Iraq law to lift ban on Baathists

According to the BBC, the Iraqi government is going to introduce to it's parliament a new law to reform the de-Baathification procedures that occurred after Saddam's removal.

The Iraqi government plans to bring in a new law to allow former members of ex-president Saddam Hussein's Baath party to return to official posts.

The law creates a three-month period for the ex-members to be challenged, after which they will be immune from prosecution over the Saddam era.

If ratified, it will replace the de-Baathification programme that was created to eject key party members.

I think this is good news if it passes. Coupled with the new Iraqi Oil Law that will also be presented to the Iraqi Parliament in the next month or so, it will really help to bring in the moderate Sunnis to cooperate with the government. If Iraq is going to return to peace and stay a single country, the different ethnic groups are going to have to trust each other and settle their disputes politically instead of with car bombs and death squads.

With some of the Sunni Tribes in the Anbar province already starting to fight the Al Qaeda groups in their cities, knowing that they will get a fair share of oil revenue and their jobs and pensions back will help their motivation.

The last big political hurdle if those two laws are passed, is reforms to the Constitution that all sides can agree too. I think that will be the hardest of the three. They have set up committees to explore it but I think it will take awhile before anything happens.

Film: Payback - Director's Cut (1999)

DVD: Enhanced 16x9


"You know what, Val? This one's on me, okay?"
"You see me reaching for my fucking wallet?"

Review: This movie originally started out as a hard-boiled thriller with a much darker ending by it's director. He was forced to leave the project when he wouldn't make the changes that the studio wanted to lighten it up. He was invited back to recreate his version for DVD 10 years later.

Much of the comedy that was added to the theatrical version has been stripped back out and scenes that portrayed Porter as a much darker character have been returned. The biggest change is the original third act that was replaced after the director left the film is back. This makes the two movies very different. I enjoyed both versions.

"Meet the nastiest damn dog who ever lived."
"What's his name?"
"Porter... He took your job after you left. He just as tough, but he won't leave me. Will you, baby?"

"This is Porter."
"I should probably have you just shoot Fairfax and then hire you to run the city for me. Too bad you're just a punk with the right balls-to-brains ratio."

4 1/2 out of 5 Stars

Film: Payback (1999)

DVD: Enhanced 16x9


"I've got a few minutes."
"So go boil an egg."

Review: I think that is a underrated gem by Mel Gibson and it is one of my favorite movies with him. He plays Porter, a thief who was double crossed out of his half of the money after a robbery and left for dead. Now he wants it back.

"You just signed your own death warrant for 130,000 dollars. I don't get that. What is it, the principle or something, huh?"
"Stop it, I'm getting misty. And tell him it's 70, will ya."
"70? What do you mean it's only 70? Only 70,000. Hell, my suits are worth more than that!"

4 1/2 out of 5 Stars

Film: Opportunity Knocks (1990)

DVD: Anamorphic


"I bet your glad to be rid of that guy."
"That's right."
"He really was a nuisance. Coming around, bringing you flowers, making us laugh, dragging you out on dates. Yeah, he won't be cutting into no more of your busy schedule."
"Damn you, Harold."

Review: This movie is not as good as I remember it, but it still has fun bits and picks up at the end to redeem some plodding parts in the middle. My fondness for Dana Carvey helps.

"Love in a love con. I hate to see it."
"Well, it's like I said, Max, amateur night."

2 1/2 out of 4 Stars

Film: Open Water (2003)

DVD: Enhanced 16x9


"Was that a shark?"
"I don't know. I think it was a dolphin."
"No, it wasn't a dolphin, because if it was you would be over there playing with it!"

Review: I really enjoyed this movie, but several people I have talked to didn't. It seems that they were expecting a scary shark movie when this film is really an excellent character study on how people cope with abandonment in the middle of the ocean and how they face the fact that they may die. It is interesting to observe the characters move though the different stages of emotion as the day wears on.

"AAAAAAAAH! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!! Unbelievable!!! This is truly un-fucking-believable! And the best part is that WE PAID to do this! We paid to be out here! We paid those incompetent fuckers to drop us out in the middle of the fucking ocean! We wanted an ocean-view. BOY, DID WE GET IT! Those fuckers. GOD!"
"You feel better?"
"I wouldn't exactly call it better."

3 1/2 out of 4 Stars

Film: The Nutty Professor (1996)

DVD: Anamorphic


"Is this the "nice-ass" section?"

Review: This one of Eddie Murphy's funniest laugh out loud comedies. The scene around the Klump dinner table is an amazing comedy tour-de-force by Eddie and his make-up people.

