Really Big Things

Matt Rogers + Really Big Things = Good TV
I have been a huge fan of Matt Rogers ever since he was a contestant on season 3 of "American Idol". I think he has such a great personality. He's funny, quick witted, not full of himself, a real down to earth likable kind of guy. So when I read that he would be hosting a show called "Really Big Things" on Discovery Channel, I made a point to tune in. And, let me say, I love it. This show is really informative without ever being boring. Matt is the perfect host for this kind of program. His sense of humor and willingness to learn and participate keeps the show light and fun yet it is still educational and entertaining. I watch it every week and am very glad it was renewed for a second season. I cannot wait until September 4th to get the first season on DVD. Thanks Discovery for bringing us Matt Rogers & Really Big Things.

Great show
A very interesting collection of programs which give you an insight to how some of the world's largest machines operate. Expertly presented by Matt Rogers who makes it both interesting and amusing.
Recommended to all those who like to know how big things work.



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City Teacher

STAND AND DELIVER
This film is the African-American version of "Stand and Deliver." This has been re-released as "A Hard Lesson." Jeff Solomon (Jonathan Sale) is a parole officer who is asked to teach a class of 12 troubled unruly teens how to read. He has to buck the teaching system as well as having to gain the trust and respect of his class, all who have criminal records.

Jeff is white and Jewish. His wife Marsha (Heather Tom) leaves him because she wants him to be in a job that makes more money. Jeff is also unusual in that he was adopted and raised by African-American parents in a far fetched story. He gets advice from his dad (Glynn Turman) who was also a teacher. Meanwhile there are robberies going on in the neighborhood.

Heart warming ending in a film that has border line acting. Like so many produced African-American films this one contains excessive amount of dialouge and discussion about the problems facing the black and Latino communities rather then just let us...





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Suze Orman: Women and Money

Suze, captain of the cheerleading squad
If you need inspirational cheerleading, this is the DVD for you.

I love the Suze Orman TV show and wait eagerly to see more, so, I ordered a few of her products. In this first to arrive DVD "Women & Money" Suze recounts her path into the big boy's world of financial investment and brokerage. She enthusiastically outlines an overview of characteristics and attitudes that she deems necessary to achieve and maintain control and prosperity of your money as a woman in America. For example, be happy and be able to say your name proudly, boldly, with confidence.

This type of encouragement could be labeled "inspirational", but, Suze could have been chatting about grocery shopping and it would be inspirational coming from her. In a DVD on the subject of women and money though I expected a portion of real meat and potatoes to put on my plate, some actual practical information and content to digest and nourish the growth of my financial autonomy. In that respect this DVD...

Anyone & Money!!
I just want to say this applies to everyone else as well. First time I saw it was on PBS and decided to get the DVD eventually. Lots valuable lessons for all of us. Funny thing about Suze is you get to learn little bit about yourself. Little difference between Logic and Feelings; and little self improvement in the process.

Fantastic Information for Women
This is the book I've been waiting for but putting off reading. Doesn't make sense, does it? I shy away from financial "stuff." But a few of us (women) get together (have wine) as a group and discuss the next steps. We support each other, offer help, etc. Together we are doing the monthly plans. It is terrific. This book is easy to read and understand. We are having a great time and accomplishing SO much. Things that we knew we needed to know and do but weren't organized enough (alone) to do them. I highly recommend this book to every woman out there, whether in a relationship or not. Buy it! Read it! Do it!

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RL Stine's The Haunting Hour: Don't Think About It (Full Screen Edition)

A surprisingly entertaining movie
I used to be a huge fan of R.L. Stine, but as I got older, I realized that his books were pretty stupid. When I heard about The Haunting Hour, I decided to give it a shot since it had a great cast. My expectations were low, but the movie proved to make for an exciting two hours. Emily Osment is a great actress and was able to play a very different character from her role on Hannah Montana. The rest of the cast were pretty good too, with the exception of the little brother and parents who I felt were a bit annoying. The plot isn't that different from a typical Goosebumps books, but the great characters, amazing soundtrack and snappy writing make it special.

Either R.L. Stine is really improving as a writer, or he wasn't involved in the movie that much. The only problem I really had was the last few minutes, which felt like a typical, stupid ending you'd find in Goosebumps. All that aside, this is a very interesting movie that even managed to creep me out a bit. Give us a...

Great Kids/Teen Flick
My kids and I were channel surfing this past Halloween week and came upon this movie. When my daughter, who is a huge Hannah Montana fan, saw Emily Osment was in the film she demanded we watch. My 14 year old son was not thrilled with the idea, but 15 minutes into the movie we were hooked- including myself! It spoke to an 11 year old a 14 year old and an adult. It's a great family flick- perfect for Halloween! I highly recommend this movie.

Great for Kids
This movie was great for my kids over Halloween weekend. They normally don't like scary movies, especially my youngest, but they were both thoroughly entertained and spooked. My youngest daughter asked me to buy the film 'so we could watch it every year'. I am glad to do so.

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Rush to War

Everything That's Gone Wrong
I've seen this DVD at least three time before I felt I could write about it. One problem I had was putting all of it in context. It's because the "Rush to War" was not just about a rush to war. It was about many topics including the rush to war. It was easy to follow when being viewed, but extremely difficult to write about.

This DVD examines the reasons behind the attacks of 9/11, which includes our history of giving precedence to our support for repressive regimes that served the US interests, rather than the spread of liberty and democracy. Unfortunately, numerous examples abound such as Guatamala, Iran, and Chile where democratically elected governments where overthrown in favor of governments that served our interests.

