Chez Jacques

I wanted to mention a good French Restaurant if you're ever in the Milwaukee, Wi area (which I sincerely hope you never find yourself.)

I normally don't like French food and if I find myself dining in a french restaurant I have to resort to having a Croque-Monsieur (Ham & Cheese sandwich) or a steak, but Chez Jacques is top notch.

They have the usual, croissants, crepes, escargots, pate, cheese plates, and a ton of wine selections.
But they also offer a lot of foods that someone might enjoy if you normally don't consider yourself a French food enthusiast, like myself.

First off they start you with a french baguette loaf and butter.  This is a delicious little starter that should not be missed.  By the time I'm done with the bread I can hardly handle a true appetizer or anything, so I usually skip the soup and salad, but know that it is offered.

I've had the steak frites, boeuf bourguignon, and the croque-monsieur frites, plus a couple daily specials like the rib eye frites, and filet frites.  Frites are just french fries, boeuf bourguignon is just beef stew with mashed potatoes, and the croque-monsieur is just a ham and cheese grilled sandwich.
My favorite thing they have is a Filet Mignon with grilled vegetables.  Doesn't even matter what the vegetables are I always ask for them as a substitute for the fries (trying to be healthier, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with the fries!)  So delicious and the meat is always so tender!  I'll order a glass of wine or two and finish with the best dessert they have - Bread Pudding.  I never thought I would like bread pudding, but I like this.  It's basically cream soaked bread with vanilla baked to perfection until it's served hot in front of you waiting to be devoured.....It is so delicious!  I've also had their chocolate tart and a currant berry sorbet.

If you're in the mood for something different and excellent customer service this is your place.

I can't say enough about Jacques, John, and the rest of the crew there, because everything is perfect from the food, the atmosphere, and the way you are treated.  You will not regret it!

Parking is free, but a little tricky to find.  Try parking out front on the street, or
along the side of the restaurant.
And you should know they are closed Mondays.
This is also a very expensive restaurant, but has no dress code.
5 forks out of 5 for excellent customer service and a passion for food!

1022 South 1st Street
Milwaukee, WI 53204
414.672.1040
ChezJacq@ChezJacques.com
www.chezjacques.com

Hearts in Atlantis

Released: 2001
Drama, Sci-fi
Director: Scott Hicks
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, David Morse, Anton Yelchin, Hope Davis
Running Time: 101 minutes
Rated: PG-13

The breakdown: This is based on a book by Stephen King about a mysterious older gentleman who moves into a quiet neighborhood and changes the lives of three young children forever.

I really enjoyed the book so I had wanted to see this movie for a long time.
In the 1960's America that this story takes place a quiet neighborhood is a perfect place for our mysterious stranger to choose to live.
There's a house that Bobby and his mother live in with an upstairs apartment that's available for rent.
Ted Brautigan shows up one day as the newest resident, with a few suitcases and not much else and immediately makes friends with Bobby.  Bobby never knew his father, but only knows of him from his mother's stories.  About how he liked to gamble and when he died he had no life insurance policy and left them with a ton of bills.  Bobby is a mature young kid and enjoys finding out about Ted as much as his mother will let him.  Bobby's mother is selfish and neglects Bobby almost always for herself or her job.  Instead of buying Bobby a new bike for his birthday, she buys herself a dress.

Bobby also has a couple friends, Carol, a girl who he has a crush that lives down the street, and his other friend, Sully who is also close by.

Bobby divides his time up between his young friends and Ted.  Although Ted pays him $1.00 a week to look for strange things in the neighborhood like lost dog signs and to read him the paper because his eyesight is starting to fail him.  Bobby enjoys this time with Ted, but notices that his new friend tends to zone out sometimes and says strange things like he's in a trance.

Eventually Bobby notices some lost dog posters in the neighborhood and tells Ted.  Reluctantly he figures out that Ted is going to have to leave soon to avoid the Low Men.  A group of men Ted has told Bobby to keep an eye out for.  They will be hunting Ted down and want to take him away permanently.  The Low Men always look the same - they drive very nice older cars and dress in sharp suits and always wear fedoras.  Ted has the ability to read minds and the Low Men want him back from where Ted escaped.

I won't tell you anymore, except for the fact that the book is much better than the movie was.  Unfortunately, in the movie they dropped a lot of the supernatural plot lines and kept all the human drama stuff (which is good), but personally, what I thought made a great book is all but an afterthought in the movie.

I say read the book first then watch the movie.
I can easily say I was very impressed with the performance of the little boy - Anton Yelchin, who by now is a full grown man and doing lots of other movies, so he's got talent.  And Anthony Hopkins was very good as well.
I give it a 4 out of 5 for being a good movie alone, but could be improved with some supernatural magic elements from the book.

The Pirates! Band of Misfits

Released: 2012
Director(s): Peter Lord, Jeff Newitt
Starring: Hugh Grant, Salma Hayek, Jeremy Piven
Running Time: 88 minutes
Rated: PG

The breakdown:  A pirate captain is in a race with three other captains to be called pirate of the year.


This week I went to go see The Pirates! Band of Misfits in a local theather.  I was hoping it was going to be like Chicken Run because it was the same creator of the claymation style animated movie.  Although it was certainly cute at times, it was nowhere near as good or funny as Chicken Run.

There's this pirate captain fittingly named Pirate Captain who's got a washed up crew, a parrot he loves, and a small boat.  They almost never find treasure, but that doesn't stop them from trying.  Pirate Captain wants to win a little contest called Pirate of the Year, but his competition laughs him out of the bar that the applications are being taken.

His crew convinces him to keep up the chase of the title and stay in the fight.  As they are sailing the high seas in search of booty, they find a research vessel headed by none other than Charles Darwin.
Charles sees Captain's parrot and reveals she is no parrot, but a Dodo bird, long believed extinct and would make first prize at the scientific conference he could attend.  Captain sees big dollar signs and agrees to go with him to show their "discovery."

The movie tries to be a little of everything, which makes it successful at almost nothing.
I give it a 2 out of 5 because it should've been a lot more funny if it's the same creators as Chicken Run and Wallace & Grommet.  Plus Hugh Grant is in it and he's an ass.

The Hunger Games

Released: 2012
Drama
Director: Gary Ross
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Stanley Tucci, Elizabeth Banks, Woody Harrelson
Running Time: 142 minutes
Rated: PG-13

The breakdown: Based on a series of books by Suzanne Collins, this is a story of survival of the fittest among teens.

In an alternate future to avoid violent uprising of a nation, every year they hold the Hunger Games to keep people in order and too afraid to revolt.
The Hunger Games selection process is at random unless a child volunteers.  Anyone between the ages of 12-18 is included and there are 12 districts the nation has been broken into.  One day, called the Reaping,  a female and male from each district is selected and then go on to fight to the death for 2 weeks against other children, until there is one lone survivor, who is crowned the winner and is spoiled with riches.

I won't spoil it for you, so that's all I can say, but I found it to be a pretty solid story.  I only have a few complaints.  One is that Woody Harrleson plays the same washed up old hasbeen he often plays, and that the over the top make up and wardrobe for the elitest society that live at the capitol is a bit too much and uneccesary.  They are trying to make it painfully obvious that the people who live at the capitol are completely out of touch with reality and cannot relate with 99% of the country's peasant workers who live out in the districts and work hard everyday.  The elite have blue, pink, and other unnatural colors in their hair as well as strange shaped facial hair, super strange hypercolored clothing and a lot of men wear makeup as well as women.  It's just a bit too overdone.  I think they easily could've achieved the same feeling of ultra rich and powerful with a less strong color pallete with just luxurious fabrics and beautiful men and women in plush surroundings.

This is a series of books and from the success of this film I anticipate they will make more movies.
I give it a 4 out of 5 for being a good entertaining story.

Paul

Released: 2011
Comedy
Director: Greg Mottola
Starring: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Seth Rogen
Running Time: 104 minutes
Rated: R

The breakdown:  A story of two sci-fi nerds who find and help a real alien.

This is a cute and funny story about how two English science fiction nerds discover an alien in need of help while visiting America.  While driving cross country to visit Comic-Con and visit various alien related hot spots they see a car crash and stop to help.  They find only an alien named Paul who speaks English, smokes, and drinks.  Paul needs help to escape the government and to get back home.  The two nerds agree to help him and they pick up a religious one-eyed woman along the way, only because she sees Paul. 

