In 2017 the movie “Hangman” was released and because it rated so badly (only 5% by Rotten Tomatoes) it was bought by almost no theaters in this country. Most unbelievable about this bad movie, is that for some reason Al Pacino, one of the best actors of all time, signed on to make it. Hangman is one of those Hollywood situations where there are favors involved and a named actor might agree to act in several movies for a production company or an up and coming director – regardless of the quality of the script. In situations like this, the favor is greater than the desire to only act in the best possible productions.

This story is about the game Hangman and a serial killer who hangs his victims and then decorates the crime scene with the hangman game – adding a new letter from the last name of each victim with each new murder. Many of the scenes are unnecessarily gruesome and there are not nearly enough twists and turns to make this movie interesting enough to recommend. I do not agree with the 5% consensus on Rotten Tomatoes, giving this film now on Netflix – a low 30% overall rating. If you are a big fan of Al Pacino, Brittany Snow or Karl Urban, then maybe this movie might be worthy of some time during quarantine, but for the rest of us, this one should be missed.

As most would agree, especially the veterans of World War 2, “Saving Private Ryan”, released in 1998 is by far, the best and most realistic war movie ever made. Some 12 years before Saving Private Ryan, the movie “Platoon” directed by Oliver Stone was considered the best and most realistic war movie of all time. So good in fact that Platoon won the best picture Oscar in 1987 and Oliver Stone won best director.
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There are many things that stand out in this film, starting with Charlie Sheen as the lead actor in what turned out to be his best ever movie role, by far. Costars Tom Berenger and Willem Dafoe were nominated for best supporting actor and Sheen was not nominated and in my opinion this was yet another Oscar mistake. The war action was some of the most realistic and horrific that I have seen in any movie battle scenes. Most especially the final jungle battle at night that also included a Vietnamese soldier who ran into a tent with a bomb, blowing up everybody inside. Hand to hand combat as the American forces are overrun by the North Vietnam soldiers during the final battle is some of the most impressive war action ever filmed.
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Platoon is still shown on many cable stations and for the few who have never seen this great war movie, I give this film my highest recommendation.
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“The American President”, released in 1995 is one of those cable movies that are broadcast frequently over the years because no matter how many times you see this great movie, it still is very entertaining and still relevant.

The American President, directed by Rob Reiner and written by Aaron Sorkin, is one of those rare films that is a combination of great dialogue, relevant and believable story, great acting and even romantic comedy all in one. For this film, Sorkin’s dialogue is never over the top, or rapid fire like many of his other great films, including “Molly’s Game”, 2018 and “The Social Network”, 2010. In this movie, people more or less, talk the way normal people talk.

The American President is one of the few serious movie roles in the career of Michael J. Fox, who has several scenes in this film that are at the highest level in his many years as an actor. Micheal Douglass and Annette Benning are both outstanding in their lead roles with Douglass as the President and Benning as a lobbyist pushing for a 20% Global Warming fossil fuels reduction. This is all still very relevant even today. Throughout the story, the politics that included choosing between an anemic crime bill and global warming was always interesting, as the President and the Global Warming lobbyists, led by Benning fight for votes to pass legislation.

1995 is now 25 years ago and The American President has been shown on cable countless times. For those few who have still not seen this very good movie, I highly recommend it and agree with the very high 91% rankings on Rotten Tomatoes.