At the Movies: **** Regretting You (2025)

 This is a double love story movie inside a terrible tragedy.  Morgan Grant (Allison Williams) as a 17 year old realized she and her sister had their partners backwards.  She should be with Jonah (Dave Franco) and not Chris Grant (Scott Eastwood).  However she is already pregnant.  Her sister, Jenny (Willa Fitzgerald) is with Jonah.  

We then fast forward 17 year old.  Morgan and Chris have an almost 17 year old daughter, Clara (Mckenna Grace), who meets the most fascinating boy from school, Miller Adams (Mason Thames).   Jonah and Jenny also have a baby and are engaged.  This is after Jonah had disappeared for many years, and then suddenly comes back into their lives.  

Then tragedy happens.  Morgan is called to the hospital, her husband has been in an accident.  When she gets there she meets Jonah.  he was also called to the hospital saying Jenny was in an accident.  They were together and both pass away.  When Jonah and Morgan realize that their partners were having an affair with each other; the dysfunction steps in.  Morgan turns to alcohol.  Clara smokes pot and turns to her boy friend.  Jonah can't care for his baby.  

We have the makings of a double romance with lots of dysfunction mixed in.  We realize Jonah disappeared because he couldn't stand to be around Morgan and her married to someone else.  Fortunately the do come out the other side.

Music Review: Billy Joel: ****^The Ultimate Collection (2000)

This is a compendium of Billy Joel hits released in 2000.  It is a double disc collection with most of the good songs on the first disc.   This is indeed the ultimate collection of Billy Joel songs.  He has quite a library of hits.  My favorite is one of his first, "Piano Man."  I saw him in concert many years ago and remember he played this song, as well as " The Entertainer."  He mixes harder songs and softer songs.  Some of my favorite include: "Just the Way You Are," It's still Rock and Roll to Me," "Street Life Serenader," "She's Got a Way," "She's Always a Woman," "Honesty, and "Uptown Girl."  This is some very good music, written by Billy Joel.  I really enjoyed it.  I got it at the Bellevue library.

Music Review: The Osmonds: 50th Anniversary Reunion Concert: Live in Las Vegas

 The Os monds: 50th Anniversary Reunion Concert: Live in Las Vegas, Jimmy Osmond Productions, 2008.

I cannot highly recommend this CD disc.  I found it at the local library in Bellevue.  It seems like all the songs are only done to give you a piece of the song and not the whole thing.  The covered the Donny and Marie songs with a medley of four and a half minutes.  This covered seven songs.  he entire CD is just a bit over 40 minutes.  This seems pretty slim for a concert.  Of course it is a Las Vegas concert so maybe they were doing multiple shows.

The Osmonds touch some of my favorite Osmond songs, "Crazy Horses", "Down By the Lazy River", "Puppy Love" and "Paper Roses."  I missed "He Ain't Heavy" which the Osmonds covered.  In addition to the Five Osmond Brothers this concert included Marie and Jimmy.  %0 years is quite a heritage of music.  I know Donny is still going strong in Las Vegas.  

Movie Review: ****Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987)

 This movie poses the question, should a super being impose peace, nuclear disarmament in this case, on the world.  In this case Superman (Christopher Reeve) takes on this task.  However in this case, Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman) has escaped prison again, helped by his nephew, Lenny (John Cryer). Luthor is determined to clone Superman.  He does this using the sun, which gives him the power of the sun creating Nuclear Man (Mark Pillow).  

In the mean time at the Daily Planet things are not going well.  There has been a hostile takeover by David Warfield (Sam Wanamaker) who is into sensational headlines and stories even if not quite true.  Perry White (Jackie Cooper) is let go and Lois Lane (Margot Kidder) eventually quits.  Jimmy Olsen (Marc McClure) hangs on.  Lois Lane rekindles her flame with Superman, encouraged by Superman.   Warfield's daughter Lacy (Mariel Hemingway) ignites a flame with Clark Kent.  Clark Kent and superman go on a double date with Lois and Lacy which makes for some trickery back and forth.  However the date is interrupted when Luthor send a message to Superman on a frequency only he can hear.  He entices Superman and introduces him to Nuclear Man.  This leads to an interesting fight, and Superman being sickened, perhaps with nuclear energy from the sun.  The outcome is very much in doubt, as long as the sun shines Nuclear Man has the advantage.

In the mean time White has bought up the shares of the company, and comes back with his own take over, kicking Warfield out.  Superman concludes that peace should not be forced, but come from the people themselves.

