Music Review: The Doors: The Best of the Doors, 1985

 There are several best of the Doors C.D.s.  This is the 1985 version with 2 c.d.s  The Doors establish a pleasing beat with repetitive guitars, and then generally add the vocal melody on top of that.  It works well for most songs, but sometimes the back music is too repetitive.  

Most of their music I could live without, but there afre a few numbers that are very nice.  This would include, "Light My Fire," "Break on Through," "Hello, I Love You" and "Riders on the Storm" which is my favorite.  It is a very long song and goes on several tangents, but always comes back to "riders on the storm."

Movie Review: **** Labor Day with Kate Winslet (2013)

 Labor Day is a movie that lets you know love can be found in the strangest of locations.  Adele (Kate Winslet) has been abandoned by her husband, Gerald (Clark Gregg).  Adele is left depressed but still cares for her son, Henry (Gattlin Griffith and portrayed as an adult by Tobey Maguire who also narrates).  Another man enters the picture in the person of Frank (Josh Brolin) escaped prisoner who was convicted of murder.  He convinces Adele and Henry to take him home.  He says just for the weekend, but by the time the weekend is over they decide to all take off to Canada.  Adele gets her money from the bank to pay for the trip.  This and Gerald leaving father a note, and telling the girlfriend he is leaving leads several people to know what is gong on.  Adele loves Frank, as the sirens come to the house he ties Adele and Henry up so they can say they were kidnapped.  Franks gets 25 more years, 10 for escape and 15 for kidnap.  Adele tells the prosecuting attorney they were not kidnapped, but he cautions then she would be charged with aiding.  

Henry takes up baking.  He was taught by Frank while he was there for a short time.  He also likes baseball, as given confidence by Frank.  However when father wants his son she does not object.  Frank makes contact after seeing Henry with his pie in a magazine.  He mentions seeing Adele when he is released.  That is what happens, and the love story finally finds a home.

I was in tears at this point.  The movie built to that climax very well.  

Music Review: Andrea Bocelli: Cieli Di Toscana (Tuscan Skies)

 Andrea Bocelli is more than a singer, he is a gift.  This C.D. is recorded in Italian and even though I don't understand what is being said, I enjoy the music, the high tenor notes and the times he holds a note out for longer than seems humanly possible.  

This album was released in 2001 and became the highest selling album in the world that year.  It sold millions of copies in the first weeks after it was released.  It was #11 on the U.S. billboard 200 and #1 on the US classics billboard.

Movie Review: ***^ The Super Mario Brothers Movie (2023)

 Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day) are plumbers in Brooklyn.  They get sucked through a pipe to mushroom land.  They go separate routes.  Mario meets Toad (Keegan-Michael Key) who takes him to Princess Peach's (Anya Taylor-Joy) castle.  Luigi ends up in the dark kingdom which is under Bowser's (Jack Black) control.  Bowser has threatened Princess Peach that she must marry him or he will destroy her kingdom.  Mario and the princess team up to rescue Luigi and confront Bowser.  They recruit Donkey Kong (Seth Rogen) and his army to help.  They are taking a short cut, but Bowser expects this and ambushes them.  The rainbow road is partially destroyed and Kong and Mario fall into the ocean and are swallowed by an eel.  They escape and get to Peach's castle during the wedding ceremony between Peach and Bowser.  The wedding thwarted Bowser launches a rocket against the mushroom kingdom.  Mario diverts it into a pipe where it explodes and sucks Bowser and everyone to Brooklyn.  Bowser is terrorizing Brooklyn until Marion and Luigi use invincibility stars to defeat Bowser and his minions.  Peach uses a blue mushroom to shrink Bowser who is captured in a bottle.

This is the first animated feature to gross over $1 billion.  There must be many, many Mario players who were immediate fans.  The movie follows the game fairly well.  The movie is a project from Nintendo and Illumination.  

