"Shopgirl"

When I first started my blog, I knew the day would quickly come where I would have to give a movie or book a bad review. Today is that day. This movie has obviously been out for a while now, but I personally did not even know the movie existed. Unfortunately I now know why.

When the name "Steve Martin" is dropped I always stop and listen. I could not count how many times in my life I have found myself laughing to the point of no breath left in my lungs at Steve Martin's Antics, all be it his stand up comedy, his early movies "The Jerk" and later on his character in "The Three Amigos" and even his semi serious but still funny roles in "Father of the Bride", and my favorite movie of his "All of Me." Throughout his history as an actor he of course has had his fair share of flops, drops, and bad acting parts, but "Shopgirl" I think is now his official worst movie yet.

Steve Martin plays a rich entrepreneur who sets his eyes on a troubled and lonely girl who works in a shopping booth selling expensive gloves. He buys a pair at her booth, then sends them to her asking her for a date. The bad acting continues as the plot grows more strange as a wanna be musician, loser, played by Jason Schwartzman is thrown into the mix as a desperate love interest to the lead in this movie Mirabelle played by Claire Danes.

The wanna be musician Jeremy, lucks into hitting the road with a touring band, and then from there plays only in short clips for the rest of the movie, as the director Anand Tucker badly tries to keep his role some where in the back of your mind, to do what is only obvious at the end of the movie.

Steve Martin's acting is poor at best. Claire does an OK job with what little of a role she has to play, but in the long run, the poor story line takes whatever small amount of good acting by anybody in the movie, and totally erases it from your mind. The romance between Steve Martin's character Ray Porter, and Mirabelle drones on, and in the end what is suppose to be a happy ending is even more of a joke, then the acting.

My final and only good comment about this movie strangely enough is the sound track. For no apparent reason, the music is absolutely fantastic. It is haunting, moving, romantic, painful, and play full some times all in the same scene. I think my time would have been better spent, just buying the sound track, then watching the movie.

My rating for this movie is 5.50 out of 10.00

I usually leave a link to buy the movie or book at the end of my reviews, but I truly hope that no one will ever waste there time watching this movie. If you want to see one of the funniest movies ever made, staring Steve Martin, go rent or buy "All of me"

"A Brief History of Time"

This is my second book review of what will be many. "A Brief History Of Time" by Stephen Hawking is not a book for the faint of heart, or the weak of mind. I say this not to scare people away from reading this great book, but simply as a warning. Stephen Hawking is arguably the smartest man alive, and as he explains his theories, and possible explanations for the beginning of time, space, and black holes, even the most advanced mind will inevitably find themselves "Backing the truck up" a few hundred times trying to grasp what is being said.

I consider myself as being above average in intelligence, being a college graduate, and having passed four different physics courses during my studies, and I have found myself reading this book for the fourth time and still catching new tid bits of information that didn't quite sink in the previous three times. Each time I re-read this mind blowing book, I feel as tho my eyes open just a little more about what is "Out there."

The main problem with this book strangely enough, is the Author. Stephen, trying his best to bring one of the most complicated topics on earth down to the level of the "average" reader, just does not work. The only correlation I can make is that of a first grade teacher, trying to explain to a child advanced calculus. There just not enough of a base to bridge the gap of teaching and learning for the child to even remotely understand. That being said, have no fear. Not all of the topics and theories discussed are beyond understanding, and with the graphics, or charts offered to go along with a particular subject, some of the difficult information does bridge the gap, so all is not completely lost screaming over your head in a fast and furious fly by.

If you have ever spent time, gazing up at the stars, and wondered about our universe, how planets are born, burn bright, and then die, or asked yourself, "How did all of this happen?" Stephen offers scientific theories for all of these. He also broaches the subject of "time" itself. How it is relevant, its direction (if there is any) and how it relates to the forming of the universe.

Black holes are another fascinating subject the world renowned Physicist talks about. How they are possibly formed, what they consist of, how we can tell where they might be out there in the universe, and what may or may not be beyond the event horizon of them.

Mr. Hawking's views on all of the subjects are interesting to say the very least, and are worth reading about. Grab a cup of coffee, or ten, find a quiet room, and prepare yourself for a journey into the known, unknown, theorized, and questioned reality of our earth, galaxy, universe, and the very existence of space and time.

