dogopoly

This is the story of a Minnesota radio show from the 1950s that somehow managed to survive to the 21st century, but time has finally caught up with it and it is scheduled to be shut down.

The radio show broadcasts live to a small audience (about 100-200 people) in a theater while broadcasting live on the radio to many nearby farm towns.

The many vaudeville-style acts and lots of country-westernish music headline the stage like a broadcast of Hee-Haw meets Lawrence Welk, but behind the scenes you learn about the history of the various stage families over the last 50 years.

In my opionion, if you're under age 40, you probably won't get what's going on. I barely did, but it was because I watched a lot of those vaudeville-style shows growing up in the 60's. The music was catchy, and the directing was outstanding, but the thin storyline and bizarre threads running through it didn't quite offer enough to keep me wanting more. If this were a Saturday afternoon movie with nothing else to do, I would have tuned in for a few minutes, channel-surfed, and tuned back in for a few more minutes.

However, there were dozens of older couples in the audience who were roaring with laughter and giddy-ness at scenes that didn't do much for me.

So I'd say it had excellent directing and very good acting, but I'll give it a B- since the storyline and gags were a bit sparse and weak. That's my recommendation for the under-40 crowd. Maybe check it out on video.

BUT...if you are in the over-50 crowd and used to enjoy entertainment radio, I suspect you'll come home all aglow after watching this movie. For you folks, I'll give this an A rating--go out and see it now.

For the 40-50 crowd, I guess you'll just have to decide which way you lean--old slower moving movies: go see it; fast-paced action films: skip it.

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baseballbob

GREAT recap dogop-(are you a movie critic in disguise?)

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dogopoly

Shhh...I'm the masked movie pup.

baseballbob

I thought so-the one eyed movie pup-good dog=good review

bendogg

Superman Returns:

Just got back from seeing this one. I paid matinee price and was not disappointed. I have actually never seen any of the other Superman movies, so I didn't know what to expect. As far as I'm concerned, the movie was great. It was a bit long (2 hrs 45 mins), but I wasn't bored. So, from my POV, I'll give it an A-, even though the "love scenes" sucked.

Did you guys see the new Spiderman3 trailer? If not, click here: http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony_p...n_3/small.html

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baseballbob

haven't seen SM3 but agree with you on the Superman movie-I too liked it alot. Thumbs up (paws up in your case)

annabelsgmom

My summer movie reviews

Pirates A+ long movie, leaves you with questions so now I will wait until Memorial day weekend 2007 to see the next one

Click love it, Adam Sandler is finally growing up great movie

Superman, I miss Chris, they did do a good job, but the new guy still has such a baby face, very enjoyable

Lake house, a chick flick, I enjoyed it

X men 3 really good

Too Many Preview for film to be released next year.. Spiderman 3 05/04/2007
Transformers July 4 2007

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bendogg

Anyone hear the cost to make Pirates 2? I'll bet it topped $100 Million at least! It raked in a record (actually several records) $135 Million in it's first 3 days! That's tripple the original's 1st weekend take and I hear this one's not even as good as or better than the original. That $135 is quite an accomplishment!

bendogg

You, Me, & Dupree

I saw this on opening day @ the AMC in Downtown Disney while taking a break from the heat at Disneyland. I was VERY impressed by this film. I was expecting something more along the lines of Along Came Polly, which was just ok, but this movie was hilarious and actually had some heart to it.

Kate Hudson was beautiful as usual, but I never realized how flat-cheasted she is. I see Michael Douglas has gone with a full head of gray hair for this film. Finally showing his true age I guess.

I'll give this movie a solid A and strongly recommend it. I'll be interested to see what you guys and gals think of it.

baseballbob

I liked the movie too. Not sure if I'd give it an A, maybe a solid B. Sure, there was some "potty" humor, but, come on, you expect that in movies now days.Still, they touched on some things not frequently talked about-but overall-I liked it alot.I'd be interested to see what people thought about A SCANNER DARKLY-as the animation/sortaanimation-was very interesting-but story hard to follow and, worst of all-seeing it at 10pm-I was just too sleepy to enjoy it as much as I should have enjoyed it. (ps-several people in the theater were either nodding off or waking up the person that they went to see it with).

utcpal

Anyone saw "Lady in the water" ?

Trigun

Yeah, Yeah. I'm back baby.

Just came from My Super Ex-Girlfriend

Plot: When a regular guy dumps a superhero because of her neediness, she uses her powers to make his life a living hell.
He broke her heart. She broke his everything.

My Two cents: Guys we have all been there, but this movie will make you think double before dumping another girl.
Love the movie. Supper funny stuff. Go in a group and leave the kids home.
PS: Stay thru the end credits for one last lafth.
A+

bendogg, nice to see you at the movies again.

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dogopoly

Scoop

The story of a young, naive girl majoring as a reporter, who is visiting Europe. While there, she goes to a magic show and is selected to enter the box that host the "disappearing girl" While in there, she encounters a ghost who has a big scoop about a serial killer--a rich playboy. She gets some information and brings in the magic show host to join her on an adventure to discover whether he really IS a killer or whether the evidence they find is simply circumstantial.

Along the way, many funny scenes arise as they dig deeper into the mystery, and she begins to fall for the playboy.

All-in-all the humorous dialog and typical "Woody Allenisms" made this a very fun movie. Otherwise, the acting and storyline were good but not great, while the scenery and music were beautifully woven into the scenes.

Overall, I'd have to give it an A, but I think it would only have gotten a B if it were anyone other than Woody Allen in his role. (However, Scarlett Johansson and Hugh Jackman were fun to see interacting--but don't expect anything gratuitous from either of them.)

dogopoly

THE ANT BULLY
"After Lucas Nickle floods an ant colony with his watergun, he's magically shrunken down to insect size and sentenced to hard labor in the ruins."

