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My Big Fat Greek Wedding is the 2002 romantic comedy film starring Nia Vardalos, John Corbett, Lainie Kazan and Michael Constantine. The film was written by Nia Vardalos and directed by Joel Zwick. Fotoula “Toula” Portokalos falls in love with a non-Greek “White Anglo Saxon Protestant” vegetarian named Ian Miller. What follows is the hilarious union of two very different families.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding starts off with a discussion of what it’s like being Greek. The narrator and the main character, Fotoula “Toula” Portokalos, tells how Greek girls are supposed to marry Greek boys, have Greek kids and feed everyone. Toula is the not a normal good Greek girl in that she is 30 and not married. Toula works at her parent’s Greek restaurant, Dancing Zorba’s.

Toula decides to expand her horizons and take some college courses. Toula’s father, Kostas “Gus” Portokalos, thinks that she wants to leave him because of the classes. When she starts classes she does a makeover and completely transforms her look. Toula begins working at her aunt’s travel agency and one day she sees a guy that she had seen in the restaurant one day. The guy come into the travel agency and introduces himself. He introduces himself as Ian Miller and they end up going on a date.

Towards the end of their first date Ian realizes that Toula is the hostess from Dancing Zorba’s restaurant. Ian and Toula start dating and fall in love. They try to hide their relationship from her parent’s, but the family eventually finds out.

Gus is extremely unhappy with Toula and Ian. Gus tries to set Toula up with a string of very unattractive and obnoxious men in hopes of Toula ending it with Ian. Ian asks Toula to marry him and she accepts. They decide to have a traditional Greek wedding so Ian gets baptized in the Greek Orthodox Church. After being baptized, Ian meets the whole Portokalos family.

The wedding planning begins with Toula’s family giving a lot of advice and input. As part of the wedding planning, the Portokalos family meets Ian’s parents, Rodney and Harriet, who are very quiet and reserved. The two families try to bond but it doesn’t go very smoothly.

The big day comes and goes off without a hitch. At the reception, the two families finally connect, despite their differences.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding is a very good romantic comedy that will have you continually laughing. Nia Vardalos did an extremely good job with this film. I love how each of Toula’s family has their different quirks, especially her dad. This film highlight’s how crazy families can be sometimes, but we still love them anyway. If you are looking for a humorous and classic romantic comedy, then you need to add My Big Fat Greek Wedding to your movie library.

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Major League: Back to the Minors is the 1998 baseball comedy movie starring Scott Bakula, Corbin Bernsen, Eric Bruskotter, Takaaki Ishibashi, Dennis Haysbert, Steve Yeager, Bob Uecker, Kenny Johnson, Thom Barry, Judson Mills, Walton Goggins, Peter MacKenzie, Ted McGinley and Jensen Daggett. Gus Cantrell is a minor league pitcher in his last season is asked by Roger Dorn, the owner of the Minnesota Twins, to coach the South Carolina Buzz, a Twins affiliate.

The movie opens with Gus Cantrell pitching for the Fort Meyers Miracle and trying to get out of a jam. After the game Roger Dorn asks Cantrell to become the manager of the Buzz. Dorn takes Cantrell and his girlfriend, Maggie Reynolds, to see the Billy “Downtown” Anderson play so Gus can tell Dorn what he thinks of him. The next day after talking it over with Maggie, Gus decides to take the manager job with the Buzz.

Gus meets the team and begins on developing the players. The Buzz has such unique players as Lance “The Dance” Pere, Frank “Pops” Morgan, Rube Baker, Carlton “Doc” Wingate, Juan Lopez 1, Juan Lopez 2 and Billy “Downtown” Anderson. A short time after taking over the Buzz, Gus gets a welcome addition to the team when the voodoo man, Pedro Cerrano, joins the team. On one of the Buzz’s road trips, Gus and Pedro recruit Taka Tanaka to play outfield for the Buzz. The Buzz start working as a team and start winning games and climbing up the standings.

