savoy6-1 Reviews

Monster Ark (2008 TV Movie)

Train wreck

[2/10 · 3 January 2009]

It's a movie,I know, but when can you just pack up overnight and head to a war zone and arrive in the middle of the desert instantly? The uniforms were horribly wrong. The US Army stopped with stripes on a field uniform long ago. The weapons were slapped together , cut-rate equipped, not for an "e-light" unit. Pu-Lease, the acting of the troops; parade ground antics. Nobody acts like that. I won't even go into the vehicles or anything else military.

No let's talk about the main actors. Must have needed the money. If it weren't for the women, I'd have given it a 1. The high school romance between the doctors, oh so sweet. The dialog, painful at best.

A train wreck. Awful to watch, but I couldn't take my eyes off it.

The Longest Day (1962)

Casting choices

[9/10 · 13 January 2008]

The photo of John Wayne wearing a helmet as a Major-General (two stars)on the main page, is NOT from The Longest Day but Cast a Giant Shadow. In Longest Day he was a Lieutenant Colonel from the 82nd. The best part is the casting of Richard Todd, a veteran of D-Day, and the piper with Lovatts commandos WAS Lord Lovatt's Piper Bill Millen. Casting actual participants adds to the realistic feel. I argued with my family about the Longest Day vs. Saving Private Ryan. Saving Private Ryan was a good movie, but it was a fictionalized account. Whereas, Longest Day had many of the actual participants in or providing technical advice. Ryan had better effects(big deal) but if you watch it, it's a cliché' ridden WWII movie just like Bataan or others. Compare the "central casting" characters with WWII era movies. The breadth of the battle was compacted in a couple of hours and was an excellent movie, one of the best. The characters came alive and were believable. It has stood the test of time.

A-Lad-in His Lamp (1948)

Smokey the genie

[10/10 · 21 July 2006]

Lackluster, I disagree. Jim Backus' genie did steal the show from Bugs in this one. It did have the required caricature of the Caliph and the Genie. Remember the 40's, PC was not heard of then.Too bad joke are no longer seen as jokes. As far as the portrayal of Iraqis, Iraq wasn't a country during this make believe era. Smokey had the best lines, "3 cheers and a tiger for me".Bugs correcting the caliph with, "bugs bunny's lamp". True wise guy Bugs Bunny. Who can resist those lines, and the standard, 'be-whoop" sound of the Warner Bros. I have them as .wav files for mail delivery and just fun. Smokey bathing in the lamp and romancing the harem girls were great scenes and Bugs and Smokey played off each other rather well. My all time favorite Bugs Bunny cartoon. Beats the later 70's and 80's Bugs hands down. Some of the great Mr. Backus' finest work. I think this cartoon also stands the test of time. I've tested it on my kids, all born in the 90's and they loved it and couldn't believe it's almost 60 years old.