I’m a sucker for Las Vegas location films. Can’t get enough of them. This one was a “serious” Vegas movie, and it gets a bit scarey when Lawrence Fishburn turns on his “bad ass” mode. But, hey…that’s what the Vegas “edge” is about.

I agree with others that it had a weak story line, but there is some great photography and the mini-romance between Sturgess and Bosworth adds a bit of spice. The DVD also has some nice featurettes on playing Blackjack and how the film was made. At the very least, it takes you out of your own world for a couple of hours and, to me, that’s entertaining.

Comparisons to “The Matrix” notwithstanding, Ray Bradbury’s novel “Farenheit 451” first came to mind as I watched this, with the burning of art replacing the burning of books in one of the early scenes. Christian Bale did a fine job in the role of a “cleric” who seeks out and destroys those who refuse to give up their emotions in this sterile, drug-numbed world of the future. As others have noted, the “gun katas” are the most memorable new ground broken, and there is swordplay worthy of a Tarentino film. Overall, I enjoyed this and recommend watching it. My main complaint is that it is overly long, which I chalk up to mediocre editing.

Not the original, of course, but a pretty good sequel. When all of the exhibits are to be moved from New York to storage at the Smithsonian archives in Washington, DC, Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) has to reprise his role as night watchman to save the day. Amy Adams steals more than a few scenes as Amelia Earhart. Robin Williams and Owen Wilson turn in their usual good performances. A surprise was Hank Azaria, who plays the baddie, Kamunrah, and two other parts (but let that be a surprise). Worth seeing, even if you missed the 2006 version, and if you can catch it in IMAX, even better. Some great special effects look even greater on the huge screen.

I first saw this movie in the theater when it came out in the mid-1970s. When I learned that a remake was coming out, I asked myself, “Why? Wasn’t the original good enough?”

Well, last night I watched the 1974 version again and reconfirmed my belief that it certainly is a classic. It was perfectly cast (Robert Shaw, Walter Matthau, Martin Balsam, Lee Wallace), well shot, and tightly edited. But it also struck me that the story of hijacking a NYC subway train and holding hostages for ransom will probably have even greater impact in post-9/11 audiences than it did at the tail end of the Vietnam War era.

It should be interesting to see how the new film portrays New Yorkers. That was one of the best aspects of the original. I’m pretty sure some of the sexism will have been cut, and it’s unlikely we’ll see a transit cop light a cigarette from a gas burner in a suspect’s house. Touches like this make Pelham One Two Three a true period piece. The bar was set high back then. A really great film.

Let’s call this “Die Hard Lite.” Kevin James does his job, gets some chuckles, and distracts us from the real world long enough to care about his problems as a failed state trooper cadet in NJ who ends up policing a shopping mall. All hell breaks loose when an organized band of thieves take over the mall (and hostages) in an attempt to get credit card transfer codes worth $30 million. Not as funny as the previews suggest, but still worth a gander.

This 4-part BBC miniseries ran hot and cold. It’s about sexuality, religion and coming of age in suburban London in the 1960s. It started off strong, as we see how an Indian father going through a rough patch with his English wife is suddenly catapulted to minor fame as a Buddhist guru for desperate British housewives and their friends. His son, played admirably by Naveen Andrews (Lost, The English Patient), is discovering where his own desires may lead him. The explorations of bisexuality are commendable. And the subplot of an arranged marriage provides a nice comic counterpoint to some of the heavier breathing. What I disliked was the great amount of disconnections in the story, between characters and scenes. It juumps around a lot. Too long for movie, too short for a TV series…it left me wishing a lot had been cut out.

One man’s descent into his latent addictions follows the break-up of his marriage. Sex. Alcohol. Drugs. Disturbing on one level, but poorly acted and hard to empathize with the main character. “Pineapple” refers to a “safe” word used in hard sex. There were aspects of the film I liked, but its darkness overshadows everything.

I saw the preview for this at the start of the Slumdog Millionaire DVD and mistakenly thought it might be of the same high quality. It was cute, but nothing especially poignant. Girl meets boy on telephone, boy wants to meet girl in person, girl misses opportunity to meet boy, boy meets girl not knowing she is the girl he was supposed to meet, girl and boy like each other, girl and boy break up when boy discovers girl has been keeping her real identity from him, girl returns to fiance back in India…or does she? Easy to see why Bollywood movies are so long. They have to contain every genre from comedy to tragedy, with stops along the way at musical and soap opera. I marked this as worth watching, if only for the wonderful way Americans are viewed by Indian telemarketers. That was worth watching.

Absolutely delightful to watch, more than half a century later. Such great camerawork, you almost forget it is in B&W. The dialog is still crisp, unpredictable. The characters are very well developed, even the minor ones. You can really feel the relationships. Ernest Borgnine plays the lead, Marty, perfectly. I thought the ending was a bit abrupt and a bit of a letdown, but there is so much to enjoy about this film, you simply have to watch it at least once. Definitely Best Picture material.

I really wanted to like this. I think Johnny Depp was perfectly cast as Hunter Thompson’s alter ego, and Benecio del Toro was an odd but interesting pick as his sidekick in a drugged out foray into the fantasy world that is Las Vegas for visitors. But the drugs were flying so very fast, and the narration was much too disjointed…reminding me why I never managed to finish reading the book. I really can’t say good or bad about this movie. It is what it is. I just couldn’t get into it.