Even a man who is pure in heart and says his prayers by night, may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright.

Finally saw the latest Wolfman movie. I know it was a disaster in the box office and critics generally disliked it, but I found it to be an enjoyable romp in the werewolf legends.

While it was different than the 1941 original, the writers gave us a good story. Some tension, some mystery and excellent performances from all the lead actors. I enjoyed the film craft of the movie as it harkened back to that 1941 original.

I would recommend this movie to any fans of the horror movies of the 30’s and 40’s. A wonderful way to spend an evening with someone.

Back in the 1960’s a TV sensation swept the country. With “POWS”, “BAMs” and “SMASHES” Batman made it to television. Everything was bright, colorful and loud. In 1966 there was a spinoff from Batman called “The Green Hornet”. Adapted from a 1930’s radio program, this series (which lasted for 2 years) was a bit darker than Batman. The Hornet fought real crime, and of course Bruce Lee stole the show.

Now on to 2011, a new Green Hornet found his way to the big screen. This show is somewhere between the Campy fun of the 1960’s Batman and the darker 1960’s Green Hornet. Seth Rogen plays an inept jerk who wants to do good. He has one good idea and Kato (played by Jay Chou) is the master mechanic, martial arts expert with the knowledge to pull it off. The Vigilante, thought by all to be no better than the rest of the criminal underworld, Green Hornet is born.

If you go into this movie expecting it to be soul searching or a deep revelation into the mind of a vigilante hero, you are in the wrong show. There are some martial art fights, lots of things blowing up, a crime syndicate to wipe out, more things being shot at and blown up, some more fighting and more stuff blowing up. And there is comedy, yes there are things to laugh at in this film. 2 hours of mind numbing fun with lots of things being blown up and shot at.

I give it a must see again rating. I may even get the DVD when it hits the cheap shelves.

Yes, I can review this movie and give anything away.

The first point on this movie is that I feel it is the closest to the written material of any of the movies. I just started reading the book again and some of the lines said in the book were even use in the movies. I was very impressed that the screen writers could do that well.

I also thought it was great that the same actors from the very first show were still in their roles. From the time they were young children until they became young adults these actors have been the center of the movies. Now they can carry it. These shows have always had an all star cast of fine actors. From Richard Harris as the first Dumbledore, to Ralph Fiennes as Lord Voldemort. These stars are now in more supporting roles as the younger actors found their roles and made them their own.

I was worried that splitting this story into two movies. While I knew it would be necessary if the complete story would be told. The other books have bits and pieces that can be skipped. The last book has very little of that. It is far more than a 2 to 3 hour movie can handle. Let me just say the split was in the best possible spot.

So what else can I say without giving anything away? The Harry Potter movie was a wonderful way to spend an afternoon. 2 and 1/2 hours of movie enjoyment. A good story, wonderful acting and good ending. Now when does next one come out?

So, in my last post, I lamented about not posting movie, book or even my reviews of my e-reader, the nook.  So here is an all in one post.

This summer Barnes and Noble offered free classic e-book collections every week. While I had downloaded a lot of these from Project Gutenberg the books downloaded from Barnes and Noble seemed to have a little better e-book setup. My little nook now has over 300 books loaded and ready for reading at any time. I think that this has been one of my better electronic investments. I’ve been able to re-visit many of the books I read in my younger days, and I don’t even have to remember to put in a bookmark. Also Barnes and Noble has a wonderful ongoing program of free book Fridays. Every Friday is a new book. These can be old classics, new books in a series, or just other books that are offered for free. As you can tell, I’m all about free. Many books to read, and I wonder if I can get to them all.

But on the book itself. I just finished reading “King Solomon’s Mines” by H. Rider Haggard. The story was definitely dated. The treatment and understanding of non-white people was from the period the book was written, and it would not be tolerated in today’s publishing climate. Getting that out of the way, the story held my interest (even if I knew how it turns out) and I enjoyed the escape from the every day it gave me. And that got me to think of some movies with one of the heroes of this story.

