After the dismal, horrific mess of "Snow White", Disney must be breathing a deep sigh of relief. Their new, live action LILO & STITCH is looking to break the Memorial Day box office record of "Top Gun: Maverick". Based on the packed theater of families we saw it with, kids of all ages seem to LOVE this one. I've been a bigger fan of the Mouse House live action remakes than most, and this one falls somewhere in the middle for me. My grandsons would argue though, they LOVE Stitch, going back in history to when they met the character at a Disneyland breakfast years ago. Unlike the Snow White debacle, Disney got the cast of this intergalactic buddy comedy just right. Little Maia Kealoha is a charmer as Lilo, a misunderstood, lonely troublemaker whose not afraid to push back on bullies. After recently losing her parents, she's living with her college age sister, Nani, well played by Sydney Agudong. Nani is struggling to keep the house in order and be a mom/sister to Lilo while juggling jobs and life. Social Worker Mrs. Kekoa (Tia Carrere, great to see her again) seems to pop in at the worst moments of this crazy thing called life. Carrere was the original voice of Nani in the original animated version. Meanwhile, intergalactic experiment Stitch has escaped to our big blue planet and he's got two bumbling space rangers on his trail. When they take on human forms, they look a whole lot like the great Billy Magnussen (No Time To Die, Road House, The Offer) and Zach Galifianakis (The Hangover, The Campaign). Magnussen delivers many of the biggest laughs in the movie as Pleakly, the gentle/goofy part of the duo. I felt like Galifianakis was sorely underused, but that's likely because I know how funny he can be when cut loose, and he is bound by the soft PG rating here. He does show off some great physical comedy though. One of my favorite character actors, Courtney B. Vance (The Hunt for Red October, Terminator Genisys) nearly steals the movie as a CIA agent named Cobra Bubbles. That name is only the start. He's having a great time. Amy Hill, who brought laughs and heart to every season of the Magnum PI reboot that just wrapped up as Kumu, is perfectly cast here as Lilo and Nani's loving next door neighbor whose anything but an old grandma type. Writer/Director Chris Sanders is the original creator of the OG animated version and he also voices Stitch. The creator of the wildly visually inventive "The Wild Robot", he's teed up for another big hit here. Our live action Stitch is the CGI marvel that you'd expect from the studio that brought you the live-action "Lion King". Every kid in the audience loved every minute of Stitch on screen, with big laughs and some quiet sobs in a few moments that might surprise you in the final act. With a $100 million budget, the film looks and sounds great, and you can drop me into Hawaiian locations for a couple hours anytime you'd like. Kids and families are going to eat this one up. I'll give it a solid B, but I'm betting all the kids in attendance with me would throw it a big, blue, intergalactic A.

Just once, I'd like to see a Guy Ritchie movie end as well as it starts. FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH does nothing to buck that trend. Just like "Argyle" it starts off with a bang. Two of them actually, as a Thai version of "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)" pops through in Dolby Atmos glory and our camera swoops down into an action scene in Bangkok. Stunning camera work, exotic locations and a game John Krasinski as Luke Pardue, an Indiana Jones-like smart ass obtainer of antiquities. So far so good! What does Luke have and why is half the world after him? We meet Eiza Gonzalez, who was so great in Ritchie's far superior, recent film "The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare". This time out, she stars as Esme, a chosen protector of some vast global secrets that wont be divulged here. Gonzalez is a bad ass and always brings violent action, so she's more than welcome as the pursuit continues on a long train ride. Meanwhile, back in London, we meet Luke's sister Charlotte (Natalie Portman), an art curator at a major London museum. She's chosen the less adventurous path, one her son Thomas (a fun Benjamin Chivers from "Napoleon") calls boring. She's at the start of an ugly divorce and on rocky ground. Luke arrives, involves her in the strangest art theft on film since Pierce Brosnan blazed the screen in "The Thomas Crown Affair". Dapper London Detective Abbas (a terrific Arian Moayed) arrives on scene and begins to wonder if Charlotte's lept to the adventurous side of the family. Meanwhile, mega billionaire Owen Carver (Domhnall Gleeson from "Ex Machina") reveals he's dying of cancer and is devoting all funds necessary to discover the literal Fountain of Youth. It's a great hook, especially in the first two thirds of the film, loaded with that "DaVinci Code" like mythology that author Dan Brown has cultivated into a hugely enjoyable science. Truth, history and fantasy collide and