sherwin-1 Reviews

The Green Mile (1999)

Did God give the gift of healing to a murderer?

[21 April 2002]

It's a tough job to have to deal with death row inmates every day and to give the electric chair to men you take care of. Interesting relationships developed in Cold Mountain Penitentiary… relationships between the guards and the captives, between the husbands and wives and between a little mouse named Jingles and the inmates. After one of the inmates demonstrated the gift of healing, it became especially tough to have to carry out the death penalty on John Coffey, the giant black man. Was there another way? After Coffey had performed several miracles, Paul Edgecomb began to suspect that this man was not both a healer and a killer… that God would not give the gift of healing to a murderer.

The Green Mile got me thinking about the lack of justice in our world today and wondering how often people have been wrongly convicted or died for crimes they didn't do? It also got me thinking about my own mortality… about how much longer I have to live? `We each owe a death. There are no exceptions. But sometimes the Green Mile seems so long.'

The Thin Man Goes Home (1944)

I just love these 'oldies!'

[17 April 2002]

In a visit home to see his parents, Nick Charles again must solve a murder… a man drops dead on the front porch. The cast is choice, from Anne Revere who is a truly Crazy Mary to Donald Meek as Willie Crump the nervous art dealer. (He was Poppins in ‘You Can't Take It With You', which is another of my most favorite oldies.)

In the typical `Colombo' fashion, Nick digs around gathering all the facts and then brings all the suspects together for the grand finale to reveal the killer. There is something about some of these `oldies' that I really enjoy… not to mention that they are free of the filthy language that many of our new movies think is so important today.

12 Angry Men (1997 TV Movie)

Can one person make a difference?

[16 April 2002]

I was amazed at how much I enjoyed this movie, in spite of its simplicity. Without flashbacks, special effects, or music, I felt like I was part of the cast, deciding the destiny of the accused. The judge asked the jury to decide the case beyond a reasonable doubt. `Reasonable doubt! That's nothing but words.' -Juror #3 Yes, but truth is important for life. it must be the basis of justice. It made me hope I never get called to serve on jury duty. but if I do, that I might have the genuine compassion to do the right thing and not just the expedient thing. I can see why our local college requires this movie as a must see for all law students.

It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963)

Good clean humor, without sex, swearing, murder or violence

[10/10 · 10 March 2002]

What a cast of awesome comedians! This was the first movie I ever saw in a theater as a teenager, and I don't think I had ever laughed so hard in a movie in my entire life –I literally rolled in the isle! Since then I have watched it at least ten times… and I always enjoy it. This is truly a classic! It's full of great scenes –like when Jimmy Durante literally kicks the bucket! His dying words tell about hidden loot under the Big ‘W' in a park. In a mad, mad, mad, mad marathon race, the four groups who witnessed the dying man's money tip sacrifice everything to try to beat the others to the treasure. The destruction of cars and property in the quest is quite phenomenal! And the fight that leveled the service station was beyond belief!

They don't make movies like this anymore… good clean humor, without sex, swearing, murder or violence. The one-liners never quit –like, `I'll wager you anything you like, if American women stopped wearing brassieres, your whole national economy would collapse overnight!' Now we know why the whole economy has gone to pot!

This is on my personal top 100 list.

The Shoes of the Fisherman (I) (1968)

"What do you think of Christ?"

[7/10 · 2 March 2002]

This movie makes the Catholic Church look good; I wish that it was true. After twenty years in a Russian prison camp, Kiril Lakota is released and taken to the Vatican. He was asked, "What have you learned after twenty years of confinement?" "I have learned that without some kind of loving, a man withers like a grape on a dying vine."

Soon after his arriving, the pope died. None of the 'favorites' were chosen for his successor. On the seventh vote Kiril was elected to be the new pope. He brought a different perspective to the Vatican than his colleagues were used to seeing. He didn't let his position go to his head, but rather wanted to get out of his confines and feel the pulse of the community. "We're all in prison one way or another." "What do you think of Christ?"

This movie did however make one point to me. Even though the Catholic Church is a system far from perfect, there are people in it who God is leading, who 'walk in the shoes of the Fisherman,' and who live unselfishly to help their fellow men in need. 'How does a man ever know if his actions are for himself or for God?" "You don't know. You have a duty to act, but you have no right to expect approval, or even a successful outcome."

Billionaire Boys Club (1987)

This is one incredible story!

[7/10 · 28 February 2002]

Based on a true story, a high school nerd comes home after college and cons his past classmates into a get rich scheme that is really too good to be true. They form a company called the Billionaire Boys Club, the BBC. Joe Hunt is the mastermind manipulator from Beverly Hills, who grew up with a bunch of rich kids and knows how to play on their greed. With smoke and mirrors he sets up his victims to believe he can make them a ton of money. He can lead others to do wrong, believing it is right. Joe said, "It all depends how you look at things. There are no absolutes. There is no black and no white. Just shades. Depending how you look at it, black is white."

Joe meets his match when he gets five million dollars to invest from Ron Levin, another con man, and through trading in commodities turns it into fourteen million. Then after spending much of the profit, he finds out it wasn't real money. He could kill the guy for that! He carefully plans to murder him, writing down all the steps. . . seven pages of `To Do' notes. In a court trial the whole scheme is revealed. . . it is one incredible story!

