Aly's Reviews

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This is very addictive. The DEA should check to see if it contains crack. Now I'm listening to a bunch of radio shows that I never get to listen to directly on the radio.
So now I'm always getting to hear Democracy Now, Stephanie Miller and Science Friday.

AAAAGH! Just what I needed something else to waste my time!

RATING: 5/5

TV Review: "30 Days"

Morgan Spurlock has done an excellent job with this show. You may remember his film Super-Size Me. In that film he spent an entire month where he ate nothing but food from McDonalds and used a pedometer to reduce his physical activity to that of the average suburban American. There were interesting consequences. The basic premise for "30 Days" is that Spurlock or a random participant will live a different life for a month. It's an eye opening show.

First of all this is not your typical reality show. There are no extreme stereotyped folks thrown together. The episode I watched featured a man named David from West Virginia. He spent a month living with a Muslim family in Dearborn, MI. David learned a lot about Islam and a lot about American diversity in general. As a WASP he'd never experienced discrimination before. He seemed to learn what that is like. I hope the show taught some people a little about their own prejudices.

RATING: 4/5

The Princess Bride

Last night I saw this film on the big scree for the first time. It was quite awesome. I still remember the first time I saw the movie the whole way through. I hadn't known Derrick (my husband) very long at that point. He brought the videotape over to show me. Seeing it with him on the big screen was really cool. It was funny, romantic and thrilling. I loved it a lot.

My only complaint is that the print was beat to death.

RATING: 4/5

Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkabahn -- J.K. Rowling

Well, I have two more of the Harry Potter books to go before July 16! I definitely don't want to be left out of all the fun then.

Book three is pretty good, I don't think it is quite as imaginitive and whimsical as the first two, but I guess those were hard acts to follow. I was actually kindof put off by the Star Trekishness of the "Dementors" who make you feel the emotions caused by your worst memories. I half expected there to be a Professor Spok who would call the whole thing "fascinating." It also seemed strange to me that Scabbers was the bad guy all along. It seemed that Scabbers/Wormtail would have attempted something before that point. I mean he was living with the Weasleys for years right?

But again I am probably being overly critical. It is written for children. The fact that 2nd and 3rd graders are reading these books and understanding them is cool.

Rating: 3/5

The War of the Worlds

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

Kung Fu Hustle

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

Runny Babbit (a Billy Sook) - by Shel Silverstein

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

Bruce Almighty

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

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

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

Fluke (I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings) by Christopher Moore

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

Layer Cake

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

The Animation Show 2005

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

Spaceballs

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

Feature Film: Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room

This was a very thought provoking look at the rise and fall of Enron. I thought the entire Enron scandal was unbelievable before; but now I'm blown away even more.

I don't want to give anything away here but I was truly and completely shocked by the callousness of the people involved in this whole tragic mess. Enron hurt millions of people. I don't think they care at all.

RATING: 5/5

The Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy (Feature Film)

Since Hollywood has decided that books, radio series and TV miniseries are not enough we now have a feature film based on Douglas Adams' masterpiece. I re-read the book in anticipation of the film so that I would be able to comment and discuss a little better. I must say I enjoyed it a lot and I'm very glad I went to see it. The cast acted very well. I especially liked the way Mos Def played Ford Prefect. He was very good at being otherworldly. I was also very impressed by the way Martin Freeman played Dent. He was a perfect stereotype of a Brit.

Also the trailer shown right before the film surprised the heck out of me.

RATING: 4/5