Animated. A young boy, who's bullied by a big neighborhood kid, in turn takes it out on an ant colony. One of the ants finds a magic potion that shrink down "Peanut the Destroyer" to ant size. The wise queen ant decides to assimilate him into the ant society so he can learn the cooperative ways of the ant. Not everyone is convienced that he is worth the trouble, especially when they see that he's out for himself. Will he turn it around and help them, or will he betray them when they need him most?

The story line was somewhat predictable, but the animation was good and there were several quite humorous twists that left the audience roaring with laughter.

Very good for kids, but overall I'd leave it as a matinee or rental. I'll give it a B for its humorous parts and no slow parts.

ooBaKeep

This is a British Horror Movie. I found it rather entertaining but not brilliant.

This is a story of childhood girlfriends who have grown-up and take a trip to the Appalachian Mountains for a rekindling of their friendship and thrill seeking. Lead by the character Juno they head off on an adventure into a cave system. Scary stuff happens here while their friendships and loyalties are tested.

Blood, guts, gore (red is one of my favorite colors, as long as it's not my blood ) and a lot of F-U's in this movie. Slow beginning and quick windup, but it will keep you on the edge of your seat. I enjoyed the accents and the tough girls kicking butt on the predators.

All in all... I rank this a B-- better than a C+. Enjoyable, horror.

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sixpac shakur

^^ooBaKeep, the title of your reply is a pretty funny typo. It did give me a giggle.

I saw Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby at tonight's screening. It's a really stupid movie with slapstick humor and plenty of cheesy jokes. Honestly, I laughed the whole way through.

Ricky Bobby (Will Ferrell) is on top of the Nascar world. After tragedy sidelines his career he must figure out how to redeem himself and get back on the track to face his French foe Jean Girard (played by Sasha Baron Cohen aka. Ali G)! John C. Reilly does an awesome job as Ricky Bobby's best friend.

If you enjoyed Anchorman and Old School then you will enjoy this movie as well. It's not worth full price but a matinee or rental is a must. If you need to get out of your boiling hot house then this would be a good movie to choose for it's no-brainer cheer. I'd give it a solid B.

ooBaKeep

Very DECENT of you to let me know.

dogopoly

Saw this at matinee prices.

The movie started out fun, ended fun and was fun pretty much all the way through. Very good storyline, casting and special effects.

I'd give it an A rating, and almost an A+!

(More about relationships than superpowers, and plenty of talk about sex.)

Up N Here

Forced into community service, Tyler Gage (Channing Tatum) arrives at a Maryland school as an angry outsider. Nora (Jenna Dewan), a gifted ballerina, notices his talent as a dancer, and soon sparks start to fly between them, both on and off the stage.

I saw it tonight and although it had some scenes that kept my attention - there were a lot of areas that needed improvment, unfortunately. Over all I'd give it a C+

dogopoly

World Trade Center

A very moving story of a team of NYC Port Authority Police going into the Twin Towers to help evacuate people shortly after the first plane hit. While in the underground maze that leads to the tower, the next building collapses and debris flows into their building like a flash flood. They jump into an elevator shaft and are alive but trapped under the debris, including most of them being pinned. While they try to get loose, the other building collapses and throws down more debris pinning them more.

Meanwhile, rescue teams head out in search of survivors but when another building collapses and nightfall nears with threat of another building on the verge of collapse, the search is called off for the night. However, one ex-marine feels it's his calling to go out in search of survivors.

This is a very powerful movie, showing, realistically, what probably happened underground, on the surface, and among the affected families. There was discussion that this might be a political movie, but I saw nothing of the sort. The only political parts were live footage and not presented in any biased way.

There were a few minor anomolies, but overall excellent assembly of real-life accounts, very good acting, great special effects of apparently real footage combined with computer graphics. A worthy A rating.

dogopoly

Zoom is the story of a retired super hero, Zoom, being brought back out of retirement to train a new team of youth with unusual powers. They are being trained to fight the old nemesis who is breaking out of an alterate dimension where he was sent. They have about a week.

Zoom (Tim Allen) is an unwilling participant and basically tells the selected kids (ages 17, 16, 12 and 6) that the government just wants to take them away from family and bombard them with gamma-13 rays to enhance their powers. The kids have various reactions to this information.

While Zoom tries to entertain himself, the kids eventually start bonding and then scold zoom for not helping them improve their powers.

Meanwhile, the government (including Courtney Cox--scientist, Chevy Chase--head scientists, and Rip Torn--general) are figuring out how to get the participants to cooperate in the venture without telling them what's happening.

Will they get together and defeat the bad guy?
--

The storyline for this movie was actually very good, most of the casting was decent and the special effects were not bad, but the dialog was often lame and everything was a little too easy (like convincing the somewhat rebellious 16-year old girl to participate.)

This movie had a lot of potential but fell way short in the production, several scenes were totally unnecessary (like Chevy Chase in the environmental conditioning room), and Courtney Cox was just unbelievable as a technical geek. The storyline seems geared to young kids and people with ADD (and if you read this far into my review you're probably NOT ADD!) It really could have been saved by stretching out certain scenese and removing a few others. I'll give it a disappointed B, maybe a B-

ArkiStan

What? You grade Zoom higher than The Descent? I must disagree with you. The Descent was the best horror movie to be released in many years. This comes from an avid horror movie fan.

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dogopoly

I didn't grade descent so you must have the wrong dog.
However, feel free to add your own review and grade.

ArkiStan

Apologies. wrong dog indeed.
I'll try to post a review when I can.