Anderson Silva Like Water [HD]

Anderson Silva is the best in the world.
An inside look at the story behind the fighter, the man behind the belt. Anderson Silva is the greatest mixed martial artist in the world. Overall a great documentary leading up to the fight that had Silva fans on the edge of their seats. I watched this fight live, and truly thought Silva was about to lose the belt, then the triangle, and tapout from chael. Overcoming adversity is what TRULY makes a champion, and if you have seen the Silva vs Sonnen fight, you know, like it or not, Anderson Silva is a true champion. This documentary shows the story behind THAT story in a gripping and honest way. For Anderson Silva fans, M.M.A fans, fight fans of all types, LIKE WATER will NOT disappoint!

Not revealing
I was expecting an in depth look at Silva. You get to see some of his values and his family, but not much by way of words from him, most importantly you hear nothing of his martial arts philosophy, only some excerpts of him training. I was dissapointed because I expected to see more philosophy, not just training footage. I really learned nothing new about silva except that he seems to be kind of a jokester with his friends, that's about it.

This Could Have Been So Much More
Anderson Silva is MMA's greatest champion. His fighting ability in a variety of disciplines is astounding, which accounts for his long reign as middleweight champion. This video purports to give us the inside information on this great champion, but sadly, very little is revealed about him. We know from the video that he has a wife and two children; he appears to be a loving father and husband, but we do not get any insights from his wife or children, nor do we get any insights from people from his hometown. We actually learn very little about Anderson Silva. He speaks Portuguese, and is a man of few words. He speaks nothing of himself in this video. We see him training for his big fight against Chael Sonnen in August, 2010, but we are not told that Silva had a cracked rib when he went into that fight. The video implies an injury, but it is not stated as such. We perhaps learn more about Silva from his opponent, Sonnen, who suggests that Silva is a "gang-banger", certainly not...

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Blue Like Jazz

A Cult Classic?
The main stream reviewers really didn't know what to make of this movie. Normal "Christian" movies are supposed to be right wing morality tales that tug at the heart strings and are family friendly. Edgy "Christian" movies are supposed to be filled with lots of sex, or violence, or profanity in order to prove that they are not normal "Christian" movies. This film is none of the above. While not skirting sex, violence, or profanity it doesn't use any of these as a tool to prove its street cred. Just like the book which serves as its source material it is somewhat whacky and off beat, filled with quite a few unforced laughs and real life as it follows the essentially true story of a Texas church boy with a messed up family (and maybe a messed up church) trying to fit in at an Oregon college that really puts the "liberal" into Liberal Arts.

This movie moves at a nice pace. It is well directed and edited with a solid cast. As for the "Christian" part, it may not please the...

The Gospel Reigns in "Blue Like Jazz"
I'm good at laying my cards on the table, so I will do so right now. I didn't like the book. I generally don't find Donald Miller's writing very compelling, save for Searching for God Knows What. That said, I loved Blue Like Jazz.

Beginning with a surreal (albeit) poorly paced opening of Donald Miller, played with reserve by Marshall Allman, Blue Like Jazz knows exactly where it needs to go. The film starts in Texas, at a fundamentalist church where Miller is content to simply exist without much rigorous thought. After a familial incident, Miller's perfect life is upended and he runs away into the godless Northwest United States to Reed College, where he experiences drinking, drugs, bi-curious girls and social justice. But, he cannot escape his background, or the Deity that seems to follow him.

Blue Like Jazz does not equate itself to being a Christian film. This does not suggest that Christians are not involved or that there is any lack of Christian themes in...

The Most Important Spiritual Film of Our Generation
It's been about seven years now since I first experienced Blue Like Jazz. I picked up the book one morning and read through it all in one day. Don Miller's honest and vulnerable story of a very personal journey of faith resonated with me. It was refreshing.

When I was in college, I wrote a very short concept for a Blue Like Jazz film one day during screenwriting class. Later that same year, I found out that Steve Taylor had beaten me to it.

So when Blue Like Jazz finally made it to the big screen, I wanted to be there for opening weekend. Even if that meant a long road trip from the hills of Arkansas to someplace with skyscrapers.

If you want to read film reviews, there is a diverse selection of them available on your local internets. I'm not a critic, and have neither the ability nor the desire to write a proper film review. I'll leave that to the professionals. What I can tell you is that Blue Like Jazz is probably the most meaningful and important...