"You want your colon cleansed? Fine, I'm gonna clean mine! [Farts] There, my colon is clean. My colon is squeaky clean!"

4 out of 4 Stars

Film: Nobody's Fool (1994)

DVD: Enhanced 16x9


"Mom's greatest fear is that your life was fun."
"Tell her not to worry."

Review: A Hidden Gem even though Paul Newman was nominated for an Oscar for his performance. Bruce Willis shines in a supporting role as Paul's boss and rival. The musical score is one of my favorites.

"Boy, a guy goes to jail for a couple of days and the whole town goes to hell!"

4 out of 4 Stars

Film: The NeverEnding Story (1984)

DVD: Enhanced 16x9 - Double Sided


"They look like big, good, strong hands, don't they? I always thought that's what they were. My friends... I couldn't hold on to them. The Nothing pulled them right out of my hands. I failed."

Review: This is a great children's movie. I still enjoy it today and even though the special effects are pretty cheesy, they only add to the atmosphere of the movie. The soundtrack is very magical and adds so much to the movie.

"Bastian! Why don't you do what you dream, Bastian?"

"Call my name! Bastian, please! Save us!"

3 out of 4 Stars

Film: The Naked Gun 2 1/2 (1991)

DVD: Enhanced 16x9


"I love being single! I haven't had this much sex since I was a Boy Scout leader!"

Review: This is a funny movie but it is a bit of a drop off from the first one. The ratio of funny jokes to the misses is much larger and you can almost sense the writers struggling to find jokes to match the gags in the first movie.

"Why should I tell you, copper?"
"Because I'm the last line of defense between sleaze like this and the decent people of this town."
"Oh, hi, Frank. Say, we got that model D83 Swedish sure-grip suck machine that you ordered."

"Good evening commissioner. You look lovely tonight."
"Shut Up! Do you realize that because of you this city is being overrun by baboons?"
"Well, isn't that the fault of the voters?"

2 1/2 out of 4 Stars

Film: The Naked Gun (1988)

DVD: Enhanced 16x9


"Nice beaver."
"Thanks. I just had it stuffed."

Review: This is one of the best slap-stick comedies ever made. Leslie Neilson was perfect for this role as Frank Drebin. The straight man who causes chaos where ever he goes. The baseball game where Frank Drebin disguises himself as an umpire is great. The Zucker Brothers comentary track is hilarious.

"A good cop - needlessly cut down by some cowardly hoodlums."
"No way for a man to die."
"No... you're right, Ed. A parachute not opening... that's a way to die. Getting caught in the gears of a combine... having your nuts bit off by a Laplander, that's the way I wanna go."

4 out of 4 Stars

Film: My Father the Hero (1994)

DVD: Enhanced 16x9


Review: Without Gerard Depardieu, this would just be a boring movie of a pretty, but petty girl who pouts when things don't go her way, but Gerard takes the movie to another level with his comic turn as the exasperated father trying to deal with his daughter's encounter with puberty. The high point is him singing, "Thank Heaven for Little Girls" at the resort's amateur night and the audience's response.

Quotes:
"What... what's THAT?"
"What's the matter?
"What are you wearing?"
"My bathing suit!"
"The whole thing?"

"Pablo's playing at a party tomorrow night, and he's invited me to go."
"Then we can go after supper."
"Daddy, you're not invited."
"Well, I'm inviting me!"
"I can't show up with my father."
"Then you can't go. I don't want you going out with that boy."
"Well, I'm not going out with him."
"I said no."
"Why, because he's black?"
"Not because he's black; because you're 14 years old."
"14 and a half."
"Besides, he's a musician."
"So?"
"So, you can't date a musician until all other men are dead."

"Are you out of your MIND? What the HELL were you thinking about?"
"You're yelling."
"Of course I'm yelling! My daughter tells some stranger that her father is her, her..."
"Lover!"
"Oh, God! I hate that word. It's so... so GRAPHIC."

3 1/2 out of 4 Stars

Film: My Cousin Vinny (1992)

DVD: Anamorphic


"Mr. Gambini, that is a lucid, intelligent, well thought-out objection."
"Thank you."
"Overruled."

Review: I like well-made movies about court cases, but this has got to be one of the funniest and Marisa Tomei was so fun to watch. I saw this movie more than once in the theater and it stays fresh and funny every time I see it.

"What about these pants I got on? You think they're okay?"
"Imagine you're a deer. You're prancing around. You get thirsty. You spot a little brook. You put your little deer lips down to the cool, clear water - BAM. A fuckin' bullet rips off part of your head. Your brains are lying on the ground in little bloody pieces. Now I ask you, do you give a fuck what kind of pants the son-of-a-bitch who shot you was wearing?"

