In Theaters: Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson in ***** Song Sung Blue: Musical

 Sheri and I attended this movie of Neil Diamond music.  It is the story of Lightning (Hugh Jackman) and Thunder (Kate Hudson) a couple of singers who did a Neil Diamond tribute concert.  They meet doing impersonations of other singers.  And eventually team up and create a Neil Diamond act.  They marry.  Their children add an important part to the story.  She has two children, Rachel and Dana (Ella Anderson and Hudson Hensley.). He has a daughter Angelina (King Princess.) Rachel and Angelina become friends.  There is much negativity to their performing, but they persevere and overcome.  They do the opening act for Pearl Jam, and sing with Eddie Vedder (John Beckwith.) 

But tragedy intervenes.  Thunder is hit by a car and loses a leg.  She spirals into depression with pain medication addiction and psychotic features.  They eventually land when she is admitted into a psychiatgric hospital.  She rekindles the dream and instills this in Lightning.  They first perform in a Korean restaurant, but eventually get a large concert show, the same day as a Neil Diamond show.  They both sell out.  That night they are to meet Neil Diamond, but again fate intervenes.  Lightning's heart catches up with him.

I do not think you can get through this movie without tears.  The last tribute sung byThunder to Lightning is very emotional.  "I've Been this Way Before" 

I've seen the light
And I've seen the flame
And I've been this way before
And I'm sure to be this way again
For I've been refused
And I've been regained
And I've sung my song before
And I'm sure to sing my song again

Once again
For I've been released
And I've been regained
And I've seen your eyes before
And I'm sure to see your eyes again
Once again

Some people have to laugh
Some people have to cry
Some people have to make it through
By never wondering why
Some people got to sing
Some people got to sigh
Some people they never see the light
Until the day they die

But I've been released
And I've been regained
And I've been this way before
And I'm sure to be this way again
Once again
One more time again

Just one more time

This movie is based upon a true story.  

DC Movie Review: ****Super Man Returns (2006)

 Superman (Brandon Routh) has returned after being away for five years in space, exploring his home world of Krypton.  In the meantime Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey) has explored his lair, and stole crystals.  The crystals contain the knowledge of Krypton.  He experiments with the crystals, and every time he does it causes a black out.  

Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth) has moved on from Superman.  She has a son and a boyfriend/fiancé, Richard White (James Marsden.)  She won a Pulitzer for an article about not needing Superman.  She takes her son with her, tracking down a hint about the most recent blackout.  She wonders onto the boat of Lex Luthor.  

After she is on board, Luthor heads to see to put his plan into action.  He had obtained kryptonite from a museum.  He is going to combine the kryptonite with a Krypton crystal, and make an island he will own.  This new land will cover much of the eastern United States, and being combined with kryptonite, will be poisonous to Superman.  He completes his task, and then must hurry away to avoid the crystal island.  Superman, and her fiancé rescue Lois.  Richard White takes her away in a seaplane, but Lois Lane realizes they must turn back.  Superman is in peril because of the kryptonite.  He is tossed in the ocean to die.

As they approach, Lois' son, is able to see Superman in the deep.  He is in fact Superman's son.  They are able to get him and fly away, but Superman must return.  Billions are in peril.  Superman restores his strength in the sun, then lifts the island and throws it into space.  The effort kills him.

Luthor and his girlfriend, Kitty Kowolski (Parker Posey) escape, but Kowolski drops the crystals on purpose as she is tired of Luthor's antics and callousness.  

Lois visits Superman in the hospital.  Can her life, and knowing he has a son, bring him back to life?  

This movie is good, not the best superman.  It gets bogged down a couple of times with back story, but the action wins out in the end.

Animated Movie Review: **^ Micky's Christmas Carol. (1983)

 A Disney short cartoon version of A Christmas Carol.  The interesting thing is the different Micky Mouse characters taking on different roles.  Scrooge McDuck is Scrooge, Micky Mouse is Cratchit, Donald Duck is the nephew Fred.  Goofy is the ghost of Marley, the giant is Christmas present, Jiminy Cricket is Christmas past.  Daisy Duck is Belle.  I really goes fast so each ghost only presents one scene.  It sort of skips are being able to see the change in Scrooge.  

Dr. Seuss Movie Review: ***^The Cat in the Hat (2003)

 The best way to describe this movie is there is a whole lot of strange going on.  The Cat (Mike M
yers) comes to entertain two children, Sally and Conrad (Dakota Fanning and Spencer Breslin) who are home with the babysitter (Amy Hill) who sleeps through everything.  Mom (Kelly Preston) is away at work.  The neighbor (Alec Baldwin) wants to get Conrad sent to middle school so he can have more time with mom.  The Cats methods of entertaining are not really normal, and when Thing 1 and Thing 2 get out of the box things really go haywire.  A fun race by the Cat and the kids to beat the neighbor to the house so they can clean up--which seems impossible.  

Christmas Movie Review of Jesus' Birth: *** Journey to Bethlehem (2023)

 This is a musical presentation of the birth of Jesus.  The music is too modern for my tastes, but it does tell an important story.  They admit to taking some liberties with the actual story as in the Bible.  Antonio Banderas portrays Herod, Mary is portrayed by Fiona Palomo, Joseph by Milo Manheim and Herod's son by Joel David Smallbone.  Herod becomes suspicious long before the wise men arrive, and the wise men start their journey before Jesus is born.  It portrays as the son of Herod letting Mary and Joseph escape with Jesus against the wishes of his father.

