Reviews by Al

Not sure why, but I laugh the most at that cartoon nowadays.  Maybe I was a married shark in my previous life.  Calvin and Hobbes was my favorite years ago.

Montgomery Clift, Dean Martin and Marlon Brando play soldiers on opposite sides in WWII.  There’s an interesting scene in the beginning where a pretty girl walks by and Martin’s character notices immediately.  Clift’s character is oblivious.  Martin’s character asks something like: You ever made it with a girl?  Then softens: You must not have your antenna up.  Earlier, Clift’s character quickly takes note of Martin’s character at the draft board.  Kind of art reflecting reality, as Clift was known to be homosexual.  Martin’s character sets Clift’s up with a girl, and they quickly get married before the two men are shipped off to training and war.  Later in the film, Clift’s character gets ostracized by the platoon (I missed the reason for it), and he is constantly getting into fights.  He finally beats one of the gang and wins some respect.

Even though it is written in personal memoir form, the book packs a lot of heavy information to persons of all categories: race, sex, sexual-orientation.  Prof Yoshino defines useful terms: conversion, passing, and covering in relation to behaviors disapproved by the ‘mainstream’ or those having higher status or power.

Fans of the movie have reassembled the more romantic portions and redubbed with music on YouTube.

"Collide"

"Please Remember Me"

You might think that nothing could go wrong in seeing an action flick with some guys.  Well you could lose about 2 hours of your life that you will never get back.  My friends, the movie I’m about to mention must be avoided at all costs.  Please don’t even see it on DVD unless you plan to see it in about 120 seconds using fast-forward.  The movie is called "Ultraviolet" and has the most horrific acting, story, computer effects, dialogue, casting, stunts you have ever seen on a screen.  There is not a single redeeming quality in this film, except perhaps having the benefits of laughing out loud at its complete absurdity throughout and after the film.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t even meet the rare category of it’s-so-bad-it’s-good.