Luke, Charlotte and Thomas are off on a fun quest, traveling in Carver's state of the art jets to stunning locations. The budget on this Apple+ film must have been enormous. It looks and sounds fantastic and expensive. And for awhile, its pretty damn fun! The raising of a sunken ship, hidden basements under the Austrian National Library, massive discoveries in the Pyramids of Giza, yes, yes and yes. All hold a lot of laughs, action and Ritchie's patented visual style. But once again, the final act is botched beyond repair. Think about what Spielberg and Lucas got SO right in "Raiders of the Lost Ark". The entire film was a roller coaster of laughs and action, but just when you think it couldn't top itself, the final opening of the Ark delivered jaw dropping chills and thrills. I'm not going to detail what happens in the final act here, other than to say it feels like Ritchie and team either ran out of ideas, or they got so damn excited about the sets and the special effects that they forgot to edit it into an actual finale. It goes on waaaaaaayyyyyyy too long and left me a bit sleepy. What a let down. Some have called Krasinski's Luke annoying, self centered and unlikable. I disagree. Have you ever met a globe trotting archeologist/thief that wasn't self centered? I think that's half the point in getting the job done. The weak link in the cast is Portman for me. She never really sparks in the role. I'd rather see a film about Luke & Esme's adventures, Gonzalez is an action star of the highest order. After its third act slide into the mundane, this FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH comes up a bit dry, earning a C. Maybe Ritchie should make a few LESS films and focus on creating one whole one for the audience, as he did so well with Gentlemanly Warfare. He's got style to spare, but where's someone to edit and hone the vision so the finale lives up to the premise?

A compelling mashup of "24" and "Fallout", PARADISE is a binge worthy, unexpected blast from "This Is Us" creator Dan Fogelman. I loved where these 8 episodes took me and there will be NO SPOILERS ahead for those of you that want to divulge its secrets on your own. As he did so effectively across multiple seasons of "This Is Us", Fogelman plays with time, popping us back and forth as much as 12 years as the intricate story pieces fall into place. Sterling K. Brown is excellent as Secret Service agent Xavier Collins, the right hand protector of President Cal Bradford (the winning James Marsden from HBO's "Westworld" and "Hairspray"). The first episode pulls you into the mystery with master strokes of storytelling and more than a few surprises. What I loved is that by the end of the eight ~1hour episodes, an entire community has been built. As in my favorite TV series sci-fi/mystery show of all time, "Lost", each episode pulls back layer after layer of the town and all those that live there. Julianne Nicholson (August: Osage County, The Amateur) is excellent and beyond complex as Sinatra, a figure who oversees all security. Watching her arc across the running time is an exercise in acting prowess by Nicholson. Her Sinatra is fascinating to watch and I couldn't take my eyes off her. Krys Marshall (For All Mankind) is her equal as Secret Service Agent Nicole Robinson. When the world is going to shit here, watch her. This is the person you want driving the ship. John Beavers (Licorice Pizza, Horizon Part 1) is funny and fascinating as Xavier's right hand man in the White House, Billy Pace. They pop out moments of flawless buddy comedy during their pairing, before it's tested in unimaginable ways. Beavers and Brown have a few intense scenes of dialogue that pulled me to the very edge of my seat. Charlie Evans (Leave the World Behind) also shines with stage presence as President Bradford's son Jeremy. What starts as a stereotypical Dad/rebellious son relationship soars to something far more interesting thanks to Marsden & Evans talent and Fogelman's excellent writing. On the opposite end of the generational spectrum sits Gerald McRaney as Kane Bradford, Cal's dominating, political mover and shaker Father, who will settle for nothing less than greatness from Cal. Cal's plans be damned, Kane will move him where he wants him on the global chess board. As with my all-time favorite ticking clock thriller series "24", good luck taking a break once the first episode starts. I would call Episode 1 out as a prime example of how to entertain, intrigue and pull an audience in, its structure is fantastic. The enjoyable thing is that none of the episodes that followed let me down, from start to finish. Episode 7, "The Day" is the top hour of the series, loaded with grand scale global events that escalate the tension into a fever grip. It's a fine hour of entertainment that I won't say more about, but when you watch it you'll know. It's a flood of visual treats that will pop your eyeballs. With a strong streaming performance on Hulu, Fogelman and cast are already filming Season 2. I'll be there night one when