365+ movies in 365 days: Day 24 - Nine

Newly released on Blu-ray I took another look at Rob Marshall's Nine this evening. The movie has some great music and visuals, and the energy really pics up during the musical numbers, but the intervening parts, when the weight of the movie is carried by Daniel Day Lewis is when it breaks down.  He somehow lacks the charm or passion of a great Italian film director. It's like he thought looking scruffy, wearing sun glasses and smoking would carry the part. He seemed to Have no artistic temperament even has he struggled with his mid-life crisis and creative block. The movie is chock full of stars, some in small roles, but the star at the center is a black hole. For this movie, the parts are greater than the whole.
At The Movie House rating  **1/2 stars

35 years of Summer Blockbusters - May 23

May 23, 2003 - Seven years ago Jim Carrey had a huge hit with Bruce Almighty. Carrey plays Bruce a man imbued with the power of God. Morgan Freeman plays God and Jennifer Aniston is along for this slightly over the top comedic romp. Cleaned-up with $242 million at the box office.
At The Movie House rating **1/2 stars

Warner Bros also opened a comedy, a remake of The In-Laws. The original with Peter Falk and Alan Arkin is one of the funniest movies ever made. This retread with Micheal Douglas and Albert Brooks was dead on arrival and quickly vanished from theatres. At The Movie House rating *1/2 stars

May 23, 1997 - Thirteen years ago The Lost World: Jurassic Park opened in 3, 281 theatres and made $98 million dollars in three days, a new record. The film went on to make over $700 million worldwide. The plot was a mash up of Aliens, King Kong and Godzilla. The characters are all weak and are really there just to be eaten by the dinosaurs. The special effects and the rousing John Williams score don't disappoint, but not one of Spielberg's best efforts. (A fourth sequel is in the works).
At The Movie House rating **1/2 stars.

Also opening was the Mathew Broderick/Meg Ryan comedy Addicted To Love. This was the first romantic comedy devoted to stalkers. The movie failed to find an audience.
At The Movie House rating ** stars

May 23, 1986 - Twenty four years ago Sylvester Stallone starred in Cobra. Pure 1980's action trash. The only thing good about this film was the tag line used to sell it. "Crime is a disease. Meet the cure."
At The Movie House rating *1/2 stars

Also opening was Poltergeist II: The Other Side. The whole Freeling family returns in this sequel to the 1982 original. It was a modest success, but did not do as well as the the first film. Followed by another sequel in 1988. At The Movie House rating **1/2 stars

May 23, 1984 - Twenty six years ago we went for a roller coaster ride in the film Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom. This highly anticipated sequel to Raiders Of The Lost Ark had 10 times the action but only one tenth of the charm. Kate Capshaw does nothing but whine throughout the whole movie and was a sad replacement for Karen Allen. The film was noted for it's over the top violence and helped introduce the PG-13 rating. A huge box office hit. At The Movie House rating **1/2 stars

May 23, 1980 - Thirty years ago Stanley Kubrick presented Stephen King's The Shining. The film opened in NYC and LA and then went national 3 weeks later. It received very mixed reviews with most critics hailing Jack Nicholson's performance but stating Kubrick removed everything that was terrifying in the book. It built an audience through word of mouth and eventually made a profit for Warner Bros. Stephen King disowned the movie and wrote a screenplay for a remake that was aired on ABC years later. Time has treated Kubrick's version well and it is now considered a horror classic in it's own right.
At The Movie House rating *** stars

Also opening was a The Gong Show Movie. For reasons unknown Universal thought this would be a good movie. It was widely panned and removed from circulation. It is considered one of the worst movies ever made. It as long been out of print on home video and now has the status of cult classic.
At The Movie House rating - not rated

365+ movies in 365 days: Day 23 - Shrek Forever After

Today I went to see Shrek Forever After in 3-D at the Century Tanforan Theatres. The whole gang from Far Far Away return in this fourth (and supposedly) final sequel to the Shrek series. This time Shrek is suffering from Ogre angst. His life has turned out happily ever after, in fact too happy. He misses the days of being a mean old ordinary Ogre, when everyone was afraid of him.  In the middle of a temper tantrum he encounters Rumpelstiltskin who plies Shrek with martini's and roast rat and convinces him to sign a magical contract that will give him back 24 hours of his old life. Of course contacts with Rumpelstiltskin come with fine print and in signing the contract Shrek's entire past is wiped away and the story becomes a retelling of It's A Wonderful Life or perhaps more like Back To The Future part II.

