Review of "Beowulf: Director’s Cut" DVD version

Review of

Beowulf: Director’s Cut DVD version

Five out of five stars

 Beowulf is an ancient English epic poem of over 3,000 lines that is known as having been first written down sometime between 975 and 1025 CE. It is set in Scandinavia, a land of bitter cold, mountains, moors and mysteries. Beowulf is a traditional hero, coming to the aid of a king and kingdom besieged by a hideous monster, defeating it in battle and then being hailed as a hero.

 When the original story opens, the mead hall of Hrothgar, King of the Danes, is attacked by the monster Grendel. Beowulf vows to kill the monster, which he does. Enraged by the death of her son, Grendel’s mother seeks revenge, and in a second titanic battle, Beowulf succeeds in killing her as well.

 Beowulf then returns to his own kingdom and assumes the position of king. Fifty years later, a dragon becomes enraged when a gold cup is stolen from its’ lair. It emerges and begins burning everything it encounters. Beowulf and his warriors come to fight the dragon and Beowulf insists that he carry on the battle alone. Outmatched, Beowulf is losing the fight until his warrior friend Wiglaf disobeys orders and assists Beowulf. The dragon is killed, but Beowulf is mortally wounded, and the story ends with his funeral pyre burning.

 The producers take some significant poetic license with the original story, specifically in the rendition of the battle between Beowulf and Grendel’s mother and Beowulf’s ascension to the throne. Yet, this is another demonstration of how the old epic poems of heroism can be made into quality modern movies.

 It is unfortunate that Beowulf is not given more attention in K-12 English classes, for it is the northern European equivalent to the Iliad of Homer. With this movie as an educational aid, it will be much easier to generate interest among the students in this key element of Western Civilization.

Review of "Charley Weaver’s Letters From Mamma," by Cliff Arquette

Review of

Charley Weaver’s Letters From Mamma, by Cliff Arquette

Four out of five stars

 Early in his career, Cliff Arquette was primarily a radio comedian that was very active, at one time he was performing on thirteen different daily radio shows. One of his greatest accomplishments was when he guested on the police show “Dragnet” starring Jack Webb. It is said that Webb’s reaction to Arquette was the only time that Webb ever exhibited a humorous reaction that he allowed to be broadcast in the initial eight years of the show.

 Arquette retired from show business for a time, only to return after he created the character of Charley Weaver. As Weaver, he would claim to be from Mount Idy and his act featured letters supposedly written by his Mamma back at Mount Idy. These skits proved to be so popular that Arquette adopted the Charley Weaver persona full-time. He appeared several times on the Jack Paar show and often had Paar and the audience convulsing with laughter when he would read the letters from his Mamma.

 This book is a collection of those letters and is a demonstration of how professional humor has changed in the last half century. Most of the jokes fall into the category of “quaint” in the sense that they are based on double entendres and required a highly developed sense of timing. If you can find some old clips of Weaver appearing on the Jack Paar show, you will get a lesson in how the proper timing can turn a mildly humorous story into one that is hysterical.

Review of "Invincible," DVD version

Review of

Invincible, DVD version

Five out of five stars

 On the surface, the Vince Papale story is one that all boys playing unorganized football fantasize about. Papale was working as a part-time bartender in his home town of South Philadelphia when he attended a tryout being held by the Philadelphia Eagles. He survived the tryout, attended training camp and was one of the last players retained on the roster.  Papale became a hero to the people of Philadelphia, as he was living out what was for many the ultimate fantasy. Voted captain of the special teams, he played in the NFL for three years before an injury forced him to retire.

 The movie is exciting and uplifting, as all embodiments of fantasies should be. While it is based on a true story, there are some serious actions of poetic license taken. For example, in the movie there is the dramatic touchdown where Papale tackles the punt returner forcing a fumble and then recovers it, carrying it into the end zone for a touchdown. In fact, Papale never scored a touchdown in the NFL, although he did force a fumble on a punt return. He is also portrayed as a football novice when he attended the Eagles tryout when he had played for two years on the Philadelphia Bell of the World Football League. Therefore, he was not a complete unknown to the Eagle coaching staff. In the movie, Papale attends an open tryout where every nut with a football fantasy attended. In fact, his tryout was a private one to which he was invited.

 While there is a lot of imagination put into the story, it is still one that uplifts you, for there are people that live or die in the virtual sense  based on how well their home team performs. There is a lot of hometown pride inherent in people that are seeing the job market in their neighborhood collapsing due to changing economic conditions. Those aspects of the movie are very real.