King Solomon’s Mines has been made into a movie many times. Some were serious treatments of the book/story, while others were light-hearted romps. The narrator/hero of the story was Allen Quartermain. He also showed up in a movie based on a graphic novel/comic book. It was “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen”. I’ve already commented on that movie, so here is the one I remember.

Back in 1985 a movie came out called “King Solomon’s Mine” and playing Mr Quartermain was Richard Chamberlain. This was the fun romp of a movie. Most people at the time did not see this as a spoof of the very successful “Raiders of the Lost Arc” but it was. Indiana Jones could have been seen as loosely based on the Allan Quartermain character, and the movie “King Solomon’s Mine” definitely played on that connection. This movie even one-upped Indy, by having its hero dragged behind a moving vehicle, however it was a train. The movie also had daring escapes and of course dreaded Germans. WWI instead of WWII Germans, but they were still there (no mention of any German troops in the book).

I really enjoyed the fun time at this movie, and I’m again reminded of the wonderful company I had when watching it. I think it is time to watch that movie again.

I remember back when “The Last Crusade” came out that we thought it would have been fun to have another Allan Quartermain spoof. That didn’t happen. Oh well.

Nice day today, even if it was a little humid. Played a little Putt-Putt with my youngest. We need a little practice, neither one of us broke par today. Hmm. I didn’t have my stealth putter either. That may have been the difference.

Saw the A-Team today, so I will give you the rundown.

If you liked the TV show, you should like this movie. I liked the fact that the actors did not try to play the roll the same as the TV actors, but they kept some of the signature lines. This movie was exactly what I expected. Lots of things blowing up and well designed plans. I just love it when a plan comes together. Good movie for those of us feeling nostalgic over old TV shows.

***** Minor spoiler ******
I did like the story line of this movie. I remember watching the TV show and they always said they were fugitives “for crimes they did not commit”, but never said how this top notch team was framed. This story does it, and makes it believable.

IRON MAN 2 — Let’s see…. Comic book movie? check. Cool FX? check. Decent story line? check. Some humor? check. Believable comic book action? check. Downey plays Stark as a Jerk? Check.. Bad guys, good guys? Check. Cool fights? check. Entertaining for me? Double check.

Ok, it had everything I wanted in a movie tonight. With most comic book movies, I don’t really care if it follows the storyline in any comic before. Heck, most of them have had multiple dimensions, timelines, worlds anyway. What is one more? When you go to one of these movies, you should know what to expect. All you need to ask is if the story you just watched was fun. That’s what comic books are all about, and that is what movies based on comic books should be.

Iron Man 2 was fun. That’s it! No terrible acting that made me remember it was a movie. No strange bad effects to ruin the believability. The CGI was integrated into the live shots well. 2 hours of escapism. Fun stuff.

Full review comes later with spoiler alerts but not here. Just my recommendation. This is a movie I will go to the good theater to see again. Maybe more than once. And then when it comes out on home disk, it is coming home with me. Can anyone say Marvel Comic Movie Marathon?

A few years ago a movie came out and was release to critical defeat. As for myself I enjoyed the movie except for a few minor problems. I found it to be an enjoyable waste of time (just what I like in most movies).

The movie was The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. One of the biggest things that bothered me was the introduction of Tom Sawyer into the movie. On top of that he was a Pinkerton agent. I kept saying to myself, why bring in that character as a detective. Didn’t make much sense to me. Of course Dorian Grey wasn’t in the original comic either, but that didn’t bother me as much.

Then I got my Nook! (Yep, another Nook post. Think I could get money to write reviews for my Nook?) I just finished a short story, from Mark Twain, that I never read or heard of before. The story was called Tom Sawyer, Detective. While he was not a Pinkerton agent, he did use observation to solve a crime. So now after the years I’ve complained about Tom Sawyer being a detective in that movie, I guess that following the path that Twain left, it isn’t that far out into left field.

