Posts by Archive Authors

by Dustin P. Anderson

In this collection we view the Peanuts television specials that have nothing to do with any major holidays. Instead this collection focuses on lesser known episodes that center around other values that should be important in a person’s life. These episodes cover the Olympics, a trip to France, a first crush, and much more. Charlie Brown and the gang are presented here to make the audience laugh and learn, with valuable lessons for kids and classic moments for adults.

Ralph Dale Earnhardt (Dale Earnhardt Sr.) died at age 49 on February 18, 2001. The accident took place in the final lap of a thrilling race in which Dale Sr. was helping his teammates Dale Jr. and Michael Waltrip (the brother of one of his biggest rivals and the announcer of the race, Darrell Waltrip). What was remarkable about the accident is that it was unspectacular. Dale Sr. had been in many horrible crashes in which the car flew and flipped many times and he walked away. Not this time. He got tapped and glided quietly on the bumper of another race car. He was taken away by ambulance and was pronounced dead on arrival of a basilar skull fracture. His teammates, Michael Waltrip (who had never won a race) and Dale Earnhardt Jr., finished in first and second place respectively. Dale Earnhardt Sr. was “The Intimidator” and “Darth Vader” throughout the 1980's and 90's because of his relentless focus and desire to win when he was behind the wheel. He was frequently hated but would win back love and respect from his fellow competitors with his gruff good nature off the track. It was remarkable to see a notorious tough guy and black hat seem so laid back 99% of the time. He was beloved by NASCAR fans not just because of his winning ways but because of his believable country ways. When he wasn't driving he was farming, fishing and hunting. Dale Sr. won 76 Winston Cup races and seven NASCAR Winston Cup Championships. Dale Jr. is in the middle of a great career himself, but I won't be talking about him in this article. I will mention his father, Ralph, because Dale Sr. spent a lifetime living in the shadow of man he modeled his life after. Ralph was a born mechanic and natural racer, himself. Ralph died of a heart attack at 45. Dale said, “Everything I ever did was to make my daddy proud”.

I Am Dale Earnhardt is part of a series of documentaries from Spike television. I will admit I always heard the name, but I wasn't a racing fan. I just recently learned the difference between Formula 1 and NASCAR. (They are two different worlds, and I'll leave it at that.)

by Dustin P. Anderson

Our story follows Primo as he leads the son of a fallen comrade, John, through the life of a Blood. John is trying to follow in the footsteps of his recently departed father by running “packages” for the gang. His mother tries to keep him on the law-abiding path, but John’s ties to the gang are deep. John soon figures out the burdens of this lifestyle and must make a choice on whether he will stay the course of his father, or adhere to the wishes of his mother. Primo’s words serve as both advice and caution as John makes this decision. Primo warns that there are no favorites in this life, only business.

Low Down has a fantastic cast for a low-budget film including John Hawkes, Elle Fanning, Glenn Close, Flea, Taryn Manning, Tim Daly, Billy Drago, Rain Pheonix, Lena Headey, Peter Dinklage, and Burn Gorman (the last three are alumni of Game of Thrones, which couldn't be farther in tone and content from this movie). It is the true life story of jazz pianist Joe Albany from a book by his daughter, Amy-Jo. The only thing that clearly marks the time period that the film takes place is a brief excerpt of the Watergate hearings in 1974 but has the feel of a time maybe a decade before. That is part of the beauty of a film like this. It is so subtly clued into detail. The essence of the movie is layers of detail that reveal character. It is the kind of movie that isn't made much any more. It is pitch-perfect in depicting an old school naturalism which requires your understanding and commitment.

The main character of Joe Albany (played brilliantly by Hawkes) is defined both by his love and sensitivity and by his weakness. Joe Albany was an outstanding musician afflicted by the addictions that many jazz musicians succumbed to. His heroin habit was something that he constantly struggled against, but he always tried to put his daughter first. Elle Fanning (the sister of Dakota and the star of Maleficent and Super-8) is luminous as the daughter who was loyal and loving to her father as she watched him struggle in a losing battle against the drug. Her mother, Shelia (Lena Headey) shows up from time to time, and she is the kind of mother who has a suitcase laced full with a plentiful supply of alcoholic miniatures. She's the kind of mother who falls flat on her face unconscious in the living room after a reunion dinner. Amy-Jo always remains sweet and loyal, no matter how sad and tawdry their circumstances become. Equally supportive and long-suffering is Joe's mother, played by Glenn Close with a dowdy lack of vanity. Joe and Amy-Jo live in a low-rent, low-down hotel in downtown Los Angeles full of oddballs, junkies, and prostitutes. Not the easiest place to stay straight, but Close's character is a tower of strength, always ready to help in any way.

