Movie Review - Scarface

Movie Review No 45

PLOT

This movie starts with the opening of Cuban harbours in 1980 to "allow" US Cubans to collect relatives...... but it seems that some of the Cuban prisons were emptied in the process!  One of them is Tony "Scarface" Montana played by Al Pacino and the moving starts with his initial interrogation by the Police on his arrival in Florida.   The story charts his immigration process, integration into the Miami crime and drugs scene, meeting F Murray Abraham early in the story.  He meets a rather nasty death later on though! The movie culminates with his rise to the top of the criminal food chain with a matching cocaine addiction (He ends up snorting coke straight off his table leaving a smudge on the end of his nose!) and an eye popping gun battle with a rival gang in his villa.....!

RECOMMENDED

It's violent, so an adult movie, but yes!

SQUEAKS OUT OF TEN

Eight!

SCOOBY SNACKS

Doughnut holes with lots of icing  sugar......!!

Movie review - "Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan"

Movie review number 44

PLOT
This movie starts on the day of Admiral Kirk's birthday, and he's feeling a tad ancient.  A group of new Starfleet Cadets are taking the Kobayashi Maru, a test to discover their ways of dealing with a "no win" situation - with a young Kirstie Alley taking The Big Chair.
Meanwhile, on the USS Reliant..... Commander Chekov is checking out Ceti Alpha 6, a planet in the Ceti Alpha system previously visited 15 years previously.  (You'd think they'd have that recorded on the computer systems)  They're looking for a planet with absolutely NO lifeforms on it all so that Dr Merrick (Admiral Kirk's ex girlfriend) can test out the Genesis programme, to turn a lifeless planet into one that can support life.  Anyways, Chekov & the Reliant's Captain beam down to Ceti Alpha 6 to make sure there's no life on it, but then find there's some old ship bits on it...... belonging to The Botany Bay...... OH NO!!!  Just as they're about to leave, they find there IS lifeform on the planet........ genetically engineered Khan and the remainder of his group who had been exiled on Ceti Alpha 5!!!  Hang on...... they thought it was Ceti Alpha 6...... turns out that planet exploded (so there's a planet missing in the system...... and they didn't notice that when they looked at their computer system when they entered the Ceti Alpha plantary system??) and altered the trajectory of C.A 5 to make it LOOK like C.A. 6..... well if you squint a bit and wrinkled your nose, I suppose you COULD make that mistake.... we're only talking about a missing planet, after all.
Anyway, Khan and his group take over the USS Reliant and go try find the Genesis probe.
Meanwhile, Admiral Kirk finds out that Genesis probe is under threat, and he takes charge of the Enterprise & the cadets to go find out what's happening.  And then Khan finds him!!!  The two ships then throw a few phaser blasts at each other, Kirk goes onto the science station and meets his son that he didn't know he had, and Khan manages to get hold of the Genesis probe which he beams onto the Reliant.  Kirk and the Genesis scientists then get back onto the Enterprise and make a dash to a nebula to try and get away from Khan and there's a very suspenseful cat and mouse section of who's coming up behind who, and a game of starship chicken!!
Then, as a last resort, Khan sets off the Genesis probe, but just as the Enterprise's engine blows and floods engineering with radiation..... at which point Spock goes to fix the engine.....
The ending is actually quite poignant, since the death of Leonard Nimoy.
Brilliant movie though.....

RECOMMENDED
Oh yes indeedy!!!!

SQUEAKS OUT OF TEN
9 - lose one for the major plot error!!

SCOOBY SNACKS
Apples, in any shape or form.

Movie review - "Mummies: Tales from the Egyptian Crypt" disc two

Movie review number 43

PLOT

The second disc of this documentary is about hieroglyphics and Tutankhamun.  The first part, hieroglyphics, is really interesting - apparently there's two types of writing used in Ancient Egypt: hieratics (like handwriting) and hieroglyphics (like printed words - that's what you see carved into the statues, tombs and so on)  Only 1 or 2% of Ancient Egyptians could write one or the other...... but the ones that could write hieratics couldn't always read hieroglyphics!  So when somebody wanted carving on a wall for a tomb, one scribe would write it out in hieratics (handwritten on papyrus), then another artisan would write out on the walls what he thought the hieroglyphic "translation" would be, then another artisan would come round and correct it!!!!  And THEN it would get carved into the walls!!!  And even then you still sometimes see corrected carvings!

The second part was about the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922 by Howard Carter.  He was being funded by Lord Carnarvon who, after five years of searching wanted to give up and go home.  Howard Carter said oh no I'll fund one more year and if we find anything you can have it.  So Lord C said OK, I'll fund another year....... and a few months later, they found the tomb entrance!  It explains what was found in the tomb - and that it may have been built for someone else entirely, since it's so small for a King - and how "The Curse Of The Mummy" came about (all a pile of tosh, by the way!!) and goes on to talk of the famous Tutankhamun exhibition at the British Museum.  They also talk about another big tomb that's been found in 1995 they think is for Ramses and all of his 48 children!  (it's a mausoleum rather than a tomb!)

This one is very interesting.

RECOMMENDED

Oh yes indeed!

SCORE
9 out of 10 - they still used the annoying echo effect on occasion!

