a real mystery for grown-ups
	At 37, John Wade was Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota. At 40, he ran for the U.S. Senate. He was heavily favored to win. At 41, he wasn't just beaten in the primary, he was crushed --- "loser by landslide."

What happened?

John Wade had a secret. As secrets will, it came out at the worst possible time. And, suddenly, he was no longer a rising star --- he was a war criminal, a killer of babies, a man to be shunned.

His secret was My Lai.

The Vietnam War is now so far from us, and American history --- especially the history of a war we lost --- is so sketchily taught, and some of you are so very young that I really ought to take a minute here and, in quick brushstrokes, relate what happened in a little Vietnam village on March 16, 1968.

Better idea: let Tim O'Brien tell it. He arrived in Vietnam a year later, and served as a foot soldier there for a year. Got wounded, got traumatized, the whole deal. Here's his account:

At approximately 7:30 on the morning, a company of roughly 115 American soldiers was inserted by helicopter just outside the village of My Lai. They met no resistance. No enemy. No incoming fire. Still, for the next four hours, Charlie Company killed whatever could be killed. They killed chickens. They killed dogs and cattle. They killed people, too. Lots of people. Women, infants, teen-agers, old men. The United States Army's Criminal Investigation Division compiled a list of 343 fatalities and an independent Army inquiry led by Lieut. Gen. William R. Peers estimated that the death count may have exceeded 400. At the Son My Memorial, a large tablet lists 504 names. According to Col. William Wilson, one of the original Army investigators, "The crimes visited on the inhabitants of Son My Village included individual and group acts of murder, rape, sodomy, maiming, assault on noncombatants and the mistreatment and killing of detainees."

Eventually, after a cover-up that lasted more than a year and after the massacre made nationwide headlines, the Army's Criminal Investigation Division produced sufficient evidence to charge 30 men with war crimes. Of these, only a single soldier --- First Lieut. William Laws Calley, Jr. --- was ever convicted or spent time in prison. Found guilty of the premeditated murder of "not less than" 22 civilians, Calley was sentenced to life at hard labor, but after legal appeals and sentence reductions, his ultimate jail time amounted to three days in a stockade and four and a half months in prison.

Terrible, terrible. (And ironic: Seymour Hersh, who broke the My Lai story, now writes about the Iraq War for The New Yorker.) But in fiction, O'Brien doesn't play judge and jury. John Wade may have been at My Lai and done terrible things there, but he found a way to live with his shame. And here's the remarkable thing --- Tim O'Brien bends over backward to see it Wade's way.

What I tell you now may seem like a plot "spoiler." It's not. "In the Lake of the Woods" is a mystery --- maybe even a thriller --- but it's totally innovative in form. That is, we know right off that something happened. The first question is: What happened? And then a gloomier question: Who did it?

What we know: After the primary defeat, John Wade and his wife Kathy retreat to a cabin in the Lake of the Woods, a part of Northern Minnesota so remote that there's nothing but water and islands between it and Canada. Thirty-six hours later, Kathy disappears.

Did she flee?

Did she drown?

Did her husband --- reliving his Vietnam experience --- kill her and dump her body into the lake?

Not easy questions. And O'Brien doesn't answer them: "I tried to make each hypothesis plausible. John may have killed Kathy. Or Kathy may have run off with someone else. Or maybe she simply drowned. Or got lost in that vast wilderness. I believed in each hypothesis as I wrote it. I inserted evidence to support each hypothesis --- just as life itself gives us contradictory evidence about a great many things. But in the end, it's all a mystery, insoluble, beyond certainty."

And to make it more mysterious, O'Brien tells the story from multiple perspectives. Offers testimony from many people. Cites historical documents. And then amps up the uncertainly by giving Wade a hobby --- magic.

And maybe that's what it comes down to --- an ungainly kid, an abusive father, a need for approval that never got satisfied. As O'Brien writes:

"A fat little kid doing magic in front of a stand-up mirror. 'Hey, kiddo, that's a good one,' his father could've said, but for reasons unknown, reasons mysterious, the words never got spoken. He had wanted to be loved. And to be loved he had practiced deception. He had hidden the bad things. He had tricked up his own life. Only for love. Only to be loved."

Too simple? A clue that takes you away from the solution? Could be: O'Brien is that good. (He won the National Book Award for "Going After Cacciato". The New York Times named The Things They Carried as one of the best books of the year in 1990 --- and chose "In the Lake of the Woods" for that list four years later.)

This much is sure: You start "In the Lake of the Woods" expecting one kind of book and quickly get another, darker, scarier book. You find yourself thinking "God, this is awful," even as you read faster and faster. You cringe at what Wade might have done, wince for what might have been done to him. And, as he comes apart, so do you.

This is a harrowing book, as grown-up as it gets. It's a great story, masterfully told. And more: It draws you in, demands your opinion. And then it demands your honest opinion --- because you have your secrets too, don't you


Blown Away
	An absolutely magnificent peice of literature! The use of language is witty and funny and I have never experienced such joy from a collection of short stories before. The ''Is He Deep?'' introduction set the mood of the bok and that question played on mind throughout the entire read. Fantasti


The elite's secrets that have degraded over the millennia.
	Robert Barid's exploration of history's secret connections is brilliant. By integrating hidden and not presented in any other book various facts of sciences, he clearly shows that our ancestors had much deeper understanding of the Reality than most of the modern people. I had a chance to explore many other books by this author available from his page on the World-Mysteries.com and I highly recommend all of them


A Solid Defense
	The Gospel of Judas has had its fifteen minutes of fame. It is but another in an endlessly long line of stories or documents meant to shake the foundations of the Christian faith. Like its many predecessors, it gave National Geographic and anti-Christian authors an opportunity to voice their dissension with the biblical story of Jesus. A book titled The Gospel of Judas shot to near the top of the bestsellers lists and nearly as quickly, shot straight back down. Still, while its popularity was short-lived, it allowed Bart Ehrman and other revisionists a chance to laud the epistle for its new insights into the life of Christ. Surely Ehrman forever cast doubt upon his credibility as a historian when he blathered, "(The Gospel of Judas) is one of the greatest historical discoveries of the twentieth century. It rivals the finding of the Dead Sea Scrolls or the Gnostic Gospels of Nag Hammadi."

National Geographic describes the importance of the document in this way: "The Gospel of Judas gives a different view of the relationship between Jesus and Judas, offering new insights into the disciple who betrayed Jesus. Unlike the accounts in the canonical Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, in which Judas is portrayed as a reviled traitor, this newly discovered Gospel portrays Judas as acting at Jesus' request when he hands Jesus over to the authorities." A classically dualistic, gnostic document, The Gospel of Judas presents a Jesus who is seeking to escape from the corruption of this physical world and asks Judas to betray Him so He can be free of this wickedness. Judas complies and shows himself to be a hero, rather than a villain. No longer the betrayer, He is a faithful friend to Jesus Christ.

Renowned New Testament scholar N.T. Wright is the first Christian to my knowledge to write a thorough refutation of the teachings of The Gospel of Judas. Judas and the Gospel of Jesus is due for publication in October of 2006 and will be published by Baker Books. It is a short book, weighing in at only 144 pages, but provides a thorough treatment of the subject matter.

Wright is fair to this newly published document. He does not say that there is no value in The Gospel of Judas for surely there is, for it tells us much about the gnosticism that was a great opponent of early Christianity. It gives historians access to an authentic, original document. But it tells us nothing about the real Jesus and the real Judas. Those who would have us believe that this letter provides details about the real life of the real Jesus can be little more than revisionists. Wright shows that such people believe in what he calls "the new myth of Christian origins." This myth, popularized by men such as Bart Ehrman, has three main teachings: first, Jesus was not as the canonical gospels portray Him; second, there were a great many different varieties of early Christianity, and they produced a large number of different "gospels," all of which circulated among Christians more or less unchecked; third, when Christianity became consolidated in the fourth century, many teachings about the "true" Christian faith were rejected.

"Classic Christianity," he says, "has a lot more life and promise than have ever been imagined by those who propose the new Myth, or by those who offer newly discovered gnostic texts as the panacea for our ills. It is a shame that the churches have been so muzzled, so often self-blinded to the full dimensions of the gospel they profess, the gospel of Jesus himself."

Through this short book, Wright asks good questions and insightfully shows where The Gospel of Judas simply cannot be held as equal in any way to Scripture. He shows himself to be a New Testament scholar the equal of any involved in promoting this new gospel. While the document appears to be genuine, it is little different and little more significant than the multitudes of other gnostic writings which have come down to us, even two millenia later.

It is perhaps somewhat ironic that N.T. Wright, who has reimagined and reinvented many of the teachings of Paul (and thus Jesus), would be the first to make a stand for the truth against others who would seek to reinvent Jesus. Unfortunately, Wright's New Perspectives are glimpsed, even if only dimly, through much of the text of this book. Still, he offers a compelling response to Ehrman and others and one well worth reading. I would tend to believe that, for most people, The Gospel of Judas is best ignored. It offers little that would be of interest to the average person. For those who do have interest in it, Judas and the Gospel of Jesus will no doubt prove an interesting response to the irrational views espoused by those who wish to reinvent Christianity and to cast doubt upon Scripture


Piece of my Heart
	Peter Robinson is one of my favorite authors.  When I travel on vacation I make sure to take his latest novel.   "Piece of my Heart" transitioned between the present and a time about 25 years ago.  The characters were well developed and the story line moved.  There were many layers of sub-plots that were interwoven.  I thoroughly enjoyed how everything was brought to its final conclusion.


