No comments about Bob & Margaret 6-Pack: A Night In + Friends for Dinner + Tale of Two Dentists + The Burglary + For Pete's Sake + Holiday.

5 comments about Irma La Douce.

1. I loved the musical when it first came out. I looked forward to the film release. I can't say how disappointed I was in the result. Why do directors so often think they can make a better story than the author intended?



2. SINCE I WAS A CHILD, WHEN WATCHED THIS FILM IN TV, I DREAMT OF BUYING A COPY IN THE FUTURE.
   FINALLY GOT IT AND IS REALLY A TREASURE LIKE THE BEST OF THE BOOKS, THAT YOU CAN SEE MANY TIMES WITHOUT GETTING BORED.
   
   ESCELLENT MOVIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



3. In an attempt to recapture the magic of The Apartment, director Billy Wilder reassembled the stars of that film, Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine, in an adaptation of a popular musical -- and promptly removed the music. The result was Irma La Douce, a film that has been mostly forgotten my modern movie lovers even though it was a huge box-office success in 1963 (earning more than The Great Escape and The Birds combined!).
   
   Part of the reason for the obscurity of Irma La Douce may be its highly contrived and mostly unbelievable plot. Jack Lemmon plays Nestor Patou, a Parisian policeman who falls in love with streetwalker Irma La Douce ("Irma the sweet") after arresting her (and losing his job in the process). Taken by him as well, Irma (MacLaine) takes Nestor on as her live-in "fellow" (read: pimp).
   
   But Nestor is an insecure, jealous man, and he instantly schemes to replace her customers with a single one of his own -- one rich enough that she won't have to see any others. So he dresses up as "Lord X" a British millionaire and spends his nights working several jobs to produce the cash for the role. Then Irma's ex-fellow almost sees Nestor changing from his costume, but thinks he's witnessed a murder....
   
   The real appeal of Irma La Douce is in how Lemmon and MacLaine genuinely seem to like each other. One could easily imagine a relationship blossoming between them, and that is the key to believing in these characters.
   
   Wilder himself has called the film a "failure" (see Conversations with Wilder by Cameron Crowe), mostly due to the fact that his actors, though playing native Parisians, speak with their own accents. But their fans will not care because, though it does not come close to the quality of its predecessor, Irma La Douce is one of Wilder's most purely engaging films, even during the slow spots. Jack Lemmon has a lot of fun with his dual role, and Shirley MacLaine has never been sexier!
   
   (Keep an eye out for a walk-on by the young James Caan, in his film debut as a soldier.)



4. Is there any denying how beautiful Shirley MacLaine was in this film?
   
   I just finished watching Irma La Douce with my wife, over dinner. It's a delightful comedy, also starring Jack Lemmon as a clean police officer, who raids a den of prostitution, is fired for his trouble, and then falls in love with one of the prostitutes. Jealous of all her clients, he concocts a scheme to dress up as an English Lord ("Lord X"), so as to monopolize all her time. His best-laid plan of course goes astray, but love wins out in the end.
   
   I first watched this movie when about 9 or 10 years old, and had a crush on Shirley MacLaine as a result. She is just...luscious. The full implications of the prostitution were of course lost on me at the time.
   
   This film is definitely worth a watch...a great old-fashioned comedy.



5. One character in "Irma La Douce" describes the love between Jack Lemmon's sad sack and Shirley MacLaine's heart-of-gold streetwalker as "cute". Herein lies my problem with the film. I liked it, though it was a little overlong, but I was expecting something a little edgier from director Billy Wilder and his co-scenarist I.A.L. Diamond. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that they were adapting someone else's work instead of creating something original. Lemmon and MacLaine still have that distinct chemistry but it's not as apparent as it was in Wilder's masterwork, "The Apartment". One pronounced credit to the film is the hilarious turn by Lou Jacobi as Moustache, Lemmon's mentor and dispenser of advise. Not a bad film but I would behoove you to check out Jules Dassin's "Never on Sunday" with Melina Mercouri which covers similar territory as "Irma La Douce" but with infinitely better results.

No comments about Milroy: Santa's Misfit Mutt.

No comments about Happy Tree Friends: Winter Break.

No comments about For Better or For Worse - Home for the Holidays.

5 comments about Bloody New Year.

1. When it comes to horror Bloody New Years is one of the best B-movies you can watch. I deals with a group of kids being chased from an amusement park to an island when a top secret goverment weapon hit in the 1950s and trapped the inhabitants of the island in a time loop neither dead or alive. One by one the new people join them in the neitherworld. Another classic horror film I'd like to see put out on dvd.