4 out of 4 Stars

Film: Moulin Rouge! (2001)

DVD: Anamorphic


"A magnificent, opulent, tremendous, stupendous, gargantuan, bedazzlement, a sensual ravishment. It will be: Spectacular Spectacular!"

Review: I thought I would hate this movie when I saw the trailer for it. I even got too tired watching it at a friend's house and left in the middle. But I then couldn't get it out of my mind and I had to see the rest. The movie grows on you and I love how they incorporated modern music in a turn-of-the-century based musical. I hated "Chicago" and I think it only got an Oscar due to "Moulin Rouge" being overlooked the year before.

"She said you make her feel 'like a virgin.'"
"Virgin?"
"You know, touched for the very first time."

4 out of 4 Stars

Film: The Mosquito Coast (1986)

DVD: Enhanced 16x9 - Double Sided


"Everything we need is here. Right here. We can live simply: gardening, beach combing. I'm a changed man, mother. No more chemicals or poisons. If what you want isn't washed up on this beach, you probably don't need it."

Review: I think that this showcases Harrison Ford's best acting talents playing the genius inventor who is half-crazy but is still charismatic. River Phoenix's character is great as the boy who loves his father but also is right at the age where he is beginning to think for himself and question his father's wisdom.

"Strictly speaking, there's no such thing as invention, you know. It's only magnifying what already exists."

3 1/2 out of 4 Stars

Film: Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)

DVD: Enhanced 16x9


"You stay classy, San Diego. I'm Ron Burgundy?"
"Dammit. Who typed a question mark on the Teleprompter?"

Review: This is a very funny movie. It is at it's best when the News Team is trying to cope with the introduction of Veronica Corningstone into their all-male group. Their pathetic attempts to sabatoge her make for hilarious social satire. As a San Diegan, it is nice to see a good movie about my city as well.

"I'm very important. I have many leather-bound books and my apartment smells of rich mahogany."

"It's a formidable scent... It stings the nostrils. In a good way."
"Yep."
"Brian, I'm gonna be honest with you, that smells like pure gasoline."
"They've done studies, you know. 60% of the time, it works every time."
"That doesn't make sense."

3 out of 4 Stars

Film: The Money Pit (1986)

DVD: Anamorphic


"Ahh, home crap home!"

Review: This is Tom Hanks back in his prime as a strickly comedic actor. This movie is hilariously funny, with a mixture of physical comedy and great lines. Shelly Long was also great, playing the type of role that made her so good on Cheers.

"Here lies Walter Fielding. He bought a house, and it killed him."

"Do you realize what you've done? You've taken a woman who loves you, one of the great women in the world and thrown her away. I lost her too, but I will get over it because I am shallow and self-centered. But you, you won't, because you are 'complex'. You will feel terrible anguish for the rest of your life... This is turning out to be a pretty good day."

3 1/2 out of 4 Stars

Film: Minority Report (2002)

DVD: Anamorphic


"The pre-cogs are never wrong. But sometimes they... disagree."

Review: This is an excellent sci-fi thriller by Steven Spielberg. It is a little slow at the end but wraps up nicely. Tom Cruise plays the chief of a pre-crime police unit who arrest criminals before the crime is commited. He is forced to go on the run to clear his name when he is marked as a future murderer.

"John, don't run."
"You don't have to chase me."
"But you don't have to run."
"Everybody runs, Fletch. Everybody runs."

3 1/2 out of 4 Stars

Film: Men in Black (1997)

DVD: Anamorphic


"Why the big secret? People are smart, they can handle it."
"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals and you know it."

Review: This movie is a fun science-fiction comedy. Will Smith & Tommy Lee Jones do a good job interacting with each other and the numerous special effects.

"Zed, don't you guys ever get any sleep around here?"
"The twins keep us on Centaurian time, standard thirty-seven hour day. Give it a few months. You'll get used to it... or you'll have a psychotic episode."

"So what do you think?"
"Whew! Very interesting. She got a whole "queen of the undead" thing going on..."
"What about the body?"
"Great body..."
"The DEAD body!"

3 1/2 out of 4 Stars

Film: GoldenEye (1995)

DVD: Anamorphic


"Are these pictures live?"
"Unlike the Americans, we prefer not to get our bad news from CNN."

