Postcards from Buster: The Case of the Coin Purloined: Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri (2006)

In this PBS episode of Postcards from Buster (a spinoff from Marc Brown's 11-season hit series Arthur), Buster visits Fort Leonard Wood, finds out about some of what goes on at a military base, and makes friends with three girls whose dads are stationed in Iraq as they help him solve a mystery. Handheld cam shots and lots of cuts give this mixed animation-and-live-action-documentary show a rough-and-ready look-and-feel as Buster and the girls interact with fort commander General Castro and other personnel in addition to the girls' mothers and each other. The action is fairly fast-paced as the mystery progresses and kids aged 5-10 ought to be able to identify with and stay interested in this story quite easily. 3.5 stars.

Ken Burns: The National Parks: America's Best Idea (2009)

Ken Burns' The National Parks: America's Best Idea is a national treasure in itself. The scenery is of course breathtaking but the photography is stunningly done and I love the traditional folk and gospel music that plays throughout. (I absolutely had to tape the program and I will own the soundtrack.) This is a gorgeous, intelligent, highly informative, engagingly told, fascinating documentary about "America's best idea," that is, preserving our wilderness -- unique in all the world for its pristine majesty -- for all generations to enjoy. The origins of the national park system were humble and struggled for 50 years to establish a firm sanctuary against powerful interests that were literally raping the land and ecosystem as well as fighting to unravel the legislation inspired by great conservationists such as George Muir and Teddy Roosevelt. This is also a deeply spiritual and patriotic presentation in the sense that humanity can see the Creator most clearly through creation and our love of country is rooted in our love of the land. Every American should see this documentary. If you love nature, you will be motivated to see more of our great nation. If you have forgotten what it's like (or neglected thus far) to experience the wonders that in large part define the heart and spirit of America as a land of plenty and of opportunity, then here's hoping you leave the city and high-tech behind for a time to commune with nature. It will clear your mind and do wonders for your soul. 5 stars.

The Story of the First Noel (2004)

Roger Moore narrates this pseudodocumentary carried by Blockbuster but not Netflix. It's commendable for its intentions to present scenes from Biblical lands and reenactments of Biblical events but these fall woefully short because the scenes and reenactments are from modern times -- including metal bowls, souvenir stands, and the like. Worse still, it presumes and even asserts legitimacy for the gnostic gospels then uses them for half of the production to describe a travelog for the Holy Family's return from Egypt, including numerous apocryphal "miracles." It presents Constantine's wife Helena's "discovery" of the "remains" of the three magi as historical fact and spends 15 minutes in a soap-opera-like reenactment of a young couple's parental sorrows. This 90-minute production felt like two and a half hours. 2 stars.

Cast Away (2000)

Cast Away is an epic masterpiece about the solitude of being stranded on a tropical island and the emotional fortitude that is required to survive alone for the indefinite future. Tom Hanks masterfully carries the movie as the sole person on screen for 90% of its running length. Our story begins as Tom's character, a FedEx field manager who lives by the stopwatch, unwittingly shares his final words with his wife (Helen Hunt) before catching a company plane for Russia. The incident that precipitously brings the plane down is monumentally realistic. (Only the opening scenes of the pilot episode of Lost come close.) The rest of the movie is quite a Zen thing -- so stark and candid about one castaway's disappointments and determination that a description wouldn't do it justice. The final 10% of the movie is crisp as an apple with nostalgia and melancholy and Helen Hunt's performance is gripping. I love the ending's few loose threads. If you want to be moved to the core of your soul, see this movie! 5 stars.

The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course (2002)

First off, I promise not to say "crikey" (drat!). Steve Irwin's only Crocodile Hunter movie is a hoot for fans, families, and esp. kids. Steve's infectious spirit and accent comes through from start to finish esp. when he's chasing animals or punishing bad guys with "a good old Steve-o education" about animal conservation. Our story begins with some semblance of a plot as a spy satellite's degrading orbit causes a sensitive piece of technology to fall potentially into the hands of some bad guys -- but first down the gullet of an Australian crocodile. As the U.S. government's good guys race the bad guys to capture the high-tech prize, Steve preserves his bumpkin persona by mistaking each posse for croc poachers out to complicate his conservation work with wife and partner Terri. The film's most comical moments come when a park ranger (David Wenham, aka Faramir in The Lord of the Rings) visits a cranky local (Magda Szubanski, aka Esme Hoggett in Babe) who keeps gumming up matters with her dogs and shotgun. (Her favorite phrase is "Neek off!") The making-of featurette shows how the animal wranglers got the dogs to lick her face (hint: peanut butter) and the croc to nearly chomp Steve (hint: too close for comfort). Families and esp. kids who love Steve Irwin will simply eat up this popcorn muncher, laugh at Steve's hijinks and ready-for-anything spirit, and (of course) sing the infectious "Crocodile Rock" sendup tune at the end. 3.5 stars.