2. Norman J Warren's last film to date is a guilty pleasure. A group of kids have a fight in a fairground and find themselves on a boat heading out to an island. However, the island is deserted apart from strange, invisible ghosts and haunted cinema screens...
   
   It's a low budget affair, with unknown actors & some special effects that are clearly done on a budget - but's its also a bit offbeat & rattles along at a nice pace. Despite the obvious constraints on the budget, the film's atmosphere is quite strange. I lost my old VHS copy years ago, and can't wait for the DVD!
   
   Music was by Nick Magnus, who has worked with Steve Hackett and various other well known artists, and the songs are by the group "Cry No More." This group consisted of two ex-members of the Stawbs (One who was a strawb for a brief period only!) and Magnus himself.



3. It's definitely not your run of the mill slasher fest, as it's got a weird horror and sci-fi mix, with an interesting premise, but it falls short all across the board as far as the meat and potatoes of a film are concerned.
   
   There apparently did not seem to be a running script, as for much of the film, especially the beginning, it sounded like every line was ad-libbed and improvised, with people barely getting there short and awkward lines out. There is little dialogue, and what there is, sounds like the actors are either unfamiliar with it, or are completely improvising as they go. The plot is basically these kids are at a carnival and get into a beef with some local hoods, then escape on a tiny boat, which sinks and they end up on a strange island, with a deserted hotel that is completely decorated for Xmas and a New Year's Eve party.
   
   The premise is interesting, but the plot isn't taken anywhere, and the movie completely stalls when the scenes shift to a sci-fi cause of all the casualties on the island. The special effects are very low budget, and not helping are the DVD transfer's colors looking rather washed out.
   
   There are a few stylish scenes which save this from being the worst horror film out there. The best is when one of the girls attempts to ride the elevator, and upon pushing one of the floor buttons, it turns to soft mush, and then these arms protrude out of the back of the elevator wall to grab her and suck her in. This scene was ultra cool and it looked like the low budget actually made it look realistic, with the arms bulging through what appears to be painted latex. The cracking paint as the arms swooped in actually made it look very real. Definitely the high point in the film, and one of the better scenes in any horror movie of this time frame.
   
   There's very little interest here, apart from a few scenes, and while it's not the worst of the genre, it's held down from rising above other horror flicks due to it's wooden acting and low budget. You might be interested in seeing it once, but nothing more. There are much better examples of stylish 70's and 80's horror out there.



4. Based on the review title, you can imagine that this film has many facets that congeal to make a crazy, tasty oatmeal of a movie. Every contrivance of horror film history is used in this film, from ghosts to zombies and then some. The production crew must have decided to pull out all the stops and try every effect done before and put their own spin on them. This is what makes "Bloody New Year" endearing. It is not an excellent film by any stretch of the word. The acting is mostly weak, but the viewer hangs on to each scene waiting for the next scare or effect. Some scenes are executed well, while others are simply amateurish. This is a guilty pleasure that any horror fan should add to their collection to review every turn of the new year.



5. Bloody New Year follows a group of people who become stranded on an island where some goofy stuff is going down. Most of the action is set in an old hotel that looks like it's stuck in the 50s and decorated for Christmas. Soon our small group is under attack from various ghostly goings on like ravenous fishing nets, figures jumping out of movie screens, indoor snow storms and vaccuum cleaners. The victims come back as possessed zombie types a la Evil Dead. SPOILER! It seems that the island is indeed stuck in time coz back in 1959 a plane carrying an experimental time warping device(only in the movies, people) crashed on the island thus forever keeping the island in 1959. Of course an island stuck in time doesn't necessarily explain all the supernatural mumbo jumbo, but I'm not about to go and get all logical on a film like this. I guess we have to just assume that not only is the island stuck in time, but is haunted as well. A double whammy! For a very low budgeted horror film this actually has a rather cool and original plot, the problem is that it just isn't handled all that effectively. I didn't think it was bad by any means(more like 3 and a half stars), it succeeded in entertaining me for what that's worth. But for a neat idea like this, something just seemed to be missing or not clicking totally. I would recommend this movie however to fans of low budget horror flicks because it is well worth seeing. It's an obvious labor of love for the film makers, and they certainly didn't let a lack of budget hinder what they wanted to do.

2 comments about Blue Melodies.

