The Adjustemnt Bureau

I caught up with The Adjustment bureau on Blu-ray this weekend and I wish I had seen this film in the theatre. I really enjoyed this sci-fi suspense film that explored the blurred line between free will and destiny.

Matt Damon stars as David Norris, a NY politician who crosses path with a woman (Emily Blunt) whom he has an immediate attraction to, on the same night he loses election to the U.S. Senate. Months later, by chance, their paths cross again and this time he gets her number.

But they were pre-ordained never to meet again and the chance happened because one of the "caseworkers" who manages his destiny slipped up. because of the slip up, David also witnesses the caseworkers in action, something no human is ever supposed to see.

John Slattery stars as Richardson, the leader of this group of men from the Adjustment Bureau who manage life's plan and makes sure it stays on track. he gives David two choices. Never see Elisa again and never reveal what he has seen, or have is mind scrambled so he remembers nothing and people will think he has gone insane. Another caseworker, Harry (Anthony Mackie) the one that slipped up, gives David a more detailed explanation of what the caseworkers do and warns David not to attempt to defy them.

But three years later David meets Elise again and this time he is determined to be with her despite what the Bureau claims is his destiny. 

On the one hand The Adjustment Bureau is a romantic thriller and on the other hand it is a metaphysical discussion about free will and destiny. Do we choose what happens to us or is it all pre-ordained and we are just following a script somewhere. The film carefully balances these themes in a refreshing way, while the thriller aspects of the story keep you in suspense.

I really enjoyed The Adjustment Bureau. It was fast paced and didn't dumb things down for the audience. Damon and Blunt were excellent together and the story used CGI to create some cool visuals of NYC that can be accessed through some very unique doorways.

At The Movie House rating *** stars

The Green Lantern

The Green Lantern is the second of three super-hero movies coming out this summer. The special effects laden super-hero action picture has become a summer staple since Batman in 1989, and every year the studios search for a new character to launch a franchise with. The crash and burn pile is littered with the bodies of Dick Tracy, The Shadow, The Rocketeer, The Phantom and Daredevil. 

Fortunately for Warner Brothers The Green Lantern avoids death in his first outing. The film has made $101 million dollars in it's first 17 days of release so The Green Lantern may survive to appear in a sequel about three years from now.

The Green Lantern is not a terrible movie, it's just a terribly predictable movie. I had to control myself to not blurt out lines of dialogue or state obvious events that were about to happen. But at this point aren't all super-hero movies predictable? The film is a full blown summer popcorn picture, a spectacular show of sight and sound without a lot of substance. The substance that is there is found in the charm of Ryan Reynolds performance. As test pilot Hal Jordan and then later as the newly christened Green Lantern he brings a freshness and sincerity to the movie that rises above the predictable stuff.

Like any first super-hero film, the movie is bogged down with telling the origin of the super-hero and filling in a lot of back story which can slow down the pacing. Hopefully if Warner attempts a sequel, they can create a faster paced adventure for The Green Lantern with the same balance of action and comedy that worked for this film.

Once again the 3D technique is used to full advantage to add spectacular depth to the film, especially in the scenes on planet Oa and enhance the movie going experience.

if you enjoy super-hero movies, big summer action pics or you are under the age of 21 you'll have a fun time at The Green Lantern other wise you should skip this film and wait for Captain America later on this summer.

At The Movie House rating **1/2 stars - recommended with reservations

Cars 2

Cars 2 is the latest full length animated feature from the creative geniuses at Pixar. It is a sequel to the 2006 hit Cars and features all the favorite roadsters, except the Hudson Hornet played by Paul Newman, and introduces a couple of new characters.

Lighting McQueen (Owen Wilson) has had a successful career as a stock car racer, but know he has excepted a challenge to participate in an international Grand Prix. His best friend Tow Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) travels along as part of his pit crew and becomes mistaken for an American spy.

Cars 2 is a spoof on the James Bond Movies of the 60's with the cars having unique gadgets of their own. The new cars are a Finn McMissle (Micheal Caine) a British secret agent and Holly Shiftwell (Emily Mortimer) his able bodied assistant. 

Mater is the real star of the movie as the British agents mistake him for an American spy in disguise. When his antics embarrass McQueen and cause him to lose the first race in Tokyo, Mater and Lightning are on the outs. It's not until they reach London at the conclusion when they repair their friendship and save the day.

