The show that has grabbed such a hold on me is Dexter. It is a Showtime original series that has been on the air for a couple of years. Not being a Showtime subscriber, I wasn’t familiar with it. In truth, whenever I heard a passing mention of the show I thought people were talking about the cartoon man with his tie bent up towards his face (Dilbert).

My wife and I recently subscribed to Netflix. One of the selling points for me was the ability to sream a portion of their content. Not only is it available via computer, videos can also be streamed over our Nintendo Wii, which we have in the living room.

Over the weekend I sat down with the intention of killing a little time while my wife and daughter slept. After hitting all of my usual blogs and websites, I headed over to Netflix to see what was available. In the Television Series section I came across Seasons 1 and 2 of Dexter.

After reading the show description I added it to my Instant Queue and started watching. When the first episode ended, I was blown away. I frowned at first to the CSI like forensic premise but the serial killer part of the plot hooked me.

Sitting down for one episode turned into three. Later that afternoon I snuck in a couple of more while watching my daughter. Yesterday I worked in a couple of more before getting my day underway. When I returned home in the evening, I attempted to squeeze in one more before winding down for the night. That one episode turned into three before I forced myself to turn off the television and head to bed.

Before the week is out, I expect to be finished with Season 1 and be part way through Season 2. All in all, I think Dexter is absolutely fantastic. If you are into scientific shows with a sinister twist, I think Dexter just might be something you’ll want to check out.

Post from: Walt in PA

Television Addiction: Dexter – Season 1

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Later that afternoon, my wife reminded me that we were going to be watching a movie together. I vaguely recalled agreeing to the movie and asked her what we were watching. Her response was The Ugly Truth with “the girl from Grey’s Anatomy” (I’m horrible with names, so she makes it easier on me. It turned out to be Katherine Heigl). Not being a fan of the show, I guessed as to which one it might be (and was correct) while I dreaded what I expected to be a chick flick.

When it came time to sit down and watch the movie, I asked my wife what caught her attention. As soon as she uttered the words “Romantic Comedy”, I felt a chill run up my spine. We settled in and the movie began playing.

The premise is pretty simple. Uptight woman is completely engrossed in her career and has difficulty dating. Rough around the edges man is hired and forced to work with woman. The two work together to get the woman a boyfriend and wind up falling in love with one another.

Sounds painful doesn’t it? It wasn’t and I think I enjoyed the movie more than my wife did! I went into the movie expecting something like You’ve Got Mail and it turned out be a chick flick and mans-man movie rolled up into one.

There were several scenes filled to the brim with crude humor and I couldn’t contain my laughter. The sexual references and foul language that began coming out of this uptight womans mouth as the crude male character rubbed off on her was fantastic. I was shocked on more than one occasion (given the chick flick movie mindset).

I don’t know when the movie was released but I had a blast watching it on Starz. If you haven’t seen it already, I’d recommend giving it a shot. Sit down and watch it with your significant other, I think they might just get a kick out of it too.

Post from: Walt in PA

Movie Night with the Wife: The Ugly Truth

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It has been said in the past, but it is worth saying that my wife and I are not big movie-goers. Every now and again we will go see something new but we tend to go to the earlier shows which aren’t nearly as full. Seeing movies in this manner generally has us in he dark when it comes to new releases, until months later when it is available on Blu-Ray or DVD.

One movie that I have heard great things about, was The Blind Side. When I saw the previews for it, months ago, I knew I was going to have to see it. As time passed seeing the movie slipped from my mind until I began seeing advertisements for the Blu-Ray and DVD release.

During our latest “Pregnancy related days of fun”, or dragged from store to store by a pregnant woman, as I prefer to call it, my wife and I made a point to pick up a copy on Blu-Ray. On our last stop of the day we found ourselves in Target. As luck would have it, they were sold out of the Blu-Ray copy and we had to settle for the standard DVD.

A few hours later my wife and I sat down to watch The Blind Side and make a movie night at home out of it. I must say, the movie was every bit of awesome that I expected. The storyline kept me interested from start to finish and both Sandra Bullock and Quinton Aaron played very convincing roles.

Being that typical mans man, its tough to admit, but there was one point in the movie that had me fighting back a brief misty-eyed scene. The scene was one that has been advertised to death but when coupled with everything going on in the movie, I found it to be rather powerful. While Big Mike and Leigh Anne Tuohy are standing in the Tuohy guest bedroom, Big Mike asks if the room is his. Leigh Anne tells him yes and a brief pause follows. Big Mike says that he has never had one before. Leigh Anne’s response is kind of amused as she guesses that he has never had a room to himself. Another dramatic pause takes place and Big Mike responds that he has never had a bed before.