At the Movies: **** David (2025)

Pretty fun romp at the movies and the story of David, and Saul.  It is a historical animatd feature.  The movie starts with David as a shepherd and ends with him as a king.  He is ordained of the prophet Samuel to become king after Saul disobeyed the prophet.  But then he has to actually become king.  He fights Goliath in the name of the Lord.  However he eventually becomes an enemy to Saul.  From Angel Studios.  David loved Saul's son, Jonathan.  He weeps when he dies.  Taken from first and second Samuel in the Bible.  

I would recommend this movie.  The music is very catchy, especially Shalom which David sings to Saul to calm him.  David is voiced by Phil Wickham.

Christmas Movie: ***^ Home Alone 4: Taking Back the House (2002)

While Home Alone 3 had different characters, Home Alone 4 is back to the original characters but with different actors.  The family is going through a period of separation, Peter McCallister (Jason Beghe) has a new girl friend, Natalie (Joanna Going). The three children, Kevin, Buzz and Meghan (Mike Weinberg,  Gideon  Jacobs and Chelsea Russo) decide to spend Christmas with their mother, Kate McCallister (Clare Carey).  Buzz treats him very poorly, making him do all the chores with his harrassment.  Kevein changes his mind and walks to his dad's house, where he is welcomed.  However Kevin recognizes Marv (French Stewart), bad guy from the first two, there with his girlfriend, Vera (Missi Pyle).  There are also two staff, Prescott (Erick Avari) and Molly (Barbara Babcock).  When Kevin sees the thieves come through the door, with a house device to tell the doors and alarm what to do.  Kevin repells the crooks, but in doing so he floods the house.  Kevin figures there is an inside man, and it feels it is Prescott, who runs security.  A prince is coming for Chirstmas and the plan is to kidnap him.  Will Kevin be up to the task of taking back the house after He and Prescott are thrown in the cellar?  Molly is Marv's mother.

Robin Williams Christmas Movie Review: ***^ A Merry Friggin' Christmas (2004)

 This movie is an irreverent look at Christmas and the family get-together.  Boyd Mitchler (Joel McHale) does not like his father (Robin Williams) who did allow him Christmas spirit as a child.  He does not go home for Christmas.  But this year is different.  His brother, Nelson (Clark Duke), has a new baby and asked Boyd to be Godfather.  The baptism is Christmas Eve.  Boyd and his wife (Lauren Graham) head home, four hours, for Christmas.  He really wants his youngest son, Doug to have the spirit of Santa Clause.  His mother's (Candice Bergen) Christmas dream is that the whole family be together.  This includes sister, Shauna Weinke (Wendi McLendon-Covey) and her husband Dave Weinke (Tim Heidecker) and their two older children, who do not believe in Santa and are pretty rowdy.

When they get there they discover they left Doug's present home.  Boyd decides to go home to get it.  If he hurries he can just make it.  His car breaks down and dad comes to rescue him.  Dad is a porta-potty delivery man.  They discover Nelson in one of the potties.  He had fallen asleep.  A police men pulls him over a few times as he speeds.  Last time he doesn't stop but the policeman lets him go, it is Christmas.  They run over a drunk hobo Santa Clause (Oliver Platt).  He appears dead, but just as they are going to chop him up to bury him he wakes up.  They take home home, arriving too late for gift opening, ao the hobo Santa takes thre gift in, a sleigh.  They have no snow, but a different gift pleases Doug.  

Some chuckles, but not the greatest film.  It does display Williams' wit and humor but as a grouchy old man, who is overcoming addiction.  There is some growth as Boyd interacts with his father, and gets past some of his childhood trauma.

Christmas Movie Review: **** Christmas in Connecticut (1945)

 Elizabeth Lane (Barbara Stanwyck) writes a cooking column for a magazine.  In her column she talks of her farm in the country, and her cooking skills, her husband and baby.  Problem is these are things only in her column and not in real life.  Her boss, Alexander Yardley (Sydney Greenstreet) wants to host a returning seaman, Jefferson Jones (Dennis Morgan), for Christmas.  He was shipwrecked for sometime with little or no food and needs Christmas with a family with good food.  After inviting the seaman, the boss also invites himself.  

In coming up with a solution she decides to marry a friend, John Sloan (Reginald Gardiner) who has been asking her about marriage, and spending Christmas at his farm in Connecticut.  She also invites her uncle, who is a chef, Felix Bassenak (S.Z. Sakall) to come and cook.  The baby will be handled by an actual baby who is tended by Sloan's maid.  The preacher will marry them before anyone arrives; but the others arrive too soon and they are not married.  

As she gets to know the sailor, Lane is more and more stricken.  However she lays her part as a married woman with a baby.  Comedy comes in as Lane doesn't know cooking, or caring for babies.  As she gets to know Jones better, she also has to postpone the wedding,  Felix helps her in this regard.  

Except for her budding love for the sailor, things are going well.  However she and the sailor get in a sleigh, and the horse takes off with them.  They are arrestrd for horse stealing.  Felix is left to ten the baby.  When the mother picks up, she is observed by Yardley, who proclaims kidnapping and calls the police.  Everything now has to come out.  She is fired, but then rehired with a raise as Felix tells hr boss she is going to a different magazine.  

I found this movie to be fun.  The humor is nice and there are some slapstick situations.  Felix tells Jones what has been happening and he funs fun chasing her around while she pretends to be married,  but really wants him too.

