The Grey

I was hopeful that this movie might have some resemblance to the wonderful Jack London novel "White Fang" which I read several times during my youth and again just recently. Unfortunately, there was no resemblance at all – except perhaps a few scenes where the pack of wolves were tracking or attacking the hapless humans. The story is basically an airplane crash somewhere in the northern Alaska regions and a handful of oil pipeline workers survived the crash. They have to try and the hike out of the frozen tundra while a pack of wolves hunt them down one by one. Sounds like an exciting story if we cared at all about the survivors – which I didn't. Only the leader, Liam Nielsen, had any real substance. The rest were just stereotypical jerks or nerds. I think the producers couldn't figure out if they wanted to make a horror movie or a decent survival story. Anyway, they miss the sled on this one. Don't waste your time unless you're a big Nielsen fan.

The Artist

Black and white, no widescreen view, no sound effects, no talking – and yet this movie won the Academy award for best picture last year. At first I was very skeptical, I thought that probably the movie one the Academy award because of its novelty factor. However, the movie immediately drew me in and within a few minutes I found myself not even noticing the lack of conversation and sound effects. The music in the background was not overpowering, just pleasant and flowed well with the story. I did find myself trying to guess what the actors were saying to each other for a few minutes – reading lips – but that grew tiresome so I just relaxed and enjoyed the ride. The actors dramatic expressions and the natural action of the story allowed the movie to move at an acceptable pace. Some parts were a bit corny and overacted, but overall a well-made and enjoyable film. I'm not sure it deserve the Academy award for best picture, but it was a good tribute to Hollywood Land and had some historical value – showing the transition from silent films to Talkies. A thumbs up from me!

The Secret Life of Plants

Now that the Olympics are over, I'm watching movies again. This movie "The Secret Life of Plants" was done in 1979 and is available on Netflix. Once you get past the poor quality of audio and visual – this was long before high-definition! – It is really a quite intriguing and fascinating movie/documentary. The premise is that plants can receive and preceive energy, emotions, thoughts and feelings. Plants are actually conscious and perhaps intelligent. Does this sound a little bit like the movie AVATAR? It's actually quite interesting and some of the scientific experiments that were performed back in the 70s were pretty cool, groovy, far out, and awesome. I promise you if you watch this movie you will never think of plants in the same way again. Added bonus the soundtrack is done by a young Stevie Wonder – and he appears at the end of the movie singing the title song.