it returns. A relentless beast of a thriller with surprises around every corner, PARADISE is exactly that for fans of suspense and intrigue. It gets an A. If you've seen PARADISE, see below trailer for some additional thoughts. SPOILERS AHEAD Okay, you've seen PARADISE then? Okay lets talk about how masterfully that it holds your interest across all the discoveries within. Comp it to the miniseries made from Stephen King's far superior book compared to its TV adaption, "Under the Dome". It opened okay, but the storytelling fell off a cliff by the second episode. While you could call P ARADISE a cousin of "Under the Dome", there is no shared DNA when it comes to execution. In PARADISE , the war room strategy sessions as the world begins to fall apart in Episode 7's flashbacks are incredibly well executed. The world's super powers doing land grabs feel absolutely realistic. Brown's personal pull between his duty and family are palpable. And how about those nuclear missiles coming over the top of the globe! Those moments felt like the old TV movie, "The Day After". So well done. Loved this one, can't wait for Season Two. What other films would you compare this to?

If you were a young dude in 1984 that had HBO, I'm betting you saw HOT DOG: THE MOVIE as many times as I did. Which is countless. One of the riches of Tubi is their gold mine of 70's and 80's flicks that we were all battling to find in Blockbuster "back in the day". A nearly perfect stupid, poorly acted and fun 80's time capsule of T&A, sports action and raunchy humor, I laughed all over again seeing it for the first time in over 40 years. Man, were we less demanding back in the day. The screenplay is just a random collection of scenes moving us from skiing to boobs, to drinking, to sex and back to the slopes, with Duran Duran, Patti Austin and Al Jarreau playing in the background. Patrick Houser is more wooden than Pinocchio as small town skier Harkin Banks. I'm hoping he could ski because he sure as hell can't act. He travels in his beat up pick up truck toward a winter skiing competition, where he goes head to head against arrogant Austrian pro Rudi, the most stereotypical bad guy to ever hit the powder. It's all just an excuse for lots of goofy humor, sports gags and did I mention...boobs? In 1984, this was as funny as things got. Some of it hasn't aged well, but it has some very funny gags and more than a bit of great freestyle skiing footage set to a classic 80's soundtrack of synth and drums. The two most impactful cast members start with David Naughton from "American Werewolf in London". I am shocked that this is the next big screen movie he ended up in after Werewolf. Funny, charming and a huge hit as David in John Landis' classic, he was on an episode of "Love Boat" and a flop TV series before ending up here. Naughton must have had the worst agent in the history of Hollywood. The second is Playboy's 1982 Playmate of the Year, Shannon Tweed. Dame Tweed plays Sylvia, the ex-girlfriend of Rudi. She's got her eyes on Harkin as new talent for her bathtub, uh, I mean the slopes. In the 80's, Shannon was an icon. Her talent(s) are impressive. If you are easily offended, you'll want to avoid this one. The dialogue never reaches any higher than when partying Japanese skier Kendo approaches two American girls and says (in subtitles) "Your tits are as beautiful as Mt. Fuji". Legendary in 1984, I promise. James Saito, who played Kendo, has had a terrific career in movies and TV since and recently commemorated the 40 year anniversary of this film with some hilarious posts. Great to see someone have a sense of humor about the past without worrying about today's uber sensitive flock! Some critics back in the day called this "Rocky" meets "Animal House". It's not a bad comparison. Not that this B-movie is in any way/shape/form exists in the same universe as either of those classics, but it does feature the same ribald, gratuitous nudity for the sake of nudity attitude as Animal House, along with an unknown, David v Goliath showdown with echoes of Balboa. Just with a LOT less talented people acting, directing, scoring the music, editing the footage.......but the audience for this in '84 was the bunch of fun loving folks I saw it with in the theater. We laughed a lot. The final 10 minute "Chinese Downhill" sequence still holds up and looks great. It's probably no coincidence that it was the only story boarded sequence in the entire film. The laughs are more nostalgic now and often they're at just how horrible pieces of this are. When Houser starts playing the guitar and singing a sappy love song to his girl, he's a lip syncing idiot who sounds like Keith Carradine came by for the beer & boobs. Producer Edward S. Feldman followed this film up with "Witness" starring Harrison Ford. Talk about a career arc. Strap on the skis, grab the beers and settle in for HOT DOG: THE MOVIE . It's prime 80's T&A that gets a nostalgic B- as long as you approach it with the same carefree expectations as these drunken, horny idiots.