Couldn't resist...
	"De-mystifying" a musical genre is a favorite practice of many historians, educators, and musicians, and has been overdone. Unlike them, but not unlike a master performer, Palmer is able to strike a balance between technique, feeling, and authenticity: He is historically and musically adept without denying the Blues its inherent mystery and evocative nuance.
Palmer put his life into this work and it shows; he without a doubt "convinces". I highly recommend his Deep Blues.


i love this book
	my son chris played on this team.  i love coach k as he has gotten me a job and new car.  duke has saved my family's life . this is a great book and all duke fans should read it.  FIST!  - vivian harpe


Good starter reader.
	The plot is stronger than Dick and Jane, not quite at the Dr. Seuss level.  But my 4-year-old loves the thing.  He wants to read it - what more can one ask for a first reader than self-motivation?   Good illustrations,  basic vocabulary, frequent repetition, and not scary


The Horse Packers Bible ........
	This is probably the single best work I've ever seen on the  quot;science quot; of packing. Joe Back lived and worked in N.W. Wyoming, and was a legend in the area. His humorous annecdotes, and extremely accurate hand drawn diagrams, combined with his obvious knowledge of the subject, make this a  quot;must have quot; for anyone seriously interested in learning how to pack horses or mules, and survive. This little work deserves a place in any packer's library


A MASTERFUL CONTRIBUTION
	Some previous reviewers have complained about  the complex style and writing of this book. Although in fact it is not an easily readable book, for the general public, if you have a serious interest about the history of the third Reich, make no mistake: you will not be able to overlook this book, which will surely be a  classic. It is a thoroughly well researched  contribution about the connection between religious beliefs and mass fanaticism; the interaction between the "new" domestic and international values, based on aggression; and the other causes involved in the rise (and fall) of the III Reich. From a different perspective from other mainstream historians, this winner of the Samuel Johnson prize for non fiction,  has accomplished quite an original scholarly feat, one which will enlighten the comprehension of this particular  period of history. No wonder many international critics have found the subtitle of this  opus  -A new History- particularly well deserved. Of great interest is the chapter related with the demise of the rule of law, a thorough analysis of the penetration  of the judiciary and the subordination of the police and government to the totalitarian Fuhrerprinzip


Cuts to the core....
	Dark Nature cuts to the very core of the will to survive.  Mr. Watson takes you on an easy to read journey "up" the food chain to the homo sapiens: who is neither man nor kind.  For me, Dark Nature removed judgment from the word "evil", giving a deeper, behind the scene look at what drives life.  A must read.  This copy was purchased a gift. In my judgment to continue to grow I needed to understand this piece of myself and the world around me


Her ideas are classic, yet fresh
	As a professional bridal consultant, I keep an extensive library of wedding related books on hand to help my brides design their own weddings.  Ms. McBride's Bridal Flowers is one of my favorites.  It is full of wonderful ideas - not just the traditional "must have" wedding flowers such as bouquets  amp; boutonnieres, but the out-of-the-ordinary (but inspiring) boas, decorated lampposts  amp; gilded calla lilies.  Ms. McBride shows that flowers are for more than just being carried or worn.  The large color photos are fantastic.  So many other books have little or no photos, or hand drawn diagrams that leaves the reader wondering.  Ms. McBride's book lets you see exactly what she is talking about.  It doesn't claim to be a how-to book, but perfect to take along when visiting your floral designer


Really the Last Prophet
	This rare book details Aleister Crowley's ascension as the prophet of a new Aeon, the Aeon of Horus. Out of all the Aleister Crowley books in mass market format, this stood out in memory years after I read it as one of Crowley's most disturbing works. In fact, I questioned my new faith in Crowley's religion Thelema reading this book; this was for real and not a joke. After contemplating, I thought it would be worth it stick with this because witchcraft is now a cool thing amongst today's youth and Crowley was a famous early form of witchcraft as we know it today. This is serious stuff, I wouldn't mess around with this unless you are interested in the occult. It should be noted that real life ritual magick as described in these type of works really do work; I did a ritual from Necronomicon and Lesser Key of Solomon to help with a college Astronomy course- I got a respectable C grade when I close to failing with a D-. But be prepared for some harassment aboyt alleged satanism.


Bravo!
	This is a wonderful book, which my children adore, and which taught them each to recognize the instruments in the orchestra before they were three


A nice follow-up to "Stitch 'n Bitch"
	The patterns in this book are really interesting.  They range from everything to cabled belts to baby booties to light sweaters.  This isn't as informative as the original "Stitch 'n Bitch" book, but if you have mastered the basics, it is a good starting point for ideas.  Plus, it has tried and true tips and tricks from knitters accross the nation.


Twain's "before and after" account of his quarter-century on the Old Muddy
	Twain's account of his years on the Mississippi is part travel book, part memoir, and part historical work, with a few sketches, stories, and tall tales tossed in for good measure. There is even an outtake from the not-yet-published "Huckleberry Finn," along with extensive excerpts from historical and contemporary accounts by other authors. This smorgasbord of material makes for an uneven book, but much of it shows Mark Twain at his humorous and humanistic best.

The kernel of the volume (and its best, most cohesive section) is in chapters 4 through 17; this material appeared in the Atlantic magazine in 1875 and recalls his early life as a crew member on steamboats in the early 1850s. His adventures as a young man are fraught with danger, full of comedy, populated by a number of ornery, mischievous, and reckless characters, and occasionally embellished (although Twain is a bit obvious when he's fobbing off a yarn). As Twain later wrote in "Puddn'head Wilson, "if there was anything better in this world than steamboating, it was the glory to be got by telling about it."

After he published the series in the Atlantic, Twain added another 46 chapters; much of it an account of his homecoming (incognito--or so he'd hoped) to the Mississippi River in 1882, when the steamboat had been rendered obsolete by the railroad. Many of these descriptions are unusually (for Twain) melancholy; he remarks upon the relatively emptiness of the river traffic and notes the transformations to the river and its banks that had made steamboat travel safer but less adventurous. His new journey provides opportunities to relate a number of stories--some allegedly told to him on the river and a few unpublished tales that he deemed relevant and worthy of inclusion.

The material from other sources, unfortunately, tends to bog things down--and there are about 10,000 words of it commingled in the text and included as appendices. Twain gathered newspaper articles and historical documents; he also included travel writing from earlier visitors, primarily Europeans distracted by how Americans and their homes were horribly uncouth and dirty. (You almost get the feeling that Twain would have smacked "the once renowned and vigorously hated" Frances Trollope upside the head if he'd had the chance; she provides Twain with the most interesting, if snooty, descriptions of traveling along the Mississippi early in the century.)

The material Twain wrote, however, more than compensates for the dryness of the extraneous stuff. As always, he is quotable, witty, amusing, and provocative. In spite of its excesses, nobody has done the Mississippi better


Pretty Helpful Book!
	I like the way it teaches fractions and doesn't use candy


How BIg is a Foot?
	This is a terrific book for young and older children. It is a fun way to demonstrate why we need a universal form of measurement.


Great Bread Machine Book
	I love this book!! I've owned it for about a year now, but just got it back after a very long visit to my mother-in-law. (3 months) She loved the book also and didn't want to give it back! She bought one of her own! Thank goodness! I think she got tired of reading the recipes over the phone to me! lol! Anyways great book, lots of information. Also great for what ever size machine you have. Does small (1lb), Med. (1 1/2lbs.) and large (2lbs). for each recipe.


Why Aren't You Reading This?
	How this book flew under the nation's radar---I'll ever know.  Furthermore it's discouraging as hell because it only goes to prove that great work so often goes unrecognized.

This book plays out like a Spielberg movie from page one.  Very Spielbergian because of it's perfect blend of adventure, romance and humor.  The characters are dynamic and interesting as hell.

The storyline is straight out of an Indiana Jones serial, and it keeps building until you're reading as fast as you possibly can just to see what happens.

The art work is astounding.  These are the coolest-looking heroes, sexiest women, and the most powerful looking baddies I've ever seen penciled in my life.

It's just a shame that this book isn't getting the buzz that crap like "Ultimate Spider-Man" is getting---because in all reality this is the best graphic novel on the shelves right now---and could easily be the film adaptation that could return Steven Spielberg to greatness.

For once in a very long time...I'm truly blown away.


Great!, if you're a Carolina fan...terrific if you're not!
	On the way to a conference in New Orleans, my flight from Raleigh to Charlotte was cancelled due to mechanical problems, and I was booked on a flight to D.C. As I boarded the plane with  quot;The Carolina Way quot; under my arm, a gentleman seated at the front of the plane asked how I was enjoying the book.  I explained that I had not yet started the book, so I could not give an answer.  The gentleman followed me to my seat and introduced himself as Dr. Gerald Bell, the co-author of  quot;The Carolina Way quot;.  Myself a Carolina fan, I was pleased to meet Dr. Bell, as he spent several minutes talking about Coach Smith, whom I have admired for over forty years, and the UNC basketball program, which is presently undergoing a much needed resurgence under Coach Roy Williams. Dr. Bell's contributions to the book tie Coach Smith's leadership philosophy to practical business applications by relating wonderful anecdotal references from Carolina's storied history to today's business situations.  Surely, Coach Smith, given his ability to recruit top players, has been criticized by many for his failure to win NCAA championships in the manner of Coach John Wooden at UCLA, but winning two NCAA championships, winning at a consistency high level unmatched by any program without violating strict NCAA rules, and coaching top players that graduated at a +90% rate and have gone on to be successes in their chosen professions underscore the unique successes of Coach Smith's  quot;system quot;.  Teamwork, integrity, loyalty, and hard work, are the cornerstones of the Carolina Way, and anyone in the position of managing, leading, or molding young people today would benefit from reading this book, corny as it is at times.  This book is not just for Carolina basketball fans


Kellerman At His Best!
	This is my favorite Jonathan Kellerman novel. The book focuses on a disturbing story about Munchausen's Disease by Proxy. This book so quickly caught my interest, that I ended up doing my psych 101 paper on this disease. I had not heard of this disorder when I read the book. It was disturbing, intense, and tore away at your heart. I would definitely recommend this book! Munchausen's Disease seems to have become a more popular topic since I read this book. I have seen countless documentaries on, and it was also featured in the newest episode of House. It is a disturbing, yet intriguing disease, and this book delves straight into the ugliest form of it, Munchausen's Disease by Proxy


Warcraft book2 10000 years before warcraft game1...
	The story of Illidan, Malfurion, Rhonin, and krasus using dark powers, heroic strength is enough to blow anyone away. Iy enchants me, it shows the World of Warcraft from a combination of Knaak's and Blizzard Entertainment's imagination


one to reread!
	my three year old loves this and I do too! it is a great book to share at Xmas as well.  The pictures are wonderful and we are giving it to nursery school as part of Chinese New Year celebration


The SPARK
	As an overweight, stressed-out, 40-something professional, I am thrilled to find this book!  The SPARK is exactly what I needed to get my body moving again.  I am one of those who had fallen for the 1-hour a day exercise trap, and if I didn't have an hour, which I usually don't, I just didn't exercise.  I love doing my three to four SPARKS a day, knowing I am doing my body far more good than waiting for that elusive day when I can fit in 45 minutes or more for my workout.  This is a wonderful concept, and so doable! It's working!! Thank you


And the lesson is...
	Always think twice. Never jump to hasty conclusions without considering ALL the effects of an act or decision. That's the essence of Economics: "looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act or policy."