This movie has an interesting conclusion.  The Superman movies all fall short in terms of special effects.  They did not have the computer generated features that are available now.  However within their technology limits they do pretty well.  

James Bond Movie Review: **** The Living Daylights (1987)

 This movie has the same Bond theme but with a different actor portraying James Bond (Timothy Dalton).  There really does seem to be some chemistry with his co-star, Maryam d'Abo portraying Kara Milovy who is a cello player.  Q is the same actor, while Moneypenny (Caroline Bliss is new.  M (Robert Brown) is played by the same actor as the previous movie.  Of course then there are the villains, who are trying to make money selling arms, heroin and diamonds.  Jeroen Krabbé plays Koskov who plays a defecting KGB agent but in reality is defecting to this criminal organization,  Joe Don Baker portrays the arms dealer Brad Whitaker.  Andreas Wisniewski plays Necros, the killer for this organization.  With the KGB is John Rhys-Davies as General Pushkin.  And an Afghani leader is Kamran Shah played by Art Malik.  

Bond is trying to disrupt the network.  Most of the good action is in Afghanistan, during the time when the Russians were fighting there.  There is a chase of a taxing plane, and then the plane taking off and a fight with the back cargo hold of the plane.  Bond and Necros actually go out of the plane holding to nets and fighting with knives.  finally Necros is holding to Bond's boot, which Cond cuts away and Necros gets the boot as he falls out of the plane.

Very good Bond Movie and introducing Tim Dalton as James Bond.

Tom Hanks and Leonardo DiCaprio Movie: ****Catch Me if You Can (2002)

 Leonardo DiCaprio portrays Frank Abegnale Jr. who runs away from home when he has to decide with which parent he wants to live when they go through a divorce.  His father is Frank Abegnale (Christopher Walken) and his mother is Paula (Nathalie Bale).  He decides to go into passing false checks, and discovers the best way to do this is as a pilot.  Everyone trusts a pilot.  So he gets a uniform, and passes himself off as a pilot.  Banks and the airport cash payroll checks for the most, so he makes many counterfeit payroll checks, and cashes them wherever they go.  When the FBI, agent Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks) gets too close he gives up the airport business for a while, and takes up being a doctor.  There he meets a nurse, Brenda Strong (Amy Adams) he he goes to meet her parents (Martin Sheen and Nancy Lenehan) eventually to propose marriage.  He has a very big fraudulent business going, mostly cashing checks--to the tune of over a million dollars.  Over time Hanratty gets closer and closer.  He ever captur4es him on a couple occassions, but he always seems to get away.  However eventually even this comes to an end and he is in a foreign prison and extradited back to the United States.  Even though he is only 17 he is tried as an adult because of the scope and his always getting away, and he goes to prison.  Hanratty then begins using him as a resource for information on checks and forgery.  

Very interesting movie.  It is based on a book Abegnale wrote of his life; however there is some doubt a bout the truthfulness of the book,  He has admitted some of it was exagerated.  Directed by Steven Spielberg.  

Movie Review: *** Superman III

 This is the only Christopher Reeve Superman movie without Lex Luthor.  Instead he goes up against Ross Webster (Robert Vaughn) who is an entrepreneur.  He teams up with a computer expert, Gus Gorman (Richard Pryor).  He also has a couple women helping him, Vera (Annie Ross) and Lorelei (Pamela Stephenson).  They access a satellite and with that they manipulate the weather.

There is also less Lois Lane and the newspaper characters as Clark Kent returns to Smallville for his class reunion, and rekindles a flame with Lana Lang (Annette O'Toole) and out duels Brad (Gavav O' Herlihy) for her affections.

So Gorman designs a super computer, but the three villains take it over and kick him out.  In bread into the computer is it analyzes an opponents weaknesses, and is able to counter.  When superman confronts the computer, the computer takes over one of the women and becomes self sufficient.  It is no longer dependent on electricity and becomes independent.  Superman has to trick the computer to save the world.

Movie Review: ***Supergirl (1984)

 This movie is made as a sequel to the Superman movies and to take advantage of the Superman buzz.  Supergirl/Linda Lee (Helen Slater) comes to earth looking for a device she lost.  It is an orb that keeps the refugee ship powered as the group has left Krypton.  Without the orb they are doomed.  Zaltar (Peter O' Toole) leads the group and condemns himself for the loss of the orb.