Shrek has till sunrise to fix things by finding Fiona and experiencing Loves One True Kiss. Unfortunately things have changed for Fiona too, and Shrek is not high on her list of priorities. Along the way Shrek encounters Donkey and Puss In Boots who has been living La Vida Loca!

A movie like this relies on the strength of the bad guy and if you recall Shrek III, Prince Charming was a spoiled, whining brat and not very engaging. On the other hand the maniacal Rumpelstiltskin steals every scene he's in. He dances around the movie with malicious abandon in those wonderful wigs.

All the gang is back and it is fun to see Shrek meet them all over again, including as he says, getting to fall in love with Fiona again, but the movie doesn't really offer anything new. Everything that needed to be told about Shrek was told in the first two films. The last two have just been rehashes of the same material with the hip music, pop culture references and snark. It's an entertaining 90 minutes and the kids will like this one better than the last, and the 3-D effects enhance the movie quite a bit.

At The Movie House rating **1/2 stars

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Hi faithful readers. Had computer issues yesterday and was not able to post. Look for updates today.

35 years of Summer Blockbusters - May 22

May 22, 2009 - Just one year ago Night At The Museum: Battle Of The Smithsonian opened. It was the sequel to the surprise hit Night At The Museum from 2006. The film received very mixed reviews. It was basically a rehash of the original without the charm. It was all special effects and no story. And Dick Van Dyke was missing!! The film cost $150 million plus another $45 million for marketing, but only made $177 million in U.S. ticket sales. The original cost $144 million (including marketing) and made $255 million. This film clearly represents the law of diminishing returns for sequels.

At the Movie House rating * 1/2 stars

May 22, 2008 - Two years ago Indiana Jones returned in Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull. Written by George Lucas and directed by Steven Spielberg this was the 4th installment in the Indy/Raiders series after an absence of nineteen years. Harrison Ford returned as Indiana Jones who looked older, but none the worse for wear. The same can't be said for this installment. With a story that was convoluted and a little far-fetched, our hero does battle with commies in a race to find an alien artifact. The film is an homage to the "B" movies of the 50's, the same way the original had the flavor of the 1940's serials. Karen Allen returned, but Sean Connery did not. Denholm Elliott passed away so Ray Winstone appeared as Indy's friend. Also joining the fun were Cate Blanchett as a Soviet agent and Shia LaBeouf as Indy Jr. The film received mixed reviews but sold plenty of ticket. With $786 million worldwide gross it was the second highest grossing film of 2008. The Dark Knight was first.
At the Movie House rating *** stars

May 22, 1998 - Twelve years ago in a counter programming move against Tri-Stars Godzilla, Universal Pictures released the film version of Hunter Thompson's novel Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas. Directed by Terry Gilliame and starring Johhny Depp and Benicio Del Toro, the movie was either loved or loathed. Some criticsraved about Depp's performance and Gilliam's direction and felt they had captured the essence of the book. Others thought it was a mess. The audiences did to because the film did not do well at the box office. At the Movie House rating *** stars

May 22, 1996 - Fourteen years ago paramount Pictures launched big new summer franchise with Mission:Impossible. The big screen adaptation of the popular TV series starred Tom Cruise and was directed by Brian De Palma. The film was a hit, but was roundly criticized for it's incoherent story, lack of a truly menacing bad guy, and for turning the character of Jim Phelps (played by Peter Graves on the TV show) into a traitor. But it made boat loads of money and there have been two sequels, with a third coming next year. At the Movie House rating ** 1/2 stars

May 22, 1992 - Eighteen years ago Ron Howard's tale of immigrants from Ireland, Far and Away, opened. Starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman the film featured a lush score and beautiful cinematography. The film received mixed reviews, but had a successful box office run, especially overseas. At the Movie House rating *** stars

Also released was Alien 3. the third and (at the time) final part of the Alien story. This one was a hug departure from the first two films. First time director David Fincher was chosen to helm the project. he had made a name for himself in music videos. But there were huge clashes with fox over budget and script. Since it's release Fincher has disassociated himself from it. The film was considered a flop at the time of its release. At the Movie House rating ** 1/2 stars

May 22, 1985 - twenty five years ago Richard Pryor starred in the film Brewster's Millions, based on a book written in 1902. The book has been made into a movie 6 other times and none of them have been big hits. At the Movie House rating ** stars

Also released was Rambo: First Blood Part II. This film was a huge departure from the original where Rambo was the underdog being chased by a corrupt police force in the pacific northwest. This film has all the action picture excess of the 80's. And movie audiences loved it.
At the Movie House rating ** stars

May 22, 1981 - Twenty nine years ago this was a big day for movies. Four films were scheduled for release. That would never happen today.

