Author: sillystrator

Oscar: One of the BEST movies in my lifetime. Got to see it in the movie theater. Super suspenseful, fantastic special effects (for the time). Also had one of the best-known theme (music) of ALL time. If you haven’t seen this movie…?!? It is an edge of your seat ride of horror, carnage, sometimes humorous and the music throughout was brilliant (Thank you John Williams!!!) This is one of the films that I still watch on occasion and it STILL gets me excited to see it!!!

Emmy: This movie still gives me nightmares if I watch it before bedtime!! Everything about this film is breathtaking… The scenery, the acting, the MUSIC.. Good job Steven Spielberg (and company) on scaring the **** out of a generation!!

Oscar: Another 70s favorite sitcom. I liked every character in this show. Loved the opening jazz saxophone!! It’s always a smart move to me for a sitcom that lends itself to bringing in a lot of one-off characters… It keeps the show fluid and introduces the audience to many quirky situations and players. Loved It!!

Emmy: I agree with Oscar and I miss the old sitcoms where very little was taboo as far as being politically correct and the shows had more freedom to be funny (or serious) about issues they would not touch today.

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OSCAR: This is a weird, wonderful and violent film about ..well.. a fight club. IF for some reason, you haven’t seen this film, I will not give anything away other than Brad Pitt’s character asks Edward Norton’s character who he would want to fight in the fight club? Ed Norton’s character then states that he would want to fight William Shatner. This is a unique and strange film, but it works !! In my opinion it doesn’t lag much and it has an unexpected ending. It’s a fun watch with a strange hodgepodge of characters…even meatloaf!!!

EMMY: As Oscar stated, it is a “different” film. It’s dark, funny in places, definitely bizarre but not slow. All the characters are interesting and the film moves at a nice tempo that keeps you hooked as you wonder what the heck kind of movie this is!!! I would suggest a good night’s sleep before you see the movie because you want your brain running on all cylinders!!

OSCAR: So here is one of my all-time favorite 1970s sitcom…What’s Happening was a very progressive and entertaining sitcom for its day.

It was centered around a struggling single parent African-American family living in Watts. The mother, marvelously played by the great Mabel King, portrayed a divorced mother of two trying to keep her family afloat while working as a waitress, a maid and other odd jobs. I loved her character as a loving but disciplined mother of Raj and Dee. Even as a kid, I was drawn to the love she had for her children.

The kids and their friends would get into (somewhat innocent) trouble being on their own and navigating the environment in which they lived. This show takes me back to when I was a kid and my best friend’s mom would treat me like her own kid if her son and I got into mischief!!! It was a fondly nostalgic time in my life that I got to revisit while watching the show!! LOVED IT!!!

The show was so great, it even had a cameo by the DOOBIE BROTHERS!! How cool is that!!

EMMY: I agree with Oscar. They just don’t make shows like this any more. Most sitcoms these days are so sanitized and really don’t take on issues like they did back in the 70s. I loved this show as well – still do!!! The actors were fantastic and the show dealt with some heavy issues that really were not addressed before in urban towns and cities. Oscar and I get nostalgic and revisit some of these great shows.

Oscar: This is probably in the top 25 list of my favorite films of all time. It is so ridiculously funny and entertaining that I’ve seen it many times over the years. Not sure why, but I decided to insert Charles Martin Smith’s character “The Toad” from American Graffiti (1973)…just the gag referencing the above-mentioned movie that popped into my warped brain I guess!! The entire cast in this film is perfect!! I LOVE this movie. Nicholas Cage was so funny as H.I. Mcdonnough. Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 91% but I would give it a 99.9%!!! If you have never seen this movie then I am jealous because I’d love to see it again in my innocence!!

Emmy: It is a fun watch for sure. It is so bizarre and hilarious making it a very rare watch. Nick Cage was great I agree, but the WHOLE cast was in on it…They were all over-the-top characters but it totally worked! A very unique and warped movie that all fit together in a strange way with odd characters!!! Love it as well!!