Supergirl follows the orb, and as luck would have it, it falls into the hands of a witch, Selena (Faye Dunaway), who wants to use the power to take over the world.  She has a couple helpers (Brenda Vaccaro and Peter Cook) Only Supergirl stands in her way.  Supergirl is cousin to Superman, and she goes to boarding school where she rooms with Lucy Lane (Maureen Teefy), Lois' young sister.  There is a handsome man (Hart Bochner) in the mix that Selena is determined to have, but her spell goes wrong and he attaches to Linda Lee, Supergirl's alter ego.  

This movie is mildly entertaining, but goes over the top and as a result did not get good reviews.  The other actor involved, from the Superman series is Marc McClure who plays Jimmy Olsen.  He is a friend of Lucy's.

Movie Review: ****^Superman II (1980)

 Superman II is just as fun as Superman.  In fact in some ways it is funner.  The gag at Niagara Falls, and Clark Kent 45(Christopher Reeve) saving Lois (Margot Kidder) while bumbling around and not using super powers or so it seams.  And then the trip to Superman's residence, and his relinquishing his powers.  The bit at the diner is just as fun.  Superman without powers is beaten into the ground, but then he returns after getting his powers back.

The basic theme is three other beings (Sarah Douglas, Jack O'Halloran and Terence Stamp) from Krypton show up, after a nuclear bomb explodes in space, releasing them from their prison.  They are intent on ruling, and nothing can stop their powers; especially not Superman after relinquishing his powers.  Superman has to undo this, but he still is no match for the three.  So he has to use subterfuge, and Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman).

Halloween Movie :Toy Story of Terror, (2013)

 This is a made for TV short where our toys go to the hotel from hell, or from psycho.  Something is getting the toys at the hotel were the family has stopped for the night.  They discover it is a lizard, who captures toys for the manager of the hotel.  The hotel manager has a thriving E-bay business with the toys the lizards has caught and brought to him.  The toys have to keep Woody (Tom Hanks) from being sent away to a buyer.  Jessie (Joan Cusack) comes to the rescue but she has to face her fear of being in a box.  im Allen portrays Buzz Light Year and Don Rickles provides voice for Mr. Potato Head.  Stephen Tobolowsky portrays the hotel manager, who get his in the end.   

James Bond Movie Review: ****View to a Kill (1985)

 This James Bond movie is back to the original formula.  This movie has Roger Moore as Bond and has the original actors for Q and Moneypenny.  M is portrayed by Robert Brown.  Sir Godfrey Tibbett (Patrick Macnee) is helping Bond with his knowledge of horses, and is murdered in a car wash.  Max Zorin (Christopher Walken) is determined to destroy Silicon Valley and thereby monopolize the silicon market.  He is obsessed with the idea.  He is going to use a large explosion to trigger a massive earthquake.  His lover, May Day (Grace Jones) is his henchman who is very good at murdering people.  However, in the end, it is Zorin's obsession that does him in.  He is so determined to stay on schedule that he blows up a bomb gthat kills his own worker, and also puts May Day at risk as he abandons her.  She then helps Bond move the bomb which is to trigger more explosives, so it will not be as deadly and start an earthquake.   The movie concludes with a chase of a dirigible, which is something new for Bond.

 

Movie Review: ****Retribution (2023)

 This is a Liam Neeson movie which I watched through a streaming service.  Neeson plays a bank executive who is being black mailed by a bomb placed under his seat into releasing money from the bank.  His children (Lilly Aspell and Jack Champion) are in the car with him.  At the same time he is set up as the perpetrator of several murders.  The police (Noma Dumezweni) are after him as he keeps getting away, and finally meets up with his boss (Matthew Modine), who he also appears to murder.  However all is not as it appears.  Very good Liam Neeson action movie.

John Wayne Movie Review: ****The War Wagon (1967)

 This is one of the movies that fascinated me as a young man.  It came ut when I was ten.  They way they attack the war wagon is one of thos things that trigger the imagination.  Taw Jackson (John Wayne) leads the effort and he recruits Lomax (Kirk Douglas) guns and safe cracker, Levi Walking Bear (Howard Keel) Native American liaison, Billy Hyatt (Robert Walker Jr.) explosives expert and Wes Fletcher (Keenan Wynn) inside man and wagon transport.  They are going to rob gold from the mine now owned by Frank Pierce (Bruce Cabot) who swindled the property from Jackson, and sent him to jail, while paying to have him shot; by Lomax no less.  Everyone knows Pierce is a crook, but he is a crook who owns the law enforcement.  The other interesting character is Kate (Valora Noland) who is the wife of Fletcher.  He purchased her and treats her poorly and is jealous of everyone.