At the Movies: ***^ Animal Farm (2025)

 Animal Farm is an animated version of the story from George Orwell.  On the day the farm is being repossessed and all the animals are being sent to the slaughter house, not the laughter house the animals decide to rebel.  The kick all the humans out, and start to work for themselves.  Snowball (Laverne Cox) is the pig with enough knowledge to determine the evil intent of the farmers.  While Napoleon (Seth Rogen) is his rival in power and leadership.  Lucky (Gaten Matarazzo) is a friend of both, and caught in the middle.  Boxer (Woody Harrelson) is a horse that is old but hard working.  Frieda Pilkington (Glen Close) is a billionaire bank owner who envies the farm and will do anything to get it.  Her team insists the animals pay for the mortgage, $1000 monthly.  The have a. big sell and make the money plus some.  Snowball sees a chance to improve themselves with a water wheel to generate electricity.  Napoleon uses his efforts to turn the rest of the animals against her, and they kick her out.  He keeps changing the rules intent on keeping humans out.  Napoleon manipulates the water wheel to kick Snowball out, thus he is the sole power.  He makes agreements with Pilkington to get a fancy car, starts walking on two legs, and sets the pigs above the other animals.  He then has the animals complete the wheel for electricity, but goes further to have Pilkington build a dam for even more power.

It finally all catches up with him and everything comes tumbelimg down.  This movie wasn't as could as I had hoped.  It is from Angel Studios.  

There are a couple of themes.  One is to stand up for what you know is right, instead of accepting another person's view.  Another is that capitalism has its faults; but lastly that communists are greedy and so that system will always have its corruption and will never work.

T.V. Series Review: Magnum P.I. (1980-1988)

 Thomas Magnum (Tom Selleck) is based in Hawaii where he works as a private investigator.  He has several good friends who help him in his business, which involves one difficult case after another.  There is one episode where Selleck is stuck under a WWII airplane.  He begins talking to a spider; and in so doing he solves the case he is working on, if he could only get away.  He stays in the home of Jonathan Quayle Higgins (John Hillerman).  Theodore TC Calvin (Roger E Mosley) is a friend who owns a helicopter business, and often uses it to help Magnum's spy business.  Orville Richard Wright (Larry Manetti) has connections with the mob, and other contacts helpful to Magnum.  This was a very entertaining show for Sheri and I when we were first married.  We watched it religiously.  It introduced us to the acting skills of Tom Selleck who for some time is one of my favorite actors.  

Alfred Hitchcock Movie Review: ****^ Torn Curtain (1966)

 This is a very good spy movie from Alfred Hitchcock starring Julie Andrews and Paul Newman as an engaged couple, Dr. Sarah Sherman and Professor Michael Armstrong.  Not only are they engaged but Sherman has been working as Armstrong's assistant.  Sherman starts acting strangely.  He defects to East Germany, saying the United States has stopped funding for his missile project.  In truth he is fishing for information from an East German scientist, Professor Heinrich Gerhardt (Hansjörg Felmy) who appears to have resolved an issue that has stymied Armstrong.  He just needs to convince Gerhardt that he has already resolved the issue and get him to share what he knows.  He leaves for East Berlin having told his fiance he was off elsewhere.  However she discovers his plans and follows him to East Berlin, where he announces he is defecting to East Germany.

Everything that could go wrong goes wrong.  Hitchcock the master director makes a great scene where Armstrong and a spy kill an East German security man who was coming onto Professor Armstrong.  This interfers with upcoming meeting between Armstrong and Gerhardt as the communists want to limit contact until they have studied Armstrong more thoroughly.  However he does have access to the assistant.  At first she does not want to cooperate but does after Armstrong tells her what he is doing, he is not a traitor.  This gets Gerhardt excited, and he takes Armstrong aside and to his secret office, where he is able to trick Gerhardt into revealing his research.  Armstrong takes it to memory as Gerhardt writes it down.  About this time the police are onto Armstrong after they find the agent's body.  However he runs away as Gerhardt realizes he has given his secrets away without getting anything in return.

Then comes the trip out of East Germany with many tense scenes, starting then leaving town in a bus, not a regular bus but following the same line as a regular bus.  There are certain anti communists who help.  They get a bit behind schedule, and eventually the police are onto them, so everyone scatters and they leave the bus behind.  They eventually make it to meet with handlers in a theater, where they are smuggled inside costume baskets onto a boat.  

Very tense and exciting movie and highly recommended.

