Film Quote of the Day

Jonathan Harker: She's alive?

Van Helsing: She's Nosferatu.

Jonathan Harker: She's Italian?

- Dracula Dead and Loving It, 1995

Character Duo Spotlight: Ollie Dee and Stannie Dum

Ollie Dee and Stannie Dum live in a magical place called Toyland, where they work for The Toymaker making toys for the holiday season. They live in a shoe along with Mother Peep, her daughter Bo Peep and several other children. While Ollie is the smarter of the two, Stan is a little slower, but both are good and loyal friends who help out when there is trouble afoot. Trouble being in the form of the nasty and villainous Silas Barnaby, owner of the shoe looking to collect the mortgage. But Ollie and Stannie assure Mother Peep that they'll ask their boss for the money without any trouble, and hilarious hijinks ensue. Played by the wonderful comedy team of Oliver Hardy and Stan Laurel, in the 1934 musical comedy film Babes in Toyland (aka March of the Wooden Soldiers).

The Deep End of the Ocean (1999)

Beth Cappadora and her family live in Massachusetts. They go traveling to Washington D.C. because she is to attend her high school reunion when her youngest son Ben suddenly disappears in the crowded hotel lobby. There is a worldwide search to find him but are seemingly unsuccessful. Nearly a decade later, the Cappadora's have relocated to Chicago, where Beth just by sheer coincidence thinks she may have found her long lost son. The performances are poignant but as far as story is concerned, it seems a little far-fetched. Based on the best selling novel by Jacquelyn Mitchard. Starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Treat Williams, Jonathan Jackson, Whoopi Goldberg 7/10 Rated PG-13

Film Quote of the Day

Lone Starr: I still don't understand how I'm going to lift that big statue with this little ring.
Yogurt: Never underestimate the power of the Schwartz!

-Spaceballs, 1987

The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009)

Bob Wilton is a journalist for the Ann Arbor Daily Telegram. When his wife leaves him for his editor, Bob decides to travel to Kuwait to write about the Iraq War. While there he meets Lyn Cassidy and discovers that he is an agent of a special forces operation in the U.S. New Earth Army, soldiers who claim to have psychic powers by staring at goats and killing them, among other things. Thinking this is a story that should be told, Bob helps Lyn in trying to find the leader who is missing. In all honesty I found this movie both uninteresting and unfunny; but despite the film itself being very bizarre (which was supposedly based on actual events), McGregor and Clooney make a really good pair, as well as the always memorable Bridges and Spacey. Starring Ewan McGregor, George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey, Robert Patrick 6/10 Rated R

Film Quote of the Day

Old King Cole: I'll give 50,000 guineas for the capture of that scoundrel dead or alive.
Stannie Dum: Dead or Alive?
Old King Cole: Dead or Alive!
Stannie Dum: Can't you make up your mind which way you want him?

-Babes in Toyland, 1934

Out of the Comfort Zone

We all have places we're comfortable in; a special chair, a certain room, it's a security blanket. So what if we're taken out of it, by choice or by force to an environment that is entirely different from the norm? These films are just a few of what it is like to be in an unknown world, where we're out of the comfort zone.

1. Jurassic Park - 1993 
A pair of archeologists are summoned to check out a dinosaur themed park and soon after are in a fight for survival against the prehistoric creatures.

2. The Wizard of Oz - 1939
Farm girl Dorothy Gail is caught in a tornado and knocked out, then wakes up to find herself in a world of witches, munchkins and a yellow brick road that leads to a magical city.

3. Jaws - 1975

A city police chief who has a fear of water is duty bound to search the uncharted waters for a killer shark to save a resort community.

4. Witness - 1985
Tough city cop John Book has to temporarily hide out in the rural Amish community in order to protect himself and a witness to a murder he's investigating.





 Can you think of other films that follow this same theme? Don't be afraid to share!

The Witches (1990)

After his parents are killed in an accident, young Luke goes to live with his grandmother in England, telling him tales of witches, how to spot them and how they hate children. They go to spend a holiday at a big and fancy hotel, where Luke discovers that there are witches also staying at the hotel, and that the leader known as the "Grand High Witch" is devising a diabolical plan to get rid of the children of England. A fun and incredibly imaginative story, that once you see it it's sure to become an instant favorite. Based on the children's book by Roald Dahl. Starring Anjelica Huston, Mai Zetterling, Bill Paterson, Brenda Blethyn, Rowan Atkinson, Jasen Fisher 7/10 Rated PG

Character Spotlight: Dr. Hfuhruhurr

Doctor Michael Hfuhruhurr, whose name is often mispronounced but sounds just as it's spelled, is a brilliant brain surgeon, known for inventing the cranial screw-top to enter the brain. After he has a car accident with a beautiful woman named Dolores Benedict, and operates on her to save her life, he marries her soon after. But he can't help compare her to his first wife Rebecca, whom he keeps a little statue of on his dashboard, and often quotes their favorite poems of John Lillison. However he doesn't realize that his new wife is evil and manipulative, and just out for money. Frustrated and unsatisfied with his marriage, he ends up falling for the one thing he is fascinated and aroused by; a human brain. Played by the hilarious Steve Martin in the 1983 sci-fi comedy The Man with Two Brains, Michael Hfuhruhurr is a character that's a little naive but on the nutty side.