entertainment ave!

MPAA Rated – PG-13
It’s 2:12 Long
A Review by:
- The Dude on the Right

I’ve generally been a fan of the X-Men series of movies and thought they’ve done a good job keeping the stories moving along, but there was a hint of trepidation when I heard they were making a “prequel” kind of film, namely “X-Men: First Class.” I mean, how can you have an X-Men movie without Jean-Luc, I mean, Patrick Stewart, but there it was coming to my local gigaplex, and somehow I couldn’t find the time to make the theater.  After watching the Blu-ray, I really wish I had made the time.

Let’s get to the movie.

“X-Men: First Class” starts at the beginning.  Well, I’m not sure about the beginning, but we get introduced to younger Erik Lehnsherr, who would eventually become Magneto, at a Nazi Concentration camp, and the twisted Dr. Klaus Schmidt/Sebastian Shaw (An outstanding Kevin Bacon in a bad guy role).  It is there that young Erik’s psyche begins to take shape, his distrust for government folks, and desire to put humans in their place.  We are also introduced to a younger Charles Xavier, learning of his abilities and developing his first mutant relationship, with a young Raven who would become Mystique.

We then movie time-travel to the early 1960’s and find that Sebastian Shaw is building his own mutant army, hell-bent on pretty much destroying the human race in favor of mutants.  How? By manipulating the Russians and Americans into a nuclear war, of course.  Meanwhile, Erik (Michael Fassbender) is hot on Sebastian’s tail, seeking revenge for some concentration camp atrocities, and Charles (James McAvoy) is getting a reputation for his research into evolution and the possibility of mutants, as well as being a ladies man. Enter Moira (Rose Byrne). She’s with the feds, investigating potential problems with government folks and nuclear war.

Eventually the paths of everyone meet, Charles and Erik get recruited by Moira to stop Sebastian, and the personalities and destinies of Charles and Erik unfold with Charles wanting to do good, but Erik, although becoming friends with Charles, seeks his path of getting his revenge and building his army for a war against the humans.  In the meantime we are introduced to a group of mutants who join the ranks, some bad mutants affiliated with Sebastian who, of course, split to Magneto’s side in the end, and just general mutant showing-offedness in finally stopping Sebastian from his dastardly deed.

Here’s the thing with “X-Men: First Class”… I’m almost happy it ended up as a prequel rather than the first in the series.  It was way enjoyable watching the characters grow, understanding now how their personalities developed, seeing how Mystique ended up on Magneto’s side, and as it occurred to me at the end of the movie, after not realizing Charles was walking the entire time, it was good to see how Charles ended up in a wheelchair.  A very fine X-Men movie, indeed!

Now, as to why I was disappointed in not seeing this movie in the theater? Simply because this is a movie with blow-away effects and some beautiful scenery, that lends itself to your being engrossed in it, in a theater, with the sound blasting around you, and watching Magneto “lift” a submarine out of the water probably played out tons better in super-giant size. Sure, your home theater can do a decent job, but for the best effect this was a movie that should have been seen on the real, big screen.

So, for a great film about the beginnings of the X-Men, and I’ll be honest, I don’t know if it was generally true to the comics, but I don’t really care because it did work for me, I’m giving “X-Men: First Class” 4 ½ stars out of 5.  There were a couple of hiccup spots, maybe a little too much “here’s how this came about” stuff, but all in all a super-solid movie to make you appreciate your X-Men favorites even more.

Now, as far as the Blu-ray is concerned, it’s loaded with extras.  “Children of the Atom” gives you pretty much everything about how the movie was made, in various parts so if you don’t care about the make-up and just care about the effects, sure you can watch only that, but if you want to really understand how “X-Men: First Class” was made, from beginning to end, grab a bucket of popcorn and a soda and enjoy.  The “Cerebro: Mutant Tracker” is kind of cool, especially if you are looking for refreshers on all of the mutants, or quick summaries of who they are, as you select mutants as they fly by on the screen and get video clips from the movies they were in, and a nice summary chart.  The deleted and extended scenes are nice, but I’m glad they were left on the cutting room floor, and you can also watch the movie in “X Marks the Spot Viewing Mode,” sort of an extra blown commentary track that gives behind the scene scenes as the movie plays out.

