Reviews by Friends of escapegal

ChrisJarmick says "Clever, unique Rom-Com gem that deserves larger audience" about Answer Man

ChrisJarmick — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 17:00:02 GMT

The Answer Man is a low budget gem you probably haven't heard about. It was released to theaters in selected cities in August of 2009 but within a few weeks amidst the summer blockbusters, this little favorably reviewed independent movie was neglected and disappeared within a few weeks.

Where was the critic writing for a national magazine or syndicated in newspapers who would write passionately about this wonderful little movie that deserved the kind of attention and audience crappy movies like The Ugly Truth received this year?

Alas, things are too fast paced and disposable these days. The other excellent lightweight movies of this year didn't attract big audiences either; (Away We Go and 500 Days of Summer).

The best of all of them, The Answer Man, is destined to become one of those movies you see in the discounted DVD bins for $5.00 bucks and wonder if it could possibly be any good.

The answer is yes, This one is very good. It's a sleeper, a gem, a movie...

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ChrisJarmick says "Sherlock Holmes & Dr. Watson like Batman & Robin in old England" about Sherlock Holmes (2009)

ChrisJarmick — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 16:32:04 GMT

Sherlock Holmes directed by Guy Ritchie arrives in theaters on Christmas Day because we need a loud, over the top fast moving gimmicky action movie that's NOT in 3D to occupy our minds this holiday season.

I mean when you think Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson don't YOU think of updating them into an Indiana Jones, Batman and Robin kind of movie with lots of fisticuffs, foot chases fast cutting, explosions and mayhem?

Well Michael Rober Johnson, Anthony Peckham and Simon Kinberg took Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's beloved stuffy sleuth character and turned him into something quite different. The eccentric risk taker known as Sherlock Holmes now is also not beyond challenging himself to do well as a bare knuckle fighter. And for someone who doesn't like people and stays locked in his apartment trying to invent things when he's drunk or high on substances, this Sherlock Holmes can sure run, and leap about with amazing agility.

But wait... before you decide to hate this one, consider that...

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ChrisJarmick says "Solid Randolph Scott Western with superb supporting cast" about Ride Lonesome (1959)

ChrisJarmick — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 10:27:31 GMT

Budd Boetticher made at least 7 several solid Westerns with Randoph Scott during the 1950s. One of the first big screen CinemaScope pictures he directed was 1959's Ride Lonesome. It's a solid fairly simple Western dealing with classic Western themes. Well cast, acted and directed, Ride Lonesome's screenplay is solid and spare. The story slowly unfolds for us, but we are never bored.

Brigade (Randolph Scott) is taking dangerous outlaw Billy John (James Best) to Santa Cruz where he will most certainly be hanged for shooting a man in the back. We don't yet understand why he seems to want Billy's even more dangers brother, Frank (Lee Van Cleef) to catch up with him. He has his reasons, though.

Brigade meets Carrie (Karen Steele) a very attractive woman whose waiting for her husband to return. There are also two wanted men who have decided to hang out on Carrie's property and watch over her for a while. They are Sam Boone (Pernell Roberts and his friend (played by James...

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ChrisJarmick says "Holiday Movies and dozens of Sherlock Holmes movies too!!!" about Classic Movies, Turner Classic Movies Christmas & Sherlock Holmes Movie Marathons Dec 24 to 26 2009

ChrisJarmick — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 08:39:08 GMT

TCM, cables classic movie station has programmed a marathon of under the radar holiday movies followed by around 20 Sherlock Holmes movies airing December 24th through the 26th.

The Christmas Eve program begins with a wonderfully entertaining romantic comedy written by Preston Sturges and starring Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray. It's 1940's Remember the Night . MacMurray plays an Assistant District Attorney who falls in love with the shoplifter (Stanwyck) he is prosecuting. He doesn't want the woman to spend Christmas in jail waiting for her trial so he bails her out and takes her to her childhood home in Indiana, but Stanwyck's mom is cold and mean so he takes Stanwyck to his mom's home also in Indiana where she sees so much love and affection it changes her attitude about life and love. Of course both realize that soon they will have to return to the city and resume the trial. Will MacMurray blow his own case? Would she let him do that? It's a lightweight film...