It's pretty vulgar, but it's a cute little movie.
I enjoyed it and give it a 4 out of 5 for being fresh and creative.

Horrible Bosses

Released: 2011
Comedy
Director: Seth Gordon
Starring: Jason Bateman, Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Aniston, Colin Farrell
Running Time: 98 minutes
Rated: R

The breakdown: Three friends realize to be happy at work they must kill each other's bosses without getting caught.

This kinda' looked like a funny idea when I saw the previews, but it just doesn't come out funny.
These three guys all have miserable bosses in one form or another, either they are being sexually harrassed everyday and uncomfortable at work, or else the boss is a mean spirited rotten human being devoid of sympathy, or a ridiculous idiot who hates just about everyone.

They divise a plan with the help of a thug (played by Jamie Foxx) to kill each other's bosses so that they don't get caught and it all falls apart.

I won't bother with the rest of the plot, but I can easily say skip it.
It relies too much on stuff like bathroom humor and other immature comedy to be funny, and it just isn't.
1 out of 5 for being silly most of the time and not funny.  The one stub I did give it is for another flawless performance from Kevin Spacey (who I knew could play a great asshole boss from Swimming with Sharks) and for Jennifer Aniston looking great as a brunette!  She should keep that look, I've never thought she was attractive, but she was in this movie.

Thelma & Louise

Released: 1991
Drama
Director: Ridley Scott
Starring: Gena Davis, Susan Sarandon, Harvey Keitel
Running Time: 130 minutes
Rated: R

The breakdown:  Two women run off on what's supposed to be a three day vacation and turn into criminals.

I had heard a lot about this movie and remembered that there was supposed to be some controversial ending and that the test audiences didn't like the original ending so they changed it to what the current ending is.   So with that, I wanted to see it because of all that, not really for the plot line itself.

I can't imagine why people made a big deal of this movie, it's not great.  It was ok, but nothing to make a fuss over for me personally.
It starts out that Davis plays a housewife who's in an unhappy marriage with her controlling husband and isn't allowed to do anything.  Sarandon plays a single waitress whose idea it is to take a little vacation together.  Davis is so afraid her husband won't let her go that she leaves without even asking him.
So Davis and Sarandon don't get very far in their old T-Bird convertible before Davis wants to stop and have a little fun at a roadside bar and dance hall.  They stop and Davis gets asked to dance by a guy she finds interesting.  As the night winds down, Sarandon tells Davis she's going to the ladies room and then they are leaving.  Davis goes outside to get fresh air as she is hot and very drunk, her dance partner goes outside with her alone.  The guy advances on her hard and she says no.  He doesn't take no for an answer and is ripping off her clothes and holding her down when Sarandon comes around the corner with a gun to the guy's neck to let Davis go.
This is the point where they stop being rational people and begin to be criminals on the run.  The guy lets her go but calls both of them a lot of derogatory words and this sets Sarandon off for some reason so bad, she kills him with a single bullet to the chest.  Then they leave and both freak out in the car trying to figure out what to do.  Sarandon believes they cannot go to the police now because she thinks no one will believe that the guy was about to rape Davis.  Davis wants to go to the cops, but doesn't because her friend says no.
I won't tell you the plot after this point, but they both commit a few crimes and end up getting into major trouble where they will spend the rest of their life in prison if they are not executed for their crimes.

I think both of these women could have been lesbians in love with each other and just suppressing it, or the editing was poor at certain parts to make it look that way, I'm really not sure.

Either way, not a great movie and I say skip it, you're not missing a thing.

I give it 2 out of 5 for being ok, but forgettable.

Secret Window

Released: 2004
Horror, Mystery
Director: David Koepp
Starring: Johnny Depp, Maria Bello, John Turturro
Running Time: 96 minutes
Rated: PG-13

The breakdown:
Based on a novella written by Stephen King, this is the adaptation of a story about a writer who is plagued by a strange man who says he originally wrote the story that the main character took credit for.

Johnny Depp plays a famous writer who is in the middle of a divorce and living alone in the country side of an East coast town.  Woken from his sleep one morning, a strange man, played by John Turturro, shows up on his doorstep and says he wrote a story that is exactly the same as Depp, only Depp doesn't know what he's talking about and shrugs it off.
The man repeatedly comes around or leaves violent messages for Depp to take him seriousily.  He kills his dog and threatens Depp by burning down the house he used to share with his soon to be ex-wife.  The house she still lived in.
Depp finally takes him seriousily, reads the story the man left with him and compares it to his story titled,"Secret Window" and it's an exact match, except for the ending.  That's what this strange man wants, for Depp to fix the story by rewriting the ending to the strangers ending and publishing it.
There's something definitely wrong with the stranger but it's not what you think.

I read the story first so I knew what to expect, but the movie version was certainly a lot goofier than it should've been.

I can only give the movie a 2 and 1/2 out of 5 for taking a good story and making it into a goofy film.

Blade Runner

Released: 1982
Sci-fi
Director: Ridley Scott
Starring: Harrison Ford, Sean Young,  Rutger Hauer, Daryl Hannah
Rated: R
Running Time: 117 minutes

The breakdown:
A specialty detective hunts for android slaves that have a real mind of their own in 2019.


Based on the novel of Philip K. Dick, "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" this movie can probably be interpreted in many different ways, but first the plot.
NOTE: I must say in what little research I've done to this point, there's at least seven versions of this movie floating around.  One is the director's cut, which has a lot of differences from the theatrical version.  I saw the version that was originally released to theaters with Harrison Ford's character narrating.
Harrison Ford plays a retired cop that is called back into service for one job, to kill six replicants.  Replicants are robots made to look and feel more human than humans, except for the fact that they are not supposed to have emotions.  They also were made to do things too dangerous for humans to do - colonize other worlds and they are strictly prohibited from being on Earth.  Visually indistinguishable and perfect in almost every way these robots also have a predetermined death date so as to not progress into dangerous territory of really thinking for themselves and wanting a true life of their own.  For the robots, death is not called death, it's merely called retirement.
So there's a group of six slave robots that are working "off world" on a ship when they kill all the people aboard and come back to Earth.
This is highly unusual behavior and they need to be exterminated.
Harrison Ford is reluctant to help, but does so and follows what little leads he has.
SPOILER!!!!!!!!!!
After this point I'm discussing the whole movie including the ending.
SO, Ford finds the robots and kills them except for one.  The one he does not kill is not a slave robot, but one that is basically homeless and could start thinking for itself if it is not "retired."  This one, played by Sean Young is special and at first, she doesn't realize she's not human.  They have implanted memories into her hardware and she genuinely believes herself to be a true woman.
Harrison Ford meets her early on in his lead gathering and is taken with her.
She escapes her home and looks for Ford's character.  Her home was with the creator and CEO of the company that produces these replicants called Tyrell Corporation.
After Ford's done killing almost all the robots (save one which Young kills for him when he's about to get whacked) he tracks down an abandoned building where the leader is still hiding.
Harrison Ford and Rutger Hauer fight it out until Ford is hanging by an exterior steel beam to the building and about to fall to his death.  Ford can't hold on anymore, but the robot grabs his hand and pulls him to safety at the last second, though, he never says why....considering he was trying to kill him a few moments ago.
Hauer's time is up and he knew it was coming so Ford just sits there in the rain, on a rooftop, and watches the robot die.
Ford goes back to his apartment and looks for Young's character.  She is still there (as Ford housed here there after she saved his life) and her time is not yet up.  When the CEO of Tyrell had spoken to Ford, he had said this one was special, she had no predetermined death date, so who knows how long she will go on.
Ford takes her and drives far north, far away from Los Angeles, and hopes that she will last a long time. 

Granted, I have left out A TON of stuff that happened, but it's a strange movie.  I knew it was beloved and nominated for several awards.
I can see how it was so well liked, but at the same time, I think I'm seriously missing something about it.  I must be missing a deeper meaning to things in the movie, because I can tell it was very avant-garde during the time frame it was released, and it was good, but I haven't had enough time to sit with it yet.  At the time of writing this review, I'm pressed for time and literally just finished it a few minutes ago.

Overall, I give it a 3 out of 5 for being intrigued, but a little confused by it to be honest.  I say, see it for yourself and give me your thoughts.

How Do You Know

Released: 2010
Comedy, Romance
Director: James L. Brooks
Starring: Paul Rudd, Reese Witherspoon, Owen Wilson, Jack Nicholson
Rated:  R
Running Time: 121 minutes


The breakdown: A woman is trying to learn what she wants out of life and is caught between two men who she finds attractive.


