The Movie Buzzard's 10 Commandments For Filmmakers

  1)  Don't be boring.
  2)  Know how to tell a story.
  3)  Surprise me.
  4)  Make me laugh.
  5)  Don't be boring.
  6)  Scare me.
  7)  Make me think.
  8)  Make me care.
  9)  If your leading lady's hot and she's not wearing much,
        that's a plus.
10)  Don't be boring.

These articles of faith and hope didn't come from on high. They came from down around the 10th row. Take them with a bag of popcorn and a grain of salt.

Trigger (2010)

TRIGGER  (2010)  ¢ ¢ ¢ ¢
    D: Bruce McDonald
    Tracy Wright, Molly Parker,
    Don McKellar, Sarah Polley
Wright and Parker play old bandmates who reconnect 10 years after an acrimonious breakup and hash out the issues that drew them together and drove them apart. It's essentially a two-woman story, and both women are terrific in it. You can see why their characters get under each other's skin, because they get under yours, too. Wright, who was gravely ill during the shoot and died not long after, gives a performance so funny and real, it could make you weep. 

The Aristocats (1970)

THE ARISTOCATS  (1970)  ¢ ¢ ¢
    D: Wolfgang Reitherman
A family of cats gets abducted from a Paris mansion and dropped off way out in the country. From there they have to find their way home. A cute animated feature from Disney, which kids of a certain age will love, leaving grownups free to do something else while they watch. Eva Gabor does the voice of the protective mama cat. Phil Harris plays a swinging tomcat. Paul Winchell, Sterling Holloway and Nancy Kulp provide some of the other voices. The musical score owes something to Henry Mancini, and even older viewers should get a kick out of the alley cat jam toward the end.

The Big White (2005)

THE BIG WHITE  (2005)  ¢ ¢ 1/2
    D: Mark Mylod
    Robin Williams, Holly Hunter, Giovanni Ribisi,
    Alison Lohman, Tim Blake Nelson, Woody Harrelson
Offbeat black comedy with Williams as a guy whose life goes all to hell when he tries to pull off an insurance scam by faking the death of his brother. Holly Hunter plays his wife, who's fighting Tourette's and not winning. Woody Harrelson plays the undead brother. Giovanni Ribisi plays the investigator who's onto Williams' scheme and determined to bring him in. The results are uneven, but Hunter's bouts of motormouth profanity are hilarious.

There's No Business Like Show Business (1954)

THERE'S NO BUSINESS LIKE SHOW BUSINESS  (1954)  ¢ ¢ ¢
    D: Walter Lang
    Dan Dailey, Ethel Merman, Donald O'Connor, 
    Marilyn Monroe, Mitzi Gaynor, Johnnie Ray
Merman and Dailey play vaudeville headliners, with Donald O'Connor, Mitzi Gaynor and Johnnie Ray as the kids who follow in their footsteps. Complications occur when Ray decides to become a priest and O'Connor falls for Marilyn Monroe, but it's all just a setup for the musical numbers. The songs are by Irving Berlin. Highlights include Monroe torching her way through "Heat Wave" and O'Connor dancing with some partners who are literally statuesque. It's garish and over the top, but that's no reason not to watch. By the time it's over, you probably won't need to hear "Alexander's Ragtime Band" again for a long, long time.