SanteeFats Reviews

1408 (2007)

Not bad at all

[8/10 · 1 March 2015]

I like John Cusack. He usually plays an understated role and excels at it. In this movie he is an atheistic man who has no believe in anything supernatural and has written several books on the subjects. UNTIL he checks into room 1408 of the Dolphin Hotel. Samuel L. Jackson is the Dolphin Hotel manager and does everything in his power to keep Cusack out of room 1408. To no avail of course. Turns out there have been over fifty deaths in the room, from natural ones (?) to suicides. The hotel will no longer rent the room out until Cusack shows up. In this room Cusack finally meets his truth, well at least in this movie. He tries to escape through the duct system and runs into a couple of nightmares. He gets dumped back into the room but continues to see things. Flashbacks appear to show that Cusack was married and had a little girl with some disease. When this daughter apparently dies it seems to be what lead him to lose his faith in God. This seems to be the cause of all his writings. Towards the end of the film he is really hallucinating, the pictures on the walls not only come alive but gets dragged into a sea scene. Any way this is an entertaining show. Fopr the very end Watch It.

Solomon Kane (2009)

Pretty good

[8/10 · 22 February 2015]

Wow a SyFy movie that is actually good!! You have a mercenary who foreswears violence after he learns his soul is going to Hell. He retreats to a monastery as part of his restitution to his oath to God. After a couple of years he is told by the abbot to leave it and go out in to the world again. He joins a small group who are peace lovers, they actually resemble Pilgrims in dress. Anyway he still refuses to fight even after their small camp is attacked by the devil spawn of Malichi. He then renounces his vow of peace after they kill the father and kidnap the young daughter. Pursuing the evil ones he eventually over takes them. Along the way he has picked up some supporting forces. There is the epic battle of good versus evil and of course good wins out. The girl is rescued and the hero is saved from Hell. Basically a pretty good movie.

Paradise, Hawaiian Style (1966)

Decent plus

[7/10 · 21 February 2015]

Okay this a typical Elvis movie. He sings a lot of songs, the bikini clad women chase him and he plays the roue. Until of course he meets the ONE. In my opinion Donna Butterworth (what a name) comes close to stealing the movie. She is a cute tyke, can sing and dance a bit, and she can act. What is that old show biz adage: Never act with children or animals, they will always steal the show. Most of the movie revolves around Elvis's character trying to get a flying service off the ground :) in the Hawaiian Islands. Of course things get off to a rough start and just go down hill from there. Until the end of the movie when everything works it's self out and all becomes good.

Backstrom (2015)

Pretty good

[8/10 · 20 February 2015]

The ads where enough to get my interest even though this series is a bit outside my usual genre's. Backstrom is a refreshing cop character. The way more should be in real life but they can't because all of the PC garbage that goes on today. Yes rules need to be in place and followed but. Any way it is a good show with several very interesting law enforcement people that are added to his team, after he is returned to murder investigation from traffic enforcement of all things. Dennis Hasbert is a pastor/cop and I love his voice and acting ability. Then there is Moto, a big ass black patrolman who is trying to move on up. Gravely is a hot detective on the team who plays more by the rules than Backstrom. She is not above ignoring some rules though in solving a heinous crime. A nice twist is that Backstrom not only lives on a boat(?) but also has a boarder who is a flaming gay. Makes for some very interesting and funny situations.

Robin Hood (2010)

Not bad at all

[8/10 · 16 February 2015]

I found this movie to be very entertaining. Historically accurate? I think it rivals another Crowe move, Gladiator, for historically inaccuracies. Now I did see an edited version on the SyFy channel so I may be wrong but while Richard I was in fact killed by skillet shielding crossbowman he did not die on the field. He lingered for awhile after a "butcher" healer removed the bolt and gangrene set in. He even talked to the crossbowman and let him live. Cate Blanchet is extremely well suited for her role in this film in my opinion. She is not a good looking woman in this role but fits in so appropriately. Russel Crowe does a nice job as he who will turn in to Robin Hood (hoping for a sequel?) While I don't know if the landing sight depicted for the French invasion is valid or even accurate my first thought was who would choose such a poor landing sight? Any way entertaining but I sure won't own it.

