Robert Hays’ and ‘Julie Hagerty’ join panicky passengers, inept ground controllers and an inflatable auto-pilot in the disaster-film spoof voted ‘one of the 10 funniest movies ever made’ by the ‘American Film Institute.’
What can I possibly say about Airplane!? It is one of the silliest comedies ever made, the first of Zucker and Abraham’s much loved style that in retrospect peaked early with Naked Gun and tailed off pretty quickly (Scary Movie 5?), destroying poor old Leslie Nielsen’s career in the meantime.
So maybe they have been responsible for more bad than good (it did at least stop all those bloody Airport films), but that doesn’t stop Airplane! being amongst the truly funniest and most quoted comedies of all time.
Surely I can’t be serious? You bet I am. And stop calling me Shirley.
If you’ve never seen it, I’d describe it as relentless. It seems determined to make you laugh at all costs by throwing gags at you by rapid fire. If one doesn’t work, the next one right on its tail might! You’re bound to miss things and that makes it fun to watch again. And again.
The key to it is the cast, who play it deadpan serious throughout. That’s why Nielsen found a new routine to get stereotyped in, despite his excellent work in things like Forbidden Planet, which sadly has now been forever tainted by expecting him to come out with some daft line every two minutes!
Title:A Christmas Story: 20th Anniversary: Two-Disc Special Ed. Year: 1983 Director: Bob Clark Rating: PG Length: 93 Min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78:1, Pan & Scan 1.33:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital: Mono, French: Dolby Digital: Mono, Commentary: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
Stars: Melinda Dillon Darren McGavin Peter Billingsley Ian Petrella Scott Schwartz R. D. Robb
Plot: The Christmas spirit isn't served up with more observant hilarity than in this beloved adaptation of Jean Shepherd's holiday story. In 1940s Indiana, nine-year-old Ralphie (Peter Billingsley) dreams of his ideal Christmas gift: a genuine Red Ryder 200-shot Carbine Action Air Rifle. But when gruff dad (Darren McGavin) and doting mom (Melinda Dillion) regularly respond with "You'll shoot your eye out!" Ralphie mounts a full-scale Santa-begging campaign. He encounters a slew of calamities from snowsuit paralysis to the dreaded tongue-on-a-frozen-flagpole gambit. We triple-dog-dare you to unwrap a more welcome Yuletide classic!
Extras: Scene Access Audio Commentary Feature Trailers Featurettes Interactive Games Interviews Closed Captioned Radio Readings by Jean Sheppard
My Thoughts: While I have seen small bits and pieces of this movie on cable over the years... this is actually the first time I got to see this one from start to finish. It is a fun movie... I definitely enjoyed it. Though from all the years of hearing about this one... I think I was expecting more from it... and felt it didn't live up to it's reputation for me. But it definitely had some decent laughs in it. OMG... that terrible gift from his aunt... the bunny pajamas... and the fact that his mother liked it so much was scary as well. I do think the story was over exaggerated... but I believe that was on purpose. After all it was supposed to be a guy telling the story about a childhood Christmas.
"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" Marathon, a review by DJ Doena
Disc 6
Becoming, Pt. 1
Synopsis: A series of flashbacks shows us how Angel became Angelus the first time, how he drove Drusilla into insanity, how he was cursed by the Gypsies and how he finally found his way to Sunnydale, to help Buffy. But in the here and now he has stolen Acathla, a transfixed demon who will swallow the world if he is re-awakened. But Buffy gets help: Kendra is back. And Willow wants to perform the curse to restore Angel's soul.
My Opinion: I never noticed it before that Darla says "Close your eyes" before she turns him - a sentence that Buffy will also use at the end of the next episode. And I really liked how they argued about how to deal with Angelus with Xander being the advocate for killing Angelus. He never trusted Angel or any Vampire for that matter and that won't change until the end of the show and this distrust will lead to serious arguments with Buffy again, especially in the sixth and seventh season. And sorry to sound like a broken record, but when Xander asked whether Buffy wanted to restore Angel's soul, go on "with the smooches" and pretend as if nothing had happened I involuntarily registered that as a side-remark towards Smallville. But that's impossible since Smallville wasn't even produced yet.
Becoming, Pt. 2
Synopsis: After Dru has killed Kendra and taken Giles to the mansion, Buffy is wanted for murder by the police. She has to sneak into the hospital to visit the injured Xander and the comatose Willow. But she has a lucky break: Spike (who secretly can walk again) teams up with her in order to defeat Angelus and get Dru back. Meanwhile Angelus tortures Giles to learn how to awake Acathla.
My Opinion: In just one episode Buffy's world fell apart. She has saved the world (again) but had to sacrifice pretty much everything for it. It must have been so hard for her to kill Angel - whose soul had been restored just moments ago - to close Acathla's vortex. She was thrown out from home, expelled from school and had to kill her boyfriend - can it get any worse? But I also found the events that happened before the final fight very interesting, especially her temporary alliance with Spike whom she also hates but who was the lesser of two evils at that moment. And that Xander lied to her and didn't tell her that Willow was trying the soul restoration again will also become an issue again. These two episodes have a place on the Olympus of season endings and together with the ending of season five this was the strongest ending of any Buffy season.
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May 06, 2024, 09:17:27 PM