Reese Witherspoon plays a woman who has always loved baseball, or, I guess it's softball for women.  Anyway, she's been on the US softball team and won medals (I assume during the Olympics?) so she's really good and all about that.  Early in the movie, she gets cut because she's getting older and she feels a bit lost.  She starts dating Owen Wilson, who is also a major league baseball player and they kinda' have an open ended relationship.  He likes to womanize so he's not really ready to settle down.  Meanwhile, Paul Rudd plays a man who is under federal investigation from working for his father's company.  Rudd is an honest stand up guy who is a bit awkward around women, but his heart's in the right place.
Well, Rudd and Witherspoon go on a blind date and he ends up really liking her right from the start.  She kind of sees him as a good man and a good friend, since she's sort of with Wilson.
Over the course of the movie, the triangle develops a bit more and there are some very sweet and touching scenes.

Overall, I thought this movie was going to be bad and bland, as the ratings for it were pretty low, but I ended up being charmed by it.  There are two very cute relationships in the movie that I really enjoyed.  The only complaint I have against is is that Reese Witherspoon is one dimensional and does not have a very broad range.  She usually plays the same character, no matter what movie (except for Walk the Line which she was very good in.)  This one is no different....She's a bit lost and clueless, but she means well.  If you can overlook Witherspoon's one dimensionality, you will most likely enjoy this film.

I give it a 3 and 3/4 out of 5 for some great cute scenes and a very touching marriage proposal amid lesser characters.  See it.

Forces of Nature

Released: 1999
Comedy, Romance
Director: Bronwen Hughes
Starring: Sandra Bullock, Ben Affleck, Maura Tierney
Rated: PG-13
Running Time: 105 minutes

The breakdown: After a mild plane crash, a soon to be married man and his seatmate join forces to try to get down to Georgia from New York during a terrible hurricane.

So at first, I thought I was continuing my current trend of watching bad movies, but after the initial scenes I got used to the idea that this movie might work.  I like both Bullock and Affleck and they didn't lack for any on screen chemistry.
After sitting next to each other on the plane, upon attempted take off the plane never gets off the ground and kinda' crashes.  Nothing too dramatic, but if it happened to me in real life, I'd be terrified to fly again.  Anyway, there's a big hurricane headed for the gulf coast and Bullock and Affleck need to get to Savannah, Georgia for different reasons.  He's about to be married and she's going to visit her nephew and brother, at least, that's the story she gives.
They team up with a third person and take a rented car south.  They end up getting arrested due to the fact that the third person they hooked up with is transporting marijuana across state lines and had a suspended driver's license.  After they get released they need to find an alternate way south again.  They end up catching a train, but miss the right connection and end up traveling towards Chicago.  After they jump off this train they head for the closest Greyhound bus station, but it's closed for the night.  They end up spending the night at the local K-Mart killing time and buying some clothes and knick-knacks.
During some time at the local laundromat, (and this is all in the same night) they both get their money stolen while Affleck is sleeping, and Bullock is outside wrapping a present for a child.)
So, the next day they hitch a ride on one of those time share buses taking a ton of touristy elderly couples to Florida.
This pattern continues, where whatever method they use as transportation, it gets derailed and they get a lot of time to know each other over the course of a couple days.  They are very attracted to each other, but there's lots of things to keep them apart, like his soon to be wife, and the fact that Bullock is slowly admitting she's currently married, has been divorced, and has a 10 year old son.
SPOILER______________________________________________ALERT
I'm discussing the whole movie here.......so..................this is your last chance to stop reading if you have any desire to see this movie, though, I discourage that (seeing the film that is.)

So, they pretend to be married to stay on this tourist bus and end up having to stay the night at a local hotel.  It just so happens, the groom sees his best man there with the maid of honor.  They end up seeing him with Bullock and think he's having an affair.  They give him the chance to leave with them, but he can't leave Bullock.  He tells her his feelings for her and that he doesn't think he wants to get married after all.
The people on the bus are told by the best man and maid of honor that the groom is about to be married, but that's not his wife.  So they get kicked off that bus tour and run from paying the hotel bill.
Affleck ends up dancing at a gay bar to make enough money to afford a terrible old car to get down to Georgia with.
He and Bullock kiss and I enjoyed the development of their relationship.
MEANWHILE, back in Savannah, Affleck's soon to be bride is in touch with her fiancee every once in a while, but is still very concerned as to why it's taking him so long to get to her.
She attends some parties there with her friends to keep her mind busy and ends up meeting up with an old friend from high school.  He confesses he should've asked her out a long time and has strong feelings for her.
She's upset at the lack of her groom and ends up making out with this guy.
I don't think they sleep together, but she never reveals any of this to Affleck in the end either.
Anyways, Bullock and Affleck end up driving up to the house where he is to be married and there's a terrible storm happening.  Tables and flowers are blown over, everything is getting destroyed.  Affleck tells Bullock to wait for him as he goes in to tell his fiancee that he can't marry her.
He arrives and everyone is mad at him as he is very late.
He finds his girlfriend and they start talking.  He confesses he's always loved her from the minute he saw her and nothing will change that, but they should get married later on their honeymoon instead of during this terrible storm.  She says that her maid of honor has told her what she saw and says she believes Affleck and trusts him and knows he didn't cheat on her.
After the talk, Affleck turns back to find Bullock and sees that she's gone.  She was watching the two talk and figured they would end up staying together, so she went off to see her son.
Affleck and his girl end up getting married in Hawaii and the closing scenes show Bullock living with her son.
The end.

I was so disappointed.  This is not the way the movie should've ended.  I really liked the chemistry that Bullock and Affleck had.  The way the shots of the movie made it seem they balanced each other out nicely and really lived while they were together.   Affleck kept talking about how he didn't want to get married and how he was so attracted to Bullock. 
He just didn't have any chemistry with the girl he was supposed to marry, and she was off making out with someone else who had no doubt about he felt about her and desperately wanted to marry her.
Why not have Bullock and Affleck stay together and the jilted bride could've ended up with the old high school friend?
I would've enjoyed that much more.
So I liked it, up until the end and then the ending ruined it.

So for that, I can only give a 1 out of 5 for ruining what could've been a really good movie.

The Brothers McMullen

Released:1995
Drama, Comedy
Director: Edward Burns
Starring: Edward Burns, Jack Mulcahy, Michael McGlone
Rated: R
Running Time: 98 minutes


The breakdown:
Three Catholic Irish brothers talk about love and life while living in New York.


There's these three adult brothers that are sharing the same house in New York and trying to find themselves amongst their religion, their beliefs, their love lives, and their careers, or lack there of.
You can tell it's the first time out for filmmaker/actor/director/screenwriter Burns.  This movie got really good reviews, but I think it was a little plain.  I mean, for the first time out, it was a good start, but I think it was lacking in a lot of things.  I was mildly interested in seeing this film, but overall, it was just ok for me.
The boys seem to be really lost, one doesn't know whether he should stay with his current girlfriend or not and whether he wants to work for her father or not and maybe get married or not, the other ones been married to someone he says he deeply loves for five years and is then tempted to cheat on her with a woman that used to date one of his other brothers, then there's the last brother who certainly doesn't want to settle down or have kids and ends up finding a woman he really can't live without.

I give it 2 out of 5 for a solid first effort, but from someone more well known I would expect much much more.  I say skip it unless you've been wanting to really see it for a long long time, then have at it.

The Brave One

Released: 2007
Crime, Drama
Director: Neil Jordan
Starring: Jodie Foster, Terrence Howard, and Naveen Andrews
Rated: R
Running Time: 122 minutes

The breakdown: A woman and her boyfriend are brutally beaten in New York and she's the lone survivor.  Afterwards, she tries to recover, but ends up being a vigilante instead.