Movie Review: *** Last of the Dogmen (1995)

 The premise of this movie is a band of Cheyenne Dog warriors have been existing, isolated in the woods of Colorado.  An anthropologist (Barbara Hershey) and a bounty hunter (Tom Berenger) find them, but then they have to keep their existence from all others.  In pursuit of this the bounty hunter has to steal some penicillin to treat a Cheyenne boy.  In doing so he is discovered.  They create a posse to follow him, and come close to creating a war with the dog warriors, but the two and one of the Dogmen (Steve Reevis) they are able to keep their existence a secret.  Our two heroes begin to fall in love, but the anthropologist decides to stay with the Dogmen.

Book Review: The Memory Coat

The Memory Coat by Elvira Woodruff, illustrated by Michael Dooling, Scholastic Press, New York, 1999.

Thisis a sstory about a family that is forced to leave Russia because they are Jewish (very much like Fiddler on the Roof).  A nephew, whose parents passed away and who had an old thread bare and well worn coat.  The family suggested replacing it, but he refused.  The coat reminded him of his mother, especially the wool lining on the inside of the coat.

They family traveled far and finally arrived at Aellis Island.  If they did not pass the inspection the family could be sent back, or separated and only some sent back.  Waiting for the inspection, he fell against his cousin and scratched his eye on a basket.  When the inspector saw the eye he rejected him and wrote a letter on his coat.  However his cousin had an idea.  They turned the coat wrong wide out with the nice wool showing.  He got in a line for a new inspection--and passed.  

C.D. Review: Doris Day: Hooray for Hollywood Vol II

 Doris Day's Hooray for Hollywood is a two C.D. set with each C.D. released a few months apart.  Vol II was released in January of 1959.  It features Day's clear voice singing show tunes from Broadway and accompanied by the Frank De Vol and his orchestra.  De Vol also arranged the songs.  This includes music from of the the great composers such as Irving Berlin, Ira and George Gershwin, Oscar Hammerstein II and Richard Rodgers.  She sings from several different musics, many of them old and forgotten and others still remembered.  The most recognized song is "It Might As Well be Spring" from State Fair.  "Three Coins from a Fountain" is also very memorable.  The majority of the musicals are from the 1930s.

It is an enjoyable arrangment of songs, but most obscure to me.  

Movie Review: **** Killers (2010)

 When you go on vacation to France, make sure you fall in love with the right person is the theme of this movie.  Jen (Katherine Heigl) travels to Paris with her parents, Mr. and Mrs Kornfeldt (Tom Selleck and Catherine O'Hara after a relationship break up.  She meets Spencer (Ashton Kutcher) who is a spy and assassin.  As he meets her he is also carrying out a job as assassin and blows up a helicopter.  Being in love he gets out of the business and they marry.  However Jen's father is always a bit wary of him.  

Three years later Spencer's old boss, Holbrook (Martin Mull) contacts him insisting he return to work.  This contact leads to a hit being put upon his life, and many of his neighbors and coworkers turn out to be in the same busines and seek the $10 million that has been put upon his head.  This leads to his wife discovering about his former business.  On top of this that she believes she is pregnant and they need a test to determine for sure.  

They fight off each attack.  They get to the home of Holbrook, and discover he is dead.  They wonder who could have done that.  When they are back home the father and the husband pull guns on each other.  Turns out he too is an agent and was the person who put out the contract.  He was the target three years earlier, but he wasn't on the helicopter.  Holbrook had turned bad and was trying to manipulate things so the father-in-law who not reveal him.  However the father-in-law was vigilant and when he saw mail from Holbrook assumed Spencer was back in the game.  With news of the pregnancy, the crisis is adverted.

Fun story, although I do not like they idea of killing for a living.

At the Movies: ***The Gardener (2026)

 Sabena (Radha Mitchell) is the heiress of the Sabena Cosmetics line.  A large corporation wants to buy, and she refuses.  She has health issues and has surgery for cancer.  While she is healing she she feels she is lead to a mountain property by a bird.  She retreats to the mountain cabin with a dilapidated garden.  A mysterious neighbor says he is a gardener (Walter Miller) and takes the task of restoring the garden, not always according to her instructions.  He often gives her advice, telling her to look forward and not back.  She finally consents to selling the business, and makes out a will leaving her estate in the city to her domestics.  She goes to see the gardener and finds no one has lived in his cabin for some time, while she visited him in the cabin just a few weeks ago.  The garden continues to bloom.  She inherits his cat and dog.