After watching the original AIRPORT with my entire family on Memorial Day, it's put me in the mood to go back and watch all those 70's disaster flicks this summer. After enjoying the original and enduring its horrible sequel, Airport 1975, we now come to AIRPORT 1977. The tale of an art-filled luxury 747 that crashes into the ocean and comes to a perilous rest on an underwater shelf, its filled with a better cast, better performances and slightly better writing than '75. At times exciting, at times stupid, its a mixed bag of good performances that rise above the material like Jack Lemmon, Darren McGavin, Christopher Lee and Jimmy Stewart. But it's also plagued by lazy writing, some boring sequences and some over the top acting from Lee Grant and another godawful song from a passenger in the lounge. You would think after Helen Reddy's stinker pop song in 1975 they would have learned SOMETHING.... The best parts of the film are the plane's crash into the oil rig and ocean and the NAVY rescue sequences, which show real Navy procedures for ocean bound rescue. AIRPORT was an A, AIRPORT 75 was a D, 1977 earns a C. It's far better than 75, but then again, what isn't....oh yeah, I just remembered, Airport 1979, oh man, will I actually watch that again? Maybe as a comedy.......

Do you remember all the disaster movies of the 1970's? AIRPORT 1975 was the sequel to the box office smash of 1970, "Airport". While it retained one actor, George Kennedy as Patroni and an "airliner in peril" storyline, this trashy sequel has none of the class of the original. The dialogue and acting is SO bad in this stinker that it's hard to believe. Kennedy redeems himself and Heston is OK, but you have to see Karen Black, Gloria Swanson, Sid Caesar and the rest yourself to capture how bad they are. WORST raspberries are for Helen Reddy as a singing nun and Linda Blair as a teenager needing a kidney transplant (and acting lessons). SO bad its hilarious. This only keeps from getting an F from me because of Yakima Cannutt (Ben Hur) and his stunt team, who pull off some amazing, real aerial stunts and midair photography. Airport was an A, this stinker is a D! Really cool poster though!

Spent the night before Memorial Day 2012 watching this 1970 classic with my whole family, including my Mom, both brothers and my sister! Fitting since we all have fond memories of seeing it at the Kachina Theater in Scottsdale 6 times! This is the box office smash that started the 1970's disaster flick genre. Often imitated but RARELY equaled (The Poseidon Adventure and Towering Inferno are its only equals in my book) AIRPORT is a star-studded look at one night at Lincoln International. Burt Lancaster runs the airport, Dean Martin is the pilot of the ill-fated TGA flight to Rome along with his mistress stewardess Jacqueline Bisset and disturbed bomber Van Heflin. Helen Hayes won an Academy Award as an elderly stowaway and George Kennedy is Joe Patroni, airplane mechanic extraordinaire. Very much a film of its time, AIRPORT still holds up as one of our family favorites with its terrific cast, dated special effects and one of the BEST musical scores of any era by Alfred Newman. Back when I was 9, this soundtrack really kicked off my love of film music that continues to this day. Exciting, suspenseful and the kind of movie that just isn't made anymore, AIRPORT is an all-time favorite and an A.