The "Rush to War" finally gets around to the lead-up to the war and the lies told by the administration regarding weapons of mass destruction (WMD), yellow cake, reconstituted nuclear weapons programs, and the imminent "mushroom cloud,"...

MAINLY TALKING HEADS BUT OH SUCH LOVELY HEADS: ZINN, CHOMSKY, MOLLY, BERRIGAN (AND FALWELL??)
Okay, so I was duped by the odd amazonian custom of crediting DVD's by alphabetical order and by first name, and thus the great director of The Films of Alejandro Jodorowsky (Fando y Lis / El Topo / The Holy Mountain). As there is presently no indication anywhere upon the product page of the real and actual director, I assumed somehow it was Alejandro so inspired by these critical events as to do something far removed from his usual works of mythic, epic, fantastic super-realism. I thought he would bring his infinite vision to these banal, evil, imperial events. But I was duped; he appears merely as another talking head, saying that when the USA goes crazy, we all go crazy.

This DVD therefore may serve as a good conversation starter, as an opening for further reading, as the first class in a course in political science or in the art of war as an example of how and why not to start one. There is much...

Great history lesson
Solid information very passionately delivered. Molly Ivins calls it like it is, and it is great to be reminded of the wisdom of George McGovern. The 45 minute interview with Joe Wilson was incredibly informative -- he was able to expand on events involving the Valerie Plame outing that he normally only gets 3 or 4 minutes on talk shows to explain.

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Closing Escrow

Cleverly funny film about the foibles of the home-searching process
I happened to catch this movie last night on high-definition cable. Having never heard of it (and not knowing about it's premise), I thought I'd watch a little bit, as my wife and I are saving up to buy a home of our own, and it seemed that there might be some insight to be gleaned by viewing it. I quickly realized, however, that this was a farcical mockumentary in the style of "Best In Show", "A Mighty Wind", and "Spinal Tap" (this film, "Closing Escrow", has no cast or crew in common with those movies, as far as I know).

Although the writing isn't as snappy as its predecessors, it's still quite good, with a couple well-written and acted characters. The journey of 3 completely different couples looking for their perfect home, each with the "help" of their own quirky realtor, all eventually converging on the same home in the finale, is equal parts hilarity, weirdness, and almost-went-somewhere gags.

This is one of those films that will most likely have a cult...

You gotta see this one
This is the kind of movie that as you are watching it, you start to realize the humor in even the most subtle ways. You don't need to have gone through a home purchase to have fun watching this one. Just sit back and enjoy the crazy scenario of each home buying couple and their strange realtors as they unfold.

If you HAVE gone through the purchase of buying home, it will probaby conjure up a number of funny moments from your own experiences.

Definitely check this one out.

Wonderful Movie but I missed the Christopher Guest Cast
I thought the movie rated well; however, I was psyched out to see some of the Christopher Guest cast in this "mockumentary," but none of the Guest cast showed up, and I could see each one of them in the different roles. Imagine seeing Fred Willard as a Real Estate Agent with a chain saw...etc.

Anyway, kudos to the wonderful job the writers, producers, directors and actors did. Everyone did a supurb job, and I hope to see these producers do some more mockumentaries in the future. It seems as if they have their own cast, so I will be looking forward to seeing them in the future. You give Guest and cast a good run for the money. Thanks for the great entertainment on the fourth of July weekend.

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Dead in the Water

One of the Funniest and Blackest Comedies, Ever
Call it a sleeper or rare find, but this movie is one of the funniest I've seen. Smart, sexy and filled with twists and dark humor. If you liked Pritzi's Honor, you'll love this one. One of the first feature films w/Terri Hatcher and Brian Brown is wonderful as a lawyer who tries to commit the "perfect crime." The crime isn't, but the movie is. It makes me laugh every time I see it and I can't recall how many times I have. An excellent murder mystery, too -- you'll love it!

Juicy neo-noir
This was actually made for cable TV back in 1991, but is well enough directed by Bill Condon to make it feel like a feature release. Based on a 50's hard-boiled pulp novel by the great Harry Whittington, Web of Murder, the movie stars Bryan Brown as hot shot attorney Charlie Deegan who's married to a rich wife played by Anne DiSalvo and who has a sexy secretary Laura (Teri Hatcher).

So there's the standard noir plot elements--lust and greed and murder. Yep. But the way they're put together here is sharp and nifty, with lots of juicy dark humor along the way, so this is a really fun movie.

Nice score--dig Satchmo's singing in the opening credits--and the acting, especially by major fly-in-the-ointment Veronica Cartwright (who puts a serious damper on Charlie's plans) is very strong.

A really good addition to your neo-noir collection, Dead in the Water is a great way to spend an hour and a half soaking up them noir vibes. Oh, yeah.

Punchy neo-noir hits the mark
For inspired casting, try putting Australian Bryan Brown--native accent intact--in the role of corrupt American lawyer Charlie Deegan whose marriage is crumbling and whose secretary is too luscious to ignore. What this does is highlight the corruption on display by playing up Charlie's personality to the max. Very smart.

Charlie comes up with a plan to get rid of his oh-so-wealthy wife that looks completely foolproof, but we all know that in these noir flicks, things NEVER go as planned. Do they? Nope. The plan is to bump her off, inherit her money and run off with Laura the luscious secretary. Unfortunately fate has other things in mind.

The direction here, by Bill Condon, is whip smart-tight. The music is perfect, underscoring the black humor on display, including an opening tune sung by Louis Armstrong. There are enough laughs to keep things lively, and the supporting cast--espeically Veronica Cartwright as an obnoxious, pushy woman--is right on the money. Contributing...

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