Music Review: Celtic Thunder: Christmas Voices

 Celtic Thunder is a male answer to Celtic Woman.  The album Christmas Voices was released in 2013 by Celtic Thunder.  There are six singers, Colm Keegan, Keith Harkin, Ryan Kelly, Neil Byrne, Emmet Cahill and George Donaldson.  The each perform a solo, and then they do several group songs.  Neil sings Mary Did You Know?, Ryan, In the Bleak Midwinter, Colm Away in a Manger, Keith Comfort Ye from the Messiah, George Mary's Boy Child and Emmet Oh Holy Night.  I particularly like Mary's Boy Child with its upbeat rhythm.  It was brave do do Comfort Ye.  Ensemble numbers include O Come All Ye Faithful, God Rest ye Merry Gentlemen, The Christmas Song And Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.  

DC Movie Review: ****^ Batman (1989)

 Watching Batman again reminded me how much I loved this movie the first time through.  Batman/Bruce Wayne (Michael Keaton struggles with his need to fight crime, after the murder of his parents at the hands of Jack Napier/Joker (Jack Nicholson).  Napier becomes the Joker after he is dropped into a bat of acid when the crime boss (Jack Palance) sets him up.  Batman befriends a photographer, Vicki Vale (Kim Basinger).  There relationship develops, but Joker also wants to possess her.  Joker does get even with the crime boss, and takes over as the boss.  He has developed a poison which makes laugh before they die.  He has plans for a city wide gassing at a party.  Batman interv ees and sends to balloons filled with gas into the atmosphere.  The Joker has a big gun with which he shoots down the Bat plane.  This leads to a big fight.
This movie is very good.  Nicholson is good as the Joker, and Michael Keaton is also very good.

Theater Musical Review: The Notebook

The Notebook is playing at the Orpheum.  I have never seen the movie.  So the entire story was new to me.  There were three actors to play each of the main characters at different stages in life, youth, middle age (ten yeas later) and geriatric.  I really like the effect.  Sometimes the character would be singing a duet or a trio with themself.  Noah, older-Sharon Catherine Brown, Alysha Deslorieux, younger Chloé Cheers and Noah, older Beau Gravitte, Ken Wulf Clark, younger Kyle Mangold.

This musical also delves into the consequences of Alzheimers.  Allie the lead has lost her memory which she does not want to do.  She wrote a notebook of she and her husbands love story, and asks her husband, Noah, to read it to her, and she will come back to him.  The action portrays the things he is reading.

The love story is very interesting.  Her parents do not approve, and move her when they are young so as to separate them.  He goes to war, and writes daily but never hears back.  Ten years later she is engaged and goes back to the same town where she sees in the paper he has remodeled a house he said he was gong to buy and fix up for them.  She goes back to him, and the house.  Mother also visits, and admits to having hid the letters.  She gives them to her daughter now.  The song My Days is where Allie has to decide what future she is going to have, one based on love as she really loves Noah.  It is quite a struggle however.

Warning, there is one part where the young lead characters disrobe to their underwear, and then their bed is pulled off stage.  I haven't decided if this adds to the story or not.  It does match the movie.  
 

Christmas Movie Review: Timepiece (1996)

 This is a made for TV movie based on the novel of Richard L. Evans.  David Parkin (Kevin Kilner) falls for his secretary, Mary Chandler (Naomi Watts).   Problem is she is pregnant by a soldier who was killed.  Parkin proposes marriage anyway and he shortly becomes a father.  Lawrence (James Earl Jones) is a friend of the family.  Lawrence works with clocks, and Parkin collects.  He gets a special clock for his bride.  A few years later when the baby girl develops meningitis, Lawrence insists on coming over to keep her company.  He seems to lift her spirits.  The fever finally breaks and she survives.

There are some rough people in town.  One is the son of a customer of Lawrence.  He has alcohol addiction and is always seeking money.  The customer leaves a nice clock to Lawrence when she dies, rather than her son.  She lives her estate and money to the church.  The son confronts Lawrence with a gun in his store.  There is a struggle, the gun goes off and the son is killed.  Parkin comes on them a moment later.  He takes responsibility saying the struggle was with him and the son died in self defense.  He does this because he does not think Lawrence will get a fair trial as he is African American and there is a rascist tone in town.  Lawrence hesitates, but then goes along with it.

Court finds Parkin not guilty for self defense.  However friends of the son do not buy it.  They go to Lawrence's store and beagt him up, and then throw a molotov cocktail in the upper window of the Parkin home.  The daughter who survived meningitis succombs to smoke inhalation as the gas bomb lands in her room.  The family struggles, and as a coule they become more distant.  Father leads them to a family in need.  Turns out it is the wife and children of the man who killed their daughter.  That man is in prison.  Parkin and his wife are able to take them Christmas and forgive in their heart.  In the meantime Lawrence, who was given an angel for an unpaid debt, takes the angel and places it as a memorial to the little girl who died.

This is like a Hallmark movie with lots of trouble and pain and then feeling better at the end.  

Music Review: Simon and Garfunkel: Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme

 This album was declared by Rolling Stone to be the 202nd  best of all time.  It begins with Scarborough Fair, which is of course a classic with the harmony of Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel.  I also really enjoy the concluding song, 7 O'clock News/Silent Night.  The feel of this song is very much like O Holy Night with the piano playing an arpeggiated counter melody with the duo singing Silent Night.  Then they put news excerpts over the top of this, with the Viet Nam War, and murder and death.  It is very effective.  Other popular songs are Homeward Bound and 59th Street Bridge Song (Feeling Groovy).  