Most economic fallacies are the result of ignoring this lesson, as Henry Hazlitt clearly shows with many examples throughout this witty short book. Are there benefits in destruction (let it be a humble broken window or a bloody war? Is government spending the solution to unemployment or industries in trouble? Can taxes benefit the economy of a country? Do inflationary policies really encourage a well-functioning economy or are they just a smokescreen to conceal otherwise unpopular decisions? Are all labor union practices truly justified? And, what about tariffs, subsidies, parity prices, rent control, or minimum wage laws? These are the kind of issues the author analyses beyond what you can usually hear, read, or see on the media.

Beyond what you may think about the government's role in the economy, whether you agree or not with the author's liberal views, "Economics in One Lesson" shows how one should always try to see beyond the obvious and avoid missing the forest for the trees.

As the author points out, half-truths presented as complete truths are behind most economic fallacies. Demagogues and 'rogue' economists try to divert our attention by focusing only on the most visible effects of a given decision (or, in the worst cases, on the only effects that should be seen not to discredit an already decided course of action). Learning to supplement and correct their half-truths with the other half is the most reasonable thing an independent thinker can do. BTW, "Economics in One Lesson" might be a good place to start..


Sweet Read
	I found this in the church library, but it is not Christian fiction. It is simply an easy read. The story is sweet, made even sweeter by the topic. Cake. I am not even much of a cake person. I normally prefer ice cream or some sort of brownies/cookies, etc... But, as I read, I found myself longing for a bit of these intoxicating concoctions put together by the narrator. I don't recommend this book if you are diabetic or on a diet. The need for sweets will be simply overpowering


Good info, but missing a certain something...
	Overall this book is just fine for someone interested in cooking with a DO. The mix of recipes is fine, but they just seemed to be missing something. They were all more or less of the  quot;huck a good sized hen into the pot and cook for a while until done quot; variety. All of the recipes look tasty, though I would have liked to have seen a few more meat dishes, especially some more creative ones. Let's be honest, when you pay for a book you'd like to see more than  quot;...put a 5 lb beef roast into a preheated Dutch oven, salt and pepper to taste, cook until done. quot; Give me a little something to work with here! Inspire me! I can already cook a roast like this in the oven. Having said all of that, I would still reccommend this book. The vegetable dishes and desserts look fantastic and I can't wait to try some of them. As an aside, this is the only Dutch oven book I've seen with heart-healthy recipes as well as more traditional fare. Given that the average DO book requires the use of a metric ton of lard, this will probably appeal to a wider range of cooks


Interesting and educational and children LOVE IT!
	Both of my boys love this book and request it over and over again.   It is such a fun book to read because the children interact with the reader by answering the questions.  Love it!


Best book for teaching children about people and nature.
	quot;The Shaman's Apprentice quot; presents more information about the relationship between people and nature than many much larger volumes. The story of Kamanya, Gabriela, and the shaman Nahtahlah, educates children about the important roles of all living things. The text is supported by rich and colorful illustrations which easily maintains the interest of children from four to 14. If you want the children in your life to understand the importance of rain forests and the need to preserve them, you must have this book


Fascinating look at America 50 years ago
	John Gunther's INSIDE U.S.A. comes as close to time travel as we are likely to get, hurling us back to the America of 1947, as he explores, state by state, the people, politics, issues, passions and fads that make up our country.  Written with great energy and insight, Gunther captures an America justly proud of its WWII success, still unsure of its role in the world, and populated by fascinating characters like Mayor LaGuardia of New York, Governor Saltonstall of Massachusetts and Boss Hague of Jersey City.  Gunther describes regional characteristics that persist today.  He captures aspects of America that are gone,l never to return (an  quot;industrial quot; nation based on coal, iron ore and steel.)  And he foresees issues that dog America to this day -- the  quot;Negro problem quot; (actually, the  quot;White problem. quot;)  He condemns the segregationist society he finds in America, so inconsistent with its lofty ideals.  As you can tell, I loved this book.  It's very hefty -- but every time you are about to put it down, Gunther comes up with another amazing fact or interesting sidelight that keeps you reading.  All this said, Gunther does concentrate on the (a) historical, (b) political and (c) economic side of things.  You won't find much here about the arts or science.  But it is amazing a single individual could have compiled this much data and presented it so interestingly


IT'S SHOFAR TIME!
	This is the sixth and final addition to the author's excellent Holiday Time series, just in time for Rosh Hashanah! As in the other titles, (It's Challah Time! It's Seder Time! etc.) Tod Cohen's full-color photos capture the joyousness of the children as they learn to celebrate the holiday wearing new clothes, making Jewish New Year's cards for their families, tasting new foods such as pomegranates and star fruits, and blowing the shofar. The sounds of the shofar are explained in easy, understandable terms for this young age level. The children are also shown learning such things as tying their shoes and writing their names.  The brief amount of text on each page and very appealing children pictured learning to make round challot and blow the shofar make this just right for using with pre-schoolers, their parents, and in the classroom. Included is an easy shofar craft and a brief paragraph about Rosh Hashanah. Recommended for all Jewish libraries. Ages: 4-6.  Reviewed by Andrea Davidso


We Love This Book!
	Pretty much all of the Todd Parr books we've read are great but the "Peace Book" and the "Family Book" are by far our favorites.  They are very positive and carry a theme of tolerance.  We'd highly recommend this book!


One of the worst movies I have ever seen.
	This entire movie could have run in only 20 minutes and you wouldn't miss anything and might even enjoy it. Unfortunately it ran 88 minutes too long and I couldn't wait for it to end.  I saw it in the theater and the people all around me were all complaining how boring it was. At least a quarter of them walked out before the end. It's that bad. It's a shame, I love a good suspense/horror movie and the decent actors in this movies were waisted


Fun to Watch
	Fun to watch but my 9 1/2 yr. old daughter could not follow the moves.  Neither could I for that matter.  We tried to learn the moves through "breaking it down" but there is just not enough repetition.  Too complicated.


Did we see the same movie?
	Every review I've read about this movie pops and fizzes with praise and I just don't get it.  No one speaks until practically 10 minutes into it, and by then you're so confused by the random scenes thrown together and the cyrilic letters, it makes it hard to enjoy what comes next.  If you like extremely BROAD slapstick humor and find that totally charming, then I guess I can see the appeal.  Everyone talks about how this movie spawned so many catch phrases.  I have to wonder what they could be: "Damned Melon!" or "I passed out when I broke my wrist, and when I woke up, the cast was already on!"???  I will say listening to the dubbed english and having the english subtitles on at the same time does add some humor, because they say completely different things, or omit speech altogether.  In sum, don't waste your time


Not too impressed
	The acting was very good. The pace was adequate. However, the plot was predictable. The movie just reeks of the intelligent thriller syndrome. Clive's character kept calling this the perfect robbery. The characters talk about the relative intelligence of the other characters or how the other characters can't possibly know what is going on. I'm still not sure what Jody Foster's character brings to the plot.

Any way, they do stupid things. The bank robbers dig a latrine in a storage closet. You don't know the hole is a latrine until the end of the movie. However, they do call it a "s--thole during the movie. They spent hours on this hole. Why not use a bucket instead of a hole in the floor for a latrine? They even brought buckets in with them. They were disguised as painters. Why couldn't Clive's character use a bucket with chemical treatments instead of a hole in a floor of a bank for a latrine.

Finding plot holes in this movie is like shooting fish in the barrel. Furthermore, the plot is so predictable that it made the movie drag. I have to be honest, I didn't guess the ending. I kicked myself for they gave plenty of clues. For example, a big one is the title of the movie. However, the lame clues (the s--thole) acted like red herrings. They threw me off the scent.


More "Lost Cause" Mythology
	It's amazing how Hollywood and the publishing industry have bent their knees to Secession mythology, from Birth of a Nation to the present example of melodramatic falsification. This is a very dull, shapeless, stilted movie. I wouldn't bother to denounce it on artistic grounds, but since it is above all a piece of propaganda, I'm compelled to condemn it as history. What it presents is the "War between the States" version of the Civil War, in which the gallant Southerners defend their homes,their beloved hills and dales, their cultured lives from the inexplicable invasion of the rude hordes of the North. There are only two Black characters, both sentimentally loyal to their Southernness and their masters; otherwise, slavery is beside the point. The generalship of Lee and Jackson, of course, is idolized, while the Northern officers above the rank of colonel are portrayed as fools. The battle scenes are perfectly predictable; guys charge on foot, other guys shoot, the fields are littered with bodies. Wouldn't a little exposition of the logistics of those battle been more interesting? How real is it to show only one train, and that Southern, in a war won more by transportation than by musketry? If you are a believer in the myth of the Lost Cause and the justice of Secession, if you have ever cottoned to the notion that the War wasn't really about slavery, then I challenge you honor! I defy you to read just one heavy, scholarly book, Arguing About Slavery by William Lee Miller, a professor at the University of Virginia. It retells the debates that occurred in the House of Representatives, over slavery, in the 1830s, twenty-five years before the election of Lincoln. The uncompromising sectional hatred expressed in those debates will surely convince you that the Civil War had deeper roots than you thought, and that slavery Was indeed the central issue for both sides, Blue and Grey


