'My Own Private Idaho'

This movie ain't nearly as good as everyone would like to think. It's the River Phoenix effect, I know. Young, brilliant talent struck down by our modern-day epidemic far too early.

Blah, blah, blah.

For one, Keanu Reeves can't act. I know it's a known thing. However, he keeps getting acting gigs. How is this possible?

Two, a good debate came about when discussing Phoenix had he not croaked in a gutter ODing on heroin.

How would he be regarded today? Would he be a Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt or Johnny Depp too cool for school type? Would he be a Keanu Reeves? In 2009, is Phoenix doing Disney familiy adventure films? Would he be making serious, well-acted films and be regarded as one of the best in the business (like Phillip Seymour Hoffman or Daniel Day Lewis)?

Nobody can know that. Frankly, I wasn't too knocked out by Phoenix in this film. But I still he has significantly more chops than Reeves and probably just as many as Pitt (in all but two or three films he plays himself).

It's still interesting talk.

'The Outlaw Josey Wales'

I would think most think of Clint Eastwood as an actor first, director second.

However, you have to consider him much more as a accomplished director, which is odd because he's also considered a hard, cold son of a bitch. But that's the screen Eastwood that we know well and that he pulls off so well.

He's won two Best Director and Best Picture Oscars. That's saying something considering Martin Scorcese waiting a billion years to get one for a movie that wasn't nearly as good as 90 percent of his other movies.

Eastwood's westerns (both as actor and director), particularly from the 1970s are beautiful, gritty films that deserve a ton of attention.

'Germinal'

There is little doubt that I would not have worked in any mine at any point of my life no matter when, where and in what social strata was I born.

There isn't enough money in the world. And I definitely wasn't going to do it for pennies a day. Give me ditch digging or shepherding.

"Germinal" is an extremely powerful novel about a minor union uprising in 1880s France amid the factories and coalmines of the French countryside. It's a soul-sucking story. It's frankly hard to believe that that's how industry was once run. And how worker's rights and occupational issues like child labor, working conditions, the 40-hour week, retirement packages and the like are still issues that are talked and argued about.

Somehow, there are still money-making companies that are more than willing to skimp on payments to their employees.

It is funny that Communism was such a big deal in the 1880s as it was in 1910, 1950s and 1980s. But today it's not that big of a deal.

Of course, a socialist nation rises from the abuse of a capitalist nation. Ideally, the United States is prime for a communist takeover (see: Barack Obama), but it would never happen because even the proletariat in our country are middle class and the lower class are simply too lazy to care.

'Alien'

I would argue that Ridley Scott hasn't directed a better film than he did with "Alien" in 1979.

Mind you, it was his third film to direct and he's done a ton of blockbusters since.

In my opinion, "Alien" is his best. Yes, in four decades of making trillions of dollars in the film industry, Scott peaked in 1979 with a sci-fi flick about an Ian Holm robot, a disenfranchised underpaid black guy and Sigourney Weaver's ultra sexy panty scene.

I dare you to think otherwise.

'In Cold Blood'

For my money, Truman Capote is one of the most perfect writers ever.

Don't get me wrong, other writers try riskier things that work out well and those stories and books are just as enjoyable, but Capote stays within himself and the story he's telling. There's hardly a wasted word and rarely do you find yourself thinking, "Hmm, I could've written that better."

What I like most about "In Cold Blood" is that on a lark, Capote was captivated by some barely-noted murder story in a small, blink-and-you-miss-it Kansas town. His fascination carried him to Kansas where he stuck out like a sore thumb and dug up a most delectable and interesting story about human nature and the perils of a violent lifestyle.

What I don't truly understand about the crime is that I feel the guys could've worn masks, gone in, robbed the Clutter home, left everyone alive (if not completely asleep) and made off with whatever they wanted and probably never, ever be caught. Frankly, authorities probably put a simple robbery case on the back burner compared to slaughtering a family of four.

So, then you think that somewhere deep in Perry and Dick's souls they had to murder those people for some dark, unknown, unexplainable reason. With that said, the criminals seemed so put out by being captured, incarcerated and eventually dragged through the legal system for five years. Nor did the pair necessarily try to stay out of the limelight by staying in one place or in Mexico.