Like most of the victims in the funny, inventive, gory and hugely enjoyable new sequel FINAL DESTINATION: BLOODLINES , I never saw it coming. Sure, some of the original five films were fun and it was always a clever premise. "If you cheat death, he's coming for you". But after a 14 year break, I never expected anything this good. It's perfectly executed, hilarious horror from its jaw dropping start to the best final minutes of the series. We open decades ago, with a young couple Iris (Brec Bassinger) and Paul (Max Lloyd-Jones) attending the 1960's opening night of the Skyview Restaurant. Think of the Space Needle, but waaaaay taller, dripping with retro Rat Pack vibes. Iris has a secret to tell and Paul has major plans for the evening, all of which get derailed by one of the best chain reaction, Rube Goldberg, massive catastrophes ever created in horror. What an absolute blast watching all the mechanics click together in the opening twenty minutes. Ten minutes in, I knew I was in for a treat. Directors Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein are self described Final Destination super fans and it shows in their clever and creative innovation that splatters every frame of the film. The payoff of their opening scene is a relentless, horrifying, funny and smart massive disaster that leaves your jaw dropped. Is it real, or is it just the recurring nightmare of college student Stefani Reyes (Kaitlyn Santa Juana)? She's haunted by it anytime she drifts into sleep, driving her to return home and search for answers on what it all means. There is no way that I'm going to spoil any of the countless surprises along her path to discovery, but the great news is that her search pulls a lot of funny and crazy characters into her path. Richard Harmon is perfectly cast as Erik, the wise cracking, no filter family member who always manages to say the most inappropriate and hilarious thing at the right moment. Owen Patrick Joyner steals the movie as Bobby Campbell, the family member with a peanut allergy and a real aversion to being next in line for Death. Juana is terrific as Stefani, dragging us all along on her quest for the truth into some very dark and twisted places. Is she crazy? Is she kick ass? Yep. This series has always been rooted in its hook. If you manage to escape death, it's going to find you and settle the score. The best films in the series soared on the creativity of death's methods. BLOODLINES absolutely sings on that front. Stefani seems to have the ability to see death coming. Watch out for that! Oh watch out for that! Her warnings seem like the rants of a crazy person until one of them turns out to be hilariously accurate. I'm never watching trash pick up again without remembering to stay away from the truck. The entire family barbecue sequence is a lesson in foreshadowing and comedy horror, with buckets of blood waiting to be sprayed. Just when you think it can't get any better, the late Tony Todd (Candyman) shows up, reprising and fleshing out his role as William Bludworth in the series. Witnessing the roots of the character and listening to Todd's unique voice guiding our characters through their fate is a highlight of the film. Todd filmed this scene shortly before his actual death, giving his words even more power. What a perfect exit. The hospital scene is hilarious, crazy inventive and an absolute blast. DAMN those vending machines! I'm a sucker for great endings on film. This one's a doozy. The final two minutes left me smiling from ear to ear. Who knew we needed a part 6? FINAL DESTINATION: BLOODLINES is a shocker. A gruesome, blood spraying visual horror feast that's funny and smart. By far the best film in the series, it gets an A. "That was close...you all right?"

The best ensemble Marvel film since "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3", THUNDERBOLTS* brings adventure & laughs back to kickoff Summer 2025. Fast paced, funny, loaded with clever action sequences and possessing a VERY dark side, it also cannily weaves in some serious meditations on mental illness & isolation. If that sounds like an ill fitting combo, it isn't, thanks to a superb cast. Florence Pugh (Midsommar, Black Widow, Dune: Part Two) is nothing short of fantastic as Yelena, still mourning the loss of her sister, Black Widow. She's a fixer for hire, traveling the world to clean up the messes of global politicians. Top of that heap is the current, embattled CIA Director, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, hilariously played by Julia Louis Dreyfus. Her delivery of every line of dialogue has the same sharp wit of "Veep", if Selina Meyer had a much more dangerous desire for domination. Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) is in his first term as a Congressman and the first superhero to do so. He's got his eye on de Fontaine (DONT forget the de!). David Harbour is back and so damn funny as Alexei Shostakov, Yelena's Dad and former Soviet superhero Red Guardian. When Yelena announces she'd like to quit after one last assignment, she's pulled into a quadruple cross. She, disgraced former Captain America John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Ghost Ava Starr (Hannah John-Kamen) and Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko from "Quantum of Solace") all arrive in the same spot. Stumbling into their showdown is Bob, a quiet guy in hospital pajamas that can't remember why he's there. Lewis Pullman (Top Gun: Maverick) crafts a clever character in Bob, who turns out to be much more than a punchline. From there, the adventure is off and running. What THUNDERBOLTS* gets SO right is the laughter, camaraderie and big punch lines that carry the same spirit as the most enjoyable moments of the "Guardians of the Galaxy" series. Our heroes this time out truly are antiheroes. They're a sordid lot with a ton of baggage. We relive some of their worst moments with them. In truth, this is one of the darkest Marvel films in memory. Like Doctor Strange's terrifying tour of the Multiverse, it slithers into some jet black corners of the mind. It's never a horror film like that entry surely was, but it mines new depths on the impact of battle on our superheroes. Pugh leads this large cast effortlessly. She is amazing, harvesting far more depth of character in Yelena than I expected. She's also a complete kick-ass action hero. I also have to call out the great Geraldine Viswanathan (Blockers) for her funny, interesting role as Mel, de Fontaine's assistant with a knack for delivering a perfect cup of coffee anywhere on the globe. Her comic timing delivers one bullseye after another. Released on May 2, 2025 to mark the 17 year anniversary of the first Marvel film, "Ironman", THUNDERBOLTS* is a refreshing return to the independent spirit of that first entry, worrying less about world building and more about sheer entertainment. Too many times in the past couple years, I've felt like Marvel has tried to deliver new characters or teams that just fell flat. There were never moments that felt like the early Avengers films. For the first time in a long time, there were moments here with this ragtag bunch assembling to defeat a villain that felt RIGHT and soaring. The music score by Son Lux is also a breath of pounding, fresh air. Modern, eclectic and big, it's a hell of a compliment to the action and the drama. THUNDERBOLTS* is a refreshing blast of clean storytelling, unburdened by heavy exposition and focused on fun (with a very heavy splash of darkness). From the moment that the opening Marvel credits slow down and all that bright red goes to black and grays, you know you're entering different territory. That's a relief. THUNDERBOLTS* gets an A-. Stay tuned for a mid-credits sequence and a post credit scene, three minutes in duration, it's the longest in MCU history and left our sneak peek IMAX crowd cheering.

Nine years after the original surprised me with its quirky combination of math and firepower, Ben Affleck is back as Christian Wolff in THE ACCOUNTANT 2 . As the film opens, Ray King (a returning JK Simmons) is trapped in the middle of a clandestine meeting gone bad. He writes "Find the Accountant" on his arm in his dying moments, and his partner Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) does just that. Affleck digs a bit deeper into Christian this time out, delivering both humor and mystery in style. Wolff's time at a speed dating event is damn funny and Affleck deftly reveals additional layers of Christian's very complicated personality. Medina and Wolff quickly uncover a multilevel crime conspiracy that covers so many felonies that I frankly found it all a bit confusing. If you're going to put a literal bus full of children in terrifying danger for half the film, it's key that the viewer at least understands why they're in that position. While the individual elements of the story are interesting, they never really came together for me, BUT, I'm not saying I didn't enjoy the hell out of this sequel that has the guts to reach for more than the original on every level. Thankfully for all involved, Christian reaches out for his lethal brother, Braxton, personified perfectly by the astonishingly reliable Jon Bernthal (The Amateur, Fury, Sicario). Bernthal delivers relentless laughs and action as the brother decidedly on the other side of the law. And we all know that Christian doesn't exactly operate within the lines. I loved the scene in which Braxton and Christian invite three prostitutes, oops, I mean sex workers (whatever) to a dive motel. I had no idea what they were doing but loved where this scene went and how it drove the story forward. There is a lot of story between the actions scenes, but all of them deliver when they arrive. The finale is one of the best shoot 'em up conclusions since Newman and Redford took on half of Bolivia in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid". Fans of that film will likely find a shot in the finale that looks very familiar. I really loved the team behind Christian, it's a unique take that I didn't see coming. Daniella Pineda (Jurassic World) is also very good as Anais, a very lethal killing machine weaving in and out of the story. I loved the pacing of the film and spending time with Christian and Braxton. If you see them line dancing in a country bar, I'd suggest you just leave them be. Director Gavin O'Connor (The Accountant, The Way Back) and Affleck have created one of the most original action heroes in recent history. Using his brain and bullets in equal measure, Wolff has returned in a very worthy sequel, blasting its way to a very solid B+.