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ChrisJarmick says "Garbo, Astaire, Bogart & Bacall in several movie gems!" about Best Classic Movies, Turner Classic Movies, Bogart and Movie Pairings December 22 & 23, 2009

ChrisJarmick — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 16:36:25 GMT

Tonight Turner Classic Movies offers 'The Same but Different' mini movie festival in prime-time, tomorrow throughout the day and evening its Bogart Wednesday and coming up on Wednesday and Thursday lesser known holiday gems fill the Christmas TV.

The Same but Different tonight offers two movies with different casts and directors that tell the same story, shown back to back.

The audience pleasing 1964 Oscar winning musical My Fair Lady kicks things off at 5 p.m. It's directed by George Cukor and stars Rex Harrison as the phonetics instructor who bets that he can transform a lowly street urchin into a proper lady. The 'lady to be' is Audrey Hepburn.

The musical is based on the Broadway show that was based on George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion. And so at 8 p.m. on the West Coast, TCM offers the 1938 screen adaptation of Shaw's non-musical stage play, Pygmalion. Shaw wrote the screenplay himself and won an Oscar for it. That makes George Bernard Shaw the only writer to win both...

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ChrisJarmick says "One of the Best Movies of 2009, much better than expected" about Up in the Air

ChrisJarmick — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 16:20:09 GMT

Up In the Air is NOT the warm predictable romantic comedy you might think it is from the ads. It's also NOT a savage satire on cold corporate business practices either. I can't tell you exactly what the movie is without spoiling it for you, but I can assure you unless you are looking for a dumb formula romantic comedy, or don't like smart movies--you are going to like this one.

There's something to think about AFTER the movie is over with Up in the Air, and that only happens with a handful of big studio movies per year (if we are lucky). So that makes this one of the best of 2009.

Oh sure, the movie at times seems like a romantic comedy and you'll find things to laugh at, and Clooney is in a slick movie star kind of mode here---but there's more. In fact a lot of very keen, smart observations are made throughout the movie. You'll recognize a lot of moments from your own life within this movie and never are you hit over the head or treated like an idiot when your watching...

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ChrisJarmick says "Bogart Classics and a Holiday gem highlight TCM schedule" about Best Classic Movie Turner Classic Movies Bogart Wednesday, Holiday Movie Thursday December 16 & 17 2009

ChrisJarmick — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 17:36:21 GMT

TCM in December means its Bogart Wednesday, and Christmas Movie Thursday night.

The Bogart movies today include the 1940 comedy It All Came True about a gangster on the run who winds up hiding out in a boardinghouse full of eccentric characters (starting at 8:15 a.m. on the West Coast) followed by 1941's circus drama The Wagons Roll at Night. 1942's suspenseful war drama Across the Pacific where Bogart plays an American government agent trying to stop evil spies from following through on their plot to blow up the Panama Canal is a still exciting 97 minute gem co-starring Mary Astor and Sydney Greenstreet and directed by John Huston. Hmm didn't this team make another very famous movie....? (revealed in a moment.. keep reading). It airs at 11:30 a.m.

1942's All Through the Night was made (but not released) prior to Pearl Harbor and was an action comedy involving Nazi's in Brooklyn. The Nazi's are bumbling and comic and are portrayed as comic foils. If you can get over this,...

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ChrisJarmick says "Trumbo,Poitier, Comedies, Cult & Holiday Movies highlight TCM" about Classic Movies, Best Turner Classic, South Africa Tales, Comedies, Cult Movies, Dalton Trumbo & Silent Ben Hur

ChrisJarmick — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 19:15:56 GMT

TCm Thursday through Sunday has scheduled a wide and diverse program of films, including two Dalton Trumbo penned film and the silent Ben Hur on Sunday December 13th; Movies set in South Africa on Friday December 11th, and the fun Original and Sequel pairing of movies on Saturday Night the 12th.

There's also the strange and wonderful cult movie Performance and the strange Ingmar Bergman Film Personna late Friday Night.

On Thursday, December the 11, TCM gives us 4 crime drama, film noirs beginning at 11 a.m. on the West Coast. 1949's The Bribe stars Robert Taylor, Ava Gardner, Charles Laughton and Vincent Price in the dark Crime drama about a sultry singer who's up to no good as she attempts to lead a federal agent astray. At 12:45 p.m. PST its 1953's The Bigamist directed and starring Ida Lupino with Joan Fontaine, Edmund Gwenn and Edmond O'Brien. Then the classic D.O.A. from 1950 airs at 2:15 p.m. on the West Coast. It stars Edmond O'Brien as the victim who ingested...

