This was excellent. Because of the upcoming release of the new version of War of the Worlds the The Oaks Theater had a special event. They played the radio broadcast of the story that scared the pants off of a hell of a lot of people. I must say that after hearing that I can see how people believed it was "the real thing." It really sounded like honest to goodness news reports. If you missed the program identification in the beginning and the middle of the broadcast it would be really scary. I guess that's why stations identify who they are and what they're playing so often these days.
Another thing I really liked about it was how much you had to use your imagination. You have to do your imagining quickly too. When reading a book you can just sortof flip backwards to clarify things. You can even hit rewind on a book on tape or CD. But this was very different. It was chilling. I know that my imagination took me to scarier places with the radio broadcast than any movie ever could. Orson Welles gave a fantastic performance that night, as did the other members of the Mercury Theater. That type of voice acting is a dying skill.
If you ever have the chance to hear this broadcast in a public setting. Go for it. It was awesome!
My Rating: 5/5
A friend of mine brought this disc to watch. It was hilarious. It was Shaolin Soccer x2! It seemed like the film was just an excuse to make a bunch of cheesy jokes, but that's okay. It's always worked for Mel Brooks. Steven Chow seems to be the Mel Brooks of China.
The central story surrounds a young man who wants to desparately join the Axe Gang. Even though he seems unable to commit crimes.
The Axe Gang is an especially awful group of gangsters. The gangsters are given a hard time by a small housing project where the residents are able to protect themselves with unusual Kung Fu powers. Eventually, our troubled hero discovers his Chi and his Kung Fu abilities. He joins the good side and saves the day.
Don't get me wrong. The plot was basically non-existant and the miracle of "Kung Fu" was way overdone. But that's just how it should be.
My Rating: 4/5
This book is great. It's absolutely hilarious. It was publihsed posthumously by Silverstein's family. I let a few of the kids I work with take it home to read because there was no way I could read it to them. It is just too hard to read outloud. Here is a small example:
Do Whid It?
Runny Babbit with his axe
Chopped down at trerry chee
When Raddy Dabbit asked,, "Do Whid It?"
Runny said, "Mot, ne."
Weorge Gashington heard Runny lying,
And he said, "Oh my,
You'll never pe the bresident
'Cause you just lold a tie
It's cute. It's also pretty darn funny when you consider just how much you have to lie to become president.
MY RATING: 5/5
I watched this movie earlier this evening with my family (on my mom's side). It was a lot of fun. Jim Carrey gave a great comedic performance with just the right amount of sappy romanticism.
The basic plot is this. Guy has a beautiful girl and a nice job. He acts like a great big jerk and doesn't see the beauty in life and curses God. God appears to him and gives him the power to be God to see what it's like to do God's work.
Morgan Freeman does an excellent job at playing God. Jennifer Anniston also performs well. But Jim Carrey's physical comedy is hard to beat.
MY RATING: 3/5
I haven't read this before, nor have I seen the film. I need to get with the program and read all of these Harry Potter books before the new one comes out. I work at a school so all of my students and co-workers will be talking about it during the summmer program.
I liked this book a lot. I must have, I read it in a few hours. I didn't like it as much as the first one though. The first one seemed more myserious. I knew what was going to happen with this one, I just didn't know how it was going to reveal itself. First of all I suppose Rowling expected you to believe the "Heir of Slytherin" was a particular individual but that seemed too obvious to me. Maybe younger readers were more surprised by who it really was and who was helping him.
I'll probably start on the next one later this week. Maybe even tonight.
My Rating: 3/5
I can't say I didn't like this book because I definitely did. However it's just not as funny as Lamb which had me laughing out loud (and driving my husband crazy).
Don't get me wrong there's plenty of silliness and obsurdity in this one. Including a floozy-like research assistant, a surfing native New Jersy Rastaman and a strange Hawiaan woman who receives phone calls from whales.
All in all, I recommend it. But it's probably more important to read Lamb.
My Rating: 3/5
A fantastic gangster-type film. Not heady or overproduced--it's just a lot of fun. It should be out on DVD soon.
MY RATING: 4/5
Wow. This was a weird one. This film consisted of several animated short films. They were all good. There was one called "Ward 13" that I didn't quite understand, but it was entertaining anyway. You should go see this. It's a hoot.
RATING: 3/5
I finally saw this great film on the big screen. It was part of The Oaks Theater's (Oakmont, PA) summer Moonlit Matinee's. I can honestly say that I was shocked at the crappy editing in this film. I guess it just doesn't look as bad on the "small screen." However I laughed so hard. I just couldn't take it. It was definitely one of the best night's out I've had in a long time. I still haven't seen the new Star Wars movie but I'm definitely glad I got to see this again.
RATING: 3/5