While the scene doesn’t sound like much, and it wasn’t very dramatic in the movie trailer, it hits hard after you see all that Michael Oher goes through during the earlier stages of the movie. Mixed in with the drama are loads of laughs and clever scenes. The icing on the cake is that I don’t think Sandra Bullock has ever looked better.

If you haven’t seen The Blind Side, I suggest watching it sometime. If you have seen it, head over to the comments section and tell us what you thought of the movie.

Post from: Walt in PA

The Blind Side

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Since getting married, my wife and I have started a Christmas tradition that many people probably share. A few weeks before Christmas, my wife begins to politely reminding me to make a Christmas list. After hearing the reminder, over, and over, and over again, I finally break down and put my list together.

This year, in order to make things as easy as possible for would-be gift givers, I broke my list into categories indicating price. I broke down each category further by indicating what the article was and where to find it. For example, when I asked for the book “War Breaker” by Brandon Sanderson, I indicated that it was a book that could be found in the Fiction / Fantasy section of the bookstore.

While I thought I was making things easier, a few of the family members got a kick out of my typed up and categorized list and razzed me about it. Fortunately, despite the laughter, it came in very handy for those seeking a gift for me. It wound up being especially handy for the person that got me in our annual Secret Santa exchange among my in-laws.

On my list of items was a movie that I have been interested in seeing for some time. The movie, “Paul Blart: Mall Cop”, stars Kevin James. I’ve found him hysterical in his roles on the sitcom The King of Queens and the movie Hitch. I also found his stand up on Comedy Central “Sweat the Small Stuff” rather funny. When I saw that he was doing another movie portraying a mall security guard, I just had to see it.

The commercials advertising this movie made it seem like a riot to watch. My wife and I never did make it out to theaters to see it, so I popped it into the DVD player after our Christmas Day family visits were complete.

When it finished playing, I was happy to have seen it. The commercials made it out to be much funnier than it really was, showing the best stuff in the ads. I found that outside of the hysterical scenes showed on the commercial, there wasn’t a ton of funny stuff that got me laughing out loud at the television screen. If you haven’t seen it, I’d recommend checking it out on Netflix, On Demand, or by renting it at your local video store. While it was fun to watch, I don’t see the movie getting much repeat use in my home.

The story revolves around Paul Blart and his day to day role as a mall security guard. After eight failed attempts at becoming a State Trooper due to his hypoglycemia, he takes his role as hired security extremely seriously. After his mall comes under attack by thieves trying to steal credit card information, he takes on the job to save the hostages inside.

In the end, he thwarts the bad-guys and saves the day for the hostages, one of which is his young daughter and another his dream girl. The movie is peppered with mildly funny scenes of him taking on attackers one by one, in sort of Home Alone style scenes.

Post from: Walt in PA

Paul Blart: Mall Cop

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Early one morning, while getting ready for work, my wife and I were talking about kids and their behavior. I’m not sure exactly how we got to this topic, but the jist of the conversation was that my wife was a good kid growing up and I was a trouble maker. Because I had a tendency to get into trouble, my wife says that if our child is anything like me, we are going to have our hands full.

With a hurt look on my face, I asked that dumb question, who me? My wife let out an over-exaggerated laugh and went into telling me the things she has been told about my childhood. She focused on one childhood story in particular, which would be best described as Urban Tobogganing.

Growing up in Philadelphia, most of our games and activities were held on concrete. While there were some parks around, they simply were not convenient for spur of the moment pick-up games. We used to take advantage of the variety of parking lots in the area. We had designated lots for stick-ball, football, soccer, hockey, and so on and so forth.

Just like sports, our adventurous hi-jinks were normally held on some sort of paved surface. The one particular activity my wife was referencing took place at a local church. Just a few blocks away there was a Catholic School which took up the space of a city block. In addition to the School, there was a rectory, a church, an administration building, and a convent.

Among all of these building were a few parking lots that we used for various sports. The church featured a large second floor with stone steps at the front entrance. These steps were not only good for hanging out, but they made for some great Urban Tobogganing.

If you have ever been in a large city, you know that every neighborhood is spotted with corner bars and convenience stores. These corner stores allowed us to acquire these large plastic crates, which we used as make-shift toboggans. The particular crates were used by the Strohman Bread Company and accompanied practically every delivery made throughout the city.

Most drivers would drop off the bread in these crates and leave them at the store until the next delivery. While these crates sat awaiting pick-up, we would get our hands on one or two of them. Without any modification, we could put them to use immediately.

We would take our crates up to the church and climb the stone steps. Someone would sit in the crate and wedge themselves tightly in place and hold on. With a little push of a friend, we would go soaring down the stone steps. After a series of steps, you would hit a landing. If you were good, you could glide right across the landing and hit the second batch of steps without needing another push.