Many critics have given the film poor reviews because they compare it to Pixar's outstanding films such as Up, Toy Story 3, Wall-E and Ratatouille, and that's not really fair. Each film should be based on it's own merits not the merits of previous work. The movie is fast paced, highly inventive and has lots of funny moments. Kids should love it, but for me a little bit of Mater goes a long way. The film lacks the originality of the first film and the story while the spy story is a funny satire, the relationship story between the two buddies felt old and tired. Good but not great work from Pixar.

The Pixar team does an excellent job of using 3D technology to great benefit and I saw the film in IMAX 3D and from that aspect it was great experience.

At The Movie House rating **1/2 stars. Recommended with reservations.

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Time to catch up on my movie notes. Last week I saw the final installment of the NCM Fathom's presentation of Lord of the Rings. This is the first time I have seen the extended version of The Return of the King and I can say, without a doubt, even at almost four hours long, it is a better film. I understand the restraints of not being able to release films that 240 minutes long, but by extending the three films director Peter Jackson has created a truly epic masterpiece. The added footage adds nuances and depth of character that were missing from the shorter films. The Two Towers is a much better film because of the added footage and to be honest I was so engaged with Return of the King I could not tell you what was original and what was added. Nothing felt out of place. The flow of the narrative was so smooth that it felt as if the movie was always assembled this way.

If you missed seeing these three great films in their theatrical debut this month I highly recommend you go out and purchase the newly released Blu-ray versions immediately.

At The Movie House rating - LOTR: Return of the King **** stars.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

NCM Fathom Events www.fathomevents.com is screening The Lord of the Rings Trilogy this month at movie theatres nationwide. My own AMC Theatre in Emeryville hosted the event and I had a front row seat. The first showing was The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring last night. The next two movies will be screened on consecutive Tuesdays. These are the extended versions that were released to DVD after the films initial theatrical run in 2001 ( I can't believe LOTR is 10 years old already). The event opened with comments by Peter Jackson from the set of The Hobbit in New Zealand and then the sell-out crowd of over three hundred people were once again transported to Middle earth to join Frodo on his epic journey to Mount Doom. The film was spectacular and the audience watched in rapt attention without any of the usual disturbances that occur daily in a theatre.

The Lord of the Ring films are big spectacles that need to be seen on the big screen, especially with a full theatre of appreciative fans. The extended version is about 40 minutes longer than the original version and this is the first time they have been shown theatrically. The prints were remastered for the Blu-ray release later this month.

I am looking forward to next week's installment, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, which was a much better film with the extended scenes and then finally on June 28 I will be watching, for the first time, the extended version of LOTR: The Return of the King, the final, Oscar winning chapter in this epic saga.

At the Movie House rating ****

Super 8

I came of age when the summer blockbuster was born. I have fond memories of going to see Jaws, Star Wars, Alien, The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. These were magical movies that were all about story and not special effects. The age of Godzilla and Armageddon was not upon us yet, when studios would spend as much money to market movies as they did to make them. These were innocent movies in a more innocent time.

Director J.J. Abrams in a loving homage to those early days of great science fiction fantasy takes us back, and makes us realize how much we miss good movies, with his superb movie Super 8. The movie feels like a classic Steven Spielberg film and the fact that Spielberg is the producer might have something to do with it. But Abrams and Spielberg have known each other for years and have always been looking for the right opportunity to work together. Abrams grew up watching the same movies I did and in Super 8 he has re-created the perfect summer movie. Super 8 takes the sci-fi elements from Close Encounters and mixes them with the fear from Jaws, and then adds all the warmth from E.T., and gives us a film that will make you jump in your seat, but also touch your heart with a sense of wonder. 

The film follows the story of a group of kids, geeks, who are making a zombie movie with a home movie camera. The film is Super 8, a type of 8mm film, hence the title. One night, while filming they witness a horrific train crash, and when the military moves in to clean-up, they begin to realize that everything is not what it seems.

I won't go into the plot any further than that because you need the movie to unfold for you in it's own special way. Abrams has written a frighteningly good script that relies more on the human emotions of his actors than it does on the CGI guys creating the special effects. The bulk of the movie falls on new comer Joel Courtney as Joe Lamb, a boy who is learning some hard facts about life, but still filled with an adolescent sense of wonder and adventure.