The part that is not good about the movie is a non-Native American playing the part of the Native American, Walking Bear.  It also plays on stereotypes of Native Americans.  This is a product of the times in Hollywood.

Movie Review: ****^Superman (1978)

 Superman/Clark Kent (Christopher Reeve) is sent to earth by his parents (Marlon Brando and Susannah York) as his planet, Krypton is due to explode.  They send him to earth, where differences is gravity will give him super powers.  There he is adopted by the Kents (Glen Ford and Phyllis Thaxter).  When his father dies, he moves to New York and becomes a reporter.  There he works with Lois Lane (Margot Kidder), photographer Jimmy Olsen (Marc McClure) and his boss Perry White (Jackie Cooper).  Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman) is a criminal boss and mastermind.  He is intent and igniting a nuclear bomb to create an earthquake so California with drop into the sea.  This will propel his properties in the desert to be seaside property.  

He figures out Superman.  He is from another planet, and vulnerable to kryptonite.  He uses this to incapacitate Superman and launch his two nuclear bombs.  However Luthor is betrayed by his girl (Valerie Perrine).  She released Superman, who in turn saves his friends and the world.  

John Wayne Movie Review: ****Island in the Sky (1953)

 John Wayne is the pilot of a Corsair C-47 transport in the northern country, when they become confused as to their location, and icing forces them down way north where temperatures are not in their favor.  Nor is it in the favor of those who would find them.  This makes for an interesting movie as they attempt to communicate their location, and survive.  

I enjoyed this movie.  It is very emotional.  One of the men dies when he decides to go hunting and becomes lost in the cold and dark; even though he is just steps away form the plane.  The planes get close, but do not see them

• 

  John Wayne

  Capt. Dooley
• 

  Lloyd Nolan

  Captain Stutz
• 

  Walter Abel

  Col. Fuller
• 

  James Arness

  Mac McMullen
• 

  Andy Devine

  Willie Moon
• 

  Allyn Joslyn

  J.H. Handy
• 

  Jimmy Lydon

  Murray

  (as James Lydon)
• 

  Harry Carey Jr.

  Ralph Hunt

John Wayne Movie: ***^In Harms Way (1965)

 This is a John Wayne movie with lots of supporting stars.  Wayne portrays Admiral Rock.  He is on a destroyer and gets to sea after Pearl Harbor.  His son is Jere (Brandon de Wilde).  Eddington (Kirk Douglas) is Rock's best friend.  Patricia Neal portrays Maggie, who is Rock's new girlfriend.  Jill Haworth portrays Jere's girlfriend.  Jere is an interesting character as he startys the movie being a jerk and then repents.  As a result he is engaged to Jere.  However she goes out with Eddington who rapes her and as a result she suicides.  Eddington is remorseful so takes a dangerous mission, and is able to locate a Japanese fleet, before he is shot down.  

A big battleship is coming down a narrow water pass before the take over the island.  Admiral Rock throws everything at them, mines, PT boats which are decimated.  Rock's son Jere is on a PT boat.   Then they try to stop them with their own boats.  Rock's boat is sunk, but the overall battle turns out to be a victory.

At the Movie: ****^Truth & Treason (2025)

 This is a movie about a branch in Nazi Germany; more particularly a 16 year old youn man from the branch, Helmuth Hübener (Ewan Horrocks) and his pursuit of the truth and sharing that truth with his neighbors.  He writes leaflets and then distributes them to his neighbors, purring them in mail boxes, on cars, or just letting them go in the air.  He recruits two friends, Karl-Heinz Schnibbe (Ferdinand McKay) and Rudi Wobbe (Daf Thomas).  They do this because a fourth friend, who happened to be part Jew Soloman Schwarz (Nye Occomore)was taken and ends up in Auschwitz.  The Gestapo man who is hunting them down is Erwin Mussener (Rupert Evans).  He tortures people by day and loves his family by night which makes a stark contradiction.

Hübener wrote many tracks, which were distributed around Hamburg by he and his friends.  This goes on for almost six months before Hübener is caught and tortured into giving up the names of his friends.  He does this to protect a young woman he had befriended at work.  

I really enjoyed this movie based on a true story. The letter to his mother at the end was very poignant.

James Bond Movie: ***^ Never Say Never Again (1983)

 Sean Connery is back as James Bond, but many of the other characters have different actors.  Klaus Maria Brandauer as Largo, Max Von Sydow as Blofeld, Barbara Carrera as Fatima Blush, Kim Basinger as Domino, Alec McCowen as Q, Edward Fox as M and Pamela Salem as Miss Moneypenny and Bernie Casey as Felix who is a spy helping Bond.