Road to Singapore (1940)

Good stuff

[8/10 · 15 February 2015]

The first Road movie of seven. Bob Hope and Bing Crosby are low level officers on a ship. Bing is the heir to a shipping line but has no interest in taking the helm. He just wants to be fancy free to do as he pleases and he has a high maintenance fiancée that seems a bit off putting. She is extremely controlling and also very understanding about his peccadilloes. The two run out after starting a brawl on a posh yacht and to avoid Bing's impending marriage. They end up on a tramp steamer and land on a French ruled south pacific island. Here they meet Dorothy Lamour who is part of an act with Anthony Quinn. They take her away and she sets up housekeeping with them although they do not get the fringe benefits. Daddy and fiancée track them down to the island where they then get returned to civilization. It is a funny movie especially for that time period. No real sex stuff and plenty of jokes and humor.

Road to Utopia (1945)

Good stuff

[8/10 · 15 February 2015]

Another movie in the Road franchise. Bob Hope,Bing Crosby,and Dorothy Lamour appear yet again in this excellent comedy. As usual they are running from some thing or some one. In this case two killers they knock out and take their boat to Alaska. When they get there they act like the two killers, Sperry and McGurk. You know the two killers are going to show up and they do. They go after Bob and Bing along with a saloon owner and his saloon girl friend and his nefarious accomplices. All are after the goldmine map that the two have. So they go chasing all over the landscape and at the end Bob gets Dorothy for a change as a crevasse opens up and Bing is left on the other side facing a lot of the bad guys. Bing does show up after 35 years with two young hotties while an elderly Bob and Dorothy are comfortably ensconced in a mansion. They have a son who is Bing. Guess he got in before Bob did.

Snow White and the Huntsman (2012)

Good stuff

[8/10 · 13 February 2015]

All in all a big disappointment??? I don't know what movie that reviewer watched but this was a very entertaining movie in my opinion. How they made Bob Hoskins look like a dwarf is obviously due to CGI. It was definitely a good job. Now what actually pushed the envelope of believability was Kirsten Stewart's role. It is great movie fare but for some one who has been imprisoned for many years from about 10-12 years old where does she get her marital skills and acumen? Charlize Theron plays the evil one very well. Of course she gets killed by Kristen in the end. Which as evil as her character is is definitely deserved, as is every vile evil character in the movies. The dwarf's are a hoot and a vital part of the movie. Helmsworth turns out to be the reviving factor after the apple is eaten. All in all a very nice take on an old fairy tale.

Airplane vs. Volcano (2014 Video)

Okay at best

[2/10 · 3 February 2015]

I only watched this because I like Dean Cain. It started out pretty well, which surprised me since it is a SyFy movie. The scientific stuff is probably laughable but I don't know. Several stereotypes in this one. The colonel, the Arab who, while not a terrorist, tries to take over the plane with a broken booze bottle (aren't they all plastic now?) and attempts to throw Cain out of the plane, and the volcanologist who just happens to be on the plane on his way to join the monitoring team and is also a whiz at computers. The movie was okay until the last 30 minutes or so. Cain flies the airliner like it is a fighter for goodness sakes!! He uses a magma ball to knock off two damaged engines and avoids all sorts of debris, WRONG. I just can't go on with what else is so stupid about the end of this should have never in my opinion been made movie. Oh Dean WHY???

Africa Screams (1949)

Excellent

[9/10 · 31 January 2015]

May be the best Abbott and Costello movie. At least in my opinion. It is so funny. The whole film is funny from beginning to end. Lou is the cowardly foil to Bud's scheme to extort money from the people who want to find diamonds in Africa. Jack Buck and Clyde Beatty, both very famous big game hunters and trappers in their time, have small roles in this movie. After trekking through the jungle for a while they come to the diamond fields. Here there are diamonds laying all over the ground, Haha. Lou is wanted by the local cannibals but manages to not get eaten. He also comes across Bud's hidden bag of diamonds and takes them. In the end Bud leaves Lou to fend for himself. They both make it back to NYC but in a switch Bud is the flunky elevator operator and Lou owns a huge sky scraper along with his partner, a gorilla.