First up was the big screen adaptation of The Legend Of The Lone Ranger. The studios had been searching for the next big adventure hero after Christopher Reeve starred in Superman. They thought they found him in new-comer film Klinton Spilsbury. This was his acting debut and it was so bad his entire part had to be redubbed by actor  James Keach. the film cost $18 million to make and opened with a massive marketing campaign. It only made $13 million during its run and was a huge flop. Spilsbury never appeared in another picture. At the Movie House rating  * stars

Next was Warner Bros with Outland. Directed by Peter Hymas and starring Sean Connery this sci-fi pic was essentially High Noon in space. It opened to mixed reviews and a strong first weekend, but then ticket sales dropped dramatically. It ended up making $20 million dollars.
At the Movie House rating ** 1/2 stars

Universal Pictures released a Richard Pryor comedy Bustin' Loose also starring Cicely Tyson. It was during the filming that Pryor lit himself on fire, freebasing. Production was halted for many months. The film was a good natured comedy and made $31 million in U.S. ticket sales.
At the Movie House rating ** stars

Universal also released the adult themed romantic comedy The Four Seasons. The film starred Alan Alda and Carol Burnett and was written and directed by Alda. This was his debut as a film director. Following in the path of other adult comedies such as The Goodbye Girl and Same Time, Next Year the film found an audience and made $40 million in sales. 

365+ movies in 365 days: Day 22 - Beast From 20,000 Fathoms

Today we recreated a classic Saturday Night at the movies by viewing the Warner Bros. film The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms. This was the first movie to combine the fear of the atomic age and giant monsters. It's success spawned Godzilla, Them, Gorgo and countless other giant monster movies. The monster was created by the great Ray Harryhausen and this was the first film where he had complete artistic control over the special effects.

The movie tells the story of a giant prehistoric monster frozen in the Arctic, set free by nuclear testing. The monster follows the Arctic current which leads it right to NYC. After attacking Wall Street, it winds up on Coney island, where it is killed with a deadly radioactive isotope.

The film was a big hit and a monster movie staple on television for years to come. Dated now in the age of CGI and a bit talky in the middle, it's still better than 1998's Godzilla.

At the Movie House rating **stars (plus one star for nostalgia)

35 years of Summer Blockbusters - May 20th

May 20, 1998 - Twelve years ago Sony owned Tri-Star studios suffered one of the biggest financial disasters in movie history with the release of Godzilla. The movie was sold with a massive marketing campaign featuring the tagline "Size Does Matter" and only showing a small piece of the monster. The studio worked hard to keep the actual design of the monster under wraps until the release of the film, which impacted all the licensing rights. The studio rushed the filming to meet the Memorial Day weekend release date and did not test screen the film. The number crunchers at Tri-Star were projecting an opening weekend gross of $90 million to beat out the record set by Lost World: Jurassic Park 2 the year before.

The film opened with a dud. The critics gave it scathing reviews. The monster looked like a big lizard and the last half of the script was a copy of the raptor scene in Jurassic Park, with baby Godzillas chasing Mathew Broderick in Madison Square Garden. Broderick was unbelievable in the lead as the scientist who tracks Godzilla. the film suffered from it's own massive build up and hype and when it only took in $55 million on its first weekend it was instantly deemed a failure. With a production budget of $125 million and  a marketing budget estimated at $50 million the film was a financial failure during its initial run with ticket sales of $136 million. It was more popular overseas and on home video.

Warner Bros. is planning another version for 2012.
At The Movie House rating ** stars

35 years of Summer Blockbusters - May 21st

May 21, 2009 - One year ago the fourth installment of the Terminator franchise Terminator: Salvation opened. The film failed to be #1 at the box office, beaten out by Night At the Museum 2. With a budget of $200 million and a U.S. box office of $125 million the film was considered a flop. It was met with mixed critical reviews as well. Not rated.