Blofeld is the leader of Spectre.  Largo is assigned to handle the theft of a couple nuclear bombs.  His girl is Domino, who wants to get away from Largo.  Fatima Blush is the woman who is trying to murder Bond.  The action isn't quite as intense as some other Bond movies.  

Tom Hanks Movie Review: ***Larry Crowne (2011)

Tom Hanks portrays Larry Crowne, a middle age man who has been let go from his job of over 20 years and is finding difficulty finding another job; so goes back to school.  Julia Robert portrays the speech professor, Cedric the Entertainer portrays his neighbor, Gorge Takei another professor and Gugu Mbatha-Raw a fellow student who eventually drops out of school to pursue her dream in clothing retail.  This is. aromantic comedy in which the professor falls for the student and vice versa.  For a great deal of the movie I wondered what's the point of this movie.  I found it mildly entertaining.

At the Movie: ***Pets on a Train (2025)

 This is an animated movie to which I took Grand kids.  The Badger Hans (Frantz Conviac) betrays the Raccoon Falcon (Damien Ferrette) to get even with the police dog Rex (Hervé Jolly) is basically what happens.  Hans takes control of the train and sets it on a high speed collision course.  Inside of that there ar many animals challenging themselves to overcome.  Grandkids liked it overall, even Bronny who hadn't like the previous Pets movies.

Movie Review: ***^Gone (2012)

 Jill (Amanda Seyfried) was kidnapped a year ago, but when the police could not find anything after a week they concluded she was crazy and having a paranoid reaction to her parents having passed away.   She was court ordered into psychiatric hospital.

Now her sister, Molly (Emily Wickersham) has come up missing, and Jill concludes that the kidnapper/murderer is back.  But still no one believes her.  She is sure she will be murdered if she does not find him quickly.  She decides to find her herself.  However in questioning people she flashes a gun around, and the police are now after her for having an illegal gun.  Her investigtion leads to the killer's phone number so she calls, and makes arrangements to meet him, in Forest Park, where she was thrown in a hole when she was kidnapped.  She was able to use a bone from a murdered girl as a shiv and stab the killer, Jim or Digger (Socrotis Otto).  In the forest she finds definite proof Jim is the murderer.  In his tent are pictures of the women he has killed.  She struggles with him in the hole.  He has the same bone she used to stab him.  The struggle and she is able to shot him.  

She gets back to her home, and her sister is there after being tied up and drugged, when she wakes up she finds herself under the house.

This movie has received very poor reviews and did not make lots of money at the box office.  However I liked it.

James Bond Movie Review: ****^Octopussy (1983)

 This movie again uses the Bond formula, but adds an island of just women and a circus with knife throwers.  Someone is selling jewels and making fakes to raise money.  Turns out the project is backed by a Soviet fanatic (Steven Berkoff) who wants to incite war as he feels the Soviets would win easily.  He finances a nuclear bomb, which he hopes to explode on an American base.  Kamal (Louis Jordan) works with him.  He hires people on several occasions to kill Bond (Roger Moore).  However Bond befriends Octopussy (Maud Adams) who says he can stay on her island of women.  Kamal send mercenaries to kill him.  They do not succeed.  Kristina Wayborn plays Magda who is Kamal's girl.  Robert Brown plays M, Desmond Llewelyn Q who has a bigger roll, and brings a hot air balloon into battle.  Lois Maxwell again portrays Miss Moneypenny.  

At the Movies: *^The Naked Gun (2025)

 This movie missed with me.  I saw it at the theater a couple months ago.  The only gag was when the officers were paying homage to their parents, and the man couldn't pay homage to O.J. Simpson.  That was just too much for him.  And when Neeson says take a chair, so she takes a chair home with her.  Sometimes comedy just doesn't hit for everyone.

James Bond Movie: ****^For Your Eyes Only (1981)

 This is a very good Bond movie.  Roger Moore again plays James Bond.  He is joined by Melina (Carole Bouquet) Whose parents have been murdered and she is seeking revenge.  A British spy ship has gone down off the coast of Greece.  It has an encryption device the British want to recover, and the Russians would love having.  Britain hires Melina's father to find it, while the Russians hire Kristatos (Julian Glover).  Kristatos' man Locque (Michael Gothard) hires someone to kill Melina's parents.  Kristatos teams with Bond and points him to Columbo (Topol) as the likely villain that Bond will likely have to kill.  However Columbo is able to talk to bond, and convince him the real culprit is Kristatos.  He runs an intricate smuggling operation of heroin and other products.  Kristatos actually gets away with the encryption device and awaits the Russians so he can deliver it.  Bond is in a race to locate him and recover the device.  