All in all a fabulous Blu-ray – I just wish I had a full-blown screening room to watch it in!

That’s it for this one!  I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

MPAA Rated – Unrated
It’s 1:36 Long
A Review by:
- The Dude on the Right

Well that was totally different than I expected.  I’m talking about the movie “Lourdes,” and after I got through the annoyance of it being a French film and realizing that I would have to “read” the movie, and then realizing it wasn’t going to be exactly what I imagined a movie about Lourdes would be, suddenly, after watching the limited extras on the Blu-ray, namely the interview with the director, it all made perfect sense.  I will try not to give too much away about the movie during this review so that maybe you can discover its goodness for yourself, but let’s see how I do…

So there it is, on my list of Blu-rays to review, “Lourdes,” and I’ll be honest in saying that when I got the publicity sheet for the movie, well, I really didn’t read it other than a quick “One woman’s journey to Lourdes,” or something like that.  So, yup, I was instantly of the “Well, here we go, a nice, tightly-wrapped movie about some woman going to Lourdes and wanting to walk again, or something like that.  Maybe in a twist she gives up the miracle for someone else.  Ah, in any case it will probably be a feel-good film.” So I snuggled on the couch with my BFF, realized I would be a little annoyed because, yup, it’s English subtitled and therefore I couldn’t really multitask while watching if it was boring, and hunkered down for the evening.

As the movie starts we are introduced to Christine, (Sylvie Testud), and yes, she’s in a wheelchair so I’m instantly of the “She’s going to be cured!” attitude. It’s kind of a typical “group excursion” to Lourdes, but as we continue along, what it turned out to be, rather than a “Glory be to Lourdes, it heals people!,” this is a movie about people.  There isn’t anything flashy, anything grandiose, just a nice character study of the various types of people who might be visiting Lourdes, and those around the shrine.  There is the staff, some of whom have been there for years, understanding its importance to people, yet still sort of going through the motions of things like “Today we are going to go to the baths, so line up nicely and wait your turn,” to the volunteers who are there maybe to feel better about themselves, but maybe also just to hook up with the other staff members, and the priests, who do their best to explain the reasoning why some people are healed.  Then there are the people of the vacation/excursion group.  As you would expect, there are a lot of people with a variety of ills, being in wheelchairs or just having non-descript reasons for their journey.  Christine, as it turns out, is there maybe with a little wonder about the place, but as it’s also a group excursion spot, it’s also a vacation she can go on where the staff will help take care of her, similar to a trip she took to Rome.

So the days go on, there are trips to the baths, trips along the paths, prayer meetings, and as Christine is being pushed around Lourdes, we get to meet the people a little bit more, of which my favorite are, whom I call, the two biddies – there more to gossip than to pray, and reminding me of many an aunt that I have come across.

And I think I will stop my story synopsis at this point.  Why? Anything else gives too much away, too much for you to find on your own, too much for you to think about.  Is there a miracle? Yes. Sort of. Maybe.  Will the movie make you sad? Yes. Sort of. Maybe.  Will the movie make you happy? Yes. Sort of. Maybe. And in the end, after I watched the special feature on the Blu-ray, I really got it.

Yup, even though I had to “read” the movie, and even though it took watching the special feature on the Blu-ray to fully get it, I’ve got to give “Lourdes” 4 stars out of 5.  It’s probably not what you might think it’s going to be, I know it wasn’t what I thought what it would be, but when all was said and done, upon further reflection, I’m sticking with the 4 stars.  It turned out to be a realistic movie rather than a preaching movie, and I liked that.

As far as extras on the Blu-ray, I’d say they aren’t really worth it, as most of them are trailers, but the interview with the Director, Jessica Hausner, is priceless, especially in fully understanding the end results of the movie.

That’s it for this one!  I’m The Dude on the Right!!  L8R!!!

