R.I.P. 2009

Bea Arthur
1922-2009
Actress:
Fiddler On the Roof (1964) Broadway
Mame (1968) Broadway
Maude (1972-1978)
Mame (1974)
The Golden Girls (1985-1992)

Dom DeLuise
1933-2009
Actor:
Blazing Saddles (1974)
Silent Movie (1976)
Sextette (1978)
The Muppet Movie (1979)
Fatso (1980)
History of the World: Part I (1981)
The Cannonball Run (1981)
The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas (1982)
Haunted Honeymoon (1986)
Spaceballs (1987)
Going Bananas (1987)

Koko Taylor
1928-2009
Singer

Michael Jackson
1958-2009
Singer

Karl Malden
1912-2009
Actor:
Kiss of Death (1947)
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
I Confess (1953)
On the Waterfront (1954)
Baby Doll (1956)
Birdman of Alcatraz (1962)
Gypsy (1962)
How the West Was Won (1962)
Dead Ringer (1964)
Patton (1970)
The Streets of San Francisco (1972-1977)
Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979)

Molly Sugden
1922-2009
TV Actress:
The Liver Birds (1971-1978)
Are You Being Served? (1972-1985)
Come Back Mrs. Noah (1977-1978)
That's My Boy (1981-1986)
Grace & Favour (1992-1993)

John Hughes

1950-2009
Writer, Producer, Director
Vacation (1983)
Sixteen Candles (1984)
The Breakfast Club (1985)
European Vacation (1985)
Weird Science (1985)
Pretty In Pink (1986)
Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)
Uncle Buck (1989)
Christmas Vacation (1989)
Home Alone (1990)
Home Alone 2: Lost In New York (1992)
Beethoven (1992)
Dennis the Menace (1993)

Mary Travers
1936-2009
Singer
Peter, Paul & Mary

Captain Lou Albano
1933-2009
Pro-Wrestler
Cyndi's Dad

David Lloyd
1934-2009
TV Writer:
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1963-1970)
Mary Tyler Moore (1973-1977)
Phyllis (1976-1977)
The Bob Newhart Show (1976-1977)
Rhoda (1978)
Lou Grant (1977-1982)
Taxi (1979-1983)
Amen (1986-1987)
Cheers (1982-1993)
Frasier (1994-2001)

Dan O'Bannon
1946-2009
Screenwriter:
Dark Star (1974)
Alien (1979)
The Return of the Living Dead (1985) (also Director)
Lifeforce (1985)
Invaders From Mars (1986)
Total Recall (1990)

Brittany Murphy
1977-2009
Actress:
Clueless (1995)
Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999)
Girl, Interrupted (1999)
Don't Say A Word (2001)
Little Black Book (2004)
Sin City (2005)

See It 12/20

The Hindenburg (1975)
Directed by: Robert Wise
Written by: Michael M. Mooney; Nelson Gidding
Starring: George C. Scott, Anne Bancroft, William Atherton, Roy Thinnes, Gig Young, Burgess Meredith, Charles Durning, Rene Auberjonois, Katherine Helmond
Chronicles the events that lead up to the 1937 Hindenburg disaster in Lakehurst, NJ, where a German passenger zeppelin burst into flames upon landing, killing most of the passengers and crew. Solid performances from an all star cast make this disaster film masquerading as a historical drama memorable. B



The Baader Meinhof Complex (2008)
Directed by: Uli Edel
Written by: Stefan Aust; Bernd Eichinger
Starring: Martina Gedeck, Moritz Bleibtreu, Johanna Wokalek, Nadja Uhl, Stipe Erceg, Niels-Bruno Schmidt
Complex, riveting film depicting the actions and exploits, and eventual trial, of the Red Army Faction, the infamous terrorist group that plagued Germany with bombings, robberies, murders and kidnappings throughout the 1970's. It's fascinating, and scary, stuff. A-



California Suite (1978)
Directed by: Herbert Ross
Written by: Neil Simon
Starring: Jane Fonda, Alan Alda, Maggie Smith, Michael Caine, Walter Matthau, Elaine May, Herb Edelman, Richard Pryor, Bill Cosby, Gloria Gifford, Sheila Frazier
Four separate comedic story-lines all take place within a posh Los Angeles hotel. We follow an actress and her gay husband on their way to the Oscars, a vacationing group of friends from Chicago, a divorced couple in town to discuss custody of their child, and a philandering man who tries to hide a hooker from his unsuspecting wife. Maggie Smith and Michael Caine are the standouts here, but the rest is pretty vanilla. B-

Skip It 12/16

The Stepfather II: Make Room For Daddy (1989)
Directed by: Jeff Burr
Written by: John Auerbach
Starring: Terry O'Quinn, Meg Foster, Caroline Williams, Jonathan Brandis, Henry Brown, Mitchell Laurance, Miriam Byrd-Nethery
Madman who is obsessed with finding the perfect family escapes from an insane asylum, somehow cons his way into becoming a neighborhood marriage councilor, and worms his way into a single mothers life. Terry O'Quinn is still pretty good as the creepy conservative, but the story lacks any suspense and is pretty contrived, even for a horror sequel. D+



The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009)
Directed by: Chris Weitz
Written by: Stephanie Meyer; Melissa Rosenberg
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner, Robert Pattinson, Billy Burke, Ashley Greene, Anna Kendrick, Michael Welch, Justin Chon, Christian Serratos, Jackson Rathbone, Michael Sheen, Jamie Campbell Bower, Peter Facinelli, Kellan Lutz, Nikki Reed, Dakota Fanning
Annoying characters, horrible acting, a deliriously bad story and a cheesy script help make this 'vampire' movie one of the worst of all time. This makes the first one seem amazing. It still boggles my mind why anyone would find this boring, anti-female series entertaining in any way. F