This is a fun movie.  Bond and Columbo and Melina confront Kristatos on the top of a mountain.  Lynn Holly Johnson portrays Bibi who is a young ice skater and infactuated with Bond.

John Wayne Movie: ***^Hatari (1962)

 This movire is filled with rhinos, elephants, monkeys, giraffes and so much more.  It starts with Little Wolf (Bruce Cabot) being gored by a rhino and ends with elephants chasing through town helping Sean Mercer (John Wayne) find Dallas D'Allesandro (Elsa Martinelli) as he plans to marry her.  This has many views of Africa, and the dangers involved in catching animals for the zoo.  Pockets (Red Buttons) provides some comic relief.  He comes up with a contraption for catching monkeys.  He also gets the girl in the end, Brandy (Michèle Girardon).  She is the daughter of the owner who was killed by a rhino.  Now Mercer runs the outfit.  Two others vied for her affection, Kurt Muller (Hardy Krüger) and Luis Francisco Garcia Lopez (Valentin de Vargas).  Muller is a race car driver.  

The animals don't much like being captured.  Except the baby elephants who keep showing up.  But this show is cute.  I don't care for the excessive drinking, which seems to end each day.

James Bond Movie: ****^Moonraker (1979)

 Here is another James Bond (Roger Moore) movie using the same formula with some additions.  In this Bond movie we have a battle in space.  They were using space shuttle type vehicles but the battle was outside of the vehicles, man-to-man using laser weapons.  The space ship is called Moonraker, and there is not one but like six of them.  In this film, the deranged soul Drax (Michael Lonsdale) wants to kill all the people on earth with a gas, and then repopulate the earth with his genetically superior people.  Jaws (Richard Kiel) is in this film as well.  He even has a girlfriend, and realizing he and his girlfriend will not be selected, he grows a heart, and helps Bond escape.  Bond is also helped by Holly Goodhead (Lois Childs).

I think this Bond is better than most.  Lots of scifi action.  

Tom Hanks Movie Review: ****^Inferno (2016)

 This is the third of the Da Vinci Code series.  This movie does not deal with the Catholic Church, but with a over population fanatic Zobrist (Ben Foster) who is intent on releasing a virus and thereby reducing the human population.  Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) feel he has been in an accident and consequently has lost his memory of the last few days.  He runs away with the doctor (Felicity Jones) when it appears someone is trying to kill him.  And they begin to re-piece his memories and are looking for the device to disarm it.  Langdon is involved because of his knowledge of Dante's Inferno.  Zobrist has killed himself and left clues for his love to find the device.  These he put into a drawing of hell according to Dantes, but with subtle changes.  His mind is muddled, but they keep making progress.  

The film keeps switching in trm of who do you trust?  This film points out that Langdon did have a love interest in the person of Elizabeth Sinsky (Sidse Babett Knudsen) but their carers took them separate ways and she works for the World Health Organization and he at a university.  They end up together at the end of the movie talking of the many people who thought they were saving the world by killing half the people. 

These movies keep getting better as they go.  Again directed by Ron Howard.

Tom Hanks Movie Review: ****Angels and Demons (2009)

 This is a sequel to The Davinci Code with Tom Hanks again as Robert Langdon.  In this movie you are unsure who are the good guys and who the bad until the very end.  It appears the Illuminati are seeking revenge on the Catholic church.  They have kidnapped four cardinals with the intent to murder them every hour until they do their ultimate deed of blowing up the Vatican.  They have stolen antimatter to make this possible.  This brings in the scientist Vittoria Vetra (Ayelet Zurer) who is trying to recover the lost antimatter and disarm it if possible.  It is a time of change as the Pope has died, and the cardinals are in conclave.  In the meantime Camerlengo Patrick McKenna (Ewan McGregor) is in charge of the Vatican.  They follow the clues to each of the first three cardinal locations, but always a bit late.  The fourth they are able to save.  

The bomb is set to go off, but Camerlengo flies in in a helicopter up above the populace in St. Peters Square.  It explodes and he returns to earth in a parachute.  The Cardinals want to reward him for his heroism, and call him to the conclave, where everything turns on its head.

I enj9yed this movie more than Da Vinci Code.  It is again directed by Ron Howard. 