I feel that's what Capote was desperately trying to get to, but never succeeded.

'Solaris'

Three hours later and I still don't know what it's about.

'The Color Purple' & 'The Color Purple'

I typically don't get worked up when it comes to turning books into movies and the changes that producers make when they're taking a beloved book to the screen.

Changes and alterations almost always have to happen.

With that said, I didn't much like the movie version of "The Color Purple." I felt the book was overtly dark and grimey. Rarely was it intentionally funny. It was abusive and when Celie told her husband that she was leaving, you knew it had to do with more than holding letters from her sister back. It was personal.

Never truly got that feeling from the movie. It comes off as a after-school special. It never truly captures the fight of beging an African Amerian woman. The book has teeth. The film gums along for two hours and peters out.

'Mutiny on the Bounty'

I think it's interesting that the punishment that Bligh forced his crew into while on the sea would never, ever be tolerated today on any level.

Even if it were the norm to have this kind of work place, there's no way the workers would have put up with it for very long.

Then again, when we note that it was a different time, it couldn't be more true. Even still, isn't there so much you can take much earlier than they took it? I guess it's better to live than to die over breaking some silly rule on a boat, but it shouldn't take an entire year of getting kicked in the crotch to get even for it.

Can you tell I was pretty bored with this film?

'Rebel Without A Cause'

Being a teenager in the 1950s seems phenomenally more dangerous than it was in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s or 2000s. Knife fights. Guns. Games of chicken on a cliff. What's wrong with a movie or just spending an evening at home?

Several things about James Dean: It's still creepy to look at his IMDB page and realize that "Giant" was his last film and "Rebel Without A Cause" was released the year he died. It's like a 2-hour obituary.

Two, several years ago, James Franco played Dean in a bio pic that aired on some cable channel. It's odd how much Franco sounds like and shares similar expressions than the deceased actor.

Also, no matter what, I never bought Dean as a teenager. Not that he doesn't look it, but the way he held himself didn't look much like the way a teenager would.

Natalie Wood is hot, so you know.

'Terminator' & 'Terminator 2'

I went and re-watched these two gems from my childhood due to the impending DVD release of the new "Terminator" film and my wife's addiction to the "Terminator" TV show that was cancelled most recently.

I think it's safe to say I don't hold these movies in the same regard than when I was a kid. Frankly, if I had to actually nominate five movies that need to be remade, I would put these two on the list.

The first one is particularly horrible. Forget the layer of the '80s that sticks to it like stink on sweat. I get that. It's the really, really bad sets (of the future), any special effects and the awful, awful acting. I mean, it's bad.

The second one is better, but John Connor's too precocious and Sarah Connor is too butch. There was a delicate sexiness about Linda Hamilton in the first film despite her not being very pretty, but in the second one all bets are off. She's a dog.

It's hard to imagine that Arnold Schwarzenegger was the coolest guy on Earth. Period. Now he's married to a Kennedy and a governor.

'Rio Bravo'

I wonder how the casting director, director and producer went on making "Rio Bravo."

Did they just want big names and Dean Martin and Rick Nelson came up? Did they intentionally get two popular singers? Did they cast them, realize they had two singers and then write in a bunch of singing into the movie?

Seems too far fetched to be a coincidence.

Nonetheless, it's a good film. Martin looks fat and I wonder if they had him gain weight.

The best part of the film is the chemistry between John Wayne and Walter Brennan. For one, it's brilliant that Brennan rode that old-man face and frontier, prairie wind accent to a ton of success in film, particularly westerns.

However, you can tell that Wayne and Brennan probably liked each other and were prone to goofing on each other when the cameras weren't rolling. Watch this film and pay attention to their physicalness and the way their verbal jabs look like they're in the locker room snapping each other's asses with wet towels.

'The Killing of a Chinese Bookie'

I'm a pretty big fan of anything that director Wes Anderson has ever done. He's the prime modern-day auteur, who I believes takes his job very seriously and truly believes he puts movies out that he enjoys and that he thinks others will enjoy. Nothing against vying for a gigantic box office gross or dozens of sequels, but Anderson's ways and means are different many directors.

Wes Anderson had nothing to do with "The Killing of a Chinese Bookie." But Seymour Cassel did.

