10 (1979) On the night of his 42nd birthday, George Webber, a popular songwriter, begins showing symptoms of "middle-age crisis." Over the succeeding weeks, he finds himself continually staring at young girls on the street, and he begins envying his high-living neighbor, whose life is one endless orgy. George's behavior causes great concern to his lover, singing star Samantha Taylor, and to his partner Hugh, who has seemingly avoided George's dilemma by being gay. While driving home one afternoon, George spots Jenny, a stunning young beauty en route to her marriage ceremony. Regarding her as "the most beautiful girl I've ever seen" (on a scale from one to 10), George follows her to the church. He later learns her name, and discovers that she and her husband are honeymooning in Mexico. Driven by the impulse to see her again, George flies to Mexico and checks into the hotel where Jenny is staying. This is a funny movie. And, yes Bo Dereck is an actress used only for eye candy. There are so many downright funny parts to this that it is worth seeing more than once. The scene where Dudley Moore slides down the hill side after trying to talk to his girlfriend with his mouth still numb from the dentist is still funny and I have seen it a dozen times. Blake Edwards got the idea while he was waiting for a light watching a bride and wedding party in the car next to him. Now George kicks Jenny out of bed because she is pretty dumb (pretty and pretty dumb actually). I would not have. | |
10 Items or Less (2006) A still famous but decadent actor has not filmed for four years. When he is invited to participate in a new project, he asks the clumsy cousin of the director to drop him in a poor Latin neighborhood in Carlson to research the work of the manager of a small supermarket. He sees the gorgeous Spanish cashier Scarlet and he becomes attracted with her ability. His driver never returns to catch him and Scarlet gives a ride to the actor. But first she has a job interview for the position of secretary in a construction company and the actor helps her to be prepared; then they spend the afternoon together having a pleasant time. This is a movie worth seeing. It is a case of art immitating life and not on an espcecially good day. In our daily lives, we encounter people that no deep meaning for us. Perhaps if we had more time our lives would be more interesting. | |
10 Things I Hate About You (1999) Adapted from William Shakespeare's play The Taming of the Shrew, the movie starts off with Cameron, new student at Padua High, sitting in the office of the quirky guidance counselor Ms. Perky. He is then shown around the school by Michael, who will become his best friend. During his tour is when Cameron first sees Bianca Stratford, a beautiful sophomore with one problem: she isn't allowed to date. And neither is her "shrew" sister, Katarina, a senior who loves indie rock and feminist prose and hates conformity. But Kat and Bianca's father alters his house rule: now, Bianca can date... as long as Kat has a date, too. Now, in order for Cameron to date Bianca, he has to find someone to date Kat. So Michael helps him enlist the help of pretty-boy/jerk/model Joey Donner, tricking him into thinking that *he* will get to take Bianca out if he pays someone to take out Kat. His choice: Patrick Verona, a bad-boy with a mysterious reputation--some say he ate a live duck once, others that he lit a state trooper on fire, and even more claim that he had a brief porn career. Will Patrick win Kat's heart? Will Cameron win Bianca's? Or will everything hit the fan. The large sculpture in the background in the scene where Cameron approaches Bianca for help is not a set piece, but an actual mixed media sculpture known as the Fremont Troll, The Troll or The Troll Under the Bridge. Its location is under the north end of the Aurora Bridge. | |
12 Angry Men (1957) The defense and the prosecution have rested and the jury is filing into the jury room to decide if a young Spanish-American is guilty or innocent of murdering his father. What begins as an open and shut case of murder soon becomes a mini-drama of each of the jurors' prejudices and preconceptions about the trial, the accused, and each other. Based on the play, all of the action takes place on the stage of the jury room. Justice is a fragile thing. Each of us needs to identify our own prejudices. | |
12 O'Clock High (1949) In this story of the early days of daylight bombing raids over Germany, General Frank Savage must take command of a "hard luck" bomber group. Much of the story deals with his struggle to whip his group into a diciplined fighting unit in spite of heavy losses, and withering attacks by German fighters over thier targets. Actual combat footage is used in this tense war drama.
This film is used by the U.S. Navy as an example of leadership styles in its Leadership and Management Training School. The Air Force's College for Enlisted Professional Military Education also uses this film as a education aid in its Noncommissioned Officer Academies. The film has also been used for leadership training in civilian non-military seminars. The B-17 bomber crash landing at the airstrip near the beginning of the movie was no special effect. Stunt pilot Paul Mantz was paid $4,500 to crash-land the bomber. Mantz of course walked away from the wreck. Until the 1970s, that was the largest amount ever paid to a stuntman for a single stunt.
