Pitch Perfect 2

It is axiomatic that a movie with a 2, or a 3, or a 7 (Furious 7, oh, the horror, the horror!) is highly unlikely to be as good as the first one was. There are exceptions, but not many. This is a case in point. As I watched this loud, overblown, over-produced cookie I kept trying to put my finger on what went wrong. It boiled down to that sweet little ditty, “The ... Read more »

Pixels

I thought a lot about just what made this one such a downer for me, and concluded, sadly, that it was the presence of Adam Sandler. The man has committed so many felonious film “comedies” that even when he appears in a mere misdemeanor I can’t get the bad taste out of my mouth. That self-satisfied little smirk on his face, the way he grins at his own lame jokes … ugh. I just want to slap ... Read more »

The Place Beyond the Pines

Here is a really odd movie. Glancing at the trailer without really paying attention, I had gathered that it was going to be about motorcycle stunt driving. And at first, it is. Ryan Gosling goes into a spherical metal cage with two other motorcyclists and they do some hair-raising stunts. (I once saw a show like it at the Jefferson County Fair in Beaumont, though the riders only went in a ... Read more »

A Place in the Sun

Theodore Dreiser’s An American Tragedy was required reading my senior year in high school, and like most of what I was forced to read (Silas Marner, Jane Eyre, The Scarlet Letter) I didn’t care for it much. It is such a sad and sordid story. I’m not tempted to re-visit the book, but ... Read more »

Plan 9 From Outer Space

AKA Grave Robbers From Outer Space. I’m not one who enjoys watching movies that are “so bad they are good.” A bad movie is pretty much a waste of my time. But I watched this a long time ago, when it was named “The Worst Movie Ever Made,” and having recently watched Tim Burton’s Ed Wood I decided to take a look again, to compare scenes ... Read more »

Planes

This was originally intended as a direct-to-DVD thing from DisneyToon Studios, the B-picture division of Disney. Then they decided to give it a theatrical release, and that was a damn good idea, as it made well over $100,000,000, and that will be in addition to the DVD. It’s set in the Cars universe, where there are no people but machines inexplicably keep on doing what they do in our ... Read more »

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

People who worked with him say John Candy was possibly the most genuinely nice person ever to come to Hollywood. They say that about a lot of people, after they’re dead, but one anecdote is enough to make me believe it. Maureen O’Hara came out of retirement to co-star with him in Only the Lonely, but didn’t decide to take it until she could meet him. Within a few ... Read more »

Planet Earth

A 5-disc series originally shown on the BBC. There are several odd things about this release. It was originally narrated by David Attenborough, then for some reason it was decided to have Sigourney Weaver do the American version. I have the greatest respect for Ms. Weaver, but David is the one with the real chops at this sort of thing. The only thing I missed was his often humorous ... Read more »

Planet Terror

I was interested for about the first half hour. It felt like a spoof, which worked pretty well. Solemn, nonsensical dialogue, shambling zombies, buckets of blood. Then … it just went on too long, and though it never lost its over-the-top stupidity, after a while it was just … over the top. They must have bought fake blood by the supertanker load. After a while, exploding bodies ... Read more »

Platinum Blonde

I thought I’d seen all of Frank Capra’s films, but this one must have slipped through the cracks. It was made before he got big and started winning awards, and patented his brand of “Capracorn,” which some condemn as too sweet and sentimental, but I’ve always loved.

There’s a real tragedy involved in this movie. I’ll get to it in a moment. It was supposed to be a Loretta Young ... Read more »