Super 8 is not your typical summer blockbuster. There are no big name stars in Super 8. The very effective Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Light's) stars as  Joe's dad. The only girl amongst the group of boy movie makers is Elle Fanning (sister of Dakota Fanning) and playing her dad is Ron Eldard (ER, Deep Impact, Black Hawk Down). And that's it. The film is not a sequel or a super-hero movie. In addition Paramount used an almost stealth like marketing campaign. I could not find anyone under the age of 40 who even knew what the title referred to (super 8mm film became obsolete in the early 90's with the advent of the camcorder). The trailer looked great, but explained little, and the advertising art of a landscape vertical in the frame told even less. In many ways the marketing campaign resembled another film, a little summer flick from 1982 called E.T., also directed by a new, but successful director. That film went on to  be one of the biggest hits of all time. Let's hope Super 8 does the same.

At The Movie House rating ****

Why Vertigo?

Alfred Hitchcock's Masterpiece Vertigo is my all time favorite film. I have seen it more than fifty times and every time I watch it I see something new. My most recent viewing I was drawn to Hitchcock's use of the color yellow. The film is renowned for the masterful use of red and green to create and enhance emotion, but on this viewing I noticed the yellow. In the apartment of the girlfriend Midge (Barbara Bel Geddes). her sweater, the step stool, the curtains. The golden and soft browns of the furniture and wall coverings. I realized there was almost a complete absence of red and green in these scenes. Later when Scottie (Jimmy Stewart is having the nightmare the overhead shot shows a bright yellow blanket on his bed, dividing him in half. What was Hitch trying to say by using yellow like this. And what does it say about a film that, even after fifty viewings, it leaves it's audience wanting to know more.

Vertigo is unique. It is the singular vision of a master filmmaker. The entire film is created in his mind before a single piece of work is done. Then he story boards everything out so he can hold his visualization in his hands. But film is a collaborative effort with hundreds of people working to create a movie. With Vertigo all these people work, using their own unique talents to create the vision of one person. And they do it magnificently.

Alfred Hitchcock believed in pure cinema. The use of images and sound to tell a story without dialogue. In Vertigo he achieves this. There are long stretches of hypnotic beauty, especially when Scottie trails Madeline (Kim Novak) around the city. As he follows her we can see his interest become more than curiosity. The first half of the film has a dream-like quality as Scottie falls in love with the mysterious Madeline.

If the first half of the film is a dream, the second half is a living nightmare for Scottie. Now he is trapped with his obsession for the deceased Madeline. His entire life is dictated by the need to have something back which has been lost. Never has an actor so clearly played someone who is haunted by obsessive love, then Jimmy Stewart in the last half of Vertigo. 

I am a great fan of Jimmy Stewart and I think he gives the best performance of his career. In Vertigo and in the last half of It's A Wonderful Life he takes his famous "everyman" character and shows us the dark side of human nature. The "Mr. Hyde" that is inside all of us, made all the more fearful because it was Jimmy Stewart, the gentle man so beloved.

Kim Novak is also outstanding. There has been a lot of critical comments written about her performance, but I believe it is the best of her career. Throughout the film she plays a woman who's primary emotion is fear. In the first half she is involved ** spoiler alert** in a murder plot and fear of being caught can't be far from the surface. Then she falls in love with Stewart and is afraid of losing him if she proceeds with the plan. But she must proceed because things have gone too far already. Then, in the second half of the film she is a woman afraid of being found out. Afraid of not being loved for who she is. Afraid of being re-created as the deceased Madeline and afraid that Scottie will only ever love her as Madeline. She is the typical cool blond on the surface, but the fear is there, in her eyes in her voice, always just under the surface. An excellent portrayal.

The movie stars Stewart and Novak, but it also stars San Francisco. Hitchcock came to the city in 1951 and it's visual beauty is what inspired him to film Vertigo here. The city is almost like a living breathing character in the film as Scottie and Madeline travel its streets in search of something they will never find.

As I mentioned earlier in a Hitchcock film every detail is thought out and Vertigo is no exception. The camera only pans left to right in the early part of the film and right to left in the second half. Madeline is shot in right profile and Judy in left. The movement of the camera and the actors have repeated circular patterns. All of this to draw the viewer inward. Scenes alternate from day to night, patterns are created and repeated over and over again. Almost hypnotic just like the spirals in the opening credits.

Saul Bass is the man who redefined what movie credits could be created one of his best works for Vertigo. Another of Hitchcock's collaborator's Bernard Hermann created his greatest work and one of the best movie scores ever written when he created the hauntingly romantic music for Vertigo.

