Aright listen up! The guys we're after are professional runners. They like speed and are guaranteed to go down the hardest possible way so make sure you've got your funderwear on. We find 'em we take 'em as a team and we bring 'em back. And above all else we don't ever, ever let them get into cars.

Tonight I went and saw Fast Five at the Riverview. It stars Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and The Rock. It was entertaining from start to finish. It has good looking women, nice cars, over the top fights and awesome car chases. The chases were unlike anything I've seen before, because in one scene they are speeding around Rio pulling a bank vault full of money. The vult is flying around behind them knocking police cars off the road. The part on the train is really cool as well. If it's a good action movie you are looking for then go to to your local theater and see Fast Five

RIP Peter Falk (September 16, 1927 – June 23, 2011)

Peter Falk was a great actor over the years I watched him in such films as It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, The In-Laws, The Princess Bride and The Great Race. He is most known for his role as Lieutenant Columbo on the television show Columbo. RIP Peter you will be missed.

I guess I don't have to tell you what's coming, Frank. I'm promising you nothing except a job no man should have to do who's already had more than his share of combat. I've gotta ask you to take nice kids and fly them until they can't take any more, and then put 'em back in and fly 'em some more. We've got to try to find out just what a maximum effort is. How much a man can take and get it all.

Last week I watched The classic ww2 film 12 O' clock high starring Gregory Peck and some other actors who's names I can't remember. It is about some of the first Americans in England and how they are forced to fly on long and brutal bombing campaigns with low supplies and moral. I enjoyed it very much. Peck was very good in this film.  This has to be one of my favorite war movies about the Air Force and the fighting in the skies. The film really shows you how much war a man can take before he cracks.

Indecision is a virus that can run through an army and destroy it's will to win. Or even to survive.

A few days ago I watched In Harms Way. It stars John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, Henry Fonda, Patricia Neal, Burgess Meredith,George Kennedy, Good old Bruce Cabot and many other famous faces. I think it has to be my 5th favorite of the all star war films after Dirty Dozen, Great Escape, Longest Day and Bridge Two Far. Many of the stars listed above were only in the film for 10 or 15 minutes.  Meredith, Neal, Wayne and Douglas are the main cast members. Kirk plays basically the same role as he did in Gunfight at OK Corral a drunk who abuses women. With all these great stars, Otto Peminger as director Hugh S. Fowler who edited such classics as Planet of the Apes, Gentlemen prefer Blondes and Patton. George Tomasini who edited Vertigo,Rear Window, North by Northwest, the Birds,Psycho and many other Hicthcock films. Lyle R. Wheeler the production designer for Gone with the Wind and All about Eve. Loyal Griggs on Cinematography who is known for Shane, Ten Commandments and White Christmas, Sound editor Charles Grenzbach who did Platoon, The Godfather and Wall Street. Lawrence W. Butler who did special effects for Casablanca, The Caine Mutiny and To be or not to be. Saul Bass who made the titles to Goodfellas, North by Northwest and the Big Country. and of course Jerry Goldsmith. It also has a great sea battle.
 

Six hours he's riding the subway before anybody notices his corpse doing laps around L.A., people on and off sitting next to him. Nobody notices.

Collateral, which I watched recently is a crime movie about a taxi driver in LA who is played by Jamie Foxx. He is held at gun point by a trigger happy Tom Cruse who makes him drive around to various spots so that he can kill certain targets.  So then for most of the movie Cruise goes around LA murdering people at bars, clubs and in dark allies.  It reminded my of Phone Booth with Colin Firth. Towards the end it seems like Cruise is a super assassin because he always has a another clip in his pocket. It seems like he has ten or fifteen clips in his pocket. He is able to walk into a crowded night club and pick off all the guards and take out his target
Even while the place is swarming with cops. Then to add to
the over the top action Foxx in an effort to kill Cruise causes the cab to do a roll over, which both men survive.  Cruise is able to walk away with blood all over his head and go kill some  more. Even after being shot he still survives. While it may be entertaining it's not as good as some of the other works my Michael Mann who is not related to Anthony Mann. His best film is Heat. It's to bad that Jason Statham only has a 1 minute part at beginning of the film.

"If thine eye offends thee... pluck it out!"

The film X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes was one of the strangest films I've ever seen. It stars Ray Milland as a scientist who finds a way to have x ray vision and see though anything. The film also stars Don Rickles who I enjoyed in this film. I also recognized many other faces such as a young Dick Miller and Morris Ankrum. This cast is decent but the person who wrote the script should take a class on how to write scripts because the dialog was not very good.