MPAA Rated – PG
It’s 1:44 Long
A Review by:
- The Dude on the Right

I know it’s a Disney movie, and I know it’s not really made for the likes of me, a 40-something year old reviewer, but please, Disney, you are better than this movie.  I mean, it’s like they took the cookie-cutter, mostly perfect world of Hannah Montana, changed characters, and decided to make a movie about prom.  Yup, the movie is “Prom,” I don’t think there is any school in the world that has a prom like this, and I suppose if you want to shield your pre-teen about high school and give them the “perfect world” version, Disney did its job.  Let’s get to the story…

It’s the end of high school in Perfectia, or at least some high school, and Nova (Aimee Teegarden) is the go-getter, cute girl who dreams of the perfect prom and is in the midst of planning it.  She is hoping her prince-charming will ask her, but ever-so-slowly things go wrong when she is asked to prom by someone else, and then there is a fire destroying all things prom decoration.  Enter Jesse (Thomas McDonell).  He’s the bad-boy in this story, if you really want to call him that, whose biggest problem seems to be that he has a complicated life outside of high school.  As punishment for something minor by most any other high school standard, he is ordered to help Nova rebuild all of the decorations for prom, and yes, you can pretty much assume what happens when Ms. Perfect is paired with Mr. Bad-Boy, right before the prom.

And so, we get little stories about various high schoolers, from the jock, to the nerd, to the dork, to the Goth, and how their lives get effected by A) Having to leave high school soon, B) Having to ask the right person to prom, C) Having to deal with the jock making the moves on your girl, D) Girls breaking up best friends, and E) Just about every other cliché you can think of, but in a Disney-safe kind of way.

Look, the movie is pretty much harmless, as long as your daughter doesn’t get ultimately delusioned that high school will be the way this movie shows it to be.  Yes, the stories probably end up similar, but the real world always seems a little, or maybe a lot, edgier than a Disney film, so I guess, sure, for your younger daughter, she who likes something like a Hannah Montana, “Prom” will give her a Disney-fake world, but if your girl has already hit freshman year I’m guessing she will already know nothing happens like it happens in “Prom.”

In the end the acting of the lead characters is fine, it’s your classic story of good-girl falls for bad-boy who really isn’t that bad when you get to know him, all wrapped up in Disney goodness.  For me the movie was a 1 star, cliché mess, but for some young girls I can see them finding it a 4 star gem.  I’ll average stuff together, drop it a bit for a lot of bad acting by most others in the film (watch the “Making of” featurette on the Blu-ray and you’ll find out why), and leave this movie at 2 stars.   And I hate to say it, I remember the trailer, laughed a little during the clips of Justin (Jared Kusnitz) trying to ask girls to prom, and thought it might be better.  Sadly, in the end, even those scenes turned out bad.

As far as the Blu-ray you get a “Making of…,” which is nice enough in telling you how the film ended up on the big screen, the blooper reel is pretty lame, you find that they made the right decision in leaving out the deleted scenes, and there are some music videos for your viewing pleasure.  They don’t really add that much, so for the most part your tween is getting this to keep watching the movie, making her own dream of how her prom will be, and probably finding Jesse dreamy.  And, oh yea, I almost forgot the “Last Chance Lloyd” short, highlighting Lloyd’s various exploits at trying to ask a girl to prom.  Cute enough, but then it just dragged on too long.  Oh well.

That’s it for this one!  I’m The Dude on the Right!!  L8R!!!

MPAA Rated – PG-13
It’s 1:47 Long
A Review by:
- The Dude on the Right

Here it is, a movie poking fun at the “American Idol” phenomenon, while throwing in some terrorism. Can that really be funny? From the trailer, I have to say I chuckled quite a bit, and am actually looking forward to this.

For “American Dreamz” we get Dennis Quaid as the President. He’s been in a bit of a funk lately, and needs to spruce up his image. We also get Hugh Grant as the host of the TV show, “American Dreamz,” you know, a talent show where singing is important. He’s not happy with what he’s doing anymore, but still does it because, well, he’s popular. Mandy Moore is Sally. She has dreams of being a big star, much like many a girl who thinks she can sing. How does this involve terrorism? Well, it seems that to spruce up the President’s image, his people decide that the Big Man should be a guest judge on “American Dreamz,” and why not? Well, some terrorist dude sees this as an opportunity to kill the President, so he convinces an Arab contestant on the show that he better get to the finals, where he can be a suicide bomber to off the President. The scene is meant to be funny, but I’m sure there will be some backlash at this part of the movie.
Anyway, the film looks quirky, and I’m a fan of both Mandy Moore and Dennis Quaid, so I’ll be heading to my local gigaplex to catch it.
That’s it for this preview! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

