a funeral near Paramount that many famous movie people like Hitchcock are buried as well as of a shopping center where the lowest of the " poverty row " studios , PRC , that Ulmer once worked for had resided . And then there's reenactment of some of the director's movie scenes that add to the partly eerie atmosphere concerning Edgar's frustrations with " poverty row " and the studio system . It's especially fascinating seeing his daughter Arianne offering her comments . All in all , Edgar G . Ulmer - The Man Off-screen is a fine tribute to someone who once worried all his work would be destroyed and forgotten after he departed . P . S . The Kino International DVD has added Isle of Forgotten Sins , which doesn't have a clip in the docu , as an extra attraction . |
454,396 | 11,228,318 | 41,349 | 9 | Fast and Furry-ous is a nearly excellent first Road Runner cartoon | Fast and Furry-ous is Chuck Jones ' first cartoon starring the Road Runner and While E . Coyote . It was originally supposed to be a one-shot but there was so much demand that a sequel was made four years later which then became a series . Since this was the first one , I noticed a few differences . One , the backgrounds were more detailed than in subsequent ones . Also , when the bird sticks out his tongue a few times , you don't hear the sound effects that Treg Brown provided on later entries . And only once as the Coyote falls do you then see the ground from a sky-view before some smoke appears . Otherwise , there's the spot gags that are similar to other series entries like the scenery While E . paints over a rock formation that the Road Runner runs right through but the Coyote bumps into hard ! And there's some Acme products , of course ! Very funny first entry to a classic , if formulaic , series . By the way , Road Runner is described as Accellleratii Incredibus while the Coyote is Carnivorous Vulgaris . |
454,462 | 11,228,318 | 35,703 | 9 | Cabin in the Sky is a very entertaining fantasy / musical from M-G-M | Okay , continuing the reviews of movies that involved African-Americans in chronological order for Black History Month , we're now in 1943 with the release of Cabin in the Say . This was a very enjoyable movie with the three stars : Ethyl Waters , Eddie ' Rochester ' Anderson , and Lena Horne playing their roles to the hilt . And what a supporting cast : Rex Ingram , Oscar Polk , Kenneth Spencer , Butterfly McQueen , Louis Armstrong , and Mantan Moreland . All involved made this one of the most entertaining and inspirational films I've ever seen . " Happiness is a Thing Called Joe " " Life's Full of Consequences " " Taking a Chance on Love " " Cabin in the Sky " " Honey in the Honeycomb " Classic songs all . Vincente Minnelli did fine for his directing debut . Plus there's Duke Ellington , the Hall Johnson Choir , and dancer ' Bubbles ' John W . Sublett performing " Shine " . Nice mix of humor and near-tragedy . Dorothy Dandridge's mother Ruby is listed in the credits as playing Mrs . Kelso . I think that's her in the church sequence talking about Joe repenting to the preacher at the door . And the guy tap-dancing to " Taking a Chance on Love " is Bill Bailey , Pearl Bailey's brother . Like I said , this was very enjoyable . So on that note , I highly recommend Cabin in the Sky . P . S . Only disappointment is we're deprived of Armstrong's number " Ain't It the Truth " that was cut from general release and supposedly is forever lost with only stills and his recording existing . |
454,980 | 11,228,318 | 512,042 | 9 | The Gun is one of the funniest episodes of " Amos ' n ' Andy " so far | Wanting to make it up to Sapphire for forgetting their 20th wedding anniversary , George " Kingfish " Stevens goes to a shop with Andy to buy her a purse . They get one from a pile of them that , minutes before , had a couple of criminals-one male , one female-hide that female's purse among them . When they come home , Andy looks in the purse and finds the gun . Instead of turning it to the police , Kingfish decides to pawn the weapon . . . Don't want to reveal any more except that the gun results in some of the most hilarious scenes I've seen from this series so far . And Tim Moore's facial reactions as the Kingfish are so funny . I've got to mention here that Ernestine Wade as Sapphire and Amanda Randolph as her mom add to the fun of the troubles that Kingfish goes through with Randolph saying some choice wisecracks about her son-in-law . Recurring player Roy Glenn is fine in his straight role as the District Attorney prosecuting the Kingfish especially in contrast to George's lawyer , Algonquin J . Calhoun with his comic defense . Funniest episode of " Amos ' n ' Andy " I've seen so far . |
