Michael-Douglas Movie Reviews

This movie is the best Christmas movie I have ever watched. I like it better than "It's a Wonderful Life" and "Miracle on 34th Street". I bought it and watched it so much that I wore the tape out. It took a lot of searching to find this movie about 5 years ago and I finally found one place who could order it, so I ordered 2 just in case I wore the new one out, but ended up giving one away because I wanted to share this awesome movie with a friend! Buy it - You will not be disappointed! Makes me believe all over again!!

I've enjoyed "The Night They Saved Christmas" ever since I was 3. It still remains an essential Christmas film up to now, now that I'm 15. Jaclyn Smith is wonderful in this picture as the mother. Art Carney is Santa Claus, Paul Le Mat (American Graffiti) is the father, and June Lockhart (Lassie) is Mrs. Santa Claus). The North Pole City scenes are unbelievably beautiful and breathtaking. This was probably an expensive project. It has a very cozy setting. "The Night They Saved Christmas" is an essential family holiday movie to enjoy for years!

I bought this movie not having ever seen it. It should be a Christmas movie everyone should have. I rate it up there side by side with Miracle On 34th St. The family that didn't believe, the Santa, played by Art Carney, and Mrs. Santa, played by June Lockhart, surely will give you a warm Christmas feeling. It is a must have for a truly magic, nostoligic Christmas.

This movie is the best Christmas movie I have ever watched. I like it better than "It's a Wonderful Life" and "Miracle on 34th Street". I bought it and watched it so much that I wore the tape out. It took a lot of searching to find this movie about 5 years ago and I finally found one place who could order it, so I ordered 2 just in case I wore the new one out, but ended up giving one away because I wanted to share this awesome movie with a friend! Buy it - You will not be disappointed! Makes me believe all over again!!

I've enjoyed "The Night They Saved Christmas" ever since I was 3. It still remains an essential Christmas film up to now, now that I'm 15. Jaclyn Smith is wonderful in this picture as the mother. Art Carney is Santa Claus, Paul Le Mat (American Graffiti) is the father, and June Lockhart (Lassie) is Mrs. Santa Claus). The North Pole City scenes are unbelievably beautiful and breathtaking. This was probably an expensive project. It has a very cozy setting. "The Night They Saved Christmas" is an essential family holiday movie to enjoy for years!

I bought this movie not having ever seen it. It should be a Christmas movie everyone should have. I rate it up there side by side with Miracle On 34th St. The family that didn't believe, the Santa, played by Art Carney, and Mrs. Santa, played by June Lockhart, surely will give you a warm Christmas feeling. It is a must have for a truly magic, nostoligic Christmas.

The VDO is good i like the angel episode:D...the puppet show wz ok but the VDO is worth it 4 just the Angel episode:D

This collection episodes is great for Buffy fans, or people who have no idea what Buffy is. This video is what the show is all about. Humor, drama, sorrow, love, friendship, etc. is all in these two episodes. "Angel" describes the relationship between Buffy and Angel, and gives viewers a look into his life. "The Puppet Show" may give off a creepy vibe, but it's one of the episodes I laugh at everytime I watch it, it's so funny. If you haven't seen these episodes, or even if you have, you should get this video!

I like this video the most out of the slayer 3-pack because it contains one of the funniest angel and buffy moments in "angel." Angel has been hiding in her bedroom while Buffy was in school. When she comes back, she sees her diary on the table and freaks out. Accusing him of reading it, she rambles on that when she called him a hunk in the diary, she meant it in a bad way and that when she described his eyes as penetrating, she really meant to write bulgy. I just think this moment was well-written, which is the norm for the show anyway. In this episode, she discovers that angel is a vampire but that doesn't really seem to throw her off too much as buffy and willow discuss a possible relationship with angel. Their first kiss occurs in this show. "Puppet show" was also funny with the trio forced into participating in the school talent show while trying to find a murderer. As the end credits roll, you'll see how horrible xander, willow and buffy are in the talent show. Also, if they can put the whole 1st season of sex in the city on video, they can certainly do the same for buffy (which is a better show anyway). Or at least produce more videos for us buffy fans. This is my favorite show on TV because of its sarcasm, humor, action, and drama.

The China Syndrome does a great job of keeping you on the edge of your seat, with compelling performances from Jack Lemmon and Jane Fonda. The suspense the film creates is top notch.