I have to admit the only reason I wanted to watch this film was for Terrence Howard (who is gorgeous!) and he was great, looking all fine throughout the whole film, but the film itself was bit unbelievable (and not in a good way.)
So Jodie Foster and her fiancee are out one night in Central Park walking their dog when the dog runs off down a tunnel.  They search after it and find 3 hoods holding the leash, wanting some sort of reward.  When the couple refuses, they start to surround them and beat them up.  They end up killing her fiancee and she wakes up from a coma three weeks later to discover he's dead.
She has a difficult time returning to the person she used to be.  She goes to the cops for help, but is basically pushed aside.
She ends up at a gun store and decides she can't wait 30 days for a permit, so she buys one illegally.
One night at the local convenience store she witnesses a man who comes in with a gun and threatens the cashier who happens to be his wife.  He shoots her dead and Jodie Foster's phone goes off making the gunman aware of her previously hidden position.  She turns off the phone and reaches for her new gun.  When he's around the corner from her position she shoots him through the bottles on the counter, killing him.  She takes the surveillance video from the store and leaves.  She runs home and feels ok.  (Wouldn't we all after shooting our first victim?)
Next, she's on a subway and sees two thugs harassing everyone on the car.  They steal a kid's Ipod, bother a man and his young son and everyone gets off at the next stop except the thugs and Foster.  She's staring them down until they notice her and when they present a knife to her throat she shoots both of them dead and leaves the car when the doors open.
The movie continues as she goes around killing more criminals and bad guys and she never seems to think twice about killing people in the heat of the moment.  It does get to her over time as she knows she should go to prison, but she's not going in to confess to the murders either.  Of course, her killing people does not bring back her fiancee and does not help her with her grieving over his loss.
She has a radio talk show and is in the public eye so when she meets up with Terrence Howard's character, he already knows who she is and what happened to her.
There is a chemistry between them (can't say I blame her) but she knows it can't work out because he is someone who believes in the law and would have to put her in jail should he ever find out what she's doing.  (He is a very straight laced cop.)

Overall, the movie could've been really much better than it turned out.  The romance or almost relationship of Foster and Howard's characters is intriguing and I'm all for killing evil criminals, but Jodie Foster's character wasn't developed well enough to carry it off.  Jodie Foster is a very good actress and I like her but the blame here falls with the writer.  They show Foster's character doing all these cold blooded things, but her hands never shake, she doesn't hate herself or seem to struggle with killing people all of a sudden and I just don't think they showed enough of her personality to see whether this is something her character is capable of.

I know there's a lot of people out there who could snap and kill people.  I know that a lot of good people could become murders under the right circumstances, but what I don't like about the movie is the lack of character development here.
Terrence Howard's character is fully formed and you get a sense of what kind of man he is, what kind of cop, and what thought process he's going through.  With Foster's character it is unclear and that's what messes up the whole movie for me.

Overall, I give it a 2 out of 5 because it could've been so much better.  I say skip it.

Green Lantern

Released: 2011
Fantasy
Director: Martin Campbell
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Peter Sarsgaard, Blake Lively (whoever she is)
Rated: PG-13
Running Time: 114 minutes

The breakdown: A test pilot is chosen by a ring to be the next protector in line for our section of the universe.


I thought as soon as I saw the previews that this movie didn't look very good, and it didn't disappoint there.
A test pilot who's "fearless" is chosen by a green lantern ring when the original owner is close to death and lands his spaceship on Earth.  The ring picks up the pilot and brings him to the dying alien to be told of his destiny.  The pilot is taught how to use the ring, what his job is and how to fight. 
The green lanterns are a group of superheroes meant to fight any threat and specifically to try to keep peace in the universe.  The major threat in this movie to all living things is some entity called Parallax.  It thrives on fear and uses that as it's weapon to get stronger and stronger and it's next target is earth.
Oh I should mention this is based on the DC Comic character of the same name.
The comic book might be great, but this movie is not.
I noticed that there are no less than four screenwriters and it shows.  There's no cohesion, or clarity to this movie.
I'm on a roll for bad movies lately.  This complaint sounds the same as the other movies lately - boring characters that aren't developed and you don't care about them at all, empty dialogue that mostly sounds cliche and lacking passion.  This girl, Blake Lively, she can't act, but I've never seen her in anything else either.  Empty, passionless, and boring.

I give it a 1 out of 5 for Peter Sarsgaard and Ryan Reynolds, who are both hot, but cannot save a crappy script.
Skip it for certain.

Unknown

Released: 2011
Mystery, Drama
Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
Starring: Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger, January Jones
Rated: PG-13
Running Time: 113 minutes
 

The breakdown: A man has a car accident and when he wakes he realizes no one, not even his wife recognizes him.

Note: There are no less than three films with the same title, different plots.  I have seen two.  This is the most recent movie.

Liam Neeson plays a biochemist who travels to Germany with his wife to attend an important conference.  After arriving at the airport they catch a cab, but the driver leaves Neeson's important briefcase on the luggage rack on the curb and Neeson does not realize it until arriving at the hotel.  As his wife begins checking in, he catches a cab before he can even tell her what's happened.  On the way back to the airport, the taxi driver has a terrible accident and the car ends up in the river.  The taxi driver escapes, but Neeson has hit his head and lays in the car unconscious as it sinks.  She (the taxi driver) rescues him and then runs away.
When he wakes up in the hospital days later he finds out he had no ID on him and they didn't know who he was or who to contact.  He begs the doctor to let him out of the hospital as he sees a news report for the conference he's supposed to be at and remembers his wife must be really worried and he needs to get back there.  As he arrives, the conference cocktail party is in full swing and he sees his wife.  He needs his invitation and ID which he has neither, but pleads with the front desk manager to escort him to his wife to prove his identity.  He agrees and as they get to his wife, Neeson is relieved to see her, but she doesn't recognize him.  She claims she's never seen him before and that her husband is already there with her.  Neeson is mad and confused.  The manager pushes him to either leave or be arrested and he finally gives in to leaving.  In the cab on the way back to the hospital he tells the driver he's changed his mind and to just leave him just outside the hotel.  He looks in the window and sees his wife with the other man who claims to be him and is dumbfounded.  He ends up going back to the hospital after all to have further tests to see if he's confused or forgetting things.

Oh, I can't tell you anymore because if you want to see it, you really should on your own.
Don't let me ruin the surprises for you.

Overall, I give it a 4 out of 5 for being entertaining and keeping you guessing as to what's going on.

Midnight in Paris

Released: 2011
Fantasy, Comedy (but not really funny)
Director Woody Allen
Starring: Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, and a TON of other people you know
Rated: PG-13
Running Time: 94 minutes

The breakdown: An engaged couple is visiting France when the man slips back into the 1920's one night and has a remarkable adventure meeting great artists from that time.

Overall, I didn't like it.  Big surprise, again, I didn't know it was a Woody Allen film until I sat down to watch it.  I can't believe he won an OSCAR for writing this?!  Of course, the Oscars are really out of touch with what's good these days.  By the way, I should mention Allen never attends the Oscars, most likely, because he thinks they are too (fill in the blank-arrogant, pretentious, Hollywood).....whether he's nominated or not, win or doesn't, he's not there.  A bit disrespectful if you ask me, but Woody Allen has A LOT of issues.
Anyway, I do not like his movies because out of all of them that I've seen so far, they're pretty much the same idea.  This one's a little different with the whole time travel thing, but the characters are familiar and the relationships work the same as well.  Allen seems to have a penchant for cheating spouses.  Anyway, the plot....
This engaged couple goes along with her father to Paris for a vacation.  The man is a Hollywood screenwriter who wants to crack into novels and the woman doesn't seem to do anything for a living except put her boyfriend down or try to embarrass him in public.  It's obvious from the beginning they are not a good couple.
Her and her parents, or her friends always want to do something that her boyfriend is not interested in doing.  One night after attending lots of stuff with her that he doesn't want to do, he goes off for a walk on his own.  He ends up on some steps alone at midnight and a 1920's era car rolls up with a big party going on inside.  The revelers ask him to join them and off he goes.  It ends up at a posh night club with lots of people and music.  The man realizes he's listening to THE Cole Porter sing live and speaks with Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald in the flesh. 
Over the course of the movie, every night in real life he goes back to those steps and at midnight the car rolls up and he meets new people from the past.  He ends up being really attracted to a woman named Adriana who's dated Picasso, Hemingway, and a slew of other famous people.  She likes him as well. 
While he's traveling between two worlds, his girlfriend is spending more and more time doing things with other people so he continues to go to the past every night.  Eventually he ends up with Adriana on the street, the clock hits midnight, and a horse drawn carriage rolls up.
IF YOU PLAN ON SEEING THIS MOVIE YOU CANNOT READ ANY FURTHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




SPOILER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


If you've come this far, I applaud you.  The movie's not been that good up until this point.  I really only enjoyed the last half hour of this movie, and this is the point, it should've started.
So him and this woman go into the past together to the 1880's.  She loves this time period and thinks this is the best time to live in, he on the other hand loves the 20's and wants to stay there.  She says she's not leaving the 1880's so he leaves her behind and realizes he needs to live in his own time.
He goes back and breaks up with his bitchy girlfriend.  She never wanted to live in Paris and he really did so he doesn't have to go anywhere.  There was this girl he had met at a record store somewhere in the city and as the closing scenes happen, he's standing on a bridge admiring the Eiffel Tower.  She just happens along the same street walking home from visiting friends and they start talking to each other in the evening rain.  The End.