MPAA Rated – PG-13
It’s 1:33 Long
A Review by:
- The Dude on the Right

As the credits started to roll when my wife and I were watching “Source Code,” she simply said, “Is there some extra special feature on there that will explain what the fuck they meant?” Happily, on the “Source Code” Blu-ray, there is, but sadly it’s embedded in the “Access: Source Code” feature, which pretty much makes you watch the entire movie, again.  She didn’t have time for that and relied on my infinite knowledge of the space-time continuum for an explanation, which, in transposing space and time, I basically shifted the conversation to “Did you like the movie?” She did. And so did I.

Here’s the basics…

Jake Gyllenhaal is a soldier, Captain Colter Stevens, and he finds himself transported into the body of a man on a commuter train.  It seems that this train gets blown up, and through the magic of a government program, he can “infiltrate” the last eight minutes of a person’s life.  So, his new mission is to find out who blows up the train, or at least gather enough intel to prevent the second attack that is coming soon.  The problem is that Colter has to pretty much re-live this explosion over and over again, each time going back to his mission-control capsule to report on his findings.  The other problem is that, along the way, he finds himself falling for a train passenger, Christina (Michelle Monaghan – and who wouldn’t?), and also learns that in conjunction with re-living the last eight minutes of this mystery dude’s life, he can also manipulate the events happening along the way.

So, for our multiple train rides, we get Captain Stevens learning from each trip, falling in love, learning the true value of the “Source Code,” and hopefully saving Chicago from being blown-up.

You want the key to why I really liked “Source Code?” Well, the movie people didn’t get too crazy with stuff, and by that I mean that we don’t get a lot of back-story about Captain Stevens, just enough to pretty much know he is a good soldier and misses his father, we also don’t get too crazy in the back-story of Christina, and we also don’t get too crazy into the total science of the story.  Nope, like an action-packed version of the movie “Groundhog Day,” instead of Bill Murray continuing to go back until he learns about love, we get a mission of saving humanity, with a touch of love.  And I’ve got to say, as the movie was ending, I almost got a little weepy knowing the fate of Captain Stevens, or did I? And even better? The movie clocks in at about and hour and half, just long enough to give you a great movie, and not one of those movies where you get antsy thinking it’s about 15 minutes too long!

I don’t want to give too much of the movie away because the joy of this film is the journey Captain Stevens takes from his first infiltration to his final conclusion, and telling anything more would really ruin the fun.

Your wife might not understand it, hell, you probably won’t understand it either (although you’ll probably try to make something up to satisfy her and make her think you are super-smart), but just sit back, strap it in, and enjoy a movie that takes you on a wild ride, albeit it’s sort of the same ride over and over again, on the same train, for about an hour and half. But it sure is fun!  It’s 4 ½ stars out of 5 for “Source Code,” and not just because the commuter train blows up in front of my college alma mater, Illinois Institute of Technology.  It’s a great rental for the both of you to snuggle, and even the older kids to enjoy with you.

In terms of the extras, for the Blu-ray, most of them are embedded in the “Access: Source Code” feature, which is really cool even if you do have to watch the movie again.  During the movie, you will get pop-ups with movie trivia, interviews with the cast, and most importantly, experts telling you about time travel that might help explain the movie’s ending.

MPAA Rated – PG-13
It’s 2:42 Long
A Review by:
- The Dude on the Right

I will never admit how many times I actually went to the theater to see “Titanic,” but let’s just say that I went at least one time by myself, went to see it with a group of friends who hadn’t seen the movie yet, and then, well, I went, umm, never mind. Since “Avatar” and “Titanic” are both by James Cameron I thought I would mention my weird desire to see “Titanic” multiple times because as much as I liked “Avatar,” I suppose I would like to see it one more time, but not in 3-D, in order to compare the 3-D and 2-D versions, and sure, when it comes out on Blu-ray, I can see myself watching it again, but for me, as much as I enjoyed the movie, and I know it sounds cliché, it’s no “Titanic.”