OSCAR: Since I got our first request for Billy Bob Thornton, I thought I would do a double feature!!! To me, this movie turned Billy Bob Thornton into a superstar. He was so good in this role. Being a mumbler in this film, I wanted to showcase more mumblers from film!!! ha ha!!

EMMY: I like Billy Bob Thornton better in Landman. This character is a little too much of a deep dive for me. He is great in the movie, I just don’t enjoy the character all that much.

OSCAR: This is a dynamite new series starring Billy Bob Thornton and Sam Elliot. All the characters are believable, and they relate as a family in a viable way. I am hooked on the show and that is rare for me with brand new offerings. The young newcomers are also standouts and do a great job!!

EMMY: Same as Oscar…I love this show and it is a great find. I actually get excited to watch TV!!! All of the actors are a perfect fit together in this ‘family’. HIGHLY recommend it – now showing on Paramount.

OSCAR: This movie is an updated remake of one of my favorite all-time westerns – My Darling Clementine (1946) – starring Henry Fonda as Wyatt Earp and Victor Mature as Doc Holiday. Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer did a great job in this movie and it is entertaining. The only negative for me, and it is because of My Darling Clementine, is that this movie is a little too polished for a western in my opinion. I still loved it and the modern cast was very good. One of my favorite scenes has a ‘blink and you will miss it’ scene with Billy Bob Thorton who is younger and heavier than he is in ‘Landman’. I wanted to include Huckleberry Hound for a couple of reasons…One, Doc Holiday tells Johnny Ringo in this scene illustrated that he is his ‘Huckleberry’ and the other reason is I grew up with Hanna-Barbera cartoons and Huckleberry Hound was one of my favorites!!

EMMY: I grew up in the same era as Oscar and enjoyed the cartoons as well. Tombstone is a great movie and I for one, enjoy this modern western more that the old westerns that Oscar favors. He is yelling “blasphemy” behind me haha!!! Tell us your thoughts on this fantastic movie!!

OSCAR: Great show from back in the day!! Redd Foxx was hilarious as the cranky and loveable Fred Sanford. His relationship with Lamont (played by Desmond Wilson – who died of cancer about a week ago – RIP) was totally believable and the dynamic of the entire show.

Set in a junk yard in in Watts (Los Angeles) Redd played a junk dealer who lived with his adult son.

The other cast of characters – Grady, Aunt Ester, Bubba, Rollo and Julio were all solid side characters that added diversity, warmth and humor to this well written sitcom .The back and forth conversations with Sanford and his son were often heartfelt and very entertaining. Whenever riled, Fred Sanford would talk to his beloved deceased Elisabeth and cried out that he was “coming to join her”…always a fun watch!!!

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EMMY: Fun show from the 70s – The characters were all believable and had fantastic chemistry. It was pretty much like ‘All in the Family’ with a diverse cast of characters.

LET US KNOW WHAT YOU THINK….

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OSCAR:

Awww sweet nostalgia!! This has got to be on my top 5 list for favorite movies. I was the same age as most of the kids in this movie and I was living in Southern California with my family when this was filmed. The poster for the film was illustrated by the super talented Jack Davis, one of the “Usual Gang of Idiots” who contributed to many issues of Mad Magazine. This is a movie I watch many times as I want to decompress from our high-paced society and let me travel back mentally to when things were slower and simpler watching a hilarious and in my opinion, accurate story of a little league team being coached by a grumpy, life weary, drunk Morris Buttermaker played to perfection by Walter Matthau. The acting by all the kids is impressive and infectious!!! Vic Morrow (RIP) such a tragic death as he and two children were torn apart by the blades of a helicopter while filming the movie “The Twilight Zone (1982), was a fantastic straight man that worked wonderfully against Matthau’s immature Buttermaker.

EMMY: The movie, I agree was a classic…but all guys – kids and adults save, Oscar under her belt (Paper Moon – 1973) Best Supporting Actress Tatum O’Neal at age10!!! The movie was a fun watch but I honestly liked Paper Moon better (sorry Oscar)!!!

What are YOUR thoughts on ‘The Bad News Bears’? Let us know….