Men in Black 3

Actors:  Tommy Lee Jones, Will Smith, Josh Brolin, Emma Thompson, Michael Stuhlbarg, Jemaine Clement
Rating:  7 out of 10, This was better than I expected and very entertaining. This recaptured a lot of the magic from the first film that was lost in the second film.  Sending Smith back in time to prevent Jones’ assassination made for an interesting plot. A wise cracking African-American didn’t play as well in the 1960’s and led to some really funny moments.  Both Smith and Jones looked a little tired with their roles, obviously just in it for the checks they got to cash. The real revelation was Josh Brolin who was channeling Tommy Lee Jones as a young man so well it actually approached being scary. An actor named Michael Stuhlbarg was extremely good in a small part as an alien who could see the future, kind of.  Good movie, well worth a watch.
MVP:  Stuhlbarg as Griffin the gentle and well meaning alien future forecaster

Men In Black II

Actors:  Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Rip Torn, Lara Flynn Boyle, Rosario Dawson, Johnny Knoxville
Rating:  5 out of 10, I knew I had to suffer through this one to get to the third installment.  It reminded me why I gave up on the series in the first place.  All of the charm of the first movie is missing as Smith becomes too self-important to be likable.  Dawson is very good but wasted in a role as an unknowing alien.  Knoxville is actually pretty funny as a two headed alien that argues with himself.  Boyle is scary but due to her abysmal acting.  Jones returns but sleepwalks through this one obviously just in it to pick up a paycheck.  I got the clear impression he was tired of having to play to and feed Smith’s egomaniacal take on Agent J.  A sad follow up to the very entertaining original.
MVP:  Dawson as the unknowing source of alien power Laura Vasquez

Men In Black

Actors:  Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Rip Torn, Linda Fiorentino, Vincent D'Onofrio
Rating:  7 out of 10, I couldn’t believe, that as serious a sci fi geek that I am that I didn’t own this series of movies.  I truly enjoyed the third installment after hating the second one.  I rediscovered what drew me to the movies in the first place by seeing the original movie again.  There was real chemistry between Jones and Smith and this was before Smith began to take himself too seriously.  The jokes are real and the story moves right along.  I’ve always loved Fiorentino and her semi-gravelly (smoking hot) voice.  She more than holds her own with the boys here.  A big part of the charm in this film was the induction of Smith in the Men in Black and seeing the reactions a normal person has when confronted with highly unusual events.  D’Onofrio steals every scene he’s in as a giant cockroach wearing a human’s skin.  The mannerism and reactions are the funniest things in the movie.  I really enjoyed this trip back and the movie stands up well.
MVP:  D’onofrio wearing his “Edgar-skin suit” is too funny and makes the movie

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Actors:  Kirk Douglas, James Mason, Peter Lorre, Paul Lukas
Rating: 7 out of 10, More nostalgia as I kept up my streak of Disney movies that captured my heart as a very young boy.  This one has aged a little better and it was interesting to see a young, fit Kirk Douglas – a true action movie star.  The special effects are not top notch by today’s standards but hold up okay (expcetop for the giant squid).  This is amazing considering this movie was made in the early 1950’s and is older than I am.  The story itself still holds up.  This is the classic Jules Verne tale about the voyages of the Nautilus and Captain Nemo.  James Mason plays Nemo with his typical English reserve and creates a multi-leveled character that you’re not too sure about rooting for or condemning.  I still enjoyed the film although it does drag (a lot) wondering at the mysteries of the deep (this was pre-Cousteau).  This movie was such a huge deal to a young me that when I finally got to Disney world as a college aged kid the most memorable moment was riding in a Nautilus replica (yeah – I know – total geek). 
MVP:  Douglas as harpooner Ned Land reminding us what a great athlete he was as a young man

