26 films in 4 days, continued!

You didn't really think I was done, did you?

"Well, no, because you'd only given me a dozen movies."

Correcto mundo, mi amiga! That segues nicely to my third grouping: Buddy-film Film Festival. Note, these are not traditional such things. It isn't like Nolte and Murphy. Well, maybe one of them... no, not really. That was a cop and a convict. So, just forget about me saying that.

"Ummmm.... you could have just not written about it. Right?"

Yeah, I guess so. But it's late on the last day of April and I'm trying to get this done.

"Then just get on with it! Silly rabbit!"

I will! Okay, buddy films it is! "Compadres" paired a Mexican narcotics detective with a 17-year-old American computer hacker. Hey, that's akin to "48 Hrs." after all! The kid should have been put in jail, so that means Vic was a convict in the making, and Garza was most definitely a cop.

"Yes, dear."

That's right. Together, they were out to locate the money stolen by the bad guy that had kidnapped the cop's girlfriend. Pretty good and it even had a bit of subtitling thrown in!

"Oooohhh, almost a foreign film!"

Oooohhh, you think you're funny... wait, I know this one. You're...

"... a hoot! Hoot, hoot! Hahahaha!"

Yes, dear. Okay, let's move along. The kidnapping theme ran through the next movie, too. Here's a photo of the very surfer-buff Chris Evans with his buddy in this one.

"You mean, that blonde woman is Kim Basinger?"

No, I'm talking about the title character! "Cellular" is all about the guy running around, making things right, for the voice on the other end! Good for some laughs and some real drama!

"So you're claiming that 'cellular' has the last name 'phone'? Is that what you're saying?"

You got it, toots! Good call!

"That pun is for me? Thanks."

You're most welcome. Perhaps you'll like the next movie better. "The Brothers Grimm" is one I'd seen before, by the way, but it was nice to go back to the 'old days'. It was also nice to see Heath Ledger again, this time as Jacob, the smarter and more scientific brother, recording their adventures along the way. Not that I don't like Matt Damon, of course, because I regard him as the boy that I wish lived next door. (smile)

"I hear you! Yeah, he would be a fine neighbor!"

Exactly. So then I decided to change genders for the fourth, and final, film of this series. Time for some women to take the scene!

"I hear ya loud and clear! How about Susan Sarandon and Goldie Hawn?"

So, I thought, how about... wait! You guessed it! Peeker! Yes, it was time for "The Banger Sisters" to trot out and strut their stuff! Oddly, I had not seen this 2002 gem. I really liked this part, where they've just returned from a night of partying and are looking at the stars and reminiscing about Jim Morrison, again, for maybe the third time in the film.

"You should probably recommend this one to Melaness. She's always been such a fan of The Doors."

Good idea!

"You're up to 16 now. Ten more?"

You got it! Time for the Alliterative Titles Film Festival! Now, then, I admit this first one isn't strictly so, but it was listed without "The" on the HBO schedule, so there ya go. I debated whether to keep it or not, but I was really looking forward to this Jim Carrey flick... so I kept it. I'm glad I did! Such a preponderance of p's in "Mr. Popper's Penguins", predominantly pronounced by his protege, Pippi, about the packaged present from his papa!

"Hahahaha! Nicely done, dearie! I see why you kept the film!"

Precisely!

"The others were more in keeping with this film fest pretext?"

Positively! "Hollywood Homicide" had Harrison Ford and Josh Hartnett paired together in their day job as cops, but with one working on the side as a realtor and the other as a yoga teacher.

"That sounds like a good flick. Lots of laughs?"

You know it! But this may be my favorite part: dancing to Smokey Robinson with Harrison Ford after a long day of work. Yes!

"I bet you played that part twice!"

Of course I did! I danced with him to "Tracks Of My Tears" both times, too! Really, the entire movie had a great soundtrack. I'm glad I decided to watch it, even though I'd already seen it before. Same thing with the first movie in this quartet, too, as well as the third one. That was "Brighton Beach", featuring baseball and boys and the whole 1937 vibe. Very nice to step back into that for a while.

"Plus, there was the beach scene, too."

That's right. But the last of the alliteration gambit was "Ella Enchanted", with the ever delightful Anne Hathaway as a princess given "perfect obedience" as a baby and having to grow up with that onus upon her. 

"And I guess someone had yelled for her to stop..."

To "freeze!", actually! And she had frozen there in mid-air, in mid-leap above that trough, until the person, flabbergasted, had told her to put her hands together in the air. That's when she'd collapsed into the water! Very funny movie, with a good number of singing bits, though all may as well have been at a karaoke bar. Still it put me into the mood to see a musical...

"...so you sought some out..."

... which was actually harder than it sounds. There really aren't that many genuine musicals out there these days. Still, for my HBO Kids Musicals Film Festival, I watched six of the seven proffered.

"I'm surprised they actually had that many."

Me, too. "Lyle, Lyle Crocodile: The Musical - The House on 88th Street" had a couple of numbers in it and was pretty cute. "Earthday Birthday", with baby dinosaurs born to save this planet, was tiresome, though I'm sure I'm not the intended audience. The third one, though, really tickled me! Narrated by Carol Burnett, "The Tale Of Peter Rabbit" was absolutely adorable and had me laughing! Such a bad little, hard-headed, bunny!

"Oh, that's wonderful! With his little jacket and shoes made into a scarecrow - funny!"

It truly was! Then "Ira Sleeps Over" was so charming, with the characters looking like they could have been extras in a Charlie Brown special!

"Major coolness!"

Yes, indeed! "Mike Mulligan And His Steam Shovel" presented a sweet tale of a machine that had become outdated by bigger and newer technology. But that didn't stop Mike from moving out to the smaller towns with Mary Ann, seeking to hire her out to do "the work of 100 men in one week" in just a single day. And she does, too! Then she gets repurposed to be the furnace in the last new building for which she dug the foundation. Hooray!

"Nice message of reduce-reuse-repurpose in that one!"

And it was a thirty-year-old movie! I was quite pleased.

"You still have one more, right?"

That's right, I do, and that was "Alexander And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day". It was made in 1990, too. What a time he had! Waking to gum in his hair, having no dessert in his lunch bag, going to the dentist and finding a cavity, losing his favorite yoyo - wow. Animated like all the others, this one also had a dearth of songs, but - it made up for that. When his two brothers picked on him, that led into a song and dance number - about each fantasizing about how good they would have had it as an only child - that was truly inspired! I just wish it would have had more of those during its short run!

"Yeah, that was a really great song! I'm so glad you ended on that high note!"

A little joke for me? Thanks! Now, time to say goodnight, dear! I have a trip to Tybee tomorrow and need to make sure I'll be up for it!

"Good night, dear!"