Sonatine (1993)

Director: Takeshi Kitano

Starring: Takeshi Kitano

More info: IMDb

Tagline: His mob boss double-crossed him. Now it's payback time!

Plot: A world-weary yakuza in Tokyo is assigned to take his clan to Okinawa to help settle a dispute between two factions. He's suspicious of the assignment, but he goes, and within a couple days, his role remains unclear and several of men are dead. He retreats to a house on a remote beach to wait. The first night there , he rescues a young woman from an assault, and they develop a playful relationship. Over time, it becomes clear he's been set up, sent to Okinawa so that others can take over his lucrative territory. As his clan dwindles, he plans a revenge.

My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again? Nah. Once was enough.

Here's an atypical crime/gangster picture. There's not an awful lot of action but there's enough. The strange thing is how relaxed and easy the film moves along. Kitano's character is very sure of himself and has all the patience in the world. Once they're in hiding on the beach, they find all manner of things to do to pass the time, much like a forced vacation with no communication to the outside world. There's plenty of humor to be found in their boredom. The juxtaposition of killers playing like children is fascinating and something you don't see. SONATINE is an unusual film that may try your patience if you're waiting for gunfights but for others it's an exercise in genre bending that succeeds like few others.

Private Parts (1997)

Director: Betty Thomas

Starring: Howard Stern (and gang), Paul Giamatti

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Never before has a man done so much with so little!

Plot: Having always wanted to be a disc-jockey, Howard Stern works his way painfully from radio at his 1970's college to a Detroit station. It is with a move to Washington that he hits on an outrageous off-the-wall style that catches audience attention. Despite his on-air blue talk, at home he is a loving husband. He needs all the support he can get when he joins NBC in New York and comes up against a very different vision of radio.

My rating: 7.5/10

Will I watch it again? Sure.


I used to listen to Stern on my commutes back in the early 90s. Once you listen to a show when something stupendously funny happens, you're hooked. I was there when he and Gilbert Gottfried left a long-ass message on Jerry Seinfeld's answering machine. I was there when the guy who pranked ABC news and Peter Jennings during the OJ Bronco escape called in. It's rare moments like that that will have you in tears with laughter. His appearances on Letterman were hilarious.


So for those gazillions of us who were fans at that time saw this flick in the theaters we were all amazed at how gentle and sweet he came across in the movie. He seemed like a genuinely nice guy. Yeah, it's got some incredibly funny bits mixed in but it's poignant and that took a lot of people by surprise. Stern's performance was shockingly good. But for my money, it's Giamatti that steals the show. He's fucking teary-eyed funny as hell.


I stopped listening to Stern before the movie came out, actually. The commute was no more and I just didn't have time (not to mention the INCREDIBLY long (and frequent) commercial breaks). PRIVATE PARTS is a nice reminder of how funny radio could be and I'm pleased that the picture is just as good now as it was 13 years ago.

Star Trek 5: The Final Frontier (1989)

Director: William Shatner

Starring: The same cast from the previous four films...and David Warner

More info: IMDb

Tagline: The Enterprise is back. This time, have they gone too far?

Plot: Capt. Kirk and his crew must deal with Mr. Spock's half brother who hijacks the Enterprise for an obsessive search for God.

My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again? Yeah.

Hi. My name is Scorethefilm, (Hi, Scorethefilm!) and I like STAR TREK V: THE FINAL FRONTIER.

I don't get why there's so much hate for this one. I guess coming off of 2, 3 & 4...yeah, it's not nearly as good but there's an awful lot to like. But first, the bad...

Uhura dancing to lure people over so they can steal their horses? THE FUCK? It's a nice looking shot and it gives her something to do besides aging but surely they could have come up with something better.


They can ALL ride horses? I understand Kirk but Spock and everyone else? Whatever.


You get one of the most awesome British character actors on the planet in your movie, David Warner, and you barely use him?


Some of the special effects are dodgy.


OK, so now for the good...

Some of the special effects look fantastic!


You get one of the most awesome British character actors on the planet in your movie, David Warner.


Jerry Goldsmith's score is outstanding and his new somber themes in the cues "The Mountain" and "An Angry God" are absolutely beautiful and some of his finest work of the last stage of his career.


An exemplary performance by DeForest Kelley in the scene where Sybok takes him back to the moment at the end of his father's life. It touched me very deeply.


The character moments between Kirk, Spock and McCoy are among their best moments together. It's in these scenes that bookend the film where we find the soul of everything that is Star Trek - humanity.