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Inside Deep Throat (NC-17) [HD]

Back when screen porn was innocent fun
If you're old enough to have seen DEEP THROAT when it was first released in 1972, then the documentary INSIDE DEEP THROAT will perhaps be a rewarding trip down Nostalgia Lane (assuming your memory cells weren't fried by all the sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll of the 60s).

DEEP THROAT was the first porn film exhibited in public theaters, and the first to be viewed openly by mixed couples, undoubtedly elbowing out the raincoat crowd. It was produced for $25,000; to date, it's grossed $600 million, and is the most profitable, independently produced film of all time. Oh, and it's centerpiece attraction was actress Linda Lovelace fellating a goofy doctor character, played by Harry Reems, who's diagnosed Linda's character as having her clitoris in her throat. Do you get the naughty picture?

This film is a montage of archival footage from the era liberally sprinkled with interviews with the principals - producer Gerard Damiano, Lovelace, and Reems - and many others,...

A plea for the end to censorship.
Culled from over 800 hours of interviews into a feature-length documentary and narrated by Dennis Hopper, this really is a magnificent look at the cultural impact of the most successful porno film in history. To date the film has grossed over $600 million and still counting. And let's not even discuss the revenue generated for video pirates!

The film contains on-screen interviews (new and archive) with a whole range of people such as John Waters, Harry Reems, Gerard Damiano, Norman Mailer, Larry Flynt, Warren Beatty, Georgina Spelvin, Jack Nicholson, Linda Lovelace, Hugh Hefner, Xaviera Hollander, Gore Vidal, Camille Paglia, Al Goldstein, etc. Even Wes Craven comes along and confesses that he directed hardcore porno films to break into legitimate Hollywood fare.

This is a brave and timely piece that explores the issues of censorship and the right of the artist to express their views. And to think that the decision banning the film in theatres still stands. It has...

An interesting documentary that places DEEP THROAT in historical context
Whether one likes or dislikes the legacy of DEEP THROAT, there is simply no question that it is a film that for good or ill had a significant impact on American culture. To this day it remains one of only two or three porn films that the vast majority of Americans can identify by name. This interesting documentary certainly does not attempt to make a case for DEEP THROAT as a work of art and does not try to argue that it is more than what it is: a smut film. The focus instead is more on the overall cultural impact of the film and the fate of the major participants in its making and distribution. It also attempts to use the film as a measure of where the United States was in the late sixties and where it is today. It is also, I should add, a quite funny film.

That DEEP THROAT spawned major changes in American life is beyond debate. The debate comes over whether that is a good or bad thing. What has always amazed me is the widespread popularity of porn movies in...

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Cheech and Chong's Next Movie [HD]

Has The Best Movie Scene Ever
It's a shame that a film like this will be mostly dismissed by a society that will see this as nothing more than a "stoner" film. While admittedly the humor often contains drug references, there are several scenes that I think anybody could enjoy and have a good laugh at.

While I agree with many reviewers here as to what are some of the funnier scenes, the two that really do it for me is the one in the Welfare Office. This is just physical comedy at its very best. While Chong waits for Cheech to "visit" with his lady friend, he is seated next to an old man, and a very odd character played by Michael Winslow (and it is very apparent what a brilliant comic he is, and it's too bad his talents went to waste in countless Police Academy sequels). I cannot even begin to describe this scene, but those who have seen the movie know what I am talking about. Those who haven't need to do themselves a favor and watch the movie, if only for this scene alone. Even the look on Chong's...

laughoutloud
Nostalgia for my childhood recently caused me to buy and watch the Cheech and Chong movies (with the exception of The Coriscan Brothers). Aside from realizing I shouldn't have been watching those movies in my pre-teen days, I realized how well done they are. Most amazing to me was that they held up one after the other, feeling not repetitive, though each of them is rather episodic. Most impressive was Chong's direction; he makes a number of interesting choices that elevate him beyond the status of writer/star who has enough power to direct; clearly, he took this role quite seriously. The movies, of course, are not serious. I rarely laugh out loud in movies these days, but I did at least a half dozen times in each of these. The characters are not only given funny situations in which to work and funny lines to deliver, but each of them is presented with a kind of earnestness that makes them likeable, and the films all he more watchable.