1. If you're not ready to roll out the bucks for the complete fourvolume set of HOLLYWOOD RHYTHM, this is the one to buy first. The mainreason is for the first short in this volume -- "Symphony inBlack." This marvelous short features Duke Ellington at the pianocomposing a new work. Intercut between those scenes are vignettesrepresenting the different movenents of the piece. One of whichfeatures a young (and uncredited) Billie Holiday as the scorned woman.Another features the provocative dancing of (also uncredited) Earl"Snake Hips" Tucker. Contemporary music video directorscould learn a lot from this piece with its stylish use of black &white photography and wonderful art direction.

   Another reason tobuy this video is to see Bessie Smith's only film appearance in theshort "St. Louis Blues." Her power as a vocalist is evidentin this piece, which is also about a woman abandoned by a lover.Jimmy Morcedai is cold-blooded in another rare film appearance. Hisdancing is not half-bad either.

   The other shorts don't quite rise upto the level of these two shorts. Some also feature some verystereotypical images, which were typical of this period. However,don't let that stop you from buying this video. "Symphony inBlack" alone is worth the price. It is an absolute masterpiece




2. I think this video is a must have for your blues and jazz collection. The short musical movies, are well put together. I especially like Duke Ellington's Bundle of blues, I didn't know the song stormy weather, was writen and sung before the 1940's. Ivie Anderson sung the song different or as good as Lena Horne. And the dance team right after, was very good. They did dances back then in the 1930's, the way ethnic nightclubs do now. The women were thin, but looked healthy. This video is a must see, some of the vidoes were a little boring, but the rest will make up for it.

4 comments about A Christmas Snowfall.

1. This DVD was shot in HD, so the snow is crisp and well defined. The DVD was played on a plasma TV. The views are of differing scenes of a wooded area. There are forests, fences, logs, streams and ice covered brush. The snow is as beautiful as you could imagine--with large and small flakes swirling in the wind. The snow is accompanied by soothing Christmas music, played on guitar and piano. The tunes are:
   Deck the Halls, Joy to the World, The first Noel, O Come O Come Emanuel, Away in a Manger, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, Oh Christmas Tree, Angels We Have Heard on High, Silent Night, We Three Kings, Carol Of The Bells, It Came Upon A Midnight Clear, We Wish You a merry Christmas, Coventry Carol, O Holy Night, and Auld Lang Syne.
   If you want snow, this is a very good purchase!



2. My husband said that I was a geek when he saw I purchased A Christmas Snowfall. I purchased it as a backdrop for my Christmas party. It was a huge hit! Some of the scenes are beautiful. Although I wouldn't sit and watch the whole thing, it is nice in small doses. I can't wait until next Christmas!



3. Some what disapointed... I live in the midwest and I have seen much prettier snowfalls...It seems kinda grey. We do have sunshine and snow.
   I would not recomend. However I gave it to my parents in AZ and they enjoyed it... As it had been years since they saw snow.



4. This is a pretty good video of snow falling, especially if you don't get to see the real thing very often. The music is quite nice and I know I'll enjoy this next Christmas. My only complaint is that it looks like a series of snow scenes with the falling snow added in - the trees never move at all, not even a tiny bit. But for a party backdrop, it'll be just fine.

3 comments about Nick For the Holidays!.

1. I am very curious about this dvd--or should I say three dvd's--they need to list some of the tv shows included in this set..
   I mean for the money it would be nice to know what you are getting...



2. Rocket Power
   SpongeBob
   Rugrats
   Hey Arnold!
   Fairly OddParents
   Blue's Clues
   Dora The Explorer
   Rocko's Modern Life
   Ren & Stimpy Show
   Doug
   Fatherhood
   Roseanne
   Full House



3. ACTUAL LIST OF EPISODES:
   
   Spongebob Squarepants Christmas:
   - Christmas Who? (double length episode)
   + 8 "Merry Episodes"
   - Procrastination
   - Snowball Effect
   - Survival of the Idiots
   - Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy IV
   - Chocolate with Nuts
   - As Seen on TV
   - Pizza Delivery
   - Squeaky Boots
   
   Dora's Christmas:
   - A Present for Santa
   - Rapido Tico!
   - Quack! Quack!
   - School Pet
   
   Blue's Room Holiday Wishes:
   - Blue's Room Holiday
   - Can You Help?
   - Look Carefully...
   - Patience
   
   ~ A pretty good collection for younger ones - I wouldn't pay full price, as all of the Spongebob episodes, and likely the Nick Jr. ones as well, play on Nickelodeon frequently, and there aren't any good special features

No comments about Smart Travels Europe with Rudy Maxa Switzerland and the Alps, Christmas in Switzerland NEW SEASON IV.