It was everything I wanted and more. So many excellent and silly performances, and the musical numbers really hit on all cylinders.
Did I cry? Yes, yes I did.

I saw this with our two kids, my aunt and cousin on the big screen, and it just shattered me. The Muppets, starting with Sesame Street and then "graduating" to The Muppet Show and movies, were one of the biggest parts of my childhood, and provided a foundation to much of what I think about entertainment, comedy, music, and storytelling. This straightforward story of "getting the gang back together" paired with the humor and heart created a nostalgia bomb that did make me tear up several times.

Based on Allen Drury's 1960 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, later adapted into a Broadway production, Advise & Consent offers the audience a glimpse behind the curtains in the U.S. Capitol, revealing "how the sausage is made." With Director Otto Preminger at the helm, he shows us the controlled chaos of what it takes to get a new Secretary of State nominee, played by Henry Fonda, into the President's Cabinet.
Preminger and the production had unique access to the Capitol, which gives us a sense of the scale of this hallowed building. Through a series of masterful long takes, tension is built, as our attention is directed from one area to another, which ends up making us feel like a fly on the wall.
Along with Fonda, we are introduced to the Senate Majority Leader, played by Walter Pidgeon, who is the point man with respect to getting a new Secretary of State. To counterbalance, we meet Senator Seab Cooley from South Carolina, who most certainly does NOT want Robert Leffingwell to get anywhere near that leadership position. Through the course of the movie, we see the back and forth between the Senators and begin to understand just why things take such a long time to get done.
Fans of American Treasure Betty White will be happy to see her as a Senator from Kansas and hold her own against the hot-headed Senator from Utah. Her performance is worth at least a 1/2 a star in my estimation.
All and all, I enjoyed Advise and Consent for Premminger's take on the source material, the location shoots around Washington, D.C., and some outstanding performances from all of the cast.

About a month ago, I re-watched the 2001 remake of Ocean's Eleven with their amazing cast and had a great time, so I thought it would be a good idea to see the original just to fill in my movie gaps here and there.
Yes, this is a heist film, but it's a slow burn. It is fun to flesh out the back story a bit, and we learn a fair amount of the connections between all of these men and what makes them tick. Danny Ocean (Frank Sinatra) and Jimmy Foster (Peter Lawford) were in leadership roles of a group of 82nd Airborne paratroopers in WWII. They reunite 15 years later and plan out a way to relieve FIVE casinos in Las Vegas of their piles of cash on New Year's Eve. Coming along is Sam Harmon (Dean Martin) and Josh Howard (Sammy Davis, Jr.) and "Mushy" (Joey Bishop), which rounds out the Rat Pack roster. Other notable members of the crew are Roger Corneal (Henry Silva, who was with Sinatra in Manchurian Candidate), Peter Rheimer (Norman Fell), and Tony Bergdorf (Richard Conte, who is known to many as "The Wolf" Barzini from The Godfather.
Danny's wife Beatrice (Angie Dickenson), an honorary member of the Rat Pack, provides a stabilizing force to Danny and knows full well what is at stake. While I understand that this wasn’t fully about their marriage and backstory, it would have interesting to spend just a little time peeking into their lives. Was she in on the heists at one point and got spooked and had to give it up? I’d like to think so.
I just finished listening to Shirley MacLaine's "The Wall of Life: Pictures and Stories From This Marvelous Lifetime" e-audiobook and an episode of Only Murders in the Building both of which were wonderful. There are some fantastic stories from behind the scenes of her time in Hollywood, and speaks very highly of "The Clan" (which is what the Rat Pack called themselves). She describes Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis, Jr., and how they took care of her - like a "mascot.” Knowing some of that background made her brief cameo as the “drunk girl” that much more fun.
To be sure, I enjoyed the 2001 remake quite a bit more than this movie, but there is a ton to love, especially the musical performances by Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr. You could also get a sense that this was a fun shoot, and I had read somewhere that some of the interactions between the characters were improvised, which made things feel loose and fun. Ocean’s 11 was entertaining and does provide a little time capsule for a Vegas that no longer exists. For that, I’m thankful for this movie

Great music and solid performances throughout. Was especially taken in by the visuals from late 1950s San Francisco. Sinatra is cocksure, but the audience also sees that's he's flying by the seat of his pants, and there is a certain charm there, too. Kim Novak is wonderful as the up and coming performer and Rita Hayworth is a force to be reckoned with. All in all, a nice time capsule of that era

Great music and solid performances throughout. Was especially taken in by the visuals from late 1950s San Francisco. Sinatra is cocksure, but the audience also sees that's he's flying by the seat of his pants, and there is a certain charm there, too. Kim Novak is wonderful as the up and coming performer and Rita Hayworth is a force to be reckoned with. All in all, a nice time capsule of that era