No Country for Old Men

Let me save you some time, if you are the type to read or think before you choose to see a movie. (If more people were, we might have 4,000 fewer "I hated it" reviews posted on Netflix.) No Country for Old Men is a cat-and-mouse thriller. (It is suspenseful not cheerful.) A vicious killer hunts down everyone in the wake of the money cache he seeks to recover. (Another force of nature, the hurricane, has a calm eye but for the most part it leaves behind only destruction.) It does not have a tidy crime-does-not-pay ending. (Which is scarier: What a villain does during a movie or what he will keep doing if he gets away?) The movie's premise is how Darwinian modern-day crime has become -- it's no territory for old-school or simply old men anymore. (It is a tragedy that is meant to stick with you and make you think.) Feeling comfortable or satisfied afterwards is not in the cards. So forget everything Disney and Star Wars has blanched into your brain. See this movie for what it is and let it bleach your mind like the Arizona sun does the desert. A little stark contrast -- like the spartan landscape of the desert -- can help focus the soul on what's important. No Country for Old Men is an essay of sorts on the barren landscape of the Arizona desert, which is a metaphor for the deepening cruelty of the modern-day criminal. Tommy Lee Jones narrates about the proud long line of lawmen from which he has descended and now serves -- but the present-day criminal is not his pappy's thief or thug. There was a time, he says, when lawmen didn't carry guns to do their job; now they encounter guns all the time -- and automatic weapons to boot. Border-crossing drug runners are often armed to the teeth -- as evidenced in one deadly tableau found just over an isolated ridge. A local never-say-die hunter (Josh Brolin) finds the crime scene first and scouts out the terrain; he tracks down the body of the money man and brings a suitcase crammed with drug money back to his trailer home. That night, the drug lords find the site of their dead mules. Unfortunately for them, however, and the trail of bodies that will follow in his wake, a highly proficient hitman named Anton Chigurh has been dispatched to "make things right" following the failed drug transport. Chigurh is relentless in his pursuit of the hunter and any and all acquaintances, creative in his lethality, and vicious in his will to utterly destroy anyone who has so much as seen him. That's all I will say about that. As the Oscars' Best Picture of the Year, yes, you have to see this movie to believe it. (Disney addicts, keep walking -- nothing to see here.) 5 stars.

Ancient Mysteries: The Sacred Waters of Lourdes (2005)

First of all, don't believe the pouting naysayers who paint this Ancient Mysteries installment as an across-the-board slamdunk smackdown of the Lourdes apparitions. Leonard Nimoy has narrated a broad wealth of fair and balanced documentaries about subjects (such as UFOs) that rightly merit skepticism. (What true believers fail to recognize is that readily ascribing to God any unexplainable or supernatural phenomenon -- whatever it may be -- hardly gives him credit or glory esp. if a modicum of common sense or inquiry should uncover a natural explanation. Being too ready to give God the credit for anything -- say, "the image of Christ" in a potato -- demeans and insults everything that's involved in the words "my utmost for his highest" and just smacks of simplistic pietism.) If anything, Nimoy's script seems lazy in its overuse of the documentarian's dualistic trope of frequent querulous phrasings such as "holy vision or fevered hallucination...?" On the whole, however, the script leaves the eternally dualistic question of faith versus science open to the viewer. It's true that two featured "experts" are authors who simply don't believe in the supernatural but at least one other "talking head" is the chaplain at Lourdes who is clearly sympathetic (just not pushy) about the faith experience that millions have experienced at Lourdes. This A&E special makes an excellent introduction to the origins and the history of the Lourdes apparitions and points out that an independent medical commission has investigated and substantiated some 2,000 healings (while the Vatican, with its extremely conservative process, has verified 64). A few minutes are spent discussing the Marian apparitions at Fatima and Medjugorje but this is a very good introduction to the subject esp. for those with little or no prior knowledge. 3.5 stars.