This was a year-round activity of ours and was the source of plenty of laughs. On occasion someone would become detached from their toboggan, but it generally only lead to a couple of bumps and bruises. As kids, we thought we were indestructible and would do practically anything without the fear of getting hurt.

It has been a log time since I’ve slid down those church steps in a plastic bread crate, but I can remember it like it was yesterday. I wonder if the kids that live in my old neighborhood use the church steps like my generation used to?

Maybe my wife is right, if our kid takes after me, we are going to have our hands full!

Post from: Walt in PA

Childhood Fun: Urban Tobogganing

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Last night was Halloween night. As the sun went down, my wife and I made sure to have some candy near the door just in case a child strayed over to our home. Because of the way our house is situated on the block, often times kids opt not to trudge up my walkway for a piece of candy. Instead, we mostly get the children of friends that stop for a visit.

A few minutes before the township recommended trick-or-treat time was to begin, we let Syrus out so that he could do his business and not frighten anyone later on in the evening. When my wife took Syrus outside, she saw that rain was beginning to fall.

By the time Syrus was finished and back on the porch, the rain was coming down in buckets. It was raining heavily for about a half hour before we turned our porch lights off. With the way the rain was coming down, we didn’t expect very many children to be out for very long, so to discourage them from climbing our wet walkway, we doused the light.

Fortunately, earlier in the week some of our friends had their children out for trick-or-treating, so Halloween wasn’t a total bust. I’m not sure when the rain finally let up, but things were soaked when we let Syrus out, once again, a few hours later. Because of the rain, we had a pretty quiet night overall.

Without much else to do, the wife and I decided to watch a movie together. There wasn’t anything on television worth watching and our On Demand service wasn’t turning up much of interest. I headed over to our DVD shelf and began looking through our options. I found a movie that I purchased a few months ago and never removed from the package. Since it had goblins and other assorted beasts, it seemed like a good choice for Halloween night.

I handed the movie to my wife and after looking it over, didn’t seem to mind watching it. She had never saw the movie before and the cover art didn’t spoil the fun surprise too much. My wife put on a pot of tea while I loaded the movie into our DVD player.

Before long we were both comfortable and the movie was playing. It Didn’t take long to get the reaction I was waiting for. The opening credits began to roll and she saw a credit to Jim Henson. The look of “what I am in for” washed over her face and she then asked if we were watching some kind of muppet movie. When the credit for David Bowie appeared next, the look on her face quickly changed to one that just said “oh no, not another one of these movies”.

If you haven’t guessed by now, the movie we watched was Labyrinth. It is the work of Jim Henson, George Lucas, David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly. It was released back in 1986 and was a staple in my childhood movie collection.

Throughout the movie, I watched my wife laugh, smile, and simply shake her head at the many wild scenes. While she may not be a fan of the film, I think she liked it overall. I don’t see us watching it again anytime soon, but it was nice to sit down and watch it again after all of these years.

The basic storyline is that a girl (Jennifer Connelly) wishes that her crying baby brother would be stolen away by the goblin king (David Bowie). The baby is quickly stolen away by goblins hiding in her closet and she immediately begins to panic. When visited by the goblin king, she decides to try and get her brother back by working through a labyrinth to the castle at its center.

The monsters and special effects in this movie would be like comparing a a video game of today to that of the old 8 bit Nintendo Entertainment System. While they may be no match for todays children’s movies, they were a lot of fun in their day. If you are a fan of fantasy movies from the 1980’s, you should check out Labyrinth, if you haven’t already.

Post from: Walt in PA

Watching a movie on a slow Halloween Night

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While growing up, I became pretty fond of different television shows and movies. Some of my favorites were simple cartoons which included; He-Man, Thundercats, Voltron, and so on.

In addition to these fondly remembered television shows, I used to like to watch some of the older shows played on Nick at Night. Some of these I found less interesting than others, but they were a way to pass the time.

One of the shows I can remember watching infrequently was Batman and Robin. Outside of cartoons, I didn’t care much for super-hero based shows. As I got older I probably watched all of the Batman movies with the same laid-back sort of view. Some of my friends were absolutely hooked, I thought it was okay but didn’t share anywhere near the same level of excitement over a newly released batman movie.

Over the years I have kept that same lack of interest for the super-hero genre. When Spider Man came out in theaters, I went with a group of friends and checked it out. I liked it, but clearly wasn’t as hooked as my friends were.

When Batman: Dark Night hit the theaters, I decided to skip seeing it in theaters. I thought that it wouldn’t be any different than previous movies in the way it was unable to grip my absolute attention and suck me into the action.

Hearing all of the great things people had to say about, my curiosity was raised. I eventually did wind up seeing the movie. While visiting my family, I noticed that my brother had a copy on Blu-Ray. I borrowed it and looked forward to seeing what all the rave was about.