Marvel Movie Review: ***^ Fantastic Four (2005)

 This presets the classic story of how five astronauts go to space to study DNA.  They are hit with a solar flash, four of them while outside the vehicle, and their DNA is altered, Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic, Sue Storm/Invisible Woman, brother Johnny Storm/Human Torch and Ben Grimm/The Thing (Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans and Michael Chiklis).  The movie deals with their coming to terms with their changes.  The Thing struggles the most, as his fiancé breaks off the relationship due to his changed appearance (he looks like a rock.). Richards, the lead scientist vows to find a way to reverse the machine, creating a controlled solar storm.  Mean while te fifth member of the company, Victor von Doom/Dr. Doom (Julian McMahon) begins to develop his own powers, unbeknownst to the others.  His body is turning to metal and can generate electricity.  While the Fantastic Four use their powers for good, Doom uses his powers to murder others, and wants to take the powers of the oter four so he will be the only one with powers.  He cures the thing for a time, using his generated electricity to have the power needed.  This leads to a battle between Dr. Doom and the Four.

The Thing finally meets a woman who accepts him as he is, Alicia Masters (Kerry Washington).  He seems to be more accepting of himself as a result.  

James Bond Movie Review: ***** No Time to Die: (2021)

 James Bond (Daniel Craig) is back, after taking a long hiatus.  He is with Madeleine (Léa Seydoux) until he feels like she betrayed him, and puts her on a train.  We then pick up the story some five years later.  The CIA recruits James Bond to investigate the Project Heracles, a bionic weapon that can be manipulated through DNA to attack only select people.  Bond agrees.  He attends a party in Cuba with Sceptre, who has stolen the virus and the scientist Valdo Obruchev (David Dencik) who created the virus.  Sceptre thinks the virus will kill Bond, having his DNA.  However Obruchev has switched the DNA signature.  When Bond is suppose to die, all the Sceptre operatives die instead. Bond escapes with Obruchev.  He had been helped by CIA operative Paloma (Ana de Armas).  He delivers Obruchev to the CIA aboard a sail boat.  Bond is betrayed by one of the CIA agents, Logan Ash (Billy Magnussen).  Ash kills Bond's CIA friend Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright) and blows up the boat they are on and escapes via sea plane with Obruchev.  Ash and Obruchev are double agents for Lyutsifer Safin (Rami Malek) who has it in for Sceptre because they killed his family and left him scarred with their poison.

Somehow Blofeld (Christoph Waltz) the head of the CIA attended the meeting in Cuba from prison.  Bond is determined to visit him.  Blofeld insisted he would only talk to Madeleine, so Bond sees her after five years and discovers she has a baby.  She comes with Bond to see Blofeld, but also brings the virus with Blofeld's signature.  Blofeld dies.  Bond is now again working with MI6, M (Ralph Fiennes).  M and MI6 was involved in the Hercales virus.  He also encounters Q (Ben Whishaw), Moneypenny (Naomie Harris), Tanner (Rory Kinnear) and a new 007, Nomi (Lashana Lynch).  

Bond while protecting Madeleine and her daughter is attacked by men of Safin.  Bond is able to kill most of them, including Ash, but not bfore the kidnap Madeleine and her girl.

They determine Safin intends to kill millions with the virus as he has many DNA signatures.  They determine he must have his manufacturing operation on his family island.  Upon arrival they discover he also has a rocket to deliver the virus.  He has a large scale manufacturing operation.  Bond and Nomi attack the facility, but only a large scale bombing will butn off the toxins.  Bond has to open the doors so the bomb will be effective.  They rescue Madeleine and the daughter (who is actually Bond's daughter.  Nomi takes them to safety while Bond confronts Safin he is able to kill him, but not before being infected with a strain of the virus that would kill those he loves.  He orders the missles to strike the island, and doesn't get off.  We assume he has perished.  

This is the last, and I think the bet of all the Bond films.  The action is intense, as are the emotions.  When Bond allows a truck to crush Ash he reminds him that his brother was Felix who Ash had killed.  We also have a complicated love relationship, and a Bond baby as a result.  

Christmas Music Review: Michael Bolton: This Is the Time: The Christmas Album

 This is a 10-song album of Michael Bolton released by Columbia Records, 1996.

I was very impressed with the song opening the CD, Silent Night.  Even though this is a very old song, Boltong did it with such flare and energy.  I did not realize Bolton had such a high tenor voice.  The album contains two duets: Ave Maria with Placido Domingo a new song, This is the Time with Wynonna Judd.  The second verse, "Sometimes life leads you blind, To the one you've been waiting to find, Sometime life lets you see, Just how great the gift of love can be, Now the light that fires the brightest stars, Is waiting to shine on this moment of ours."  I think that is pretty cool.  The CD includes other favorites: Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas, Joy to the World, The Christmas Song, O Holy Night, and White Christmas.  This is a fun album.

John Candy Movie Review: ***^ Delirious (1991)

 This is a parody of day time television.  Jack Gable (John Candy) is a writer for a daytime drama.  He bonks his head and then finds he in the daytime drama he is writing.  He further discovers that he can manipulate the characters by what he writes.  He has always had a crush on Laura Claybourne/ Rachel (Emma Samms) and writes them together, while another writer is writing different things.  Gable is falling in love with Louise/Janet Dubois (Mariel Hemingway).  At one point Gable is frustrated and breaks his typewriter.  So he has to perform surgery on the typewriter so as to save Janet.  

This show actually has some humor.  And some very shallow soap box characters.  And in the end one love story.

Robert Wagner has a cameo as the business man Jack Gates.  Raymond Burr plays the father of the ruthless Hedison family.  

