E-Ez Movies

E.T.:The Extra Terrestrial (1988)  While visiting the Earth at Night, a group of alien botanists is discovered and disturbed by an approaching human task force. Because of the more than hasty take-off, one of the visitors is left behind. The little alien finds himself all alone on a very strange planet. Fortunately, the extra-terrestrial soon finds a friend and emotional companion in 10-year-old Elliot, who discovered him looking for food in his family's garden shed. While E.T. slowly gets acquainted with Elliot's brother Michael, his sister Gertie as well as with Earth customs, members of the task force work day and night to track down the whereabouts of Earth's first visitor from Outer Space. The wish to go home again is strong in E.T., and after being able to communicate with Elliot and the others, E.T. starts building an improvised device to send a message home for his folks to come and pick him up. But before long, E.T. gets seriously sick, and because of his special connection to Elliot, the young boy suffers, too. The situation gets critical when the task force finally intervenes. By then, all help may already be too late, and there's no alien spaceship in sight.

While the scirpt is a bit predictable, it is still very enjoyable and is uplifting.  It appeals to the child in all of us.

Easy Virtue (2008)  In 1929, John Whittaker returns home to the family estate after a lengthy absence on the Continent. His mother is thrilled at the news of his return but is shocked when he arrives with his new bride, Larita. Not only is he married but she is a blond American who has a mind of her own and an interesting occupation: a race car driver who just won the race at Monte Carlo. John's father takes an immediate liking to her but as far as his mother is concerned, she is the worse possible choice. she is also concerned that her son will soon leave again as Larita is expecting them to relocate to London after a short visit. Mother has her own ideas and soon it's outright war between them. When Mrs. Whittaker learns something about Larita's past however, it creates a rift between her and John that may be irreparable.

In the vintage Monte Carlo scene which opens the movie, when Larita first sees John both her and John's movements are slowed down while the rest of the cast play at 'normal' (i.e newsreel) speed. This was accomplished by filming the crowd, Larita, John, the background and the foreground mechanics separately against green screen and compositing them together at different speeds.

Easy Rider (1969)  Two young "hippie" bikers, Wyatt and Billy sell some dope in Southern California, stash their money away in their gas-tank and set off for a trip across America, on their own personal odyssey looking for a way to lead their lives. On the journey they encounter bigotry and hatred from small-town communities who despise and fear their non-conformism. However Wyatt and Billy also discover people attempting 'alternative lifestyles' who are resisting this narrow-mindedness, there is always a question mark over the future survival of these drop-out groups. The gentle hippie community who thank God for 'a place to stand' are living their own unreal dream. The rancher they encounter and his Mexican wife are hard-pushed to make ends meet. Even LSD turns sour when the trip is a bad one. Death comes to seem the only freedom. When they arrive at a diner in a small town, they are insulted by the local rednecks as weirdo degenerates. They are arrested on some minor pretext by the local sheriff and thrown in jail where they meet George Hanson, a liberal alcoholic lawyer. He gets them out and decides to join them on their trip to New Orleans in time for Mardi Gras.

Awesome flick.

Eat Drink Man Woman (1994)  Senior Master Chef Chu lives in a large house in Taipei with his three unmarried daughters, Jia-Jen, a chemistry teacher converted to Christianity, Jia-Chien, an airline executive, and Jia-Ning, a student who also works in a fast food restaurant. Life in the house revolves around the ritual of an elaborate dinner each Sunday, and the love lives of all the family members.

Ed Wood (1994)  A biopic of the life and work of the legendary 'worst director of all time', Edward D. Wood Jr., concentrating on the best-known period of his life in the 1950s, when he made Glen or Glenda (1953), Bride of the Monster (1955) and Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959), and focusing on both his transvestism and his touching friendship with the once great but now ageing and unemployed horror star Bela Lugosi.

Great movie.  Great cast.

