Reviews by Friends of tina257

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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Bryan-Carey says "Discovery Channel Meets E-Commerce" about The Discovery Store

Bryan-Carey — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 19:02:31 GMT

If you like the subject of science, then chances are you are a fan of the many science- oriented television channels and you likely enjoy the educational aspects that make this type of viewing more worthwhile than other channels. And, chances are, you probably count the Discovery Channel among your favorites. If you do, then you might also enjoy The Discovery Store Online, the online store for the popular cable channel.

Online Store Commentary:

The Discovery Store offers items for sale in several categories, including toys and games, dvd, books, telescopes, fan gear, and more. Along with the merchandise available in these categories, visitors to The Discovery Store can also purchase gift cards, request a catalog, and sign up for e-mail alerts when specific items of merchandise or events become available or known.

I first visited The Discovery Store looking for items for my two girls and I did find some good, educational toys and games for sale- items that help to expand knowledge...

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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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Bryan-Carey says "Gladys Porter Zoo: Small, but Very Memorable" about Gladys Porter Zoo

Bryan-Carey — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:29:08 GMT

Family time at the zoo is a regular occurrence in my household, thanks to our membership at the Houston Zoo. We visit several times per year, for educational and recreational purposes but even though we have a membership, we still like to check out other zoos while on vacation. And one zoo we visited recently and enjoyed very much is the Gladys Porter Zoo, a small zoo located in Brownsville, Texas.

Zoo Facts:

The Gladys Porter Zoo is located near downtown Brownsville, Texas. This small zoo opened to the public for the fist time on September 3, 1971, the result of a private donation to the City of Brownsville, which now owns and operates the zoo. The zoo is smaller than average, with only about 31 acres of total space.

Gladys Porter Zoo includes exhibits of animals from all of the major continents and the animals are allowed to roam freely. This zoo divides itself into four main sections: Tropical America, Indo- Australia, Africa, and Other. In addition to the animals, the Gladys Porter...

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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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ChrisJarmick says "Funny, entertaining, Muppets and Michael Caine --holiday heaven." about Muppet Christmas Carol

ChrisJarmick — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:00:24 GMT

A wonderful addition to the many variations of Dickens' classic Christmas Carol is this mostly faithful adaptation starring Michael Caine as Ebenezer Scrooge and a whole gaggle of The Muppets.

If you haven't made it a tradition to watch this one with family and friends every year, then it's time to start the tradition.

Jim Henson's son Brian took over supervising this film with the same care, attention to detail and desire to entertain audiences as his father.

Caine has a blast doing his take on Ebenezer the grumpy mean banker who watches every penny he spends and makes life difficult for Kermit Cratchet, who is of course married to Miss Piggy. Gonzo and Rizzo are like a Greek Chorus doing funny bits of business and acting as narrators. There are some enjoyable songs and several of your favorite muppet characters are integrated into the story.

I'd tell you more about this movie, but if you have any interest in watching it or watching it again all you need to know is you'll laugh,...

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ChrisJarmick says "Too bad this movie won't have much cross-over appeal" about FIREPROOF

ChrisJarmick — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 16:17:19 GMT

Fireproof is getting a lot of 5 star reviews full of exclamation point comments like: This movie is AMAZING!!!

Well, the truth is.. if you identify yourself as a Christian and still attend church; you'll find a lot to admire about this movie; and if you stick with the film for about 20 minutes you'll find a lot to admire about it.

if you are not a Christian, you'll find a low budget, preachy inconsistent movie. There are some well written scenes, but there are some truly terrible ones as well. Some of the acting is awful, some is pretty good. The direction of the film is bad but some of the screenplay and most of the cinematographer is good.

The message is inspirational, the story for those who can overlook the film's considerable flaws is engrossing.

I wish the movie had more polish, better acting and paid a little closer attention to somei important details... (you can't be a fireman if you are not in very good shape physically...and yet this film has three firemen who would...

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ChrisJarmick says "stunning Michael Caine performance; unsentimental drama" about "Is Anybody There?"

