Zack and Miri Make a Porno review

Zack and Miri Make a Porno = A
It's hard not to like a movie that features hockey, sex and lots of laughs.
Roger Ebert and James Berardinelli gave it favorable reviews, but not as many stars as I thought they would.

Crossover Office

Crossover Office is software that allows Linux and Mac users the ability to use Windows based Microsoft Office applications to run on their computers. The company, CodeWeavers, that produces it is offering it for free right now.
The whole story can be found here.

Body of Lies review

Body of Lies = A
Ridley Scott, Leonardo DiCapro and Russell Crowe are true artists. Very good thriller, and the direction and acting were top notch.
I especially liked Crowe's opening quote, which concerned whether the United States should be in Iraq or not. His quote said something like one shouldn't question whether the U.S. should be in Iraq or not, it's already there. The question should be what should U.S. citizens do about it now.
The quote rang true, and it's the right thinking now. To judge whether the U.S. should be there or not has passed.
This movie brought me back to thinking about Three Kings and the idea of Western Betrayal.

Prickly Thorn, But Sweetly Worn review

Prickly Thorn, But Sweetly Worn = A+
Wow! I love this song. Travelling up to Detroit recently I was listening to several Detroit-based artists. One was the White Stripes and their CD Icky Thump. I got to song six, and got cold chills. The beat and Meg's drumming really moves me on this track. Jack's delivery of the lyrics reminds me of Gordon Lightfoot's on The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Prickly Thorn is a Scottish influeced tune complete with bagpipes, which for many seems to be either love or hate. In this tune they don't bother me. Frankly I can understand why people don't like them.
Anyway, I'm in love with this song. About a minute in Meg adds another drum, and that's when I got cold chills.

All Together Now reveiw

All Together Now = A
Very good documentary about the making of the Cirque du Soleil - Beatles show Love.
My only complaint is that I wanted to see and know more. Specifically I wanted to know more about the making, or more appropriately the mixing of music from Love.

The Duchess review

The Duchess = B
Interesting story, great acting, but it felt like a period piece soap opera.
Roger Ebert and James Berardinelli had opposing views of it.
This time I agreed more with Ebert.

W. review

W. = D
I haven't seen all Oliver Stone movies, but W. is easily the worst I've seen of his.
Boring, extremely boring.
The actors portrayals of their characters saved it from an F.
James Berardinelli didn't think much of it either. He's pretty much spot on, but he thought the actors were just mimicking their characters. Roger Ebert gave it a glowing review.

Choke review

Choke = C+
Funny at parts, but I'd have a hard time recommending it to people.
Definitely some eye candy for the guys though. Some girls have told me Sam Rockwell is pretty hot. Maybe, but he's a good actor in my opinion. He was great in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Roger Ebert and James Berardinelli gave it mixed reviews.

I Just Called to Say I Love You review

Stevie Wonder's I Just Called to Say I Love You is a song that I didn't much care for when it was first released in 1984. When I bought his Number 1's CD I was surprised to see it on there, because I didn't think it had reached number one. In any case, listening to it today I was touched. It moved me, finally. I don't really know why, but it did.

Here's what sombody wrote about it on Wikipedia.
The midtempo ballad expresses how simply calling someone to tell them you love them can make even the most unremarkable day of your life magical. It is one of Wonder's most simplistic, jingly and sentimental songs, and, with its quintessentially mid-80s synthesizers and drum machines, is a far cry from his more organic and experimental 1970s material. For those reasons it was savaged by critics upon its release. However, the public were seduced by its simple charms, making it one of Wonder's most successful singles to date.
Fair enough. I like many of his other songs better, but it is damn catchy.
I think what I like more than anything is how he lyrically weaves all the months and seasons together.

Economy hurts, turn to open source software

Read an interesting article today about the bad economy and computer software prices.
When the Stock Market Gives you Lemons, You Make Lemonade
Facing tough times? Now might be a good time to turn to Open Source.
Jason Perlow, who wrote the article, made some good points.
So if your Windows XP system is getting clunky with age – like my wife’s old PC was — why not forget purchasing some new Core 2 Quad 4GB Vista PCs for a year, and look into refurbishing your 2 or 3-year old systems with a free, feature rich, and less resource-intensive Linux distribution such as Ubuntu or OpenSUSE? Instead of Microsoft Office, why not run OpenOffice? Set up a file, web or database server with CentOS or Debian. Do you need a virtualization solution? Check out VMWare ESX 3i or investigate KVM and OpenVZ, with a solution like ProxMox.
Sure, we all want the economy to return to a stable and growing state, and we want to be able to improve our business and personal computing infrastructure. But in the meantime, we can all breathe easy that in terms of software, Open Source and Linux has us covered.
My friend at work was going through the same problems with his XP machine. He made the switch to Ubuntu and hasn't looked back.

Four Seasons review

Four Seasons = B
Saw this one on HBO in widescreen format, which is always a plus in my opinion.
Good movie, but I'd have a hard time saying it was exceptional. One thing I really liked about it was the dialogue. It seems anything Alan Alda writes is at least worth seeing. This movie is no different.
The movie is probably too old for Ebert and Berardinelli to have reviewed, but this one at Reel.com is worth reading.
The couples aren't young and beautiful (except for Armstrong); the women are attractive, but not stunning, as are the men. And, most unusual of all, the movie celebrates the wisdom of life experience.
Alda's first hat-trick film—he wrote, directed, and stars in it—remains heartwarming and inspirational without being cheesy.

Infamous review

Infamous = A

To me it was just as good Capote. It was basically the same story - about Truman Capote writing In Cold Blood.

James Berardinelli wrote a positive review. I pretty much agree with him except about the actor, Toby Jones, who played Capote. I thought he did just as good if not better job than Phillip Seymour Hoffman did in Capote.

Religulous review

Religulous = A+
Biting, provacative, entertaining and informative view about religions of the world.
Great movie. It's a must-see movie for everybody.
The only thing I don't get is Bill Maher, the movie's writer, says he doesn't know. He knows.
Ebert reviewed it positively, giving it 3.5 stars.
In the documentary “Religulous,” Bill Maher offers his opinionated take on the world’s religions, and it’s not going to please true believers of any stripe.
Saw the movie last night at Keystone Art Cinema. It was nearly sold-out.

Frozen River reveiw

Frozen River = A
This was a great movie in my opinion. Loved the story even though it was somewhat sad. The portrayals by all the actors seemed real and genuine too.
Watching the credits, I said to myself Michael O'Keefe ... that's a familiar name. Only now in writing this reveiw did it dawn on me where I've seen him before, The Great Santini and Caddyshack. He did a remarkable job in The Great Santini and Caddyshack is a comedy classic. Anyway it's good to see him again even though I didn't recognize him.
Rober Ebert gave the movie four stars, which I believe is the highest he gives.
It doesn't look as if James Berardinelli has reviewed it.

The Last Mistress reveiw

The Last Mistress = B
A good movie, but it didn't really captivate me.
Reading Ebert's reveiw, he'd probably grade it higher than I did