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ChrisJarmick says "Bogart Classics, & Holiday Movies Highlight TCM schedule" about Best Classic Movie Turner Classic Movies More Bogart & Christmas Movie December 9 & 10 2009

ChrisJarmick — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 17:35:35 GMT

TCM delivers another Humphrey Bogart Marathon today, December 8th and tomorrow during primetime is showing another batch of under the radar Christmas movies. They call them Christmas Classics but some of the movies aren't 'classic'-still 'tis the season and even some of the not-so-good ones might bring back some nice memories or strike your fancy.

It's Bogart all through the day and into the very very early morning tomorrow. If you are a Bogart fan you don't want to miss many of the offerings being shown. I'll start with what's on this morning .

Some of the lower budgeted b-movies and movies featuring Bogie in the 25 movies he made mostly for Warner Brothers when he got a contract with them after successfully making 1936's Petrified Forest. He wasn't a big enough star yet to pick and choose what movies he would be in... but instead was assigned movies to be in and pretty much had to do what he was told. (It wouldn't be until after 1941's Maltese Falcon and 1942 Casablanca...

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ChrisJarmick says "Holiday delights, dashing Colman, original Wicker and Demon too!" about Classic Movies, Holiday Movies, Turner Classic, Christmas, Ronald Colman and 2 Cult gems this Weekend Dec. 2009

ChrisJarmick — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:12:10 GMT

Turner Classic Movies delivers Christmas themed movies tonight, Shop Around the Corner and some superb cult thriller/horror films on Friday Night, and My Fair Lady and Ronald Colman movies on Saturday December 5th. Deck the Halls....

Tonight Starting at 5 p.m. TCM starts showing Holiday movies. It begins with the excellent 1938 version of Charles Dickens' The Christmas Carol starring Reginald Owen as Ebenezer Scrooge. My favorite version remains the one starring Alastair Sim's 1951 version sometimes called A Christmas Carol sometimes called Scrooge. The 1938 version is solid and one of the best film adaptations of the timeless, classic story. Sure to put you in the holiday spirit, always worth another viewing. Enjoy it.

There's an important holiday scene or two in the Mervyn LeRoy directed 1949 version of Little Women which stars June Allyson, Margaret O'Brien, Elizabeth Taylor (in a Blonde wig) and Janet Leigh as the March sisters with Peter Lawford and Rossano Brazzi...

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Jolie says "buyuggsboot.net is a scam! Ugg Boots from China that are fake." about www.buyuggsboot.net

Jolie — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 05:22:46 GMT

Background on Buyuggsboot.net

A friend of mine at Viewpoints recently passed along a site called www.buyuggsboot.net. She found it online. www.buyuggsboot.net is a web site that sells all styles of Ugg Boots at discounted prices.

We werent certain if www.buyuggsboot.net were the real or not. But after a thorough review of the site, we thought it was legit. Buyuggsboot.net looks like a reasonable reseller of Ugg Boots. The page is designed well, the pictures look authentic and they make claim to having the real deal. They also consistently site throughout the web site having customer satisfaction commitments.

To add to the thought it was authentic, the pricing seemed good but not amazing. As you probably know a typical pair of Ugg Boots cost about $110. On Buyuggsboot.net the cost was $89.00- approximately a $20 savings. Seemed like a good deal, but they werent so cheap that I thought it could be scam. As an aside, last year Nordstrom had a similiar sale on Ugg boots so the pricing seemed...

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ChrisJarmick says "Off-beat, risky, flawed, low budget Van Damme movie" about JCVD

ChrisJarmick — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 15:47:50 GMT

JCVD is the name of this brand new movie starring Jean Claude Van Damme the muscle from Brussels. He plays a fictional version of himself in this movie. He plays an action movie star facing a mid-life crisis. The film opens with an over the top action sequence filmed unbelievably in one long take which exhausts the actor. He complains to the very young Asian director as the take is ruined that he's 47 year old and can't work like this. The asian director doesn't care. He wants to quickly finish the movie. Jean-Claude realizes he's there because he has a name that might sell a few tickets. The movie is going to be awful and his career will go further downhill.

