L.A. Confidential

On the list of movies I need to get around to seeing, I finally got around to seeing L.A. Confidential. Based on the book of the same name by James Elloy, L.A. Confidential is set in, surprisingly enough, Los Angeles.

Set in the 1950's, Los Angeles is competing with Chicago and Washington, D.C. to be the most crooked city in America. Not only is their a lot of organized crime, but organized crime within the police department. But then Guy Pearce (Edmund Exley) is promoted to Detective Lt. He has it set in his mind that he's going to do his job the right way and without corrupting influences, much to the chagrin of Captain Dudley Smith (James Cromwell).

When a disgraced former cop ends up dead, Exley wants to solve the case, but is butting heads with Detect Sgt. Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey) and Officer But White (Russell Crowe). But in this case of cops versus cops, Exley's investigation is turning up more than he bargained for. And he better be careful, because people close to the case start ending up dead.

L.A. Confidential has an all-star cast. In addition to those previously mentioned, Danny DeVito stars as Sid Hudgens, the magazine insider who works with the police for inside tips on hot stories, Kim Basinger, as Lynn Bracken, the love interest of many a man, and David Strathairn as Pierce Patchett, the local pimp lord.

Directed by Curtis Hanson, L.A. Confidential is Rated R for violence, language, violence, sexuality, and violence. The movie is about 2 1/2 hours long, so if you've never seen it make sure you block out a good chunk of time to watch it because you'll be glued to the screen.

I LOVED this movie and would easily watch it again. I'm actually disappointed that I never saw this movie earlier than I did. The movie was nominated for 9 Academy awards, including Best Picture. Kim Basinger won for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, and Curtis Hanson and Brian Helgeland won for Best Adapted Screenplay. Additional nominations were Best Original Dramatic Score, Best Director, Best Art Director, Best Cinematography, and Best Film Editing.

For the above reasons, I give L.A. Confidential the sparsely distributed 5 Stars.

Fred Claus

Every year there has to be a Christmas movie. It's the law. And usually the Christmas movie sucks. I present Deck the Halls, Christmas With the Kranks, The Santa Clause 1, 2 and 3, and Jack Frost . I dare you to challenge me on that one. I've even heard that Christmas movies are where actors and actresses go to die.

Fortunately, despite some reviews by the pundits, Fred Claus is actually not that bad. It stars Vince Vaughn as Santa Claus' brother. Fred grew up the older brother of Santa, played by John Adams, I mean Paul Giamatti. Santa is the carefree, jovial kid who has good intentions, but seems to be making life miserable for his older brother Fred, who's more down to Earth.


"Why can't you be more like your brother Nick?" This is what Fred heard all his life. Fred was never as good as Nick and resented his mother for all of the attention that Santa got. So Fred skipped town, only to struggle through life with bitterness and failure. Santa, meanwhile, went on to become the bearer of gifts on Christmas Eve.

Meanwhile, Fred gets into a bit of a bind and needs money, which Santa agrees to give him if Fred agrees to come to the North Pole and work for it and help him get through the Christmas season. Fred agrees and the drama ensures.

To add to the fun, Kevin Spacey plays the mischievious accountant that works for the government who's inspecting the North Pole operations, which Santa must prove is in working order so that he can maintain control over this domain.

The movie is full of laughs, lots of site gags and slapstick humor. Vince Vaughn plays the best character that he knows - Vince Vaughn without the potty mouth. Fred Claus is rated PG for some mild language and some rude humor, per Netflix. It was decent enough that I didn't feel bad allowing my 6 year-old son to watch it.

The movie also stars Kathy Bates as the Claus' mother, Ludacris (who was hysterically midgetized), and Elizabeth Banks as Fred's girlfriend.

Overall I give this movie 4 stars. This is a great movie to watch with your family, which is important to do at the holidays.