For those of us who grew up in the 70's and early 80's, nuclear power as well as the threat of nuclear war were a big part of our social conscience and fears. The China Syndrome does an admirable job of representing that widespread uneasiness with nuclear power through it's dialogue-rich storyline. Three Mile Island and Chernobyl were incrediby scary things to be exposed to as a child, and The China Syndrome succeeds in never letting those of us who remember...forget, what that can feel like.

I picked this DVD up for a fair price...and it's an excellent addition to my growing collection of film classics. It is a tremendous film.

It doesn't surprise me that there are those who would trash this film because of its stars' obvious anti-nuke bias...even though incidents like Three Mile Island (which occurred only two weeks after the film's original release) and Chernobyl have proven otherwise. Nor does it deter me, however, from saying that this is a genuinely frightening thriller.

Jane Fonda and Michael Douglas are a TV news crew who, while doing a special on alternate forms of energy, witness what appears to be a serious accident at a nuclear plant near Los Angeles. Though they witness the incident through a soundproof glass between them and the control room, Douglas secretly films it all. His and Fonda's efforts to have the footage aired, however, are rebuffed by the station's owners, who fear a massive lawsuit. It is thus up to Fonda and Douglas to find out the truth on their own.

Meanwhile, even the plant's conscientious shift supervisor (Jack Lemmon) begins to have doubts about the plant's safety. Those fears are heightened when he learns that an all-important seal in the pump support structure shows a potentially fatal flaw and that some of the welding x-rays done on that same seal have been phonied. But Lemmon can't get anyone else at the plant to listen to him. The result is a nightmarish climax that poises on the brink of a meltdown.

Director James Bridges deftly mixes political intrigue with technological and environmental fears in this gripping movie. Without stating it blatantly, he and coscreenwriters Mike Gray and T.S. Cook have underlined the basic reason for the anti-nuke bias displayed here. Fundamentally, nuclear power can NEVER be made 100% safe, no matter what anyone believes, because human beings can NEVER be 100% foolproof.

The acting by Fonda, Douglas, and Lemmon is at its usual top-notch best, and the film never loses its focus on pondering the nightmarish consequences of such a thing as nuclear power, which we know as much about now as when the A-bomb was dropped on Hiroshina--very little.

The 70's were known for a string of disaster movies, like Earthquake, Airport and The Towering Inferno. The script for The China Syndrome could have easily followed that theme and laid waste to a large part of California (an event some of you reviewers were hoping for!) but it manages to avert disaster while teaching all of us several important lessons. Primarily, it shows us how corporate greed and meddling can not only side-step government regulations in the interest of profit, but also put a substantial percentage of our population at great risk.

As the plot goes, PG&E (Pacific Gas & Electric) has been running the Ventana Nuclear Power Plant for a short time, and is looking to add additional plants in their operating area. They are about to break ground on a second nuclear plant and wish to put the public at ease with the idea of nuclear power as a viable source of energy by allowing a T.V. news crew (played by Jane Fonda, Michael Douglas and another fellow) to tour the Ventana plant.

While in the visitors booth, in full view of the plant's control room, the news crew witness an emergency that causes the reactor to "scram", subsequently shutting down the plant. Without authorization, Douglas captures the entire event on film. When the drama subsides, PG&E's media suit gives the news crew a watered-down explanation for what just happened.

Fonda, with her first piece of "hard news", hopes to air the story immediately, but is stone-walled by the news station's management. It soon becomes clear that PG&E has gotten word of the film's existence and successfully stops it's airing on television. Shortly thereafter, Douglas steals the film from the station's film vault and secretly shows it to a couple of renouned physicists. What he finds out is very chilling, indeed.

Jack Lemmon plays the Shift Supervisor at Ventana, coming off excellently as a loyal, dedicated company man, who must balance his feelings for his beloved plant, with his growing concern that the plant may not be safe to operate. Digging deeper, he discovers significant evidence that PG&E and its sub-contractors have by-passed safety regulations in the construction of the plant. When he presents this evidence before his superiors, he is amazed to find out that they only care about getting the plant up-and-running again to make money.

The rest of the movie you will have to see for yourself. It exposes the reality of corporate greed and fraud. It gives you a sense of what a whistle-blower in today's world might go through to get their story out. Some companies are killing us and we don't even know it. For example, PG&E (a real company, for those of you who didn't know) recently settled a class-action law suit for contaminating ground water, it's employees and nearby residents with carcinogins. It made many people sick and some died. Many more will die from the long-term effects of expose. You may remember the movie that was inspired by the story: Erin Brokovich.