My rating for this book is 8.00 out of 10.00

Here is a link to his official web site.

http://www.hawking.org.uk/home/hindex.html

"Premonition"

Well I have decided to add DVD rentals to my blog. I know that there are thousands of you out there that are just like me. You may catch a preview of a movie on TV and said to yourself. Nah, I'll just wait for the DVD to come out. OK so this is the first DVD rental I am reviewing , and I must admit I did pick a good one.

"Premonition " staring Sandra Bullock, was not a movie I figured would be worth paying the $8.00 - $10.00 it would cost to go see it in the big theater, but for sure would be worth the $3.00 rental fee. I'm happy to say this was exactly the outcome. I was very happy I did not pay the big bucks, but happy that I did rent it.

I've have always been a Sandra fan, and she does a pretty good job with her latest project. There is just something pure about her, like the girl next door look, but yet has a beauty unto herself that is undeniable. But I digress. Director Mennan Yapo seems to have a good eye for catching a seen in the right light and mood, as well as set an overall tone of mystery to each scene as it unfolds. I must admit I was quite caught off guard with the musical score. I am finding out that even a mediocre movie can be kicked up a notch to a actual "good" movie status by just adding the right music. The overall main chanting music is haunting and mood setting. The build up sound effects and music take a good scene and make it a great scene.

As the main character Linda Hanson, seems to shift from one time zone to another, each piece of the puzzle is slowly revealed, building to what you might think is an obvious ending. Predictability in movies these days is painfully boring, and in most cases leave you thinking "I wish I could have got a hold of the script and helped the poor writers that fumbled the ball yet once again." Thankfully the "ball" in this movie is not completely dropped outright, and the ending of the movie is surprisingly UN obvious, and leaves you with a tear of sorrow, and a tear of joy all in the same breath.

In many movies, the directors involved like to tie some kind of meaning or lesson to their work. In many cases the lesson is never learned and almost always forgotten as soon as you leave the theater, or in this case, turn off the DVD player. I am most happy to say that, the meaning or lesson in this movie is not lost. It is a powerful message to all of the married room mates out there that started married life in love, but soon after lose track of what is important in life. When this movie ends, if you are not seriously doing the "once over" of your marriage or current relationship, then you have missed an important part of this movie.

If you are looking for a good movie to watch this next weekend, with the lights turned down and a big bowl of pop corn, this is your movie. Don't catch yourself trying to second guess this one, just let it happen, and go along for the ride, and you will not be disappointed.

My rating for this movie is 7.50 out of 10.00

Harry Potter and the "Order of the Phoenix"

OK all you Harry Potter fans out there, the next movie in the series is out there for your consumption, and it is worth seeing!

I came into the Harry Potter phenomenon with the release of the first movie "Harry Potter and the sorcerer's stone." I did not understand all the hype concerning J.K. Rowling, and her mysterious main character "Harry" until seeing that first movie. I liked the concept of the movie, and I decided to start reading the books. Once "Chamber of secretes" came out, I read it and finally understood. This is a fun series that captures the minds of children and has them once again interested in actually READING a book! As each new book, and then the following movie was released I must admit, being a child at heart, and having read, and seen all the books and movies so far, I was looking forward the latest addition to the big screen "Order of the Phoenix." I have to preface this whole movie review by saying that "Order of the Phoenix" was not my favorite book. I felt that things had got a little to dark, and serious for kids to find the enjoyment they had once had in the earlier releases. This being said, the time line that is followed from book #1 and movie #1 follows the natural age group of the children that reads said novels as they grow older in age, so the end result is probably just an older child, or young adult getting sucked right back into Harry's world, and being entertained regardless of the story or its outcome.

"Order of the Phoenix" continues with the story shortly after Lord Voldemort (or "The one who must not be named) has been resurrected by his fellow evil followers, and is once again wreaking havoc on Hogwarts, the ministry of magic, and inevitably Harry Potter.

While the movies from this series are now on director #4, and have changed the looks and feel of the movies from episode to episode, the latest director David Yates seems to have really re-captured the true mood and look of what is conveyed in the books written by J.K Rowling. The flyovers of Hogwarts, and the scenes around and in the school, and the surrounding forests, really capture very well the serious dark side of this scary time in Harry Potter's life.