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Edward Scissorhands (1990)  A modern day fairy tale which tells the story of Edward, the man created by an inventor, who died before finishing him and left Edward with scissors where he should have hands. One day when the local "Avon" representative calls at the historic mansion where Edward has been living alone, she takes him home to stay with her family. He has to adapt to the new life and environment that he isn't used to. Soon he shows a talent in cutting hair and hedges, and wins every body's heart. But life isn't always so sweet.

The idea for the movie was inspired by a drawing Tim Burton had done when he was a teenager.

The Southgate Shopping Center is located in Lakeland, FL while the neighborhood was filmed at the Carpenter's Run subdivision in Lutz, FL.

The restaurant that the family eats at was, at one time, a real restaurant; a national chain diner called "Sambo's". It was located directly across the street from Southgate Shopping Center, as appears in the movie. Due to the controversial nature of the name and interior design, the diner (and entire chain) closed sometime in the late 70's/early 80's except for the original location in Santa Barbara, California, which to this day remains open in it's original location. It remained an abandoned building for many years, until Tim Burton came to town to film "Edward Scissorhands". Burton's crew unboarded the doors and windows and redressed the interior to look like a working restaurant again.

Electric Horseman (1979)  After retiring from the rodeo where he was five-time all-around world rodeo champion, Sonny Steele is signed by multinational conglomerate Ampco to be the spokesman for their breakfast cereal, Ranch Breakfast. This corporate job, where he is paraded around on horses in electrically lit cowboy get-ups and where the publicity department makes him grow a mustache to look more like a cowboy, eventually sucks away at his soul, which leads to him taking up the bottle and often being drunk at events. Conversely, the publicity department tries to hide him from the media. At a corporate-wide Ampco event in Las Vegas, television reporter Hallie Martin senses that there is a story in Sonny being hidden by his own publicity machine. That event also marks the last straw for Sonny with Ampco as he is to appear with Ampco's acquisition, a $12 million race horse named Rising Star. Although Sonny is willing to be denigrated by Ampco, he will not allow them to do the same to Rising Star, who they drug to sedate at such public events and to make him look cosmetically more pleasing, all at his expense. As such, Sonny decides to steal Rising Star and literally ride off into the sunset. Hot on their tail are the Ampco executives - who want to keep the story as quiet as possible so as not to tarnish their brand - the police, and Hallie. Hallie does whatever she can to get the story straight from Sonny's mouth, so much better if hers are the only cameras rolling at the time. But as Hallie catches up with Sonny and by circumstance spends some extended alone time with him and Rising Star, her priorities of getting the story at any cost may change to helping Sonny elude capture and achieve what is his end goal with Rising Star. But that goal may be jeopardized by Hallie's earlier priorities, which are still those of her network.

Elf (2003)  Buddy was a baby in an orphanage who stowed away in Santa's sack and ended up at the North Pole. Later, as an adult human who happened to be raised by elves, Santa allows him to go to New York City to find his birth father, Walter Hobbs. Hobbs, on Santa's naughty list for being a heartless jerk, had no idea that Buddy was even born. Buddy, meanwhile, experiences the delights of New York City (and human culture) as only an elf can. When Walter's relationship with Buddy interferes with his job, he is forced to reevaluate his priorities.

I am not a Will Ferrell fan, but he does a good job making me believe he is a human boy raised by Santa's elves.  Great supporting cast.  Predictable story but enjoyable fluff.

Elmer Gantry (1960)  Elmer Gantry is a fast talking, hard drinking traveling salesman who always has a risqué story and a hip flask to entertain cronies and customers alike. He is immediately taken with Sister Sharon Falconer, a lay preacher whose hellfire and damnation revivalism has attracted quite a following. Gantry uses his own quick wit and knowledge of the bible to become an indispensable part of Sister Sharon's roadshow but soon finds that his past catches up with him in the form of Lulu Bains, now a prostitute. While Gantry seeks and eventually gets forgiveness from Sharon, tragedy strikes when she finally manages to get out of her revivalist tent and opens a permanent church.