I first saw vertigo when I was very young. It was broadcast on TV and i watched it. This had to be sometime between 1967 and 1969. I was aware it was a Hitchcock film. Even at that age I knew who he was because of his TV show and I had already seen The Birds a few times (I watched it whenever it was on). Vertigo along with Rope, Rear Window, The Man Who Knew Too Much and The Trouble With Harry, were personally removed from circulation by Hitchcock in 1970. They were not shown in a theatre or on TV for the next thirteen years, until Universal negotiated the rights with Hitchcock's estate. In October 1983 all five films were shown in theatres and I attended the premieres of all of them. 

I loved each and every one of them but the images from Vertigo stayed with me. My mind vividly recalled images of the film from when I watched it as a child. I distinctly remembered the opening rooftop scene. The scene when Madeline jumps in the bay and the scene in the bell tower. Obviously something about this film had touched a nerve in me. I also remembered that the film had created a romanticized image of San Francisco and I think that is where I got the desire to live here.

All five films were released to home video in 1984 and I owned all five on RCA Selectavision discs and then later on VHS. But even then I knew about "pan and scan" and VistaVision and knew something was missing. In 1996 I attended the world premiere of the restored version of Vertigo at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City and that was a huge event. I was blown away at how beautiful the film was and I was drawn into it's hypnotic spell all over again. I have owned the film on laser disc and DVD and I am sure I will buy it when it comes out on Blu-ray.

I have seen it screened twice more on the big screen, once at Lincoln Center in NYC, and at The Castro Theatre here in SF.

Vertigo is the greatest work of one of cinema's most creative geniuses and that is why it is my favorite film.

At The Movie House rating ****

West Side Story

Tonight I had the opportunity to see West Side Story projected in it's original 70mm Panavision format. There are very few theatres that can screen a 70mm film so this was a rare treat.

I love West Side Story and have seen it many times. I have owned it on RCA Selectavision, VHS, Laser Disc and DVD. When the Blu-ray comes out I'm sure I'll buy it. West Side Story is a remarkable film that deserves the accolades it has received and the multiple Academy Awards it won.

I have seen it on a big screen before. It was many years ago at an outdoor summer film festival. But that was an old 16mm or 35mm print. Seeing it in 70mm was like seeing it for the first time. The theatre was packed and I could easily imagine the audiences filling the Rivoli theatre 50 years ago where the movie played for 77 consecutive weeks. Rivoli Theatre

The theatre went dark and the overture started. The curtain parted and those abstract lines appeared on the screen and I was drawn into the film in a way I had never been before. The music continued exploring all the themes of this landmark musical. The screen alternated colors  until finally the title appeared on screen and the abstract lines turned into the new York city skyline circa 1960.

Watching the opening few minutes of the film I realized director Robert Wise used the same opening for The Sound of Music four years later. Each movie begins with an aerial shot of the scenery below. The ambient noise of the surroundings are heard and above all that is the soft musical notes of the films prologue. The camera glides along over head until it comes down and zooms in on an actor. Russ Tamblyn in West Side Story and Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music.

I was filled with delight as the film played before me. You could feel the appreciative energy from the audience watching this great film in all it's magnificent 70mm splendor. Every detail was crisp and colors popped. The ugly tenements of NYC never looked so good. Within minutes I was caught up in the urban love story of Maria and Tony and I have to admit, I had a tear in my eye at the end. 

Watching West Side Story at the Castro reaffirmed my belief that the best way to see a movie is in a theatre with an audience. Movies are larger than life and should be watched on a big screen, not an iPod. 

And now I am going to propose some heresy. West Side Story should be remade. Watching the film in 70mm not only exposed its' beauty, but all it's flaws as well. West Side Story is a great film, but it has not aged well. On Broadway every few years a musical is revived and re-staged or re-imagined, so perhaps it is time for West Side Story to under go a remake of it's own. Here are the things that need to be addressed.

The Casting: Richard Beymer and Natalie Wood were seriously miscast. Neither can sing and the overdubbing of both is painfully obvious when watching the movie. Beymer also lacks the charisma to fully portray the Tony character. Natalie Wood constantly slips in and out of a Spanish accent when she talks. And both stars appear older then the characters they portray. The film requires more youthful actors who can sing. And the role of Maria should go to a Hispanic woman who can really embody the part. 