SCOOBY SNACKS
Figs, dates and camel milk.

Movie Review - "Tintin, the Secret of the Unicorn"

Movie review number 42

PLOT
This movie is based on the cartoon character Tintin, created by Herge, the famed Belgian journalist (Jamie Bell).  It starts in the Gran' Markt in Brussels, where Tintin is shopping and he finds a wonderful little miniature wooden hand-crafted statue of the sailboat Unicorn and purchases it for a few Francs.  Snowy catches sight of a prolific pickpocket and goes chases him.... in the meantime, two separate gentlemen approach Tintin wanting to buy the statue off him for any price he chooses.  He won't sell it and takes it home.  However a cat gets into his apartment, Snowy chases it and they crash into the table with the statue on it making it fall to the floor and smash........ and only Snowy notices a small metal cylinder fall out of the main mast and roll under the table!!!
Meanwhile, Policemen Thompson and Thomson are on the trail of the pickpocket....
Tintin's apartment gets broken into and his statue goes missing....... and then Tintin find the little metal cylinder under the table and it contains A Clue To Missing Treasure!!!!
Then he discovers it's linked to the Naval family Haddock mansion Marlinspike and sneaks in to snoop around...... and finds an unbroken sailboat in it exactly like his!  It later turns out there's three of these sailboats made for three Haddock brothers, each containing A Clue to Missing Treasure, which only a True Haddock can work out once all clues are together!!!!!
Tintin then meets the last remaining Captain Haddock (Daniel Craig) who really enjoys drinking whiskey, and they get kidnapped onto a boat which is sailing towards Northern Africa, the site of a sunken sailboat called The Unicorn, which was previously captained by another Captain Haddock (Craig's grandfather) who had a boatfight with a Pirate!!!!!!
Tintin and Captain Haddock manage to escape and steal a boatplane and fly off but then crashland in the Sahara desert!!!
OH NO!!!
I won't give away the ending but this is a really exciting fast-paced movie that's definitely worth watching!!!

RECOMMENDED
Oh yes indeedy!!!

SCORE
Beanie gives this nine squeaks out of ten!!

SCOOBY SNACKS
Moules Mariniere with slices of crusty french bread!!!

Movie review - "Mummies: Tales from the Egyptian Crypt" disc one

Movie review number 41

PLOT

This is a two disc DVD set I bought at the British Museum in London after seeing their Mummies expedition back in March.  It's narrated by actor Frank Langella.  The first disc is all about the Pyramids and the Sphinx and discusses how mummies came to exist as originally bodies were simply buried in the sand and it was the natural drying from the environment that preserved them so well.  It goes on to tell of how the embalming system was created, and incorporated into the religious thinking and how tombs were initially created as "bench like" buildings.  One of the pharoahs had the bench like tombs built one on top of the other, resulting in the stepped pyramid (the first pyramid built in Egypt) which then were later recreated into the smooth sided pyramids of Giza for other pharoahs.

The second part of disc one talked about the Sphinx, and how it the head was based on one of the pharoahs and still had some of the paint and glazes showing.  Unfortunately, the directors of this part decided to over-use the echo chamber on some of the period quotations which is just downright annoying - for those who are in use of hearing aids this could actually prevent hearing the words spoken.

Otherwise, this was a very interesting dvd - I'll review the second disc later!

RECOMMENDED

For those interested in ancient history/archaeology, this would be an interesting purchase to make.

SCORE
Disc one, six out of ten.  The echo drags it down from an eight!!

SCOOBY SNACKS
Dates and figs and a milkshake (flavour, viewers choice!)

Movie review - "Mr Turner"

Movie review number 40

PLOT

This movie charts the life of JMW Turner, English artist of the 1700s and stars Timothy Spall in the title role. 

The movie starts with Turner returning to London from a trip to Utrecht in the Netherlands, and back to his London studio which he shares with his father.  His father makes up oil paint for Turner, buying the pigment from the "colourmen" - what we'd now call an art shop!  Turner's wife arrives and whinges at him that he hasn't been to see his family or kept up with his children.  

Later, Turner visits the seaside town of Margate and rents a top floor room in a building that faces the sea from a lady called Mrs Booth, who later becomes his mistress.  This becomes a second home for him, and he spends most of time there.

The movie also shows various interactions at the Royal Academy, with Turner giving a lecture, and also taking part in various exhibitions, where he encounters Mr Ruskin, a rather posh pretentious art critic (who later promotes the Preraphaelite artists, shown towards the end of the movie) and Turner at one point has a good crack at making Ruskin look a total prat.  (which he potentially was!!) Towards the end of the movie, a Very Rich Man offers to buy all of Turners painting off him for £20,000 but Turner tells him to bugger off because he's leaving them to the nation.  They're currently (still!) on show at the Tate Britain in London.

The movie ends with Turner returning to Margate, falling ill and ultimately dying.

(Ed's note: A Prat is English terminology for idiot: similar to twat)
(Another Ed's note: the movie scene with Ruskin in it talks about another artist called Mr Claude.  We went to see an expedition on London about Turner and Claude here which briefly explains who he is!)

RECOMMENDED

This is a VERY long movie - well over 2 hours, and I found it too long and the last hour of it didn't hold my attention.  I'm rather surprised I sat through to the end, to be honest, and was tempted to turn it off about 45 minutes before actual ending.