City of Angels (1998)

With its spiritual underpinnings and ethereal soundtrack (esp. Sarah Mclachlan's hauntingly expressive In the Arms of the Angels), City of Angels is an atmospheric tour-de-force that weds heaven to earth, spirit to flesh, and bliss to sorrow. Nicolas Cage is Seth, a sojourning angel who accompanies mortals at their passing; when they can see him, they are literally at death's door. Seth and other angels walk amidst human society, wearing stylish longcoats in place of robes, and communally greet each day's sunrise in a beachfront assembly that's invisible to us. Seth is doe eyes and innocence but all the more curious about human suffering after he witnesses Meg Ryan as an emergency-room doctor who is fighting furiously for her patient's life. Without knowing what it is about yet drawn like a moth to a candlestick, Seth falls in love with her and wonders what it would be like, as a human, to hold her, to love her, and to be loved back. He gets some advice from Dennis Franz as a wheezing cardiac patient, and for better or ill he acts on it. City of Angels bears witness to celestial and human bliss as well as to earthly loss, sorrow, and healing. It is a monumental testimony to the richness and beauty of earthly life and our hope of a heavenly home. It portrays "the better angels of our nature" and thankfully reminds our postmodern society that there is more to life than consumerism and empty pleasure -- there is courage and sacrifice, uttermost love and ineffable joy. 5 stars.

Ponyo (Gake no ue no Ponyo/Ponyo A Cliff By The Sea) (2008)

Hayao Miyazaki's latest film, Ponyo, is an animated maritime fantasy centered on the curiosity and courage of a five-year-old boy named Sosuke (pronounced Sahs-kay, voiced by Frankie Jonas). He lives atop a coastal slope in Japan from where his mother drives like a banshee down the mountain road and across the ship channel to take him to school next to the hospice where she works. His father is a ship's officer who takes an extra shift but flashes semaphores with his son as his ship passes by. ("Is mom mad at me?" is a humorous three-way exchange.) They are a close-knit and resourceful family and, no doubt as a result, Sosuke is older and wiser than his years. While playing on the shore, Sosuke meets the tiny sea creature Ponyo (voiced by Noah Cyrus), who happens to taste a drop of human blood from a cut in the boy's hand, which causes her to begin a magical transformation that has been long feared by her father (voice of Liam Neeson) but is ultimately met calmly by her mother (voice of Cate Blanchett). Their true natures are gradually revealed as the story progresses and I won't give any of their secrets away. Ponyo's destiny is at stake, however, as well as the whole world's. Calamity falls on the coastal lands as Ponyo's transformed nature reveals itself with salvific and even redemptive overtones. The animation in Ponyo reaches a joyous climax and the story is positively uplifting. My youngest son wants us to own the disc when it comes out and so do I. 5 stars.

American Women (The Closer You Get) (2000)

I saw American Women a Houston arthouse theater under its original name, The Closer You Get. It's a witty, sweet, low-key movie that I still remember fondly and would gladly see again. It's not exactly comparable to any movie pairing I can describe but it has elements of Waking Ned Divine, Chocolat, The Full Monty, and The Shipping News. Our story begins in a coastal Irish town so isolated that boaters typically have to carry their punt across a half-mile of mud flats to put out in the sea. The young men of the town (shall we call them punters?) decide their available selections for future wives are somewhat lacking, so they secretly send a personals ad to Miami, inviting beautiful models to attend the town's fall harvest festival and then be married in a mass ceremony. After this harebrained scheme is discovered by the postmistress, the towns' maidens band together to exact their secret revenge. I love the subtle interactions and understated Irish humor in this little-known gem. You'll doubtless enjoy how the young men and women of the town come to a meeting of the minds. Don't miss the closing minute of the show though! 3.5 stars.