As it turns out, this movie was unlike the rest. It grabbed every bit of my attention and had me sitting on the edge of my seat. For not being much of a super-hero movie kind of person, I loved it.

What had me on the edge of my seat was not Batman, but the Joker. I actually didn’t think much of Batman, but the role of the Joker was fantastic. With the dark tone of the film and the unpredictability of the villain, I couldn’t get enough.

For not being much of a Batman fan, I’m really looking forward to a follow-up movie. With the actor playing the Joker dead (Heath Ledger), I’m curious as to who will be able to carry out what was started in The Dark Knight.

Post from: Walt in PA

Batman: The Dark Knight

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A few years back, I remember going to see a movie that I thoroughly enjoyed. The movie had lots of action which revolved around street racing. This was a subject that I thought was very interesting and got to see on more than one occasion while I was younger. Of coarse, none of the racing that I saw was nearly as showy as what this movie portrayed, but I think that is what made it all the more appealing to me.

This movie was a pretty big hit, which I still enjoy watching every now and again. The movie I’m talking about was the original Fast and the Furious. The movie starred Paul Walker, as an undercover cop, and Vin Diesel, as a street racer.

The Fast and the Furious was pretty straight forward and had plenty of action scenes. All in all, it was something that was fun to watch. After the success of this film, a sequel was introduced to the market. This time around, Vin Diesel was not in the film. Instead, Tyrese acted aside Paul Walker.

Seeing the trailers for 2 Fast 2 Furious left me a little skeptical and I skipped seeing it in theaters. Some time later I watched the DVD and it turned out to be pretty much what I expected. The film lacked the entertainment that I got out of the first one and seemed to really miss an element without Vin Diesel.

Even later yet when I heard about Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, I was skeptical but hoped the movie could rebound from the sequel. To my surprise, neither Paul Walker or Vin Diesel played a major role in the film. Just like the previous movie, I skipped seeing this in the theater. I wound up seeing it on a whim while hanging out at a cigar shop and was disappointed by what I saw.

The only part of the third movie that grabbed my attention was the closing scene. Seeing Vin Diesel make a cameo appearance at the end gave me a little hope for the potential fourth movie in the series. With two movies leaving me disappointed, I didn’t have high hopes for what would come in the next release.

While catching up on some online video, I came across the trailer for Fast & Furious. I checked it out and was thrilled to see a handful of the original cast in the upcoming release. When it finally hit theaters, I heard a lot of mixed things and decided to skip it and catch it when it released to DVD. The day after it began selling, my wife and I sat down to check it out.

Things start off with Toretto and Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) racing down a road in the Dominican Republic. They are trying to hijack the tankers from a big-rig hauling what appears to be gasoline. Behind him is Han Lue (Sung Kang from Tokyo Drift, which I could have sworn died in an explosion before the movie ended) in a truck to haul away the tanker as they are broken away from the moving rig.

After an action packed opening scene, Han Lue goes his own way after Toretto learns that he has been discovered and is being tracked down. After the separation, there is a surprising death that takes place and Toretto is called back to his old stomping ground with his sister Mia (Jordana Brewster) for a funeral.

Along the way we learn that Brian (Paul Walker) was reinstated into the FBI and is working the case revolving around this death. Before long, Toretto and Brian run into one another and begin working together to track down the person responsible for the death.

After a series of action scenes, the good guys win and the movie begins to close out. The end of the film leaves the storyline wide open for yet another film featuring the original cast (minus one due to that death I mentioned).

While I don’t regret picking up Fast & Furious, I wasn’t totally impressed by it either. It seemed to lack the punch that the original had and instead replaced it with more action scenes. While it was certainly better than the second and third films, it did not exceed the first in giving me that “fun to watch” sensation.

I’m sure I’ll check out the next movie, if there is in fact a next release, but I don’t expect it to be as good as the first.

Post from: Walt in PA

Fast & Furious

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Somehow I wound up in the documentaries section and came across the Buena Vista Social Club. It just so happens that I recently found an interest in their music and was interested in learning more about the group. I grabbed myself a cigar and hit play.

When the video came to a close I was glad that I watched it. It goes into a lot of detail about famous musicians in Cuba who have been forgotten over the years. The documentary is entirely in Spanish, but fortunately for me, it is subtitled in English.

As a plus for cigar smokers, there are a couple of scenes showing cigar factories and sticks being rolled. One of the musicians, Compay Segundo, also seems to have a cigar handy when he is not singing. If you have an interest in Cuban music, you should check it out.

Post from: Walt in PA

Buena Vista Social Club

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Last week I was having trouble sleeping one night, so I jumped on the computer and tried to find something to do until I got tired. I headed over to Hulu and started browsing through some of their featured content. Not seeing anything I was interested in, I started browsing though their complete listing of television shows.