I was about 12yrs old when The China Syndrome came out. It's just as scary to me now as it was then. I also understand why some of today's youth don't see it that way. Most movies today require extreme graphics and violence to get their message out to an audience. The China Syndrome will seem a little dry to some. If another event, like Three-mile Island or Chernobyl occurs, and it will, then this movie will make more sense to them. It's not the nuclear energy I fear; It's the people who profit from it who scare me.

The China Syndrome does a great job of keeping you on the edge of your seat, with compelling performances from Jack Lemmon and Jane Fonda. The suspense the film creates is top notch.

For those of us who grew up in the 70's and early 80's, nuclear power as well as the threat of nuclear war were a big part of our social conscience and fears. The China Syndrome does an admirable job of representing that widespread uneasiness with nuclear power through it's dialogue-rich storyline. Three Mile Island and Chernobyl were incrediby scary things to be exposed to as a child, and The China Syndrome succeeds in never letting those of us who remember...forget, what that can feel like.

I picked this DVD up for a fair price...and it's an excellent addition to my growing collection of film classics. It is a tremendous film.

It doesn't surprise me that there are those who would trash this film because of its stars' obvious anti-nuke bias...even though incidents like Three Mile Island (which occurred only two weeks after the film's original release) and Chernobyl have proven otherwise. Nor does it deter me, however, from saying that this is a genuinely frightening thriller.

Jane Fonda and Michael Douglas are a TV news crew who, while doing a special on alternate forms of energy, witness what appears to be a serious accident at a nuclear plant near Los Angeles. Though they witness the incident through a soundproof glass between them and the control room, Douglas secretly films it all. His and Fonda's efforts to have the footage aired, however, are rebuffed by the station's owners, who fear a massive lawsuit. It is thus up to Fonda and Douglas to find out the truth on their own.

Meanwhile, even the plant's conscientious shift supervisor (Jack Lemmon) begins to have doubts about the plant's safety. Those fears are heightened when he learns that an all-important seal in the pump support structure shows a potentially fatal flaw and that some of the welding x-rays done on that same seal have been phonied. But Lemmon can't get anyone else at the plant to listen to him. The result is a nightmarish climax that poises on the brink of a meltdown.

Director James Bridges deftly mixes political intrigue with technological and environmental fears in this gripping movie. Without stating it blatantly, he and coscreenwriters Mike Gray and T.S. Cook have underlined the basic reason for the anti-nuke bias displayed here. Fundamentally, nuclear power can NEVER be made 100% safe, no matter what anyone believes, because human beings can NEVER be 100% foolproof.

The acting by Fonda, Douglas, and Lemmon is at its usual top-notch best, and the film never loses its focus on pondering the nightmarish consequences of such a thing as nuclear power, which we know as much about now as when the A-bomb was dropped on Hiroshina--very little.

The 70's were known for a string of disaster movies, like Earthquake, Airport and The Towering Inferno. The script for The China Syndrome could have easily followed that theme and laid waste to a large part of California (an event some of you reviewers were hoping for!) but it manages to avert disaster while teaching all of us several important lessons. Primarily, it shows us how corporate greed and meddling can not only side-step government regulations in the interest of profit, but also put a substantial percentage of our population at great risk.

As the plot goes, PG&E (Pacific Gas & Electric) has been running the Ventana Nuclear Power Plant for a short time, and is looking to add additional plants in their operating area. They are about to break ground on a second nuclear plant and wish to put the public at ease with the idea of nuclear power as a viable source of energy by allowing a T.V. news crew (played by Jane Fonda, Michael Douglas and another fellow) to tour the Ventana plant.

While in the visitors booth, in full view of the plant's control room, the news crew witness an emergency that causes the reactor to "scram", subsequently shutting down the plant. Without authorization, Douglas captures the entire event on film. When the drama subsides, PG&E's media suit gives the news crew a watered-down explanation for what just happened.

Fonda, with her first piece of "hard news", hopes to air the story immediately, but is stone-walled by the news station's management. It soon becomes clear that PG&E has gotten word of the film's existence and successfully stops it's airing on television. Shortly thereafter, Douglas steals the film from the station's film vault and secretly shows it to a couple of renouned physicists. What he finds out is very chilling, indeed.