NOT JUST BEST C&C, BUT ONE OF THE BEST COMEDIES PERIOD.
If your like me, than you love adolesscant toilet humor. If you know Cheech and Chong, than you know to expect low brow pot humor. This movie is the best when it comes to dirty jokes and off-the-wall antics. Of all the Cheech and Chong movies, "Next Movie" is the best. Many will tell you "Up in Smoke" is the best, they are wrong. "Next Movie" is far better than its predecessor. The best aspect of this movie is definitely Cheeches Cousin Red, who is also played by Cheech Marin. So buy this movie, its probably cheap.

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The Frighteners [HD]

Wicked fun
Just before doing "Lord of the Rings," director Peter Jackson (who can be seen in a cameo as "Man with Piercings") made an off-kilter horror/comedy movie called "The Frighteners," the tale of the undead and the guy who makes a living off of them. Though "Frighteners" was barely in theaters at all, this cult flick is funny, creepy, well-acted and wonderfully directed.

Frank Bannister (Michael J. Fox) has seen spirits and apparitions ever since the car crash that killed his wife. Now he operates an amateur "ghostbusting" operation that is supposed to exorcise ghosts from people's houses -- the problem is that the ghosts who haunt those houses are in league with him (Chi McBride as the opinioated afro-ed Cyrus, Jim Fyfe as the nerdy Stuart, and most of John Astin as what is left of The Judge).

Frank's business certainly isn't hurt by the fact that for years after a serial killer's murderous spree, people have died mysteriously of heart attacks. Then Frank starts...

Underrated gem from Peter Jackson
Practically bashed by critics everywhere when released in 1996, the Frighteners can be appreciated today as an underrated gem. After crafting a landmark gorefest with Dead Alive and scoring a hit among critics with Heavenly Creatures, future Lord of the Rings trilogy director Peter Jackson directed this wildly inventive and surprisingly innovative film starring Michael J. Fox as a psychic investigator who, with the help of three ghost pals, runs a phony ghost busting business. Soon enough, people are getting picked off by Death himself, and it's up to Fox to find out what's really going on. So much is going on in the Frighteners that it's easy for the film to become incoherent, but it's exciting visuals and special effects, along with the performance of Fox and the energetic direction of Jackson, make this film a surprise gem that should be (and very well may be) a cult classic. The rest of the cast includes R. Lee Ermy, Jake Busey, and genre stalwart Jeffrey "Re-Animator" Combs.

Wicked fun!
Just before doing "Lord of the Rings," director Peter Jackson (who can be seen in a cameo as "Man with Piercings") made an off-kilter horror/comedy movie called "The Frighteners," the tale of the undead and the guy who makes a living off of them. Though "Frighteners" was barely in theaters at all, this cult flick is funny, creepy, well-acted and wonderfully directed.

Frank Bannister (Michael J. Fox) has seen spirits and apparitions ever since the car crash that killed his wife. Now he operates an amateur "ghostbusting" operation that is supposed to exorcise ghosts from people's houses -- the problem is that the ghosts who haunt those houses are in league with him (Chi McBride as the opinioated afro-ed Cyrus, Jim Fyfe as the nerdy Stuart, and most of John Astin as what is left of The Judge).

Frank's business certainly isn't hurt by the fact that for years after a serial killer's murderous spree, people have died mysteriously of heart attacks. Then Frank starts...

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Cape Fear (1962) [HD]

The Original......Classic Thrills and Chills
This review refers to the "Cape Fear"(1962) Widescreen DVD edition by Universal.....

"Cape Fear" from 1962 is a terrific example of great film noir. Filmed in black and white, director J.Lee Thompson uses shadows and light, and the art of suggestion(the censors were pretty tough back in the 60's), to bring us this bone-chilling and suspenseful classic that over fourty years later, still, has not lost it's draw. Not unlike many of Hitchcock's films, Thompson has the audience on the edge of their seats,our hearts in our throats, and in fear for the hero.

It's good vs. evil, as Greogory Peck and Robert Mitchum, put their immense talents together for this spine tingler. Max Cady(Mitchum) has just been released from 8 long years in prison. From the moment we meet him, we KNOW this is one bad hombre. He is bent on revenge, and Sam Bowden(Peck) is the man who must pay. Sam's young daughter and beautiful wife are the targets of Max's obssession. He is slick and...