This was the first movie I saw after leaving home for the Air Force.  I saw it at Lackland AFB in Texas.

Elvis Has Left the Building (2004)  The successful Pink Lady cosmetics saleswoman Harmony Jones, who uses lipsticks of her competitor to protect her lips, is very connected to Elvis Presley since she met him when she was seven years old. She presently wishes to have a boy-friend and raise a family of her own but is lucky in business and unlucky in love. While traveling near Las Vegas, she accidentally kills three Elvis Presley impersonators, and she believes the police are chasing her. Meanwhile, she also meets Miles Taylor, who works in an advertising agency in New York, and is traveling to Las Vegas to finalize his divorce with his former wife, Belinda. She wants her Elvis Presley clothes back as the final condition to sign the divorce papers. Harmony sees the clothes in Miles' hands and believing he is another Elvis impersonator, she avoids him, afraid of hurting him.

Very funny satire about Elvis impersonators.

The English Patient (1996)  A burn victim, a nurse, a thief, and a sapper find themselves in each others company in an old Italian villa close to the end of World War II. Through flashbacks, we see the life of the burn victim, whose passionate love of a woman and choices he made for her ultimately change the lives of one other person in the villa. Not only is this film a search for the identity of the English patient, but a search for the identities of all the people in the quiet old villa.

This is a gritty story about humanity. 

This is the sequel to Mr. Roberts.   It is a good comedy with some future stars in bit parts.  Not great but still a funny movie.

Entrapment (1999)  Following the theft of a highly-secured piece of artwork, an agent convinces her insurance agency employers to allow her to wriggle into the company of an aging but active master thief. Connery's burglar takes her on suspiciously and demands rigorous training before their first job together--stealing a highly-valued mask from a chichi party. Their deepening attraction and distrust could tear apart their partnership but the promise of a bigger prize (some eight billion odd dollars) by Zeta-Jones keeps the game interesting. Only, who's playing with whom?

Everybody Says I Love You (1996)  Holden and Skylar are in love with each other. Skylar lives with a large and extended family on Manhattan. Her parents, Bob and Steffi have been married to each other for many years. Joe, a friend of theirs, who has a daughter, DJ, with Steffi. After yet another relationship, Joe is alone again. He flees to Venice, and meets Von, and makes her believe that he is the man of her dreams. However, their happiness is fake all the way, and she returns to her previous husband. Steffi spends her time with charity work, and manages to break up Skylars and Holdens relation when she introduces Skylar to a released jailbird.

The title of the film comes from a song in the Marx Brothers movie Horse Feathers. One of the songs, "Hooray for Captain Spaulding" (which is sung in French), is from another Marx Brothers movie, Animal Crackers. Another soundtrack song, "You Brought a New Kind of Love To Me," was sung by the Marx Brothers imitating Maurice Chevalier in Monkey Business.

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (1972)  Seven segments related to one another only in that they all purport to be based on sections of the book by David Reuben. The segments range from "Do Aphrodisiacs Work?" in which a court jester gives an aphrodisiac to the Queen and is, in the end, beheaded to "What Happens During Ejaculation?" in which we watch 'control central' during a successful seduction.

Allen saw Dr. David Reuben promoting his book on which this film is based on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. When asked by Johnny Carson "Is sex dirty?", Reuben replied "It is if you're doing it right." which is a line from Allen's Take the Money and Run. Allen was offended by Dr. Reuben using his joke and by his book so he made this film as a form of revenge against him. Dr. Reuben did not like the film.

Exodus (1960)  The theme is the founding of the state of Israel. The action begins on a ship filled with Jewish immigrants bound for Israel who are being off loaded on Cyprus. An Intelligence officer succeeds in getting them back on board their ship only to have the harbor blocked by the British with whom they must negotiate. The second part of the film is about the situation in Israel as independence is declared and most of their neighbors attack them.

Good film.  In 1960, the new state of Israel was only 12 years old and still surrounded by enemies.  Much like today.