In Search of the Castaways

Actors:  Haley Mills, Michael Anderson, Jr., Maurice Chevalier, George Sanders, Wilfred Hyde-White
Rating: 6 out of 10, Another nostalgic ride with one of the most memorable films of my early youth.  This Disney offering featured my childhood crush and Disney staple – Hayley Mills.  I fondly remembered this as an amazing action thriller with astounding special effects.  The plot involves two kids who find a message in a bottle from their ship wrecked father and the worldwide search to find him.  They’re accompanied by Chevalier who feels the need to break out in Gallic verse every time the English get stodgy.  This movie has not aged well and did not strike the same magic that it did with the seven year old version of myself.  The special effects are incredibly bad by today’s standards.  You can even see the safety wires on the Maoris keeping them from falling.  It has everything a young boy would want – Indians, pirates, monsters, exploding volcanoes and earthquakes.  Unfortunately the plot and writing are abominable for anyone over the age of seven.  That being said I can’t wait to watch this adventure with a future grandchild and see the magic I found in this movie as a young boy.
MVP:  Hayley Mills as Mary Grant transitioning into teenaged roles

Swiss Family Robinson

Actors:  John Mills, Dorothy Maguire, James MacArthur, Tommy Kirk, Sessue Hayakawa, Kevin Corcoran
Rating:  8 out of 10, This was one of the defining movies of my early life.  I think as a very young child I realized I absolutely loved movies when I saw this Disney classic at the venerable Scenic Theater in Keene, NH.  The theater had a huge billboard over the entrance and I clearly remember a movie poster showing the race involving an ostrich jockey.  Most of all I remembered a thrilling adventure film that captured my imagination the way few films ever did.  Everything is geared towards a young viewer – you can sense the presence of Walt Disney behind the filmmaking.  The ship wreck, the recovery, the best tree house in movie history, and the final battle against the pirates – it has everything a young boy would love.  It seems I’ve got a bit of that young boy in me still because I still absolutely love this movie. 
MVP:  MacArthur as Fritz in his pre-Dan-O days, the big brother we all hoped for

Skyfall

Actors:  Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, Judi Dench, Ralph Fiennes, Albert Finney, Ben Whisahw, Bérénice Marlohe

Rating:  9 out of 10, I was a little concerned when I heard Sam Mendes was directing because he gets a little carried away with himself in his movies.  007 shouldn’t spend an entire movie contemplating his navel and I was concerned that might happen with Mendes at the helm.  While there was a lot more introspection than your normal Bond adventure it certainly worked.  The first twenty minutes disabused me of the concern for the lack of action with Bond commandeering a train (with a back hoe!) and then being shot.  My radar went up for the next 45 minutes though but the plot soon got away from bickering British bureaucrats and got Bond back throwing people off skyscrapers.  Craig looked a little tired in this one, hopefully because he was supposed to be in the plot.  There were neat little homages to the Bonds of yesteryear, including two beloved characters reappearing, which is something I always love.  This had the feel of a transition film where we’re moving the background people around Bond and shaking up his private life. Javier Bardem has to be one weird dude or he just might be a fantastic actor.  He was totally eerie as the bad guy and scored another unfortunate hairdo (becoming something of a signature for him).  The bottom line is that this is a great film and one of the best Bonds ever.  I shouldn’t have worried.  Even a touchy feely guy like Mendes is no match for the irresistible force which is James Bond. 

MVP:  Dench in her swan song as M – typically dominates every scene she’s in

First Men on the Moon

Actors:  Edward Judd, Martha Hyer, Lionel Jeffries
Rating:  7 out of 10, the last of my nostalgia movies from Christmas.  This was another memorable film of my youth that involved that amazing special effects guy – Ray Harryhousen.  Another HG Wells story that is brought with typical 1960s verve and the Haryyhousen effects.  The film starts with the first moon mission, led by the UN!  They are celebrating when they come across evidence of human presence on the moon dating back to 1899.  They track down the last survivor back on earth and the rest of the movie is told through flashback.  A slightly off kilter inventor, played with typical dash by Jeffries, creates a new compound which allows space travel in a brass sphere.  His incredibly dull neighbor and the neighbor’s girlfriend head to the moon where they encounter a race of ant like aliens.  This movie captured my imagination in the 1960s and the story does not age well and has firmly descended into camp fun (no gloves needed on moon – but it was still fun). 
MVP:  Jeffries as the eccentric inventor who was the first man on the moon

