This comedy isn’t bad. I know that isn’t the highest praise for a movie but I have to be truthful. I suspect this movie was made because
Although the movie is called "Cheaper By The Dozen", I usually counted only nine kids. The oldest, a girl, shared an apartment with her boyfriend, and the next two oldest, never seemed to be around. Both were in high school and, I guess, were able to manage on their own and not help dad with trying to keep their siblings from killing each other. I couldn’t get around the feeling that the oldest son is Superboy from the successful television series. The bloopers at the end were OK but you shouldn’t count on those to make the movie.
Bonus : After the movie was over at Kanata AMC theatre, I sneaked into Tom Cruise’s Last Samurai and watched him take on multiple assassins. Bonus. Sequel? Yes and possibly a short life as a sit-com.
Recommendation : Wait until it appears on the Movie Network, fellow Bell Expressview subscribers. My prediction: May 12th, Dave Ready’s birthday.
Tom Cruise is such a famous actor that I would think any director would think twice about casting him. Not after this movie. From the moment we see the washed up soldier that drunken Tom portrays at the beginning of Last Samurai, we completely forget that he used to be married to Nicole, etc. He IS a former Civil War soldier that is persuaded to go to Japan and train the Emperor’s new army. A recent edition of the American publication, National Geographical Magazine, had a story on the warriors. They existed for three centuries, extremely loyal to their Lords, much like England’s Knights. However, by 1867, Japan was emerging as a new market for countries that had merchant’s fleets. It made sense to have the country under the one rule of an emperor; not fragmented under dozens of feudal states.
We only get a sense of this when the army that Tom has started to train, is prematurely sent off to win back a railroad line that Samurais have taken. Tom has been training the Federal government’s soldiers with the new weapons of war: Fire sticks, as Gary Larson would call them. The Samurai are not only loyal to their Feudal bosses, they are devoted to their traditional weapons of killing. Swords. Too bad.
No surprise that their end is near. It shouldn’t be a surprise to you either. The movie is called the Last Samurai for a reason. I’m not giving anything away here. At the beginning of the movie, Tom is shown teaching the soldiers the use of rifles, machine guns and canon! What makes Tom’s character different, and believable, is his own sense of loyalty and honour.
Bonus : One fight scene in particular is so good, that we can’t comprehend all of the action in real time. The director, thankfully, shows it again, not only from a different angle, but also in slow motion.
Recommendation : See this at the theatre with either the guys or you’re babe and buy the video. The fights scenes are that well done! Prequel possibility!
Jack Nicholson is in a “comedy”. The ending is telegraphed, the jokes are few and far between, and I can’t remember the name of the movie.
Bonus : Some of you will appreciate seeing Jack in one scene and later in another, the actress, each being caught naked. Warning: Some of you will not look upon this as a bonus.
Recommendation : This may be the only movie that I recommend watching on Turner’s TBS Satellite network. It is the only station that habitually cuts out all the naughty bits. On this one occasion, that’s a bonus. No sequel.
Wait until it appears on the Movie Network. Then don’t watch it. My prediction: April 25th: Aunt Mil’s birthday celebration. She’s turning 200 but looks and acts like 20!
Lost In Translation : Everyone loves this. I slept through it, thank God. That means I didn’t waste two hours. Just $20. No sequel.
Paycheck : Science fiction. Because the main character, a computer soft ware genius, agrees to have his memory removed, I watched it. I suggest you wait, watch it on tape, and then watch it again. Some theoretical physics may help. The light of the stars we see each clear night, has taken years to reach us. (Real years; not light years. A light year is a measure of distance not time.) I we could send a device, like a cam corder away from the earth, faster than the speed of light, then maybe that device could turn around, capture the images coming from Earth, and return to earth. A really fast device would be able to show us what has happened so we could actually see what has occurred. A faster rocket may show us a possible future. No sequel.
The author of the novel this movie is based, also wrote, "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" It was made into the more successful vehicle, the movie, Bladerunner. Harrison Ford. The book sucked. The movie was great.
Master And Commander, the Russell Crowe flick, I’d recommend. I’m tempted to read the famous books on which it is based.
Sequel chance? Definitely.
Five O’clock In The Afternoon : Your typical Afghanistan movie about a peasant, high school student and her dream of becoming president.
Coming soon : A review of In America : Heart warming tale of a poor Irish family, two young daughters, who live in a dump in a New York City ghetto.
Calendar Girls . I’d like to hear your comment especially on this chick flick. Thanks
Originally Posted : 190104