Punch-Drunk Love (2002)

I saw Punch Drunk Love in the theater and really liked it from nearly the opening scene. I even bought this movie on its release (and that's saying a lot for an Adam Sandler movie). Adam Sandler plays Barry, an emotionally barren or befuddled young man who grew up with a gang of bossy sisters that borders on a My Big Fat Greek Wedding situation. (I didn't hear till recently that Adam's character is supposed to have Asperger's Syndrome.) Barry has a warehouse office where he doesn't seem to do much beyond try to cope with his inner life. He takes a walk out toward the street just as a truck rambles by and -- BAM! -- something portentous falls at Barry's feet that becomes a touchstone for him. He falls victim to an identity-theft ring just before he finds a mousy girlfriend (Emily Watson) and he finds the emotional wherewithal to stand up for the life and the love that he intends to keep. Punch Drunk Love is one-half punch-drunk and one-half nerdy romance -- it's low-key and quirky so not for everyone. I enjoyed it though. It came out about the same time as About Schmidt and Lost in Translation and it shares a certain soporific sense with those movies -- while simultaneously being emotionally vivid beneath the glassy surface. 4 stars.

Kiki's Delivery Service (Majo No Takkyubin) (1989)

Hayao Miyazaki is a wonder. His movie Spirited Away is a magical journey with brilliantly animated touchstones to the real world (even down to the way the little girl angles her feet into her shoes). Kiki's Delivery Service evinces much of that same magic in animation and storytelling. Our story begins as young Kiki (voiced by Kirsten Dunst) prepares to leave home and find her own fortune in another town. (Phil Hartman voices her black cat.) As a young witch-in-training in a world where magic and healing are matter-of-fact (though becoming rare in bigger cities), Kiki still has to learn to fly her broom better than clumsily and to discover her unique gift and destiny. She faces many choices and consequences as she seeks to find or establish her new life in her chosen city and for a while she seems to have lost her way. Ultimately, Kiki's story is about learning to trust in oneself -- to make whatever contribution one can and then to believe that it will be a blessing (as it were). Here is a fascinatingly animated story told as engagingly as only Miyazaki can tell it. My youngest son and I so far have become big fans of Spirited Away, Kiki's Delivery Service, and now Ponyo. We plan to own them all as we work our way through Miyazaki's corpus. Enjoy! 5 stars.

Stella: Live In Boston (2008)

I've been underwhelmed by Stella in the past but watching this whole hour of their stuff only confirms they are seriously not-so-funny. Their material is just flat -- I found a few chuckles but that's it. Their timing often drags. Their posing, mugging, and hamming it up is deliberately fake and obnoxiously so. Their lines are lighter on f-bombs than many comedians but they will f-dis each other, an audience member, or a state of origin. Their meandering schtick in this performance (lasting one hour three minutes) jumped from holding a lame "birthday party" for one Stella member to trying to sing Christmas songs to demonstrating how they have sex (including juicy fart noises and snogging one member's love interest on stage behind his back). These guys favor nonsense and non sequiturs. The funniest line was when they praised Shakespeare as "the greatest American writer ev-er!" and reminisced about his writing Desperate Housewives. (Oops, no, "that was actually Marlowe." Ha ha.) Folks, Stella's three guys are likable enough, they just lack material that's funny and goes beyond frat-boy humor. Your mileage may vary. 2 stars.

Next (2007)

I was eager to see how Next carried off the special effects and basic premise of a man who is able to see 2 minutes into the future. I was not dissatisfied -- at least, not as bleakly as so many others seem to have been (judging by their whining complaints, which are baseless in my opinion). First, I love Nicolas Cage in City of Angels (for his doe-eyed empathy), Bringing Out the Dead (for his quirky twitchiness), and even Ghost Rider (for his twitchy quirkiness). In Next, he's playing quirky, people -- what do you care if he sports a worse haircut than Anton Chigurh? Does his lack of hair -- or the admittedly shaggy-dog ending -- somehow disqualify the entire movie (as some imply by their one-star ratings)? Second, I have enjoyed Julianne Moore in The Lost World, The Fugitive, and The Shipping News. In Next, she was as sawed-off and ballsy as I expected a female FBI agent to be (and I have known one). What part of kickdown-and-cap do you not understand about her scene in the firing range? Third, Jessica Biel has remained off my radar screen until now, however, since she is not required to emote on an Oscar-worthy scale in Next, I'll just say she ably fills screen real estate as the leading man's dewy-skinned love interest. Since Nick's character has had the ability to see forward into time since birth, it's not necessary that his ability (or his destiny) be explained. (The basic idea of science fiction is that you accept a given idea or premise so that the rest of the story can develop.) I'm also fine with figuring out for myself, instead of requiring it to be explained for me, why Jessica's character helps him to see further into the future. (Anyone read about philotic tendrils in Orson Scott Card's Xenocide? No?) So the special effects are not perfect -- whose is? They carry the story for me just fine. More than being able to see two minutes into the future, however, Nick's character is actually required to multitask to the nines because every two-minute span has 120 seconds to track against real time -- in his head since constantly checking one's watch while doing a tuck-and-roll isn't practical -- and that's not even counting when he begins tracking several and as many as two dozen branching timelines simultaneously. Furthermore, when he perceives and abandons a given timeline as lethal -- did he die but then roll back time (like a "do-over") or are we seeing his perception instead of (or in tandem with) what's happening in real time? These are minor questions that no one else seems to have mentioned but they (more than Nick's hair or the fresh-slate ending) do not disqualify the movie on a wholesale basis for me. On the contrary, they are what made it most interesting. 4 stars.