John Wayne Movie: ****Trouble Along the Way (1953)

 This is a very cute movie with with the relationship between father Steve Williams (John Wayne) and his daughter Carol (Sherry Jackson).  Enter a third party, social worker Alice Singleton (Donna Reed) who is investigating at the insistence of the ex-wife (Marie Windsor) who has been away for five years.  At the same time Williams is hired to coach football by Father Burke (Charles Coburn) for Saint Anthony's.  They have never been good at football, but need to do something as they school is facing closure if they can't make some money.  Williams turns the team around by having an older group of freshman play who are really coal miners or down on their luck otherwise.  He recruits a player who played a professional game in Canada.  This all turns around on him after his first game and his ex reports the players.  It also seems he will lose his daughter to his ex-wife.  The court hearing doesn't turn out as expected, and everything is up in the air in the end.  Except perhaps a budding relationship between the social worker and the father.

Tom Hanks Movie Review: ***^Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2011)

 This is a different kind of Tom Hanks movie.  Tom Hanks dies at 9-11, and the movie focuses on his son, Oskar (Thomas Horn) and wife (Sandra Bullock) dealing with the loss.  Oskar's grandmother (Zoe Caldwell) gives some support.  Oskar find a key, and consequently is on a mission to find where the key fits.  It says Black on the key, so he wants to see everybody with the last name of Black in New York.  This is a big chore for someone with post traumatic anxiety.  He is eventually joined by his grandmother's renter, who is likely his grandfather (Max von Sydow).  He tells his story of 9-11.  His father called, but he didn't pick up, and then the building fell.  

This movie explores 9-11 in the effect it had on family members of those who were murdered.  

John Wayne Movie Review: ***The Conquerer (1956)

 This movie is in the oist of the 50 worst movies of all time.  I don't think it was that bad.  True John Wayne has a hard time being Mongolian Temujin (Genghis Khan).  Susan Haywood portrays Bortai, who Temujin wants for a wife.  Her father had killed Temujin's father.  This movie has intrigue and betrayal.  The shaman (John Hoyt) is the greatest betrayer.  He even tries to fool Wang Khan (Thomas Gomez) into not supporting Temujin, who was his closest ally.  In the end the shaman murders Wang Khan, and Temujin murders him.  During the movie Temujin is wounded, and taken prisoner.  However his wife is able to help him escape.  So most of the asians are played by Mexicans.  Pedro Armendáriz portrays his blood brother, who is manipulated by the shaman to look like a traitor.  

Perhaps the greatest tragedy of this movie is that it was filmed near St. George, Utah which was in the down winder area.  40 percent of the participants in the film developed cancer.

John Wayne Movie Review: ***Pittsburgh (1942)

 This movie is not about the city, but the man, Pittsburgh Markham (John Wayne).  He was big into coal, he and his best friend, Cash Evans (Randolph Scott).  However there was a woman who came between them, Josie Winters (Marlene Dietrich).  Markham makes his money, and destroys relationships in doing so.  It finally catchers up to him, and he ends up broke.  He starts over again, at the bottom.  His hard wark is noticed, and Evans calls him in to be a vice president, not realizing who he is.  And this is what starts a resolution.  This is during the time of war, and everyone is needed to increase production of war materials.

John Wayne Movie Review: ***^The Green Berets. (1968)

 The Green Berets is a classic John Wayne soldier movies.  John Wayne portrays Col. Mike Kirby.  David Janssen portrays a soldier embedded with the military unit that is on a mission to capture a Viet Cong general.  One of the most touching aspects is Hamchunk, a Vietnamese orphan looking for Sgt. Petersen (Jim Hutton) who is killed.  This movie borders being a propoganda piece for the Viet Nam War.  Even so there is plenty of action.  There are also views of booby traps which may or may not be accurate.

John Wayne Movie Review: ***^Jet Pilot (1957)

 This is a cold war movie of spy versus spy.  It appears a Russian pilot, Lt. Anna Marladovna Shannon/Olga Orlief (Janet Leigh) is defecting to the U.S.  Col. Jim Shannon (John Wayne) is assigned to her to get information from her.  At the same time she is getting information from the Americans and feeding it back to Russia.  She even gets some plans.  Orlief and Shannon marry in an attempt to keep her from being deported.  It is discovered she is actually a spy.  Now the opposite happens, Shannon flies her to Siberia and he defects.  However he is also working as a spy for the Americans.  When Orlief learns that the intend to trade Shannon to the Americans, but not until they destroy his memory with drugs, they do the defecting rescuing thing a third time.

