DOLPHIN TALE, PG ( 1 hr & 52 min )

Quickie Review:  A young female dolphin gets badly entangled to a crab-trap.  She is rescued and taken to a marine animal hospital in Clearwater, Florida.  Unfortunately,  her tail could not be saved.  But with the patient care and dedication of a few kind souls pledged to help the poor dolphin through its life-threatening ordeal, the dolphin, named Winter, gets a second chance at life when she is fitted with a revolutionary new tail prosthesis.  Soon, she becomes the symbol of  hope and courage for people with disabilities and the symbol of  hope, as well,  for badly-maimed marine animals that would otherwise be euthanized.

I liked this movie.  The audience, too, liked this movie; so much so that people in the audience gave it a "Hands Clapper" ending.

This movie comes with Bonus Scenes at the End.

What I didn't like about this movie:   As much as a "Feel-Good" movie this one is, I was saddened to see that someone in the audience, a young girl, was in a wheelchair.  And the movie also shows people who are amputees, especially war veterans.  I really, truly felt sad for all of them.  I could only pray for them and ask God to watch over them and bless them.

If  you're able-bodied, thank God and count your blessings.

MONEYBALL, PG-13 ( 2 hr & 6 min )

Quickie Review:  Forced by budgetary constraints, the general manager of  the Oakland A's re-invents Baseball by using statistics to pick flawed players with game-winning potential that the other scouts passed-over.

I liked this movie.  And many in the audience liked this movie, too.  But, as much as it was enjoyed by many, nobody gave the movie a "Hands Clapper" ending.

I wished I knew more about Baseball--I don't follow the sport.  Since I'm really in no position to give this movie a good evaluation; and a friend of mine who's into Baseball is "house-sitting" somewhere out-of-town and I can't get a hold of  him.  Sorry.

'Sorry for the quickie review format, but I'm really way behind in my blog posts since I was on vacation for over two weeks.  Also, my old computer is really showing its age by slowing down and freezing on me whenever I try and spend more than half an hour blogging on it.   I'll go back to the usual format when I get the chance to get an external drive, a new memory chip and/or a new computer.  Thanks ....

ABDUCTION, PG-13 ( 1 hr & 46 min )

Quickie Review:  A teen learns that his parents are really not his parents.  Soon, he loses everything as the bad guys come to hunt him down.

It's a good enough action movie.  And the audience seemed to like it--'must be "Jacob" fans.  Hmmph!

Here are the things that I found wrong about this movie:  First, the title.  Abduction means to take away by force or to kidnap.  And ... neither one happened in this movie.  The title should have been:  POSTER BOY FOR "MISSING KID" ADS ON MILK CARTONS.  Secondly, the "pretennabe" parents in this movie seemed like they never did the "nasty" all those years when they had the chance to have, at least, another child by "natural means".  I mean, come on, surely they cannot be that  dedicated to their guardianship roles.  After all, the "mother" is one pretty-hot mama that I, myself,  certainly wouldn't mind doing the "nasty" with if  I'm to play the part of  "husband/father" to her "wife/mother" role if only to make our "cover" more believable--Heck, I'd insist on it!  And you can tell that to the Agency!   If  I had a son who had a visitor of the opposite sex in his bedroom, I'd insist that the door stay unlock and ajar--call me a prude because that's just the way I'd be.  At the CIA briefing, after the group leader said that the kid will be used as a "bargaining chip", a field agent asked, "How so?"  Duh!  And I thought that only the FBI can claim that they have "no intelligence".  Ha, ha, ha.  In the Amtrak train fight, when the bad guy took off his eyeglasses, that would have been a perfect time to get the sonofabitch's eyes gouged out--'remember what I just said about fights-to-the-death:  Fight Dirty!  Near the end, he turned to walk toward his girlfriend but he forgot to limp even though he just twisted his ankle!  Bad acting.

KILLER ELITE, R ( 1 hr & 40 )

Quickie Review:  A retired professional hit-man is forced-out of retirement when his mentor gets captured.  A failed rescue attempt makes the assassin  strike a hostage deal with an Arab oil sheik who wants revenge on the British SAS agents that killed his three sons.

I liked it enough since I'm usually a "sucker" for "Based on a True Story" type of movies.  And a man sitting in the row behind mine was obviously entertained by it.

Here are the things that I found wrong about it:  In the Mexican assassination, their get-away car didn't get any bullet holes at all--not even one!  Can you really book a spur-of-the-moment-flight that quickly?  I've said this before and I'll say it again: In a kill-or-be-killed unarmed combat there are no rules so fight "dirty" to end it quick because the first one to use a "dirty" move usually walks away alive.  Why didn't the bad guy in the subway retrieve his gun when he had the chance or, better yet,  why didn't he have a concealed back-up gun, considering the profession that he was in?    Before he threw the briefcase full of money down to the desert sand, he closed it.  But a later shot showed money strewn all over the sand.

DRIVE, R ( 1 hr & 40 min )

Quickie Review:  A Hollywood stunt-driver moonlights as a get-away driver for robbers and burglars.  But when he tries to do a good deed bad things start to happen.

For its  subject matter, this movie sure accelerates slower than my Geo Metro.  It's just an "okay" movie for me.

Here are the things that I found wrong about this movie:  Early on, a character says that the Chevy Impala is the most popular car in California.  I live in California and I simply cannot recall the last time that I saw a Chevy Impala.  In fact, everyday that I'm out on the road, I see Chevy Corvettes, Chevy Camaros, Ford Mustangs, Dodge Chargers, Acuras, Beemers, Buicks, Cadillacs, Volvos, Mercedes, Oldsmobiles, Porsches, Volkswagens, Saabs, Infinitis, Lexuses, Honda Accords, Honda Civics, Toyota Camrys, Subarus, Nissans, Hyundais, Geo Metros and Chevy Metros ( ahem ), etc.  BUT NO CHEVY IMPALAS!!!    I don't know how somebody in a Helicopter can tell whether or not a car down below it is an Impala.  Is it just me or do all Car-Centric movies made in Southern California show the California Aqueduct in at least one scene?  In the chase scene, his car was hit head-on by the other car but the airbags were not deployed.  That slash cut to the arm would only make him bleed to death if his vein was cut lenthwise.  The force of impact when the bad guy's car was "T-Boned" should have killed him instantly by way of Blunt Force Trauma, that or he could have been paralyzed from the waist down from that hit or when his car fell-off the embankment to the beach down below.  He knew what the bad guy was gonna do to him but he still had his back to him when he could have had the bad guy open-up the car trunk for him.  He could have taken some of that money instead of leaving the whole thing out in the parking lot where anybody and everybody could help him-/her-self to the loot.