Cassel, most recently, has staked his claim as a great character actor, really solid performances mainly in Anderson flicks.

Cassel pops up in "Chinese Bookie" as a mid-level guy in a Los Angeles mob outfit. Unbeknownst to me, he was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar several years before and has done a ton of work over the past four decades or so.

What Cassel brings to the table is invaluable. He knows his role in a film and doesn't over- or underact. He's perfect. His look and voice are signature. He's the guy you get when you need a supporting role nailed.

In baseball, he'd be willing to bunt a runner over or in basketball set a nice pick to get your shooter open.

'Red Headed Stranger'

I think this is an interesting album because it had only two "hits" and I would argue only "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" is the only decent single on the album. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of that song anyway.

Nonetheless, it's a very good album and considered one of the best country albums of all time.

I think I like Nelson even more because his band has been the same group of ragtag musicians since his "outlaw" days instead of hiring hotshot young guys out of Nashville. It's genuine and broken. Perfect country music.

Willie Nelson holds a strange place in my heart. I was never a huge fan until around 2003, out of college and going to see Nelson at a concert at a horse race track. I was with friends and it's really the first time I connected with the woman that would be my wife. I remember me and her poking our way through the crowd to get within spitting distance of Nelson and his band. I'll never forget it.

'Brokeback Mountain'

Best part of this film: the score/soundtrack. Beautiful music.

I think this is a very interesting movie because the idea of "Brokeback" has become such a punchline for much of the United States in reference to anything "gay" or homesexual.

I wondered while watching how this film has affected the image of the homosexual community. Due to the fact that it's become such a punchline, I would think it would hurt.

Then again, this movie received so much criticism from anti-gay folks, but it all blew over and it was no big deal for it to star two big actors and to get so much Oscar consideration.

Other than being a punchline, no one talks about how controversial this film actually was. On Netflix, if you like romantic movies, they will suggest "Brokeback Mountain" to you.

So, in retrospect, I would suggest this movie has done a lot to help with understanding and acceptance of the homosexual lifestyle without making a such a gigantic splash or being overtly controversial to get a point across. In essence, it was a love story. It wasn't about gay sex or some flamboyant lifestyle. Just love. I think audiences on some level understand that.

Then it's not that big of a deal.

'Rebecca' & 'Rebecca'

Strangely, you can't get Alfred Hitchcock's "Rebecca" via Netflix. They've got every other movie in the world, but not an Academy Award winner from one of the most famed director's and producers of all time.

I think "Rebecca" both the book and film capture some great emotions and characters of all time. I love Maxim's aloofness and how detached he is (much more pronounced in the book), Mrs. De Winter's naivete and Danvers' deranged deceit.

What I miss regarding the movie is Favell being more of a bum (I got that from the book, maybe I'm wrong) and the crazy fire ending. Otherwise, I thought both efforts were very, very good.

It's interesting that the book was published in 1938 and the movie came out in 1940. Quick turnaround.

'Anatomy of a Murder'

Question: Was Jimmy Stewart that great, or did he have an insatiable ability to pick the right parts working for the right directors?

Or was it all luck? Did Stewart peak at a time when it was damn-near impossible to work for a crappy director doing a crappy movie?

Chances are there were crappy movies being made and crappy directors making them, but never would a man like Stewart lower himself to do those kinds of movies. Whereas, today, we have our top-notch actors and actresses doing crap all the time to merely pay the bills.

Or do we?

I guess Phillip Seymour Hoffman isn't doing romantic comedies, but what was the last really good film Al Pacino or Robert DeNiro were in?

Maybe I'm putting Stewart on a pedestal that he shouldn't be on. He did do a voice over for "Goof Troop."

'Armed Forces'

When I was a child and I started paying attention to music, I was able to listen to the same piece of music or album over and over and over. Literally, hours of my childhood were spent listening and re-listening to the same Beach Boys or Beatles cassettes or listening to the radio dubbing music off the airwaves like a good pirate.

In my teenage years, listening to an album 10 times straight was no big deal. Yes, I eventually got burnt out and I would have to step back for a couple of months before coming back.

