It Happened In The Park (villa Borghese)

Quirky, but you might like it
This is a decidedly quirky film, not to everyone's taste for sure, but has some very enjoyable moments. It's a series of vignettes, set in the Roman park known as the Villa Borghese, and taking place during a single day. The director, Vittorio De Sica makes an appearance in the most farcical of the pieces, as a middle-aged womanizer, tripped up while attempting to slip away for an afternoon seduction. There are some touching moments as well. Very enjoyable if quirky is your cup of tea.





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Tug

Background Type Movie
This movie didn't get off to a great start plot wise or actor wise. I ended up using it to watch while I worked on some paper work. It was a good movie to have on for multi-tasking with a movie. Playing in the background was good enough to glance at and listen to off and on to keep up with the plot. This could've been made a lot better if it had different writers. The plot had some potential and unfortunately the actors did not.
OK if you want a very little entertainment that is not music in the background but have things to get done.

Okay
In my opinion the movie is okay to watch once. It keeps you interested on how a guy thinks, and their definition of a good girlfriend and bad girlfriend. The ending could have been better. I did like however how they explained the movie title. "Tug"

Do not waste your time.
This could have been a good movie if it had been handled right. It was not, "Tug" was not worth the time or the money to watch. The blame is not with the actors, but the script.

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Gay Sex in the 70's

Recommended Documentary About 70s Gay Scene
The documentary Gay Sex in the 70s examines the lifestyle and culture of gay men from 1969 to 1981--the dawn of the AIDS era. The documentary was produced by former ABC Producer (20/20)Joseph Lovett. Gay Sex in the 70s is an excellent film.

The film primarily focuses on the disco era. Various gay men describe their lives and how things happened during that era. There is also a great deal of archived footage incorporated into the film. From back rooms at clubs to wild scenes in semi trucks at the docks things were definitely wild and free during that era.

Gay Sex in the 70s is a great historical film. The saddest part of the film is when the early 1980's are discussed. The dawn of the AIDS era really impacted the gay community in a major way. One man shows a pile of pictures of all of his friends who died from the disease. Another man tells a story about how one of his patients called him when he was hospitalized for what he was told was a strange cancer. One...

"New York was a constant cruising opportunity."
For a micro-budget documentary this is a good introduction to the gay scene in the 1970's, butt the title is misleading since it only tells the story of gay men in New York City in the 70's. There is absolutely nothing about anything outside of NYC which is sad because I was hoping this would talk some about gay oppression in other countries. Butt, oh well, I still enjoyed the film and was amazed by all the archival photos and video, especially the gay docks, "the trucks" and St. Mark's Baths! That was some crazy [...]!!! The St. Mark's Bath sounded awesome! Why can't there be something like that for heterosexuals nowadays?! I'd be there every weekend.

My main beef though is there just wasn't enough meat to the story. Yea, everybody is [...] and [...] and [...] nonstop, butt hearing about it over and over chafed me kinda raw. I wanted the film to penetrate deeper into the story. Instead it just poked around the rim. I wish there had been some interviews with somebody other...

Limited scope, but still worth a look
While I was only a kid during the 70s, this documentary provides a fascinating, bittersweet snapshot of the "golden age of gay sex," i.e. after Stonewall and before full-blown AIDS - along with Friedkin's "Cruising," this doc shows us what NYC must have been like if you were young, hot, and single - and even if you weren't you could score, too. Hard to believe that this time period is only two decades ago, but it seems like a distant world, a long-lost era so alien from out contemporary culture. I wish the film had made an attempt to also cover other area around the nation like SF, LA, etc. but this insider glimpse of NYC nostalgia makes you pine for "the good old days" even if, in tragic hindsight, we know they could literally kill you.

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Feeding The Brain

The Sane Makers
The main focus of the film is a handful of people who were able to turn their lives around using nutrition. These were not marginal people who only had to improve a little to function. A few lost portions of their lives to the pharmaceutical industry's treatment of their mental illness. One person spent time so heavily medicated that she would sit in a chair and drool. If she fell out of the chair, someone would pick her up and put her back in the chair. That was her life.

Using sound nutrition, everyone involved in the film was able to turn their lives around and become normal, functioning members of society, throwing their meds in the trash in the process. The person mentioned above went on to have three more children and is healthy and happy.

Nothing about the film is bad, but it is a little short and could have stood to get more in depth. For those wanting more information on the subject, I recommend the book
"Food & Behavior: A Natural Connection," by...





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Ultramarines: Warhammer

Not For 40K Fans
This review is bound to inflame other Warhammer 40,000 fans but I feel like I would betraying the franchise not to express my opinion. The Ultramarines movie was a big step for the Warhammer 40,000 universe, and it generated a lot of excitement. When I found out about the movie I was ecstatic. At one point in time I even had the special edition box set pre-ordered from the official website. Fortunately for me funds ran low and I wasn't able to make the purchase. A month later I watched the movie with a friend who had gotten the movie and I couldn't have been more disappointed.

A lot of the excitement around the Ultramarines Movie project came from the announcement that mega author Dan Abnett would be writing the screenplay. First let me say that I have nothing but respect for Dan Abnett. I cannot name a single Warhammer 40,000 book he has written that I have not enjoyed completely. And I've read them all. Dan Abnett is by far the best author in the ranks of the Black...