by Dustin P. Anderson

This DVD contains some of the scariest episodes of classic Nickelodeon animated TV shows. Hey Arnold! follows a young boy living in a city trying to deal with the day-to-day troubles an elementary-grade child would be dealing with. The Angry Beavers is about a sibling duo of beavers; the cool, sophisticated Norbert and his hyperactive brother Daggit. Ahhh! Real Monsters tells us the story of monsters going through “Scare School” (this series came way before Monsters University) under the strict thumb of The Grumble. Three troublemaking monsters must try to stay on their professor’s good side, or they will face severe repercussions. Catdog is exactly what it sounds like; the show follows a hybrid cat and dog living on one body. The show features these two growing up in an all animal society where they are looked at as weird by some and friends by others. The last show on this disc is Rocko’s Modern Life; much like Catdog we are taken through an all animal society, this time we follow a wallaby named Rocko as he goes through work troubles, neighbor inconveniences, and friendship woes.

by Dustin P. Anderson

Honoring the memory of her husband, Addison Davenport sets off to a cabin in the woods with her four friends on the anniversary of his death. The friends go on their road trip, and once at their destination proceed to party. Little do these women know that they are not alone. A killer makes their presence known and starts torturing the girls. This could have been a great homage to classic eighties horror/slasher movies, but the creator couldn’t make a lot of the dialog coherent, nor could he make a meaningful plot. The dialog ranges from all the bad things we hated about the eighties horror scene, to all of the dialog I have grown to hate from newer horror films. It takes the “vulgarity for the sake of being vulgar” shtick from such classics as Friday the Thirteenth and Halloween. It takes the overly-dramatic pleading from torture films like Cry Wolf and Hostel. Neither of these themes are the greatest portions of the movies we hold as classics, and I would rather not be forced into remembering it. The plot has two twists. The first twist misses the mark so tremendously I had to avert my eyes. I am not going to go into too much detail, but after the twist is revealed, the killer loses all credibility and just turns out to be crazy. The second twist was just thrown at us. Like the dialog, it is trying to remind the audience of when twist endings at the end of a horror movie gave you one last scare. This twist left me less scared, and more annoyed. It seemed out of place and cheap.

by Dustin P. Anderson

Our story follows Camilla, a young girl living with her family and going to school in Manhattan during the year 1948. Her family is very wealthy and wants for little, but they are experiencing a difficult time in their life right now. Camilla’s mother is having an affair with a French man due to her husband being distant and supposedly uncaring. While going through this difficult time, Camilla is caught in the middle and unsure of what to do. Should she say something to her father or be faithful to her mother? Her friend Louisa tries to help her through this troubling time, but Louisa has troubles of her own. Louisa’s parents constantly fight, leaving Louisa and her older brother, Frank, to pick up the pieces of the parents’ failing relationship. One day when Louisa is nowhere to be found, Camilla runs into Frank, and the two take off together before Frank’s parents can begin to fight again. A relationship starts to bloom, and Camilla is uneasy about what will become of her new relationship, her friend Louisa, and her parents’ marriage.

I consider myself an optimist, so even when something looks bad, I try to look for the good. I searched for 84 long, painful minutes to look for good in Panic 5 Bravo. It’s a tale of four paramedics in an ambulance at the edge of the US/Mexican border that I, sadly, don’t ever give a dang about. There’s Richard, a curmudgeon days away from retiring; Josh, the rich-boy newbie; Bobby, the good-oops no bad- girl, and Alex, the eye-candy –a golden-retriever loving Mexican-American who is getting ready to propose to his girlfriend. Kuno Becker (Alex) also wrote, directed, and starred in the film. Just within the first few minutes of the interior shots of the ambulance which we never leave, there’s a lot of F words for the sake of filling up a script with a lot of holes, I guess.

A disgusting penal initiation hazing of the rookie Josh by the three older paramedics gets interrupted by a call of 5 Bravo. The crew watches as a young man just a few feet away lies on the ground bleeding to death from a gunshot wound on the Mexican side of the border. The four watch what unfolds without moving and discuss meal options. Finally paramedic Alex pleads with his coworkers to drive illegally into Mexico to rescue the shooting victim. These four geniuses decide with Alex’s prodding to venture where they have no business being and rescue a man who unbeknownst to them is wanted by the cartel – well not the man, but drug-filled condoms inside of him. Guess what -- predictably bad things happen… like the cartel bad guys using a vehicle to ram and flip over the ambulance.

by Dustin P. Anderson

Meet Hutch, the once-great golfer, now mediocre golf course owner. Hutch has been down on his luck ever since failing to impress at the Pro Tour and now owns a mediocre golf course (or really bad golf course, depending on who you ask). Hutch has also been hitting the bottle since his life started on a downward spiral, and this drinking leads him to put a golf club into someone’s car window. The golf club incident leads him to serving time on community service, where he will try to teach a team of underprivileged children how to play golf. Some kids don’t have the means to golf in the areas where they live; some of the kids don’t have parents that understand their craving to play it. Whatever their reason, they are now stuck in Hutch’s hands…. for better or worse.