SO,
I really liked the scenes in the past, those were actually not bad.  I enjoyed the romance between Owen Wilson and the girl from the record shop as well as Adriana from the 1920's.  Adrien Brody is in it, Kathy Bates, etc, etc.  A ton of famous talented people....I don't know how Woody Allen gets them into such bad movies.
The parts I didn't like were where I felt I had seen all the characters before in his past films.  The socialites, living the high life in Paris this time (instead of New York), the snotty know-it-all types that have to put everyone else down and think they are better than everyone else.  Those scenes are annoying and take up too much time in the story.
Seen that, done that, let's do something different please Woody?

He probably should've stopped making films a long time ago.

I give it a 2 out of 5 for interesting scenes and characters from the past.   But mainly, I say skip it.

A terribly sad story.

Rare Disease Mimics Child Abuse and Tears Family Apart

By SUSAN DONALDSON JAMES | Good Morning America

• 

William "Dave" O'Shell, distraught over charges of child abuse that were being leveled against him, snapped on June 30, 2008, killing his wife, Tiffany O'Shell, in their Henderson, Colo., home before taking his own life.

Just a few weeks earlier, their green-eyed, 3-month-old daughter, Alyssa, had been placed in a foster home because x-rays revealed 11 broken bones and doctors assumed that she had been beaten.

But they were wrong.

On the same day as the murder-suicide, a doctor at Colorado Children's Hospital suspected something else and was later proved right: Alyssa had a rare genetic disorder that caused her bones to fracture -- one that authorities had confused for abuse.

Alyssa died of spinal muscular atrophy on Oct. 28, 2008, but the tragedy has rippled through a family and an aggressive social services system that is meant to protect children.

Now, four years later after all lawsuits have been unsuccessful, Alyssa's maternal grandparents are saying the tragedy could have been averted.

"We were looking for action. We could care less about the money," said Paul Cuin, Tiffany O'Shell's adoptive father. "We wanted someone to sit up and say, 'This is wrong and we need to change things.'"

Cuin said there were no avenues for the O'Shells, both respected police officers, to plead their innocence.

"If our kids had some sort of outlet or grievance process or gone to someone, we would have a whole different story today," he said. "The system has to change."

A judge gave Cuin, 59, and his wife, Jackie Cuin, 50, custody of Alyssa after the death of their daughter and son-in-law, despite the objections of social services, according to a story first published in the Denver Post.

The newspaper obtained medical, social services and police records in their investigation, as well as court documents on the Cuins' lawsuits.

"They were wonderful parents," said Paul Cuin, who is a supermarket manager. "We never had a single doubt in our minds [over whether] abuse was involved. We knew from the beginning, they loved that baby."

They nursed Alyssa until her death and are convinced that if doctors knew more about SMA, the disease might never again be confused with child abuse.

Spinal muscular atrophy, or SMA, is a genetic neuromuscular disease characterized by muscle atrophy and weakness. It is caused by a mutation in the gene on the long arm of chromosome 5, which makes a protein that is important in the cells of the spinal cord and lower brain stem.

It is not always a death sentence, but those with the most serious form, like Alyssa, can suffer respiratory failure.
The disease is the leading genetic cause of death in infants and toddlers, affecting as many as 10,000 to 25,000 children and adults in the United States, according to the SMA Foundation.

"It took seven months to diagnose my 12-year-old daughter, and my husband is a scientist and we live in New York City," said Loren Eng, president of the SMA Foundation. "So few doctors are aware of the disease and it causes a wide variety of symptoms. It's really an awareness problem."

Dr. Darryl De Vivo, a professor of neurology and pediatrics at Columbia University, said SMA can "masquerade to some degree" as child abuse, "at least to the uneducated eye."

"The nature of this disease is such that it allows the bone to be unduly susceptible to fractures in the normal handling of the infant," he said.

De Vivo added that with heightened awareness to child abuse, "people jump in and say guilty before being proven innocent."

The Colorado case began in on June 16, 2008, when Tiffany O'Shell noticed that Alyssa cried when she lifted her right leg. The baby was referred to Children's Hospital of Colorado, where x-rays revealed fractures, but no bruises or abrasions.

"We pleaded with the doctor at Children's Hospital and social service to look for something else other than child abuse," said Paul Cuin. "They should have waited and not jumped to conclusions."

Elizabeth Whitehead of Children's Hospital Colorado said the hospital would not comment "on alleged child abuse cases, past or present."

Child protective services took Alyssa immediately and placed her in a foster home. Her grandparents were ruled out as guardians because Jackie Cuin had spent time babysitting the child and was considered a suspect.

The O'Shells had one supervised visit with Alyssa, according to Paul Cuin. The baby turned her head away from her parents several times and authorities interpreted that as confirmation of abuse.
Dave O'Shell became a chief suspect when he admitted that he often held her by the legs upside down -- which he said made the baby smile, according to the Post.

Cuin said the signs of SMA were evident in Alyssa, "but no one saw it" until the baby's foster mother took her to the doctor because she was failing to thrive.

A pediatrician at Children's Hospital noticed the classic symptoms: the baby's thumb turned inward, a "bell-shaped" stomach and "frogs legs" that wouldn't straighten, according to Cuin. Alyssa's breathing was labored and she struggled to hold her head up.
Suspicious, the doctor called for genetic tests, but no one alerted Alyssa's parents, according to Cuin.
"If they had had a little bit of hope," Cuin said, "this all would have been different.
On July 9, the results confirmed SMA, and on July 11, a caseworker called the Cuins' lawyer. The O'Shells had been dead nearly two weeks.
By July 16 the Cuins went to court and a judge granted them custody.

The Cuins defend their son-in-law against abuse charges, but are still struggling to understand why he murdered their daughter.

"David was a very stable individual," said Cuin. "It shocked us. But I fully understand the pressures he was under."

Cuin said O'Shell had lost all hope, told by his lawyer that he would go to prison and lose not only his daughter, but his wife, his job and his military status. If arrested on felony abuse, he would have had to raise $50,000 bail.

Two days before the murder-suicide, O'Shell told his wife he was "going to shoot people" so police would have a reason to arrest him, according to the Denver Post. He became increasingly despondent.

One June 30, the couple was scheduled to meet with lawyers and a criminal investigator about the abuse charges. Jackie Cuin tried to call her daughter but got no answer.

She went to check on her at the house, but was too afraid to enter, calling her husband.

Paul Cuin found the bodies: Tiffany, who had been shot in the head twice, was covered in blood in bed. Dave's legs were sticking out the bedroom doorway.

"I haven't forgiven him," said Cuin. "And I don't know if I will ever be able to."
Cuin and his wife now live day-by-day, and their awareness campaign is what keeps them going.
"We don't want the kids' death to be in vain," he said. "We want something good to come of it."

"I don't have a problem at all with social services coming and taking a child and doing an investigation," said Cuin. "There is a need for this service. There are bad people out there and kids need to be protected."

"But the system did the opposite," he said. "It tore a family apart."

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I usually don't post articles like this but I thought this one was very sad and important to raise awareness that a disease like this exists.
Very often I find myself forming an opinion about something I've heard or read and it sticks with me.  Although I'm open minded (and consider myself to be very tolerant and very open minded) I'm afraid I might've thought this was child abuse as well, but I'm no doctor and certainly not trained to see what would be needed to make an educated opinion.
I feel terrible for the family and sad that the system designed to protect, fails everyone again.
Perhaps the wife wanted to die as well, but couldn't pull the trigger.  Maybe her husband snapped completely and killed her without thought.  It just goes to prove what some people are capable of after they get pushed and pushed and pushed.  I'm sure the husband and wife could've been very in love and very in love with their baby, but when faced with losing absolutely everything I'm sure they might've felt there was nothing left to be done but die.
Terrible, terrible outcome for this situation, and too bad that someone from the medical facility didn't call the parents to let them know there was a chance they could prove it wasn't child abuse in time.