That's not all, he's in court in a nasty divorce proceedings involving child custody. The court scene is stage in an unbelievable fashion as well, with the young child in the courtroom as his parents fight over her.

But hey, let's stop quibbling. This is a low budget action movie that at least tries to...

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ChrisJarmick says "Beautiful, moving, endearing, unforgettable film. See it soon." about Color of Paradise

ChrisJarmick — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 15:23:38 GMT

Color of Paradise (2000) is a quiet, deceptively simple film about a few months in the life of a blind Iranian boy. Overcome any hesitation you may have about seeing a foreign film and enjoy one of the most beautiful looking and memorably endearing movies you have ever experienced. The cinematography is simply spectacular. The story deeply moving and unforgettable. And yes you'll most likely have to read subtitles (though not that many) unless you speak Farsi.

Although I'm aware the film teeters dangerously close to Spielberg-ian heartstring pulling manipulation, it's also powerful, uncompromising and a film that gets all of its details exactly right.

We meet Mohammad (Mohsen Ramezani) at the school for the blind in Tehran where he resides. We see the students leading each other around, learning how to read and write in Braille, and packing up to meet their parents as the school prepares to close for three months. Mohammad's father is very late. All the other children have been picked...

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ChrisJarmick says "one of my favorite books, clever, inspiring, funny,unforgettable" about Norton Juster - The Phantom Tollbooth

ChrisJarmick — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 23:16:28 GMT

Norton Juster's The Phantom Tollbooth was inspired by Lewis Carrol's Alice in Wonderland, and is somewhat derivative of Baum's Wizard of Oz series, containing more than a few hints of A. A. Milne and even Dr. Seuss within it's pages as well, but winds up an entirely original creation.

It triumphantly celebrates the imagination. It does so while also celebrating the act of learning things, learning about words and numbers. It was the first book that showed me how important, special and powerful writing words and language can truly be. It didn't just tell me, it showed me.. and showed it could be a lot of fun too.

Am I exaggerating about this beautiful, witty, clever modern fairy tale? Can an adult who is not familiar with this book pick it up, enjoy it and develop the affection I have for the thing? I believe so. I am not absolutely positive about this because I first read this book when I was 8 years old. I read it again when I was 12. I wrote a book report about it when I...

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ChrisJarmick says "Bogart Movie Marathon, Epic Adventures and a funny one highlight" about Bogart Movies Turner Classic Movies Vintage Movies December 1 & 2, 2009

ChrisJarmick — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:18:21 GMT

Turner Classic Movies delivers a marathon of Bogart, several adventure epics and a very funny Woody Allen Movie over the next two days. Enjoy..

This afternoon... TCM shows one of Woody Allen's funniest movies: Take the Money and Run The 1969 comedy gem airs at 3 p.m. shortly after a 1971 Dick Cavett Show with Woody is shown (at 1:30 p.m. on the West Coast). I just posted a review of the movie this morning.

Tonight's prime time movies all follow the them Explorer Adventures. At 5 p.m. Fred mac Murray, Charlton Heston, Donna Reed and Barbara Hale star in the romanticized version of Lewis Clark's journey through the American West called Far Horizons. At 7 p.m. Gary Cooper and Basil Rathbone star in the Hollywoodized biography of a famous Italian explorer in 1938's The Adventures of Marco Polo, this is followed almost logically by 1949's Hollywoodized version of Christopher Columbus starring Frederick March which airs at 9 p.m. PST. Probably the best movie...

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ChrisJarmick says "Good low budget 50s era Creature Feature; great monster suit." about Monster of Piedras Blancas

ChrisJarmick — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:04:09 GMT

The Monster of Piedras Blancas follows a pretty standard 50s creature feature formula. The difference is, it has one of the best looking guy in a rubber-monster suits since The Creature of the Black Lagoon. It also has a couple of daring and quite shocking scenes circa 1959 which created some controversy when the film was released.(today they'd get the film rated PG.. maybe). The acting is NOT absolutely awful, the pacing is good, the real locations used are interesting. The script is a variation on Creature , the budget is so tiny, you see exactly one vehicle being driven in the entire movie (cast members borrow it from each other!!!), there are a few continuity errors, some strange edits, and the direction is uninspired. Still, I like this one.