Sex in quarantine
	Maybe for some people, to spend 40 days without sex is not big deal, but in Matt Sullivan's case, it could be a total nightmare.
After his girlfriend Nicole leaves him, Matt spends about six months devouring girls, until he starts to hallucinate. Advised by his brother, Matt decides that celibacy is the answer to his problems, and proposes to go through lent without sex.
For Matt's friends, this odyssey is as absurd as impossible, and immediately they take advantage of the situation to make bets about how long will last Matt's abstinence. He doesn't have it easy, as many temptations will make him suffer, and even smell the possibility of a new love.
40 days and 40 nights is a movie that tries to get the most comedy possible out of the sexual frustration of his leading character. In a similar way that other grotesque comedies have try to explode in the past years, this film tries to sell us the idea that relationships based only in sex are less satisfactory than those based on love. OH. WHAT A SHOCKING DISCOVERY!


movie reviews crossed: kitty foyle   johnny belinda
	Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential video
After initially rejecting the role as too sentimental, Ginger Rogers found the title character of Kitty Foyle to be an Oscar winner and a career breakthrough. Released in 1940, only a year after her nine-picture partnership with Fred Astaire ended, Kitty Foyle helped establish Rogers as a nonmusical box-office star. The film portrays a white-collar working girl who receives a warm and welcome marriage proposal from Mark (James Craig), a kindly but humble doctor. As soon as she accepts, however, she receives a different proposition, this one from her former love, wealthy socialite Wyn (Dennis Morgan), who plans to flee his life and his wife and asks Kitty to join him and live in unwedded bliss in South America. Kitty then recounts her life in flashback to help her choose which man to love. Rogers gives an appealing performance as the feisty yet vulnerable Kitty, who makes up in moxie what she lacks in social status. Did she really deserve the Best Actress Oscar over Bette Davis in The Letter, Joan Fontaine in Rebecca, Katharine Hepburn in The Philadelphia Story, and Martha Scott in Our Town? Well, evidently Rogers had real-life moxie too. --David Horiuchi

Product Description
Known for light comedies and her partnership with Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers stepped off the dance floor and into 1940's Oscar spotlight with her Best Actress turn as Kitty, an indomitable working-class girl who endures the rejection of Philadelphia society, makes her own way as a single woman and ultimately chooses between an unmarried arrangement with Main Line scion Wynnewood Strafford VI (Dennis Morgan) or marriage to a struggling physician (James Craig). Rogers' deserved Academy Award confirmed she was more than a dance star - a fact humorously underscored when she returned to the studio and was greeted by staffers and actors in top hats and tails. Jane Wyman won the Best Actress Academy Award for her sensitive portrayal of Belinda, capturing the girl's affecting isolation, awakening desire to learn and ultimate triumph. Directed by Jean Negulesco and co-starring Lew Ayres, Charles Bickford and Agnes Moorehead (all four Oscar nominees* for their fine work), Johnny Belinda (nominated for a total 11 Oscars including Best Picture) blends atmosphere, nuance and high drama into a heartbreaking classi


Is ''cringe-worthy'' a word?
	I'm surprised by all the praise this movie gets here at Amazon and beyond. There really wasn't much here I liked. The soundtrack was the usual "pap" you'd expect from a family friendly movie, though the sets were nice. It seems this movie was just miscast. Mel just doesn't do comedy all that well, at least for a lead role. Jame Garner, the reason I bought this seems more like a bystander. And Jodie is Jodie and I never bought for a moment she was her character.

Although the cast is a powerhouse (on paper), sadly the chemistry never really works and the jokes are just cornball. An example: There was a sequence when Bret asks his friends (who are standing behind him) to whistle to reveal themselves to some bandits he was confronting; which as it turns out they are unable to do. Instead Jodie and James, blow madly, just like the movie.

This movie reminds me a HELL of a lot like ''The Three Amigo's''; on paper you would think it couldn't miss, but on film it's painful to watch


And who could that be stalking us now?
	Along with the nanny, the stepdad, the cable guy, the 14-year-old girl with a crush... we now have the PHOTO PROCESSING CLERK to fear! Yes, everyone is out to get us.. or at least that's what Hollywood would have us believe.

I am getting sick of films like this that constantly contort  normal healthy human interaction and community relations into perverse horrors that are far from reality. No wonder we live in a culture of such exagerrated suspicion, mistrust, fear (and the resulting isolation) when we have films like this constantly stoking these fears of people around us.

Yes, films like these have their place. However, I think Hollywood has taken it a bit too far and needs to pull itself back into reality.


no title
	Well, I sure could have skipped this one.  I well remember the critics raving over this on television, but why is beyond me.  Mostly, I was just plain bored.  There simply was no depth at all, just bunches of short takes and wise cracks.  Bush was just downright dirty, making insults and slurs all over the place, something I do not consider an appropriate attitude in a man who would be President.  And it is interesting that in one of the reviews it was noted that Mary Matalen, the deputy manager of Bush's campaign and very acid-tongued (maybe she wrote some of the slurs Bush used), is now the wife of James Carville, top strategist for Clinton's campaign, and basically the star of the movie.  But all the scenes were focused on the funny quip, the bon mot, no long scenes of the nitty-gritty work, or any answers to any questions about Clinton either, for that matter.


Where is the salsa?!?!?
	So I bought this movie because some of the reviews said that the acting was terrible but the dancing was amazing.
Well, anyone who thinks that the salsa dancing in this movie is amazing, awesome, good, or ok, has never actually SEEN salsa dancing!!
I am a salsa dancer, and this movie was HORRIBLE!!!  I have seen amazing dancing, and good dancing.  This was TERRIBLE dancing!  And there was hardly any salsa!
It was 80s dancing to salsa music!  That's IT.  The only time there was actually salsa dancing was when the main character was training with the club owner.  Other than that, it was just 80s dancing to salsa music.  That's it.
If you want to see salsa dancing, I DEFINITELY DO NOT recommend this movie.
If you want to see horrible acting, and old 80s dancing, then I recommend this movie...
There was only one thing that I liked about this movie.  The appearances made by Tito Puente and Celia Cruz.  That was great to see, but not worth buying the movie for....
Oh, and the story line?  What was it again????
Yeah...
I love movies, good ones and bad ones.
But this one???  The WORST movie I have seen so far...

To the best of my knowledge, there aren't actually any movies with really good salsa dancing.
Hopefully, someday, there will be


Terrible Movie
	From start to finish a total waste of time.  I viewed this movie with some of the single women from my church including a recently married woman, we were all appalled at how desparate this "Pamela" was note to the director not all women waiting on God are that desparate.  The so called Christian principals in this movie were laughable.  At the end of the movie I found myself apologizing to my guests for wasting their time


No Diamonds....Just Rough
	This movie was so horrible I don't know where to start. Maybe I could start with the fact the actors were so horrible it was as if the director picked them randomly off the street. Or maybe he just casted his own family...at any rate they were untrained and stale. Secondly, I had a serious issue with this movie not following basic christian principles. If Tyler Perry manages to tone down the swearing in his semi-christian plays, why wouldn't this movie director have enough sense to follow suit...If you're trying to actually sale to a christian audience. Furthermore, I thought the bible said a little something against divorce; like it wasn't permitted unless your spouse commits adultery/fornication. This movie seems to say it's okay to go against the word of God if you're in love. In fact, christianity was more of a theory in this movie than it was a practice....by even the protagonist! I laugh as I think of the scene where Ce-Ce Peniston's character says seductively, "I'm looking for a man with his mind on Jesus" Yet she's dressed like a hooker. Speaking of clothing, why did Ce-Ce seem to change outfits even in the middle of scene. They go on a date and she's dressed one way, by the time they come home she has on something different; with no logical explanation. And please explain why they had someone's grandfather playing the role of Rico Suave. Maybe the movie would have actually been worth while had he looked more like the man of any woman's dream. I felt more like telling him about AARP than I did falling in love with him. In addition, the soundtrack, IT-WAS-JUST-ANNOYING. At some parts it was even hard to hear what the characters were saying because of the music. I just wanted the maddness to stop! Lastly, It seems as if the director tried to portray single church women as being overwhelmingly desperate (although some are) However, having pamela fall so quickly for bryant was just, well, almost juvenile...perhaps even a disrespect to women at large. Overall, this movie made me want to puke. PASTOR Larry "Flash" Jenkins really needs to get some true insight on the conditions of the church and maybe even go back and read the bible for himself for clarity


this one deserves a big fat zero
	this has got to be one of the WORST, most unrealistic movies to date. i never have high expectations for lesbian flicks--rarely are they done well. this one, however, takes it to a whole new level. what was courtney love thinking?!

you'll regret wasting your money on this. i can't even fathom why it's gotten decent reviews so far


Fun interviews, but NO song shown in entirety
	Cheap Trick is undoubtedly one of the best live acts around today.
They have such great stage charisma, top notch talent, and they consistently get better with age!  What other band sounds better 30 years later?

After my disappointment with the Special One CD, I was excited to hear about this DVD; I heard most Special One songs live, and couldn't understand why they translated to tape poorly.  Having these songs stripped and performed live would be exactly the hot product to put out.  And the songs DO sound much better now, such tremendous intensity Robin has live, the guitars and bass sound great, and there's a great build up to the climax of each song.

However, what's really the downer about this DVD is that although you get fun fictious anecdotes and silly interviews of the band between every track, you then get 2/3 of each live song.  NOT A SINGLE SONG APPEARS HERE IN ITS ENTIRETY.  It's like a Behind the Music (without drama or drugs) based around a new live show.  The banter is great, but this clip-show format KILLS the replay value of this disc.

The closest comparison I can give is the 2-DVD version of Silver, how the second DVD has fun clips and chat between tracks and then overlays into the songs.  That's exactly what this is like, however, you do not get the benefit of the complete uncut show.

Bonus features are fun, with the band and their families visiting Japan, although the two live special appearances they played are again not shown in their entirety.

Perhaps someday we'll get the Budakan show on DVD or an updated Every Trick in the Book DVD.

Update 6/14/05:  Exactly a year later, I've still yet to pop this into my DVD player for a second watch, and Cheap Trick's still my favorite band.


Too Sympathetic Towards Da Vinci Code, One-Sided Experts, Still Debunks!
	This DVD gives documentary coverage concerning such DA VINCI CODE topics as Rosslyn Chapel, the Priory of Scion, the Knights Templar, the Gnostic Gospels, Le Dossier Secrets, Da Vinci paintings, and Opus Dei.