Terrorists (2004)

Terrorists is a consistently droll, even quietly hilarious spoof on our present-day culture of terror alerts, racial profiling, blind "patriotism," hysteria, and wild goose chases. I love this movie! It's a low-budget independent film but that's not a problem since we're not talking Eagle Eye or Enemy of the State here. The acting is understated, sure, but it's fine. The soundtrack relies on whimsical and even tongue-in-cheek jazz. (Don't listen to the naysayer who said "an 8-year-old with a Casio" keyboard could have done better -- or the terrorists win.) Jason Mantzoukas is a vaguely Middle-Eastern (and possibly Ivy League) graduate student come to the midwestern small town of Junction to authenticate and study an obscure kitsch artist's lost work -- and the town's eminent landmark statue, "the world's largest stool." (Double entendres abound.) Also from the Upright Citizens Brigade comedy troupe, Ian Roberts plays Chief of Police Curtis Gorfurter, a frustrated fortysomething who jumps at the chance to extend a tenuous conspiracy theory into a skein of counterterrorism alerts (purple, salmon, brick, and tangerine), respect and awe (and doughnuts), and a dogged manhunt. ("It is vital to remain calm during this time of extreme panic.") Bobby Tisdale is the mayor's slacker son who is cheated from winning a music competition with a Lee Greenwoodesque patriotic song before turning to the dark side. ("Read the Freedom Act. You have no rights!") Jessica St. Claire is superb as the Stockholm Syndrome "hostage" during this utter hoot of a wild goose chase. Call this one If You Give A Cop A Doughnut... I like it as much as Get Smart! 4.5 stars.

The Gold Rush (1925)

Gold Rush is the first Charlie Chaplin movie I've seen straight through. While a silent movie is by definition a "dated" movie (never in itself a bad thing, unless paired with irrelevance), I think other family viewers will get some good chuckles out of the Little Tramp here, if my experience is any indication. Our story opens melodramatically (esp. with the 1942 edition's addition of music and gilded narration: "the wind was rroarring" and so on) as rugged would-be gold miners struggle to climb the White Pass into the Klondike; meanwhile, the Little Tramp toddles along a snowy mountain precipice in his suit and tie. He chances upon a gruff goon and a paranoid brute before all three are forced to weather a storm in an isolated cabin together. Mild hijinks ensue; our favorite is Chaplin's running-against-the-wind schtick. Eventually, Chaplin makes it to a frontier town and catches the eye of Georgia, a proud and virtuous dancehall girl. Does he eventually earn his fortune and win her heart? You'll know after watching this bounty on the main filled with physical antics. 3.5 stars. (5-11-09 posted 9-12-09)

G-Force (2009)

