23 Across -- 19 Down

Wordplay

Documentary
English

94 Minutes, 2006

4 Stars

Charter On-Demand, Free Movies.

Family entertainment on how crosswords puzzles are made, who makes them, and who works them. Will Shortz, the Crossword Editor for the New York Times is one of the main people, also Ken Burns, Jon Stewart, and Bill Clinton made appearances. The highlight is the championship games at the end.

When I was in high school, I mentioned to my science teacher about a final I had in 9th grade, that was a crossword puzzle. She immediately assigned me to write a final for her, as a crossword puzzle. It took a while, but once done, she made very few changes, filed it away, and a couple years later used it.

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Hellboy!

Hellboy

English

132 Minutes, 2004

PG 13

5 Stars

I've seen Hellboy2 on the tube many times, and just realized I'd somehow missed the first one. Oh. My. God. I haven't laughed this much in ages. Ron Perlman, long one of my favorite actors, plays Hellboy, a demon child summoned by the Nazi's from the realm of Chaos. He is rescued by the Good Guys and raised not to do evil, but to destroy it. Lots of action, fights with monsters from the supernatural realms. Hellboy is just great fun of Good vs. Evil – You know, when something goes bump in the night, someone has to bump back and that someone is Hellboy!

Comics were never this much fun (Hellboy is from the comic book series)

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Come Fly With Captain Abu Raed

21  Captain Abu Raed

Arabic, English subtitles

1002 Minutes, 2009

5 Stars

Too bad The Hedgehog couldn't have been done like this! Abu Raed is a widower with no children other than his books. He works as a janitor at the Amman airport who finds a Captain's hat in the trash. He brushes it off, and wears it. One of the neighborhood boys sees it, and insists Abu Raed is a pilot, even though he says otherwise. The next morning, several children are at his door to hear his adventures; and so begins a delightful story. Of course, there is some sadness to be expected, but the beauty of the story far outweighs it. This is a movie the whole family can enjoy. And I understand the children were locals. My only complaint is the DVD is so far out of my price range I can't afford it.

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Hedgehogs Are Cute -- The Movie Not So Much

20  The Hedgehog

French, English subtitles

98 minutes, 2009

3 Stars

SPOILER ALERT

5 Stars for the acting, 1 Star for the story and ending. This could have been a story of real growth for the young girl, but her epiphany came at great expense, and, well, one Awshit wipes out 1000 Attaboys. The last 5 minutes of this movie was a big Awshit in my opinion. I had considered reading the book, but now think it a waste of my time. An 11-year-old girl, rich, spoiled, jaded, decides to suicide on her birthday and the last day of school. She forms a rather unlikely bond with the concierge of the building, an older woman, widowed, alone and a bit curmudgeonly. The woman blossoms, finds friendship beyond her books and is killed. When she dies, the girl comes to her senses. Watch Captain Abu Raed instead. Much better!

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Jet Li's Fearless

Jet Li's Fearless

Mandarin, English subtitles

104 minutes, 1006

5 Stars

It stars Jet Li, that alone makes it worth watching in my humble opinion. I was not disappointed. Jet Li plays the legendary Huo Yuanjia, a world-class martial artist who dreams to continue his father's legacy. The choreography and costuming are magnificent The story is based on fact; however, some of the descendants have asked for at least apologies from Jet Li and the film writers for the gross misrepresentations here and there. If you want to read about Mr. Huo, there's a lot of information on the web. I am sorry the writers felt it necessary to take such liberties as they apparently did. They could have just added more good fight scenes. I understand the use of poetic license in story telling, but think the history can and should remain intact.

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