SCORE

Three squeaks out of ten, purely for historical accuracy.

SCOOBY SNACKS
Viewers choice, you'll need it to stave off the boredom!!!

Movie Review - "Cleopatra"

Movie Review number 39

PLOT
This epic movie filmed in the 1960s stars Elizabeth Taylor in the lead role of Cleopatra, Rex Harrison as Julius Caesar and Richard Burton as Mark Anthony.  The movie starts with (Rex) Caesar wondering about the power split between Cleopatra and her brother in Alexandria as they were supposed to be running Egypt together.  He takes two legions to Egypt to try and sort things out, and is met by Ptolemy the snotty little boy king kid brother of Cleopatra.  She turns up later, and turns out to be highly ambitious, manipulative and power hungry and she promptly goes about seducing Caesar into the bedroom and into helping her gain control of the whole world.  (being Isis the goddess, of course, she's entitled).  Caesar goes back to Rome and tells the senate (and his wife!) all about her.  Cleopatra gives birth to Caesar's son and a few years later, makes a Big Entrance into Rome...... getting her first sight of Mark Anthony in the process...... and promptly upsets the Romans generally.  She persuades Caesar that being Dictator of Rome isn't enough and that what he (actually she!) REALLY wants is to be Emperor and Master of Rome.  Thing is, when Caesar makes that announcement, plots are made to kill him in the senate building!!!  So - he then gets stabbed to death.
Cleopatra then sails back to Egypt with their son Caesarian to escape any plots against her.  Meanwhile, (Rex) Caesar's cousin Octavius is made Caesar (Roddy) who also turns out to be a snotty little shit, and he sends Mark Anthony over to Egypt to get control of Cleopatra.  Except she wheedles HIM into the bedroom, and Mark decides not to go back to Rome.  At all!!!!  Anyway, he does eventually go back to Rome, only to get married to (Rex) Caesar's sister Octavia and when Cleopatra gets news of this, she goes a bit off the rails!!!!!  Mark Anthony tries to arrange to see Cleopatra again but she's really pissed off with him..... but does sail to Rome only to insist that Mark sees her on the boat instead of her disembarking.  She eventually persuades Mark Anthony to wage war against (Roddy) Caesar which Mark Anthony promptly goes and loses.  Cleopatra then assumes because Mark's ship has sunk, he's dead, and sails back to Egypt...... but Mark is still alive and sees her sailing away!!  So now HE'S pissed off!!!  He goes back to Egypt anyway..... and then they discover that Roddy Caesar is marching on Alexandria to capture both of them to take them back to Rome.  And on the way, he gets hold of son Caesarian and kills him.
Roddy Caesar doesn't get to capture Mark Anthony and Cleopatra alive though.....

RECOMMENDED
Oh yes indeed!  This is a Mega Epic movie!

SCORE
Ten out of ten!!!

SCOOBY SNACKS
Olives, dates and figs

Movie Review - "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone"

Movie Review number 38

PLOT
The movie starts with Dumbledore (Trevor Harris) and Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane) delivering a baby Harry Potter (played later by Daniel Radcliffe) to his aunt & uncles house in Privet Drive, Potters parents just having been killed by Voldemort.
Eleven years later, Harry has been confined to the cupboard under the stairs and is general dogsbody and bottle washer to the family.  On his cousin's birthday they go to the zoo, and Cousin Dearest gets trapped in the snake display while the Burmese python escapes - due to Harry's as yet unknown magical abilities!!!
Then, on Harry's eleventh birthday he gets a letter from Hogwarts School of Wizardry informing him of his acceptance into the school..... but his uncle rips it up.  And the next letter and the next letter - until a whole swarm of letters start flying down the chimney!!!  Uncle decides to take everyone to a remote island where there's no post delivery where they all hide out...... until Hagrid the Giant barges his way in to the hut and fills Harry in on his wizarding background!!
After that, Hagrid takes Harry to London - specifically Diagon Alley - to do his school shopping, including books, a gown and a wand!  First, they go to the bank to withdraw some money (which Harry didn't know he had!) and then Harry goes to buy a wand from the Wand-maker (John Hurt).  After a couple of explosions, Harry gets a wand made with the tail feather of a Phoenix....... who donated one other feather to another wand that was used to give Harry his lightning strike scar!
Then they go to King's Cross station to platform 9 and three quarters for Harry to catch the Hogwarts Express train to school which is where his meets Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson)  On arrival at school, they're sorted into houses and then lessons start.
However it doesn't take long to discover Something Important is Hidden at Hogwarts that Somebody Nasty is trying to Steal.  After a few unintended verbal clues from Hagrid, Harry, Ron and Hermione discover that the Philosopher's Stone is hidden somewhere, it's special capabilties and that Voldemort is still alive and is trying to steal it!!!
The final part of the movie has Harry, Ron and Hermione facing three challenges to prevent the Stone from being stolen...... but will they do it?????!!

RECOMMENDED
Yes - this is a really good movie!!

SCORE
10 squeaks out of 10!!