Let’s start with the story…

“Avatar” takes us down the road a bit, into the future, at a world called Pandora. Pandora is occupied by these really tall, and really fit, blue creatures called the Na’vi. The problem for the Na’vi is that Pandora has a mineral called unobtanium, us Earthlings want it, but the Na’vi are content to be one with Mother Pandora, hunting with bows and arrows, while we have flying machines and bullets. As it would be, us humans, we suck, and rather than actually work with these people whose land we invaded, the corporate dopes decide to just bring in the bulldozers and gunships to move the un-cooperating “savages.”

Enter Jake Sully (Sam Worthington). He’s a marine who lost his ability to walk on Earth, but since his brother was a scientist and was going to be a part of the Avatar program on Na’vi (sorry, I forgot to mention a small group of scientists using these hybrid creatures, Avatars, that the humans can control while plugged into this MRI-looking device – kind of like being in The Matrix but not – to easier investigate Pandora and try to live with, and understand, the Na’vi), well, Jake gets to become part of the scientific expedition. As things would have it Jake gets indoctrinated into the Na’vi world, (Most people compare it to “Dances With Wolves” but I felt a weird connection to “The Air Up There” for whatever reason), and his mission/feelings, especially because he is now in love with a tall, blue chick, Neytire (Zoe Saldana), deviate from the operation the Colonel (Stephen Lang) wants him to take on, namely infiltrate the Na’vi and learn their weaknesses, and the scientific mission that the good Doctor is leading them on (Sigourney Weaver – still great), namely not to have sex with them. But, alas, it’s time for the corporate meanies to further invade the land, and Jake has to take sides. Guess which side he ends up on?

Okay, so the story is pretty straightforward, and the acting is up there on being good enough for this kind of movie, but what transcends this movie from just a basic story of foreign invaders overtaking the locals, intertwined with a love story, is, well, The James Cameron Effect. Yup, a James Cameron movie can’t just be a movie for the sake of it, it needs to be an experience, and as technology advances so does his vision, and he takes everything to a level that movies now have to achieve. How? Well, in “Titanic” he made you feel like you were actually there, on the Titanic, and in “Avatar,” dammit, you are on Pandora, in all of its mythical and glowy splendor, and it looks scary real for being a fictitious place.

Yup, technology and filmmaking has advanced, thanks in part to the visions of James Cameron, and as you get sucked into the story there will probably come a minute or two of simply being in awe of the world of Pandora, probably wishing you had a jellyfish-looking thing land on you hand or that you could scale mountains that seemed to hover over the land, and it is reasons like this why a movie like “Avatar” really needs to be seen on the biggest screen you can find, just maybe not in 3-D, yet.

Now, I have to admit that I haven’t seen the 2-D version of the movie yet so I can’t really compare, but as cool as the 3-D effect is, and maybe it’s because I’m weird, but for me the times the 3-D looks the best seem to be in the “landscape” shots rather than the close-ups because they don’t look real, yet. How to explain? Hmm, I guess the easiest thing I can say is that during a close-up the main action looks in 3-D and in focus, but if I shift my eyes to the background it doesn’t come into focus like things do in real life. I guess I’m just a visual person and when a movie looks in 3-D I want it to act the same as my eyesight, i.e., look behind the actor and see what’s behind them, but it doesn’t work. I know, that probably doesn’t make much sense, but the effect is close, just still not “real.”

Okay, so let’s combine everything…

In comparison to “Titanic,” I would say there just wasn’t something that totally clicked with the story in “Avatar” that would make me want to see it again, and even again, and enjoy it each time, and as I think about it, maybe it was because Jake didn’t make the ultimate sacrifice for his newfound love, like Jack did, or even the other way around. I guess the easiest thing to say is that the movie ended exactly as I thought it would, in a sappier way, and that doesn’t make it different. I’m not saying it’s not good, because I don’t want to explain how it ends, but it’s just a normal Hollywood ending, rather than the main dude drowning, which now that I think about it, really made the ending of “Titanic” just a little different. In the end, though, “Avatar” is totally a must-see movie, if you like movies, and as I was wavering on just giving it 4 stars out of 5, the more I think about the awesomeness of Pandora, that’s worth an extra star. So, it’s 5 stars out of 5, and after telling my BFF that she probably doesn’t need to see it until it comes to Blu-ray, now I’m wondering if I should try to change her mind, if only so I can see it on a normal screen to fully compare the two. Hmm?