The Dancing: What was once modern now appears dated. The entire audience laughed when the Jets started dancing in the opening number. Their ballet moves, while graceful, looked silly compared to the tough characters they were supposedly portraying. In addition the modern dance, choreographed by Jerome Robbins, may have been new in the 1950's, but now they looked like out of date Bob Fosse. All the dancing should be updated to more modern, athletic style dancing, while still retaining some of the classical ballet elements.  

Themes and Dialogue: The film is filled with references of disenfranchised youth popular with such films as Rebel Without a Cause and Blackboard Jungle. The advent of the rebellious anti-social teenager became popular in the 1950's when the play musical was originally produced. But at no time do any of the gang members give off a sense of menace or violence. They were brawling, violent urban gang members living in a slum yet they were amazingly clean cut. This is especially notable in the speech Riff gives to the Jets at the beginning of the film. A lot of the films language is dated, especially in the use of slang terms such as "Daddy-O". There were many moments where the audience laughed and twittered at dialogue or actions that might have seemed contemporary fifty years ago. 

Can a film like West Side Story be remade? I think so. And since Hollywood is remaking My Fair Lady, another landmark musical from the 1960's, there is no reason West Side Story shouldn't be considered. The play and music are great, so there is no reason a new modernized version should not find an audience. Maybe it's time to add some of the Spanish language elements that made the 2009 Broadway revival so popular. 

The Castro Theatre os sceening three other 70mm prints this week, Play Time, Vertigo and Lawrence of Arabia and I hope to catch all three.

At The Movie House rating **** stars

X-Men: First Class

Surprise, surprise just when I thought the X-men franchise was played out X-Men: First Class delivers a superior film with a complex plot that is focused on character just as much as it is focused on special mutant powers and computer generated special effects.

The film is a prequel that tells the origin story of Professor X and how he formed the X-men and started his school for gifted children. It stars James McAvoy as Charles Xavier/Professor X and Micheal Fassbender as Eric Lehnsherr/ Magneto and the movie is primarily a story a bout their relationship. The film explores some of the same themes of the Star Wars films as Charles attempts to turn Eric away from the dark side of his mutant nature.

The film opens in 1944 Poland and we see the same scene from the Nazi concentration camp that opened the original X-men film. The movie jumps to Westchester where we meet a young Charles Xavier and the mutant girl Raven / Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence). The plot moves along swiftly, advancing in time as it bounces around the globe. Eric is in search of the Nazi doctor who killed his mother. Charles is in Oxford completing his education. As a young man we see Charles is not above using his telepathic powers to pick up a girl.

The Nazi doctor Dr. Schmidt is played by Kevin Bacon and he is the films primary antagonist. He adopts the alias Sebastian Shaw and he has brought together a band of mutants, called The Hellfire Club, and has inserted himself into the serious tensions between the U.S.A. and the Soviet Union right before the Cuban Missile Crisis. 

CIA agent Moira Mac Taggart (Rose Byrne) becomes aware of Shaw's band of mutants and seeks out one of the world's leading experts on genetic mutation, Charles Xavier, to help her understand what they are up against. Xavier, Mac Taggart and Raven join up with The Man in Black (Oliver Platt) a CIA agent and head of Division X, a government agency.

The movie details the banding together of other mutants in order to stop Shaw from starting a nuclear war by manipulating both sides in the Cuban Missile Crisis.

While the film offers a multitude of mutant characters most of them are realistic drawn and seem like real people rather than just 2 dimensional super heroes. The plot is complex and yet easy to follow with just the right balance of drama, action and humor. Director Matthew Vaughn really tapped directly into the spirit of the X-men comics while bringing some freshness to the whole super-hero movie genre.

McAvoy and Fassbender are at the center of the film and each of them give strong dramatic performances that the film needs to maintain the dramatic tension of the film.

Visually the CGI artist do a great job of keeping all the super-hero action grounded with a sense of realism. 

I had very low expectations for this movie and was surprised and delighted by how good it was. Looks like the X-men series has gotten an official re-boot from Fox. Expect a sequel to follow in 2013 or 2014.

At The Movie House rating ***1/2 stars

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

The original Pirates of the Caribbean movie, The Curse of the Black Pearl, took Hollywood and audiences by surprise. Nobody expected much from a film based on a theme park attraction. And a successful pirate movie had not been made in many a year. But a clever script and a head turning performance by Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow, resulted in a critical and commercial hit beyond all expectations.