SCOOBY SNACKS
Chocolate Frogs and All Flavour Jelly Beans

Movie review - "Sweet Smell of Success"

Movie review number 37

PLOT

This is a 1950s black and white movie set in New York City and centres around JJ Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster) the gossip columnist, Sidney Falco (Tony Curtis) the press agent ....... and JJs sister who he's fiercely protective of as his only family member, and her boyfriend Steve Dallas who plays guitar in a jazz quintet.  Hunsecker and Falco are both very corrupt and manipulative journalists who will do (almost) anything to get what they want and the story revolves around JJ using Falco to plant false evidence on Steve Dallas to manipulate JJs sister into dumping Dallas.  What neither of them realise until almost the end is that Dallas has proposed to her, and she has accepted....... and suddenly false drug evidence is planted on Dallas resulting in his loss of a job, and a beating from - no, it couldn't be the Police could it?

This is a brilliant movie with a fabulous script and backing music from the Chico Hamilton Quintet, and works terrifically in black & white.  You need to pay attention though as right at the end, there is a big twist in the story where you realise the kid sister isn't so much of a kid any more....... and who's really manipulating who??

RECOMMENDED

Absolutely!!!  This is compulsory watching!

SCORE

10 squeaks out of 10!!

SCOOBY SNACKS

Classic popcorn and soda movie

Movie Review - "Star Trek: The Motion Picture"

Movie review number 36

PLOT

This movie starts with three Klingon Warbirds intercepting a Very Large Cloud Thing  (VLCT) in space and trying to destroy it.  Their photon torpedoes have no effect, and disappear into the VLCT and then the Klingons get attacked and consumed by the VLCT.
Meanwhile on planet Vulcan, Spock (Leonard Nimoy) is undergoing the Kohlinahr ceremony as he had reputedly achieved total logic.  However at the last moment, he stops proceedings as his mind has contacted the VLCT and he then knows his destiny lies elsewhere.  The ceremony ends.

Back on Earth Admiral Kirk (William Shatner) is on his way to see the Big Chief to get himself in charge of the Starship Enterprise which is currently in spacedock undergoing an upgrade.  Scotty the Engineer (James Doohan) drives him to the ship in a little shuttlepod gizmo, and the Captain eventually finds his way to the Bridge to meet the rest of the crew.  From there, he goes to Engineering to speak to Captain Will Decker (Stephen Collins) to tell him that he's not in charge any more, because Kirk's taken over because he's heard about the VLCT and wants to catch it. Decker is a bit pissed off but can't do anything to prevent it.  They later learn of a Space Station which has now being intercepted by the VLCT and the crew of the Enterprise witness the Space Station's destruction, and then depart to intercept..... but not before the arrival of the last crew member to step onboard ship - Deltan Ilya (Persis Khambatta - since sadly died) who had previously had a failed relationship with Decker.
On the way to the VLCT, another space shuttle gizmo arrives at the ship and asks for docking permission.  The shuttle contains Spock, direct from Vulcan...... who then joins the crew as Science Officer for the remainder of the trip.
They then encounter the VLCT which sends them a message....... and when that's not replied to, it starts photon torpedoeing the ship!!!  The Enterprise then works out the message is in binary and sends a friendly reply....... and a while later, they get a plasma probe on board the ship which starts downloading all the information from the computers!!!  Spock smashes a computer console to stop the probe and gets a few nasty electric shocks in response.  Then Ilya gets a bunch of electric shocks...... and then suddenly disappears as does the plasma probe!!!  OH NOOO!!!
Then the intruder alert goes off on deck five, and Kirk & Spock rush down to find out what's going on.  They find Ilya in the shower in her old cabin...... except it isn't Ilya!!!  It's a mechanised computer probe version of Ilya to interact easier with the Carbon Infestation on the ship whilst collecting information prior to the Carbon Infestation being reduced to data information units.  Decker is told to show the Ilya probe around the ship to assist in collecting information.  In the meantime, the ship is tractor beamed inside the VLCT and continues on their way back to earth.
On arrival in Earth Orbit, Ilya then states that the VLCT is actually called Vger and has arrived to join with the Creator, and eliminate the Carbon Infestation on Earth.  Vger has sent a message to the Creator which is not answered (the Creator doesn't use the same speech patterns!) so Vger sends plasma bombs into Earths orbit - and Kirk says he knows why the Creator hasn't answered!!!!  But Kirk won't tell Ilya the answer until the plasma bombs have been removed, and THEN insists on tell Vger directly instead of Ilya!!!
Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Decker and Ilya then go to the centre of the Vger cloud..... and discover it's actually the Voyager 6 probe sent from Earth by NASA 300 years previously to collect all information in the Universe and then return to transmit the information to The Creator..... which was the Carbon Infestation on Earth..... and the message was sent to the Creator by radiowaves which are no longer in use!!!
The very end of the movie shows .......... I'm not going to tell you but the Earth doesn't get blown to pieces!!!

RECOMMENDED
Yes..... not the strongest of Star Trek movies, but a good yarn nevertheless.

SCORE
6 squeaks out of 10

SCOOBY SNACKS
Neon green lime jelly with sprinkles on top.