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1941 (1978) It's been six days since the attack on Pearl Harbor. Panic grips California, supposedly the next target of the Japanese forces. Everywhere in California, people are suffering from war nerves. Chaos erupts all over the state. An Army Air Corps Captain, a civilian with a deranged sense of Nationalism, civilian defenders, and a Motor Pool crew all end up on the trail of a lost Japanese sub that has picked Hollywood as their own target. Will these people be able to defend their homes? Will they be able to preserve the safety in California? Will they be able to get a hold of themselves? Many of the events in the movie are based on real incidents. The army really put an anti-aircraft gun in the yard of a homeowner on the Maine coast. An air raid false alarm over Los Angeles resulted in Civil Defense and Army weapons firing into the air one night, thinking they were being attacked by the Japanese. A Japanese submarine shelled a refinery on the California coast. The infamous Zoot Suit Riots, between Hispanic youths and servicemen, were in May and June 1943. | |
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). 2001 is a story of evolution. Sometime in the distant past someone or something nudged evolution by placing a monolith here on earth (presumably elsewhere throughout the universe as well) Evolution then enabled man to reach the moon's surface where he finds yet another monolith, one which signals the monolith-placers that we have evolved that far. Now a race begins between computers (HAL) and man (Bowman) to reach the monolith-placers, the winner will achieve the next step in evolution, whatever that may be. This movie was awesome in 1968. We were on the edge of going to the moon. Lots of special effects but the acting suffers. Certainly an interesting idea of a computer going insane, but this is the classic "man exceeds his grasp and creates something that kills him Frankenstein story." | |
2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984) In the year 2001, Dave Bowman was taken by the Jupiter monolith and transformed into a powerful being. Now, in the year 2010, Dr. Heywood Floyd, the man held responsible for Discovery's failure, is going to Jupiter. He and his crewmates must reactivate the psychotic HAL-9000 computer, so they may learn what happened, and they must find out the meaning of Dave Bowman's last transmission... "My God, it's full of stars..." The opening scene with the scientist working on the antenna was shot at the Very Large Array near Socoro, NM I have actually walked on the dish of the antenna, which is over 210 feet tall. | |
3:10 to Yuma (2007). In Arizona in the late 1800s, infamous outlaw Ben Wade and his vicious gang of thieves and murderers have plagued the Southern Railroad. When Wade is captured, Civil War veteran Dan Evans (Bale), struggling to survive on his drought-plagued ranch, volunteers to deliver him alive to the "3:10 to Yuma", a train that will take the killer to trial. On the trail, Evans and Wade, each from very different worlds, begin to earn each other's respect. But with Wade's outfit on their trail - and dangers at every turn - the mission soon becomes a violent, impossible journey toward each man's destiny. A remake of the 1957 version. Well acted and better in several places than the original and yet pooer in many respects. | |
3:10 to Yuma (1957) When the charming outlaw Ben Wade is captured after the heist of a stagecoach, the stage line owner Mr. Butterfield offers US$ 200 to the man that escorts the bandit to the city of Contention to take the 3:10 PM train to Yuma to be sent to trial. The rancher Dan Evans is broken and needs the money to save his cattle and support his family and accepts the assignment. During their journey, Dan saves the life of Ben when a vigilante tries to execute the criminal. Meanwhile Ben's gang split to find where Ben is and then rescues their boss. When they find that Ben is trapped in a hotel room, they put the place under siege and Dan can not find any man to help him. | |
50 First Dates (2004) Henry Roth lives in a Hawaiian paradise with the company of endless women with no strings attached. This is until he meets Lucy Whitmore. Both Henry and Lucy enjoy the company of each other and feel the start of a serious relationship occurring. Approaching Lucy the next day, Henry is confused when Lucy fails to recognize him. This is the moment Henry discovers that Lucy actually suffers from short term memory loss and can't remember each individual day. Henry won't let this stop him and is prepared to make her fall in love with him all over again, each and every day. I saw this movie with friends. I was prepared not to like it. I am not an Adam Sandler fan. I thought the best funny parts had been in the trailer. I was presently surprised that they did not overwork their main premise. It is quite good. The book Lucy reads at breakfast, "Still Life With Woodpecker - A Sort Of A Love Story" by Tom Robbins, is a love story set in Hawaii. The neurological condition that Lucy suffers from, Goldfield Syndrome, is entirely fictional. True anterograde amnesia affects either short-term memory, which can last minutes or seconds, or intermediate-term memory, which can last days or weeks. Falling asleep has nothing to do with the condition, and sleep actually intensifies many chemical effects which help memory. The diner where Lucy has her breakfast every morning was originally a house that was remodeled for the movie. It is located on a macadamia nut farm on the eastern side of Oahu. The same house was used in Tears of the Sun and scenes from Jurassic Park were filmed in the open fields nearby. | |
The 6th Day (2000) In the near future, cloning is now technically advanced, but human cloning is still illegal. Adam Gibson returns home after working with his friend Hank Morgan, only to find a clone of himself with his family. Before he has chance to find out the truth, he is attacked by a group who want him dead. Adam must escape and find out the truth from the creator of the clones, Michael Drucker. Adam knows for sure you couldn't have been cloned, but isn't ready for what he's about to hear. |