Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994)

Ace Ventura is a hip, eccentric pet detective living in Florida. He is just like a cop but he's hired by people who have missing or stolen pets. Two weeks before the Super Bowl, the Miami Dolphins football mascot, a bottle-nosed dolphin named Snowflake goes missing. Ace is employed by Chief Publicist Melissa Robinson to find him. Not only that but when Dan Marino, the quarterback of the Dolphins is also kidnapped, Ace helps the cops to find him as well. One of my favorite Jim Carrey films; the gags are hysterical, the dialogue is laugh out loud funny and Carrey is wild and zany. Starring Jim Carrey, Courteney Cox, Sean Young, Tone Loc, Dan Marino 7/10

Dumb and Dumber (1994)

Lloyd Christmas is a dim-witted limousine driver who falls head over heels for a young woman named Mary Swanson when he picks her up to drive her to the airport. But when he sees her leave her briefcase there, he snatches it up before two thugs arrive to pick it up. Unfortunately he doesn't get to her in time, so he decides to take a trip to Aspen where she said she was heading so he can deliver it to her himself, thinking that she'll be so happy to see it she'll fall madly in love with him. Lloyd's friend Harry Dunne, also a bit slow and stupid, is in the pet grooming business when he loses his job. Lloyd loses his job as well, and both desperate Lloyd tells Harry about his plan to go to Aspen. So they go in Harry's van (that looks like a sheepdog) and take a cross-country road trip to Aspen, Colorado. The criminals follow them because they are after the same briefcase. Hilarious hi-jinks ensue as they take the wrong route and end up in Nebraska, and they accidentally kill one of the thugs by feeding him rat poison. What Harry and Lloyd don't realize until later is that there's ransom money in the briefcase, which Mary had purposely left at the airport terminal in exchange for her husband, who's been kidnapped. A crude but funny comedy; Carrey and Daniels are both very convincing as the two dim-witted pals. Starring Jim Carrey, Jeff Daniels, Lauren Holly, Mike Star, Karen Duffy, Teri Garr 7/10

East of Eden (1955)

Set around World War One in the Salinas Valley, Cal Trask is an unhappy young man who feels like he's competing with his brother Aron, for their father's affections. His father Adam never tells Cal he loves him or that he needs him in any way and calls him bad, while Aron is the perfect one who always does the right thing. Cal is also jealous of the relationship between Aron and his girlfriend, Abra. One evening Cal discovers that his mother (whom Adam told them was dead) is still alive and living elsewhere as a madame of a local brothel. When Adam's lettuce business falls through, Cal wants to start his own business of growing beans so he can pay back the money his father lost. So he asks his mother Kate for start-up money and when they get into the war the price of beans rises and he ends up making a small fortune. He decides to give the money as a gift to his father when he has a surprise birthday party for him. But when his father rejects it, he is heartbroken and brings Aron show him their mother. Abra falls in love with Cal while Aron, shocked by this leaves to fight in the war while Adam has a stroke so it's up to Cal to take care of him. A magnificent classic; James Dean is perfect in this film about the Bible retelling of Cain and Abel. Starring James Dean, Julie Harris, Raymond Massey, Burl Ives, Richard Davalos, Jo Van Fleet, Lois Smith 10/10

Sleeper (1973)

Allen plays Miles Monroe, a clarinet player and health food store owner who lived in Greenwich Village in 1973 and has been cryogenically frozen. Two-hundred years later, scientists thaw him out so they can have him overthrow the government. But when the authorities bust them, it's up to Miles to find out on his own what the "Aires Project" is. To avoid the law, he disguises as a robot butler in socialite Luna Schlosser's house. However when she goes to have his head changed, he reveals his true identity. She freaks out and he kidnaps her so she won't tell the police about him. They fall in love, but eventually he gets caught and is brainwashed to live in society while she joins the Underground Movement and becomes a rebel. Luna goes to get him out, but he forgets everything so she and another rebel named Erno try to jog his memory. Miles and Luna successfully break into the Aires Project; and learn that the Leader was killed and all that survived was his nose. So Miles and Luna pretend to be doctors so they can steal the nose and assassinate the leader. My favorite of Woody Allen's films; with witty one-liners and hilarious monologues, this classic comedy never ceases to make me laugh. Starring Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, John Beck, Mary Gregory, Don Keefer, Brian Avery 8/10

Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)

Times are rough at Rio Rancho Estates. The real estate salesmen are frustrated with the same dead-beat leads they're getting, they want the good leads. But good leads have to be earned. There is no room for losers in this competitive, masculine world. One rainy night a quick-tempered, brash businessman man named Blake is sent by the owners to tell them there's going to be a contest in which only "closers" get the new Glengarry leads; first prize for the winner is a Cadillac El Dorado, second prize a set of steak knives and the third prize is you're fired. So the employees of Rio Rancho go out and attempt to close; the veteran Shelley Levene, the hotshot Ricky Roma, Dave Moss the distraught one and the weak George Aaronow. Unfortunately, things are made all the more difficult when the new leads are stolen and everyone is a suspect. Every actor in this film is astonishing, based on David Mamet's play. Starring Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Alec Baldwin, Alan Arkin, Ed Harris, Kevin Spacey, Jonathan Pryce, Bruce Altman, Jude Ciccolella 8/10