Oh well, go see it, keep the little kids at home because it’s got some gratuitous violence and they would probably have to pee a couple of times during the movie, and just enjoy some quality time with your honey.

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

MPAA Rated – PG-13
It’s 2:15 Long
A Review by:
- The Dude on the Right

I still can’t figure out what all of the hubbub was about that the Catholic Church originally brought up because my take on “Angels & Demons” is that the church might have their problems, but most of the problems in this movie are caused by a rogue priest, or maybe a couple of rogue priests, much like the problems in any religion, so Catholicism bashing aside, is the movie any good? You betcha!

“Angels & Demons” is actually a book that was released before “The Da Vinci Code,” but for the movie they shift it to being after the movie you probably saw, and you know what, you get the same kind of problem-solving, good looking girl, let’s try and save a life or two, and let’s get to the root of this problem to save something, kind of flick that you found in that Da Vinci film. And like that Da Vinci film, don’t try to hard to understand all of the story, just enjoy the ride.

Pretty much “Angels & Demons” involves a supposed plot from a group called The Illuminati (yea, you might also remember them from the Lara Kroft: Tomb Raider movie – I guess they get around, don’t they?). In any case, the Pope is dead, the Cardinals are getting ready to elect a new Pope, some Cardinal dudes get kidnapped, and a super-duper energy source also gets stolen. It seems that The Illuminati are pissed, looking for revenge on the Catholic Church for some atrocities years earlier, and to get their revenge, and fulfill an ancient prophesy, they are going to kill the four Cardinal dudes and then blow up The Vatican. Enter Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks). Sure, the Church is still pissed at Langdon for the whole “Jesus had siblings” thing from the previous movie, but they need the best, especially since there are only a few hours to get the puzzles solved, so in comes Bob, and with the help of Vittoria Vetra (Ayelet Zurer), the scientist who can stop the anti-matter bomb from exploding, well, it’s a race across Rome to find the places the Cardinals are set to be killed, and also find the anti-matter bomb.

Along for the ride are some police dudes, all in conflict with each other because the Swiss Guards don’t like the Roman police, etc., but keeping everyone together is the good Camerlengo (Ewan McGregor). The Camerlengo, kind of the person in charge in between Popes, seems to have it all together, but maybe something is up with him as well.

Look, like “The Da Vinci Code,” “Angels & Demons” is just a fun ride at the movies where I don’t think you are supposed to understand everything, just sit back and have a little fun while your brain gets confused, and like “The Da Vinci” code, most critics are bashing it, but not this one, I’m like the movie for exactly what it is – just a fun romp with some clues to solve so that the good people can be saved.

Tom Hanks does his normal, steady self in the Langdon role, although I liked him better with the hair in the Da Vinci film, Ayelet Zurer is good enough as the easy-on-the-eyes dudette who tags along for the ride, and Ewan McGregor is fine in his role as the Camerlengo. You do get a good chunk of violence in this movie as the Cardinals do end up dying in some pretty gruesome ways, but hey, the movie is about a sinister society, hell-bent on getting revenge on the Catholic Church.

I say, much like you did for “The Da Vinci Code”, ignore all of the critics except me and go see “Angels & Demons.” Yup, the story is kind of preposterous, you might see the ending coming even if you haven’t read the book, and you might have some fun. What you probably won’t get is coming out of the movie thinking the church is a bunch of anti-science, old-school farts who don’t care about the current world we live in. For me it’s 3 ½ stars out of 5. Go ahead and see it, and don’t worry if you don’t understand what anti-matter really is, it doesn’t matter that much to the plot other than it will explode if it touches real matter.