Review: This movie combines some of the best Bond moments and some of the worst of all the films. The plot is pretty weak with numerous holes and groaningly bad cheesy lines, but it makes up for it with some of the best Bond action set pieces of any of the films. I think Pierce Brosnan is good with the action and pulling off the required cool swagger, but he can't seem to say the cheesy double entendres with the necessary good humor/charm like a Roger Moore. They are supposed to make us chuckle, not groan.

Favorite Scene: The tank chase is one of my favorite Bond scenes ever.

"He wants to ask ME for a favor! My knee aches every single day! Twice as bad when it is cold. Do you have any idea how long the winter lasts in this country? Tell him, Dmitri."
"Well, it depends..."
"SILENCE!"

3 out of 4 Stars

Film: Memento (2000)

DVD: Anamorphic


"What's the last thing that you DO remember?"
"My wife..."
"That's sweet."
"...dying."

Review: I have watched this movie many times, I even watched it backwards trying to watch it in chronicalogical order. It is great either way. This is the ultimate mind-fuck of a movie, but because it is has its own logic if you can figure it out, it is not just a waste of brain cells.

"Okay, what am I doing...? I'm chasing this guy... Nope. He's chasing me..."

4 out of 4 Stars

Film: Meet the Parents (2000)

DVD: Anamorphic


"You can milk just about anything with nipples."
"I have nipples, Greg, could you milk me?"

Review: This is a movie about the comedy of the awkward where every scene is funny because it is so cringe-worthy. The comedy builds as every effort by Ben Stiller's character to ingratiate himself with his girlfriend's father produces worse and worse effects.

"What's the matter sweetie? Can't sleep?"
"No, no. I was just going over my answers to the polygraph test your dad just gave me."

3 out of 4 Stars

Film: Me, Myself & Irene (2000)

DVD: Anamorphic


"Now you know the house rules, no bitches after eleven."

Review: This movie starts out as one of the funniest movies the Farrelly Brothers have ever made but as soon as Jim Carrey's character has to escort Irene the movie loses some of its steam. It is still a funny movie but it doesn't reach the heights of "Kingpin" or "Something about Mary"

"Stay away from me, Hank! I know what you have planned, OK? I saw your so-called "supplies."
"Oh... that! I wasn't gonna just... ram it home, you know. I was gonna... lube it up and ease it in there, inch by inch, like a gentleman."
"I was talking about the shovel and the lime."

"If your fuckin' is anything like your police work then you couldn't hit the G-Spot on a twelve pound pussy."

3 out of 4 Stars

Film: The Matrix (1999)

DVD: Enhanced 16x9


"I know what you're thinking, 'cause right now I'm thinking the same thing. Actually, I've been thinking it ever since I got here: Why, oh why didn't I take the BLUE pill?"

Review: This is a mind-fuck of a movie wrapped around some of the best action scenes ever filmed. Keanu Reeves is perfect in these kind of roles. Some times an action film can get boring if you watch it too many times, but this one stays fresh. I hated the two Matrix Sequels which is unusual. Normally I might think sequels are not as good as the originals but I still enjoy them. But I hated these as much as I loved the first one.

"I'm going to enjoy watching you die, Mr. Anderson."

4 out of 4 Stars

Film: The Mask of Zorro (1998)

DVD: Anamorphic


"I would have killed him."
"No, not today. He is trained to kill. You seem trained to drink."

Review: This is a really fun, well made movie. It clips along at a great pace with great sword fights and cool stunt work without ever getting stale. Antonio Banderas was born to play this role. Catherine Zeta-Jones was great in this movie and Anthony Hopkins was excellent as always.

"Be careful senorita, there are dangerous men about."
"Well if you see one, be sure to point him out."

3 1/2 out of 4 Stars

Film: Mary Poppins (1964)

DVD: Enhanced 16x9


"Just as I thought. 'Mary Poppins, practically perfectly in every way.'"

Review: This is probably one of the finest non-animated children's films ever made that is also great for adults as well. The musical numbers were fun and stick in the head.

"Just a moment, Mary Poppins. What is the meaning of this outrage?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"Will you be good enough to explain all this?"
"First of all I would like to make one thing perfectly clear."
"Yes?"
"I never explain anything."

4 out of 4 Stars

Film: Major League (1989)

DVD: Enhanced 16x9


"Monty, anything to add?"
"Ummm... no."
"He's not the best colorman in the league for nothing, folks!"

Review: This may be full of cliches, but this movie is well done and just full of great laughs. Just sit back and laugh.

"Don't you think you oughta cover yourself up with a towel first, Mr. Brown?"
"We're out of towels, and I'm too old to go diving into lockers."

3 1/2 out of 4 Stars