Back in 1970, NO ONE had seen a film like Robert Altman's M*A*S*H. If you've only seen the terrific TV series that started two years later, you're in for a very different experience with this film classic. Until M*A*S*H, most war films were like "The Longest Day" or "The Great Escape", staunchly pro military and flattering toward the command. Altman's film is a brilliant, episodic treat as it details chapter after chapter of Hawkeye (Donald Sutherland, fantastic) and Trapper John (hilarious Elliott Gould) as the surgeons who fill their spare time with debauchery of every sort and constant challenging of authority. Robert Duvall is excellent as the by-the-book pain in the ass Frank Burns, who only bends the rules to romance Hot Lips (Sally Kellerman, incredibly sexy in her film debut). Audiences LOVED the film, embracing its new, non-linear and hilarious story telling style, with often overlapping dialogue, a story that fits and starts without any traditional flow, buckets of operating room gore and a cast as obsessed with sex as they are survival. Some scenes have become comedy classics. Radar (Gary Burghoff, who would repeat his role on TV) sneaking a microphone into Hot Lips & Franks loud lovemaking session and broadcasting it camp wide, the climactic football game with Fred Williamson as a drafted NFL player and Gould & Sutherland's golfing excursion are LOL highlights. This is jet black comedy at its finest, executed by a cast up to the task. In just three years, it will be 50 years since its original release in theatres, which is pretty hard to imagine. The title song "Suicide is Painless" is damn dark and will be a shock to those that only know the song from the TV show. The TV series was fantastic in its own right, with excellent writing and acting, but this is a very different animal and it earns its R rating. There's a great story around the production that Fox execs called Director Altman after seeing dailies and said that the soldiers were too dirty, that their uniforms were always clean in war movies. Altman told them that he served in Korea and everyone was filthy all the time. Rumor has it that Zanuck called the team working on "Patton" and told them to make their soldiers more dirty! Robert Altman made plenty of excellent films in his own remarkable style after this breakout hit, including "Nashville", 'McCabe and Mrs. Miller" and "Gosford Park" to name just a few. If you haven't seen this in awhile, its worth a revisit to laugh all over again. If you've never seen it, check out the first huge anti-war film of the seventies. It changed the movies for good. M*A*S*H is a hilarious masterpiece and gets an A.

My Dad flew countless B-17 missions during World War II and while he was always reserved about sharing too many of those stores beyond saying they were terrifying, his passion for great war films was unbridled. One of his all-time favorites was the 1949 classic TWELVE O’CLOCK HIGH. While my older brother Mark and I never missed watching an episode of the sixties TV series of the same name, I had never seen the original film on which it was based. Using only real battle footage just a few years after the conflict ended, the film packs a punch. Gregory Peck is in classic movie star form as General Savage, a tough commander brought in to take over a bombing unit suffering from soft leadership and low morale. With American forces participating in the first daytime bombing raids of Nazi Germany, every flight matters, and every man must be counted on. Avoiding cliches, the screenplay by Sy Bartlett and Beirne Lay Jr. is based on their actual experiences in the war. The film is often cited by veterans of the war (and my Dad) as the most realistic depiction of flying missions into enemy territory. A who’s who of 40’s and 50s-character actors deliver, including Gary Merrill as Colonel Davenport and Millard Mitchell as General Pritchard. Dean Jagger is terrific as Major Stovall, giving off nice echoes of “White Christmas” for any fans of that annual classic. Front and center, Peck delivers as the aptly named Savage. Establishing order and respect from the moment he steps on the base; he suffers no fools. The last half of the film surprised me in where it took Savage. This is not your off-the-shelf, standard rah-rah war film, but it provides those thrills as well. The legendary Alfred Newman (Airport, How the West Was Won) composed a music score, but it can only he heard over the opening and closing credits, leaving the quiet moments and air battles to speak for themselves. Nominated for Best Picture and Best Actor for Peck, it won Best Sound and a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Jagger. More than 70 years after its release, TWELVE O’CLOCK HIGH holds up as a testament to the greatest generation, delivering an all-time war film great and earning an A.