The Missing (I) (2003)

Pretty good

[8/10 · 19 January 2015]

Very nice, also fairly realistic in my opinion too. Apache renegades are murdering men, old and older women and kidnapping young girls/women to sell down in Mexico. Of course they screw up and capture the wrong girl when they take Lilly. Tommy Lee Jones just happens to show up right before the attacks. He is a white man who has lived extensively with the Chiricahua Apache, even marrying an Apache woman. His daughter, now a healer, hates him for having left his white family many years ago. She must turn to him though when the renegades kill her lover and another hand and take Lilly. By the way the hanging scene of the lover wrapped in raw cowhide was actually used by the Apache. As it dries out rawhide contracts leading to a slow, agonizing death. Fortuitous happen stance occurs when they run across a Chirichua known to Tommy, while on the trail of the kidnappers. They join forces to go after the bad guys. Trying to free the captives, Kayitah, the one TL knows gets killed because Lilly screams out. The leader, a supposed witch, rides off to get the buyers and returns to find the camp has been attacked again by TL, the mom, the youngest daughter and the dead Apache's son. This time successfully. They have rescued the girls and get away, for a time. Going to ground in a rocky tor. The witch and his few remaining thugs of course locate them and in the attack all is resolved as several are killed, TL tackles the witch man and takes him over a cliff to both their deaths as it turns out. In the end the mom and both daughters are saved, the Apache son is reunited with his bride who was a taken one, and I guess they all live happily ever after (?).

Jack the Giant Killer (1962)

Okay at best

[5/10 · 16 January 2015]

This is an old movie and the claymation shows that. First Jack kills a giant and saves the King's daughter. He is knighted and given lands and castles. Now the giant showed up to try and kidnap the princess whose birthday was being celebrated. Sent by an evil wizard who had been vanquished many years ago and now is returning to try and take over the kingdom of Cornwall. The bad guy does manage to take the princess and he goes to his secret lair. Jack of course pursues. The best part of this movie, in my opinion, is the trapped leprechaun in the bottle. He actually ends up saving the day a couple of times and his rhymes are pretty good too. Anyway Jack gets to the island and after battling magical creatures he makes it to the wizards throne room. Through an illogical sequence Jack, the princess, and their two other companions make it back to the boat and start to sail away. The wizard turns himself into a dragon and attacks the boat trying to get the princess back. Jack jumps on the dragon's back and manages to sever a wing tendon. The wizard falls in to the sea and dies. All his spells are then negated and every one and every thing returns to their original shape, form, etc. So Jack and the princess sail back to Cornwall to apparent marriage and bliss.

One on One (2001–2006)

Pretty good

[8/10 · 15 January 2015]

I first watched this series on TV in reruns. I now own the entire series and I love it. The humor is great, the lessons that can be learned are actually good. This show shows the maturation of both teens and adults. The series progresses with Breanna (Kyla Pratt) getting kind of dumped on daddy Flex Washington, a local sports caster, when mommy gets a posting to Nova Scotia to study whales. Through the joys and vicissitudes of the growing pains not only of youth but of parents. You see the first young girl crush and kiss that is not returned and Flex starts growing as a father. Time goes on and it just gets better and funnier as it develops. I do have a problem in the last season. Breanna turns in to a egocentric semi-shrew with Arnaz. The couple start drifting apart and I am not disappointed by it. Breanna has turned into a control freak who wants every thing her way and won't cut Arnaz any slack. She is super jealous bitch in my opinion and she gets what she deserves.

Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion (1950)

Pretty good

[8/10 · 12 January 2015]

Not bad at all in my opinion. Two wrestler promoters with scripts for the match (gee I guess they are rigged, maybe?) are trying to set up a fake match between two wrestlers, one of which is an Arab who belongs to a rather aggressive tribe. For whatever reason he decides to go back to Africa. Bud and Lou must go after him or die. Looking for him ends up with both of them in the French Foreign Legion through the machinations of a corrupt Legion sergeant who is working with the rebel tribe. There is a French intelligence agent who is trying to dig up evidence about the rebels. Man is she cute. Anyway the movie runs through the standard Abbott and Costello routines with a couple of variations. There is the fish scene at the oasis and the harem scene at the end of the the movie. This is another funny movie by the duo.