Jack Lemmon plays the Shift Supervisor at Ventana, coming off excellently as a loyal, dedicated company man, who must balance his feelings for his beloved plant, with his growing concern that the plant may not be safe to operate. Digging deeper, he discovers significant evidence that PG&E and its sub-contractors have by-passed safety regulations in the construction of the plant. When he presents this evidence before his superiors, he is amazed to find out that they only care about getting the plant up-and-running again to make money.

The rest of the movie you will have to see for yourself. It exposes the reality of corporate greed and fraud. It gives you a sense of what a whistle-blower in today's world might go through to get their story out. Some companies are killing us and we don't even know it. For example, PG&E (a real company, for those of you who didn't know) recently settled a class-action law suit for contaminating ground water, it's employees and nearby residents with carcinogins. It made many people sick and some died. Many more will die from the long-term effects of expose. You may remember the movie that was inspired by the story: Erin Brokovich.

I was about 12yrs old when The China Syndrome came out. It's just as scary to me now as it was then. I also understand why some of today's youth don't see it that way. Most movies today require extreme graphics and violence to get their message out to an audience. The China Syndrome will seem a little dry to some. If another event, like Three-mile Island or Chernobyl occurs, and it will, then this movie will make more sense to them. It's not the nuclear energy I fear; It's the people who profit from it who scare me.

A good made for television movie adaptation loosely based on Charles Dickens classic A Christmas Carol but in this adaptation instead of being set in 1843 Victorian era England it is set in Concord New Hampshire 1933 during the Depression and instead of being named Ebenezer Scrooge the main character is named Benedict Slade and has the miserly old grump repossessing the belongings of towns people but later on that night after being visited by the ghost of his old partner he is visited by three ghosts who show him the tragic and disastrous results of his actions of the past present and future and if he doesn't set things right his actions will hurt others and his soul will be doomed just like his deceased partner who made many mistakes in life and business and never set things right. Not as good as the Christmas Carol movies starring Alastair Sim, Patrick Stewart, Reginald Owen, George C. Scott, and Albert Finney but it's good, though I personally found that it started off kind of slow before getting better but Henry Winkler did give a good performance and made Slade's transformation believable and making it the best of the modernized versions of A Christmas Carol and anyone who grew up watching him play the Fonz on Happy Days should get a kick out of watching this movie. I have the DVD and the sound and picture are good but there are no extras and I'm disappointed that the DVD doesn't have Captions for people with impaired hearing, I think all DVD's should include that!

IT WAS 1979, CHRISTMAS JUST A COUPLE OF WEEKS AWAY FLICKING THROUGH THE CHANNELS, I STOPPED ON CITY TV, CHANNEL 79, AS IT WAS KNOWN AT THAT TIME. I STARTED WATCHING THIS MOVIE CALLED AN AMERICAN CHRISTMAS CAROL WITH HENRY WINKLER, EVER SINCE THAT NIGHT IN DECEMBER 1979. I HAVE ALWAYS TAKEN TIME WATCH THIS FANTASTIC MOVIE, I BOUGHT THE VIDEO, NOW I WILL BUY IT ON DVD. I THINK ITS THE BEST VERSION OF CHARLES DICKENS CHRISTMAS CLASSIC SCROOGE....

Awesome. If you like Christmas, then you'll like this movie. Just as the original by Dickens, it teaches us the true meaning of Christmas. I have been hooked since seeing this movie as a young adult and it still delivers. I enjoy the American twist on Dicken's story. You won't get a Victorian town in England, but you will get a simpler America and the American entrepreneurial spirit. Henry Winkler gives a commendable performance and the supporting cast works well. All in all, a must see for Christmas.

A pathetic story of a photographer who marries a woman inattentive enough to fall into a crevasse on their honeymoon. The photographer spends the rest of the movie trying to rejoin his dead wife (kind of a wasted life, don't you think?). The cinematography was excellent but the tissue-thin plot needed much more help than the padding it received. I'm as sentimental as the next guy, but this movie just rubbed me the wrong way. Sorry.

In 1997 there were two movies made about English children who take pictures of fairies. One, Fairy Tale: A True Story, was released to wide audiences and charmed many as an intelligent kid's flick. This story was based on fact, hence the subtitle. The other, Photographing Fairies, was only selectively released on video here in the States, aimed at an adult audience. It deals with a fictional reimagining of the Cottingley fairy incident portrayed in Fairy Tale, as seen through the cynical eyes of a photographer bent on proving the girls false. Charles Castle, spiritually wounded by the death of his bride, tries to disprove the pictures using logic and a camera, but soon finds that there is more to the story than he had bargained on.