Movie Review - "The Wolfman"

Movie review number 35

PLOT
Lon Chaney plays the title role in this black and white movie, the younger son of the Talbot family.  The plot starts with Talbot Jr (Chaney) returning to the Talbot castle in Wales after an 18 year absence, and just after his elder brothers' death.  He is met by Dad Talbot (played by Claude Rains) and helps install a fancy telescope in the attic.  While testing it, he spies an attractive woman in an antique shop window in the village...... and later he goes into the shop to chat her up but under the pretext of making a purchase.  He ends up buying a walking came with a silver handle in the shape of a wolf's head with a pentacle on it.  The attractive woman recites a four line poem about werewolves, that is repeated several times through the movie.
Later, a gypsy caravan comes through town, driven by Bela (played by Bela Lugosi!) who is the gypsy fortune teller.  Lon, attractive woman and her friend decide to walk though the woods that evening to get their fortune read.  The friend goes in first, while Lon and attractive woman wander off for a chat.  As Bela does the palm reading, he gets very agitated and tells the lady to leave straight away.  What he doesn't tell her is that he's seen the pentacle in her palm........ (a bad sign!  That's how a werewolf sees his next victim!!!)  The lady runs into the woods....... and shortly after, Lon and the woman hear screams!!!  Uh oh!!!  Lon runs into the woods, and sees a wolf attacking the lady, which he kills with the silver wolf-head of his walking cane.  Lon and the woman run back home, with Lon being injured from a wolf bite.
The next day, the wolf bite injury has disappeared, but is replaced by a pentacle where he was bitten!!!  However, not only has the dead body of the lady been found in the woods, but also the dead body of Bela, the gypsy fortune teller, who it seems was not wearing any shoes...... Lon Chaney insists that he killed a wolf but is now suspected of murder.....
The next night, the moon comes out, and Lon Chaney can't sleep but feels unwell.  He takes his shoes & socks off...... and then changes into a werewolf!!  He goes into the woods and kills a games-man ........ and wakes up at home the next day to discover that wolf paw marks lead up to the Talbot castle and another dead body has been found!!!  Later, traps are set in the woods to try and trap the rogue wolf, whilst murmurs of the werewolf legend start going round the village!
Later, a large group of gypsies set up camp in the woods and hold a fair with lots of food and games.  People from the village visit the fair including Lon Chaney..... but then stories of the werewolf start up and scare the gypsies away!
Traps are set in the woods to try and catch what is thought to be a rogue wolf.... which eventually work but it's not a wolf that is caught - as the wolf upon death changes back into Lon Chaney!

RECOMMENDED
It passes the time.......!!

RATING
6 squeaks out of 10

SCOOBY SNACKS
Mini-burgers with lots of ketchup!!

Movie Review - "Dracula"

Movie Review number 34

PLOT

This black and white movie made in 1931 is based on Bram Stoker's "Dracula" story and starts with Englishman Mr Redfield travelling by horse drawn carriage to Transylvania for a meeting at Dracula's Castle.  He arrives late at night to a small Transylvanian village, with the carriage driver refusing to go any further.  Mr Redfield insists as he has an Important Meeting and has to reach another horse drawn carriage at midnight exactly to take him to the castle.  After some discussion, they agree to take him further up the mountain.

He reaches the second carriage and is then taken up to the Castle where he is met by Count Dracula played by Hungarian Bela Lugosi.  Lugosi does a very creepily evil, if somewhat camp, Count (with the plastic bats and spiders not adding any sense of seriousness to the movie!  I'm sure if you looked hard enough, you could probably spot the wires the bats are dangling from!!!)  Redfield has arrived with a lease agreement on an old abbey (monastery/church) in Whitby, England which, after close examination, agrees to and states that four boxes will be ready for a ship voyage to Whitby the next day.

Next, there is a ship sailing through a horridly nasty storm........ only to be found drifting into Whitby Harbour some time later, with the entire crew dead, and a madman (Redfield) in the hull of the boat with four boxes....... which turn out to be coffins!!!!  But what's inside the coffins???  Redfield is then taken to Dr Seward's Sanatorium for the Insane.

Later, Count Dracula arranges to meet Lucy, Mina and her fiance John Harker to find that his rented abbey is "next door" to their large property and are neighbours!  A few days later, Lucy is discovered comatose in bed with two marks on her neck.  After several blood transfusions, she never gain consciousness and dies.  Dr Van Helsing arrives to assist, and finds that Dracula cannot be seen in a mirror, and discovers Dracula's true identity!!!!  Later, Mina complains of nightmares, and is found also to have two marks on her neck and Van Helsing discovers that she now is part of the Undead Vampires!!!  John Harker refuses to believe it, and tries to take Mina to London to get her away from the panic setting in around Whitby!  However, she is kidnapped by the Count and taken to the Abbey.... followed by the mad Redfield...... who is followed by Van Helsing and Harker!!  Van Helsing drives a stake through the heart of the Count, and Harker finds Mina "just in time"...... which is where the movie ends!!!

RECOMMENDED
Although this is now somewhat dated, it's a good "watch"!

SCORE
7 squeaks out of 10

SCOOBY SNACKS
Black pudding.
If you don't know what that is, google it!!!