Among shows like A-Team and Family Guy, I came across a show that I used to love as a kid. That show was entitled ALF. This show is a comedy about an alien life form (hence ALF) that crashes into the garage of a family. The family takes the alien in and treats him as a member of the family.

I got a kick out of seeing the show listed as available, so I started watching the first episode of the first season. I’m unsure of how long it was aired, but all episodes from the first three seasons are available until December of 2009. Anytime I need to kill a little time, or have trouble sleeping, I watch the next episode in the series.

I get a kick out of watching the old shows and even made a tweet about my find. It seems that I am not the only person on twitter that enjoys seeing television shows of my childhood. If you aren’t familiar with Hulu, I’d definitely recommend checking it out if you need to catch up on a popular show or watch something that has been off the air for years.

Post from: Walt in PA

Watching ALF on Hulu

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She made mention that I needed to get myself out of the 80′s and start watching things that were more recent. After a short, but playful, argument about how I found these older films more enjoyable, I made a comment along the lines of “If you hate this movie you better hope that I don’t come across Big Trouble in Little China“. After a confused look and a shake of the head, she quietly watched the movie with me. At some point during the movie I jokingly asked if any film more than 15 years old should be retired. With a smile on her face, she answered “YES, except for Dirty Dancing”.

After a long day of scraping wallpaper paste from an office wall, I came home and needed to relax a bit. I got myself something to eat as well as a cold drink and flipped on the television. After a little channel surfing I came across Big Trouble in Little China. Unfortunately my wife wasn’t home from work yet to enjoy it with me.

If you aren’t familiar with the movie, it came out in 1986 and stars Kurt Russel. It was considered a failure because it only managed to earn half of its budget at the box office. It seems that it just couldn’t compete with feature films starring Schwarzenegger and Stallone. As the popularity of the VCR grew, the film developed a cult following.

Just like the last time I saw the film, I laughed and had a good time. It is movies like this that can make an otherwise boring television session, something that is enjoyable.

Post from: Walt in PA

Stuck in the 80′s Movie Realm

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The last film in the set is entitled Frontier Horizon, this flick was released in 1939 and runs a whopping 57 minutes. Unlike the first five films, this one is not produced by Lone Star, but instead Republic Productions.

This film starts off at the end of the Civil War. With crippling reconstruction needed, thousands of of Americas were forced to cut ties and travel west in order to find new beginnings. The scene changes to a family of three riding a horse and carriage out to a valley. The mother overlooks the valley and begins to cry, speaking about the new surrounding bringing new hope.

The film then jumps 50 years into the future during a reenactment of the pony express. We learn that the name of the area is New Hope Valley. During a celebratory dinner, it is announced that the state has condemned the valley and plans to build a dam to flood it with water to act as a reservoir for the growing city nearby. The townspeople are furious and threaten to fight.

As city works begin coming into the valley to survey and begin work, the townspeople erupt into gunfire and run them off. As time passes there is a court case that declares that the greater good, for the greater number, rules in this case and that the ranchers must sell their land to the state.

Some of the townspeople refuse to sell and tear up their checks, then setup a road block to prevent workers from passing through their land. After a battle erupts, the ranchers are thrown in jail and eventually pitched the idea of buying land in another area. This new land comes at a price, in exchange they get twice the acreage of their old ranches as well as funds remaining to cover their first years expenses.

Before long a deal is struck and work begins on the dam. The ranchers are told their new land (desert land) will be fed water by a new pipeline which goes in as the dam is built. On moving day the ranchers discover that the pipeline was never built and that they all purchased worthless land. In an effort to right the wrong, the Three Mesquiteers (Stony Brooke played by John Wayne, Tucson Smith played by Ray Corrigan, and Rusty Josslin played by Raymond Hatton) race into to the city only to be held at gunpoint in order for the project to be completed.

After busting out of captivation, the Three Mesquiteers race to the dam, which has been opened to flood the valley, in order to prevent the homes from being washed away. They arrive too late but manage to bust up the construction crew and hold things off until a court could convict the swindlers. After conviction, the new pipeline was complete and the townspeople had a new place to live.

While this film wasn’t what I would have expected out of a typical western, it was nice to watch. Production quality on this film was excellent in comparison to the ones produced by Lone Star. The use of mood music was also introduced in this film, which was not present in the previous five.

Post from: Walt in PA

Frontier Horizon

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This lead to my friend telling me about a movie he took his two kids to see a couple of years ago. This movie was entitled Bridge to Terabithia. From here he begins to tell me a story about a little girl that has an incredible imagination and befriends a little boy that learns to expand his mind.

