Clint Eastwood Movie Review: **** Firefox (1982)

 This movie is Clint Eastwood directed.  He also plays Mitchell Gant, pilot who also speaks Russian.  Firefox is a new MIG fighter which also has stealth capabilities and armaments fire through thought, in Russian.  People who help Gant are Kenneth Aubrey (Freddie Jones) with intelligence; Pavel Upenskoy (Warren Clarke) who is on the ground in Russia; and scientist Natalia (Demitra Arliss), Peyotr Baranovich (Nigel Hawthorne) and Semelovsky (Ronald Lacey).  

I really enjoyed this movie, and remember enjoying it many years ago.  Very good spy action and political intrigue.  Clint Eastwood does very well as the pilot with PTSD from being a POW in Viet Nam.

In Theaters: ***^ Runner (2026)

 A very good action film from Angel Studios.  The action revolves around the delivery of a liver with a soecial blood type which has been matched to a little girl who will die without the organ.  However the local mob wants the organ for mob mother who is also dying.  This movie is very violent with lots of explosions, crashes and gun fire, and murder abounds.  The excessive violence sets the movie apart, but also makes it unpalatable, even in the hospital and involving the mother of the girl.  

• 

  Alan Ritchson

  Hank Malone. The runner who is ex seal
• 

  Owen Wilson

  Ben Bishop. The transplant man
• 

  Rodrigo Santoro

  Damián Zaldívar. Zaldivar's son who initiates most of the violence
• 

  Leila George

  Kate Baker. The mother of Ellie
• 

  Kate Box

  Dr. Ainsley. The transplant doctor

• 

  Cecilia Toussaint

  Donna Zaldivar.  Mob Boss who needs the liver
• 

  Geraldine Hakewill

  Monica. Malone's ex wife
• 

  Scarlett Crabtree

  Ellie.   The little girl
• 

  Gyton Grantley

  Iggy. The boss who set up the job and ends dead

Movie Review: ***^ Ocean's 8 (2018)

 Ocean's 8 is a spin off of the Ocean movies following Danny Ocean's sister, Debbie Ocean (Sandra Bullock) who is released from prison and she is out to get revenge on her ex, Claude Becker (Richard Armitage) who set her up for the fall in a con game.  And so she recruits her team: Lou (Cate Blanchett) is her friend and co-planner, Rose Weil (Helena Bonham Carter) who is a fashion designer who must have a necklace for an extravaganza, Amita (Mindy Kaling) jewelry maker), Tammy (Sarah Paulsen) fence, Constance (Awkwafina) pick pocket, Leslie Jordan (Rihanna) computer hacker and Daphne Kluger (Anne Hathaway) who is a mark to wear the necklace but becomes part of the team when she realizes what is happening.  They succeed getting the necklace and replacing it with a fake.  They then break it up and part is planted part on Becker.  John Frazier (James Cordon), insurance investigator discovers this.  This show is entertaining.  It has a bit of a twist at the end making it more profitable for those involved.

Movie Review: *** I'll Be Home for Christmas (1997)

Sarah Gladstone (Ann Jillian) is the mayor of a town whose doctor has passed away.  Dr. Greiser (Robert Hays) is an MD coming home to visit his father (Jack Palance) after he has been away for many years.  He left to school and never returned.  His wife died of cancer, and the doctor was unable to save her.  This is causing him to lose confidence.  Turns out the mayor is acting as the doctor as a veterinarian and she and Dr. Geiser were high school sweethearts.  If not for the doctor thing maybe they could get back together.  Dr. Geiser has a daughter, Jilly (Ashley Gorrell).  He feels pressured to be a doctor and doesn't know if he can; So he returns to the city and father joins them for Christmas.  Very similar to other made for tv Christmas movies where something happens to get them back to the right track.

James Stewart Movie Review: **^ The FBI Story

This movie approaches being a commercial for the FBI like Strategic Air Command was and advertisement to promote SAC.  However this movie has some interesting stories, including the trelling of the Osage Indians in Oklahoma, who were being murdered left and right.  This was to get their oil money of which many people were jealous.  Stewart was undercover in this movie.  Another story was that of taking on the mobs and reducing crime in the country in general.  There was also a spy movie section, and the capture of people selling state secrets.  There is also the story of how working in the FBI can effect a marriage.  His wife is portrayed by Vera Miles.  Good action and good stories taken individually; but the movie is definitely too long.  

In Theaters: **** Practical Magic 2 (2026)

 This was a fun and tense movie as Sally Owens' (Sandra Bullock) daughter, Kylie (Joey King) falls in with the wrong crowd and black magic.  Kylie is in England after her boyfriend Gideon (Xolo Maridueña) falls victim to the curse and is in the hospital in a coma.  The curse is that all Owens women if they fall in love their boyfriend or husband will die.  This includes Kylie's sister Antonia (Maisie Williams) and Sally's sister Gillian Owens (Nicole Kidman).  Kylie finds a book on her great aunt's desk which includes a closed section of how to end the curse.  Her great aunt Jet (Dianne West) found the book, and passed away soon after.  Sally and Lillian follow Kylie to England while Kylie's sister Antonia and great aunt, Jet's sister Franny (Stockard Channing) stay to watch Gideon.  Franny told them to seek out Ian Wright (Lee Pace) who can help.  So they are off on an adventure.  First business is helping Sally get her magical powers back as she has been. suppressing them for many years thinking this would protect her daughters.  They are still a bit wary of Ian and drug him and put him to sleep while they chase Kylie and Tom Lockland (Solly McLeod) who she has met looking for her ancestor's home.  Lockland steals Kylie's inherited magical powers and uses them against the family--however the three bonded together are able to make a bond that Lockland cannot escape.  Sisterly love is powerful.  They discover they can break the curse only by giving a life, and Franny does this to rejoin her sister who passed on.  

This is a fun movie.  The struggle with magic and not being truthful with your daughter to protect them all plays out and makes for a good story.

Movie Review: *** How the West Was Won

This is a good western epic following the lives of two sisters, Eve and Lilith Prescott (Carroll Baker and Debbie Reynolds) and their husbands, Linus (James Stewart) and Cleve (Gregory Peck).  This movie is overflowing with famous actors.  Karl Malden portrays the father of the girls.  George Peppard as the son of Eve.  Henry Fonda as Jethro Stuart a mountain man dealing with changing times.  Andy Devine in the Civil War scene as a corporal, Robert Preston as the wagon master who wants to marry Lilith, John Wayne as General Sherman and Harry Morgan as Ulysses S. Grant.  There are some portrayals that are racist--depiction of Native Americans, and no Black people in the west at all.  But it has good action and drama.  And Debbie Reynolds can really sing.  She is the thing that makes this movie move.