Welcome to another cheap, very independently produced 1959 creature feature. If you like 50s creature features.. then the 4 star rating I give it.. applies. If you don't know about 50's creature features then 2 or 3 stars might be a...

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ChrisJarmick says "Acting elevated this rom-com-dram. Pacino and Pfeiffer shine." about Frankie and Johnny 1991

ChrisJarmick — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 16:50:59 GMT

1991's Frankie and Johnny was director Garry Marshall's follow-up to "Pretty Woman." It was based on the two character Terrence McNally play Frankie and Johnny at the Claire de Lune." On Stage the play was a fairly dark and authentic look at romance that starred Kathy Bates and F. Murray Abraham.

The film tries to be an old fashioned romantic romp with a gritty realistic edge. It can't help become a star vehicle for Al Pacino and Michelle Pfeiffer. Pfeiffer to her credit doesn't try to completely hide the fact that she can't possibly hide the fact she's a beautiful woman---so she just plays it down a bit by looking dowdy without trying to wear ugly teeth, fake scars or acne or a fake nose. This is the best approach under the circumstances. Pacino comes across as charismatic and likeable and downright warm like he did in the romantic comedy he made several years ago called Author, Author. The stars charisma and energy are mis-matched, but thankfully because the film is about a mis-matched...

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ChrisJarmick says "Unique, very dated, speculative docu-drama & reactionary doc." about Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald/The Other Side Of Bonnie And Clyde - Double Feature

ChrisJarmick — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 16:42:58 GMT

The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald and The Other Side of Bonnie and Clyde. One is a very low budget ripped from the headlines docu-drama or what could have been and the other is a speculative set the record straight documentary.

They don't make 'em like this anymore. Maybe they never should have made them like this, but the ideas that created movies like these inspired others and so we have Michael Moore, Morgan Spurlock and others today.

After John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, Ultra low-budget, very independent film maker, Larry Buchanan quickly began working on one of his most unique projects. He personally knew Jack Ruby, he knew people who had shot footage of Kennedy and later of Oswald. THE TRIAL OF LEE HARVEY OSWALD poised the question: What if Lee Harvey Oswald was not shot and killed by Jack Rudy but went to trial as the accused killer of JFK?

TRIAL is a courtroom melodrama shot mostly from the perspective of someone sitting in the Jury box watching the trial unfold. Larry...

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ChrisJarmick says "Family film gem worth re-visiting" about Millions 2005

ChrisJarmick — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 16:28:54 GMT

Millions was one of the most enjoyable movies of 2005.

It's a smart memorable charming film about two young boys who piles of money near the rail road track. They decide to do good things for other people with the money but eventually their actions come to the attention of the crooks who are looking for the money they stole and lost.

The film is smart and clever and we get to know several of the characters. There's comedy, some drama and plenty of suspense.

The movie never tries to be cutesy or overly whimsical as so many family friendly films wind up doing.

It was written by Frank Cottrell Boyce (who co-wrote the brilliant Tristram Shandy- A Cock and Bull Story -which was one of the best movies of 2006) and directed by Danny Boyle who is not someone you'd ever believe would be attached to a G or PG rated film.

There's a few too many fast edit and visual gimmicks but it's a gem of a film you may have forgottten about . Makes a great gift!!!

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ChrisJarmick says "one of the funniest, silliest most enjoyable comedies of all!" about Take the Money and Run Woody's Funniest

ChrisJarmick — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 16:17:31 GMT

Take the Money and Run is a very funny movie made up of short comic episodes that are told in a semi-documentary style. The idea of the slightly built, nerdish looking Woody Allen ever becoming one of the most Wanted and dangerous criminals in the United States is absurd...right? Welcome to this 1969 comic gem.

It was Woody Allen's second movie. He was once upon a time, a television writer and stand-up comedian who made a big name for himself with the now classic "Moose" routine. He performed in and contributed to the screenplays of What's New Pussycat, and Casino Royale (yes he played a relative of James Bond !!!).

His first theatrical feature was the gimmick film: What's up Tiger Lilly. He took a Japanese James Bond knock-off film and re-dubbed the sound-effects and dialogue. It was innovative and funny. Allen only appeared a few times in the movie in wrap-around segments.

Take the Money and Run is a film made up of short comic takes and absurdly funny ideas. It's pacing is...

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