Dr. Syn Alias The Scarecrow

As I've been watching Danger Man (Secret Agent Man) on DVD lately, and I did a little research on Patrick McGoohan (of whom I am a big fan) I discovered that he had made a movie, well a made for TV movie, called Dr. Syn Alias The Scarecrow. This was made for the 1963 Television program Disney's Wonderful World of Color. As with many of the programs I had seen made for that program, when I first started to watch it, it put me to sleep. It seems like those programs weren't really made with kids in mind, as it appeared it would be a bit boring for kids and perhaps a bit scary and hard to follow at times. But once I got into the story, it turned out to be a well done, both story wise and atmosphere.

Moontrap

I was working my way through the Star Trek TOS Remastered DVD's and got to the end where the special features were and watched a segment featuring Walter Koenig. He mentioned that he made a movie with Bruce Campbell, so of course I had to watch that film, which is titled Moontrap.

Somehow the film didn't turn out all that spectacular, but it did have some redeeming points. The concept was decent, but the plot never fully engaged the viewer. The 'alien' race was fairly well portrayed, as much in the same was that Leeloo of the Fifth Element, wasn't immediately able to speak English, the alien in this film also cannot communicate fluently upon the first interaction with Earthlings and need to progressively learn the language.

The Pixar Story

Facinationg look into how Pixar was founded, with a lot of concentration on John Lasseter, as there should be. Very well done, and they didn't spin it with the national enquirer type stuff that so many "story of" documentaries fall back on.

I thought I was well educated about Pixar, but I learned a few things and recommend this film for anyone who wants to know more about the history of Pixar, computer animation as well as the corporate culture of Pixar and a few insights into the development of the original Toy Story, which originally headed in a very different direction.

Still they neglected to mention Howard the Duck, which I had heard indebted George Lucas and motivated him to sell off his computer graphics division. Still not sure if that is true.

Some Like It Hot

If you know a little about this film, you know it's an old black and white Marilyn Monroe film. I had seen numerous ads for it through out my childhood on the re-run channel - channel 56, but have never seen it before.

The reason I got motivated to watch it was that I read that Grace Lee Whitney (Yeoman Rand from Star Trek) was in this film. But her role turned out to be so small, I don't even know for sure if I caught a glimpse of her, or if she even had a line.

The film itself was not without it's charm, but I didn't see anything that made it outstanding either, including the plot which didn't always go in any logical direction (as a comedy has a right to do).

Shane

This is one of those films I have heard referenced and parodied so many times that I had to see it for myself.

While it was certainly a great western, in many ways it was not a typical western, as the hero doesn't come riding in with guns ablazing, nor his he impervious to pain. It's much more of a realistic fighter, as well as the somewhat reluctant hero.

As great as this film is, I was slightly disappointed, as I had heard Bill Hicks describe a scene with a bully telling an unarmed man to pick up a gun so the bully could shoot him. I cannot figure out if that scene was edited out of the version of the film I watched, or was just how Bill Hicks imagined the gunslinger would act or if that scene belongs to another film.

You will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger

After watching Miral, I was surprised to learn that the star of that film Frieda Pinto, also appeared in a Woody Allen film. I've seen a large number of this film, both his silly faze 60s-70s and most of his films in the 80s and have always enjoyed them. I haven't watched many of his film after the 80s, but that is true for me for most films.

This was an enjoyable film, pretty much typical Woody Allen, with the odd conversations and people giving in to temptation, which leads them into further trouble.

I didn't catch what role Frieda was playing until after she had appeared several times.

The only real troubling aspect of this film is the inconclusiveness of this film, thought it was clearly Woody's intent to leave us wondering about the characters future.

As always Wood Allen does not disappoint.

The Ramen Girl

My friend said that he was planning on showing this film as part of a class he would be teaching. As I had never heard of it, and due to my long experience with Japan, I thought I should check it out.

The film includes some famous Japanese actors, most notably the star, who also stars in the Tsuribaka Nisshi films.

The plot is rather implausible, as some American woman decides to dedicate herself to learning to be a top ramen (no pun intended) chef, while not being able to speak any Japanese.

One of the short comings is that as most of the action takes place in a ramen shop you get a rather limited picture of Japan.