After hearing this interesting story, he goes on to tell me that suddenly, this imaginative young girl drowns to death in a creek. Not only was the ending a bummer for him, his kids were a little confused and saddened by the death of this young girl.

After our movie discussion, we went back to solving the worlds problems over the remainder of our cigars, after which I headed home. Several weeks later I see an advertisement for Bridge to Terabithia on television. Having a fondness for this genre, I decided to give it a watch and see the story for myself. Sure enough, the depressing twist came towards the end of the film and it sucked all of my enjoyment right out of the movie.

While unhappy endings aren’t the norm and do a great job of setting the film apart from the rest, I find that I like the cheesy endings where the guy gets the girl in the end, or the hero prevails and the villain winds up in the slammer.

Post from: Walt in PA

How do you like your movies to end?

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This Movie starts off with John Scott (John Wayne) and Kansas Charlie playing cards in a stage coach talking about getting thrown out of the last town. Talking about why they were thrown out, Kansas Charlie is accused to laying things on too thick with the ladies and causing trouble. Charlie vows to be deaf and dumb from then on out when it comes to woman.

The stage stops and a woman boards. To get a rise out of Charlie, John begins flirting with the woman and putting down his deaf and dumb friend sitting across from them. Charlie bursts out and stands up for himself, hitting on the woman and putting down John. During the conversation the woman asks if Kansas Charlie (wearing a black suite) is a rodeo man. Everyone laughs and discussion of the towns rodeo begins.

After winning $900.00 in the rodeo, John discovers that the payout its twenty-five cents on the dollar due to the low income of the show. John pulls a gun on the rodeo manager and instructs Kansas Charlie to take the $900.00, that he rightfully won, out of the safe. When the two leave on horseback, two robbers enter and kill the manager. When the shot is heard, the sheriff races to the scene and the two robbers frame John and Kansas Charlie for the murder.

As the movie continues, John and Kansas Charlie are robbed of their rodeo winnings and decide to track down the robbers in a neighboring town. With the sheriff of this town becoming suspicious of all of the new strangers in town, John and Kansas Charlie are eventually accused of the murder in the next town and arrested.

One of the robbers gets a guilty conscience and helps bust the men out of prison. As they try to leave town, the sheriff discovers them and a shootout ensues. In the commotion one of the robbers holds up a bank and makes a break for it. John and Kansas Charlie chase the robber down and try to make him confess to the killing. After a confession is made, John and Kansas Charlie and cleared and the movie ends happily ever after.

While these “B Westerns” don’t have the storyline as some of the more popular John Wayne movies, I’m becoming fond of them. I like that I can sit down and watch a movie in its entirety in a little less than an hour and see the actors before they made it big.

In Desert Trail, the storyline was easy to follow and there was a nice plot twist along the way to keep things interesting. The quality of the film is very poor by todays standard, but its definitely worth watching if you are a fan of old westerns.

Post from: Walt in PA

Desert Trail

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This time around the young Duke plays the former sheriff (John Wayne). The movie kicks off with the sheriff speaking with an old friend of his that has plans to restock his ranch for his daughters arrival in one year. This friend has withdrawal all of his money from the bank and has plans to head to the next town to spend it on needs for the ranch.

After the man leaves the sheriffs office, three bandits rob a local store and make a break for it. They wind up catching up with the sheriffs friend and gun him down. Cornered in a building with the sheriff shooting outside, they make a break for it and make it appear as though the sheriff killed his friend. When the sheriff goes inside and finds his friend dead, he quits his job and leaves town.

A year later the daughter moves back as planned and intends to run the ranch. During her stage ride in, a group of bandits rob the stage and she manages to hide and not be seen. The duke stumbles onto the robbery and manages to get the money back and return the daughter to safety. While returning the money, he speaks to the new sheriff and learns that the woman he rescued is the daughter of his dead friend.

The sheriff convinces the duke to act as a ranch foreman and hide his past from his new boss. After three months of working, the beans are spilled by the man who really killed the dukes friend and a plot is made to steal a thousand horses from the daughters ranch. With the help of a local indian tribe, the duke foils the plan and saves the day.

Unlike Paradise Canyon and Rainbow Valley, this film did not have scenes shot in the shade which darkened the screem, instead it had a few that were shot in bright conditions which washed out the screen. These random scenes were far enough between them that viewing was easy and the movie was a cinch to follow.

While I didn’t enjoy it as much as West of the Divide, I found it to be my second favorite thus far. It seems that the further I get into my John Wayne collection, the better the films get in terms of entertainment value. So far I have enjoyed my Pollyanna gift thus far and look forward to expanding my very small collection of westerns.