The Shootist

Actors:  John Wayne, James Stewart, Lauren Bacall, Harry Morgan, Richard Boone, Ron Howard, Hugh O’Brian
Rating: 9 out of 10, the Duke’s last film and made as he was dying of lung cancer.  It serves as a fitting send off for the greatest actor in the Western genre.  He plays a legendary gunfighter who’s dying of cancer in 1901 Colorado.  He chooses to go out on his own terms and you can see a lot of Wayne’s own personal beliefs on display.  There is an extra on the DVD where some of the surviving actors reminisce about the film.  They remember many actors, including Bacall and Stewart, fought to be cast in the movie because everyone knew this would be the Duke’s swan song.  Apparently he wasn’t a mythical figure just for the fans but amongst his peers as well.  This film is a treat as fans get to say goodbye, in style, to the Duke as he rides over the horizon.
MVP:  The Duke (of course) as the shootist going out in style

Passing the Torch Between Generations - Duke Schooling Ron Howard

Sons of Katie Elder

Actors:  John Wayne, Dean Martin, Earl Holliman, Michael Anderson, Paul Fix, James Gregory, Dennis Hopper, George Kennedy
Rating: 8 out of 10, one of my favorite movies of Wayne’s older years and while the Duke was starting to show his age for a part like this – he still dominates the screen like few actors ever.  He plays the eldest brother of four who return to bury their mother and find she was cheated out of her land by Gregory.  The scenes with the four brothers struck me as very realistic.  You can forget that Dean Martin was actually a fairly good actor until you see him holding his own in a major film such as this.  The plot is a bit contrived but you know there had to be a final shootout with the bad guys and this is delivered with the Duke’s fabled eighteen shot six-shooter.  It was kind of jarring to see an incredibly young Dennis Hopper but this movie still stands the passage of time well.  Any time passed with the Duke is time well spent
MVP:  The Duke (of course) as gun fighting son John Elder

The Man Who Knew Too Much

Actors:  Doris Day, James Stewart, Brenda de Banzie, Bernard Miles, Daniel Gelin
Rating: 7 out of 10, The final movie of my Doris Day fascination with the added bonus of Jimmie Stewart and Alfred Hitchcock.  This was an interesting look back at tourism in the 1950’s when you could take a jaunt to Morocco and not get blown up.  Stewart plays a Midwestern doctor who somehow is married to a Broadway star (the 50’s were different).  While vacationing in Morocco they become embroiled in a planned London assassination and their son is kidnapped to prevent them from revealing what they know.  I was struck by how innocent the whole thing was.  Nowadays the whole family would have been whacked.  The movie had all of Hitchcock’s fascinating camera shots and of course his obligatory cameo (always fun to watch for).  Stewart and Day were an interesting couple who didn’t have a lot of on screen chemistry but were both superb actors.  Hitch must have liked Day’s rendition of Que Sera, Sera because it becomes a central plot point and is now firmly stuck in my head for the foreseeable future (I was singing it to the dog this morning – talk about animal cruelty).  I enjoyed the movie more for the innocence of the age and Hitch’s subtle jabs at society in general – a good watch.
MVP:  Stewart as Dr Benjamin McKenna chasing spies and assassins

The Thrill of it All

Actors:  Doris Day, James Garner, Edward Andrews, Arlene Francis, Carl Reiner
Rating: 7 out of 10, Another in my journey through Doris Day land.  This one teams her up with James Garner again.  Now that I’ve seen a number of her rom coms from the 50’s and 60’s I think that she had the best chemistry with Garner.  He plays a baby doctor who has to deal with his wife (Day) suddenly becoming famous as a TV personality.  There are some really funny bits in this such as when Garner drives his beloved convertible into a backyard pool.  There is just great timing between these two actors.  This movie was written by Larry Gelbart and Carl Reiner and directed by Norman Jewison so it has a great pedigree.  Reiner even appears in several cameos as an overacting soap actor (kind of redundant there).  Some of the coolest parts of the movie were the exterior shots of NYC in the 1960s and the overall snapshot of family life in that bygone era.   
MVP:  Garner as Dr Gerald Boyer struggling to accept his wife’s success