The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap (1947)

Pretty good

[8/10 · 10 January 2015]

This is another pretty good Abbott and Costello movie. Two tenderfoot's stumble into the western town of Wagon Gap, a very lawless town. Carrying guns for the first times in their lives they try and emulate the locals who are riding and shooting all over the place. Firing into the air a man's body drops to the street from above. For reasons unknow the local gang boss sides with the law and order crowd in wanting a trial, oops a lynching. Saved by state statutes the accused , gee it's Lou, go figure, is sentenced to taking care of the man's widow and kids. The widow Hawkins has a whole bevy of kids and is also pretty mean and kind of ugly. The humor is of course standard A & B and is still very funny. Lou is made sheriff because who ever kills him must take over the widow and her family. Every one is afraid of him until the news gets out that the railroad will be coming through the widow's property. So the movie ends with every one shooting at him so they can get the loot, the widow gets a proposal from the judge which she accepts,law and order is restored, and Bud and Lou continue on their journey to California.

Little Giant (1946)

Not bad at all

[7/10 · 9 January 2015]

This Abbott and Costello movie was a departure from their norm. Bud plays a dual role as the number two man in a large vacuum cleaner company with offices all over and also he plays a cousin exiled to Stockton with impossible quotas, both are pretty straight ones. Lou gets the funny man role as usual. He plays a farm boy who has taken a mail order course by records no less on being a salesman. He goes to the big city to try and get a job, screws it up and gets sent to the Stockton branch. Here he gets fooled in to believing he can read minds, goes out and breaks the all time one day sales record by selling nine cleaners. Meanwhile Bud in his main role has been keeping not only double books but skimming off the profits into a secret account. Then at a company meeting Lou finds out the mind reading thing was all a hoax, so he goes back home only to find the company president and some others waiting. They want to hire him as the regional sales manager for his local area and so all ends well. Oh yeah he also gets the girl.

Ride 'Em Cowboy (1942)

Pretty good

[7/10 · 8 January 2015]

Another typical Abbott and Costello movie. That means corny but funny jokes and routines, unrealistic subplots, and outre antics. In this one they end up at a dude ranch that is in trouble financially. They get hired on and the laughs start. The cow milking scene is just to funny for words. One subplot has a western writer who can't ride, rope, or shoot, but everyone else does. He costs the one who will become his love interest a sure fire win in a rodeo that would have saved her dad' dude ranch. Feeling guilty he also goes to the ranch to try and make good. Another subplot is the newspaper man who is trying to expose the writer as the fraud he is. Then of course you have poor, old Lou. He shoots an arrow into the heart on an Indian girls tent. This means he has to marry her according to tribal law. Out comes this very fine looking woman. As you would expect she is not the one and her sister is not a goodun. So off and on through out the film there very funny spots with Lou and the indians trying to capture him for the wedding. Then there is local bookie who tries to make sure the dude ranch loses by capturing the writer, who has been training in secret with the girl rider, and the number two rider for the ranch. The two guys break loose, make it to the rodeo in time, though number two is wounded, the writer makes his riding event and as usual the guy gets the girl, Lou gets the squaw, the ranch is saved. Well I am sure you get the idea. :)

Keep 'Em Flying (1941)

Not bad at all

[7/10 · 7 January 2015]

In 1941 Abbott and Costello made three pro-military semi-comedic movies. The first was the famous "Buck Privates", followed by "In the Navy", and finally the third one "Keep'em Flying". In my opinion it is lesser of the three by quite bit. Not do to A & B's talents but due mainly to the script. Their hot shot pilot friend decides to bless the Arm Air Corp with his experience. Bud and Lou follow him in to the service at the training field. I detested his character immediately. Of course he comes around in the end. The comedy though is pretty good. Martha Raye plays seemingly nut case twins who are both in the USO and it is a great bit. Bud and Lou get worked over very well by the two different personalities Martha carries off with great vigor and talent. One twin, Gloria, pairs up with Lou from the start of the training. The scenes they worked out are hilarious as Gloria will say or do something and leave, then return as the other twin and of course, not knowing a thing about what went before, things just get funny. B & L do get it figured out by the end of the film though.