There are two kinds of people in the world, my friend: Those with a rope around the neck, and the people who have the job of doing the cutting.

I went and saw the Good the Bad and the Ugly in the theater  last week.  It could be called the The Bad The Badder and The Baddest. Because at one point or another each man Cleef, Wallach and Eastwood are bad. Lee Van may be the bad but at some points the other two can be just as nasty. The Score by Morricone  is one of the greatest scores ever written. There's not a bad scene in the movie. When Lenone and Eastwood work together you know the movie will be good.

I thought we could unite our kingdoms one day. Bring about an alliance. Bring about permanent peace, through you.

Thor is proof that Hollywood has no new idea's. Over the last five years Hulk, Spiderman, Batman,Superman, Fantastic 4 and Iron Man have all gotten films all of them had two or more squeals made.  This summer they are making a Captain America and Green Lantern. There is still Flash, Wonder Women and Aqua man.  I'm sure they will get Chris O Donall and make him reprise his role as robin for a robin film or maybe a film about Night-wing, which would be just horrible. Big chunks of the film has Thor(Chris Hemsworth) romancing Natalie Portman. Anthony Hopkins also stars in the film as Thor's father Odin. Clark Gregg reprises his role as Agent Phil Coulson, he also played Coulson in both Iron Man films. The film was kind of predictable. And slow at times. I really only liked about 30 minutes of the film. The part where Thor battles a big robot while scorching the main street of some New Mexico town has probably got to be the best part of the movie.

An Irish man and a woman, and a German, ex-KGB. They're professionals, and they're in hiding.

Ronin is just an awesome film. It has a great director, great cast, great shootouts, great car chases and great villains. Another cool thing about this movie is that three of it's cast members have played Bond villains Michel Lonsdale in Moonraker, Sean Bean in Goldeneye and Jonathan Pryce in Tomorrow never dies.   It has a great ending and is one of Di Niro's best roles. Jean Reno is also great in this film.

"You seem to have this nasty habit of surviving."

In honor of the great French actor Louis Jourdan 90th birthday, I celebrated by watching the James Bond film Octopussy in which he plays the main villain. Once again it involves destroying a U.S. or Soviet area of importance with a nuclear weapon which will start a large war between the two countries. Also one of Bonds spy buddies is killed just like in every other film. It also has the same far fetched action as the other Bonds. Also like most of the bond films there is a fight in a boat or plane at the end or beginning of the movie. I have to say that this is one of my favorite bond films. The music is good as well. If it's composed by John Barry it will add a lot to the film. The non Barry composed music is not as good in my opinion.

James Arness 1923-1988

Actor James Arness has died today at the age of 88 just one year after his younger brother Peter Graves died last year. Both were from my home town of Minneapolis. And both went to high school in town Graves when to my high school  South West Arness went to Washburn a near by school. After High school he joined the war. His decorations include the Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart; the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with three bronze battle stars, the World War II Victory Medal and the Combat Infantryman Badge.


After that he went into acting were he had his most well known role as Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke. I know him most for his roles in The Thing from Another World and Them! I also know him for his work with John Wayne in such films as Island in the Sky and Hondo.







So to honor Arness I watched the thing. The way that you can tell it's him is by his 6'7 Hight. The movie like most Monster movies of that time takes place at the North Pole. The film was made for enjoyment but also to scare people about a communist invasion. They cracked many jokes about the communists and even poked fun at the United States military. Dimtri Temkon's score was very good and added to the suspense of the film. RIP to a great American hero.

I hate talking to negotiators Jack. They talk to you like they're your best friend and they do'nt even know you.

I recently watched the classic action film speed. It is still suspenseful even after having seen it before. The cast is also pretty good with Dennis Hopper, Keanu Reeves, Sandra Bullock,Joe Morton, Jeff Dainels and Alan Ruck known most for Farris Bueller. Hopper has to be one of my favorite villains. I like the bus scenes but I think that the part in the subway was really far fetched because how they did not get a cut or bruise when the subway fell on it's side and was sliding several feet is very fake. They also used the scene that is used in almost every action movie such as True Lies, Moonraker etc when the good guy is driving and the bridge or road is out ahead.

Overall it is one of the best action movies ever made. This is the olny good film directed by Jan de Bont. He made Speed 2, Tomb Raider and Twister which were all over the top action movies with very bad plots.  He is better known as cinematographer for such films as Die Hard, Lethal Weapon 3 and Hunt for Red October.