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Lethal Weapon, a review by Jon

Lethal Weapon ****
4 out of 5

This is one of the best buddy cop thrillers, with Mel Gibson and Danny Glover forming a great odd couple, obviously relishing Shane Black's great dialogue. Along with Richard Donner's sparky direction and the jazzy, Christmas-y soundtrack, it makes for very solid entertainment. Gibson is central to it with an incredible performance; more Mad Max than anything, but he makes it poignant too.

It's these elements that help it hold up over the years, but what doesn't is the dreadful ending. The plot seems to completely lose it's way once it reverts to a predictable thread of putting Murtaugh's family in danger, and it lazily ignores any form of logic to end up in a silly fight on a front lawn, after they destroy the front of Murtaugh's house when there really wasn't any need. And the way L.A.'s finest just gather to watch the scrap is slightly worrying.

Maybe that's what Black and Donner were after, considering the L.A.P.D.'s history, but still, it is at odds with the much slicker first half. Overall Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is a finer film, but ironically, this has the bigger bangs by some considerable margin. The action never lets up and is rightly a classic of the genre for it. Giving the characters ex-military backgrounds meant they were never going for subtle!

(From Jon's Random Reviews on September 13th, 2009)

Santa Baby, a review by addicted2dvd

Santa Baby Jenny McCarthy and George Wendt star in this heartwarming comedy about Santa Claus' daughter. When Santa Claus (George Wendt) gets too sick to run the toy shop, his workaholic daughter Mary (Jenny McCarthy) leaves behind her high-powered job in the city and heads north. Will Mary's new ideas and her relentless drive for efficiency save Christmas, or will Christmas need to save her first?

My Thoughts:
Ok... what did I think of this one? Jenny McCarthy... in some scenes I liked her... but yet in others it felt like she could have done better. I was surprised that I liked George Wendt as Santa. Don't get me wrong... I always liked George Wendt... he is always fun to watch... but for some reason he doesn't pop to my mind when I think of Santa. The movie was enough to keep my interest... but not very impressive over all.



(From Addicted2DVD's 25 Days of Christmas Marathon: 2010 on December 13th, 2010)

Tom's TV Finales marathon, a review by Tom

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ALF: Season Four (1989/United States) IMDb | Wikipedia Lions Gate Home Entertainment (United States) Length: 514 min. Video: Full Frame 1.33:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles:

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Plot:
"Just think of me as a Melmacian babe magnet!" ALF is back for an encore! That smart-mouthed, always loveable alien keeps us laughing in this fourth and final season. With a special appearance by David Spade, ALF dreams he becomes the world's best comic and, in addition to his already unusual diet, he's addicted to cotton and triest to munch on Willie's pants! Finally, ALF can't resist the chance to settle a new planet with a couple of long-lost extra-terrestrial friends. Will we ever be the same without him? Well, of all the planets in the universe, we're glad he picked this one!


ALF
Season 4.24 Consider Me Gone
Writer: Tom Patchett (Created By), Paul Fusco (Created By), Steve Pepoon (Screenwriter), David Silverman (Screenwriter), Stephen Sustarsic (Screenwriter), Victor Fresco (Screenwriter), Ian Praiser (Story By)
Director: Nick Havinga
Cast: Max Wright (Willie Tanner), Anne Schedeen (Kate Tanner), Andrea Elson (Lynn Tanner), Benji Gregory (Brian Tanner), Richard Fancy (Colonel Halsey), Doug Ballard (Lieutenant Alden), Larry Poindexter (Sergeant Armstrong), Sherman Howard (Officer), Paul Fusco (Gordon "ALF" Shumway), Charles Nickerson (Eric Tanner)

This has a WTF ending. I always thought it was a ballsy move to do, and I am a little disappointed, that it was not planned as the series finale, but only a season cliffhanger. As a series finale you wouldn't have expected to end it this way. There was a TV movie resolving the ending years later, but in my opinion it didn't do it justice.

Rating:

(From Tom's TV Finales marathon on January 26th, 2013)