Hold That Ghost (1941)

Excellent

[9/10 · 7 January 2015]

First I must say I love old "horror/ghost" comedies like this. Through their usual dumb luck Bud and Lou inherit a gangster's worldly possessions when they are the only people present he dies. It appears the inheritance is only an old speakeasy since Moose Matson (the dead gangster) said he kept all his money in his head. Former acquaintances of Moose's set up a "private" bus to take them to the abandoned place with one of their own going along as a "guide". The driver has picked up some extra change by taking on three other fares. After they arrive the driver takes off with the bus and the luggage stranding them at the falling down joint, in a thunder storm of course. Mr. Smith, guide, goes down in the cellar to search for the loot. Someone kills him and hides the body. Now the hi jinks really start!!! The scenes are tried and true by now but they must have been a real hoot back then!! The ghostly special effects are poor even for back then but still hilarious in my opinion. In the end the money is found, the crooks are caught, the doc and the girl are married, and A & B open the old inn as a restaurant.

Buck Privates (1941)

Pretty good

[8/10 · 7 January 2015]

Not their best, I think because it had some fairly serious subplots. The first peace time US draft. Stereotypical young, spoiled, rich kid who gets turned around, partly because his father refuses to get him out of boot camp. Then there is the rich kid's driver who has done every thing for him including jail. They both get drafted and sent to the same camp so they have to end up in the same squad, compete for the same girl, etc. etc. etc. Abbott and Costello start out being chased by a cop and to get away from him mistakenly end up joining the Army. The cop ends being their training sergeant and the butt of a lot of the jokes. He does have some getting even moments though. The drill scenes are funny, the comedy routines are very well done, and the one liners are good. Since this is an old time Hollywood movie there are several songs with full panoply with the Andrews Sisters providing a lot of the vocals, even in movie acting. A good, solid, comedy-drama.

Dinoshark (2010 TV Movie)

Yuckie

[3/10 · 28 December 2014]

Okay supposedly there is a young 150 million year shark that has been frozen in polar ice. The piece breaks off, do to global warming I guess. Now three years later after maturing in cold waters it moves south to warmer waters. Of course it creates havoc, killing several people. There is the stereotypical Mexican cop with an over inflated ego who doesn't believe until he sees it kill a couple of his men. Iva Hasperger is a girl's water polo team but some how manages to have a major role. She does look very good in a halter top and shorts. More people die as the shark moves toward the ocean. This brings up a question, why can this prehistoric shark survive so well in fresh water? I know these movies are sensationalistic in nature but why do the predators seemingly have an insatiable appetite? Why don't they ever get satiated, at least for a time? Anyway the heroes use grenades and a spear gun (?) to kill it. Thank goodness the movie is over, what a piece of garbage.

Jinxed (2013 TV Movie)

Pretty good

[8/10 · 28 December 2014]

This is what you would expect from a Nick movie. After all it is a kids network!! Ciara Bravo gets top billing in this film as Hurricane Meg. A teen whose family has dealt with a witches curse for a hundred years or so. Her whole family is part of the curse but over the years they have adapted and learned to deal with it at least semi-successfully. When the family's house falls down for the fourth time in a year (!) they return to the town where the curse took place. Their Grandfather still lives there and they go to live with him for awhile. Here Meg learns how to break the curse. She has to find a specific coin and give it to a descendant of the witch. Turns out the boy she goes to the dance with is a descendant and so she gives him the coin. She then learns that it did not break the curse but transferred it back to the other family. She realizes that she and her family can deal with this curse a lot better than some family newly cursed. She gets the boy to give her the coin back so the curse returns to her and the family. Everything then works out as expected and things return to the status quo. She does get a new best friend and a boyfriend out of the whole thing though.