James Bond Parody Movie: ^ Casino Royale (1967)

This film has a lot of outstanding actors making fool of themselves.  This is probably the worst movie I have ever scene.  I know they were trying to be funny; but it wasn't.  All the spies were called Bond 007 t cause confusion, and I was confused.  The original James Bond (David Niven) comes out of retirement to take over.  Evelyn Tremble (Peter Sellers) is the Bond who plays cards at Casino Royale, against Le Chiffre (Orson Wells).  When he loses he tortures Bond with psychedelic circles.  However the real Bond comes out of his admin job to take on his nephew Jimmy Bond/ Dr. Noah (Woody Allen) who ends up being the head of SMERSH.  They all get blown up in the end.  Not funny.  I never did figure out what the Scottish had to do with anything.  

James Bond Movie: ****^ Skyfall (2012)

 James Bond (Daniel Craig) is back.  But the first scene shows him shot and presumed dead.  They have his funeral and everything.  Someone is out to kill M (Judi Dench) and Bond comes out of retirement to protect her.  In the earlier scene Bond was trying to recover information about secret agents which had gotten away as Silva (Javier Bardem) had hacked their system.  So Bond must figure out how to protect M.  He is assisted by Eve (Naomi Harris).  She is the same agent who shot him in the first scene trying to keep from losing the information identifying all NATO agents.  

Silva is determined to kill M.  He is a past agent who ate the cyanide tablet placed in his teeth, but it didn't kill him.  It just disfigured his mouth.  He wears false teeth that hide this.  He is very bitter towards M.

Even after he is captured, he is able to escape by further infecting the MIS computers, so Bond runs to the home of his birth where he hopes to protect M.  In the home is a former companion, Kincade (Albert Finney).  He joins Bond in protecting M.  They come after Bond with lots of men and a helicopter.  They hold of the initial wave but the second wave begins to overwhelm them.  M and Kincade escape through tunnels under the home.  Bond blows up the home to even the odds.  After the explosion only Silva and one other man are alive.  Even the helicopter was too close and is destroyed.  In the initial wave, M was wounded.  

Bond tries to rejoin them after the explosion.  In doing so he kills the last man other than Silva.  Silva gets to M first, but Bond does him in with a knife throw to the back.  However M dies from loss of blood.  The wound was more serious than thought.  

In this version we get a new Moneypenny--Eve Moneypenny.  We also get a new Q (Ben Whishaw) who is more a computer man, but gets outsmarted when Silva hacks the system.  We also get a new Q for the next episode, Gareth Mallory (Ralph Fiennes) who has been M's number 2.

The Bond movies seem to be getting better.  Their is more intrigue to them.  

Christmas Movie Review: ***^The Man Who Saved Christmas (2002)

 This is a made for TV movie feature released on TV  in 2002 and in DVD in 2008.  It tells the story of Alfred C. Gilbert (Jason Alexander) and his wife Mary Gilbert (Kelly Rowan). Gilbert has the dream of being a toy maker, but his special toy is not dong well, the erector set.  His wife suggests taking it out of the box so people can actually see them.  With that simple change the business takes off and they are quickly hopping off the shelves.  The business is one people want to work for with daycare and bonuses.

WWI comes along and things change.  Alfred's brother (Ari Cohen) is drafted, and Alfred is called to stop making toys and move to munitions and gas masks for the war effort.  The business prospers but no longer pays extra for overtime, nor bonuses nor are the able to provide for children.  Alfred's brother is missing in action.  What is worse is the government wants to cancel Christmas, and come up with a media campaign based on something Alfred said.  Alfred is backed into a corner, and comes across a dictophone message from his brother about Alfred being a dreamer.  

Alfred goes to Washington to petition to start making toys and to not cancel Christmas.  For this he was known as the man who saved Christmas.  His father (Ed Asner) supported him in this.  And the brother makes it home Christmas Day. 

James Bond Movie: **** Quantum of Solace (2008)

 The Bond movies seem to get more gritty as we enter the millennium.  We are back to pretty women during the opening credits.  This is a continuation of Casino Royale as Bond (Daniel Craig) is still seeking who is behind the murder of his woman, Vesper.  At the same time he is trying to track down a new organization with international ambitions.  They have men everywhere, we are told.  M (Judi Dench) is much more involved in this movie, and is actually in harms way by a double agent in the organization.  At the time the secret agency are into Bolivia where it seems even the police have been infiltrated, as well as Britain's Prime Minister's office.  It is ordered that Bond be shot on sight when he kills a couple police officers who were trying to frame him for the murder of his friend,  Mathis (Giancarlo Giannini).  Bond saves Camille (Olga Kurylenko) on several occasions, and she him as well.  They have a mutual interest in Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), he as a point to lead him to the killer of Vesper and to uncover a secret organization, and she to get to General Meldrano (Joaquín Cosio), who killed her family and is supported by Greene to take over Bolivia.  Co-agent, and short term love of Bond, Strawberry Fields (Gemma Arterton) is killed by Greene as she covers Bond's back.  Greene is taking over the water in Bolivia and is set to cause a draught.  His organization has done similar activities an many countries.  The CIA is also supporting Meldrano, more Agent Beam (David Harbour) than Agent Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright).  

This show has lots of excitement.  There is a chase over roofs and into a bell tower.  The action goes up and down and ends with swinging on the bell tower ropes.  Who will get to a gun first?  We have Bond in an old plane facing a jet and a helicopter.  He is able to face Greene and his men in the desert.  Camille gets her revenge, and Bond leaves Greene in the desert after having gotten the information he was seeking.  The last scene has him confronting the next level up in the organization.

I enjoyed this Bond movie.