This DVD, BEYOND THE DA VINCI CODE seems to bend over backwards, measuring every narrated word, to try to support and be sympathetic towards the Dan Brown allegations made in his novel--despite the evidence and expert interviews that they themselves provide in this documentary, they still seem to be in favor of what Dan Brown has written in the DA VINCI CODE.

Out of a half dozen expert interviewees, the most notable are two "big" names who are MAJOR influences on THE DA VINCI CODE book. Margaret Starbird, author of THE WOMAN WITH THE ALABASTER JAR; and Richard Leigh, one of three authors of HOLY BLOOD, HOLY GRAIL, (which was a NY Times Bestseller in 1982), both appear throughout this program.

These two are probably the biggest proponents of the Jesus/Magdalene conspiracy today, after Dan Brown himself. So it is especially meaningful when Richard Leigh and Margaret Starbird disagree with what Dan Brown has written!

According to expert interviewee Richard Leigh, though THE DA VINCI CODE book says that the Knights Templar found documents to prove the Jesus/Magdalene conspiracy, in reality, NOBODY knows what, if anything, was found by the Knights Templar in Solomon's Temple.

Leigh also says the whole business about the pentagram, pentacles, 5-pointed stars as mainly representing the "sacred feminine" is NONSENSE--that symbol has been used throughout history to represent other things just as often!

Richard Leigh also explains that the original Priory of Scion was last referenced in 1619, but the modern day Priory of Scion people from the last 50 years are "bonkers," trying to present a hoax of the LE DOSSIER SECRETS, to try to gain political influence for themselves.

This LE DOSSIER SECRETS, which appears on the bogus "FACT" page at the beginning of THE DA VINCI CODE book attempts to show a traceable genealogy of descendents of Jesus, but has been debunked for decades in France. It does NOT belong on a page titled "FACT" in the DA VINCI CODE book! That is very misleading, not factual. Brown says the LE DOSSIER SECRETS were discovered, but leaves out the fact that they are commonly known to be phoney!

Margaret Starbird, another major influence on the Dan Brown novel, says that even though she believes in the Jesus/Magdalene bloodline, there is NO PROOF of the bloodline lasting into the French Merovingian line of kings, circa the first millenium A.D.

The documentary, using other expert interviewees and location footage, goes on to debunk the ridiculous claim of the Rose Line alignments being found in significant locations throughout THE DA VINCI CODE novel; as well as showing there is no evidence that Leonardo Da Vinci was a member of the Priory of Scion, let alone the Grandmaster; the rose is NOT the symbol for the Priory of Scion; and Opus Dei has NO INTEREST in the "secret" bloodline of Jesus/Magdalene because they don't believe it even exists.

Sadly, most of the debunking occurs towards the end of the show, in brief statements, before quickly moving on to the next topic; while most of the screen time is spent romanticizing and retelling what Dan Brown's DA VINCI CODE book claims about the Jesus/Magdalene conspiracy.

Overall I was disappointed by this HISTORY CHANNEL DVD for presenting such seemingly wishful support while showing that so much just ain't so in the DA VINCI CODE book--though I am not surprised, the HISTORY CHANNEL usually sides against Christianity on issues to support atheism in their shows, in my opinion.

A much better DA VINCI CODE debunking DVD is BREAKING THE DA VINCI CODE, which more clearly presents the evidence without romanticizing the novel's lies about history and Jesus


Only mildly interesting, and no "classic"
	I saw this at the library and brought it home, thinking it might be interesting to watch. I very rarely watch films made after the 1950's, but this one looked as if it could be enjoyable. It ended up being only mildly enjoyable, and a bit boring. I felt that within all the time it ran, we didn't really get a good understanding of the inner being of the main characters; seemed to remain in shallow waters all along. The film was sort of good...pretty photography,and for the most part it seemed like the costumes, hair, way of speaking, etc. were accurate for the time period (so often such movies are so obviously modern people dressed up and pretending to be from way back when) but something just wasn't quite right, and it is hard to know exactly what it was. I was surprised and disappointed that there was quite a long scene with male nudity which to me was quite unnecessary and inappropriate. I think the whole swim scene could have been done effectively without showing full nudity. I am grateful the women in the film remained properly clothed. So I would not recommend this film for families with young  children, because of the nudity.


This Disney release was rushed.
	I'm a language teacher and I have a number of DVDs that I use at school as language tools.  DVDs are great because they're inexpensive teaching aids when it comes to foreign languages...but only when the DVDs actually have other tracks than English.  Nowadays practically every released movie has language tracks and sometimes subtitles in other languages but this DVD seems like a hearkening back to the dark ages when people were lucky just to get a movie on this format and no extra effort whatsoever was put into a movie's release on DVD.  I was pretty disappointed to discover just as the DVD was shipping that it wasn't what I thought it was going to be.  I suppose it's my fault for assuming, but I feel ripped off just the same


The cell phone is the main character
	The most interesting part of this action movie is the centrality of the cell phone. The movie is a Nokia product placement, highlighting what awful danger you are in if you are not connected and, conversely, what a phone can do for you if you have one. The plot centers on Jessica (Kim Basinger) who is abducted because the bad guys think she has something that they need. Mystery #1: What is it?

After lots of running/driving in various parts of L.A. the bad guys round up Jessica's family, while on the other end a pretty guy turned superhero and a would-be day spa owner cop are trying to help them. Mystery #2: how will the cell phone save the day?

Mystery #3. Watch for the credits at the end of the film. They show up on a...? Yep, you got it


Horrible DVD transfer
	This is the WORST transfer of a movie (that is not a tape-to-tape before DVD bootleg) that I have ever seen.  Many scenes in the daylight show a jiggling reflected lights, or so it appears, and lines dance around with the sound.  It was so bad I thought it was in individual damaged DVD, until I read other reviews here and on IMDB.

This is far worse than most cheapie transfers that are no longer owned but are in the public domain.  At least in those instances they usually have the excuse that the print they are working from is old and worn.  I have a much better video of Exodus on VHS tape in EP!

And this movie is currently being offered at Amazon for $14.95.  Don't bother!  Tape it off TCM and you'll have a far higher quality visual record.

As for the movie itself, despite good actors and one of the most wonderful music scores, it's very flat.  Kirk Douglas would have been a far better choice than Newman, who acts like he just came off a binge after a losing pool streak.  Nonetheless, it should not be sold with in lousy visual copies


watered down unanswered questions
	I unfortunately bought 4 of the ramtha dvds at the same time.. this was the best of them.. the others were pure wastes of money. While this one didnt answer many questions and ramtha takes forever to make a point. if you've seen "what the bleep" dont waste your time or money on these ramtha dvds.


An Invitation to Open Your Wallet...
	Wow!  Practice a few vapid platitudes and wield some handy aphorisms and woo-woo sounding phrases, change your voice, and you, too, can be a CHANNELER! For money!  I'm definitely in the wrong occupation.  Has anybody ever thought to question "Ramtha" on a few specifics that a 35,000 year old being from "Atlantis" should know?  Did Ramtha's ancient society speak Indian-accented English?  What an amazing stroke of luck!  What did Ramtha's people do for agriculture and diet, how was his/her society structured, what tools did they use, and where was "Atlantis" precisely located?  I'm certain that archaelogists and anthropologists could benefit from such knowledge that such a wise being could impart after miraculously surviving 35 millenia--or how many years precisely, and in what reckoning?  Could Ramtha show us some writing samples in Atlantean script?  Linguists could help here.  Or--is it just possible that JZ Knight and her kind are great at pulling one over on us because we WANT and NEED to believe?  Isn't that a more realistic explanation?  What does that say about those who buy into this?


Pretty Woman Meets Toxic Tort
	Even though I would agree that "Erin Brockovich" is an entertaining movie, Julia Roberts performance in it is no more Oscar-worthy than was her performance of a prostitute in "Pretty Woman."  I am second to no one in enjoying a good "David and Goliath" story, but this movie has such shaky roots in reality, it is more of a tall tale, than the "true" story of a historic class action suit that, I would imagine, left more unhappy plaintiffs, than it did satisfied ones.  However, as the movie title implies, this is indeed Erin Brockovich's story, in the same way that the "Xena" character is the main attraction in "Xena: Warrior Princess" (though it should be noted that Xena's wardrobe is considerably more modest than that of the Erin Brockovich character).

Erin Brockovich is a vain, brassy, boorish, single mother of three young children, with no marketable work skills, a transparently opportunistic manner, who dresses very much the same way as the prostitute character Roberts played in "Pretty Woman" (prior to Richard Gere's character taking her on the infamous Rodeo Drive shopping spree).  The movie's beginning finds Erin unemployed and pursuing a personal injury lawsuit in connection with an automobile accident; her lawsuit is lost, primarily thanks to her own disastrous testimony (swearing, cursing and shrieking from the witness stand) while being questioned by opposing counsel.   Unbelievably, Erin parlays the failed lawsuit into a job at her attorney's (played by Albert Finney) firm, mainly by pushing her way into the office and ensconcing herself at a desk.   Later, while handling the paperwork for a run-of-the-mill, pro bono, real estate sale, Erin discovers the file contains the seller's medical records, that, for reasons she (correctly) does not understand, seem to be of particular interest to the buyer, the mega utility company, Pacific Gas and Electric.  Erin independently embarks on her own personal investigation of the case and discovers that PG E had (for decades) negligently contaminated the ground water (surrounding one of their power plants in/near Hinkley, CA on the edge of the Mojave Desert) with toxic, hexavalent chromium.  This discovery leads to the queen mother of all class-action lawsuits (at least in terms of the award), in which hundreds of Hinkley residents sue PG E (by and through the representation of Erin's boss) in a toxic tort action that eventually nets a 330 million dollar settlement for the plaintiffs.

Roberts gives a photogenic, if not especially gifted, performance in her role as Erin. The movie contains a plethora of flattering shots of Roberts (literally gushing out skin-tight, low-cut, bustier-inspired "work clothes" that would never be permissible attire for any employee of a law firm on this planet) as she engages in warm and fuzzy discourses with the unsuspecting and unsophisticated Hinkley residents. While there is much to be said for Erin's apparent drive and tenacity as she pursues the plaintiffs in the suit, she is not an especially likeable character; rather, she is rude, verbally abusive and only conciliatory and kind when and if it serves her interests.

