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Yankee Doodle Dandy, a review by Antares

Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) 80/100 - It must have been such a refreshing tonic to a beleaguered populace in the early days of World War II, to see such a rousing, patriotic piece of propaganda exalting the virtues of a nation founded upon personal liberty. In the time it took to make this film, we had suffered the disaster of Pearl Harbor, the loss of Wake Island, Guam and Douglas MacArthur was riding a PT boat to Australia as the Philippines was soon to fall. There would be many patriotic films made in the next few years, but none would strike the chords that this film would. George M. Cohan was no saint, and his story is somewhat whitewashed, but he did more for national fervor than any other entertainer, or politician for that matter. The values he extolled in his songs now seem dated and naive, but there was a time when this nation stood for something and looking back now on this film, it makes me sad how far we have fallen. As for the film itself, it is a bit long and I now see the advantage of watching this so many years ago with commercial breaks on UHF television. There are those who find it corny and overly sentimental, but as I've said before with films from the Golden Age of Hollywood, allow yourself to drift away to a much simpler time and you'll be rewarded tenfold. I'd still take a film like this over any of today's CGI laden explosion pulp which seems to be cranked out ad nauseum. If this film doesn't make you feel even the slightest bit patriotic, then you have no sense of history and how crucial our role was in it.

Teal = Masterpiece
Dark Green = Classic or someday will be
Lime Green = A good, entertaining film
Orange = Average
Red = Cinemuck
Brown = The color of crap, which this film is

(From Antares' Short Summations on May 1st, 2015)

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, a review by addicted2dvd

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012/United States) IMDb |Wikipedia |Trailer | Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment Director: Timur Bekmambetov Writing: Seth Grahame-Smith (Screenwriter), Seth Grahame-Smith (Original Material By) Length: 105 min. Rating: Rated R : Violence Throughout and Brief Sexuality Video: Widescreen 2.40:1 Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio: 7.1, French: Dolby Digital: 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital: 5.1 Subtitles: English, Spanish

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Stars:
Benjamin Walker as Abraham Lincoln
Dominic Cooper as Henry Sturges
Anthony Mackie as Will Johnson
Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Mary Todd Lincoln
Rufus Sewell as Adam
Marton Csokas as Jack Barts

Plot:Extras:

• Scene Access
• Audio Commentary
• Feature Trailers
• Bonus Trailers
• Featurettes
• Music Videos
• Digital Copy

I found this to be an entertaining movie. At first I thought the idea of the storyline was stupid and wasn't sure I wanted to see it. Then the film was given to me. Once I actually watched it... I found it to be just a fun idea. One thing I like about this one... it isn't just a straight horror film... there is a lot of great action sequences as well. I think this one is worth the time put in to watch it. Recommended.



Scorecard:
TV Eps: 23
Movies: 11

(From Month Long Horror/Halloween Marathon on October 10th, 2014)

Veronica Mars Marathon, a review by addicted2dvd

Episode 5: You Think You Know Somebody
Border incident. Troy's trip to Tijuana ends with him saying adios to his father's car when thieves nab the wheels. Good thing he has a detective for a girlfriend. Or is it?

My Thoughts:
This is a pretty good episode... but not one of my favorites... in this episode Veronica finds out that her father is dating her guidance counselor... and her father runs a background check on  Veronica's boyfriend Troy... giving it to her... telling her she can look at it if she wants... but the decision is hers. Also Veronica continues her search for her mom. In this episode I found myself more interested in the side stories then I was in that week's mystery.

Episode 6: Return of the Kane
Dirty politics in the school election has Veronica doing the Woodward-and-Bernstein bit. Plus: Logan creates a PR nightmare for his movie-star father when he sets up fight nights featuring homeless men.

My Thoughts:
This one was a good episode. Not only did we get a decent weekly mystery that was entertaining... it really worked hard on the season long mystery as well.

Episode 7: The Girl Next Door
Veronica's pregnant neighbor disappears right after an argument with her artist boyfriend. Pranksters: Weevil and Logan unleash their creativity when they serve detention together.

My Thoughts:
This was a decent episode... I enjoyed it... but it did have one major flaw in it. This is one of the episodes that works mostly on the single episode mystery. And I still remember the first time I saw it I found the end of the mystery to be very predictable. I saw it coming a mile away. This is something that don't happen all that often on Veronica Mars... but it does happen every now and then.

Episode 8: Like A Virgin
Pure hell. An online "purity test" ruins the reputation of Veronica's friend. Also: Keith helps Wallace's mother lose a bad-news tenant. And Veronica visits Abel Koontz on death row -- with disturbing results.

My Thoughts:
This was definitely a good episode... very entertaining... with a surprising ending. I especially liked how they handled who was behind the "purity test".

(From Veronica Mars Marathon on August 24th, 2007)