Dorn invites Gus and Maggie to Minneapolis to see the Twins play. At dinner after the game, Roger, Gus Maggie and the Twins coach, Leonard Huff discuss the game and how the Twins are playing. Huff challenges Cantrell to a game between the Twins and the Buzz. The two end up getting in a fight and Gus accepts the challenge.

When the day of the big game arrives the Buzz are just happy to be playing in a major league park, while the Twins are their dysfunctional selves. The Twins take an early lead, but the Buzz come fighting back. In the bottom of the 9th, the Buzz are one strike away from taking the game into extra innings when Leonard Huff has the lights turned off so the game will be called. While no one won the game, the Minneapolis media says the Twins were outplayed by the Buzz.

Huff decides to bring up Downtown Anderson to play for the Twins despite objections from Cantrell. When Anderson leaves the Buzz, they start losing. After several dismal weeks with the Twins, Anderson is demoted and sent back to the Buzz. Gus manages to get the team back on track while teaching Anderson how to be a complete major league hitter. Gus manages the Buzz to a division title and after the game he challenges Huff and the Twins to a rematch at Buzz Stadium.

Gus offers up his salary for a year if the Twins win and if the Buzz win he gets Huff’s job as manager. During the game the twins take an early lead, but the Buzz Battle back. Downtown Anderson hits a two-run home run that wins the game for the Buzz 5-4.

The movie ends with Gus turning a job down with the Twins because he wants to keep managing in the minor leagues so he can help develop players. Maggie and Gus get married and fly off to their honeymoon.

Major League: Back to the Minors is a funny baseball movie. It is not as good as the original Major League, but in some ways it is better than Major League II. I like the minor theme in this movie as it has a pure baseball feel to it. The best scenes in the movie are when Harry Doyle is announcing the Buzz’s games, the baseball games and when Gus and Leonard get into a fight at the restaurant. If you are a baseball fan and looking for a good baseball comedy movie, then you should add Major League: Back to the Minors to your movie collection.

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The boys of the loveable Cleveland Indians are back in Major League II. The film stars Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, Corbin Bernsen, Omar Epps, David Keith, Takaaki Ishibashi, Eric Bruskotter and James Gammon. Major League II picks up on the season after Major League. The Indians lost in the AL Championship series. The Cleveland Indians are now owned by retired baseman Roger Dorn and success has gone to their heads as the Indians try to get into the World Series.

The movie opens with Cleveland Indians announcer Harry Doyle (Bob Uecker) recounting the previous season on his radio show, Tribe Talk. The audience also gets to see the bidding between Rachel Phelps and Roger Dorn. When spring training starts, old players such as Jake Taylor, Pedro Cerrano, Rick ‘Wild Thing’ Vaughn and Willie ‘Mays’ Hayes returning and new players being introduced including Rube Baker and Jack Parkman. Owner Roger Dorn and Coach Lou Brown bring Jake Taylor back as not as a catcher, but as a coach to help Rube Baker with a little problem he has.

Spring training goes badly for the Indians and things do not look too good for them early in the season. Some of the players are too worried about their contracts, looking good or worried about some new fad. Things get so bad for the team that Dorn has to sell the team back to Rachel Phelps, because he overpaid for the team. Phelps makes Dorn GM and a short time later Taylor becomes the manager after Lew Brown has a heart attack.

After one of their many losses, Rube Baker makes a speech that motivates the team and gets them to remember what it was like to play baseball for fun. The Indians win the second game of a double header following Rube’s speech. This is the beginning of the Cleveland Indians getting back to their winning ways. The Indians win the pennant outright this year and go on to face the Chicago White Sox in the Divisional title game. The seven game series goes down to a decisive game seven in which Wild Thing Vaughn returns to his former self. Wild Thing gets the save and the Indians win the American League title and go onto the World Series.