Albert Finney is considerably more appealing and believable as Ed Masry, the aged and  weary attorney who is Erin's boss.  The bantering that occurs between the two is generally amusing; unfortunately thanks to the inept direction and camera work, the focus for these scenes seems to be more on Roberts (strutting about in short leather skirts and noisy, five-inched-heeled mules) than on the sometimes-interesting personality dynamics that seemingly exists between the two characters.  Aaron Eckhart plays the affable, gentle biker and next-door-neighbor, George, who becomes Erin's boyfriend-by-convenience.  The "convenience" factor is totally one-sided and for Erin's benefit exclusively; she  unabashedly uses George for free, live-in childcare, thereby giving her the necessary freedom to assist Masry as they put together the historic case.  Erin eventually winds up receiving a staggering two million dollar "bonus" check  (from Masry) when the tort action case settles; contrastingly, George gets a "thanks" for his nanny services from Erin and his walking papers.

The plaintiffs in the case are an assortment of simple individuals with unpretentious outlooks on life, who have been dealt a dirty hand by the utility giant.  Though the Hinkley residents are sympathetically portrayed, make no mistake-this movie is about Erin Brockovich (indeed, I do not think there is a single scene in which the chacracter is not present) and less about the brave struggles with life-threatening, generation-spanning illnesses that the real-life plaintiffs were forced to face, due to the toxicity in their water source.  Erin Brockovich is presented to the viewing audience (in typical Hollywood fashion) as a sort of heroine; but in fairness it would seem more accurate to say that she was a woman who indiscriminately used people, walked on others when necessary and seized opportunity after opportunity until she eventually struck it lucky and got rich.  Is the movie entertaining-absolutely.   Inspiring- not even slightly.


Worst workout ever
	This is the worst Workout tape that I have ever purchase, the trainer switches moves to quick and doesnt explain what she is doing like she expects you to know before hand what she is about to do. I am personally gonna smash my copy of it. Only reason I gave it 1 star is because the ratings dont go lower


Liked this one the least......
	maybe because I didn't like Porco. Everything was sub-par for me. Animation is definitely not as good as his later movies. Not enough weirdness, tried too much for the plot. Everything was just too ho-hum. As if he tried to carry the whole movie on Porco's shoulders. But once you got past the fact that everyone else was human and Porco was a pig there wasn't anything else there.


That's The Grudge, huh?
	This was not very good, in my opinion. The Ring scared the bejeezus outta me. This was not scary. Two weeks afterwards, I still find my mind wandering about one thing...why the heck didn't they just kick that little boy in the head and send him accross the room? If I walk into my house and see a half-naked boy meowing and hissing at me, I'm gonna flip him over my knee and give him a good spankin


You've Got to be Kidding Me
	While some movies require that you throw out your disbelief, I had a very hard time doing so with this movie.  This movie was just plain stupid.  They should have kept this film story in the states.  Once everything moves over to Tokyo, the film plummets into inauthenticity the likes of which I haven't seen in a long time.  I would have respected the film 1,000 times more had it ended when the main character goes to Japan.

So let's get this straight, Japanese high school students act like American high school students?  Lucas Black's character is simply told to go to a Japanese high school where he will simply pick up the language and make do?  Everybody speaks English ? His father lives in a tiny apartment yet has a garage that's about double the size of his apartment?

I would have much preferred subtitles and a story that felt, looked and sounded more Japanese.  Japanese students are among some of the most polite students you will ever meet.  The Japanese culture is steeped and immersed in being respectful, polite and dutiful.  Real Japanese high school students would be embarassed by the way their culture was represented here.  Actually they probably wouldn't be embarassed, they would laugh at the film's poor attempt in showing true or even remotely true Japanese culture.  Japanese culture is not steeped in American hiphop and egocentric behavior and it's a pity so many Americans will see this film and actually think that Japanese students are just like American students.  There would be nothing further from the truth.  Japanese students do not act, look or sound like what was filmed here.  Not by a long shot.

Given my dislike of how the Japanese culture was handled in this film, it left me finding the plot irrelevant.  The plot was OK but it would have been much better if they had either stuck to a more authentic representation of Japanese culture or kept the story in the states.


Downright Abyssmal
	I'm making an exception to my usual practice of not reviewing anything on amazon, due to the utter vileness of this movie.  I saw it when it came out in theaters and hated it, and then a friend purchased the DVD and convinced me to give it a second chance...  all in all, this movie ended up taking about four hours of my life that I will never get back.

The performances are thin and uneven, the plot is inconsistent, and the dialogue sounds like it was pulled from fortune cookies made by the cast of Friends.  To be fair, this movie does face several major obstacles.  It has the misfortune to depend on the "acting" of glorified Ken doll Freddie Prinze, Jr. and the vastly overrated Julia Stiles, and in addition to trying to rise above these challenges, it also attempts to survive the intrusion of Ashton Kutcher.  It fails on all counts.

I do not hate the whole romantic comedy genre; nor do I hate the "teen" movie sub-genre, under which some would place "Down to You."  (In fact, "Can't Hardly Wait" is one of my favorite movies.)  I simply hate BAD movies, and this movie is a true abomination.  If you enjoy the experience of wanting to drill into your own skull, then by all means, buy this DVD.  If, however, you value your sanity, then please do not make the same mistake I did; stay far, FAR away from this movie


Treasure fans Beware!
	Many of these shorts on this DVD (as well as the other DVD's in this series) have been on the treasures allready so i recomend passing on these DVD's besides all the dirt and the bad restoration you'll see on the cartoons


Pretty Revealing
	This DVD exposes the Ultimate Warrior as 25% postitive and 75% negative.
I do believe that Jim Hellwig does suffer from narcissm in relation to his ongoing identity crisis.  Just another case of a wreslter who couldn't seperate himself from the character, and even still till this day as he is retired give speaches to colleges.  The only thing that bothers me is that Jim Hellwig wasn't involved in this dvd to give his perspective and opinions.  He was offered to participate and again offered to make his story heard before and after the fact.  Jim Hellwig declined,   used it as another opportunity to initiate a lawsuit.
This guy did make an impact in the wrestling world, but it was too shortlived.  Fans can chalk it up as a cool memory, but unfortunately not one linked with any high level of respect like we can with Flair, Piper, Hogan, and the most respected of all The Undertaker


Loaded deck shoots blanks
	Considering the sensational cast (Eli Wallach, Terrence Hill, Bud Spencer, Kevin McCarthy and Brock Peters), the Euro-western era it was made in and the locations where it was shot, Ace High is a major disappointment. The plot is uninvolving and incoherent, the cinematography is cramped and completely lacking in style, the music is weak during a time that spawned so many memorable soundtracks and the direction lacks any focus whatsoever. The editing looks like it was performed with a butcher's knife. After the first ten minutes, I knew I'd made a mistake buying it. A boring 120 minute piece of junk, Ace High is hopelessly outgunned by any number of great Italian westerns including Corbucci's The Mercenary or Parolini's Sabata series. Save your fistful of dollars for a better film


The Character of Martha Dunstock
	Rather than give another general review as others have kindly done,  my review focuses on one aspect of the film, indeed one character, that of Martha.

Martha Dunstock is known throughout the film as Martha Dumptruck. Even the film credits include the nickname `Dumptruck' besides the character's surname (evidently feeling the need to labour the point). Portrayed as unattractive and pathetically grateful for any attention she is given, she unwittingly provides the Slater character with information enabling him to murder a student. Later, when the cult status of the `suicides' (that is, murdered students) becomes apparent, Martha attempts her own suicide by walking into the path of traffic. But her attempt is shown as a failure. At the end of the film Martha is bruised and now disabled, in an electric wheelchair. Ryder's character, having finished her voyage of self-realisation, rejects the school Prom night and instead invites Martha to stay in with a video and popcorn. Martha gratefully accepts and the closing scenes show Ryder walking along the corridor while Martha encircles her like a planet around the sun.

The image of Martha in her wheelchair, an object of pity for Ryder and for the audience, signifies to us fears of being different, of not being beautiful, of not being loved and respected. Martha is the person we are all frightened of becoming. She is given no means of solving her predicament by the film maker. And though some of us in the audience may be fat, or disabled, or both, we may yet still fear Martha, and are invited to consider Ryder's protagonist's journey of self discovery as our own, even is in physical and social reality, we are more like Martha.

For this reason, `Heathers' fails as an exploration of the `Hell' of High School ( a description often used by Buffy/Angel/ Firefly's Joss Whedon). Those in the audience NOT as thin and complying with Western standards of `beauty' as the protagonists (probably the majority of us) ultimately may find the so-called subversion of cruel hierarchy in this film just that little too shallow, leaving a bitter after-taste. The way `fat' people are portrayed in films such as these unfortunately often reflect the predictable, transparent and absurd fixations of the film makers. Sadly this is happening even today - in some ways it has gotten even worse since the Western World decided to wage a 'war on fat' (to quote Paul Campos) - and even at best it is lazy film-making.


One Starr is far, too much
	Those of you who remember Ryan Starr from American Idol know why she quickly became "has been" material for VH1's the Surreal Life. Ryan Starr also happens to be the worst actress I have ever watched on film, television and or commercials.  The director must have agreed with me becaue there are very few shots of Ryan that last more than 10 seconds at a time.  Her dialogue is kept short and simple, and when she does have more than 3 lines at once, the complete lack of feeling, expression   emotion in her voice makes you consider turning off the movie and doing something worthwhile, like cleaning out the fridge or picking at your hang-nails.  That is all I can say, I would really like to put this movie behind me and never speak of it again


Disingenuous Tripe
	Whatever else the GLTB community may find laudable about this waste of a video disk, the undeniable fact is that the cover blurbs coyly and disingenuously suggest that it is a comedy, and that is a boldfaced lie.  Featuring world famous funny man Dom DeLuise, the movie is described as what happens when he casts real life lesbians in the roles of two on-stage lesbians...and "sparks fly."  As it is, the only sparks that probably flew occurred when someone with greater sense tried to set fire to the master reels and destroy this boring piece of tripe.