Movie Review - Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Movie review number 33

PLOT
This movie starts in the Nevada Desert in 1957, with the arrival of an Army patrol at a Highly Restricted Army Base.  They're initially refused entry, but then armed personnel jump out of the vans, and gun down the US guards and force their way in....... and then park the vans outside a storage facility and drag Indiana Jones out of the boot of one of the vans!!!  The Army patrol turn out to be Russian KGB headed by Cate Blanchett wanting to search the storage facility for something that Indy had found ten years previously...... which eventually turned out to be a corpse of an alien!!!  Indy escapes, only to find the US army are about to test a nuclear bomb!!!!! OH NO!!!
He escapes from that to return to his university campus, only to have the FBI ransack his office and then he gets fired from his job.  He packs, and gets on a train somewhere but is accosted by a young man (Shia LaBoeuf) on a motorbike who later explains that young man's Mother (who Indy knew in movie one) is lost in South America somewhere having gone there to rescue young man's stepdad (John Hurt) who was lost searching for a crystal skull, that is the key to the gold of El Dorado.  Russian Spies find them, and there's a mad car chase ending in Indy and Young Man on a plane to Peru!!!!
In Peru, Indy and Young Man are kidnapped by Cate Blanchett and the Russians, who also have John Hurt (who's half mad) and Young Man's Mum who Indy then recognises as Girlfriend from movie one....... and then discovers that Young Man is actually his son, Henry Junior the third!!!!
They find the location of the Crystal Skull and also the location of where it's supposed to be.... and after another crazy car chase and some human-eating ants.... there's a very exciting ending AND A WEDDING!!!!!

RECOMMENDED
Oh yes indeedy!!

SCORE
9 squeaks out of 10

SCOOBY SNACKS
Make your own tacos with refried beans and Dos Equis beer

Movie Review - The New Cinema Paradiso

Movie review number 32

PLOT

This is an Italian language movie with english subtitles and starts in Sicily in a weeny little tin-pot town with a little old lady trying to ring her son in Rome, and leaving a message to say that Alfredo had died.  When Salvatore (the lady's son) gets home late, he's given the message....... and the movie is his flashback memories of Alfredo.
In the little tinpot town in Sicily just after the end of WW2, the local priest runs the Cinema Paradiso in the church with movies fit in around church services.  Young Salvatore lives at home with his Mum and sister, his Dad being "missing" in Russia but not yet declared dead.  Alfredo is the projectionist but also splices out all kissing scenes from all the movies, as censored by the Priest before putting the movies on public view. Salvatore, aka Toto, is about 5 or 6 and insists on assisting Alfredo (but usually gets in the way!)  Alfredo agrees to gives Toto the "out-cuts" from the movies but won't let him take them home (these were the really old types of movie that was apt to burst into flames if not stored properly!!)  Toto manages to pilfer a few to take home and store in a jar under the bed which later burst into flame and causes a fire at home.  He gets a belting from his Mum... but does show a good aptitude for changing the movie reels in the projection room!  However, later there's a fire in the actual projection room at the church, which not only destroys Cinema Paradiso, but Alfredo gets badly burnt..... but is saved by Toto pulling him out.
A Bigshot businessman then finances the New Cinema Paradiso being built, and has Toto as the young projectionist.  Alfredo visits and then becomes the "assistant" instead of Toto!
Toto gets into making home movies and spots a very pretty new girl that starts at his school called Elana.  She's the daughter of a Rich Banker..... who does not approve when he finds out they're dating.  After Toto gets called up for National Service, he does his time in the military and returns home to find that Elana has completely disappeared off the planet.... her father has moved her away.
Alfredo and Toto have a talk after that, and Alfredo says for Toto to leave the tinpot town (it's now a ghost town, everybody's left) and to go to Rome and do something he loves doing...... I suspect it's making movies!
Toto returns home for Alfredo's funeral, and is given a movie reel to take with him.  The Cinema Paradiso is destroyed to make way for a parking lot.
Toto takes the movie reel back to Rome and views it to find......... I'm not telling you!!!  It's a very "Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh" ending that ties in perfectly with the beginning!!!

RECOMMENDED

Yes, it's lovely!!!

SCORE

10 squeaks out of 10

SCOOBY SNACKS

Your favourite real Italian Gelato!

Movie Review - "Godfather Part 3"

Movie review number 31

PLOT

This movie is the third and final movie of the Godfather series, and picks up the family story in 1979.  Al Pacino (Don Corleone) is officially divorced from his on-screen wife, Diane Keaton and their two children are all grown up.  The movie begins with Pacino collecting a big official award from the Vatican church, presented to him in a fancy ceremony in New York City.  During the party afterwards, his daughter Mary meets her cousin Anthony (played by Andy Garcia) and there's a mutual attraction that develops through the movie.  Pacino's on-screen son tells Pacino that he's dropping out of law school to pursue music as a career which pisses off Pacino.

Later, Pacino has a conversation with the Vatican representative (a Bishop) who says the Vatican is 700 million dollars in debt and asks for help.  An agreement is made that Pacino purchases a large property business, Immobilare, from the Vatican for $600million...... which later in the movie, the Vatican tries to wheedle their out of by saying it was never ratified by the Pope (who is seriously ill at the time) therefore is null and void, which pisses off Pacino some more!!  More underhanded wheedling is done behind the scenes between the Mob and the Vatican....... later resulting in the "God's Banker" found hanging by his neck underneath a bridge in London (which really did happen back in the 1980s, with rumours of Mafia links!!!)  The Pope later dies, a new Pope is brought in, who himself dies a few days later..... amidst rumours of poisoning!!  (again, that really happened too!!)