Major League II is a nice follow up to Major League allow it is not quite as good as Major League. Major League II features cameos by Steve Yeager, Kevin Hickey, Jesse Ventura and Randy Quaid. Bob Uecker returns as heavy drinking and quick witted announcer Harry Doyle. Harry Doyle’s one liners and ribbing of the team are some of the funniest moments in the movie. The addition of Isuro Tanaka (Takaaki Ishibashi) makes for some very funny moments, especially when he is trying to get Pedro Cerrano back to form. If you love baseball movies then you need to add Major League II to your movie collection.

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Major League is the very humorous baseball movie starring Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, Wesley Snipes, James Gammon and Corbin Bernsen and written and directed by David S. Ward. This 1989 baseball comedy is about a fictionalized version of the Cleveland Indians and their journey from a last place team to a pennant contending team.

The Cleveland Indians are taken over by a former Las Vegas showgirl after her husband died. She gives the team’s management a list of ball players who she wants invited to spring training. In a meeting with her GM, she explains that her strategy for the team is to make it so bad that it finishes dead last so that it can be moved to Miami.

Lou Brown, a minor league coach, is hired to coach the Indians. The teams players include Jake Taylor (a catcher with bad knees and past his prime), Ricky “Wild Thing” Vaughn (a wild pitcher with a record), Roger Dorn (over paid third baseman with an attitude), Willie Mays Hayes (speedster outfielder), Eddie Harris (veteran pitcher), and Pedro Cerrano (hard hitting, Voodoo practicing outfielder who can’t hit a curve ball). During spring training the team does not exactly bond together. The season starts out rough and goes according to Rachel Phelps’s (Margaret Whitton) plans.

Brown keeps pushing the team and keeps trying to figure out their strengths and how to get them to play together. He figures out that Vaughn has bad sight and gets him a pair of glasses. With his vision corrected and new found control Vaughn gets his first win. This starts the team slowly climbing out of the basement.

With the team showing signs of life and attendance numbers creeping up Rachel Phelps does everything she can to make sure the team loses including making the team go on road trips on an old DC-3 and a rundown bus, take away their physical therapy equipment and keep the team’s locker room in disrepair.

Brown uses the team’s dislike of the owner to unite the team and get them to go on a winning streak to win the pennant. The movie ends with the Indians playing the Yankees for the divisional title. Vaughn and the Indians face their demons and overcome the Yankees to win the pennant.

Major League is one of my favorite baseball movies. The movie is very funny and features some great baseball scenes. I like the opening scenes of the movie where there are different shots from around Cleveland. I also like all of the baseball action in the movie. If you like baseball movies Major League is worth adding to your movie collection.

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The year is 1972 and there is a new group of kids taking over The Sandlot. The Sandlot 2 is the story of how David Durango (Max Lloyd-Jones) became a neighborhood legend like Benny Rodriguez had ten years ago.

The Sandlot 2 opens with scenes from The Sandlot telling how Benny Rodriguez became The Jet. Johnnie Smalls (James Wilson), Scotty Smalls younger brother, is the central figure in The Sandlot 2. Johnnie is into rockets and uses The Sandlot to shoot his rockets. One day while preparing to launch a rocket, David Durango and the rest of The Sandlot baseball players show up to run him off thinking he is part of the local little league team trying to take over The Sandlot. Things go wrong when Small’s rocket gets tipped over and destroys The Sandlot dugout. This is the first of many adventures that happen on The Sandlot.

As a result of the rocket incident, Smalls becomes friends with Hayley Goodfairer and her and her friends take over The Sandlot. The boys and girls of The Sandlot showdown for control of The Sandlot. The two groups come together to create one complete baseball team to take on the little league team. After the game with the little league team, in which Durango hits the opposing teams catcher for knocking over Hayley, the gang learns about The Great Fear from Smalls. The Great Fear is a descendant of Hercules from The Sandlot and is supposed to have taken a bite out of a small boy several years ago.

The summer continues on and everything seems to be going good until Small’s love of rockets gets him and the group into big trouble. Smalls launches a model of the space shuttle built by Hayley’s Dad, who works for NASA, and it goes behind the fence where The Great Fear lives.