A basic axiom in Hollywood is that a hugely successful movie immediately becomes a tent pole for an entire franchise and hence, The Pirates of the Caribbean series was born.

The first two sequels Dead Man's Chest and World's End were filmed back to back and are, in reality one film split in half. Neither film received the critical praise of the first movie but both went on to be big hits at the box office. When viewed individually the two sequels are confusing masses of multiple sub-plots and intertwining characters and neither film stands up to critical scrutiny.

But if you sat down for eight hours and watched all three in a row what you would have is an epic tale about the undying true love Elizabeth Swann and Will Turner, and their adventures with Captain Jack Sparrow. And this brings me to my point. In the first three movies Captain Jack was not the only star of the films. He shared screen time with Elizabeth and Will, Captain Barbossa and Davey Jones himself. Captain Jack is the catalyst for much that happens, but he is not the one who grows and changes during the film. It is not his story we are watching.

In the new film Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides Captain Jack (Johnny Depp) is the star. the film follows his adventure to find the fountain of youth. But Captain Jack is fun and interesting in small doses. He is at his best when he is plotting and planning and making clever comments and asides as the action occurs around him. The problem with making a movie with Captain Jack Sparrow as the central character is that he does not grow or change. Captain Jack is who he is and the more we see of him the less interesting he becomes.

Johnny Depp still owns the role and his performance brings back all the same mannerisms and weirdness we loved. It's just that we are used to it by now. Penelope Cruz turns up as Angelica, an old flame of Jack's who just happens to be the daughter of Blackbeard the Pirate. Cruz and Depp have chemistry but their witty banter is nothing compared to the unspoken romance of Captain Jack and Elizabeth Swann (Kiera Knightly) in the original films.

Ian McShane takes on the role of Blackbeard the Pirate and he has some fun with it, but not enough. His reputation is that of the pirate that pirates fear, but except for his fire breathing ship (???) he does not come across all that bad. 

Geoffrey Rush returns as barbossa who is now a privateer in his majesty's navy. For his own reasons he is also chasing after Blackbeard. Rush too seems to be playing his character by memory. 

The movie opens with a rousing chase scene set in London that begins with Jack Sparrow having an audience with King George and ends with Captain Jack receiving a warning from his pirate father, Keith Richards. (Judi Dench also has a brief and funny cameo.)

The London set-up seems to promise an exciting action packed frolic, much like the first film, filled with an equal mixture of comedy, drama and action. Instead, once the main story begins, when all the characters are searching for the fountain of youth, the film settles into a dull pattern action, talk, talk, action, talk and never goes anywhere.The audience never really cares about the quest or why any of them are looking for the fountain. In fact Jack does not even seem to have a reason. 

The story itself is very straight forward and hence boring. In the other Pirate movies you were never quite sure what was going on but you were always able to follow along as events transpired. In the fourth film the inspired lunacy of director Gore Verbinski is replaced with the by the numbers story telling of director Rob Marshall. It seems to me that after putting all his razzle-dazzle in his film Chicago, director Marshall has never been able to add that "something extra" to any of his other films. Since Chicago his subsequent movies, Memoirs of a Geisha, Nine and now Pirates have all lacked energy that would give them life beyond their plot outlines. Of the four films On Stranger Tides is the shortest, but somehow it felt like the longest.

Pirates of the Caribbean is a fun summer popcorn movie and it's great to see Jack Sparrow back in action again, but I wish the director and writers had given him a more worthy adventure to pursue.

At The Movie House Rating **1/2 stars

Movies To Watch While You Continue To Wait For The Rapture

An anonymous reader pointed out that I missed a film about the end of the world starring Harry Belafonte, but they could not remember the title.

They are thinking of The Word, The Flesh and The Devil. 

The movie stars Belafonte, Inger Stevens and Mel Ferrer as three survivors of a nuclear holocaust and does feature startling scenes of an eerily empty new York City.

Actually films of nuclear Armageddon are plentiful and since it looks like The Rapture has been delayed this may be an opportunity to catch up on a few.

Fail Safe - when the US and the Soviet Union are brought to the brink of war.

On The Beach - nuclear holocaust survivors search for a safe place to live.

Testament - the effects of nuclear devastation on the residents of a small California town. 

The Day After Tomorrow - frightening made for TV movie from the early eighties.