May 21, 1993 - Seventeen years ago saw the return of Charlie Sheen in Hot Shots: Part Deux. This time the creators of Airplane set their sights on the action pics of the 80's, such as the Rambo series, to satirize. the film was not as funny as the original but performed well at the box office.
At The Movie House rating **1/2 stars

Also opening was the highly anticipated Sliver. The film was based on the Ira Levin best seller about sex and murder in a NYC high rise. The film was widely panned on release and due to issues with the ratings board, extensive cuts and re-shoots had to be made, that resulted in a murky ending that made no sense. The film was a huge financial disaster for Paramount. At The Movie House rating 1/2 star.

May 21, 1982 - Twenty Eight years ago the studios had three big releases. First up was the novel Steve Martin comedy Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid. The film cleverly spliced in clips of old Warner Bros movies so Martin could interact with stars such as Humphrey Bogart, Ava Gardner, Bette Davis and Burt Lancaster. The film is very funny but the novelty wears off by the end. Woody Allen put this technique to much better use in Zelig. At The Movie House rating **1/2 stars

Also released was Mad Max 2 : The Road Warrior. This import from Australia was a sequel to the cult film Mad Max and is responsible for the action film genre of the 80's and for making Mel Gibson a box office giant. It was huge hit and spawned another sequel. At The Movie House rating *** stars

And finally Columbia pictures released the highly anticipated film version of the Broadway musical Annie. John Huston was chosen as the director even though he had never directed a musical before. The film lacked the charm and heart of the play and went on too long. It received mixed reviews and was a failed to turn a profit for the studio. A huge box office bomb considering the high hopes the studio had for it. At The Movie House rating ** stars

May 21, 1980 - I already discussed the 30th anniversary of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. But here is another cool poster I wanted to show off. At The Movie House rating **** stars

May 21, 1976 - Thirty four years ago Rock Hudson and Barbara Carrera starred in the horror film Embryo. It tells the tale of a scientist who experiments on embryos with disastrous results. Not be confused with films such as Species and Splice (2010) about scientist who experiment on embryos with disastrous results. Not rated.

365+ movies in 365 days: Day 21 - A Night At The Opera

Tonight I went to the opera with the Marx Brothers. A Night At the Opera was the first film the brothers made at their new home MGM Studios and the first they made without Zeppo. Aside from their standard comedy bits the film contains some musical numbers including scenes from Verdi's Il Trovatore.

The film was different in tone from their prior films. In their earlier work at paramount they rain anarchy down on anyone who wandered into their path. In this film there are distinct good guys whom the brothers help and bad guys who bear the brunt of their madness.

Broken up by the musical numbers the film does not have the non-stop comedic chaos of films like Duck Soup, but it does have some of the most memorable bits they have ever done including the contract scene and the stateroom scene.

I have not seen the film in 20 years and I appreciated the musical numbers now, more than I did then. The film is drop dead funny even without Zeppo. It is considered one of their best ranked second after Duck Soup by most critics.
At The Movie House rating **** stars

35 years of Summer Blockbusters - May 21th Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

May 21, 1980 - Thirty years ago today Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back opened and changed the way movies were made. It is considered one of the best, if not the best, sequel ever made. By featuring a story that offered new characters, and creating a universe that the characters really seemed to inhabit, George Lucas created a story telling triumph. The dark tones and sense of peril that pervade the film were a big change from the fast paced light hearted action of the first movie. The biggest impact was the twist ending; the dark secret revealed and the cliff-hanger, that left the audiences clamoring for more. Every big sequel since has tried to emulate the success of The Empire Strikes Back.

The success has of the film is attributed to George Lucas turning over the writing and directing chores to others who could bring his vision to life. Leigh Brackett and a young Lawrence Kasdan are responsible for the script, based on a story by Lucas, and Irwin Kirshner directed the film with true craftsmanship.

From a storytelling stand point, the ending revelation that Darth Vader was Luke's father, took the entire films series in a new direction. Instead of being about Luke Skywalker and the rebellion, the story became about Darth Vader and his journey to the dark side and his redemption in the final film. The fact that Darth Vader was Luke's father was one of the best kept secrets in Hollywood. James Earl Jones recorded the dialog in secret and David Prowse the actor playing the character read the line "Obi-Wan killed your father" during filming. Mark Hamill knew the real line since he had to respond accordingly on film. In the editing room Lucas and Kirshner replaced the dialog. Until the film premiered only those four and Kasdan who wrote the line knew the secret.