Although I was charmed by Fairy Tale, Photographing Fairies is the movie that holds a special place in my heart. I have watched it more times than I can count, and still manage to be surprised and touched by this haunting film. This is everything that is good about high-quality cinema - good acting, interesting story, FANTASTIC soundtrack (which doesn't seem to exist on CD!), and an intelligent look at some rather surprising philosophical questions; also the special effects beat anything in Fairy Tale.

The Acting: This movie was the first time I had seen the young actor Toby Stephens and I was very impressed at the restrained manner in which he chose to go about portraying a character who, in lesser hands, could very well have been bombastic or pitiful. His take on Charles Castle radiates Humanity and feeling, helping the audience understand the unspoken dilemma of mind and heart that he faces. My only complaint is that in many scenes the glasses that Stephens wore reflected the glare of the lights, making it difficult to see his eyes, and creating a distraction in the flow of the frame.

Ben Kingsley and Emily Woof, an old war-horse and a promising actress, also help the film along with convincing parts (the father of the girls and the governess, respectively). Although both of them are not given much to do, dramatically speaking, they too manage to bring a sense of realism to their roles.

The supporting characters, including the girls who's pictures are the catalyst for the action, are also drawn to perfection.

The Story: Although supposedly based on the book of the same name by Steven Szylagi, there are only superficial resemblances. The movie has more of a spiritual base, borrowing only a few names, settings, and narcotic flowers from the book and leaving most of the subplots and devices out.

The Music: Absolutely beautiful. The main theme is played as everything from a dance tune to a funeral dirge, and is almost guarenteed to get stuck in your head for days afterward. The score is very haunting and adds that extra ethereal touch to the total effect of the movie. Also, one side note: the 'death song' is a part of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony, and has been recorded by Sarah Brightman as Figlio Perduto, but seems to be unlisted on the credits...

When one watches a movie that has definite religious undertones, one often feels the pressure coming from one side or another, belief-wise. Part of what I love about Photographing Fairies is that it makes none of those distinctions. The preacher-father seems to be the pastor for some imaginary church, and the heaven ideas can be adapted to suit almost any taste. "What if heaven were as real a place as Claxton on the Sea?"

The real reason that this movie has sat with me for so long, and the reason that I keep returning to it, is another theme running through it. That of learning from love/to love. Linda, the governess, falls for Charles Castle, but Castle refuses here because of his love for his dead wife. Instead of persuing this man, Linda learns from him and sets her sights on "the man who'll love me as much as he loves her". In this age of inevitable cinematic love, this is a refreshing treat and a much more poignant result than another retread of "wounded man is revived by beautiful ingenue".

All in all, Photographing Fairies is a very affecting movie, no matter what your philosophical/religious beliefs are. Give this one a chance and it will surprise you, haunt you, move you.

Ishka Bibl!

This is truely a stunning film. The cinematrophy is beautiful and epic and is only dwarfed by the truest and humblest plot that any film can recognize. That being "We are re-united with the things we have loved and lost in this life". It is the ultimate in understanding and comfort to know this. The film portrays it in a beautiful manner showing the undying committment of a skeptic photographer to his recently deceased wife. It is in the forest he discovers this truth "that the one's we love; the one's that reside in death are but truly a heart beat away from us." Those of us that have loved and lost and have paid the ultimate price for such loss will surely take comfort in seeing this film and realizing that hope doth spring eternal.

It`s a delight to see Michael Douglas,Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito for the third time (all 3 started before in ROMANCING THE STONE and THE JEWEL OF THE NILE) in this winning black comedy about a marriage that disintergrates at high speed.To elaborate,the plot consists of Oliver and Barbara Rose(Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner)a couple determined to make the best out of life.They marry,have kids and buy a nice home.After some time,little arguments begin to turn into BIG trouble.They both agree on a divorce.But there`s just a little problem.BOTH of them want their luxurious house!The fights are farfetched and Oliver and Barbara are very stubborn and will stop at nothing to win the house.Grabs your attention from start to finish.surprising .Danny DeVito is perfect as the lawyer who defends Oliver during the battle.As a director,DeVito is simply terrific.He did an amazing job with THE WAR OF THE ROSES.Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner deliver excellent performances as well.Good job!Simply a winner!

