For
more than a decade, the men of Top Gear have been getting behind the wheel of
just about every great car ever made, racing them around a test track and
reporting to their millions of fans, in no uncertain terms, just what they like
and didn’t like about each one of them. So it’s a delight for them to turn
their laser-sharp insights – and razor-sharp tongues – on finding the worst car
in the history of the world. (And no spoilers here – watch and find out for
yourself who the winner is.) The show features only two of the three Top Gear
hosts – the curmudgeonly Jeremy Clarkson and the overly meticulous James May –
and the rapid fire repartee they exchange is better than the dialogue you’ll
find in almost any of the latest movies.
Every
other nature show and travel show host needs to learn a lesson from Dominic
Monaghan about how to be genuine – and
genuinely interesting – on camera. The idea of stalking through rain forest and
jungle to find deadly creatures and creepy crawly insects may be most people’s
idea of a nightmare, but Monaghan makes it seem like the most natural ---and coolest -- thing in the world. The way the show pretends that this episode maybe
the one where they don’t find the animal they are looking for gets a bit old at
times, but you almost forgive Monaghan and his crew because they turn up so
many other cool things to look at along the way. A big part of the fun in it
all is that, unlike guys like Jeff Corwin or Jack Hanna, Monaghan is not a
trained professional. He’s just a geek who loves animals.
It’s
a story most will know from the 1998 Disney girl-power cartoon with the sappy
songs and Eddie Murphy as a tiny dragon doing basically the same shtick he
would do three years later as a Donkey in Shrek. This film from directors Jingle Ma and Wei
Dong, is a much grittier, more realistic telling of the tale of a young girl who
disguises herself as a man to take her ailing father’s place in the emperor’s
army. And, for anyone over the age of 12, it’s also much better. Sure, it’s
hard to believe anyone would ever believe Wei Zhao was a man, even when she’s
dresses up in armor, but her performance is strong enough that you won’t worry
about it too much after the action starts. Speaking of which, the fights scenes
in the movie are first rate, especially the big battles. The directors make
sure, however, that the grand scale of the war never overshadows the drama
being played out beneath the armor.
Looking
for a cool way to decorate your house this Halloween? Then this is the ultimate
guide for you. Granted, it’s not exactly a “how-to” video, but seeing the
lengths that the people in it go to decorate their houses every Oct. 31 should
at least inspire you to do more than buy a couple crappy banners at Walmart and
think you’ve decorated the house. The film divides itself between the people
that simply decorate the outside of their houses – simply being a bit of a
misnomer given the lengths they go to – to those who create special interactive
environments for people to walk through and have the wits scared out of them. Although
the tours the movie gives of each unique environment are fun to watch, the best
part of the movie may just be meeting the people who do it all and hearing why
they dedicate so much time, energy and money to scaring others once a year.
Sean
Connery had already starred in four James Bond movies by the time this bleak
masterpiece from director Martin Ritt gave audiences an inside view of what
life really was like for a spy – dull, dreary and debilitating to the soul of
any poor bastard who signed on for the job. Richard Burton stars – and gives a
terrific performance --- as Alec Leamas, an almost washed-up operative who is
called to task after his plan to get an informer out of East Germany only gets
the agent killed at Checkpoint Charlie. His bosses use his blunder as a cover
story for his quitting the agency to become an informer for the very person who
foiled his plan. There are plenty of twists and turns to the story, all made
without any real action taking place outside of the war of words Burton fights
with every speech he makes. Despite the lack of babes and bombs, though, it’s
far more exciting to watch than anything Bond ever did on screen.
After
losing her first tooth, a young girl starts having visions of the Tooth Fairy
hiding in her closet, demanding more teeth. Naturally, her mom is a bit upset
and tries to get her daughter help, but everywhere she turns, she just finds
weird details that add to the mystery in dark and disturbing ways. Directors Christian
Bisceglia and Ascanio Malgarini do an excellent job of giving their film a tense,
atmospheric feel that will make the hairs stand on your neck, while at the same
time keeping it firmly grounded in a twisted sort of reality that makes even
the strangest visual images seem real. The acting is top notch, particularly Harriet
MacMasters-Green as the mom. Good as it is, the film rockets into the realms of
greatness when the real mystery is revealed in the final reel.
It’s
virtually impossible to explain in words the inspired madness that takes place
in each episode of this popular FX series. Reading that Dennis and Dee (Glenn
Howerton and Kaitlin Olson) are faced with the moral question of whether or not
to pull the plug on their grandfather may make you think the producers are
making a message episode. By the time its over – grandfather is a Nazi, Frank (Danny
DeVito) is searching for hidden Nazi treasure, Charlie and Mac (Charlie Day and
Rob McElhenney) are on the hunt for a missing painting by Adolf Hitler – you
have a much better idea what the show is really all about. And it just gets
wilder with every episode. The writing is sharp and the dialogue on target, but
it’s the perfect timing of the comedic cast, honed by seven previous seasons,
that makes following their wacky adventures such a hilarious treat.