454,102 | 11,228,318 | 126,926 | 9 | Gertie on Tour is a very short but interesting sequel to Winsor McCay's Gertie the Dinosaur | There is only a minute and a half of this intriguing sequel to Gertie the Dinosaur in which the title character encounters a train and tries to eat it and dreams being surrounded by other dinosaurs . I think she also puts her tail in her mouth at the beginning . I don't know if Winsor McCay didn't finish this short or some of it is missing but even at such a short length , the footage is fascinating . This time the backgrounds are a little shaded . No doubt , anyone who loves dinosaurs and animation should take a look at this one . I found out about this one in Mark Evanier's news column and he linked a Google video of it there . Well worth seeing for any McCay and animation buffs . |
455,174 | 11,228,318 | 441,377 | 9 | Minotauromaquia provides a unique depiction of Picasso | As with many unique animated shorts that I have reviewed here on IMDb , I discovered Minotauromaquia on Cartoon Brew from Amid . Directed by Spain's Juan Pablo Etcheverry , it is a clay-animated depiction of the great modern artist Pablo Picasso and his dreams and nightmares of his various creations particularly the minotaur after he sees him devour one of his naked women ( this scene is very vivid so I definitely wouldn't recommend this short for children ) . The way scenes go back and forth in recreating many of Picasso's drawings and a dove that provides light provide some of the most fascinating images for such a well done short . This is highly recommended for anyone with a sense of adventure concerning the imagination . |
454,738 | 11,228,318 | 43,315 | 9 | Ballot Box Bunny is another funny Friz Freling-directed Bugs Bunny cartoon | When Yosemite Sam runs for mayor , he vows to " rid the country of every last rabbit " . Bugs , overhearing this in his hole , resolves to " fight fire with fire " and runs against him . Considering the explosions that happen here , that's an understatement ! One such gag you usually find in these Friz Freling-directed shorts has Sam calling truce with Bugs and offering him a piano to play " Believe Me If All Those Endering Young Charms " . The rabbit plays it wrong unknowingly and gets Sam to play it right with the thing literally blowing up in his face ! Another touch I loved is when Sam uses some ants to steal some food from Bugs ' picnic , a speeded up-version of the " William Tell Overture " ( probably more familiar to boomers as " The Lone Ranger Theme " ) is playing . This short ends with a literal " dark horse " winning and the two leads playing Russian Roulette . I won't spoil it for you but if you're familiar with Bugs and Sam , you'll probably guess how it ends . Another highly recommended Warner Bros . cartoon short . |
454,658 | 11,228,318 | 22,225 | 9 | Burns and Allen are Once Over , Light | George is at the barbershop where his cutter has trouble convincing him to buy hair tonic . George asks his barber if he has ever had it . " For ten years " is the reply which bothers George since the barber is bald ! He also owns the tonic since his name is on it ! George then encounters another customer who asks what he thinks of war . George says , " Well , it seems like a nice day for it . " The other customer then cuts George's tie representing various European countries that fought in WWI ( or The Great War as it was then called ) saving Belgium for the very end . George ends this by ripping up the other man's shirt ! Manicurist Gracie encounters an old girlfriend asking what happened to her old fiancée . Before the old girlfriend could completely answer , Gracie mentions how the fiancée had been fooling around behind her back-and was with Gracie the day before . " I married him ! " , answers the old girlfriend . George then encounters Gracie when she asks , " Pointy or roundy ? " This leads to a series of nonsense questions like-George : " A man enters a restaurant ordering a tomato , spinach , and ice cream . How do I know he's a soldier ? " Gracie : " Because he was wearing a uniform . " or Gracie : " What's the difference between a pickle and an umbrella ? " George : " I give up . " Gracie : " Then I give up too ! " As the short ends , Gracie talks about her sister who just had a baby and how the baby goes , " Googie , Googie " when it looks at it's aunt as George gets visibly bored . Googie , as Burns and Allen fans know , is George's nickname for Gracie . Once again , Burns and Allen are at their most amusing doing routines that have survived the test of time . Once Over , Light is most highly recommended ! |
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