Tom Clancy/Harrison Ford Movie: ***^ Patriot Games (1992)

Jack Ryan (Harrison Ford) is back and quickly becomes a hero when he says a British Royal from attack.  In his heroics he kills a terrorist.  The brother of the terrorist, Sean Miller (Sean Bean) is now gunning for Ryan, and his family, wife Cathy (Anne Archer) and daughter Sally (Thora Birch).  Sean Miller is the muscle while the head of the group is Kevin O'Donnell (Patrick Bergin) and his girlfriend Annette (Polly Walker).  Turns out she is a liability as the head of the Irish Republican Army, Paddy O'Neil (Richard Harris) will not turn on a fellow Irishman but she is British.  So through her they are able to track them down in Libya.  They mount an operation, but it misses them.  Instead the attack the Ryan residence when the Royal is there.  Lord Holmes (James Fox) is visiting.  Holmes' secretary Watkins (Hugh Fraser) is a traitor and Miller and the team are coming.  

This movie is more intense than the other Jack Ryan movies.  There is more swearing and more violence, and it earned an R rating.  Samuel Jackson and James Earl Jones also have parts, Jackson as Ryan's boss and Jones as director of the CIA.

Tom Clancy/ Harrison Ford Movie Review: ****^ Clear and Present Danger (1994)

The president's (Donald Moffat) friend is killed in the Caribbean.  And the president wants to seek revenge.  He indirectly orders forces to Columbia.  In this movie the head of the CIA (James Earl Jones) is diagnosed with cancer.  Consequently Jack Ryan (Harrison Ford) is shoved more into the spotlight.  The president wrangles him to go to Columbia.  They have discovered accounts in the name of the president's deceased friend where he was laundering drug money.  The Columbian drug lord is Ernesto Escobedo (Miguel Sandoval) and his henchman is Felix Cortez (Joaquim de Almeida).  Clark (Willem Dafoe) is tasked with putting together a team to go to Columbia.  These men are good at their job and cause Escobedo some headaches.  James Cutter (Harris Yulin) as security advisor and Robert Ritter (Henry Czerny) as his underling put the program together.  The even direct a plane dropping a bomb on a meeting of cartel leaders.  

Eventually Ryan, as the deputy director of the CIA, figures out what is happening.  Part of this is that a secretary (Ann Magnuson) of the US. government has inadvertently been feeding information to Cortez.  Cortez kills her.  Ryan's wife (Anne Archer) notices that her death coincides with other happenings, and they realize it is tied with the Columbian issue.  Cortez is tracked and a conversation intercepted he has with Cutter.  The President, Cutter and Ritter kill the programs with no extraction.  Ryan decides to go down to Columbia and get the U.S. service men out if he can.  He and Clark are to the rescue.  

Movie Review: ****^The Hunt for Red October (1990)

This is early in the career of Jack Ryan (Alec Baldwin).  He is pulled into a case because of his knowledge of Russian Captain Ramius (Sean Connery).  A year after the death of his wife, Ramius plans to defect to America, with a new submarine that does not make noise.  Admiral Greer (James Earl Jones) is retired Navy and CIA director and Ryan's boss.  Most of the officers aboard the Red October, Ramius' submarine are in on the plot.  The crew is not.  Captain Borodin (S
am Neill) supports him and wants to visit America.  They have to get the crew off, and convince them the Red October has been destroyed so the Americans can take the ship and study it.  The medical officer on the ship is Dr. Petrov (Tim Curry).  Admiral Painter (Fred Thompson) is the commander aboard an aircraft carrier Ryan sees on his way to get to the submarine tracking the Red October captained by Bart Mancuso (Scott Glen).  They are able make contact through periscopes, and then actually visit.  There is a problem in a saboteur aboard the Red October.

Lots of good excitement and intrigue as Ramius tries to defect without someone killing him; either American or Russian.

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.  

Disney Movie Review: *****The Lion King 1994

 The Lion King is a fantastic movie and deserves great praise.  This was when aDisney was making good movies and they all seemed to hit.  The Lion King (child Jonathon Taylor Thomas, adult Matthew Broderick) runs away when his father, Mufasa (James Earl Jones) is killed, thinking he will be blamed.  It was actually Scar (Jim Cummings) who killed his father with the help of the hyenas.  Simba meets a couple friends, Timon (Nathan Lane) and Pumbaa (Ernie Sabella) A meerkat and a warthog.  Simba grows up with these two friends who teach him to not worry about anything.  It is only when he is visited by his childhood love, Nala (child Niketa Calame-Harris, adult Moira Kelly that he is reminded of his responsibilities.  However it is the baboon sage, Rafiki (Robert Guillaume) that the Lion is inspired to return to the Pride Lands and reclaim his kingdom from Scar and the hyenas.

This story has a very good theme--remembering who you are.  I really enjoyed this movie.

Movie Review: ***^The Reading Room (2005)

This is a great feel good movie.  William (James Earl Jones) when his wife dies, takes her challenge to establish a reading room where he grew up.  He became a successful businessman, and the obstacles to his reading room are many.  The community doesn't really want him, the pastor doesn't trust him, he is mugged, his car stolen, and the reading room burned down.  Everything goes against him.  Where will he find the character to stick to it.
This again is a movie about people changing.  Sometimes the people most changed are those who are the changers.