Pacino back in New York City organises a big Dinner at a posh restaurant bringing in lots of Mob chiefs and passes out large cheques (checks) to them as their shares of casino profits.  One mafia boss stomps out in a huff ...... and a few seconds later, a helicopter hovers outside the restaurant window, and machine guns go off, killing most of the other remaining mafia chiefs!!!  UH-OH!!!!!

The latter part of the movie is based in Sicily, where Pacino's son is premiering at the Opera house there in his first professional production - the whole family turn up to watch.  At the end, as the Corleone family exit the Opera house, an assassin takes shots at Pacino and his daughter........ with one of the most effective and memorable "death" scenes in cinema.

Pacino's own death at the very end of the movie has you feeling really sorry for him.

RECOMMENDED

Oh yes!!!

SCORE

9.5 squeaks out of 10

SCOOBY SNACKS

Chianti and pizza with your favourite toppings!!

Movie Review - "Ocean's Thirteen"

Movie Review number 30

PLOT
This movie starts with Elliot Gould and Al Pacino closing a deal on a posh new hotel casino in Las Vegas, but Pacino forces Gould out of the deal so that Pacino has sole ownership of the hotel.  Gould then has a serious heart attack.
Then in come Gould's friends, including George Clooney, Matt Damon, and Brad Pitt to organise a major scam and heist on the opening night of the Posh Hotel!!  This also includes organising grief for the travel review writer so he writes an awful review!
The movie takes you through all the planning stages of the heist, from the making of dodgy dice in Mexico, to the drill the dug out the Eurostar tunnel, to fancy electronics to create black-outs in the hotel!!  It's a very exciting story, ending with two earthquakes under the Posh Hotel (one unexpected!!) and a helicopter ride off the roof and a double-handed diamond heist!!!!
(This story is based I believe on a 1950s story starring Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davies Jr and the rest of the rat pack!!)

RECOMMENDED
Definitely!  You need to pay attention but it's definitely worth watching!

RATING
9 squeaks out of 10

SCOOBY SNACKS
Champagne and caviar!!

Movie Review - Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Movie Review number 29

PLOT
This movie starts in the late 1890s with a schoolboy Indy Jones (played by River Phoenix) on a boyscout trip out into the Arizona Desert.  After horse trekking for a while, they stop near a cave, and Young Indy investigates and discovers treasure being stolen from a mine.  Young Indy steals the treasure from the baddies and takes it home (chased by the baddies!) to Dad.  Just as Young Indy arrives home, the sheriff arrives - with the baddies to reclaim the treasure!!!
Fast forward to Harrison Ford Indy, now Professor of Archaeology in University, and he's just back from a trip to the High Seas, claiming back more treasure for the museums.  After class, he goes to his office and picks up a small package that arrived in the mail, and then escapes the mass of hormonal female students outside his office by escaping out of the window.  A Man In A Suit And Hat arrives in a posh car (with other men in suits) to discuss something The Man In A Suit is interested in....... The Grail!!  Man In Suit had sent "someone" to Venice to try and discover clues to find the grail, but "someone" had gone missing, so Man In Suit came to see Indy, but Indy says Indy's Dad would be the guy to talk to as Dad's life's work was where the Holy Grail was hidden....... and it turns out that the "someone" who'd gone missing WAS Indy's Dad!!!
So..... Indiana Jones then takes a plane to Venice Italy, to find his Dad.  He is met by Blonde Female Professor who takes him to the library where Dad went missing... and Indy discovers a tomb underneath the library (converted church) of one of the Knights who had hidden the Grail, and then finds the missing part of clue!  Then there's a speedboat chase through the canals between the Grail Guardians and Indy and the blonde Professor.  Indy and the blonde Professor discover that Indy's Dad is being held in a castle on the Austo-German border.  So off they go to the castle!!!
In the castle, they find Indy's Dad (played by Sean Connery) and then discover that the blonde Professor is one of the Nazi's who'd kidnapped Dad!!!  And so is the Man In A Suit And Hat!!!  OH NO!!
Indy and his Dad manage to escape the Nazi's and then there's a motorbike chase to get away.  They go to Berlin first to get Dad's Grail Diary back, and then board a Zeppelin to get out of Germany.  But the Nazi's discover them, so Indy and Dad board the little plane underneath the Zeppelin to escape!!
THEN they go to Alexandria which is the nearest town to where the Grail is hidden, closely followed by the Nazi's.  Indy and his Dad find the temple where the Grail is, but just as they get there, they find the Nazi's got there first...... but will they find the Grail and will it be the right one????

RECOMMENDED

Oh yes indeedy!!  Sean Connery does a very good Indy's Dad!!