(6 and a half stars)
Like many towns in the Old West, Warlock has a little problem with gun violence, so the townspeople bring in Marshal Clay Blaisedell (by the stalwart Henry Fonda) to end the rampage of the McQuown gang.
At the Marshal's side is Tom Morgan, played by the effortlessly cool Anthony Quinn, and it's implied that the two men have a storied history.
When Johnny Gannon, played by Richard Widmark, breaks away from the McQuown gang, the town is at a crossroads. Will they let the law work out their challenges, or have the Marshal clean things up using his "very particular set of skills."
Ultimately, this is an entertaining classic Western with all the trimmings. Terrorized townspeople, a complicated hero, the question of vigilante justice vs. laying down the law. There are shootouts, the holdup of a stagecoach, and people with complex pasts drifting back into the lives of others to throw a branding iron into the wagon wheel (or some such analogy). This is a deep bench of performers, and while some of the characters are somewhat one-dimensional, it seems to fit the tone of a western of that era. Fans of the early Star Trek will enjoy catching a glimpse of "Doc" as one of the bad guys. All in all, this was an ok western, but I wouldn't put it in the pantheon of great westerns.

"A penny for your thoughts?"
The opening set piece was worth the admission price alone.
Little secret? I've never watched a Final Destination movie before. From clips and trailers, I kind of get the concept, but being immersed in the chaos was another thing altogether.
Death, it seems, and doesn't appreciate anybody messing with his plans. That's what we learn from one person who had a premonition of a disaster and has done everything she could to keep death from coming for her. But when her granddaughter is tormented with horrible nightmares, she starts digging into family lore to try to make her visions go away.
Then the mayhem begins as Stefi (played by Kaitlyn Santa Juana) meets with her grandma Iris to get some answers. The answer she gets is not great. Basically, Iris has been in an adversarial relationship with death and has been a recluse for decades, which has upended the lives of her entire family. Following their brief meeting, death embarks on a spree in order to clear the balance sheets.
Yes, Final Destination is a horror movie and not for the faint of heart. For fans of gore, this will be incredibly entertaining. I went into this one nearly completely in the dark, which was amazing, and was genuinely surprised by the tension, misdirects, and jump scares. It seems like the creative team was having a blood spattered field day with this installment. The music and visuals are incredible and the performers knew full well the movie they were in. This is worth seeing on the big screen if possible, but would make for a great movie night, too.

Taking a big swing is an understatement. How does one poke their finger in the eye of Nazis in 1942 and finding that line between satire and deadly seriousness? Director Ernst Lubitsch, born in Berlin in 1892 does just that. We are placed in Poland and follow Jack Benny and Carole Lombard, a husband and wife team of actors in a local theater in Warsaw, and by all accounts, have a certain amount of celebrity in the area.
As it happens, humans have foibles, and Maria Tura (Lombard) takes interest in a young pilot named Lieutenant Stanislav Sobinski (a young Robert Stack) who has an obvious crush and attends all of her performances. Thus, he sneaks back to her dressing room when Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) is performing the famous "To be or not to be" speech. Hence, the title, which the studio thought would be too "high brow" for audiences of the early 1940's and recommended a change. Ah, the suits. Always thinking they know best.
Then the Nazis storm in, and the lives of the populace are turned upside down. The young pilot goes off to England to be part of the war and the impact of the Nazis becomes paramount.
While in England with some other Polish flyers, Lt. Stanislav has an interaction with a Professor Siletsky, who is a Nazi spy and collecting intelligence on the resistance. He learns this as a result of Siletsky knowing nothing of Maria Tura. Then it's a race against the clock as Lt. Sobinski rushes back to stop the Professor before he can get that information into the hands of the Gestapo.
From there, we are off to races and our merry company of actors take on the Nazis with their steely nerves and acting talents.
Lombard is outstanding in this, and fought hard for the role. Her husband, Clark Gable, even recommended against it. And Jack Benny, while not known primarily as a film actor, is at the top of his game here. Lubitsch sought him out for this role, knowing he would have just the right balance to tie things together.

Waaaay back in July of 1989, many of us watched the video for Cold Hearted Snake featuring the dancing and vocal talents of Paula Abdul, which was an homage to a famous set piece in All That Jazz. At the time, not having watched this movie, I thought Paula was pushing the boundaries with her routine, but Fosse's (or Roy Scheider playing Fosse) version is 10 times steamier.

I've had a chance to watch Paul Newman in many films over the years - from Butch Cassidy to the wise, but prickly Doc Hudson from Pixar's Cars. However, Hud Bannon is like none of the characters I've seen Newman play. He's rough and tumble, cocksure, and a predator to boot. He's no hero. Still, he's a compelling character, as is his father, Homer (played by Melvyn Douglas), and his nephew, Lonnie (played by Brandon De Wilde). The three men have a tempestuous relationship due in part to traumatic events both past and present. And then there is the glue of the family, their housekeeper Alma, played by Patricia Neal, who gives an Academy Award-winning performance. Overall, Hud is a beautiful film to experience, with stunning views of the Lone Star State in crisp black and white. Of course, the backdrop of the vistas provides context for some desperate situations with the family and shows how fragile life can be in that environment. To be sure, Hud is difficult to watch in some spots, but the performances are top-notch, and while Newman's character is problematic, he is unflinching in the titular role.