All the stars of the first film Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher returned for the sequel as well as Chewbacca,  R2-D2 and C3P-O. Plus some new characters were added the greatest of these was Yoda, made of rubber, Frank Oz and the writers created a fully fleshed out character to interact with the cast. Yoda has since become a film icon and a bearer of universal truth and wisdom. he has also become mostly CGI in the later films. Two other new characters Boba Fett the mysterious bounty hunter and Lando Calrissian, another charming, triple dealing rouge, also added greatly to the Star Wars mythology.

The film was filled with dazzling imagery from the ice planet, the swamps of Dagobah, the asteroid field and Bespin the city in the clouds. Along with visuals was the great Star Wars music. John Williams triumphed with a new orchestral piece, The Imperial march, which has now become a classic and is synonymous with Darth Vader, the same way his music for Jaws instantly makes you think of sharks.

The film received mixed reviews when it was released, with many critics disliking the "middle of the story" plot and cliff hanger ending. But the film's reputation has grown and when re-released in 1997 most critics gave it four stars. Of the six Star wars films it is considered the best in overall quality. Since it's release the film has made $538 million in worldwide ticket sales, but that is at 1980 ticket pricing. Adjusted for inflation it is the twelfth highest grossing film of all time.
At the Movie House rating **** stars

I saw The Empire Strikes Back on Memorial Day, May 26, 1980 at The Loews Cinema in Levittown. I went with my good friend, and movie buddy, Tony (he is a Star wars fanatic and had already seen the film on opening day. I had to work. I believe he had also seen Star Wars five or six times when it was originally released.)

35 years of Summer Blockbusters - May 20th

May 20, 2005 - Five years ago Warner Bros. released Dominion: Prequel To The Exorcist. This was the second film produced by the studio as a prequel to 1973's The Exorcist. It is a situation very unique even for Hollywood. Paul Schrader was directing a prequel to The exorcist, when Warner bros., not confident in the direction the film was going replaced him with Rennie Harlin. Harlin's version as released in August 2004 and was met with scathing critical reviews and poor box office. With most of Schrader's version completed they gave him the money to finish and his version was released to slightly better reviews, but it was lost amongst the hype for Star Wars Episode III.
At The Movie House rating **1/2 stars

May 20, 1994 - Sixteen years ago Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster and James Garner starred in the big screen adaptation of the TV series Maverick. It's an action packed western comedy that packs a wallop of fun and surprises. It was well received considering it was based on show that had gone off the air thirty two years earlier. At The Movie House rating *** stars

May 20, 1988 - Twenty two years ago Ron Howard released his big screen fantasy epic Willow based on a story by George Lucas. Critics felt Howard was out of his depth with the special effects and Lucas forgot how to tell an entertaining story. Compared to the princess Bride from a year earlier the film seemed to have no heart. To dark for kids and too cliched for adults it struggled to find an audience outside of sci-fi fantasy geeks. At The Movie House rating **1/2 stars

May 20, 1987 - Twenty Three years ago Axel Foley for Hills for Beverly Hills Cop II. This follow up to 1985's big hit was bigger and louder than the first, but lacked the casual charm of the original. It was still a big hit. Murphy and Paramount are working on Beverly Hills Cop IV.
At The Movie House rating **1/2 stars

May 20, 1983 - Twenty Seven years ago Columbia Pictures released Space Hunter; Adventures In The Forbidden Zone. This action comedy knock off of Star Wars was part of the 3-D craze going through Hollywood in the early 80's. The film failed at the box office and now has a cult/camp following.
At The Movie House rating - not rated

May 20, 1976 - Thirty Four years ago the film Hawmps, a fact based comedy about the cavalry on camels and Trackdown a "B" exploitation pic starring a young Eric Estrada were released. Hawmps featured a Benji short! At The Movie House rating - neither film is rated.

365+ movies in 365 days: Day 20 - The Young Philadelphians

Tonight I screened the Warner Bros melodrama The Young Philadelphians starring Paul Newman.