 

Christmas Movie Review: *** Beyond Tomorrow aka Beyond Christmas (1940)

 Three older men (Harrey Carey, C. Aubrey Smith and Michael O'Brien) are bored at Christmas time with just themselves for entertainment.  Their dinner guests fell through.  They each toss a wallet out the window with ten dollars, in hopes someone honest will bring the wallet back, and then stay for dinner.  They actually have success twice, and as a result put together a couple, James and Jean (Richard Carlson and Jean Parker), who become more attached over the year.  James and Jean love each other and were on the point of announcing their engagement when they get word the three old men had died in a plane crash.  Phil has some talent with singing, and gets a part on the radio.  However another woman enters in,  Arlene (Helen Vinson) and she is a manipulative person.  She sings with James, and convinces him they should run off together.  The ghosts of the three men are distressed, knowing things will not turn out well.  

They don't.  Arlene's husband tracks them down and shoots them both.  James is given the opportunity to come back and he takes his second chance.

This movie is in black and white.  Their idea of the after life is a bit different than mine but the story seems to work.

Christmas Movie Review: *** It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie (2002)

 This is a Muppet retake of the story "It's a Wonderful Life."  Kermit is down on his luck as they are losing the theater.  Rachel Bitterman (Joan Cusack) is determined to foreclose on the property, and turn it into a brothel.  Daniel (David Arquette) is an angel who wants to do something to help Kermit and the muppets keep the theater.  The muppets raise the money, and Fonzy is taking the money to the bank.  However he is greatly distracted, and somehow gives the money to Salvation Army by accident.  All is lost.  But for Rizzo who is able to get the theater legally a historical building as the Muppet Theater.  It must remain a theater.  Surprisingly fun movie.  Miss Piggy leaves and goes to daytime TV; but she comes back.  And the Muppets are Kermit's friends and buoy him up.  

Marvel Animated Movie Review: **^Iron Man: Rise of Technovore (2013)

 Iron Man (Matthew Mercer) faces a new nemesis, a young man, Ezekiel Stane/Technovore (Eric Bauza) who uses a new type of nano technology to destroy people and computers and whatever stands in his way.  This includes his taking out Rhodey/War Machine (James Mathis III).  The part of this movie is why Nick Fury (John Erik Bentley) as director of SHIELD is so interested in Stark coming in rather than letting hm pursue Technovore.  This results in considerable loss of property.  He even sends Black Widow (Clare Grant) and Hawkeye (Troy Baker also Jarvis voice) to bring him in.  They would have succeeded if not for the Punisher (Norman Reedus) helping him.  Also important to him is Pepper Potts (Kate Higgins) who helps him with computers and he has used her voice as a backup for his satellite that Technovore has infected.  

Turns out War Machine is not dead, but took a long time recovering.  Without his help Technovore would have cleared the world of all humans.

Lots of action; but I felt the characters lacked motivation for some of their actions.

Christmas Music Review: Michael Buble: Christmas

Michael Bublé Enterprise Records 2011.

Michael Bublé lends his jazzy and classical style to Christmas.  He sings a ouple songs which are generlly thought to be women's numbers but does so with success--All I Want for Christmas is You and Santa Baby.  The jazz numbers are very catchy, White Christmas, Jingle Bells and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.  Blue Christmas really catches the blues feel.  And then classical numbers include Ave Maria and Silent Night.  This is a very fun CD.  It clncludes with Feliz Navidad with Thalia.  It is mostly performed in Spanish.

Most excellent C.D.

In Theaters: ****Rental Family (2025)

 This is a look at a Japanese custom, the family for rent.  These service do exist in Japan.  A down-on-his-luck actor, Phillip Vanderploeg (Brendan Fraser) is hired to impersonate family members.  His first case is a marriage which he executes allowing a woman to save face while moving to Canada with her lesbian partner.  He also takes a job pretending to be a girls father so she can get into a special school; and another where he acts as a reporter, interviewing a retired actor who is trying to save his former glory.  Both of these jobs lead to problems as he bonds with the people he is serving.  He has difficulty leaving the young lady; but she does get in the school.  And he takes the old man to his native area where he recovers a time capsule and memories of his deceased wife.

This movie leads to dealing with moral and ethical issues, and as a result the company changes.  This includes no longer doing apologies pretending to be women whose husbands have been unfaithful.  It deals with these issues in good fashion and the movie is interesting.  As much as My Big Fat Greek Wedding teaches about a new culture, this movie does the same.

Shinji Tada (Takehiro Hira) is the owner of the business.  He too has rental family at home.  Aiko Nakajima (Mari Yamamoto) is the woman who has to pretend to be a wife stealing woman.

Music Review: Elvis Presley Christmas Duets

This CD is based on a clever idea.  They have used Elvis Presley music and added a duet with female singers.  This includes the likes of Martina MCBride, Olivia Newton John, Carrie Underwood, LeAnne Rimes, Amy Grant, Anne Murray and Wynona Judd.  Elvis is a master of singing and performing, and these women add to his music rather than take away.  Some of the songs include: Wynona Judd singing a gritty Santa Clause is back in Town; Olivia Newton John with a very pleasing O Come, All Ye Faithful; Amy Grant a very enjoyable White Christmas.  It starts with Elvis and Martina McBride singing Blue Christmas which sets the tone for the entire CD.  It ends with three Elvis only Christmas songs as a bonus.  

I very much enjoyed this music.