Tom Hanks Movie Review: ***^ 'Burbs 1989

 Here Tom Hanks stars as Ray Peterson and Carrie Fisher portrays his wife.  They interact with neighbors Mark Rumsfeld (Bruce Dern and his wife Bonnie (Wendy Schaal) and Art Weingartner (Rick Ducommun).  The whole neighborhood is in uproar over a new family that has moved into the neighborhood, and the don't care for their hard.  They rarely come out and suspicions are aroused.  And when another neighbor disappears without taking his dog, suspicions are even higher.  The three men, Art, Ray and Mark are on a mission to prove the neighbors are guilty of murder.  They dig in their basement, and hit a gas main which destroys the house.  They are in really big trouble, because the neighbor who disappeared comes back from having been in the hospital a few days; and the police are now involved.  Ray needs to go to the hospital after being in the explosion in the house, but the neighbor who is a doctor, Dr. Werner Klopek (Henry Gibson) plans to murder him.  In trying to get away they crash the car, and expose the skulls in the trunk.  

I liked this movie much more than The Money Pit, and Dragnet.

Tom Hanks Movie Review: **^Dragnet 1987

 This film is billed as a comedy, a parody of the old Dragnet tv series.  It misses on a couple of counts.  It is much more sexualized, as they enter a striptease bar which earns the movie a PG13 rating.  Definitely not for kids.  The plot is a bit complicated as well, with multiple crimes having been committed.  Dan Adkroyd and Tom Hanks star as Friday and Streebek.  Friday is the strait officer, and Streebek is more liberal in his demeanor.  However Friday falls for a woman, Connie Swail (Alexandra Paul) they rescue from a satanic ritual and an organization called PAGAN headed by Whirley (Christopher Plummer).  Whirley is a prominent preacher who hopes to con a rich businessman of $1,000,000.  He also kidnaps Swail and is headed away in an airplane with the money after having killed everyone with gas.  Friday and Streebek turn the tables.  Harry Morgan has a cameo as the Captain.  This movie does not seem up to the same quality as other Hanks movies.  

John Wayne Movie Review: ***Seven Sinners (1940)

 Marlene Dietrich plays Bijou who is featured in this movie as the woman men will fight for.  The movie starts and ends with a big bar room brawl as men fight for her love.  Bijou is ordered expelled from the island.  This seems to happen over and over.  She falls for the doctor on board the ship, Dr. Martin (Alber Dekker), but still gets off at the next island which has a new governor, so they might not remember her, and a bar where she use to sing.

In this case, Lieutenant Dan falls for upon first sight.  On the other hand, Antro (Oscar Homolka) has claimed her as his girl.  He is a known murdered and always carries a knife with him.  The lieutenant decides to leave the Navy so she can marry Bijou.  His family has a very long history in the Navy.  

This movie ends the way it began, a very big bar fight as Anto and his cronies want to do the Lieutenant in.  Bijou send him away, back to his ship, while she again is on a boat to the next island, and reforms her relationship with the doctor.  

I didn't understand the bar room brawl at the first, as it opened the scene.  I understood a bit more as the show went on.  

John Wayne Movie Review: ****Shepherd of the Hills (1941)

 A great move with the characters controlled by hate and revenge.  It seems to have spoiled the hearts of the characters and they see the world as dark an oppressive.  Young Matt (John Wayne), has harbored a grudge against his father who he has not seen for many years.  He is determined to kill him if he should seem him.  He left suddenly, with no explanation, leaving he as a small baby and his mother to fend for herself.  She became ill and passed away.  He blames his father.

But his aunt Beaulah Bondi) who took him in is the most bitter.  And the home where they lived has b een abandoned since; given to the ghosts.

But a mysterious man (Harry Carey) comes to town, and insists on buying the property.  The aunt sells as he offers $1000.  But turns out the man is the father, unbeknowst to the people.  However Sammy Lane (Betty Field)  figures out who he is, and that if young Matt does kill him, he could never be his husband.  

Everything does blow up when Young Matt realizes who he is.  He has been hoping for a chance to kill his father for many years.  His aunt burns herself up and her son.  The father shots John Wayne, to keep him from the same fate he went through as he was gone for having killed a man and sent to prison.  He couldn't get back.  Young Matt survives, and his need for revenge is appeased.

I enjoyed this movie very much.  I especially liked the character portrayed by Betty Field, as she is in love with John Wayne's character, and he also loves her, but neither are prepared to admit it.