The group tries various creative ways to retrieve the rocket from behind the fence. A neighborhood boy, nicknamed The Retriever, even shows up and tries to get the model back but fails miserably. Mac (Brent Kelly) gets the closest to success with a tunnel under the fence, but The Great Fear caught him.

David Durango took things into his own hands to get the shuttle back and at that time Smalls realized that Durango was the small boy that The Great Fear had bitten. Durango got the shuttle back and was chased through town by The Great Fear. Durango falls into the tunnel built by Mac and is dug out of it by The Great Fear. Smalls and Durango return the dog to Mr. Mertle (James Earl Jones) and they strike a deal where Mr. Mertle will take the fence down if the kids will talk baseball with him and take the dog on a walk. The kids learn that the dog’s name is Goliath. The movie ends with the narrator telling what happened to the kids when they grew up.

The Sandlot 2 is a nice follow up to The Sandlot. The movie is a simple yet funny baseball movie. Just like The Sandlot, The Sandlot 2 has a great soundtrack including Dizzy by Tommy Roe, Sugar Sugar by Ron Dante and Spirit In The Sky by Norman Greenbaum. The best scenes from the movie include when Fingers goes to the kissing booth, Smalls accidentally shooting off the rocket and the Retriever trying to get the rocket back. If you like baseball movies and are a baseball fan then The Sandlot 2 is a movie worth adding to your movie collection.

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One of many great quotes from the classic baseball movie, The Sandlot. For me The Sandlot is a classic movie because it goes back to an era when baseball truly was America’s Pastime and because it is the first and only movie I have ever seen on an airplane. Do they even show movies on airplane flights anymore?

The story of The Sandlot begins with the narrator setting the scene for the movie and telling the story of the 1932 World Series, when Babe Ruth called his shot. He then goes on to set the scene of a story 30 years later involving Benjamin Franklin Rodriguez (Mike Vitar) and getting the narrator out of a jam. The narrator of the film is Scott “Scotty” Smalls (Tom Guiry).

In the summer of 1962, Scotty Smalls and his family (Bill (Dennis Leary), stepfather and Mom (Karen Allen)) move to the valley outside of Los Angeles. Smalls is an egghead who is not exactly athletically gifted. Things start off badly for Smalls in trying to fit in with the neighborhood boys. He goes to the local sandlot to try to get in on the baseball game going on there, but makes a fool of himself. When he has Bill teach him to play pitch and catch, he gets a black eye.

Benny Rodriguez invites Smalls to come play ball with the guys. The rest of The Sandlot team is not exactly thrilled about this. Rodriguez gets Smalls to loosen up and helps teach him how to play baseball. One day while playing ball at The Sandlot, Hamilton “Ham” Porter (Patrick Renna) hits a homerun over the fence. This is when Smalls learns about the Beast. The team has a campout and Michael “Squints” Palledorous tells Smalls the legend of the beast.

Squints gains respect from the boys when he kisses Wendy Peffercorn (Marley Shelton), a lifeguard at the local pool, after diving off the deep end. On the Fourth of July, the boys play their only night game. The local Little League teams shows up at The Sandlot and challenges the boys to a game. All of these events are leading up to when Rodriguez becomes a legend.

The day that Smalls got everyone into a pickle started with an omen when Benny hit the guts out of a baseball. Small’s tells the guys he has a ball and he goes and gets Bill’s baseball signed by Babe Ruth. Smalls hits a homerun over the fence. He goes nuts and tells guys the baseball was signed by some lady named Baby Ruth. Smalls finally figures out who Babe Ruth is.

The boys try many innovative ways to get the ball back from the Beast. After they all fail, Benny takes things into his own hands and buys a pair of PF Flyers and decides to go over the fence. Benny gets the baseball and is chased through town by the Beast. The chase ends back at The Sandlot and the fence falling on the beast. Smalls and Rogriguez get the fence off of the dog and they find out that the Beast is not the mean dog that the legend made it out to be. They take the dog back to Mr. Mertle (James Earl Jones). They find out that he is a nice man who was blinded while playing baseball and that the dog’s name is Hercules. They tell him about the ball. He takes the Babe Ruth ball and gives Smalls a Murderer’s Row ball signed by the 1927 New York Yankees. He does this in exchange for them coming over and talking baseball with him.

