Movie Review: "God Grew Tired of Us"

This National Geographic documentary chronicles the saga of the Southern Sudanese Christian “Lost Boys.” The film centers around the lives John, Daniel and Panther. Most of their families are killed by Moslem soldiers from northern Sudan. The soldiers systematically kill all males- regardless of age. Without any adult supervision over 25,000 young boys journey a thousand mile to Ethiopia then finally to a refugee camp in Kenya. Through the help of American relief agencies, 3,000 of them make their way to the United States. They learn to adapt to the shock of entering an economically intense American culture, learn to eat new foods and cope with work and missing their loved ones in Africa. This movie is very informative, enlightening, inspirational, yet entertaining.

Movie Review: "The Caine Mutiny"

This 1954 classic stars Humphrey Bogart in one of his most impressive roles as Lt. Commander Queeg, the mentally unstable captain of an obscure WWII mine sweeper in the Pacific theater. Van Johnson and Fred McMurray give stellar performances as the ship’s senior officers who must decide on the sanity and ultimate command of Queeg. The story is compelling, but the ending is somewhat muddled. As an aside, Lee Marvin plays a small, but notable role.

Finding Neverland

This movie is about the creator of the play “Peter Pan and Neverland”, J. M. Barrie, and his relationship with four fatherless boys and their widowed mother. The story starts in 1903 London with Mr. Barrie convalescing from the failure of his latest play. He meets the four boys and their mother in a London park. As his relationship with this adoptive family develops, he finds in them the inspiration for his play. Eventually, Barrie’s already strained marriage fails.

The story is one of mixed messages. His devotion and interaction with the boys- and for the most part- their mother is wholesome. His neglect of his wife ends in divorce.

Johnny Depps portrayal of Barrie is above average. Julie Christie plays the aristocratic maternal grandmother of the four boys.

Charlie Chan in London

Charlie Chan's vacation to London is exteneded when called on to save Neil Howard from being hung for murder. Chan has only 72 hours to clear him and save him from the gallows. His trail takes him to a sumptous English country mansion where he evades poisonous darts and cryptic messages during his search for the real killer.

Charlie Chan in Snaghai

This early installment in the Charlie Chan movie series take place in early 1930's British colonial Shanghai. Chan's good friend, Sir Stanley Woodland is murdered at a banquet in his honor. A dangerous opium smuggling ring is discovered behind the murder. The ringleaders kidnap Chan and attempt to make him their next victim.

Movie Review: “The Black Camel”

This very early Charlie Chan movie is set in Hawaii. Inspector Chan starts his investigation with the cryptic proclamation: "Death is a black camel that kneels unbidden at every gate." Chan searches through the setting of a beach-side Art Deco hotel in 1930’s Hawaii for the murderer of a film starlet. Renowned horror icon Bella Lugosi stars as a Hollywood psychic who confronts the murdered actress about her dark past.

Review: “Encounters at The End of the World”

Filmmaker Werner Herzog chronicles his journey to the South Pole. He starts with the National Science Foundation headquarters on Ross Island in Antarctica. From there, he travels to more remote sites to document mostly scientist who are studying the climate and animals living above and below the ice pack.

Herzog seems more fascinated by the unusual characters that end up at “the end of the world” than by the continent. Some time is given to the weird creatures and their peculiar ways that populate the South Pole region. Herzog is stranger than the people he interviews.

The film is interesting, but about thirty minutes too long. Definitely a guy movie.