Kate & Leopold
"Kate and her actor brother live in N.Y. in the 21st Century. Her ex-boyfriend, Stuart, lives above her apartment. Stuart finds a space near the Brooklyn Bridge where there is a gap in time. He goes back to the 19th Century and takes pictures of the place. Leopold -- a man living in the 1870s -- is puzzled by Stuart's tiny camera, follows him back through the gap, and they both ended up in the present day. Leopold is clueless about his new surroundings. He gets help and insight from Charlie who thinks that Leopold is an actor who is always in character. Leopold is a highly intelligent man and tries his best to learn and even improve the modern conveniences that he encounters."
My brother checked this movie out from the library a long time ago, and re-checked it out after our volunteer shift last Tuesday. He set it aside while working in the DVD section.
Kate & Leopold has an all-star cast including Meg Ryan, Hugh Jackman, Breckin Meyer, and Liev Schreiber. Stuart (Schreiber) finds a time gap in the East River, jumps from the Brooklyn Bridge, and finds himself following around his ancestor Leopold (Jackman), the Third Duke of Albany in New York during 1876. He snaps as many pictures as he can before he's caught by Leopold and followed to the Brooklyn Bridge. The real story begins when Leopold ends up falling along with Stuart back into the present time. At that moment, all the elevators around the city stop working (Leopold invented the elevator in this movie, and named the first one Otis after his butler). As soon as Leopold and Stuart drop into his apartment during the present day, Kate (Ryan) goes upstairs to get back her Palm Pilot back and ends up meeting Leopold.
The real sparks start happening when Stuart has an accident, and ends up in the hospital for several days leaving Leopold in his apartment alone to walk Stuart's dog. Leopold also befriends Charlie (Meyer), Kate's out of work actor brother who's staying with her to get a break from life at their parents house. The twist happens when Leopold returns to his time, and Stuart comes to the realization through the pictures he developed from his time travel that Kate is also supposed to go back in time to marry Leopold, becoming Stuart's great-great grandmother in the process.
I give this movie 5 stars!
Sneakers
"Complex but lighthearted thriller about computers and cryptography, government and espionage, secrets and deception and betrayal."
My brother also checked this movie out from the library on Tuesday. He's been waiting for it to return for a long time. It's very popular and gets checked out all the time, but then again it is Robert Redford! The only problem I had with this movie is Dan Aykroyd's roll as "Mother," and the fact Redford's character wasn't caught in the beginning along with his so-called friend. A true friend wouldn't of let him take the fall alone, but then again the movie wouldn't really exist the way it did if they had it any other way.
I give this movie 4 stars!
Analyze This and Analyze That I found at a local supermarket as a double feature DVD for $9.99. Before I found this DVD, I only had Analyze This on DVD whereas Analyze That was on VHS only.
Analyze This
"A comedy about a psychiatrist whose number one-patient is an insecure mob boss."
Analyze That
"Mobster Paul Vitti is released into Dr. Ben Sobol's care, where only more chaos ensues."
All I can say about Analyze This and Analyze That is whoever thought of casting Billy Crystal, and Robert De Niro in a movie together, let alone two movies, is a genius. They make the most unlikely pairing as mob-boss Paul Vitti (De Niro), and his psychiatrist who needs a psychiatrist, Dr. Ben Sobel (Crystal).
Analyze This is pretty much used to set up the sequel in my opinion. A car accident occurs between Dr. Sobel and Vitti's henchman Jelly where Sobel leaves Jelly business card if he wants to contact him later for insurance purposes. When Jelly meets up with Vitti, Vitti talks about the possibility of needing a "shrink" to deal with something personal. Jelly just happened to have a shrink run into him, and hands the business card to Vitti. The next day they go to the doctor's office, and that's the official meet for the craziness that ensues throughout the entire movie. At the end of the movie, Paul Vitti is arrested and thrown in jail for a long time.
In Analyze That, Vitti's up for parole but keeps getting denied. He thinks someone is trying to kill him, and he would be dead eventually if he doesn't get released from prison soon. He hatches a plan where he continuously sings and dances to all the songs from West Side Story for several days until they call his shrink to pick him up. Dr. Sobel isn't too happy when the mobster is released into his care, he finds out Vitti was faking it, and his private practice in his home temporarily becomes licensed as a federal institution. What Sobel never knows is while Vitti was in jail, one of the guards used a gun to shoot up his mattress while he slept. It surprised the guard that Vitti was still alive the next morning.
I give both of these movies 5 stars because they have hilarious moments!
Herbie Fully Loaded
"Maggie Peyton, the new owner of Number 53 - the free-wheelin' Volkswagen bug with a mind of its own - puts the car through its paces on the road to becoming a NASCAR competitor."
I grew up watching Herbie, the Love Bug, so when this movie came out I had to have it! I don't enjoy everything about this movie. Mainly, the way they've animated my favorite Bug by making his sleepy eyes move, and move his grill to smile. In the good ole days, they didn't need all the newfangled contraptions to make Herbie awesome. He's awesome just being himself.
I give this movie 4 stars!
A Cinderella Story: Once Upon a Song
"Cyrano De Bergerac meets Cinderella. Over-worked, harried and terrified of being put back in foster care, 17 year old Katie (Lucy Hale) does her stepmother and step-siblings' bidding without complaining. Vocally gifted, Katie feels particularly upset when forced to lay down singing tracks so that her untalented stepsister, Bev Van Ravensway, can hopefully win a recording contract from Massive Records - who's company President, Guy Morgan, is scouting for new spectacular talent at a talent showcase for the Performing Arts Department at a prestigious private school."
The saga continues in regards to A Cinderella Story in this newest installment about a girl with a great singing voice forced by her step-mother to sing in a talent search show for her untalented stepsister. I did think a lot about Cyrano De Bergerac while watching this movie, and it hampered my viewing experience because that was the entire plot line. This movie isn't as good as those that came before it. Cyrano De Bergerac and Cinderella are great stories on their own, but try to meld them together and it's disastrous.
I give this movie 3 stars!
Pure Country
"Dusty Chandler (Strait) is a super star in the country music world, but his shows have the style of a '70s rock concert. One day he takes a walk - out of his overdone concerts to find his real country roots. He's helped and hindered by friends and staff, but pushes on in his search for a real music style as well as a real romance."
I got this movie from my mom for my birthday, and I was surprised how much I liked it. I'm a fan of country music, and George Strait (Dusty Chandler). It was really weird seeing him in long hair, and wearing a ponytail for the the first half of the movie, so when he cut his hair I was like "There he is. That's the George Strait I'm used to seeing." He doesn't look good in long hair at all, and he was virtually unrecognizable until the hair cut. The story overall was very touching, and I identified with the fact that Dusty Chandler had to temporarily walk away from his career in order to keep what was left of his sanity. I know what it's like to feel overworked, and I rejoiced when he walked away from it all. I didn't really think he was ready to go back to work so soon, but I couldn't jump into the television set to stop him.
I give this movie 5 stars!
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