It tells of the scandals, secrets and lies of Philadelphia high society, essentially Peyton Place goes to law school. Paul Newman plays Anthony J. Lawrence, a young lawyer who seems willing to do anything to gain success. With drive and a sense of idealism he tries to make his way in Philadelphia society as he studies to be an attorney. But he soon learns there is only one way to get ahead, and that's by using everyone you can on the way up. Before he loses everything he once dreamed of, he finds redemption defending a friend on murder charges.

Based on the book The Philadelphians, Warner Bros changed the title and marketed it as one of the popular "angry young man" films of the day. At The Movie House rating *** stars

35 years of Summer Blockbusters - May 19th

The last two weeks of May are a big deal in Hollywood. Since the release of Star Wars on the Wednesday before Memorial Day in 1977 these two final weekends have been reserved for some of the studios biggest hits. The studios reserve them years in advance. Already planned for 20011 and 2012 are Pirates Of The Caribbean 4, The Hangover 2, Madagascar 3, Battleship and Men In Black 3. As you can see, all but one are sequels, and part of franchises that mean big bucks to the studios.

May 19, 2006 - Four years ago The DaVinci Code opened. This was Ron Howard's adaptation of the mega best selling novel. Tom Hanks took on the role of Dan Brown's protagonist Robert Langdon. The film made $758 million in worldwide ticket sales. At The Movie House rating **1/2 stars

Also in 2006 was the release of Dreamworks/Paramount Pictures Over The Hedge. This all star CGI adaptation of the satirical comic strip was a big hit with an endearing set of animals for the kids and a "too much" consumerism message for the adults. At The Movie House rating **1/2 stars

May 19, 2005 - Five years ago and twenty eight years later the Star Wars saga came to a conclusion with Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith. The movie had massive build up in the media and Star Wars mania swept the country again. For the most part fans were not disappointed as George Lucas unfolded the origin story of the most notorious villain in the galaxy, Darth Vader. It was a gigantic hit with $849 million in worldwide tickets sales and ranks as #11 on the list of top U.S. moneymakers.
At The Movie House rating *** stars

May 19, 2000 - Ten years ago three films opened to compete for theatre goers box office dollars. Woody Allen's Small Time Crooks opened to mostly positive reviews, but this was Allen's first time in front of the camera since 1996 and he seemed to old to be playing the lovable schmuck he had been portraying for years. Disney's CGI animated Dinosaur opened for the kiddies. the film shot lush visuals in South America and then used CGI to add in extremely realistic dinosaurs, so realistic that they looked genuine and then Disney undermined the whole illusion by making them talk. Hmmm talking dinosaurs? Didn't we see that already in Land Before Time? Also opening was the comedy Road Trip. Starring MTV's Tom Green this film cost $16 million to produce and made $119 million. That's a good trip!
At The Movie House rating
Small Time Crooks *** stars
Dinosaur ** stars
Road Trip not rated by our critics

May 19, 1999 - With a media buzz that has never been equaled George Lucas returned to the Star Wars saga after a twenty two year absence and released Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. I don't think any film could have lived up to the hype, but Lucas made some calculated errors that brought the film mediocre reviews. But it still made massive amounts of money.
At The Movie House rating **1/2 stars

May 19, 1995 - Fifteen years ago Bruce Willis returned to the role of John McClain in Die Hard With A Vengeance. Gone is the Christmas setting, Bonnie Bedelia and any resemblance to a coherent script. In comes Samuel Jackson and a convoluted script and fast dialog to cover major plot holes. The film was not the success fox was hoping for and it took 12 years for a fourth sequel to be made. Also released was the Billy Crystal/Debra Winger romantic comedy Forget Paris. It was forgotten.
At The Movie House rating:
Die Hard With A Vengeance ** stars
Forget Paris **stars

May 19, 1989 - Twenty One Years ago Patrick Swayze starred in the action pic Road House. This was his follow up to Dirty Dancing and the movie was sold with the tag line "The dancing's over, now the job gets dirty". And William Ragsdale returned for the lame Fright Night II.
At The Movie House rating
Road House **1/2 stars
Fright Night II *1/2 stars

May 19, 1976 - Thirty four years ago Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson teamed up for The Missouri Breaks. This was one of the most anticipated movies of the year. Nicholson was on a streak after Chinatown and One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest and this was Brando's follow-up to The Godfather and The Last Tango In Paris. Unfortunately the film was an utter commercial and artistic failure. Most of the blame was laid on Brando for his eccentric performance.
At The Movie House rating ** stars.