angelaboyko Reviews

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

Not the greatest but definitely not the worst

[8/10 · 22 May 2008]

I felt like I just saw the two movies. I loved the classic Indiana Jones movie, with action and humour and romance with Marion (welcome back Karen Allen!). I loved how Indy and Mutt interacted with each other, both before and after they discovered they were father and son. (And I laughed at the Russian soldier who had had ENOUGH of hearing of how Mutt came to be). I loved how Indy grinned like a little boy when he saw Marion again, and how she just glowed after hearing Indy couldn't find another woman who was her.

The other movie, with the Red Menace and the aliens - I didn't care for that.

I was glad that they tipped their hat to Marcus Brody and his deceased portrayer, Denholm Elliott. I didn't like that they also killed off Henry Jones Senior - Sean Connery might have changed his mind for a 5th movie! But that was at the time they revealed he had passed. After seeing all of the movie, I appreciate what they did - Indy was feeling lost and alone after losing these two men. By the end of the movie, he'd regained his friend Ox, and he'd gained a new family with Marion and Mutt. I loved the line about Grandpa Jones laughing in Heaven.

Pipe Dreams (1976)

Stick to singing, Gladys

[1/10 · 18 March 2005]

I saw this movie 15 years ago, when my landlady brought it home from the video store. I remembered it being titled "Wings Over Alaska", but maybe that's a detail I blocked out.

Where to begin? Gladys' real life husband, Barry Hankerson, plays her movie husband, who has been in Alaska with a job. She follows him up there to take him home, but he doesn't want to leave.

Plucky Gladys stays anyways. She knows it's just a matter of time before she wins her husband back. In the meantime, she rooms with a woman of loose morals, who is the mistress of the town bad guy. The guy that basically owns the town.

The roommate gets pregnant, the bad guy does not want to be a daddy. So the roommate givers herself a coat hanger abortion, which proves fatal. This is a setup for one of the most tacky scenes in movie history. As the ambulance attendants are removing the body in the background, Gladys' husband comes by to check on her and asks her out. Perky Gladys would be glad to go out with him - way way too perky for what is going on in the background.

Anyways, bad guy gets defeated, Gladys and Barry reunite - and then Gladys happens to mention that she was pregnant when Barry left her for Alaska, and they have a little girl waiting for them back in Georgia. A happy ending! And a dreadful movie - amateur acting, clichéd writing, just bad, bad, bad. But the scenery is beautiful!

The Cloning of Joanna May (1992)

An intriguing concept

[22 August 2004]

I discovered this on A&E. It was a great TV movie, weaving the realities of divorce and loss, with the sci-fi elements of cloning.

Very interestingly, the three actresses cast as the clones didn't look that much alike, aside from being red haired and fair. But the way it was directed, they instantly knew they were sisters when they first saw each other, and when Joanna and Carl saw them too. There was a kinship between the three clones that leaped off the screen.

In fact, it was the supernatural kinship of the clones that made this a compelling movie to watch. Is it really the clones who appear underwater when Carl swims? Did they cause his death?

And what will become of the Carl clone when he grows up? I wish there was a sequel.

I ended up getting the book from the library. This TV movie was a very good adaptation.

Corner Gas (2004–2009)

Good show, eh?

[14 June 2004]

I admit that I didn't set out to watch this show, it was on before "American Idol" one night. But I was converted into a fan with one episode.

I really like the quirky humour and the way that the characters interact with each other. And how the characters stay true to themselves.

I'd never heard of Brent Butt, or anyone else in this show, before. Doesn't matter. They make a good ensemble.

So Canadians are capable of producing a good TV show themselves! You don't have to be from the prairies to understand the flavour of small town Canada.

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978)

A Guilty Pleasure

[8 May 2004]

In 1978, when I was 12 years old, we were living in Moscow, while my father was stationed at the Canadian Embassy. To escape the "fun" of living behind the Iron Curtain, we routinely took the Moscow-Helsinki express and travelled around Scandinavia. Our trip always ended at this huge department store in Helsinki, where we'd order all our non-perishable groceries until our next trip. My brother and I were allowed to purchase one record apiece to take back with us.

So one time, I picked up the soundtrack to this film. I don't think the movie had been released yet. Goodness knows, I didn't know that the movie was going to be a howler. All I know is that I loved the soundtrack. I listened to it over and over, and pored over the photographs on the album cover, trying to get a sense of the movie.

A few years later, I read "The Golden Turkey Awards" and then I started to realize how bad the movie was. I didn't get my chance to see it until 1997. Oh, it stunk! Cheese everywhere, from the awkward love story to the campy antics of the villain and his robots.

And yet, I watch it every time it comes on TV. Finally, I have the movie to go with the soundtrack. And let's face it - I love cheesy movies.

Homefront (1991–1993)

An excellent show

[13 April 2004]

I really love a lot of the musicals that came out in the late '40's, and this show was a great series set in the same time period.

It showed the toll of waiting, that was experienced by the families of WWII soldiers. In the pilot, WWII had just ended and the soldiers were coming home. The Metcalf family included widowed mother Anne, whose eventual love affair with a Jewish union organizer shocked her grown children. Linda Metcalf worked in a factory during the war, and her future was undecided when the men came back to reclaim their jobs. Older son Hank was a returning solider, and younger son Jeff was an aspiring baseball player.

The Sloans were a rich couple mourning the loss of their only son in WWII - and dealing with the arrival of his pregnant Italian war bride, Gina.

Caroline Hailey was a British war bride, far more ambitious than her American husband, who was content with his life the way it was.

The fashions and hairstyles were wonderfully accurate - I remember one of the actresses griping in an interview that they had to wear vintage underwear, and it was uncomfortable!

The Cheryl Ladd Special (1979 TV Special)

Really Liked it

[9/10 · 3 April 2004]

I remember seeing this, it was a really good special. It was much better than expected. The musical sequences were beautifully produced. I particularly remember Cheryl singing a Steve Winwood song and looking gorgeous. The song was "While You See a Chance".

Cheryl was charming and talented and funny. She was on "The Larry King" show a few years ago, and said she joined "Charlie's Angels" on the condition that she be allowed to show her humourous side.

I don't remember any skits. Except maybe one where she was a music hall dancer in the Old West.

And the blooper reel at the end was hilarious!