Post from: Walt in PA

Texas Terror

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This movie starts off with Ted Hayden (John Wayne) and friend Dusty (George “Gabby” Hayes) sitting in a field talking about a gunfight twelve years ago. During this time, Ted was just a boy and was being shielded from gunfire by his father. During the fight his father is killed and Ted is wounded and instructed to play dead.

The following morning Dusty came along and cared for Ted. As the two men talk, a third man stumbles up to them and collapses, telling them he unknowingly drank from a poisoned water hole nearby. After the man dies, Ted inspects the body and discovers that there was a note for a gang leader in the area. Along with the letter was a wanted poster for a murdered named Gat Ganns.

The poster had a photo which had a striking resemblance to Ted Hayden. From that point on Ted decided to play the role of Murderer Gat Ganns and get to the bottom of the situation. Along the way the Duke finds the man that killed his father twelve years prior as well as meets up with his long lost kid brother who was just a baby at the time of the murder.

Even though this movie was filmed a year earlier that Paradise Canyon and Rainbow Valley, the footage was much cleaner. The actors were in far fewer dark spots on the set which did not hide them in the black and white film. There was alot of hissing in the audio but aside from that, this film was very easy to watch.

So far, this is easily my favorite of the collection. I have another three films to get through before wrapping up the DVD bundle and I hope the remainder are just as good as this one was.

Post from: Walt in PA

West of the Divide

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In this flick, a gang wants to keep the law out of town so that they can get bust their leader out of the penitentiary. In order to do that, they have to run workers out of town so that they can’t rebuild a road that was washed out in a storm. In the process, they keep a stronghold on gold mines that road workers would uncover along the way.

One of the post workers poses a problem for them, so they setup and try to ambush him while he is out on mail business. John Martin, played by John Wayne, saves the day and fights off the bandits. He later takes a job protecting the road crew.

Later on during the film, the post worker is kidnapped and and the gang leader is freed from the penitentiary. Just as you would expect, a gunfight breaks out and when the smoke clears, John Martin saves the day.

Just like Paradise Canyon, this film was tough to watch at times. Whenever a character moved to a shady space on set, they became almost impossible to see. There are plenty of hisses, pops, and noise within the video. Even with the poor quality video and sound is was a fun movie to watch.

Post from: Walt in PA

Rainbow Valley

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This year, among other things, I listed a generic item entitled “Random John Wayne Movies”. As I have grown up, I have come to enjoy old westerns and have a fondness for John Wayne (could not stand Clint Eastwood). As a Pollyanna gift I received a three DVD John Wayne Collection featuring six vintage films.

I finally got around to watching the first one tonight, entitled Paradise Canyon. The movie was released in 1935 and runs 53 minutes. As soon as the movie began playing, I couldn’t help but compare it to the old Three Stooges Shorts, in that it was grainy, choppy, and became difficult to watch at times.

In this flick John Wayne plays a federal marshal named John Wyatt and he is instructed to break up a counterfeit ring along the Mexico border. His is told that in order to find the ring, he needs to get close with a man running a traveling medicine show. This man, Doc Carter, spent time in prison for counterfeiting and may be helping to spread the counterfeit cash.

After alot of horse chase scenes, the Duke saves the day and all is well. I get a kick out of watching moves that go back this far in time, and this one was no exception. At times the film got a little difficult to see due to the technology of the 1930′s, but it was fun to watch.

This is the oldest John Wayne movie I have ever seen. It doesn’t have the same entertainment value as his newer films, but it was easy to follow and made for a great way to use up an hour of free time.

Post from: Walt in PA

Paradise Canyon

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The song I heard was a remake of Cry Little Sister by Gerard McMahon. As soon as I heard it I knew there was some sort of advertisement playing for a new Lost Boys movie, so I dropped what I was doing and headed into the loving room to watch it.

At some point I was flipping through the channels one night and stopped on a reality show featuring Corey Feldman and Corey Haim. I remember there being some sort of argument over Corey Feldman being asked to play a part in the upcoming movie Lost Boys – The Tribe while Corey Haim was not.

Ever since seeing that brief part of the show, I was interested in seeing the upcoming movie but hadn’t heard anything about it since. It seems that the movie was low budget and went direct to DVD. After the trailer was over I made mention to my wife that I was going to order it from Amazon. She shook her head and I went on to tell her how I loved the original and just had to see the sequel.

After doing some painting on a table, I needed to kill some time while it dried. Having ordered the DVD some time ago and still not having removed it from its packaging, I grabbed it and loaded it into my laptop while I had a cigar.

The movie is based on a brother and sister getting into trouble with vampires. The brother, Chris, (played by Tad Hilgenbrinck) is a surfer that looses his temper and his sponsorship. With sister Nicole (played by Autumn Reeser) in tow, they move to Luna Bay where they rent a place from their aunt.