However, in my fleeting 20s, I can't do that anymore. I buy a new album or something's burned for me and I listen to it and I automatically step away for a week and maybe listen again. Some albums don't get more than five listens within a year. Others get more, but never do I hit triple digits at least for a while.

Except Elvis Costello's "Armed Forces." I believe I've given it a solid 12 listens in the past two weeks and I'm prepared to go another week. First, I considered it typical Costello (BritPop before it was cool to be BritPop). Then I kept listening. I started memorizing lyrics (something I hadn't done with regularity in years) and hearing the harmonies and intracacies of the basslines, drums and piano/organ.

I learned to love music again. It's refreshing.

'The Lives of Others' & 'Funny Games'

Ah, the fine work of German actor Ulrich Muhe. No, I had never heard of him either until I saw "The Lives of Others," a brilliant period piece of the German Democratic Republic and the ways and means of the communist government to silence the critical ideas of its intelligentsia.

Unbeknownst to myself, Muhe is also a lead in "Funny Games," a brilliant violent movie about the effects of violent movies.

Muhe is great in both, although he's stellar in "The Lives of Others," but I think the Ulrich Muhe Oscar goes to Arno Frisch and Frank Giering, two other German actors who play the coy and playful (sadistic, rabid, biting) murderers in "Funny Games." Much in the vein of Alex in "Clockwork Orange," Peter and Paul (Tom and Jerry) charm the pants off the reader as they play insane head games with an unsuspecting, well-off family vacationing in the mountains.

First they blow the son's brains against the wall, murder the father and then drown the mother without batting an eyelash or unwilling to skip a meal, catch up on TV watching or take pot shots at each other. Frisch, particularly, was excellent.

The other Ulrich Muhe Oscar goes to the uber-sexy Martina Gedeck, for "The Lives of Others."

'Under Construction'

There's something refreshing about Missy Elliott's "Under Construction."

For one, I think she raps in order to do more rapping. I don't think she's looking to do movies or TV. She's not going to endorse Vitamin Water or Dr Pepper. She's also successful enough to be able to release albums when she wants.

Two, she raps about what she likes or knows. She doesn't try to play hard or purport some gangsta image in order to sell more records or whatever. With that said, Elliott ain't exactly deep or anything. She cares about one thing and one thing only:

Sex.

And she is not ashamed of it and even admits that sex tends to get swept under the rug out of convenience. It's true. There's no one action that is thought about and acted upon more than sex that is talked about the least. Hell, there's public service announcements urging parents to talk about sex.

Although I think Elliott's a little egotistical with her diatribes about being peaceful and remembering all the people that have died. You know, from September 11 to Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes.

'Gulliver's Travels'

When you think about it, this is a pretty interesting book coming from the Irishman Jonathan Swift.

It's basically a 300+ page indictment of Europe, religion, politicians, policy, colonization and everything that represented England and other established nations.

Once Gulliver goes off on his second trip leaving his family, you think about this guy being a gigantic dick. Thinking about it, Gulliver is England (or any top notch country during any period in history) and all its faults and the way it deals with the people he comes upon mirror the relationships in Europe at the time or the way the world looks at the United States today.

To a point, it's also a reprieve. Yes, countries like 18th century England or 21st century America do some things wrong. However, on any given day, you're dealing with the Floating Island, a bunch of talking horses or Lilliputians. There comes a point when no matter what you do, it pisses off someone. Everyone's just too different to keep everyone happy.

'Unforgiven'

Could you imagine living in the western part of the United States from the Civil War until the late 1800s? What a miserable experience.

First, guys can go around and do whatever they want with little or no repercussion. However, if you're a victim, you just haphazardly put out a bounty on the offending party to be killed and suddenly you've got a bunch of hillbilly's riding into town shooting or getting shot themselves.

If you shoot the guys trying to instill some kind of justice, that's OK because you're defending yourself.

Plus, no one wants to be sheriff because they get shot all the time.

It's miserable. Then you've got to shit in a box, drink crappy water, eat beans and then have to share crappy bedding with a bunch of other dudes who eat beans.

Furthermore, the whores in "Unforgiven" weren't good looking or anything, but there's no way whores in the 1880s in no-man's land Montana even look that good.

What a disaster the wild west was!