Stop the mistreatment of farm animals

	Your Opinion Counts!
	Nat'l Organic Standards Board Seeks Comments
	Dear Animal Advocates, When perusing labels and making choices at the grocery store, it’s common for consumers to equate “organic” with “humane”—but unfortunately, the two are not always synonymous. The National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), a government advisory committee appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, will be meeting at the end of May 2012 to discuss proposed standards to increase animal welfare requirements for organic poultry operations. The ASPCA will attend the meeting to ask for humane standards of care for chickens, turkeys, ducks and geese—but we need NOSB to hear your voice, too! NOSB’s proposed standards do not provide for adequate space or healthy air quality, do not prohibit break trimming, and fail to ban the force-feeding of ducks and geese associated with foie gras production. Tell NOSB that these birds deserve better!
	What You Can Do Please visit the ASPCA Advocacy Center online to learn more and to see how you can quickly and easily submit your comments to the NOSB. Thank you for using your voice for these underserved animals. www.aspca.org/organic

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Just wanted to repost this email I got from the Humane Society recently.
I signed up and sent my comments (which I shared below) so that I can stand up for the animals that cannot stand up for themselves.  I urge you to do the same.
All animals should be treated humanely whether they are bred for food or not.


To whom it may concern
(which should be all humans)
I am writing to comment on the NOSB Livestock Committee’s proposed “Guidance for Assessing Animal Welfare on Organic Poultry Operations.” Thank you for taking steps to ensure the welfare of chickens, turkeys, geese and ducks raised for organic food production. Please improve the guidelines so that organic poultry production is more humane.
1. All animals should have enough space to allow them to engage in natural movements and behaviors. Please increase minimum indoor and outdoor space allowances for chickens and turkeys.  All animals should be allowed space to live and be comfortable instead of confined their entire lives in a tiny cage.
2. The proposed guidance should prohibit the force-feeding of birds for the production of foie gras.  This is a completely cruel thing to do to animals for the sole purpose of feeding people.  I wouldn't want to be force fed, would anyone?
3. Beak trimming should be prohibited unless proper husbandry techniques have first been used to eliminate feather pecking and cannibalism. When performed, it should inflict the least amount of pain possible.
4. Poor air quality can affect the health and welfare of birds. NOSB’s proposed maximum ammonia level is equivalent to the conventional industry standard and does not provide adequately for welfare. Ammonia levels at organic poultry facilities should be less than 10 ppm, and corrective action must be taken if the level exceeds 15 ppm.
5. Producers should raise slow-growing poultry breeds to avoid the debilitating health problems associated with rapid weight gain.
Consumers expect animals raised for organic food to be treated humanely. PLEASE strengthen the care standards outlined in this document so that chickens, turkeys, geese and ducks raised for organic food do not suffer.
All animals deserve kind treatment and I wish I didn't have to write a letter to ask for basic human kindness for animals!!!
Please help the helpless!

So I'm Back

When I'm posting this, it's not really April 12th, but anyone who follows the blog knows that already.  What I'm going to try to do is post usual stuff like movie reviews until I get close to today's date and then talk about vacation spots and what I did.
Here we go!

Off I go!

On the road today....
Just wanted to say a happy birthday to a special birthday boy today!
I love ya!

Vacation!

Well, I'm going on vacation for a couple weeks and will not be able to post anything here until I get back.
Rest assured, when I get back I'll have a ton of new reviews for places to visit and things to do while on vacation in the Gulf States region.
Adios!

For the People Who don't Believe in Climate Change

It's already been a very record-breaking hot year

By SETH BORENSTEIN

WASHINGTON (AP) — It's been so warm in the United States this year, especially in March, that national records weren't just broken, they were deep-fried.

Temperatures in the lower 48 states were 8.6 degrees above normal for March and 6 degrees higher than average for the first three months of the year, according to calculations by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. That far exceeds the old records.

The magnitude of how unusual the year has been in the U.S. has alarmed some meteorologists who have warned about global warming. One climate scientist said it's the weather equivalent of a baseball player on steroids, with old records obliterated.

"Everybody has this uneasy feeling. This is weird. This is not good," said Jerry Meehl, a climate scientist who specializes in extreme weather at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo. "It's a guilty pleasure. You're out enjoying this nice March weather, but you know it's not a good thing."

It's not just March.

"It's been ongoing for several months," said Jake Crouch, a climate scientist at NOAA's National Climatic Data Center in Ashville, N.C.

Meteorologists say an unusual confluence of several weather patterns, including La Nina, was the direct cause of the warm start to 2012. While individual events can't be blamed on global warming, Couch said this is like the extremes that are supposed to get more frequent because of manmade climate change from the burning of fossil fuels such as coal and oil.

It's important to note that this unusual winter heat is mostly a North America phenomenon. Much of the rest of the Northern Hemisphere has been cold, said NOAA meteorologist Martin Hoerling.
The first quarter of 2012 broke the January-March record by 1.4 degrees. Usually records are broken by just one- or two-tenths of a degree. U.S. temperature records date to 1895.
The atypical heat goes back even further. The U.S. winter of 2010-2011 was slightly cooler than normal and one of the snowiest in recent years, but after that things started heating up. The summer of 2011 was the second warmest summer on record.
The winter that just ended, which in some places was called the year without winter, was the fourth warmest on record. Since last April, it's been the hottest 12-month stretch on record, Crouch said.
But the month where the warmth turned especially weird was March.

Normally, March averages 42.5 degrees across the country. This year, the average was 51.1, which is closer to the average for April. Only one other time — in January 2006 — was the country as a whole that much hotter than normal for an entire month.

The "icebox of America," International Falls, Minn., saw temperatures in the 70s for five days in March, and there were only three days of below zero temperatures all month.

In March, at least 7,775 weather stations across the nation broke daily high temperature records and another 7,517 broke records for night-time heat. Combined, that's more high temperature records broken in one month than ever before, Crouch said.

"When you look at what's happened in March this year, it's beyond unbelievable," said University of Victoria climate scientist Andrew Weaver.

NOAA climate scientist Gabriel Vecchi compared the increase in weather extremes to baseball players on steroids: You can't say an individual homer is because of steroids, but they are hit more often and the long-held records for home runs fall.

They seem to be falling far more often because of global warming, said NASA top climate scientist James Hansen. In a paper he submitted to the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and posted on a physics research archive, Hansen shows that heat extremes aren't just increasing but happening far more often than scientists thought.

What used to be a 1-in-400 hot temperature record is now a 1 in 10 occurrence, essentially 40 times more likely, said Hansen. The warmth in March is an ideal illustration of this, said Hansen, who also has become an activist in fighting fossil fuels.

Weaver, who reviewed the Hansen paper, called it "one of the most stunning examples of evidence of global warming."

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Truly alarming and impossible to deny, weather hasn't been acting normal for these past few months.  It worries me to see what's coming for this summer and beyond.
Industrialized nations, but especially the United States, needs to research and implement alternative power sources like wind, water, and solar power if we're ever going to help the Earth survive what mankind has already negatively impacted.
The problem with the United States is that the government officials that are supposed to be serving the people, are serving themselves by lining their pockets with money from big oil companies that bribe them to continue to block badly needed research and development of these alternative fuel sources.
Fossil fuels and the search for them, only powers wars, and ultimately complete destruction of the only place we can live in the universe.
A pretty steep price to pay for all of us don't you think?

Want to be well liked?

How to Be Popular at Work

By Geoffrey James

If you want to be appreciated at work, make sure everyone else feels welcome.