One thing I can give credit to the producers for in this movie and the rest of them is that from day #1 until now they have kept every single actor from the original movie all the way down to some brief momentary walk on spots. This is truly a feet of magic unto itself. I do not know how they managed to keep everyone on board for so long, but congratulations to the people over seeing the casting for these movies, and I hope they continue to do this with the final two movies.

If you are a fan of the books or the movies, this of course will be a "Must see" film, and there are some great scenes as usual. Daniel Radcliff seems to mature as an actor with each year, and each movie, and really does a good job as Harry, as well as his cohorts "Ron Weasley - Rupert Grint, "Hermione Granger" - Emma Watson, and the rest of the crew and staff from Hogwarts.

My rating for this movie is 7.00 out of 10.00

Here is the link for the official web site.

http://www.harrypotterorderofthephoenix.com/

"Transformers"

Strap your seat belt boys and girls of all ages! Hollywood has done it again. This last statement is a good thing and a bad thing. Let me start with the good. This is a fun, fast paced movie, with action from front to back. CGI continues to develop by leaps and bounds with every movie that comes out now, and this movie does not disappoint.

When I first heard about "Transformers" I was a total skeptic. I remember the cartoon series from the 1980's and for the most part I wrote it off as another blunder remake. Hollywood as a whole has completely lost all sight and anything original. Everything must be based on something else. A cartoon, comic book, book, or worse yet, a remake of an original movie from years gone by, so it goes without saying that a remake of a cartoon did not interest me in the least. As the hype of the movie began, and the previews of the movie began to creep into the movie theaters, I was even more of a skeptic. Even knowing the Almighty Steven Spielberg was attached to this project did not convince me this would be anything but a kids movie with a few good action sequences to try and keep the adults bringing the children to the movie theaters attention.

Well I am happy to say that not only did it keep THIS adults attention, but I found myself caught up in the plot, and enjoying every aspect of this movie. The computer graphics were of course some of the best ever seen, but what I did not expect was for the story line to actually be worth a hoot. There even turns out to be a relationship of sorts developed between one of the main characters, and one of the autobots. There even several scenes that are down right funny!

As with any review I must point out the bad as well as the good so here we go. Hollywood has recently started what I can only call a bad trend in regards to the actions sequences in almost all of the blockbuster type movies. This trend is where during any particular scene where the action is moving at its fastest pace, even on the huge screens that are in the movie theaters these days, you can not keep pace! The scenes come at you so fast that the brain just can not process the information fast enough, and what is suppose to be a fantastic action shot, you are left with nothing more then a blur until the scene finally slows back down or zooms out enough for you to catch up. I am not sure if the makers of these movies have caught on to this problem yet, but it is highly disappointing. In Transformers, there are several of these extremely high tech transforming robots that can change their appearance on the fly (In some cases literally) and the changes, along with the action sequence itself, just ends up being to confusion.

OK enough with the bad. All things considered here, I was completely surprised to find that Transformers is a fun movie, with great special effects, and some funny interactions between the humans and the robots. It is worth going to see in the theater for sure. See it with your date, or take the kids, its fun for all ages!

My rating for this movie is 8.00 out of 10.00

Here is the link for the official movie website.

http://www.transformersmovie.com/

"Battlestar Galactica"

OK this review is for those of you Sci-Fi fans out there who have for one reason or another, have not been told about this series, or who have been told and still not bothered to try it on for size.

Myself, I have been a Sci-Fi fan since I was a kid watching re-runs of the original Star Trek, and Twilight Zone, and later even the original Battle Star series, but even though I had heard about the new Battle Star, I just did not take the talk seriously. I'm probably going to be shot on sight, but I myself just finally bought into the hype, and watched my first episode about a month ago. A month later and I am all the way through season three! This show is PURE addiction at its best.

This series has absolute genius writers, as well as set designers, CG designers, and one of the best working large scale casts ever assembled. So many of the more popular made for TV series have had a small cast of four to ten cast members, and about 90% of those fail. Battle Star Galactica has a cast of what has to be close or more then thirty characters, and each and every single one brings something good, bad (in a good way), or interesting to the show.