A Good First Step for 40K Cinema
Ultramarines deals with - yes - a squad of Ultramarines who are sent to investigate a distress beacon on the planet of Mithron, home to an important imperial shrine. Without giving too much away, this hardy bunch of the Emperor's finest soon discover that the sinister forces of Chaos are at work. From there, the movie proceeds according to standard Space Marine codex operating procedures, i.e., burn the heretic! Ha! This straightforward plot is largely executed by the numbers, something that, unfortunately, leaves little room for surprises or plot twists. As a result, the plot is ultimately little more than a pretext for the Space Marines to do their stuff.

However, having said that, Ultramarines deserves high praise for faithfully - an important term when it comes to 40K - delivering a movie that truly does capture the essence of 40K. This is no small feat seeing how so many other studios could have - nay, would have - over-simplified and butchered the complex lore...

Releasing a bad movie on Blu-ray does not make it better.
I have been playing / collecting WH40k for 23 years and I have read all the books....I really find it hard to believe Dan Abenet wrote the script I think he just wrote the name of the movie on a piece of paper and some one else wrote it. Dan is a GREAT Author and his name on it is what sold the movie. The animation was really bad and jerky the Dawn of War trailers were 1000% better than this movie. I went to the New York City showing of this movie on the big screen and it was even more horrible to watch. During the Q&A after the movie the producer admitted to not knowing anything about 40K saying "well I may have painted 1 or 2 figurines for my brother when I was younger but I never played the game and I have not read any of the novels." OOOOO KAY buddy no wonder this movie is horrible because the guy had no love nor passion for the game and its history he was just out to make a quick buck.

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Monsters, Inc. (Three-Disc Collector's Edition: Blu-ray/DVD Combo in Blu-ray Packaging)

Beautiful in Bluray
Before anyone starts saying this has not been released yet and there cannot be a review of the Bluray edition let me tell you this, this movie has been available in Japan and Mexico for quite some time now, and I was able to get a copy of the Mexican edition, which was at one time, identical to the one to be released in the US. It is a 3 disc edition (2 BD plus DVD copy of the movie), this has now been changed to a 4 disc set in the US to include the additional digital copy.

Disc one starts with an intro by director Pete Docter, in which he pretty much explains all the contents in this 'glorious' high definition version of the movie. A mini documentary on the 'Monsters, Inc: Ride & Go Seek ' ride in Disney Japan is also included. The highlight to me was the creators 'Round table' in which they talk about the process of creating the movie, some deleted scenes not included in prior DVD versions are shown here and they finally explained to me why is it so difficult to get a...

Pixar has done it again!
Admittedly, I am a fan of Pixar's work. Their artists have done some incredible animated features over the years. Between the "Toy Story" movies and "A Bug's Life," they have managed in a short time to build an impressive track record. Their shorts are also among the best ever produced. So my expectations going into this movie were very high.

The story concerns the monsters in your closet. The theory being that their world runs of the energy produced by children's screams. Sulley (John Goodman) is number one at getting screams. His main rival (Steve Buschemi) will do anything to gain the top spot. Oh, and they consider the touch of a human child to be toxic.

While not as instantly relatable as "Toy Story," the movie builds on the talents of Goodman and Billy Crystal (Mike) to bring you into this make-believe world as Sulley and Mike try to get little Boo back through the closet door to the safety of her bedroom.

Disney/Pixar has presented this well on DVD. Both Widescreen and...

The best movie I've seen in YEARS!
If you look at my other Amazon[.com] reviews, you will notice that I don't review movies and truth by told, I watch very few movies. Perhaps 2-4 per year, including both in the theater and at home on video or DVD. I'm just not a movie fan.

But tonight, we rented the Monsters Inc DVD and I absolutely loved it! Clever, hilarious, touching, innovative, unique, imaginative - those words don't begin to tell about this movie! You just have to see it.

It's such a pleasure to see a G-rated movie doing so well, both at the box office and also sales of the products for home viewing. This movie is totally free of sex, profanity, and substance abuse. Some of the action could be called violence, but not in the sense we usually define violence in movies! This movie might scare a 4-year-old, however. You need to know your own child to know if he's ready for this action-packed, laugh-a-minute masterpiece!

I watched this with my husband and two of our older kids (ages 19 and 21). We all...

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Big in Bollywood

Loved it!
I kinda like Bollywood movies, so I thought I'd check this out. I was surprised that it was a documentary. Not really my thing, but this was great! Omi is just your typical struggling American actor who gets a call to go to India to do a big Bollywood movie. His friends (smart move guys) decide to film everything. Omi is so REAL and natural. The movie becomes a huge hit and the population in India goes crazy for Omi. I love his reactions, and I loved watching how a different culture treats their movie stars. VERY entertaining and interesting!

A pleasant surprise
I took a chance on this movie, having just read the summary. So glad I did.
This is an unpretentious documentary film about "working actor" Omi Vaidya making his big Bollywood break. We witness his obscurity to fame, in just a month's time.
Omi is so likeable and humble about the whole thing that sometimes his awkward self promotion leaves us feeling a little uncomfortable.
(Kudos to his good wife who takes the frenzy that ensues in stride.)
Great film, shot mostly by Omi's pal's. Brings a different perspective to becoming an overnight sensation, Mumbai style.

Tikka MasalAwesome!
Was curious about this movie since we (husband and I) live in LA and have lived in India. WE were delighted by the show and recommend it to anyone wanting to watch a fascinating documentary- it follows a struggling actor in LA as he becomes HUGE in Bollywood.
Loved the pace of the show (not your usual sloooow mover low-budget film), it was well produced and truly a movie made with heart.
Watch it!

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