"Max Cady isn't a man who makes idle threats!"
Prior to his Oscar-winning role as lawyer Atticus Finch in "To Kill a Mockingbird", Gregory Peck portrayed another attorney in 1962's "Cape Fear", a psychological thriller also starring Robert Mitchum in one of his most despicable roles.

No two actors were better suited than these two. Their characters are a definite study in contrast. Peck's Sam Bowden is a civilized intellectual forced to resort to some underhanded means to protect his family and himself from the treacherous taunts of Mitchum's crude, rude antagonist. Tension builds as the two men make a final confrontation at the location of the film's title.

Polly Bergen and Lorie Martin as Peck's respective wife and daughter are quite good a show a strength of character rare for women in the early 60's. They are not just "screaming Mimi's".

Martin Balsam, Jack Krushen and a pre-Kojak Telly Savalas round out a superlative cast; Barrie Chase is also quite memorable as a woman that runs afoul...

Have No Fear? Get Some NOW!
The late great classic acting talents of Robert Mitchum are showcased in this 1962 classic, reproving his ability to play the villain with unsurpassed expertise, as in the former 1955 classic "Night of The Hunter".

Here, Mitchum plays Max Cady, a menacing figure with a perpetual lit cigar and Panama Hat. He has come to town after being released from jail to visit and wreak revenge on the man who put him there, enter Sam, played by Gregory Peck. From their initial reunion in the town parking lot, Cady lets Peck have a peek at what's on his mind. From that moment on, there are grippingly suspenseful encounters between the two men and even worse, threats to his wife played by Polly Bergen, and his daughter, in a rather ineffectual role considering what she goes through when encountering Cady. Particularly amusing is a scene in the beginning of the film. Cady casually watches the family bowl, while harrassing a waitress and having a beer. The expression on Pecks face as...

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The 40-Year-Old Virgin [HD]

2nding the notion that the unrated version pales in comparison to the original
This is one of the funniest movies I've had the pleasure of catching at a movie theater in a long time. I thought I was purchasing more laughs for my buck buying the UNRATED version, but much to my disappointment this is definitely a case of MORE is LESS. The added scenes do nothing to enhance the original; in fact, I'd say 90% of these added scenes should have been left as "deleted scenes." They hurt the comedic pacing of the original. If you thoroughly enjoyed the original at the theaters, stay away from this unrated version. In fact, I'm so disappointed in this unrated version, I'm tempted to buy the r-rated "original" version even though it only comes in full screen (why the original is unavailable in the widescreen format is also cause for this fan to roll his eyes in disbelief).

A 40-Year-Old Virgin's review...
My first viewing of "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" was late in its theatrical run. By then it had been banished to the smallest theater in the multiplex, so me and (I assume) the only other middle-aged virgin in town were its sole audience. I wish I'd seen it sooner, because it's now one of my all-time favorite comedies.

Forty-year-old Andy Stitzer lives a comfortably regimented singleton life - similar to the main character from "About a Boy," except chaste, uncool, and with no internal monologue. He works in the service department of Smart Tech, a Circuit City-like electronics store. One day, a couple of coworkers ask him to be the fifth man at a poker party. He accepts, but during the game is outed as a virgin. The rest of the movie revolves around his friends' outrageous attempts to get him hooked up, along with Andy's determined efforts to overcome his fear of women and woo Trish, an attractive customer who owns an online auction store across the street...

One Very Smart, Dumb Movie
Surprise, it's a morality tale disguised as a sex comedy.

Imagine you combined a few of the best parts of Something about Mary, 40 days and 40 nights, Sideways and ( as strange as it might sound) an after school special. Now, throw in more profanity than really necessary and imagine that the combination worked.

Plus, unlike the Josh Hartnett film, 40 days and 40 nights, there is some actual thought given to the kind of person who is shown.

It's not Shakespeare. It's not Once Upon a Time In Mexico. And it's not the Usual Suspects, but for what it is it works.

And what it is, is the smartest dumb movie I've seen in a very long time.

Among its many surprises, is you have a peer group of men who actually look out for each other.

You also have an attractive grandmother who is not the standard cookie-cutter grandmother.

These are just two of the many departures from the expected that make this anything but the...

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