After going to a party one night, Nicole is tricked into drinking the blood of a head vampire named Shane (played by Angus Sutherland). Chris needs to save his sister and uses the help of Edgar Frog (played by Corey Feldman) to do so.

The movie has alot of gore with a few nude scenes sprinkled in to liven it up. When it was all done I was disappointed in the final product. The most appealing part of the movie was seeing Edgar Frog back in action, but he doesn’t make his appearance until about mid-way through.

I think this flick was okay in the sense that it allowed me to kill some time, but should not be watched if you are looking for a follow up to the cult classic Lost Boys. I think you will be left disappointed, as I was. Fortunately, when I ordered this movie I also ordered the original.

Post from: Walt in PA

Lost Boys – The Tribe

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A few days later my package arrived and I eagerly opened it up to see the latest additions to my modest movie collection. Soon after checking out my order, I started making dinner and awaited my wife to come home from work.

When she returned I asked her if she was up to watching a movie with me. Her response, “I’m sorry but I’m not watching The Goonies”. I realized that I left the movies on the kitchen table and the movie that she mentioned was sitting right on top. I tossed The Goonies aside and asked her to pick between Willow and Labyrinth. She opted for Willow, which we began watching shortly after dinner.

The movie Willow is based on a world of fiction. The main character, Willow, is played by Warwick Davis. He is a little person of the Nelwyn race. One day his children find a baby in a river and bring it to their fathers attention.

The baby is special in that the prophecy says that it will destroy the evil queen Bavmorda and restore peace and harmony to the land. Queen Bavmorda is aware of this and takes steps to retrieve the baby. After dogs tear apart the Nelwyns village in search of the baby, a decision is made that Willow must take the child to a far away castle where she will be protected.

Along the way Willow meets a few other characters which makes for an interesting story. One of those characters is a swordsman, played by Val Kilmer, who helps Willow protect the child throughout his journey.

I enjoyed seeing the movie for the first time in years while my wife was not so entertained. This was the first time she saw the movie and chalked it up as another one of those “weird movies that I like to watch”.

Post from: Walt in PA

Obscure Childhood Movies

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After a couple of minutes of blindly flipping through the available titles, my wife saw a Vince Vaughn movie that she thought I might like. The movie was Swingers, released in 1996. Having enjoyed most of the stuff I’ve seen Vince Vaughn in, we decided to give it a shot.

The main character is Mike Peters, played by Jon Favreau. Mike just got out of a six year relationship and moved to Los Angeles in hopes of getting acting work. The movie picks up six months later as he is trying to forget about the woman in his life. Trent Walker, played by Vince Vaughn, is a friend from Las Angeles that is trying to get Mike to break free and move on in his life.

The pair, along with several friends, hit the club scene and try to pick up women. In a single night the guys would manage to bounce from club to club, to club. While Trent and other friends easily picked up women, Mike would repeated shoot himself in the foot while trying.

After a comedic scene of Trent explaining to Mike that he was a big bear with razor sharp claws, Mike makes an attempt to pounce on a defenseless bunny. Mike succeeds and walks away with a phone number, which he uses later that night to make himself out to be a complete looser.

As the movie progresses, Mike meets a woman that makes him forget about his six-month string of depression. The movie ends happily ever after and includes a variety of funny scenes. In addition to Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn, the movie contains other known actors such as; Ron Livingston, Patrick Van Horn, Alex Désert, and Heather Graham.

Even though I thought the movie was okay, I must admit that if I would have heard the words “baby” or “money” one more time, I may have spontaneously vomited.

Post from: Walt in PA

You’re so money baby!

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Due to the demographic of the shop, most of the guys knew the movie very well. Because it hit the big screen long before my time, the regulars were happy to tell me all about it. I thought it sounded interesting and made a point to check it out at some point.

One late night I had trouble sleeping and was flipping through the infomercials on television. When I found nothing on, I checked out the free movies on the On Demand service through Comcast. To my surprise, the movie 12 Angry Men was available for a few more days. Not having anything better to do, I hit play and watched the story unfold.

The movie is filmed in black and white, and takes place in a jury room within a courthouse. The jury just went through a murder trial and needed to come up with a verdict. Due to the time spent on trial, all but one jury member was willing to give a quick guilty verdict in order to get out and back to their everyday lives.

One juror is adamant about reviewing all of the information available and feels that there is a chance that the defendant could be innocent. As the movie goes on, each juror begins to change their mind in regards to the fate of the defendant.

For a movie filmed entirely in a single place, there is a tremendous amount of action throughout. I found it to be an excellent movie that I would most definitely recommend everyone check out at some point in time. I’m told there is a newer version of this movie filmed in color, but I hear it isn’t nearly as good as the original.

Post from: Walt in PA

12 Angry Men

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