This is a must see for anyone susceptible to get rich opportunities.

Beyond Rangoon (1995)

What an unforgettable story!

[9/10 · 27 February 2002]

Based on an actual story, John Boorman shows the struggle of an American doctor, whose husband and son were murdered and she was continually plagued with her loss. A holiday to Burma with her sister seemed like a good idea to get away from it all, but when her passport was stolen in Rangoon, she could not leave the country with her sister, and was forced to stay back until she could get I.D. papers from the American embassy. To fill in a day before she could fly out, she took a trip into the countryside with a tour guide. "I tried finding something in those stone statues, but nothing stirred in me. I was stone myself."

Suddenly all hell broke loose and she was caught in a political revolt. Just when it looked like she had escaped and safely boarded a train, she saw her tour guide get beaten and shot. In a split second she decided to jump from the moving train and try to rescue him, with no thought of herself. Continually her life was in danger.

Here is a woman who demonstrated spontaneous, selfless charity, risking her life to save another. Patricia Arquette is beautiful, and not just to look at; she has a beautiful heart. This is an unforgettable story.

"We are taught that suffering is the one promise that life always keeps."

Sarah, Plain & Tall: Winter's End (1999 TV Movie)

Hard questions about the past are difficult to get answered.

[9/10 · 26 February 2002]

What a joy to watch this family grow up and see the same children acting in this series eight years later. Anna (Lexi Randall) is a beautiful young lady, working for a physician in town. She is in love with his son Justin, who went away in the army and was injured in war. And the newest daughter of Jacob and Sarah, Cassie, is an outspoken cutie, so transparently honest she often is embarrassing.

On a cold winter day a stranger shows up at the farm. He is slow to reveal his identity. When they find out he is Jacobs father, John Witting, thought long ago dead, hard questions about the past are difficult to get answered.

Glenn Close is magnificent as a loving mother, who wants only the best for all her family, and is constantly wrestling with the forces that tend to separate them. Sarah talking to Jacob said, "It's all so fragile, this life. Anything can happen in the blink of an eye. I could have died in that blizzard. Think of Justin, and John. probably more ill than we know. Time moves on. The moment passes, then it's too late. It's a shame, don't you think?"

Life lessons on honesty and forgiveness make this a meaningful evenings entertainment.

Skylark (1993 TV Movie)

Love is even more powerful under trials!

[9/10 · 26 February 2002]

This sequel follows two years behind "Sarah, Plain and Tall." And I loved it even better! The mail-order bride from Maine, is now part of the Witting family. She and Jacob have fallen in love and his two young children have truly become her own. Their simple, but rich life on the Kansas prairie is threatened by a terrible drought. One by one their friends and neighbors are forced to abandon their farms, but they vow to stay and fight to keep the family farm. When the wells run dry and fire threatens their very lives, they too are forced to make a decision that will tear them from their home and each other. Sarah and the two children go to Maine.

Separated by miles, but bound together by love, they learn that devotion is what makes them a family; and that love is even more powerful under trials. There are some great quotes in this movie as Sarah talks to the children. "Yes, I loved your papa's letters, but it what was between the lines that I loved the most." "What was between the lines?" "His life, that's what was between the lines. Sometimes..." "Sometimes papa's not good with words." "Sometimes what people chose to write down on paper is more important than what they say." Here is good quality family entertainment.

Noah's Ark (1999)

Not all bad... 3-4% was good stuff!

[1/10 · 24 February 2002]

This is probably the worst excuse for a movie I have ever seen. The story is only vaguely about Noah, an ark and the flood. the script is obviously written by an atheist. It is not uncommon for Hollywood to make Christianity look bad. but this time they went so far out, I think Hollywood looked very bad. It would take pages to document the errors in this piece of tripe. Lot and Abraham lived 400-plus years after the flood, but are here shown with the destruction of Sodom as preceding the flood. The Bible said that God closed the door of the ark, but God wasn't asked to do it here in this movie. so Noah closed it and opened it whenever he wanted. like to accommodate the peddler. The peddler (Colburn) was a great piece of work. but when he showed up trying to sell his wares to Noah on the ark, long after the rain had stopped, that had to be a joke!

I kept watching, hoping for some redeeming thing to occur, but to no avail. I may have been too hard on the producers. they did get a few things right. Noah was the main man, he built an ark and there was a flood. and Lot's wife did turn into a pillar of salt when she looked back on Sodom. The scene where Lot breaks off her finger of salt to take as a keepsake was priceless. so it wasn't all bad. There was at least 3-4% good stuff.

The Robe (1953)

Wow! What a powerful story!

[9/10 · 24 February 2002]

Few movies today carry the wallop that Henry Coster packed into this one. The Lloyd Douglas masterpiece has been well adapted to film... and it is refreshing to see a film on a biblical theme that Hollywood hasn't screwed up and made Christianity look bad. Noah's Ark (1999 TV) is a Bible story to avoid. The Robe, on the other hand, is a great story, with a sincere effort to communicate a commitment to integrity, whatever the cost. I would watch this one again and recommend it highly as a true classic... I give it 9 out of 10.