Scanners (1981)
Directed by: David Cronenberg
Written by: David Cronenberg
Starring: Jennifer O'Neill, Stephen Lack, Patrick McGoohan, Lawrence Dane, Michael Ironside, Robert A. Silverman
Interesting premise about a secret government plot to corral a select few who have the power to control peoples thoughts never really gets off the ground. The main problem is the lead actor, who is absolutely awful. The scene that the film is most famous for, the head explosion, occurs within the first ten minutes, and the film plods along from there. C



Land of the Lost (2009)
Directed by: Brad Silberling
Written by: Chris Henchy and Dennis McNichols
Starring: Will Ferrell, Anna Friel, Danny McBride, Jorma Taccone, John Boylan, Matt Lauer
Remake of the cheesy 70's kids show goes the ironic route in it's attempts at humor. Permanent man-baby Will Ferrell runs around acting like an idiot when he and two others get sucked into an alternate dimension filled with dinosaurs, hairy men, lizard people and magic crystals. It tries to be irreverent and subversive, but ends up being pointless and forgettable. D-

See It 12/6

Thirst (2009)
Directed by: Chan-wook Park
Written by: Seo-Gyeong Jeong, Chan-wook Park
Starring: Kang-ho Song, Ok-vin Kim, Hae-sook Kim, Ka-kyun Shin, In-hwan Park, Dal-su Oh, Young-chang Song, Mercedes Cabral
A priest gets a blood transfusion and becomes a vampire. Soon he takes an abused girl under his wing, and they plan to murder her husband. Things get crazier from there. This is probably the best vampire movie in years. It's gory, gripping and the acting is excellent. In the age of glittering vegan vamps, it's nice to see real vampires who aren't afraid to suck some blood and snap some necks. A-



Good Hair (2009)
Directed by: Jeff Stilson
Written by: Lance Crouther, Paul Marchand
Starring: Chris Rock
A really interesting documentary about black women's hair. It's a look into a world that I really only had an inkling of knowledge about. We learn about relaxer, weaves, wigs, hair shows, and we're even shown where the human hair used in weaves comes from. Filled with great interviews conducted by Chris Rock with Nia Long, Al Sharpton, Eve, Sandra Denton, Maya Angelou, Raven-Symone, Tracie Thoms and many more. B+



Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans (2009)
Directed by: Werner Herzog
Written by: William M. Finkelstein
Starring: Nicholas Cage, Val Kilmer, Eva Mendes, Jennifer Coolidge, Brad Dourif, Fairuza Balk, Michael Shannon, Shawn Hatosy, Denzel Whitaker, Irma P. Hall, Xzibit, Vondie Curtis Hall, Tom Bower
Nicholas Cage's best performance in nearly a decade. He plays a drug addicted cop who gets in too deep with drug dealers and other assorted lowlifes in balmy post-Katrina New Orleans. Much more interesting, and entertaining, than the original with Harvey Keitel. But really, they're such different movies it's almost pointless to compare them. A-

Skip It 12/5

Lesbian Vampire Killers (2009)
Directed by: Phil Claydon
Written by: Stewart Williams, Paul Hupfield
Starring: James Corden, Mathew Horne, MyAnna Buring, Vera Filatova, Paul McGann, Silvia Colloca, Lucy Gaskell, Louise Dylan, Ashley Mulheron
If 'Twilight' is barren, boring 'erotica' for teenage girls, then this unfunny, juvenile mess is a 13 year old boys wet dream. Two homely blokes go to an old village and run into a clan of big breasted lesbian vampires who explode into white goo when killed. Not one joke works and the acting sucks. F



Xanadu (1980)
Directed by: Robert Greenwald
Written by: Richard Christian Danus, Marc Reid Rubel
Starring: Olivia Newton-John, Gene Kelly, Michael Beck, James Sloyan, Dimitra Arliss, Katie Hanley
A young artist meets a Greek muse and they decide to open up a roller rink. They fall in love in the process. Horrible musical numbers, terrible acting, and a lame story make this one of the most famous failures in movie history. Personally, I didn't find it bad enough to be 'so bad it's good.' It's just bad. F



Leonard Part Six (1987)
Directed by: Paul Weiland
Written by: Bill Cosby, Jonathan Reynolds
Starring: Bill Cosby, Tom Courtenay, Joe Don Baker, Moses Gunn, Pat Colbert, Gloria Foster, Victoria Rowell, Anna Levine, David Maier, Grace Zabriskie
One of the most bizarre star vehicles I've ever seen. Cosby plays a secret agent who must stop an evil vegetarian's plan to rule the world with her animals. It's supposed to be funny, but it's just awful. Why Cosby did this at the height of his TV success is a mystery for me. F



The Queen of the Damned (2002)
Directed by: Michael Rymer
Written by: Anne Rice; Scott Abbott, Michael Petroni
Starring: Aaliyah, Stuart Townsend, Marguerite Moreau, Vincent Perez, Paul McGann, Lena Olin
The Vampire Lestat (played by Tom Cruise in 'Interview With the Vampire) is now a rock star. He wakes the oldest vampire in the world with his music and she comes looking for him. That's basically the crux of the story. Two of Anne Rice's books were jammed into one film, and it's a total failure. Every decision the makers of this movie made, from the script to the costumes to the music, was wrong. But instead of being a fun bad movie, it's just lifeless. F