Christmas Movie Review: Christmas in Wonderland (2006)

 This is an interesting story about a family moved from L.A. to Edmonton Canada chasing a job.  The youngest, daughter, Mary (Amy and Zoe Schlagel) believes in Santa Clause and his magic.  She wishes for a million dollars from the mall Santa Clause, and not much later a bag of money falls from the upper levels of thee mall and she finds it.  Mary and her brother Brian (Matthew Knight) decide it wouldn't hurt to spend some of the money.  Problem is three crooks, Leo and Sheldon Cardoza (Chris Katten and Preston Lacy) and Ginger (Carmen Elektra) are trying to launder the money as it is counterfeit.  They spend some, and get an officer on their tail, (Tim Curry) and the bad people after them.  They also get their father (Patrick Swayze) arrested.  And eventually their older brother, Danny (Cameron Bright) and his new girlfriend are also arrested.  There is an actor Matthew Walker) who plays multiple parts, and brings the magic: Santa, Mr Nicholas, the mall ghost, Old Man Walker, Kristopher Kringle, and the mall owner.  With a little magic all things are possible.

Christmas Movie Review:*** Scrooge (1935)

Scrooge (Seymour Hicks) starts out a very scary man with his white unkempt hair and his grouchy attitude.   This movie is shorter than most, so skips some very important parts.  It does have his nephew (Robert Cochrane) inviting him to dinner.  Christmas past shows him his old girl friend (Mary Glynne) and his terrible stinginess.  He put a couple out for shipping to different places.  Christmas present shows him the family of his employee, Bob Cratchit (Donald Calthrop).  They find happiness in Christmas despite being very poor.  It isn't until the Ghost of Christmas Yet-to-be when he finally finds the Christmas spirit.  This ghost shows him how he will not be missed when he dies if he does not change his ways.  And when he does he makes a hearty turnaround.  

James Bond Movie Review: ***Casino Royale (1954)

 This is not one of the Bond Movie franchise, but it is based on the book by Ian Fleming.  It actually predates the Bond movies is a made for TV movie.  The main character goes by Jimmy Bond (Barry Nelson) rather than James Bond.  The film focuses on the gambling, and the desire to Bankrupt Le Chiffre (Peter Lorre) who is an active spy but also has a bad gambling habit.  The West is hoping that by bringing him down at gambling his handlers will eliminate him.  An ex girlfriend, Valerie Mathis (Linda Christian) stakes Bond with additional cash when he is running out.  With the extra stake he is able to bankrupt Le Chiffre.  Bond also looks to Clarence Leiter (Michael Pate) for support.  

After the gambling Bond hides the check he received as quickly as possible.  Le Chiffre and his goons show up to get hi to sign over the check.  Otherwise Le Chiffre knows he is dead.  SO he kidnaps the girl, and Bond.  He begins torturing Bond and threatens to torture Mathis as well if he doesn't say where the check is.  However fortunately he is able to free himself, and over power one of the goons, and gets the drop on Le Chiffre.  He forces Bond to shoot him.

Music Review: Bing Crosby Christmas: The Very Best of Bing Crosby

 Bing Crosby Christmas MCA Records, 1999 has 18 songs, all sung by Bing Crosby and all sporting his clear vocals.  Often there is back up choir with the harmonies of the era.  He includes many of the all time favorite Christmas songs: Its Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas, Adeste Fideles, Santa Clause is Coming to Town, Away in a Manger, Jingle Bells, Silent Night, The First Noel, I'll Be Home for Christmas, and of course White Christmas and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

There is plenty to enjoy with this CD.

Christmas Movie Review: *** Lost Christmas: The Miracle of Holiday Magic (2011)

 This is a movie out of the BBC made for TV.  IUt is a bit confusing, but maybe purposefully so.  It presents two Christmases, the first and its effect on the second.  A young boy hid his father's keys when he was called out to work on Christmas.  He was an emergency responder.  His wife had to take him, and they both died in a car accident.  Next Christmas all is messed up.  Our young man meets a stranger (Eddie Izzard) with amnesia but an ability to find things that are lost.  A bangle is lost, stolen by the boy.  But the boy loses his dog,  A couple lost their daughter last Christmas.  Sometimes Christmas brings second chances.  our mysterious stranger is an adult version of the boy, and he receives a chance to change last Christmas, which prevn\ents the accident, and is father is there to ave the little girl, and he no longer has need for a youth authority.  And finally the strange man fades away.

James Bond Movie Review: **** Die Another Day (2002)

 James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) is really in for a ride, and it is not all good.  He starts by thwarting an arms deal, with diamonds for arms, but he blows up the diamonds into the face of Zao (Rick Yune) who works for Colonel Moon (Will Yun Lee) of North Korea, the son of General Moon (Kenneth Tsang).  He chases him on a boat and sees him go over a water fall.  He is presumed dead.  Bond was betrayed in this as the North Koreans were looking for him.

Bond comes upon the same diamonds in the Caribbean at a plastic surgery center where Zao is trying to have his face changed.  There Bond meets Jinx (Halle Berry) who is also after Zao.  Together they rouste him out but he gets away.  He is able to track the diamonds with their signature to Gustav Graves (Toby Stephens).  Graves is in Iceland where he runs an ice hotel.  

Bond pursues them to Iceland.  Miranda Frost  (Rosamund Pike) is ordered by M (Judi Dench) to go with him.  Q (John Cleese) arms him with a sonic watch and a really cool car that can be invisible.  Moneypenny (Samantha Bond) still is infatuated with Bond, who instead pursues other ladies.  