Since the show is on its fourth season, trust me when I give you the basic run down of the show, that I am in no way blowing any surprises. The story starts with what has become a pretty typical plot. Man creates robots, robots rebel. NOTHING is typical about this variation of this plot. Man creates robots, robots rebel, robots create human robots that are undetectable as anything other then real humans, and then some of these "human robots" are programmed to not know they are robots (Cylon's). Robots destroy the human race with the exception of some 50,000 survivors who are all in a fleet of space ships traveling the universe in search of.....(get this)...Earth, while trying to escape being destroyed by the Cylon race. This right off the bat should give you enough information to twist your brain, and make you run out and rent the first season.

Let me put this just as simple as I can put it. In a world of Sci-Fi movies, and TV shows, Battlestar Galactica is one of the best ever made in history. Some of you may be sitting there saying, "This guy is just some Star Trek nerd and probably wouldn't know a good show if he saw one." While the first part of that statement may be true, the second is NOT. I can not go into detail of the episodes, but the plot, and continuing story line in this series is intriguing, thought provoking, mind bending, and one hundred percent enthralling. Just when you think they can not possibly blow you away again, BAM, your laying on the floor going "Uh what happened?"

Unfortunately, season three is not yet available for rental or purchase, but it must be in the works. Now here is some good news. I-tunes has them for download via the Internet for only $1.99 per episode, so if you run through the first and second season as fast as I did, and are frothing at the mouth for season three, visit I-tunes and get them on your computer.

My rating for this series is 9.50 out of 10.00

Here is the link for the official web site.
http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/

Dean Koontz "Velocity"

For those of you who read and enjoy Dean Koontz this review is for you.


Several years back, I was in the middle of a Stephen King novel, and I remember having a hard time not falling asleep as each chapter was read. For whatever reason Stephen was just not cutting the mustard anymore and I knew I needed to start exploring other Authors. I borrowed a Dean Koontz book from a friend ("Intensity") and that is all it took. I was hooked. Since then, I've read probably twenty or so books from Mr. Koontz. "Velocity" was my most recent book.

The main character in this book is a bartender named Billy Wiles. He is a former writer, but has lost the will to write after his Finance' ends up stuck in a hospital room comatose. She speaks a few words or phrases on occasion. Billy visits her on a regular basis, taking record of everything she says in hopes of trying to figure out if his love is truly still "In there" some where. His life is turned upside down one evening when he leaves the tavern he works for, and finds a note on his windshield from a sick individual leaving him an ultimatum. A young woman who is a school teacher, or and elderly humanitarian woman. One will die by the end of the evening, and It is Billy's choice as to which one. Thinking this is a joke, Billy of course does nothing, only to find out the next day that a young schoolteacher has been strangled.

This is the only the beginning of a twisted tale, that has many nail biting, and edge your seat moments. Dean Koontz is a master of putting you in the actual scene as the events unfold. You find yourself almost tearing the pages off the book, trying to turn them, but not able to turn them fast enough.

There is a single problem with this particular book, and this problem is not confined to just this particular book from Mr. Koontz. Character building has never been a problem, and the main plot of the story has never been a problem. Unfortunately, as the finish line to comes into view, you find yourself foaming at the mouth, and looking forward to this explosive and fantastic ending, only to be deflated, like a balloon who's knot has just been untied. I'm really not sure why Mr. Koontz seems to fall flat on his face when it comes to the ending of his books, but this is a reoccurring problem. Some how he just simply runs out of steam, and the ending to these stories just do not live up to power of the plots.

Now let me end this review on a positive note. Not all of Dean Koontz books leave you deflated. I would guess that only three out of every ten books he writes has this problem, and what is more, the "meat and potato's" of the books that do have bad endings, are so enthralling, that you find yourself almost forgiving the Author for botching the ending. I can honestly say that there is not a single book I've read by Dean Koontz so far that I would NOT recommend to some one. He is a fantastic, and prolific writer and I look forward every evening to cracking the latest novel from him.

I've decided to add a "rating scale" to all of my movie and book reviews from this point forward, for those of you who are just looking for the quick fix.

"Velocity" is a very good book, but not his best work, so my rating for this one is 7.5 out of 10.00

Here is a link to Dean Koontz's official web site.

http://www.deankoontz.com/

"Astronaut Farmer"

Billy Bob Thorton, Farmer, and Astronaut. Five words that most certainly spell complete and total disaster for a movie. Nothing but shear boredom forced my hand to place this DVD in my player. I leaned back in my recliner, and got comfortable for a nice long nap. I had already started planning the beginning of my blog, and how I would enjoy tearing this movie into little shreds, and then 10 minutes later I was still awake.

