War, crime and "to blaaave"

Some new stuff, some old stuff, some stuff that hardly anyone has seen ...

What IS it good for? "Flags of Our Fathers"

Talk about a laugh a minute ...

Actually, this was a really good movie ... for about 90-95 minutes. I recalled this Clint Eastwood effort being the lesser of the two movies he did about Iwo Jima and Double-U, Double-U, Eye, Eye. But I have to say I was taken in pretty quickly -- that is, after the "Saving Private Ryan"-esque lead-in with the old guy going a little weepy.

Our story focuses on the story behind the guys who raised the flag at Iwo Jima -- possibly the most iconic image in the history of the U.S. military. First we get some hardcore war action -- interspersed with scenes of the "heroes" back in the U.S. of A. -- then we get more about the aftermath of that legendary photo. Let's just say it wasn't rah-rah all the way around.

Decent cast with -- as is usually the case with these glamour war movies -- too many actors to mention. So I'll single out one guy: Adam Beach as the American Indian marine who (a) wants no part of the glory and (b) sure as sh*t can't handle it. Not sure his performance is any great acting clinic, but I definitely bought his whole confused schtick, and that was enough to offset the way "Flags" awkwardly shifts into a rather different kind of storytelling in its last 45 minutes.

Bushier brows I've never seen: "The Underneath"

Seriously, if not Peter Gallagher, then whom?

This is a curious little movie that I not only saw in the theater but remember catching on cable or video a few years later. When it popped up on an HD channel recently, I gave it another go, in part because I noticed that Steven Soderbergh was the director. Can't say I remembered that before.

Soderbergh tackled this after the overrated indie crap "sex, lies and videotape" and before the criminally underrated "Out of Sight," and that's about right. Gallagher is a former lowlife who comes back to Austin, Texas, and finds himself planning an armored car heist. And oh-by-the-way, he now works for the armored car company.

This noir effort has a sufficiently oddball cast: Alison "I've Pretty Much Vanished" Elliott as Pete's ex-wife; everybody's favorite, William Fichtner, as her new guy and general bad dude; Joe Don Baker as the armored car company's boss; still-a-little-chunky Elisabeth Shue as Gallagher's other girl; and Paul "The Dad from Sixteen Candles" Dooley as his new stepfather. Not A-list names, I would submit, but still actors who know what they're doing.

Even with the excessive flashback action, this doesn't rise about such other low-key noirs as "The Last Seduction." Here, cleverness takes a backseat to camerawork, with shots showing one person in profile while the other is directly facing the camera. Still, not a bad movie if you can manage all the jumping back and forth in time. Now you can see where Soderbergh got the idea for "Traffic."

Only the best fairy tale ever!: "The Princess Bride"

Maybe I'm a big wuss, but this is one of those movies that seems to get better every time I see it.

The story? You know it, you love it. An old man reads his sick grandson a fairy tale about a beautiful woman (Robin Wright Penn), her boyfriend (Cary Elwes), an evil prince (Chris Sarandon) and a cast of goofy supporting players, including Mandy Patinkin as a swordsman, Wallace Shawn as a would-be criminal genius, Andre the Giant as muscle, Billy Crystal as a reluctant wizard and Christopher Guest as the prince's evil henchman.

Good stuff, and more funny lines that I can count. Some of the better ones:

Fezzik: I only dog paddle.

Vizzini: No more rhymes now, I mean it.
Fezzik: Anybody want a peanut?

Inigo: You seem a decent fellow. I hate to kill you.
Westley: You seem a decent fellow. I hate to die.

Vizzini: Let me put it this way. Have you ever heard of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates?
Westley: Yes.
Vizzini: Morons.

Humperdinck: Surrender.
Westley: You mean you wish to surrender to me? Very well, I accept.

Miracle Max: Have fun stormin' the castle!

Inigo: Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.

(And all together now ... )

Vizzini: Inconceivable!