I think the story was interesting but very confusing.  

At the Movies: **** Michael (2026)

 This is a movie about Michael Jackson the singer and humanitarian.  The music are original works by Michael Jackson and his brothers.  Michael was a prodigy from a very young age, with tremendous talent, a good singer and dancer, and a very controlling and abusive father who insisted on perfection.  

The Jackson 5 became very successful with their pop rock and dancing.  They sang "ABC" and "I'll Be There."  The movie focuses very much on the conflict between Michael and his father as his father promotes the family, and Michael his solo career.  Michael had great success with his solo career with his album "Thriller."  Michael wanted to go on a solo tour to promote his album, but his father insisted on a family tour.  During rehearsal, due to pyrotechnics Michael's hair was lit on fire.  This resulted in a lengthy hospital stay, but he returned to the tour.  At their final performance he announced it was their last concert together.  His father's plans for an international tour were thwarted.  

Michael Jackson is played by his nephew, Jafaar Jackson; Juliano Valdi plays the young Michael; Father Joseph is portrayed by Colman Domingo; Mother Katherine Jackson is played by Nia Long; The others of The Jackson 5 are Jermaine played by Jayden Harville/Jamal Henderson, Marlon Jackson by Jaylen Lyndon Hunter/Tre' Horton, Tito Jackson by Judah Edwards/Rhyan Hill and Jackie Jackson by Nathaniel Logan McIntyre/Joseph David-Jones; Latoya Jackson is portrayed by Amaya Mendoza/Jessica Sula.  

Others who helped Michael Jackson in his career included Gladys Knight (Liv Symone); Bill Bray (KeiLyn Durrel Jones) personal security; Quincy Jones (Kendrick Sampson) music producer; And John Branca (MIles Teller) as his personal lawyer.

Interesting things about Michael Jackson from the movie: He often visited children in the hospital, he also collected animals, monkey giraffe, llama, snake etc.  He longed for friendship and collected toys and games.  His relationship with his mother was better than with his father.  They would watch old movies together.  

 

Musical Movie Review: **** Jersey Boys (2014)

 Jersey Boys is a film based on the musical of the same name.  It is directed and produced by Clint Eastwood.  It tells the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.  John Lloyd Young portrays Franki Valli.  Tommy DeVito (Vincent Piazza) and his brother Nick (Johnny Cannizzaro) and a friend Nick Massi (Michael Lomenda) have a trio singing at local clubs.  Sometimes Valli would sing a song or two with them.  As a group the attempt to steal a safe, and get caught.  Tommy goes to prison for six months.  However Valli gets off thanks in art to mobster Gyp DeCarlo (Christopher Walken) who has taken an interest in him.  When Tommy gets out of prison they start their group, The Four Lovers.  They have a hard time getting traction, but are signed to sing back up for others.  

They change their name to the Four Seasons.  Nicky DeVito leaves the group and they are joined by Bob Gaudio (Erich Bergen) who is a song writer.  The convince their producer to record the song "Sherry," which becomes a hit.  The follow with "Big Girls Don't Cry" and "Walk Like a Man."  All is going well until they discover the owe $150,000 plus to the mob.  Tommy has been borrowing money to keep the group going.  Tommy leaves the group, but they have to continue laying to pay off the debts, which they finally do.  

Franki Valli has issues at home with his daughter who runs off with an older man.  Valli intervenes, and promises to be more involved with his daughter.  However she dies from an overdose.  Valli seems to walk away from performing, but Guadio encourages him to go solo.  He resists but eventually records the song Guadio wrote for him, "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You."  20 years later they get back together for induction into the rock and roll hall of fame.  They sing together after many years, and long for the days they sang as a quartet under a street lamp.

I enjoyed this movie.  The music is terrific.  The story is not as well done as the music.

