My take on some movies.....

Ok, as promised, I am going to delight you with MY TAKE on three movies that I recently viewed. These aren't brand new, just released ones, as I wait for them to come out on DVD before I view, in the comfort of my own home so I can watch in jammies and pause for bathroom breaks if I so desire....not to mention a dish of ice cream.

First up is American Gangster. I put off looking at this one because I am a Denzel Washington fan and I WANT him to be the GOOD guy. He is such an excellent actor, however, that he can take on whatever is thrown at him and portrays the bad guy just as well as the good one.

American Gangster is based on the true story of a real gangster. Most people think that gangsters were either Irish or Italian, but this one (Lucas) was black, which enabled him to fly under the radar. He was very good at what he did. The movie had predictable violence and he shows himself to have about as much concern shooting a guy in the head as he would have stomping on an ant. He deals in the drug trade and the movie takes place during the Vietnam war era. Lets just say that our military covertly played a part in supplying illegal drugs to thousands. Lucas was from a large family and gave them all jobs helping him out. He put the hurt on the business dealings of other, more established gangsters, causing them to attempt to get rid of him, using different methods. The soft side of Lucas is shown too by his purchase of a large mansion for his mother to live in. The other side of the coin shows a police officer (played by Russell Crowe) being punished by his own kind because he's too honest and his personal life suffers due to his dedication on getting to the "big guy" doing all these drug imports. The movie is good but its LONG. The ending has a nice little twist that will put a grin on your face. On a scale of 1 to 5, I would give this one a 4.5. I've only seen it once and I'm sure if I look at it again, I will notice much more that I missed the first time around. If you like these types of movies, I don't think you will be disappointed. However, this is obviously not for the younger set.

Fool's Gold with Kate Hudson is the next movie. I just love her and had heard (from someone I'm going to bitch slap) that this was a good movie. I don't know....maybe its just me....but I found this movie to be horribly BORING. I was dismayed that Kate would make a movie so boring because she's so.....GOOD. But boring it was. Its supposed to be a romantic comedy and it was SORT of romantic but I didn't laugh anywhere that I can recall. I'm not a fan of Matthew McConaughey either, so that didn't help. The daughter of the rich guy just wanted to make me smack her into next week.....she was so stuuuuupid. Although I guess I can call her a good actress then because she did pull off her character very well. I would have been really REALLY upset if I had paid $8 or more at a movie theater for this waste of time. On a scale of 1 to 5, I give it a 2 and that's only because of the scenery. I can't think of any reason why, other than they would probably fall asleep due to boredom, a kid 10 and up couldn't watch this. I don't think they will like it though. There is a little violence over the finding of the gold.

When a Stranger Calls is my third review. Now I had seen the original Carol Kane version way back when and it was a heart-stopper that you just can never seem to forget about. This is a remake of that movie. They have updated it to modern times. Of COURSE our heroine has to babysit at a house that is something out of Science Fiction Plus in the middle of BFE....with NO neighbors and the nearest town 20 minutes away. She's been grounded and one of the things she's lost is her cell phone so that's not with her. The movie follows the plot of the original pretty much and it still makes you stop breathing, even though you basically know the storyline. One impressive thing is that this movie actually proves that you can be scared and not have to deal with copious amounts of blood. It was really a nice detour for a thriller movie, I might add. Note to film-makers: We don't always have to be subjected to blood and gore to be scared. Of course, movie makers still have a hard time dealing with reality here. There is just NO effin' way a teenaged girl, alone in the middle of BFE, is going to unlock the door of the house and go outside in the dark, in the middle of a storm with winds of nearly gale force, and run probably the length of a football field to go inside a "supposedly" rented guest house to ask for help.....only to have to run all the way back again. Tree limbs breaking all around her and....oh yeah....the power is out too. Get real here folks! But then, they've always had a hard time keeping heroines out of basements during a power outage, wearing nothing more than shorty pj's. At least this heroine is dressed. It was a good movie; it was scary and it kept you on the edge of your seat. On a scale of 1 to 5, I give it a 4.5 also. (I rarely give a perfect score, as you can see.....well, there WERE mistakes in the movie) It was, however, good entertainment. I would say that it would be ok for ages11 and up, depending on the maturity of the child.

I hope you've enjoyed MY TAKE on these three movies. Have a great holiday weekend...and BE SAFE.