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

MPAA Rated – Unrated
It’s ?? Long
A Review by:
- The Dude on the Right

Watching a “made for TV” movie on DVD is kind of weird, simply because the movie can’t fully flow as “commercial break” pauses are prevalent throughout, but I have to say that if you are looking for a decent “This is the end of mankind” kind of movie, in the spirit of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” episodes, put the 2008 version of “The Andromeda Stain” on your list of DVD’s to watch. And sure, I hate to put the “Star Trek” reference in there, but like most TV shows, “The Andromeda Strain” gives you about two hours and thirty minutes of set-up, conflict, theories, and then is able to wrap up the solution for the devastating problem in about fifteen minutes. Such is TV sometimes.

Here’s the story…

A satellite crashes to Earth and suddenly a small town of people finds itself dead. Also finding themselves dead are the first military folks to find themselves in the town. It’s now time to bring in the scientists, including Dr. Stone (Benjamin Bratt in a role I kinda like him in), Dr. Noyce (Christa Miller in full “I have to overact” role), and a few more, seeming to have to fight, of course, with the government folks, especially General Mancheck (Andre Braugher), who don’t want to give the scientist folks the necessary information to solve what might be something to destroy mankind.

Low and behold, as the story plays out, “The Andromeda Strain” deals with all kinds of things, like wormholes and creatures at the bottom of the oceans, and as our scientist folks decipher all of the clues, damn, wouldn’t you know it, they are in a super-sealed bunker where a simple accident might also destroy humanity.

This DVD review will be quick because I will simply say that as much as “The Andromeda Strain” has lots of potential as a “here comes the end of humanity” movie, it so much loses itself in becoming totally predictable, especially as a “made for TV” movie (although being an A&E TV movie does allow for some quality kills), complete with a “self-destruct” sequence, with countdown music, when Dr. Stone, thankfully, is able to save the world with only a couple of seconds left before we are doomed.

I’d say you should rent it, but the extras on the DVD aren’t that spectacular, so maybe you should just wait for A&E to replay the mini-series, and find out why we might want to pay attention to what is really going on at the International Space Station.

This DVD gets 2 ½ stars out of 5.

That’s it for this one! I’m the Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

DVD: It’s got some extra stuff, but unless you are a total sci-fi geek, you won’t care.

MPAA Rated – PG-13
It’s 1:35 Long
A Review by:
- The Dude on the Right

Let me start this review with a letter to Will Ferrell:
Dear Mr. Ferrell,

I would just like to commend you on your latest comedy, “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.” I found it very enjoyable and laughed a lot. Actually, you know, lately I’ve been laughing a lot at all of the movies you’ve been involved in. From your childish demeanor in “Elf,” to Frank the Tank in “Old School,” all the way back to Mustafa in the “Austin Powers” movie, you are showing that you have the versatility to bring comedy to every role you fill. In looking at your upcoming projects, at least according to IMDB, it appears that you are sticking to the comedic genre, and in my opinion, that’s good (although I am a little leery about the Woody Allen flick, but I’ll take a wait and see attitude on that right now). All I ask is one thing: Please, please, please stick to comedy. Look, down in your heart somewhere you might have this strange inkling to be a serious actor, and maybe you could be, but all I ask is please don’t pull a Jim Carrey on me like he did with “The Majestic.” You make people laugh, that’s your talent, and maybe it won’t get you a little gold statue, but you’re probably entertaining a hell of a lot more people doing what you do best than in any serious role you could fill. I mean, when was the last time a Robert Redford movie had me laugh so hard soda-pop came up my nose. Just my two cents.

Have a nice day,
The Dude on the Right

Okay, now to the review…

It’s the 70’s baby, when male chauvinism was at its peak, or at least it really seemed that way, especially because men kept treating women like the sex objects we all think they are, we just can’t act that way now because it’s not socially acceptable for a man to grab a woman’s butt and women can’t just go up and run her fingers through a man’s incredibly hairy chest on the street anymore. Anyway, enough lamenting about the old days when I was, well, approaching that impressionable age of 10. Well, for this movie we get Will Farrell as Ron Burgundy. He’s THE anchorman in San Diego, the anchorman all of the ladies love, yet he can’t really find love. But popularity is his game, and he holds that over the rest of the San Diego anchors like it’s a gold medal at the Olympics. But enter Veronica (Christina Applegate – looking just as great as ever). Her dream is to be a network anchor, something that in those days seemed like a total impossibility. She’s relegated to field reporting, things like an animal beauty pageant, and can’t stand it, but knows maybe someday, if she works hard enough, she might get her shot. But Ron is smitten with Veronica, and they begin an office romance destined for destruction. Now it’s war, with Ron and his anchor buddies set on bringing Veronica down, mostly because all of them feel threatened.