There is another story that I have yet to read about Mr Sawyer and Mr. Finn called Tom Sawyer Abroad. Tom and Huck are on a balloon expedition in Africa. I guess that allows the trip to England for Tom anyway.

Just one question about the movie, if the film people actually knew about these stories: Where was Huck? 😉

I was looking for a collection set to add to my movie library. A few years ago Universal studios released their “Monster Collection” as a boxed set (DVD or VHS). 8 movies in all. Since I had the ones I thought I wanted, I didn’t bother with the set.

Now some of my old VHS tapes are showing there age, and I thought it may be time to pick this up if it was still available anywhere. I did a quick search and found used DVD sets going for over $200. And a new “In the box” set going for close to $500. NO WAY would I pay that much for these movies, I can get them cheaper buying them one at a time when I see them at video stores. The Wolf Man at Wally World was only $7.50

A further search found that those same movies will released as a collection again at the end of this month. Pre-Orders are less than $50. I’m sure if I time it correctly, I can get if for less than that. Here is a toast to patience. 😉

I like a lot of movies. I have a lot of movies. So all is well with the world in that respect. I have been on a classic movie kick recently. Ok, more than just recently. Last year, just before Christmas, I borrowed the movie Nosferatu from a friend. Wonderful silent ‘Vampire’ movie. I think that movie still holds its own against some of the newer movies. After that I just had to watch all of the classic Horror movies I own. Dracula, The Wolf Man, The Mummy and The Invisible Man were jut like I remembered them. I would love to have those movies on some ‘newer’ media. I have them on tape, and never felt the need (until now) to get them on DVD or Blu-Ray. Good Movies.

Just this past weekend and tonight I watched another couple of movies that just don’t get old for me. I watched Casablanca with my youngest over the weekend. She may or may not comment on it. I really enjoyed it. It has been a few years since I last saw it. I just finished watching The Maltese Falcon this evening. Another movie I haven’t seen in years, but the story still works today.

Finally there is one other movie I’ve been thinking about watching. It is a bit strange that I don’t have it in my collection of movies. Another Bogart film that I saw many times from 1984 to 2003. And we were not watching it for Bogart. My lovely bride loved the acting of Katharine Hepburn, we watched a number of her movies more than once. I just don’t understand why we never purchased any. After looking through all of the movie I own, I don’t recall any movies with her in my collection. I may have to do something about that. Anyway, I really want to see The African Queen in the near future. I heard is was just released to DVD.

The point of all of this? Not much really. I just like to watch some of these old classics over again from time to time.

My youngest and I spent part of the weekend cataloging the movies in the house. What do we have on DVD, VHS and Blu-Ray? Not too many on blu-ray yet, but I’m sure in the coming months there will be more movies I want to own.

I was thinking of this, because I never can remember if I own a specific movie or not. I have a number of VHS that I did by DVD replacements for. I’m wondering if there will be any that I ‘NEED’ the Blu-Ray replacement for the DVD. I can’t see that yet, but I do like the quality of the Blu-Ray. I guess I enough of an audio-video geek that I can tell the difference, even in cartoons.

Anyway after counting the movies, I have 400+ movies in my collection. This collection started when the kids were small, so in some cases the movies are 25+ years old. I’m surprised those old VHS tapes still play. And with all of those movies, I have seen all of them at least 1 time. Most of them at least twice. Over 3/4 of those movies I’ve seen 3 times. And there are others that I lost count of the number of times I’ve seen them. Now of those movies, the rest of the family also so a lot of them numerous times.

Interesting fact, if the movie was ‘full’ price, I know I’ve seen it more than 3 times. That only makes sense with the cost of a movie and the cost of a rental. If I know I’m only going to watch a movie once or twice, I like to rent them. If they were bargain basement movies ($5.00 dollars or less), I may only watch them once, but usually at least twice, it depends on my mood.

So at an average of 2 hours per movie (give or take), it would take at least 80 days (watching 8 hours of movies per day) to make it through my collection. So back to books… Around the movies in 80 days??? Should I make a wager to see if I can watch all of them? Nah, there would be no time for books!