Airplane II: The Sequel [Blu-ray]

Funnier Through the Years
I must say that I did not like AIRPLANE II: THE SEQUEL the first time I saw it in the theater. It grew on me through the years. Peter Graves and Lloyd Bridges are amazing in it. It started out at a snail’s pace and seemed equally strained for laughter. However, there was a smattering of truly insightful comic genius throughout that made it mildly enjoyable, like seeing William Shatner show up. Then I watched it on video with a group of people once again. For some unknown reason I found myself laughing uncontrollably. As I watched the film again I then began to notice how much it followed the spy genre in parody. Once I began to realize what the filmmakers were doing it all started to take shape a made good comic sense. Not only did it follow the same inspirational format of the original AIRPLANE but it took the same approach with its audience: if this joke doesn’t work for you we have plenty more lined up one after another and eventually you are going to start laughing...


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Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life [Blu-ray]

Lara Croft in Raiderette of the Lost Pandora's Box
It would be easy to dismiss "Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life" as being a cross being "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and a James Bond movie except for two things. The first is that there is nothing inherently wrong with combining those two elements, even if the genesis of your character is a series of video games. The second is that despite the overwhelming plot similarities between this second Lara Croft film and the first and third Indiana Jones movies, there are actually things going to with the titular character. We are not talking profound psychological development here, but for an action film there is actually something else going on as well.

The main thing, of course, is the action, which is why the James Bond comparisons are so obvious. An earthquake shakes the Greek island of Santorini and the next thing we know Lara Croft (Angelina Jolie) is on the trail of Pandora's Box. Apparently it was what brought life to Earth and inside it there is one...
A fun & fitting encore
If you liked the first film in the Tomb Raider series, "Cradle of Life" will deliver just as much fun. The sequel begins with artistocratic archeological adventuress Lady Lara Croft (Angelina Jolie) diving off the coast of Greece, where a volcanic eruption has uncovered the fabled Lunar Temple. Within the underwater temple, Lara discovers a mysterious orb. As with many of her tomb raids, however, things soon go awry, and the orb falls into enemy hands.

Representatives of the British intelligence agency MI-5 recruit Lara to retrieve the orb, which Alexander the Great created as a map to Pandora's Box. MI-5 fears that a scientist known for creating biological agents will use a plague contained in Pandora's Box to create weapons of terror. Lara scoffs at MI-5's offer to send agents to assist her, and insists on an assistant of her own choosing--a possibly untrustworthy mercenary (Gerard Butler) who is her former lover. And thus the quest for the orb begins anew.

Once again, Jolie...
LCTR The Cradle of Life - An enormously entertaining film!
While most seem to be either a real big fan of the Lara Croft Tomb Raider movies or someone who despises them, I'll take up the role of a big fan. Just as in the first movie, Angelina Jolie's rendition of Lara Croft is absolutely wonderful. This second film, in what is undoubtedly going to be many, is another great action flick that is enjoyable entertainment from the beginning to the end.

While I only have a vague, passing familiarity with the video games, I can say, without a doubt, that this and the first movie make an enormously enjoyable leap from the pc screen to the silver screen.

Angelina Jolie's performance as Lara Croft, to include her impeccable British accent, is nothing less than stunning. I find it absolutely wonderful to see such a beautiful and agile actress take on the "James Bond" type role and handle it with such seeming ease. While these films won't win her any Oscars, they will indelibly mark her among the tops in action film stars. Gerard...
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Stalag 17 [Blu-ray]

William Holden's finest performance......
Quite easily a front runner for the title of best POW movie ever made, "Stalag 17" is expertly directed by Billy Wilder to provide humour, drama, satire and sadness....and William Holden in his Oscar winning performance as the cynical POW sergeant, Sefton, makes this movie a class act from start to finish !

American POW's under the watchful eye of camp commander Von Scherbach (Otto Preminger at his sinister best) are suspicious of a traitor in their ranks...escape plans are going horribly wrong...lives are being lost....and the finger of guilt point's to the crafty, opportunistic Sefton. William Holden was well deserving of the 1953 Best Actor Oscar as the somewhat unlikeable and moody Sefton. Taking advantage of his fellow POW's and filling his footlocker with contrband purchased from the income off his "racetrack", "moonshine" and "telescope" rackets, Sefton then suddenly finding himself the victim of circumstance and his own cynical nature. Holden took on a particularly...
Great POW story
This is not your typical WWII war movie. Great acting by William Holden. He won the Oscar for best actor. Robert Strauss and Harry Lembeck are blazingly funny as 2 other POW's along with Holden. The movie is set in a German prison camp during WWII a week before Christmas. Holden is suspected of being a nazi spy living with the POW's. He's not, but he's going to find out who is. The other prisoner's have already beaten him and and taken some of his possessions. Definitely the best POW movie ever. The DVD has no "special" features such as behind the scenes or information about the cast. It does have scene selection, Dolby Digital, and English subtitles for the deaf and hearing impared. This DVD is the "Standard version" aspect ratio. The movie came out in 1953 when the movie studios were going to "Widescreen" but I think it was shot before they adapted. So this DVD is basically how it looked in the theatre. The transfer to DVD is great. It looks...
A Memorable Comedy-Drama Comes To DVD
Although the play by Edmund Trzcinski and Donald Bevan had been a smash hit on Broadway, most insiders did not expect STALAG 17 to succeed as a film. The story concerned WWII American POWs held in a Nazi camp--but it combined serious drama with broad farce and offered one of the first anti-heroes in American film in the leading role. And with the war still very fresh in every one's mind, the combination seemed more likely to offend than appeal. Every one concerned held their breath when the film debuted: would audiences get it? They did indeed, and STALAG 17 became one of the most critically-lauded and commercially popular films of the early 1950s, picking up an Academy Award nomination for director Billy Wilder and a Best Actor Oscar for William Holden in the process.

The story concerns American prisoners of war held in the German "Stalag 17" in 1944, and it begins grimly: after much planning, the Americans have devised an escape for two of their number, but the next...
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