You know what, enough of the story synopsis. Will Ron and Veronica make nice, and will Veronica eventually become a network anchor? Will Brick (Steve Carell) say something that remotely makes sense, and will Jack Black be targeted by the ASPCA? All of these questions and more will be answered.

But is the movie funny? Hell yes, especially if Will Ferrell has ever made you laugh in any other movie. You get a wonderful cast of characters, especially Ron’s fellow newsmen, and some people complain about Fred Willard being wasted in his role as the boss, but I found him perfect, especially talking to the nun over the phone. If the trailer made you laugh, you’ll probably really like this movie, especially if you like a good boner joke, but if you just don’t get the humor of Ron doing a cannonball into the pool, stay away. It’s 4 ½ stars out of 5 for “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.”

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

MPAA Rated – PG-13
It’s 1:30 Long
A Review by:
- The Dude on the Right

I saw the previews, I saw the billboards, I saw the ads, and all I could figure was that the movie “Anaconda” was about some people who get stuck in a river and get scared by a big snake. What those previews didn’t show was that this movie ends up being more about deceit and naïve people, as well as about survival.

Let me put the story line to you like this. You’ve got these documentary filmmakers heading into Amazon territory in search of the legendary Shirishama Indians. All is going well until they pick up this stranded guy on the bank of the river. This guy, Sarone, played by Jon Voight, is a snake poacher, and ends up being one really bad dude. When the anthropologist, Steven Cale (Eric Stoltz), finds himself unconscious, it’s up to the crew to find the quickest way home. They listen to Sarone,

Sarone (Jon Voight, r.) playfully demonstrates the deadly grip of a baby Anaconda on Warren’s (Jonathan Hyde) finger. he says he knows the way, but his way is to find this big snake first, and then maybe lead the crew to safety. It takes a while, but the crew figure out his plan, unfortunately for them it’s too late because Sarone has a gun and holds them all hostage while he’s hunting (or would that be fishing?) for the Anaconda. Well, things go wrong, some people die, it’s a fight for survival and trying to get home before becoming dinner.

It may sound simple enough, and maybe a boring movie, but it’s not. Acting wise, there isn’t much to speak of, all except for Jon Voight. I haven’t seen a crazed psychopath on this level since most anything Dennis Hopper plays. Voight will have you hating him, but believing him, all the while having

The world’s largest snake: the Anaconda. his own agenda without any regard to who dies. He was great and I’d recommend seeing this movie for his performance alone. Now the other character who did a great job for this film was the snake. This gargantuan animatronic special effect, combined with some real life Anacondas as well, will probably give even people who love snakes the creeps. Yea, sometimes the big guy does look a little fake, but seeing the snake eat a dude and do some other natural things is pretty cool.

I didn’t think they could make a movie about a big snake, and you know, they didn’t. Sure, the Anaconda plays a big role in the action and suspense of this film, but even without the fear of being

Terri (Jennifer Lopez) struggles to help free Danny (Ice Cube) from the deadly grip of an Anaconda. swallowed whole this film could have made it as a suspense film nonetheless. Voight was terrific, so was the snake, I just really wish the rest of the cast could have been as convincing. Don’t get me wrong, they did alright, but the film could have moved up a notch on the acting scale.

So, should you see it? Sure. I haven’t jumped in my seat in a long time, and if any snakes give you the creeps than “Anaconda” will have you covering your eyes (the guy in from of me did). Not the greatest film of all time, but pretty creepy. It’s 3 stars out of 5 for “Anaconda.”

That’s it for this one, I’m The Dude on the Right!!! L8R!!!