To my total shock and dismay, this movie actually took on a form. I found myself chuckling at the cute kids that played the two daughters of Charlie Farmer, and his son who is suppose to be his personal "Mission Control" come blast off time.

"Farmer" as all the locals call him is a retired military aeronautical engineer who has decided to build his own rocket, and launch it into space. He is already the laughing stock of the small town he resides in, but quickly becomes a curiosity world wide when his lawyer makes a clever move to attract the press that ends up camping on his front door.

As the family, and outside characters start to build around the story, with its twists and turns, I noticed that I had begun to actually enjoy this strange tale. Some of the town folk are pulling for him, while others scoff, and others of course think he is simply lost his mind. the problem lay with the fact that he actually has the knowledge, equipment, space, materials, and time to actually build a real rocket.

The next problem Farmer encounters is when he tries to buy fuel to propel the rocket. The F.B.I. are questioning if he might be building a bomb, and F.A.A. are quickly in the mix wondering if this crazy country boy is going to blow himself up. If Farmer does not already have enough problems the local bank is trying to foreclose on his ranch.

The interactions between the Farmer family during the good, the bad, and the ugly are all priceless. All of the local town folk who have known the Farmers since childhood drift in and out of the different scenes adding a colorful and funny nature that can only come from a small town where everybody knows everybody else's business.

Billy Bob has had his fair share of disaster movies, and he has also been part of a few movies that i have probably watched, and re watched over a hundred times, so being the mixed bag of nuts that he is, you just never know what you will get from him. While this will not be a movie I will probably watch more then the one time, I must admit that almost everything about this movie was enjoyable.

I recommend this a good, wholesome, family movie, that everyone can enjoy together, or even a good home date for curling up on the couch.

I give this DVD a rating of 7.00 out of 10.00

"Ratatouille"

Disney, and Pixar's latest masterpiece, "Ratatouille"

What can be said, that was not already stated in the title to my preview? The answer is, A LOT!

Having been a fan of Pixar, and just about anything they have produced over the years, this latest work seemed to sneak up on me without much fan fair.

I knew of the movie, and had seen a few snippets and clips here and there, but nothing about it seemed to jump off the TV, and say "WATCH ME!"

Of course since this was a Pixar creation, I already knew that I would either see the movie in theater, own it on DVD once released, or more then likely, both.

On the 4th of July, myself and some family members went to see the movie, and from Beginning to end I was thoroughly entertained. The main character in "Ratatouille" is a lovable little rat named "Remy" who for some reason has a nose for all things eatable, and how they should be put together with the correct ingredients to form what will be discovered as culinary master pieces.

Remy finds himself separated from his family, and whisked away to the very streets of Paris where he as daydreamed about the famous chef that teaches a simple principal, "Anyone can cook." I will not spoil the rest of the story, but needless to say there are twists, turns, adventures, sadness, happiness, and triumphs as all good animated movies should have.

If you or some one you knows owns "Finding Nemo" or "Monsters Inc." I encourage you to watch the bonus material on both to get a feel for the mastery of animation at it's finest. The brilliant minds behind the scenes at Pixar show you exactly what kind of work, and time it takes to put together again what I can only describe as master pieces.

There is so much in this movie, as there is in any Pixar movie, that is probably missed by 90% of the audience. The details that go into every single frame of the movie is just beyond the imagination. The subtleties of the light hitting fog as Linguini rides down the streets of Paris on his bicycle. The texture of our furry little companions pink feet. The shadows of the alley at night in front of the restaurant. The shine off the copper pots and pans in the kitchen. Simply put, "Realism" takes on a whole new meaning when Pixar signs on the bottom line.

I have to admit one small but sad truth. While this is still a fantastic animated feature, I felt a little underwhelmed by the actual story itself. Having said this, I understand the difficulties in creating "New" ideas in the land of remakes, sequels, and remakes of remakes, so I still stand and applaud Disney, and Pixar for their collective effort in making this very cute movie come to life.

Do yourself, and your family a favor this next weekend. Go see Ratatouille" and enjoy a wonderful time, as Remy, Linguini, and the rest of the gang take on you on a delightful journey!

Be sure and check out the official web site of the movie!

http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/ratatouille/