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How many dysfunctional family holiday films have to be made? Apparently at least one each year. Get a bunch of well known Hollywood names (plus a couple country music stars) and it’ll make money, or so you hope. Maybe big meals and our own dysfunctional families make us stupid enough to keep going to these mediocre (at best) movies, or maybe these pathetic characters make us feel better about ourselves in comparison. I don’t know. Maybe my expectations are too high. There were a number of people in the theater who giggled at every every cliche situation and tittered at every sexual innuendo, so perhaps Hollywood is giving the masses what they want. I like Vince Vaughn and he is wasted in this setting. The out takes have to be funnier than what is left in the movie. When baby puke is the funniest thing in your film, you might want to go back to the story board. I was disappointed by the lack of anything new or innovative in the entire movie. You’ll laugh more at your own family stories than this movie.

A bad western is not that unusual I suppose. A classic genre that is full of cliche’s and archetypes, but you know that in the beginning and expect it and, hopefully, something more comes out. Ed Harris tries, but I just didn’t see it. A gunfighter who reads Emerson is ‘deep’ I guess, yet nothing else fills out the character. This is Harris’ second project as director/actor and I can tell he’s a minimalist like Eastwood. Maybe another take or two would have helped. He has a good eye and the picture looks great, while the attention to detail in costume and language is impressive. Even I might swoon over Viggo Mortensen’s character. As the loyal to a fault sidekick, he is the most complete character and you can’t help but like him. Zellwegger is annoying, as usual, and very out of place in this film. Jeremy Irons is classical in his antagonist role. He’s so bad, he’s good. There was just not enough holding it together in the end. Some interesting and wonderful vignettes and tableau’s, but not a complete movie worthy of the wealth of talent available from Harris, Mortensen and Irons.

The James Bond movie franchise is once again on a roll. Daniel Craig has taken over the role and plays a much darker and deadly Bond than we have ever seen before. Some might think he is closer to Ian Fleming’s book Bond, but I’d say it’s more in line with the trend in super hero like action we seem to expect from our protagonists these days. Any good agent has to be able to fight multiple opponents by hand or gun and, after a bit of punishment, ultimately prevail. By land, sea, or air (and in this case all three) there will be chases and fast paced action that must try to outdo the last episode. Quantum picks up where Casino Royale left off and is full speed ahead from the start. Where Casino Royale had a bit more plot and story to introduce the new Bond, Quantum just lets Craig loose and he takes us for a ride. His cold blooded character is still surprisingly charismatic and I can’t help but like the way the franchise is moving. I like the action. The story isn’t the deepest, nor the villain(s) the most megalomaniacal, but Bond is back and he’s always fun to watch.

I’m an Anglophile. I love British humor. I love the language and the accents. Guy Ritchie may have made a mistake marrying Madonna, but he has made a good, smart, funny and very entertaining film. The acting is great, the plot twisted and the dialog clever and understated in that English style. It’s refreshing to see crooks in other countries and how they do all the gangster/criminal things in their country. We could use more of this cultural exchange. Unfortunately, this movie probably won’t be around long and that’s too bad. Give it a chance. Guy may not get enough out of the divorce and needs our support.

2008 Awards and CQB

On October 11th SCI-Fayette held its second Law Enforcement Invitational PPC shoot. 30+ participants fired a 48 round PPC course from 7 to 25 yards. Most shooters came from the prison ranks, but a number of other state prisons were represented and local law enforcement agencies. The match was well run by Sgt. Curt Shaffer and other members of the Fayette Combat Shooters team. This year I chose to use my Wilson combat CQB model 1911 in .45ACP. The five inch barrel and sight radius, I thought, would give better results than the stock four inch S&W 686 I used at the Beaver County match the prior month. The results weren’t too bad. I earned 1st place in single man Marksman class and my partner, Stephen Longstreth, and I took second in the two man Expert class. Stephen would have walked away with overall high score and given us first place in Expert had he not given away 60 points by shooting the left hand barricade with his right hand. That’s a big no-no in PPC where part of the test is shooting with either hand.

So, I can’t complain about the outcome. I have a couple more placques for the wall. The real winners and the reason for the match was to raise money for our co-workers in the military who have been deployed this year to foreign soil. We will use the funds raised to send care packages this holiday season. Good fun for a good cause! I look forward to next year’s match.