From the movie's self-proclaimed description, and with DeLuise in a major role, the comic possibilities that suggest themselves to the potential viewer are endless:  Does DeLuise KNOW that the actresses are lesbians?  Do the production's other members? Does that derail the production?  What mayhem ensues?

In point of fact, however, the single attempt at "comedy" comes from DeLuise's portrayal of the director as a prissy, fastidious old queen, pampered and catered to by his boy-toy assistant each time he gets the vapors and overheats.

The bulk of the movie is essentially dull documentary monologue, as the "actresses" explain to the camera their respective experiences in being cast in the roles of on-stage lovers.  Unfortunately, there is nothing endearing or even slightly interesting about either character and the result is a great bore.  The few flashback scenes where the viewer actually sees the two characters practicing their on-stage roles under DeLuise's fevered direction come across as uncomfortably voyeuristic.  There is an inescapable feeling that the camera, the viewer, AND DeLuise, are intruders.

About the only thing that CAN be said about this film is that Director Lee Friedlander mercifully eschewed the usual Hollywood practice of casting preternaturally beautiful women in the lead roles, thereby adding at least a touch of reality to this otherwise banal effort; the lead actresses look like just any two women off the street.  Other reviewers have commented on the bad, infomercial level acting of the two lead characters.  Whether or not that is accurate depends upon whether the leads, Robin Greenspan and Lacie Harmon, are actually lesbians simply playing themselves.  If so, then this IS bad acting.  If the women are straight, however, one has to at least give them credit for convincing performances.  Sadly, there is not much other credit to be given to anything else about this film.


The Perfect Prescription for Insomnia
	Normally I love documentaries.  I've watched hundreds of them and with one exception I have loved them all.  However, OUTFOXED is the single most boring film I have ever seen.

A relentless rant against Rupert Murdoch's cable news station, this film could possibly interest someone who is singlemindedly obsessed with Fox News, but I cannot imagine that anyone on earth is interested enough in Fox News to remain awake while watching this movie.

Watching OUTFOXED makes me realize what a genius Michael Moore is.  Whether you love him or hate him, whether you agree with him or not, you have to admit his films are entertaining.  This film, however, is a major bore.

- Regina McMenami


Insert pun with word "con" here...
	"Con Express" has lots of action in it, which is great because this hides the poor writing and uninteresting characters. Unfortunately, the action isn't enough, and in between stunt pieces and shoot-outs, the audience is tempted to doze off. City Heat Productions isn't really known for producing films of the highest quality, so usually I go easy on them. If this were a big-budget company producing this, I'd be inclined to pan it entirely. But I wasn't expecting much and got a little more than I bargained for. The action is, for the most part, pretty good but nothing competitive with your usual dumb action movie. Flanery and Vosloo are perfectly casted, but everyone else seems to stiff to add any more flow to the movie. Vosloo especially appears to be enjoying himself as an over-the-top bad guy hijacking a train containing deadly chemicals. The film moves fast and contains shades of better movies like Under Siege 2, Con Air, Spy Game, and Speed. If you liked those, you probably won't mind this one too much. Just go easy on it


A very long political attack ad
	I was trying to think of the best short description of what this is. Sure it's a propaganda film but that doesn't mean much to most people. However, most people have seen attack ads around election time. That's what this is, a very long political attack ad, full of all the things we commonly see in such ads: distortions, sarcasm, scary close ups, mood music, mocking tone, glaring omissions, out of context quotes, etc.

That said, the most rewarding review so far must be the one by AT "DL" (New York), who basically condemns Michael Moore as pro-Bush because Fahrenheit 9/11 doesn't say Bush engineered 9/11 himself. What's next? A review that condemns AT "DL" (New York) as pro-Bush because his review didn't say that Bush flew the planes himself? Or that Bush is an alien who gave birth to Saddam and Osama on a UFO?

Just when you think you've seen the craziest conspiracy theory ..


quot;Golden Coach quot; ruined by bad mastering at end
	The DVD for  quot;The Golden Coach quot; is for the most part fine, but the final minutes, which are crucial to the full impact of the film, are ruined by deplorable mastering. The scene appears to be out of focus and the colors are washed out to the point of barely being able make out what is happening. I believe Criterion made some kind of mastering error, because Martin Scorsese's introduction to the film explicitly refers to the wonderful restored ending of the film. Criterion should withdraw the DVD and offer a replacement


NOT WORTH THE MONEY, OR THE TIME
	I WAS VERY DISAPPOINTED WITH STEVE'S PERFORMANCE.  EVENTHOUGH IT TOOK A LOT OUT OF HIM TO REFRAIN FROM SWEARING, HIS MATERIAL TOWARDS THE END OF THE SHOW BEGAN TO DWINDLE TO THE POINT THAT IT JUST BECAME PLAIN IGNORANT, ESPECIALLY IN THE PART WHERE HE WAS EXPRESSING HOW HE WOULD "KILL SOMEONE", ETC., AND GLOATING BOUT IT.  AFTER I BOUGHT IT, I LATER CAUGHT IT ON A CABLE NETWORK.  GOD MAY NOT BE "THROUGH WITH HIM YET", BUT IT WILL BE UP TO HIM (STEVE) TO REPENT ON HIS OWN.  THIS MAY BE GOOD HUMOR FOR A MORE COMPLACENT CHRISTIAN AUDIENCE


This movie is a clunker
	Wasted talent.  None of the characters are believable in the roles they are portraying.  Some funny stuff.  Craig Ferguson can do better.  Charlotte Church should stick to singing as acting is not her forte.  Every thing in this movie seems forced and there is no chemistry between the characters


Monumental issues, but fails to convince
	I have been a Le Carre fan until the end of the Cold War. I somehow still managed to follow him later for some time. But now it is over, definitely. I disliked this novel, and the movie is obnoxious. Rachel Weisz is quite ridiculous in her part. Which idiot nominated her for her Oscar is beyond the point. Zellweger got an Oscar for an even more horrible performance recently, in the otherwise quite acceptable Cold Mountain. And even the otherwise great Blanchett had to turn in an awful performance in The Aviator to get one. (Why can these nice girls not get one for one of their good movies?)
My conclusion: this world is strange. It has no idea what is good and what not.


Profoundly unfunny and completely unwatchable film.
	Completey and utterly unfunny performances by Oldman and Roth. Stoppard may be a brilliant playwright but a filmmaker he is not, having botched a great potential for his play on the big screen. We get instead a literal and utterly uncinematic treatment of his much-touted play. Watching the first fifteen minutes of "heads, heads, heads, heads, heads, heads, heads, heads, heads," is colossal torture, like status elipticus. It's suited to the stage maybe but can never play well on the big screen. Having hopes it might pick up, that was dashed as the entire film seem to lack any momentum or any type of cinematic sensibility whatsoever. A classic blunder of failing to recognize two different mediums. Don't take my word for it, watch it yourself and see.


The InCrowd is out.....
	Susan Ward,coming out of daytime and primetime soaps on TV, gave movie acting a try with this rather lame picture from AOL Films.    Director Mary Lambert tries and fails to give us a Basic Instinct story with zero script and while this was a studio pictures, it looks like Warners gave them a fairly low budget to work with.  As the lack of film sets show.   If you like Susan Ward, then give this a movie a try, if you want to hope that she gets better film roles in the future, DON"T FIND IT HERE


Is The DVD Cover Familiar To You?
	This is a pure Rip-Off from the cover of Aerosmith's Live Bootleg album from 1978...Where's the shame? Too bad Twilight are not original enough to come up with their own cover.

In another words, this DVD is pretty suck and the originality here is nowhere to be found...Especially on the cover art that they stole from a much bigger band.


DEAD MOVIE
	Shame on talented actors like Maura Tierney and Jerry Orbach for their involvement in this laughably bad mystery movie.  Uninspired direction with a trite and convoluted script combine with terrible acting to make a movie that has little to recommend it.  "Star"/co-writer John Romo is one of the worst leading men to come around the bend in some time, and this is his only film, and I can see why.  He plays a private investigator who finds himself looking into the murders of several lingerie models whose underwear was designed by Tierney, who also works in a local factory run by Orbach.  Dennis Christopher shows up as a seedy illegal alien investigator; and June Lockhart and Lyle Waggoner lend their names to supporting roles as Tierney's estranged parents.  The movie professes to make some statement on the poor treatment of immigrants but it's so shoddily included, it makes no statement at all.
Little heard of movie; I can see why


fake "Dog Whisperer" - studious ignorance
	Cesar Milan, the so-called 'dog whisperer', bases his training methods on a dog behavior model that is so out of date as to be archaic - from the dinosaur age. He teaches that dogs base all their behavior on their pack status, and that you need to use painful 'corrections' to convince them that you are Alpha. This idea hasn't the slightest shred of evidence going for it.

Yes, dogs do have dominance roles, but that hasn't the slightest thing to do with problem behaviors. Dogs do 'bad' doggy behaviors because they work. Dog guards his food bowl? Dog wants to keep food and knows that growling keeps you away. Dog pulls on the leash? Dog wants to get somewhere faster and knows that pulling speeds things up. The dog doesn't care whether or not you're alpha; he only cares that what he's doing works to get him what he wants.

Technically, Cesar's methods work. But they use force, fear, and pain to teach the dog, when you can teach the same things faster with the proper positive motivation and non-forceful techniques. I have three hyper, active, highly driven Border Collies, and they're all very obedient and mannerly. They don't haul me around the leash, nor do they leap at guests, nor do they ignore me when I tell them something. And I don't need to be 'Alpha' to get them that way; neither does anyone else.

I strongly suggest that you don't buy this item. Good books to start with are Karen Pryor's 'Getting Started: Clicker Training for Dogs', Melissa Alexander's 'Click for Joy!' (also with a great problem solving section), and Jean Donaldson's 'The Culture Clash'. You can easily have a happy, obedient, well behaved dog without causing him fear and pain


Movie great, DVD substandard
	The sound on this DVD is absolutely horrible.  The dialogue is at a much lower volume than the music and sound effects, making it impossible to view without constantly tinkering.  I also have the VHS, on which the sound is perfect, so I can still watch this wonderful movie.  But I would sure like to get my money back for the DVD


This review is more about the movie transfer than the movie
	This review is more about the "SuperBit" transfer of the movie to DVD than the movie itself.  The movie itself is great and I highly recommend it.