The movie ends with the Narrator telling what happened with the team when they grew up. It then goes to a Dodger’s game that a grown up Scoot Smalls is calling as Benny “The Jet” Rodriguez is playing and steals home plate.

The Sandlot takes you back to a simpler time in American history and to a time when baseball was truly America’s pastime and it was more about the game and not the money. The greatest scenes from the movie are when Squints kisses Wendy Peffercorn, the boys try Big Chief chew and then go on a ride at the carnival, trying to get the baseball back from the beast and Benny getting the baseball back. The Sandlot has a great soundtrack including hits such as This Magic Moment and There Goes My Baby by The Drifters, Tequila by The Champs, Green Onion by Booker T. and the MGs and Wipe Out by The Surfaris. The Sandlot is a great baseball comedy that any baseball fan needs to have in their movie collection.

Great Quotes:

Squints: It’s about time Benny, my clothes are goin’ outa style.
Yeah Yeah: They already are, Squints.
Squints: Shut up.

“The Babe”: Remember kid, there’s heroes and there’s legends. Heroes get remembered but legends never die, follow your heart kid, and you’ll never go wrong.

Mr. Mertle: [Smalls has lost a baseball signed by Babe Ruth] I take it back. You’re not in trouble, you’re dead where you stand.

Ham Porter: Hey, Smalls, you wanna s’more?
Smalls: Some more of what?
Ham Porter: No, do you wanna s’more?
Smalls: I haven’t had anything yet, so how can I have some more of nothing?
Ham Porter: You’re killing me Smalls! These are s’more’s stuff! Ok, pay attention. First you take the graham, you stick the chocolate on the graham. Then you roast the ‘mallow. When the ‘mallows flaming… you stick it on the chocolate. Then cover with the other end. Then you scarf. Kind of messy, but good! Try some!

Ham Porter: This pop isn’t workin’, Benny! I’m bakin’ like a toasted cheese-it! It’s so hot here!

Squints: Come on, Benny. Man. The kid is a…
[with his thumb and index fingers of both hands]
Squints: L, 7, Weenie!
Yeah Yeah: Yeah. Yeah. Oscar Meyer even.

Squints: Where did your old man get that ball?
Smalls: I don’t know. Some lady gave it to him. She even signed her name on it.Some lady named… Ruth. Baby Ruth.
All: *Babe Ruth?*

Ham Porter: Benny, why’d you bring that kid?
Benny Rodriguez: Because he makes nine of us.
Yeah Yeah: Yeah yeah, so does my sister, but I didn’t bring her along!

Smalls: I was gonna put the ball back.
Squints: But it was signed by Babe Ruth!
Smalls: Yeah, you keep telling me that! Who is she?
Ham Porter: WHAT? WHAT?
Kenny: The sultan of swat!
Bertram: The king of crash!
Timmy: The colossus of clout!
Tommy: The colossus of clout!
All: BABE RUTH!
Ham Porter: THE GREAT BAMBINO!
Smalls: Oh my god! You mean that’s the same guy?

Ham Porter: [the kids are being chased away from the pool by the lifeguards after Squints kisses Wendy] Oh, here’s your glasses. Did you plan that?
Squints: [puts on his glasses] Of course I did. Been planning it for years.

Toddler: Mommy, mommy, look at the doggie. Ow, that’s a big doggie!

Narrator: Michael Squints Palledorous walked a little taller that day. And we had to tip our hats to him. He was lucky she hadn’t beat the *crap* out of him. We wouldn’t have blamed her. What he’d done was sneaky, rotten, and low… and cool. Not another one among us would have ever in a million years even for a million dollars have the guts to put the move on the lifeguard. He did. He had kissed a woman. And he had kissed her long and good. We got banned from the pool forever that day. But every time we walked by after that, the lifeguard looked down from her tower, right over at Squints, and smiled.