RATING

8.5 out of 10

SCOOBY SNACKS
sauerkraut and baklava cakes

Movie Review - "Godfather part 2"

Movie review number 28

PLOT
The second movie of the Godfather series starts in 1901 with 9 year old Vito Corleone attending his father's funeral in Sicily with his mother and the funeral cortege.  His elder brother Paolo had been hiding in the hills after swearing vegeance on Don Cicci, the man who ordered the murder of Vito's Dad.  During the funeral, shooting happens and Paulo is killed.  Mother takes Vito to the Cicci villa and begs that they leave Vito alone, but Don Cicci refuses and kills the mother - Vito runs away and escapes...... onto a boat to Ellis Island.
The story then switches to the 1960s, with Al Pacino playing middle aged Michael Corleone (youngest son of Marlon Brando/Vito Corleone of movie 1) married to Diane Keaton and young son running "The Firm" - starting with the confirmation of the young son and setting up the blackmailing of a US Senator (later in the movie, he finds himself naked in a motel room with a dead woman and no clue how he got there..... the motel run by Michael's elder brother Fredo.  Michael gets what he wants later during Senate hearings into Corleone mafia illegalities!)  Michael also does business with Hyman Roth in Miami (Meyer Lansky of real mafia fame) who is setting up Michael's assassination with Fredo....... and Michael then discovers Fredo's backhanded traitorship having originally thought it was the eldest brother Santini that was plotting!!! Family Business has now moved to the Las Vegas casino's and Corleone/Roth are looking to invest in Cuba which is where the assassination was supposed to take place but was foiled.
Flashbacks to the early 1900s form part of the movie, showing Vito's maturity in Depression age New York City (now played by Robert De Niro), marriage, the birth of Santini, Fredo and Michael, and Vito's starting to muscle into the Mafia protection racket, assassinating another hated Don as his official "entry" into the business.
Meanwhile, back in the 60s, Michael's marriage to Diane Keaton disintigrates into divorce, but Michael refuses Diane to take their two children away from him.
The end of the movie sees the beginning of the end of the Corleone family.....

RECOMMENDED

Oh yes!  Not as "blood and guts" as the first one, but has connections to real-life happenings (i.e. the Senate hearings of the 60s, Kennedy involvement with mafia/Vegas, Meyer Lansky, Cuba) which makes interesting viewing for (US) history buffs

RATING

8.5 out of 10

SCOOBY SNACKS

Antipasta and a Banana Daquiri

Movie review - "Claude Monet a Giverny/La Maison d'Alice"

Movie review number 27

PLOT
This DVD is the other one I got at the Monet museum in Paris last May.  It's narrated in French but you can have English subtitles if you want (which I did!)  This documentary tells the story of Monet's move to Giverny with his second wife, Alice (they weren't married at the time) plus his two sons and her six children! It is narrated by means of Alice's letters which were written almost as a story, telling day to day events of work and gardening and holidays.  It tells of their finding of the house in Giverny and the development of the garden, lake and water lilies.  This movie makes a very interesting insight into the family life of Monet and his children from the 1880s up until 1914, just after Alice's death and introduces at the end of the DVD the waterlily tableau's that are now housed at the Orangerie in the Tuilleries in Paris.
It would make more sense to watch this one first, and follow it with the previously reviewed "Les Nympheas: le grand Reve de Monet" (the water lilies: Monet's greatest dream)

RECOMMENDED

This is a lovely DVD, but if you're not so good with spoken French you need to pay attention to read the subtitles... being in white typeface, it's not always easy to read depending on the background!!

SCORE

7.5 out of 10

SCOOBY SNACKS

Camembert and goat's cheese on toasted baguette!!

Movie Review - Behind the Candelabra

Movie review number 26

PLOT
This is the story of a young kid called Scott Thorson (Matt Damon) who, some time in 1977, goes to Las Vegas with his cowboy mate (Scott Bakula from Quantum Leap) and is taken to a Liberace concert (played VERY well by Michael Douglas).  Liberace is playing his boogie woogie tune on the piano and Scott and the whole audience, as usual, is blown away with the skill and showmanship!  Scott is taken backstage and introduced to Liberace, who takes an immediate liking to the youngster.  Liberace invites both of them to his house the next day, and they go visit.  The house is as sumptuous, if not more so, than Liberace's stage show!!!
Before you know it, Scott has decided to move out of his foster home and dog training job, and move in with Liberace..... not just his house but his bed as well.  (At this time, homosexuality was still not tolerated in show biz and, had it been public knowledge that Liberace was gay, would have meant the end of his career.  Which is amazing now, because of his outrageous camp-ness!)
The story moves on to show Scott and Liberace's relationship develop, involving Scott in Liberace's stage show, Liberace's desire to adopt Scott, and Liberace's suggestion for plastic surgery on Scott so he would look like Liberace.  The plastic surgeon, played hysterically well by Rob Lowe, ultimately starts Scott's addiction to drugs - initially prescription, and then illegal - which then leads (along with Liberace's voracious sexual appetite) to the demise of their relationship in 1981.  The movie includes Scott's infamous and unsuccessful "alimony" lawsuit against Liberace.
The movie ends with Liberace's last meeting with Scott, before ultimately dying from an AIDS related illness.
Oh, and Debbie Reynolds plays Liberace's Mum terrifically well, too!

RECOMMENDED

Oh yes, this is brilliant!!  Although there are two "intimate bedroom" scenes and some rather gory plastic surgery scenes, this is well worth getting the DVD!!

SCORE

10 out of 10

SCOOBY SNACKS

Ben and Jerry's "Everything in it" icecream with as many sprinkles, toppings and additional extras as you can possibly think of!