Movie Review: ***^ The Last of Sheila (1973)

 The Last of Sheila script was written by Stephen Sondheim and Anthony Perkins.  It starts as a bunch of friends having a week long party aboard a yaht, but turns into a murder mystery.  The host is Clinton Greene (James Coburn), a movie producer.  The guests include Alice Wood (Raquel Welch) and her manager husband, Anthony (Ian McShane); screenwriter Tom Parkman (Richard Benjamin) and his wife Lee (Joan Hackett); Christine (Dyan Cannon) who is a talent agent; and director Phillip Dexter (James Mason).  A year earlier at a similar party, Greene's wife was killed by a hit and run driver.  He has devised a game in her honor in which he divulges secrets of members of the party.  This gets him killed on the second night.  He had distributed cards with a secret to be revealed to each of the party, "You are a shoplifter, you are a homosexual, you are an ex-convict, you are an informer, you are a little child molester, you are a hit and run driver."  But it turns our one of the company had changed his card from "you are an alcoholic" to "you are a hit and run driver,"  Lee admits she was the hit and run driver.  She had been drinking.  She also admits to killing Greene.  She ends up dead from apparent suicide the next day, having cut her wrists.  

The case is apparently resolved, but to Dexter something does not seem right.  Greene had said the slues were available without leaving the boat.  He notices a picture taken the first day.  each person is below a letter of the boat name, Sheila.  Except the card, hit and run driver does not match.  That person is under the A, for alcoholic.   He presents his information to Parkman, accusing him of changing the card, and being responsible for the two murders.  He had framed his wife for the murder of Greene, as he was already dead when she accidently struck him.  He admits to doing it as he was unhappy in marriage and was to inherit her $5,000,000.  Christine overheard this, and she and Dexter agree to keep quiet if he uses the inheritance to fund their next picture.  

This movie is very entertaining.  He has a very good cast.  However the story was a bit confusing with the murderer not being the murderer.  There is a book based on the movie, but I noticed it is very expensive as a collector's item.

Movie Review: **** The Proposal (2009)

 In this movie Sandra Bullock plays the boss, Margaret Tate, and Ryan Reynolds the executive secretary, Andrew Paxton.  Tate has been holding him back not wanting to lose his skills and his hard work.  He has been there for three years.  However when immigration shows up, (Tate is from Canada) Tate hatches a scheme to marry Paxton.  He goes along, but he was scheduled to be in Alaska for the 90th birthday of his grandmother (Betty White), so they travel to meet his parents.  For her side she has no family.

Tate gets caught up in the idea of having family again.  And they bit by bit start to create a romance.  However when it comes time for the actual wedding, Tate admits what she has done, and is headed back to New York where she will be deported.  Paxton tries to catch the plane before she leaves but fails to do so, and has to travel to New York to propose.  She has gone from the mean boss to someone who is finally real.

Pretty fun movie.  Paxton's family has a large estate in remote Alaska.  At one point an eagle catches the dog.  Tate throws her phone and the eagle drops the dog, but makes off with her phone.  She will be out of touch with work. 

 

Music Review: Putumayo Presents: Latin Lounge (2005)

 The latin rhythms get in your blood with this C.D.  It presents several artists.  Paola Fortuni sings to the moon in "Reflejo de Luna".  You can feel the tango beat.  Stefano Micarelli is on guitar and together they call themselves Alacran.  Natalia Clavier also sins over a tango sound in Simple.  "I just limit myself to my simple song."  Very nice voice.  Another song includes tango accordion, Caminhos de Cuba, sung in Portuguese.  Luiz de Aquina is from Brazil.  Ondine Darcyl sings "Besa Me Mucho".  Her voice has a mystrious quality that is very pleasing.  She is from Buenos Aires.  We get a different beat and rhythm in Folía which is song by Wagner Pá and his band Brazuca Matraca.  The ukulele comes through created a very different sound.  Federico Aubele is also from Argentina and plays guitar for "Esta Noche" while Gabriela Maiaru provides vocals, "Tonight I will sing for you again."  It again has a tango feel.  In "Dame tu querer" we get a Colunbian based song.  Sidestepper is a group put together by Richard Blair.  This song is actually vocalized by Cuban Ronald Infante.

I have very much enjoyed the lating beats and rhythms.  It seems to get in the blood.