When a young intelligent couple (Two-Time Oscar Winner:Micheal Douglas & Kathleen Turner), who did feel in love at first sight, then they got married and and then they have two children. While the husbadn is a successful lawyer and living in a large house that his wife found for him and thier children. But years later... when the wife knows that the marrige isn't working anymore-she wants a divorce and she wants the house. The husband refused to let her go and the house, he goes on a war with her, they become very protective of the house and also rising hell. But when both of them are taking a increasingly dark and dangerous path, it seems to be no redemption for this nasty twosome.

Directed by Danny DeVito (Throw Mamma from the Train, Death to Smoochy, Duplex) made a clever, somber comedy with an edge. Douglas & Turner are fabulous in this mean-spirited movie. Devito has a supporting role as Douglas's calculationg guidance lawyer. Cleverly written by Micheal Lesson (I.Q., What Planet are you From, The Tuxedo) from a novel based by Warren Alder (Random Hearts). This was one of the Biggest Hit of the Winter of 1989. This has excellent cinematography by Stephen H. Burum (The Untouchables, Casualties of War, Raising Cain). This film does Over the Top and at times, Too-Much even for a Black Comedy but it's DeVito grand (odd) style from the camera Point of View is one of the film best asset, this unique film is a matter of personal taste, it's a well done film. Grade:A.

Excellent and entertaining comedy, packed in a good DVD (including over half-an-hour of cut-out material), but the end is rather tragic.

The movie abounds with implicit (but subtle) cliches such as :

- Women are usually more downright materialistic than men are, and also have a way of getting their fair advantage out of it.
- Husbands are often rude to their wives in public, without even taking the slightest notice of it.
- Sex is typically an object of pure consumption for males, whereas for women sex is more than often just one of many different ways to an end.
- Husbands often end-up as being dominant dog-people, whereas women ususally tend to become emancipated cat-people.
- Outbound marital faithfulness are typical male attributes, whereas down-to-earth conjugal opportunism and emotional realism are more feminine qualities.
- Love, pride and ego are things that cannot be parted in a husband's often confused and puzzled mind, whereas for a woman, a husband's love ususally remains a very abstract concept.
- Husbands are totally irrealistic about the emotional situation and level of personal satisfaction of their wives, like they were living or floating in a world of their own, in an abstract historic reality as to the present state of their marriage.
- For most if not all males, love implies appropriation and possession, and a married wife is most often like a personal investment, an item which cannot be lost under any circumstances, whereas for women, engaging in marriage most often just seems to be just the most attractive option amongst many others, that is at least at the time they want to, a.k.a. aggree to or consent to getting married.
- Whereas the sexual drive is usually sufficient to channel enough of the man's attention and concern to his wife in the early stages of marriage, this drive is usually quickly enough superseded by other things like a carreer, a hobby, which usually end up getting the best of a man's attention and energy. To this trend of things, the wife consents and even tries to collaborate, untill she realizes that she has absolutely no place in them, finds herself as being just another part of the home furniture, which tends to further exacerbate her materialism, and so forth, in a circle which you might call either vicious or virtuous...

Although these cliches make the movie likeable to a very wide (presumably male) audience, the movie is also an intelligent and realistic presentation of the different evolutionary stages of a married couple, i.e. meeting, getting married, having children, building up a carreer, buying a house, undergoing mid-life crisis, etc.

Marriage and divorce statistics amply prove that married couples seldom have the ressources to overcome the latter evolutionary stages of their marriages (grown up children, crippled libido, etc.), so this movie is another rather caustic, abstract and hyperbolic way of showing how far things can go wrong, when they go wrong, as they usually do, one way or another... De Vito's explicit commentaries are here very welcome, as they provide some kind of a flash-back through a third-party, allowing for a more distanced observation by avoiding a first-degree identification to participants and scenes which are often rather dark, and at times quite brutal. So keep in mind: ONCE IN A LIFETIME COMES A MOTION PICTURE THAT MAKES YOU FEEL LIKE FALLING IN LOVE AGAIN. THIS IS NOT THAT MOVIE. The eighties was the decade of sweeping demystifications. This movie is part of it.

