My Favorite Movies

Laugh out loud funny with more quotable lines than most any other movie.

Vampires and humor--who can ask for more?

This is the story of the 1980 Olympic hockey team that beat the USSR and won the gold medal at Lake Placid. In this version of the story, the focus is on the coach, Herb Brooks played by Kurt Russell. (See? If someone stays in Hollywood long enough, even I'll learn the name. ;-O) I don't think I need to recap the action, do I? This was voted the sports story of the century by Sports Illustrated, so I'm sure you all know it.

There was a lot to love about this movie. Kurt Russell did a stellar job playing Coach Brooks and every expression on his face helped tell the story. Fabulous acting by Kurt, I thought, and everyone else in the movie. Actually, I didn't think about the acting until after the final credits were rolling, so I'd say that means it was good. I could believe for the length of the story that this was Herb Brooks, not Kurt playing Herb.

Another thing I really liked was that the movie opened with a montage of world events for the ten years preceding the 1980 Winter Olympics. This put the game in context for the political and social climate of the time. It's easy to forget that the Soviets had invaded Afghanistan and the US was going to boycott the Summer Olympics that year in protest or that the Soviet Bloc had threatened to boycott the Winter Games. They didn't, but it had been a real threat. The other thing that's easy to forget in this world we live in now is that the Cold War was still very much alive and well in 1980 and that this was viewed as more than a game by a lot of people.

The hockey scenes were very well done, and when I watched the extra on the DVD that took the viewer behind the scenes, I discovered it was because they'd cast hockey players who could act. True! They actually tested them on hockey skills with some NHL coaches before they were allowed to read for the roles. They had to have a certain level of ability or they weren't even considered. The casting was done all across the US and in Vancouver, Canada as well. I didn't notice any real deficiencies in the acting, so I think this strategy worked.

The best part about this movie, though, was that despite the fact I knew the outcome--the USA wins the gold medal--there was enough suspense during the Olympic hockey scenes to keep me on the edge of my seat. I was actually stressed out, wondering whether or not they'd win. :-)

The movie is 136 minutes long, which made me hesitate because it was pretty late when I popped it in and I was already tired, but the time flew by. It felt like a much shorter film. There was always something going on--if it wasn't action, it was character development--and I couldn't believe how quickly the end came. This movie made me remember just why I used to love hockey so much. I might have to catch a few Wild games on TV this winter. :-)

At the very end, when the credits were playing, they showed the actors names and what that hockey player was doing now. I really liked that they did that, gave us a chance to catch up on what happened to the 1980 team.

My rating: 5 stars

Go watch this movie; it's fabulous!

In this movie, an ex-Special Forces soldier (Frank) is a getaway driver/transporter who lives by a few simple rules. I can't remember his first rule, but his second is: No Names. And the third is: Never look at the package. Only he breaks rule number three and finds a beautiful Asian woman who's trussed up and stuck inside a large bag. He still delivers her as promised to the bad guy.

Only this guy wants no witnesses and when the hero finds out he's been double crossed, he heads back to the mansion to kick some ass. The bad guy isn't there, but Frank takes out lots and lots of henchmen before stealing a car. Guess who's hiding in the back? Before you know it, our disinterested, dispassionate hero is joining the heroine's fight to stop a slavery ring. The bad guy, you see, is part of a cartel shipping men, women and children from Asia to Europe to be enslaved.

I really, really liked this movie! Lots of great action and martial arts scenes, without the icky trademark moves that some martial arts actors have--like breaking the elbow backward and other gross out stuff like this. In fact, with the music score accompanying one of the fight scenes, it was nearly humorous. I think that one of the best things about this movie is that you can tell everyone was having a good time making it.

There was just enough relationship stuff between the h/h to keep me interested, but I would have liked more. I also wish that the relationship would continue in the sequel, which I promptly added to my NetFlix queue after seeing this movie. Unfortunately, the actress's name does not appear in the credits for Transporter 2.

I didn't like the fact that the heroine screamed so much and stood by helplessly when she showed such ingenuity in other ways. She ruins her own escape attempt by screaming and there were a few other moves she made along those lines. It would have been cool if she was more his equal.

If you like action/adventure, suspense and martial arts, I can give this movie a big thumbs up. In fact, I liked it so much, that I watched it again with the commentary on to hear what the director (?) and Jason someone (hero) had to say. That was mostly uninteresting, but there were a few things I glommed onto.

First, was the fact that the Asian actress pretty much didn't speak English, but between the time she was hired for the movie and the time they filmed it, she'd learned a lot. Second, this woman had appeared in the Chinese version of Charlie's Angels for Sony Japan (?) and she wanted her character to be stronger and not a damsel in distress. The director wouldn't let her because it was supposed to be the hero's movie. Since one of my peeves was the fact she did stand around helplessly, I was like, cool, she wanted to do more.