Robocroc (2013 TV Movie)

Yuckie

[3/10 · 28 December 2014]

If not for Corin Nemec playing his character a bit tongue in cheek and all the young bikini clad women this movie would have been a waste of time in my opinion. A rocket with nanobots crashes in to a zoo and the bots get released through a rupture in the container. They infect a salt water croc in the zoo and then begins a killing rampage to get the raw materials they need to turn the croc into an armored vehicle. An ugly, shop worn Dee Wallace turns up as the Fed lead when they track the crash. She is the originator of the bots and works against any containment or kill by using her personal computer. She places no value on human lives and many are lost including many GI's. All wants is field test on her invention. Her character represents all that is wrong with obsessed, prove it at any cost scientists. Thank God there seem to be only a few arouind in real life. Anyway the colonel in charge of the military finally has enough and tries to kill it. The electrify the water and stun/kill it but ugly old Dee restores it through her computer. The croc/bots escape the zoo area and goes into a city so the colonel calls on a Puff. The croc goes underground into the sewers. Jane, zoo biologist, discovers Wallace contacting the creature. Wallace throat chops her and goes into a building, leaving Jane gasping on the ground. Wallace goes in to the sewers to look for her pet creation. Jane has recovered and follows Wallace in the sewers. The colonel has been hit by the croc and as it returns to finish him he uses grenades on the croc, Jane pushes Wallace in front of the injured machine, Corin tosses the explosive charge in to the things craw and Wallace grabs it as the thing draws it back in to a tunnel. Bang the bitch and the croc die, I guess. I mean who knows with the way they do sequels nowadays. Lord I hope they don't with this one.

The 12 Disasters of Christmas (2012 TV Movie)

Okay at best

[4/10 · 26 December 2014]

An end of days movie based on the Mayan calender that never came to be. A very old looking teen named Jacey is the fulcrum for the film. There is the misguided guy who thinks she must be sacrificed based on the last page of an ancient tome. He is wrong and pays with his life but not before others pay a price. So this girl needs to find five rings that will empower her to stop the end of the world. So she goes looking for the rings with her dad's help but runs into problem's. Of course she finds all five rings and stops the end of the world. Her whole family manages to survive, mother, father, and brother. Humm maybe a bit to much but I guess you can't a lot of angst in a ScyFy show now can you??

Abominable Snowman (2013 TV Movie)

Okay

[5/10 · 25 December 2014]

This is an okay movie for the SyFy channel. Most of their movies are not all that good in my opinion. This one is about a team of mismatched people who go after a missing brother/friend up on an Alaskan mountain. Two trekkers have disappeared on the high peaks. Guess why? Killed by a snowman, brown and huge no less. Now the question arises where does something so big not only get enough to eat but how would they maintain a viable population base? I know digression from the movie theme. Not so bad a film as some of the movies on this channel. Anyway several friends and spouses decide to go on a rescue mission after Search and Rescue can't find the missing brother/husband. Of course this leads to incidences that can not be figured out. One of the rescuers doesn't find the same track as the others and ends up falling in a crevasse (?). He now has a broken leg plus is spitting blood (sign of a punctured lung). So now the rest have to find a way to get the cripple out of the hole and transport him to safety. I guess they didn't bring any pain meds since the hurt guy just keeps screaming from time to time. The creature attacks the group on their way to safety and carries off one of he team. Now I don't know about you but if this were to happen in real life don't you think there would be not only sightings but if it killed like it does in this film hunters from the government trying to track it down and kill it? Returning to a semi-haven bar/resort where they find the missing guy. The entire group is now trapped in the building. So of course the animal attacks and injures one of the group. Trying to escape they run into another creature and retreat into the building. Now they are under attack and there is the typical panicked person. He is controlled and they now wait for the attack. The creatures break in and drive the humans back. Shooting at them drives them back momentarily but they return on the attack and drives the people back into another room. From this room the remaining people descend into the basement. The creatures leave with one of the guys. The remaining humans do what we do best, improvise a defense. They find three grenades and set up some traps which leads to them blowing up the building and the one yeti but some how the other one survives and chases them down the mountain. One by one the whole group has perished and it is now down to three. One falls and breaks his leg so the remaining two leave him with a grenade. Using it starts an avalanche but the big foot comes through it. They get picked up in a chopper and one of them throws a grenade down its throat which of course kills it. So-so movie in my opinion.