To me, this is the best movie to come out of Disney's dry spell of the '70's (when it released such stinkers as "Million Dollar Duck" and "Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo") . . terrific fun for the whole family. Edward Herrmann (who I normally find an unbearably annoying actor) is quite good as a pastor who finds himself fighting organized crime when one of his church members gambles away church money. (True, he should be angry at the church member, but our reverend believes in tackling the ROOT of the problem). After Herrmann speaks out against organized crime publicly, two FBI agents come to him and ask him for his help in going undercover to expose these gangsters. He asks for help from his congregation, and the only ones who will aid him are 6 indomitable females (Patsy Kelly, Virginia Capers, Barbara Harris, Cloris Leachman, Karen Valentine, and - later - Susan Clark). You'll relish every second that you see all of the ladies on the screen, especially the scatterbrained soccer mom Harris (her funniest scene takes place in a grocery store, as she spies on one of the pickup men); the constantly-primping Leachman; and tough-as-nails Capers. Features a cute cameo by Ruth Buzzi as part of a church committee out to remove Herrmann (she ends up joining the ladies to fight the criminals). Unfortunately, I find that the film suffers when nervous Fed Michael Constantine leaves the project in the Reverend's hands; his exasperated scenes with the ladies are among the most enjoyable in the film. Another small drawback is the cutesy way in which the movie treats organized crime . .you'll never believe for a second the gangsters are really out to hurt these ladies. The film's final moments, a "demolition derby" of sorts, will delight kids. I can remember absolutely loving this film as a kid . . I'm positive one day Disney will remake it (hopefully they do it justice).

This film is very entertaining and definitely for all audiences. A group of elderly ladies forms a "neighborhood watch", or better a "neighborhood clean-up crew". They join forces to rid their formerly "nice neighborhood" of the trash that gives it a bad name.

Fearless and determined, the "North Avenue Irregulars" (played by many familiar comediennes) show the bad guys who's boss and reclaim their "turf". Many laughs, and a timely message: Don't let the scum take over your neighborhood!****

I am not ashamed to say I love this film. It is good, clean fun, and absolutely hilarious. It is one of the few films that me and my mom both like. The cast is outstanding, especially Barbara Harris, Karen Valentine, Ruth Buzzi, and Cloris Leachman. I never tire of watching this movie. I call this a guilty pleasure because while most serious film lovers would never even consider this film for a Top Films List, I would. Few films make me laugh like this one.

To me, this is the best movie to come out of Disney's dry spell of the '70's (when it released such stinkers as "Million Dollar Duck" and "Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo") . . terrific fun for the whole family. Edward Herrmann (who I normally find an unbearably annoying actor) is quite good as a pastor who finds himself fighting organized crime when one of his church members gambles away church money. (True, he should be angry at the church member, but our reverend believes in tackling the ROOT of the problem). After Herrmann speaks out against organized crime publicly, two FBI agents come to him and ask him for his help in going undercover to expose these gangsters. He asks for help from his congregation, and the only ones who will aid him are 6 indomitable females (Patsy Kelly, Virginia Capers, Barbara Harris, Cloris Leachman, Karen Valentine, and - later - Susan Clark). You'll relish every second that you see all of the ladies on the screen, especially the scatterbrained soccer mom Harris (her funniest scene takes place in a grocery store, as she spies on one of the pickup men); the constantly-primping Leachman; and tough-as-nails Capers. Features a cute cameo by Ruth Buzzi as part of a church committee out to remove Herrmann (she ends up joining the ladies to fight the criminals). Unfortunately, I find that the film suffers when nervous Fed Michael Constantine leaves the project in the Reverend's hands; his exasperated scenes with the ladies are among the most enjoyable in the film. Another small drawback is the cutesy way in which the movie treats organized crime . .you'll never believe for a second the gangsters are really out to hurt these ladies. The film's final moments, a "demolition derby" of sorts, will delight kids. I can remember absolutely loving this film as a kid . . I'm positive one day Disney will remake it (hopefully they do it justice).

This film is very entertaining and definitely for all audiences. A group of elderly ladies forms a "neighborhood watch", or better a "neighborhood clean-up crew". They join forces to rid their formerly "nice neighborhood" of the trash that gives it a bad name.

Fearless and determined, the "North Avenue Irregulars" (played by many familiar comediennes) show the bad guys who's boss and reclaim their "turf". Many laughs, and a timely message: Don't let the scum take over your neighborhood!****

I am not ashamed to say I love this film. It is good, clean fun, and absolutely hilarious. It is one of the few films that me and my mom both like. The cast is outstanding, especially Barbara Harris, Karen Valentine, Ruth Buzzi, and Cloris Leachman. I never tire of watching this movie. I call this a guilty pleasure because while most serious film lovers would never even consider this film for a Top Films List, I would. Few films make me laugh like this one.