Whenever people gather in any social setting, there is always one person who becomes the primary center of attention. People want to be around that person, and unconsciously seek his or her approval.
In almost every case, the "most popular" person in the room is the one who is the most effective at building rapport, from his or her first interaction with others.
This ability to build rapport may be (and often is) unconscious, and even operates among people with limited social skills. At a technical conference, for example, the engineer that is best at creating rapport with fellow engineers will be the center of the discussion group.
While rapport building comes naturally to some, however, it is a mistake to believe that its something that can’t be consciously developed. Rapport building, like all human relationship skills, can be learned and taught.
According to Dr. Earl Taylor, president of Dale Carnegie Training's North Carolina practice, the key to doing building rapport is to draw upon other experiences in your life where rapport-building came naturally.
Treat Others as Honored Guests Some people mistakenly believe that business conversations go more smoothly if they begin with reference to a shared cultural experience, such as a recent sporting event. Far from being sure-fire rapport-builders, such remarks can often fall flat.
For example, there are some people (I'm one of them) who have absolutely no interest in sports. (True story: I once wondered aloud–on a radio program of all places–whether a basketball game might be canceled because it was raining outside.) But even if the other person is a sport fan: Yeah, you might have a conversation about your favorite team–but it's a conversation the other person could have had with anyone.
According to Taylor, it's far more effective, when you meet somebody for the first time, to visualize that person as an honored guest in your home. If you’re like most people, when you welcome guests into your home, you are glad to see them and want them feel welcome and at ease.
While the specifics of what you might say in a business situation are different from what you might say to a house guest, if the motivation and attitude behind the words are the same, they'll get the same result.
Just as you graciously make your guest comfortable, when you meet with a customer or colleague, find the place inside yourself that is truly grateful to have this opportunity to spend time with this individual, and to be of service.
Conversations That Build Friendships After that initial greeting, open the conversation with a remark that lets the other person know that you have put some thought into the other person's concerns and issues. Then follow with a question that leads toward a conversation.
For example, you might begin a meeting with a technical expert by mentioning that you heard the expert had recently presented a paper at a technical conference. Then ask a question like: "What kind of response did you get?”
The specific content of your opening remark is far less important than the hidden message–which is that you care enough about this person to take some extra effort.
When you're sincerely interested, the person you're speaking with will remember the feeling of being valued long after the specific subject matter of the meeting is forgotten.
Do this consistently, and you'll be welcome everywhere, because you're an expert at making everyone else feel welcome.
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Happy Easter to all my friends and loved ones!

Priest

Released: 2011
Sci-fi
Director: Scott Charles Stewart
Starring: Paul Bettany, Karl Urban, Cam Gigandet, Maggie Q
Rated: PG-13
Running Time: 87 minutes

The breakdown:  This is a futuristic, distopia, vampire story that's entertaining to watch.  "Priests" are specially trained Church warriors that have killed off most of the vampires threatening humanity, but one recent attack outside the safe city walls has called out a Priest to finish them off once and for all.

I heard this movie got terrible reviews, but I was pleasantly surprised.  I ended up really enjoying it.
In the beginning we are told there have always been vampires, always been people, and they have always fought.  Vampires are vicious hunters and are able to tear people up in nothing flat, and no human can beat them.  Then the Priests come along.  They are human's who are hand picked by the church to train to be the best vampire fighters we can muster.  They are a small, but powerful group of warriors who fight and kill most of the vampires.  The ones that are left, go off into the wastelands to live underground and are no longer considered a threat.  In the first opening scenes in the film, Paul Bettany is in a "hive" of one of the vampire groups and loses a fellow Priest.  This is important for a little later in the film.  Meanwhile, what's left of the world isn't much after the vampires have been controlled.  The wastelands are barren deserts with little to no life and inside the city walls, the church has a hold over everyone, where no one can ever leave and no one can turn there back on the church....because according them them - to turn your back on the church, is to turn your back on God.
At a wasteland outpost a family suffers a vampire attack, seemingly out of nowhere, at their home and the wife is killed.  The father is badly mauled and the daughter is abducted without being harmed.
Well, back in the city there's only a handful of Priests left since they are pretty much not needed anymore.  One Priest in particular (Bettany) has a visitor who says Bettany's brother has been attacked and his niece has been kidnapped.
The Priest goes to the church council and asks to be allowed to go look for them.  He is denied and told that vampires are not a threat and that bandits must've committed the crime.
The Priest defies the church and leaves the city limits on a cool motorbike to go to his brother's house.  Upon arriving there he is met by the man who told him of the attack originally.  This turns out to be a  lawman who was the love interest of the kidnapped girl.
Meanwhile, the church sends the remaining and only 4 Priests to track down Bettany and bring him back dead or alive.
Bettany's brother dies and Bettany and the lawman go off in search of the girl following what leads they have.  Eventually, one of the Priests finds Bettany.  A female Priest who seems to have a deep love for Bettany. 
I'll stop there because for the movies I think are worth something I usually stop before I ruin things for you.
If you want to know what happens next, you'll have to see it.
I really enjoyed it and thought it was a good movie worth seeing.

If you like sci-fi or vampires and have an open mind you should enjoy this one.

I give it a 3 out of 5 for solid acting, an interesting plot, some really cool props, and good special effects.

Breakdown

Released: 1997
Suspense
Director: Jonathan Mostow
Starring: Kurt Russell, Kathleen Quinlan, J.T. Walsh
Rated: R
Running Time: 93 minutes

The breakdown for Breakdown: During a long trip through the desert, a man's wife disappears after their car breaks down in the middle of nowhere.

So this couple (Russell and Quinlan) is moving across the country from Boston to San Diego for new jobs.  During the trip through the southwest they have an almost accident with a rough looking older pick up that pulls out right in front of them.  At the gas station later on, they see the same pick up stopped there as well and have a few tense words with the driver.  A little way down the freeway they have some car trouble and have to flag down a big semi for help.  The husband is a little reluctant to leave the car alone and travel with the trucker and his wife 5 miles down the road to a little cafe, otherwise, the next town is 60 miles ahead (says the trucker).  So the wife hitches a ride with the nice trucker and says she'll call a tow truck from there and see him later.  He waits for a while and then realizes what is wrong with the car isn't so hard to fix on his own.  He drives down to the cafe to meet up with his wife (only 30 minutes has passed since they split up) and she's not there.  No one in the cafe says they've seen her and they are also not much help.  He leaves, going on down the road to look for her and sees the same semi driving down the road.  He speeds up, catches up to the trucker and makes him pull over.  When they start talking, the trucker says he's never seen him or his wife.  He acts like he has no idea what Kurt Russell is talking about.  A cop happens along and Kurt Russell flags him down.  He explains that he thinks this trucker has his wife and the cop inspects the semi.  He talks to the trucker and lets him go saying he can't see any signs of struggle and there's no sign of Russell's wife anywhere.  The cop tells him to go 30 miles to the nearest town and see his deputy.  File a report for a missing person and hopefully they'll figure this out soon.  Russell goes down there and isn't comforted by what he sees.  In the police station there's a big pin board with TONS of missing persons fliers.

This story unfolds to a conclusion that was interesting, but the action scenes towards the end of the film are very far fetched, taking away some of the pleasure of the film for me.

Overall, it's a good enough movie.  I've seen a lot worse lately.
I give it 3 and 1/2 out of 5 for a good story, but some ridiculous action sequences that are totally unrealistic.

Melinda, Melinda

Released: 2004
Drama, Comedy
Director: Woody Allen
Starring: Will Farrell, Vinessa Shaw, Chiwetel Ejiofor
Rated: PG-13
Running Time: 99 minutes

The breakdown:  A conversation between playwrights in a restaurant shows how two different perspectives would spin the same story about a woman who's down on her luck named Melinda.

I can't stand Woody Allen, but I didn't know he was directing this one before I started watching it.  He's not in it, but Will Farrell plays Allen's personality in it, so it's like he's in it still.
So this conversation starts off in a restaurant with 4 friends discussing how they differ in view points.  One likes to do drama's and tragedies, the other likes comedies.  One of the people at the table says they will tell a true story and see how the two people react to it.
The movie switches back and forth between the two versions retold by the playwrights, and at parts, I have to admit I got confused.  The same actress plays Melinda, but all the other players change between the two versions.
Overall, I didn't care about any of the characters.  I found the playwrights to be speaking pretentiously and arrogantly, which is a big turn off for me.
The drama/comedy plots were also boring and didn't keep my interest.  Plus you can't relate to all the characters in the film because they are living the high life in New York and are socialites and wealthy.    

I say skip this one and watch Sliding Doors instead for a similar parallel woman's story, but with much better plots.

1 out of 5 for Steve Carrell who plays a small role, and for Chiwetel Ejiofor, who's character, I did like.  The acting is solid, but the plot is completely uninteresting.

Boogie Nights

Released: 1997
Drama
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Julianne Moore, Burt Reynolds, Don Cheadle
Rated: R
Running Time: 155 minutes

The breakdown: Wahlberg plays a young man who's noticed by an adult movie director at a night club and is an overnight sensation in the porn industry because of his "big" talent.