And I'm OK with the story. It feels like it could have been expanded from a TOS episode.

It was only this year that I saw ST5 for the first time although I've been listening to Goldsmith's score for twenty years. There is an awful lot to like in this film and I understand that it's flawed but there's so much good that I cannot dismiss it as easily as most. I like STAR TREK V: THE FINAL FRONTIER. There, I said it.

Star Trek 4: The Voyage Home (1986)

Director: Leonard Nimoy

Starring: Everyone from the last three pictures

More info: IMDb

Tagline: The key to saving the future, can be found only in the past.

Plot: To save Earth from an alien probe, Kirk and his crew go back in time to retrieve the only beings who can communicate with it, humpback whales.

My rating: 9/10

Will I watch it again? Oh, yeah.

Treks 2, 3 and 4 are the only ones I saw in the theater until the reboot last year. I may have seen another one but I just can't be sure. It doesn't matter anyway. I thoroughly enjoy this one. It's more light-hearted than the others and it's more fun (naturally, taking ST2 out of the equation since that one's the best one of all). The jokes are great and plentiful. Each of the cast gets their moment to shine which is a welcome sight. It didn't always happen that way. No point in going on more about it...we've all seen it. It's too bad James Horner didn't come back to score it, though. Movin' on...

Public Enemies: The Golden Age of the Gangster Film (2008)

Director: Constantine Nasr

Starring: Alec Baldwin and every badass actor that showed their dirty mugs in a gangster movie

More info: IMDb

Plot: As popular as these films were in their heyday, seminal giants like Little Caesar and Public Enemy as well as post-war gems like Key Largo and White Heat still hold power over their audiences today. Public Enemies: The Golden Age of the Gangster Film will explore the invention and development of the crime genre; the rise of Warner stars like Cagney, Bogart and Robinson; as well as directors like Walsh, Wellman and Curtiz. It will cover the films themselves and the influence they had on filmmakers all over the world; and the artistic merit that these defining classic films still warrant. Finally, the documentary will celebrate the impact that Warner Bros. Studios had in establishing the iconic Hollywood Gangster, often imitated but never equaled.

My rating: 9/10

Will I watch it again? Twice already.

For my money, you can't beat Cagney for a good gangster picture. This recent documentary covers a lot of ground and a shit load of movies in under two hours. It's a terrific starter course for anyone interested in the genre. I love them all but I'm partial to the ones from the 30s and 40s. I love documentaries like this because they provide me with a tremendous list of more movies to seek out and watch. This one is interesting and very entertaining.

Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970)

Director: Ted Post

Starring: Charlton Heston, James Franciscus, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans, Linda Harrison, Victor Buono, James Gregory

More info: IMDb

Tagline: The bizarre world you met in 'Planet of the Apes' was only the beginning... What lies beneath may be the end!

Plot: The sole survivor of an interplanetary rescue mission searches for the only survivor of the previous expedition. He discovers a planet ruled by apes and an underground city run by telekinetic humans.

My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again? Give it a few more years and I'll go through the saga again from top to bottom.

The first flick is great. It's almost a grand slam, making it a tough act to follow. It's disappointing this is what they came up with but it's not that bad. I've never read any of Pierre Boulle's novels the films are loosely based on so I don't know if any aspect of this one sprang from the books. Regardless, Franciscus looks an awful lot like Heston and that he's the sole survivor of a crew that went after Heston's ship which ended up in the same place is enough to scratch your head over but you just roll with it. There are a few bits of recall from the '68 film and it is nice when Heston shows up. He adds something to it but not enough to save it.

Trick 'r Treat (2007)

Director: Michael Dougherty

Starring: Brian Cox

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Poison, Drowning, Claw, Or Knife. So Many Ways To Take A Life.

Plot: Four interwoven stories that occur on Halloween: An everyday high school principal has a secret life as a serial killer; a college virgin might have just met the one guy for her; a group of teenagers pull a mean prank; a woman who loathes the night has to contend with her holiday-obsessed husband.

My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again? Yeah.

Here's a rare thing - a horror anthology done right. The stories are all fun and they tie into one larger one that serves as the wraparound. What's more is it's fun. I enjoyed it although I'm not as coo coo for Cocoa Puffs as a lot of people. It's remarkable that WB didn't put this out in theaters and let it sit on a shelf for a couple of years before releasing on DVD. Thankfully they at least did that. Who knows what's wrong with people that run the studios. Anyway, check this one out. It's one of the better horror anthologies out there and one of the better (and more fun) horror flicks to come out in quite some time.