However, the transfer on to this 2002 "SuperBit" version is very lacking in several areas.  The SUPERBIT idea is a good one that is poorly executed on this transfer.  The original intent was to maximize video and audio quality by limiting or even eliminating extra features (like trailers, documentaries, featurettes, and "Making-Of" snippets) to reserve space such that the movie can be presented in the highest quality.

They have failed to do that here.  The video and audio quality are not what they could be.

First, the movie is encoded onto a DVD-9 RSDL disc.  This means the DVD is capable of storing 9.5 GB of data.  However, not even 6 GB is used. As a result, the video and audio quality is not what it could be.

"Panic Room" is a 112 minute movie.  Any movie that is 2 hours long or less should be able to easily fit on a DVD-9 disc at maximum encoding rate, provided no extra features are placed on the disc. The maximum video encoding rate to fit a 2 hour (or less) movie onto a DVD-9 disc is 9.8 Mbps.  However, this SuperBit version averages only 6.5 Mbps.

This SuperBit version offers audio encoding in 3 types: Dolby 2.0 Surround 192kbps, Dolby Digital 5.1, and DTS 5.1.  At first glance this is great news, until you discover that the DTS encoding isn't as high quality as it could be.  The DD 2.0 Surround is presented at a bitrate of 192bkps as expected.  So is the DD 5.1 at the expected 384kbps rate.  DTS 5.1 can go as high as 1536 kbps, but on this disc is presented at only 768 kbps.  This is unsatisfactory given the fact that one-third of the available disc space of the DVD-9 isn't even used.  The DTS encoding rate should be at least 1024 kbps for a movie like this.  This would represent a 33% increase in filespace for the audio portion, but a much larger increase in audio quality to the human ear.  The filespace increase would be only about 256 MB, which is very reasonable when you have over 3 GB of space not even being used.

If they had encoded "Panic Room" on this SuperBit disc at an average video bitrate of 9.5 Mbps, and removed the trailers and features, they would have had enough space to present all three audio encodings above, especially the DTS 5.1 encoding at the 1024 kbps rate I stated.

Such an encoding process would have used 9.4 GB of the 9.5 GB of available space.  A much better way to fill up the DVD-9 disc and adhere to the spirit of the SuperBit ideal.  The result would have been a movie encoded to DVD-9 at a much higher video and audio quality than what was presented on this disc.

I notice that they will be offering a repackaged SuperBit version in October 2006.  Hopefully that version will fix the flaws I just mentioned and present the movie in the highest encoding rate both video-wise and audio-wise.  It might even offer the better DD-EX 6.1 and DTS-ES 6.1 audio encodings for that extra rear center channel that many A/V receivers can process now.

Another thing I am noticing is that many times, for popular movies, they are released them in 2-disc editions.  The first disc contains only the movie and the second disc is all the extra stuff.  If the movie contains both DD and DTS encodings on the first disc, with a very high video bitrate of 9.0 Mbps or greater, it is already in the SuperBit mold.


Zero stars: Fincher, what exactly were you thinking?
	I got nothing to say. Was this supposed to be intense? Was this supposed to be a thriller? It was boring. Horrible acting, except for Forest Whitaker: but even he couldn't save this one. Pure Fincher? Pure trash. Horrible, horrible, horrible. Quite possibly one of the worst movies I've ever seen. I am just too upset to type, I can't believe I actually waisted my time with this


Femme Fatales or Very Lame?
	Terrible direction, terrible writing, it almost feels like the director didn't know what he was working with. Although this movie wanted to be in the same race and quality of the movie CLUE, it fails to realize that the plot and characters are incredibly riculous and not funny ha ha but funny stupid. It was a total watse of good celluloid


Pan and Scan - DVD is NOT letterbox!
	The film deserves 5 stars but the DVD only gets 1.  Why:  no letterbox format.  After waiting years for this fabulous film to come out on DVD, why would they give us full screen / pan   scan?  Yes, the quality and color are great but oh, what we're missing on the sidelines


Sorry, Spy Hard is a waste of time
	I love Leslie Nielsen, but this movie is not funny. His better movies are Wrongfully Accused and the Naked Gun movies


Quack,Quack!
	"The Hospital" as well-crafted as it is is a wholly unpleasant viewing experience.  It is not so much a dark comedy but a mean-spirited one.  I was a fan of Paddy Chayefsky's "Network" and at least that film had a little bit of light to compensate for the darkness.  I'm led to believe that Chayefsky must have had a bad experience with the medical profession and this resulted in him skewering it as a whole.  If George C.Scott's character is supposed to be the voice of reason why is it that when he's not brooding, drinking, or contemplating suicide he's off on some rant?  Diana Rigg is completely wasted in this film.  Her whole purpose here seems to be to sport a short mini-skirt and be ravaged by Scott's character.  The film is also not helped by the lead-footed direction of Arthur Hiller.  The medical profession can be lampooned but don't look for it in this uneven tirade of a film


There's no person like this person
	Betty Hutton has a colossal amount of energy. She seems to be doing everything she possibly can to be entertaining. She's a good sport about a funny but unflattering getup in her early hayseed numbers. Her voice is sturdy, durable, indestructible.

But oh my God, her acting choices ... She and the Indians are stampeding around with performances far too broad for the medium of film (whereas Buffalo Bill, allegedly a larger-than-life character, looks like a corpse by comparison, and Howard Keel, in only his second film, must manage to act like these are human beings he's relating to).

Take a look at Betty Hutton's reaction upon seeing Howard Keel for the first time -- the mugging would be considered "a bit much" if seen from the back row of an amphitheater. At best, her performance is clownlike; at worst, it's apelike. Little of her performance overlaps with what we know as humanity. It's a magnificent effort, and a stunning testimony to her desire to please, but her comedy has no reality, no nuance, no connection to any sincere emotion. She seizes on "hick" and drives that into the ground, then she plays nothing but "infatuated" for a while before toggling to "resentful" and so forth ... It's a series of masks and set pieces, but it's not a character. Judy Garland was in sad shape at that point in her life, but even then she would have been able to find the vulnerability flickering behind Annie's rootin'-tootinest moments, and she wouldn't have neglected Annie's grit even in the melting sentimental scenes. Nobody can do vulnerability like Judy, and yet few are identified so strongly as survivors -- both qualities that would serve this character. Annie could be a wonderful character, a great self-conflicted mess of strength, longing, guts, femininity, skill, naivete and worldiness, all trying to cohere into a woman who can win her man -- but instead Betty Hutton makes her a pop-eyed, crude cartoon with the subtlety of an iron skillet. I am surprised that Hutton didn't insist on doing the role with a couple of teeth blacked out. Maybe they just wouldn't let her. The scenes where she tries to read out loud are compelling for the way they illustrate someone playing for a cheap laugh, oblivious to any further potential the character and situation might provide.

I kept replaying scenes over and over in awe before moving on, and the memory of Betty Hutton's performance is branded on my brain, but it's because this performance seems like it's following the traditions of some other culture, some other world. It's like going to a sideshow.

That said, the tunes are a non-stop parade of hits -- there probably isn't any other show in which the composer so successfully nails so many numbers one after another, in wildly different styles, with effective melodies worth remembering. The classic tunes just keep coming. The movie works as spectacle and songfest, and as a startling specimen of what audiences would swallow in the days before political correctness. But if you're looking for a portrayal of a woman with genuine feelings and motivations, you might be distracted by the gorgeous blonde chimpanzee who steals all her scenes.


A B-movie with a little more substance
	Michael Moriarity is my hero! He is just one of the coolest actors in my opinion. He has done such great B-movies as this, Q, and It's Alive 3: Island of the Alive. How awesome is he?? Anyways, I think that this movie was hilarious! I think a lot of people take this movie too seriously, thinking that it is going to be your typical movie. But you shouldn't because not only is this a B-movie, but IT IS supposed to be funny. My favorite part is when "the stuff" started bubbeling out of the ground and that old hick guy just starts eating it. Who would do that?? I just started laughing by butt off when that happened. So if you watch this movie, just sit back and enjoy it for what it's worth, don't be too critical on it.
What I learned from The Stuff: Dairy products are evil! Especially if they come from with in the earth!
If you like The Stuff, I recommend: Watching other B-movies, such as Island of the Alive 3, Zombi 3 and 4, etc


What a Letdown!
	I love Jeff Goldblum, but he didn't carry this film. The film was ruined for me the second Julane Moore (yuck!) and the ridiculous, lame token Black daughter of Goldblum showed up no doubt to satisfy nauseating political correctness in Hollywood all at the expense of this bust of a film. It's obviously too much to ask for a white protagonist to actually have a white daughter. What a concept. It just added to the disbelief of the characters (stay Goldblum), the storyline, and the ultimate letdown of this much anticipated sequel. Jurassic Park III wasn't much better


Great visuals but couldn't stomach the horrible dialogue
	I am a big fan of Frank Miller's work and I loved reading the graphic novels the movie was adapted from. When I saw this film I was blown away by the visuals. It had an amazing graphic style that was very different than anything I had seen in a movie before.

Having mentioned it's good points I have to say I was enormously disappointed with the dialogue and some of the story adaptation to screen. It seems to me those involved in the screenplay and production were too concerned with adapting this in an overly faithful manner from the graphic novel to the big screen. For the most part the bad dialogue and some of the terrible acting in parts were just too painful to sit through. I had to keep checking to see if my ears were bleeding yet.

Each extraordinarily bad line or horribly acted sequence made we wince like I was being mugged. What works in a graphic novel doesn't necessarily work as well when adapted directly to screen without a bit more adaptation than you'll see here. All the characters were severely and tragically 2-dimensional with none of the depth you get from reading the graphic novel and very little attention was paid to developing better dialogue suitable for a big screen experience. Also, many of the big name actors in this movie were capable of much better performances than they displayed here.

Purists and rabid fans of the graphic novel may be capable of somehow finding a way to look past all the terrible acting and awful dialogue that is rife throughout the film. However, my bottom line opinion is it's a good film to watch for the visual look only, but you will almost certainly enjoy it far more if you keep the 'mute' button on. This film had the potential to be truly great but it is extremely disappointing that it fell so far short of that mark