I had remembered that this movie was nominated for Oscars and other awards.  I thought that meant it was going to be good, or entertaining.  I thought it was neither.
This is a period piece that takes place in the late 70's and continues through the 80's.  Wahlberg is a young man who never finished high school and has two dead-end jobs, but of course, he has big dreams of being a movie star.
Burt Reynolds plays an adult movie director who sees him at a local night club and convinces him to make some movies with him.
Wahlberg's character has an immense penis and does very well in the industry.  Eventually he goes down the path of egotism, drugs, and ruins his career by having a big fight with Reynolds.
There's a few other subplots, but none of them are very interesting just like the main plot.
There's a lot of good actors in this movie, but it just didn't engage me.  I didn't care about the characters and two hours and 35 minutes was wayyyyyyy toooooooo damnnnnnn longggggg.  There were theses scenes that were awkwardly slow for me, and the movie would've benefited big time from some more editing.
I didn't think it was anything special.  Do not waste your time.

I give it a 1 and 1/2 for good solid acting, but no interesting plot and a terribly slow pace.

Happy Anniversary!

To a very special couple!!!
Today it's been 41 years!!!

Friends with Benefits

Released: 2011
Romantic, Comedy (I think not on either count)
Director: Will Gluck
Starring: Mila Kunis, Justin Timberlake, Woody Harrelson
Rated: R
Running Time: 109 minutes too long

The breakdown:
I would retitle this movie Actors without Chemistry.

Timberlake and Kunis have both just ended relationships with their ex's when they meet each other in New York.  She's some head hunter and he's an up and coming art director for magazines.  She head hunts him and finally gets him to meet her in New York for a meeting with GQ Magazine.
They hit it off as friends and he gets the job.  So he moves from L.A. to New York and she shows him around until he settles in.
They spend so much time together bitching about relationships they decide it's better to forgo the relationship and just have sex.
Of course this doesn't work out and they end up "falling in love" with each other and decide to be a real couple.

The movie has talking heads full of cliches instead of actual dialogue.  It's predictable, it's boring, and it's all been done before in much better romantic comedies.  This movie could not keep my interest at all, of course, how could they with such hollow characters.
Do not waste your time on this one.  Instead see "The Adjustment Bureau" for a real innovative romantic sci-fi movie.

1/2 out of 5 for a lame overdone plot with boring characters who never have any on screen chemistry and Timberlake is NOT an actor.  He should just go back to boy bands.

Easy A

Released: 2010
Comedy
Director: Will Gluck
Starring: Emma Stone, Amanda Bynes, Penn Badgley
Rated: PG-13
Running Time: 92 minutes

The breakdown:
A good teenage girl helps out a friend and ends up starting a bad rumor about herself that gets way out of control.

Overall, I wasn't expecting much of this movie, but it was cute.
The good girl in high school who isn't noticed much by anyone tells a little lie to her friend in the girl's bathroom that is overheard by the religious nut of the school.  It is then passed around and all of a sudden the good girl has a bad reputation for sleeping with just about everyone.
The good girl continues to lie for guys that need help with ladies by saying she slept with them, but the lies get her into trouble, and become completely unmanageable.
It was funny at parts, and cute at others.


I give it a 3 1/2 out of 5 for loosely being based on The Scarlet Letter (which I had to read in high school) being funny more times then I expected, and having some sweet romantic moments tucked in.

Sucker Punch

Released: 2011
Adventure, Fantasy
Director: Zack Snyder
Starring: Emily Browning, Vanessa Hudgens, Abbie Cornish, and others you've never heard of
Rated: R
Running Time: A crushing 110 minutes

The breakdown:  This movie is so terrible, I can barely review it.
From IMDB.com:
A young girl is institutionalized by her abusive stepfather.  Retreating to an alternative reality as a coping strategy, she envisions a plan which will help her escape from the mental facility.



Oh my gosh this movie stinks to high heaven!
Do you know how I qualify bad films?....if they have lots of music montages.  This movie starts out with the lead actress (what's her name? Never heard of her...Emily Browning?) singing a slow agonizingly bad rendition of The Eurythmics "Sweet Dreams (are made of this.)"  She sounds like a cross between Marilyn Manson and Bjork.  Oh it makes your ears bleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeddddddddd!!!!  Turn it off pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!
Quickly......the mother dies and leaves all her money to her kids, two girls are left with their abusive stepfather.  After he tries (or does it's unclear to me) to rape her younger sister, a blonde only known as Babydoll tries to shoot him.  She aims point blank range and misses him, but I guess accidentally kills her sister.  He has her committed to get the money.  In 5 days time she's going to be lobotomized.  Babydoll then escapes (in her mind) to fantasy world after fantasy world, led by a mysterious stranger, to find five items that will help them all escape the asylum.  Somehow, that's supposed to make sense, but it doesn't.
In the end, she comes out of the fantasy world and gets lobotomized.
THE END.

What a piece of crap!
There's really no plot and certainly no characters (just people saying empty lines.)  There's pretty girls trying to prove their badasses by doing physically impossible action sequences all the time.  THAT does not make a movie....Which reminds me.....how on Earth did this rotten egg ever get green-lit????!!!!!!

This movie is sooooo pointless, and such a complete waste of time, I was angry after I tried watching it.  Granted, I couldn't sit through the whole thing, I actually had to fast forward through a lot of it, but the time I did invest in it, I WANT BACK.

These girls are all dressed like a middle-aged man's fantasy....a school girl, a pilot (of some kind), fishnets, high heels, corsets, underwear, the blonde, the Asian, the brunette, etc.  They are supposed to be fighting with guns, knifes, swords, and all sorts of weapons against things like steam powered NAZIS, dragons, samurais, and cyborgs!!!!  With barely any clothes on?  Come on!
I couldn't make up a worse story if I tried.

I give this a 1/2 stub out of 5 because some of the CG stuff was visually stunning, but the plot was ....wait, did I say plot, what plot?  PLEASE please please.....do NOT see this movie!

PS
Here's my recent review of it on Amazon.com

"You know how when you're walking through the park and the day is beautiful and then you look down and realize you've stepped into a big steaming pile of dog doo?
That's this movie.
I had heard it was terrible, but I thought I might be able to get some laughs from it.  No, not a one.  It was pure agony just to try and sit there while this movie played on my television.
It wasn't entertaining and I'm really glad I didn't pay anything to see it.
There's absolutely no plot.
There's absolutely no characters.  "How can this be?", you ask, I dare you to just try and watch this movie and you'll understand.
In fact, I've seen 30 second commercials that had more meaning to me, and more substance.
I've seen adult movies that had better storylines.
Here's this movie summed up.
A girl gets admitted to a terrible mental ward, that apparently only has female patients, by her evil stepdad to collect the money her recently deceased mother left her.  She's about to have a lobotomy so that she can't tell the police anything about how horrible her stepdad has really been.  She goes off (in her mind) to create a fantasy world where the girls are all strippers and on the side fight off dragons, cyborgs, and steam powered Nazi's in barely any clothes (and certainly no protective armor).  Somehow, this is supposed to relate to getting all the girls out of the mental ward and away from abusive employees.  And somehow this movie is supposed to make sense.  She had the surgery at the end and is comatose.  The end!  Wow, what a great plotless, characterless, piece of cinema crap!!!!
The only good thing I can say about this movie is some of the CG work is fantastic and is beautiful to look at, but it can't save a movie that's missing a plot.
How did this movie ever get green-lit???!!!
DO NOT SEE THIS MOVIE!!!!  The production value is amazing, but there simply is no plot."


Update 7-14-12
I love this little mini-review from Sandy Schaefer at screenrant.com

"Zack Snyder's ambitious attempt to blend his trademark hyper-realistic visuals and rockin' soundtracks with an original storyline that pays homage to Alice in Wonderland (and borrows a few tricks from Inception) certainly looked and sounded like a shiny, female-centric action blockbuster... in early trailers and clips, that is.

Sadly, Sucker Punch ultimately proved unable to coherently address its own existential themes or create interesting (or even discernible) characters; the film's action sequences and set pieces weren't all that thrilling, either. Snyder, by his own admittance, attempted to structure the movie as a meta-commentary on the often-sexualized nature of geek culture; his inability to pull that off resulted in Sucker Punch feeling more like an (inadvertently) exploitative two-hour long music video that isn't nearly as brainy as it fancies itself to be."