Graves in truth is Colonel Moon who has been altered via DNA change.  Frost is a double agent, resulting in Bond and Jinx being captured.  Graves has developed a satellite weapon using the sun.  It can cause great destruction.   Of course Bond gets away and with his special car comes back.  He is able to thwart Zao who drives his car into the ocean.  Graves has directed the weapon at the ice castle which is melting and causing flooding.  JInx is in the flood but Bond crashes the care into the castle to save her.  

As the weapon becomes known to the intelligence community the Americans try to blow it up with nuclear weapon.  However the weapon destroys the rocket.   It is left to Bond and Jinx to save the day.  There is a great scene where they fight on a plane, Jinx against Frost and Graves against Bond.  

Lots of action with chases and fights.  Very enjoyable.

Movie Review: ***^ My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 (2016)

 This continuation is suppose to be 17 years later (14 years in actual time) with the daughter, Paris (Elena Kampouris) of the Millers (Nia Vardalos and John Corbett) now preparing to graduate from high school.  She has to decide where to go to college, in New York or close to home in Chicago.  This is a concern, but not the biggest concern.  Turns out that Toula's parents were not legally married.  It was during the war and they were married quickly by a priest who wasn't really a priest.  Now father Gus (Michael Constantine) and Maria (Lainie Kazan) must go through several hoops before they are actually married.  

This movie captures the same spirit of the original.  

Marvel Movie Review: The Incredible Hulk

 This is the Hulk before the Avenger's version of the Hulk.  Hulk/Bruce Banner (Lou Ferrigno/Edward Norton) is staying off the radar in Brazil.  Howe ver some of his blood gets into a bottle where he works, and his location is revealed.  General Ross (William Hurt) is determined to bring him back as he himself is a weapon.  As a result of this confrontation Banner decides to head north, hoping for a "cure."  He sees his girlfriend, the general's daughter Betty (Liv Tyler).  Of those trying to capture Hulk, Emil Blonsky/ Abomination (Tim Roth) is the most determined, even to the point of attempting to dupicate Hulk's results and make himself a monster.  This leads to some pretty intense fight scenes.  Hulk tried living with his girlfriend, but in the end decides he is better living alone.

Movie Review: ****My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)

 I remember seeing this film in theaters in 2002 in San Jose.  It was a. very big deal that year; the surprise movie success of the year.  It was very good, and introduced me to a whole different culture I had not really considered.  Toula Portokalos (Nia Vardalos wrote and starred in the movie) is floundering and getting older as her father (Michael Constantine) reminds her.  She exerts herself, going to school and working in the family tourist agency.  This leads to her meeting a man, Ian Miller (John Corbett) who is not Greek.  They fall in love and want to be married.  But a nonGreek?  This film is humorous as it probes Greek culture, with lots of people and chaos always around.  

Fun movie.  Windex cures everything.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3

At the Movies: ****^Wicked: For Good (2025)

 Family night at the movies last Tuesday.  We took the entire row with all of us.  This movie is Act II of the Wicked musical.  The music and acting are great.  I had forgotten that NessaRose (Marissa Bode) was considered a wicked which.  She is Elphaba's (Cynthia Erivo) sister.  The public relations boss Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) has labeled Elphaba the Wicked Witch.  Meanwhile Glinda (Ariana Grande) is labeled the good witch.  Then there are the men.  Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey) is Captain of the guard.  He loves Elphaba but cannot find her.  He is to arrest her for wicked deeds with regards to animal rights.  Boq (Ethan Slater) loves Glinda; but Nessarose loves him.  Nessarose casts a spell on him so he will love her, but it goes wrong and shrinks his heart.  To save him Elphaba turns him into a tin man.  At the wedding of Glinda and Fiyero, Elphaba frees all the animals the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) has in cages.  It destroys the wedding, but Fiyero discovers where Elphaba is living and puts her in a castle.   Madame Morrible causes a tornado which brings Dorothy's house to land on Nessarose.  When they are to arrest Elphaba, Fiyero saves her, but the guards turn on Fiyero and beat him up.  Elphaba changes him to a scarecrow so he will not feel pain.  Dorothy, the cowardly lion, the Tin Man and Scarecrow are tasked by the Wizard to kill the Wicked Witch.  They seem to do this, but instead the Scarecrow and Elphaba are seen crossing the desert out of Oz.  Of course Glinda and Elphaba meet before Dorothy throws water on elphaba, and sing of their undying relationship, "For Good."  This is the showstopper song and it is great to hear it.  

We really enjoyed this movie.  It is not the best movie I have ever seen, but it is good.

Christmas Music Review: Christmas with Julie Andrews

 Christmas with Julie Andrews, CBS Inc, 1982.

Julie Andrews is a tresure, and she is in this CD album.  Her voice is beutiful and she sings the high notes so clearly.  This CD features Oh Come All Ye Faithful, In the Bleak Midwinter, What Child is This?, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Away in a Manger, I Wonder as I Wander and Silent Night among others.  I really like the instrujental flute and harp on What Child is This?  This has long been one of my favorite songs since it was included in Krueger's Christmas.  

CD Music Review: Gordon Lightfoot: Gord's Gold

Gordon Lightfoot" Gord's Gold, produced by Lenny Waronker and Joe Wissert, Warner Brothers, 1975.

This album includes many of Gordon Lightfoot's favorites, and his distinctive sound and voice.  I enjoy the Canadian Railroad Trilogy, Early Morning Rain, Sundown, Beautiful, Rainy Day People, If You Could Read My Mind and Carefree Highway.  In If You Could Read My Mind he is longing for something that he has lost in his relationship, "I don't know where we went wrong but the feelings gone and I just can't get it back."  Lightfoot has a very distinctive voice and this CD brings bak memories of listening to the radio when I was young.