ChrisJarmick — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 15:16:59 GMT

Is Anybody There? is a story about the friendship between the aging magician Clarence (Michael Caine) and 10 year old Edward whos fascinated with death, and what happens to people at the moment of death.

Clarence drives his van to the English Retirement Boarding home run by a 30 something couple (David Morrissey and Ann-Marie Duff). The couple have turned their large home into a retirement boarding home out of necessity and in the process their ten year old son has had to give up his room for elderly boarders.

Clarence arrives. He's a retired magician who's losing his memory and has little patience for overly curious 10 year old boys. A relationship develops slowly.

The touching memorable film is never sentimental or mawkish. The performances are all first-right, particularly Bill Milner as Edward and Sir Michael Caine who at age 76 delivers another superb performance.

It's a quiet film, full of little details and touches requiring concentrated viewing. It's also a drama revolving...

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Bryan-Carey says "Palo Alto Battlefield: The Beginning of the Mexican War" about Palo Alto Battlefield National Historical Park

Bryan-Carey — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 05:45:25 GMT

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CyndiA says "Pelonis heater is great for spot heating in your home. " about Pelonis H0-0218 Heater

CyndiA — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 14:48:40 GMT

I am sitting here beside my Pelonis heater cube. I tend to chill when sitting still at the computer but hate to heat up the whole house when I know that I'm warm enough when I'm up moving around. Also, the boys tend to like the house cooler. So the Pelonis heater works out great in my small computer area.

My Granny had the Pelonis heater and used it to heat her small living room where she quilted. It was made the whole room nice and cozy, and she didn't much use the other rooms in her apartment, so that worked out great for her. That's what made me decide to get a little portable heater. I really liked hers.

For the size, the Pelonis puts out an amazing amount of heat. I have a bigger model at work, but it does not put out as much heat. It's enough for under my desk. But that one cycles on and off - meaning I'm cold about half the time. The Pelonis has a good fan and just keeps putting out heat until it's actually turned off. So - no cold periods of time.

On high and with the heater right...

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CyndiA says "Masterbuilt Indoor Turkey Fryer - Safer and Easier Large Fryer" about Masterbuilt Indoor Turkey Fryer - Butterball

CyndiA — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 14:32:22 GMT

We wore out our last turkey fryer and went with the Masterbuilt Indoor Turkey Fryer this time. It's built smaller and safer, plus it can be used indoors which is nice on really cold days which is usually when we fry turkey.

Butterball Turkey company teamed up with Mastbuilt (bit name in turkey or outdoor fryers) for this model which is much like the indoor fryers for chicken and French fries.

There's a housing box and then the oil goes in the unit. A large basket and a lifter round out the product.

It takes around a gallon and a half of oil, so that's a lot. It can be strained and used again. But, I season the turkey pretty heavy, so I don't think it looks good enough to try to strain with all the Holen One rub floating in there. Oh well. Straining oil through cheese cloth and finding a place to store it is not my idea of a good time anyway.

Since we did a turkey breast last night, we ran the temp at 325 F. For a large turkey, it would go up to 375 for frying. With these high temps, we...

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jazzybean01 says "Blue Machine keeps you going all day long" about Naked Juice Blue Machine Juice Smoothie

jazzybean01 — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 07:13:46 GMT

I've never had a Naked Juice beverage before so I didn't really know what to expect. I was in the mood for a fruit drink without all the sugar. My first experience with Naked Juice Blue Machine Juice Smoothie was the price; $4 a bottle, yikes! My next reaction was also out of shock when I took my first taste. Naked Juice Blue Machine tasted like an entire meal in that one sip!

There is so much going on inside this blue bottle. In each bottle there are 27 blueberries, 3 blackberries, 3 1/4 apples, one banana (banana sustainably grown and harvested-rainforest alliance certified). Drinking Naked Juice Blue Machine Juice Smoothie is a thing for your body and the environment. It's always nice to see companies trying to do their part to be sustainable and support the environment and industries that also try to help.

By drinking Naked Juice Blue Machine Juice Smoothie you are getting lots of nutrients and vitamans without all the added sugar and preservatives. Blue fruits...

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