(poster is for Spanish theatrical release)

And of course I can't leave out one of the most famous post-apocalyptic film series of all time,

The Planet of the Apes.

The Missing Woody Allen's

To Celebrate the release of Woody Allen's forty-first film as writer/director I was preparing a post of my all time favorite Woody Allen movies, when I realized that there were many films of his I still have not seen. I took a count and realized that, including Midnight in Paris, I have not seen fifteen of his forty-one films, or over a third of his body of work. I will start remedying that immediately since, with the exception of Midnight in Paris, I own all of them. Here in descending order of release are the 15 films I have not seen.

2011

2010

2009

2007

2006

2005

2001

1999

1998

1997

1992

1992

1988

1987

1978

Starting this week I'll be having a Woody Allen Missing Film Festival culminating with Midnight in Paris when it opens here in San Francisco.

Movies To Watch While You Wait For The Rapture

According to Harold Camping the end of the world will happen at 6 PM today (I don't remember if that was east coast or west coast time). When it happens the faithful will be lifted up bodily to heaven and those left behind will endure five months of horror until the world ends in October.

The end of the world as we know it is nothing new in Hollywood. Filmmakers have envisioned our end through many means. While you are waiting for the 6 O'clock hour to roll around and the rapture to begin take the opportunity to settle down with some popcorn and one last movie. Here are some doom and destruction recommendations.

 From director Michael Tolkin this 1991 film starring David Duchovny and Mimi Rogers deals directly with the subject of those who believe in The Rapture.

Without directly mentioning The Rapture this 2009 thriller starring Nicholas Cage deals with predictions that may reveal horrific events to come. 

The third film in The Omen trilogy this one deals directly with the rise of the anti-christ and the second coming of Christ.

Not all doomsday movies are based in spiritual destruction. Last year's 2012 dealt with the massive destruction of the earth due to shifts in the earth's crust causing massive earthquakes and tsunami's that wipe out civilization.

In 2004's The Day After Tomorrow it was global warming that cause a massive melt of the polar ice caps, which in turn cause hurricane force winter storms that freeze everyone to death.

Destruction by melting ice caps was also the cause of the world's destruction in the dreadful Waterworld from 1995.

Doom from outer space has been depicted by Hollywood for many years. The first cause of our destruction is the stray flying object such as a meteor, asteroid or comet that crashes into the earth and brings about the end of civilization. Here are some of the best.

From 1951 comes one of the earliest sci-fi disaster films When Worlds Collide.

In 1979 we had the all-star disaster film Meteor. It was a disaster in every sense of the word.

And in 1998 Hollywood offered up dueling meteor films. Armageddon was an action packed thriller starring Bruce Willis

And Deep Impact was an intellectual melodrama with an all star cast. The Winner at the box office was Armageddon.

The other form of doom coming from space is the alien invasion. This has been depicted in countless films but three of the best are:

George Pal's 1953 adaptation of H.G. Wells War of the Worlds

Independence Day from 1994, featuring a worldwide attack of giant alien ships and humanity's attempt to survive.

And from 2005 Steven Spielberg revisited H.G. Wells sci-fi classic with a new interpretation starring Tom Cruise.

The aliens may not come in giant ships to destroy us all. Instead they may come as something else, something sinister that takes over our minds and bodies and destroys our souls. jack Finney envisioned this in his classic sci-fi thriller Invasion of the Body Snatchers which has been adapted into multiple films.

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The end of the world may not come from aliens or asteroids from outer space. Instead it may come from within. From man's own mind and the creation of biological or mechanical terrors that doom us all.

Richard Matheson's sci-fi thriller I Am Legend has been adapted by Hollywood three times. 

1964's US/Italian production of The Last Man on Earth starring Vincent Price

The Omega Man starring Charlton Heston from 1971

I Am Legend starring Will Smith from 2009. 

If a rare virus does not get us then it will be the terror of our own inventions that doom us all.

The Terminator series, beginning in 1984 and ending in 2009, depict the doom of man by machines of his own creation.

The Matrix also depicts a world where the machines have taken over and humans are now a never ending, renewable power source to keep them going.

And just in case The Rapture is late in coming you can entertain yourself with the ultimate battle of good and evil by watching  Stephen King's The Stand. Produced in 1994 this 6 hour mini-series features a post apocalyptic world where 96% of the population has been wiped out by a man made virus and those left behind must choose sides in the final stand between good and evil.