It's a goofy family-oriented spy thriller with talking rodents as secret agents, but G-Force had me laughing harder than I can remember in quite a while. G-Force is Cats and Dogs with genetically modified guinea pigs: Sam Rockwell is team leader Darwin ("Yippee-ki-yay, coffeemaker!"), Tracy Morgan is loudmouth Blaster ("Get your face out of my butt!"), Jon Favreau is everyschlub Hurley, and a mellifluous Penelope Cruz is exotic Juarez, with Nicholas Cage as Speckles the tech-savvy mole and Steve Buscemi as Bucky, a wacky half-ferret hamster who wants a pet-store cage all to himself. Zach Galifianakis is the scruffy yet geeky project head and Kelli Garner is his wide-eyed blonde lab assistant. In a word, the guinea pigs have all the grappling hooks, rappeling line, gyroscopic jet cars and so on that any supercool secret agents could need. The storyline involves Bill Nighy as Leonard Saber, a billionaire tycoon who plans to take over the world through high-tech-networked appliances. The story arc, dialog, and critters' antics were just zany enough to keep me belly-laughing throughout. I love Cats and Dogs and I love G-Force! (9-1-09 posted 9-12-09)

Stellaluna (2004)

I won't compare the DVD to the book or CD-ROM since (as is always the case) a book is not a movie. (Gee, I really love this apple -- but it sure isn't as juicy as an orange!) The original soundtrack on Stellaluna is excellent esp. the Ladysmith Black Mambazo-like transitions and the two original songs, "Upside Down" and the calypso send-up "Best in You." The animation is very good and the voice talent is consistently impressive, esp. Stellaluna, her mother, and the bird family. A jumping spider with superhero delusions named Horatio adds some cartoonish schmaltz (for example, with bee-yoing sound effects). For the most part though Stellaluna is a find-your-gifts growing-up story that teaches kids learning to trust in who they are is the first step to becoming the best they can be. The only danger comes from a swooping owl but the threat level is so low I think most 4-year-olds will be all right. The singalong version of the story runs 41 minutes. Special features include a how-to-draw-Stellaluna lesson and I learned a number of things I didn't know about bats from a nicely done presentation that runs 14 minutes by Kim Williams, a bat expert based in Michigan who gets air time on educational TV. I'd give the production 4 stars but it's as cutesy as The Land Before Time, so I'm holding it to 3.5 stars.

Zach Galifianakis: Live (2006)

In this, his Live at the Purple Onion performance on DVD, Zach Galifianakis plays the droll schlub whose comic genius is only matched (or in most cases exceeded) by his ineptitude. It's all part of his schtick -- from the two dozen "characters" (a word he mispronounces) he's "been working on for months" that go no deeper than one fun-sized punch line to his standup act's long pregnant pauses for self-recrimination ("I suck at this!") or a pull from another pint glass of beer. Often spouting his riffs while playing piano in a rambling but effective fashion, Zach succeeds in establishing a personal and communal intimacy with his audience because he is candid, self-aware, and relaxed. The laid-back, slackerish structure and production values of the DVD contribute to this sense of familiarity with and sympathy for the artiste -- and Zach's portrayal of his effete "twin brother" Seth is masterful. I bordered on belly chuckles during most of this hour-long performance and I felt entertained by the end -- however, the low-key, nonchalant pacing holds the humor to a low roar at 3.5 stars.

The Spirit of Christmas (1950)

The Spirit of Christmas is a fairly well-done (for its day) marionette production from 1950 -- so it predates everything in the last decade by a good 50 years. That means nothing to nostalgics, of course, and I believe this show was traditional viewing on the east coast through the '50s and '60s. I liked this 27-minute show just fine -- the marionettes are artfully handled for the most part. (St. Nick's sleigh jigs and jogs quite a bit in the first half's presentation of Clement Moore's 'Twas the Night Before Christmas but the shepherds and three wise men seem especially expressive in the second half's presentation of the Nativity of Christ. Their faces and costumes are impressive, actually!) There's no Tim Allen in a fat suit, of course, or Dick Van Dyke as a stopmotion postman -- those shows are more modern and better produced -- but what's wrong with doing it (and watching it) old school? I'm not saying anyone or their kids will prefer this program to a given Rankin Bass Christmas special -- but as a slightly more rustic production than hard-to-find Nestor the Long-Eared Donkey, this one can be a pleasant viewing experience. It's peaceful, respectful, and reverent -- even the "advertising" consists only of a logo and captions that read "Your telephone company" with a corporate spokesman introducing and closing the show against a backdrop of telephone operators (with black headsets and patch panels such as accompanied Lily Tomlin's Ernestine with her "one ringy-dingy" 20 years later). Conservative families will love this shot from the '50s as will anyone who wants their kids to see what TV was like in its infancy. And I, for one, believe you can't argue with tradition. Keep it alive! IW. 3 stars.