Ham Porter: Your killing me Smalls!

Quantum of Solace is the 2008 James Bond film that is the sequel to Casino Royale. This film is the twenty second in the James Bond Series. Quantum of Solace stars Daniel Craig, Olga Kurylenko, Mathieu Amalric, Gemma Arterton, Giancarlo Giannini, Jeffrey Wright, Judi Dench, Anatole Taubman, David Harbour, Joaquin Cosio, Fernando Guillen Cuervo, Jesper Christensen, Rory Kinnear, and Glenn Foster. The film was directed by Marc Forster, produced by Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli and composed by David Arnold. Quantum of Solace picks up where Casino Royale left off. James Bond (Daniel Craig) does battle with wealthy and crooked businessman Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), who is a member of the organization that was behind Le Chiffre.

The movie begins with Bond being chased through the Italian Alps from Lake Como on his way to a safe house in Siena, Italy. Bond and M interrogate Mr. White, but things are interrupted when M’s bodyguard Craig Mitchell tries to kill M and allows Mr. White to escape. Bond chases Mitchell down and kills him.

After searching Mitchell’s apartment in London, a link to Le Chiffre is found from a marked bill. M sends 007 to Port au Prince, Haiti, where marked bills in the same grouping were recently used. Once in Haiti, Bond kills Edmund Slate, an assassin sent to kill Camille Montes, which used the bills. Bond sees Dominic Greene meeting with General Medrano, an exiled Bolivian General. Bond learns from M that Dominc Greene is an environmentalist.

007 follows Dominic Greene to Bregenz, Austria, where he listens in on Greene’s and the rest of the secret organization conversation, during a meeting at an opera performance. Bond interrupts the meeting and takes people’s pictures as they get up and leave. M locks down Bonds accounts after he is accused of killing a special branch member who was protecting one of the secret organizations’ members.

Bond goes to see René Mathis and ask him to go to Bolivia with him. Bond and Mathis are met in La Paz, Bolivia by Fields, a female MI6 officer. She demands that 007 return to England on the next flight. Bond seduces Fields and gets her to go along with his plans. Mathis gets them into an Eco Park Party hosted by Greene. At the party Bond runs into Camille and they leave the party together. They are pulled over by the police and discover that someone beat up Mathis and put him in their trunk. Bond and Camille escape.

They head to a desert airfield to get a plane so they can fly to where Dominic Greene is setting up his eco park. They are attacked by a fighter plane and manage to bail out of the aircraft. They find out that Greene and his organization are after water and not oil as previously thought. In London, M is ordered to bring in Bond.

Bond and Camille return back to Bond’s hotel. M is waiting for Bond, where he finds Fields has been killed by being drowned and covered in oil. Bond escapes and is picked up by Camille. Bond meets with Felix Leiter to find out where Greene is going to meet with General Madrono.

Bond and Camille are waiting at the resort in the dessert when Greene shows up for the meeting. 007 and Camille go after Greene and Madrono as the meeting ends. Bond kills a crooked police colonel, whose vehicle crashes into a fuel cell and causes a massive explosion. This starts a chain reaction of explosions. Camille gets her revenge on General Medrono and kills him. Both Bond and Camille escape the burning resort unharmed.

Bond tracks down Greene and drives him out into the dessert. Greene tells Bond about Quantum, the name of the criminal organization he is part of. Bond leaves him with a quart of oil. Bond then drops off Camille.

The movie ends in Kazan, Russia with 007 waiting in an apartment. A man and a woman show up. The women in named Corrine and she is a member of Canadian Intelligence. The man is the man who set up Vespyr and who got her killed. Bond tells Corrine to leave and tell her superiors that they have a leak. Bond and M talk and she tells him Greene was found dead, shot in the back of the head twice and oil in his stomach and that Felix Leiter was promoted. Bond tells M that she was right about Vespyr and he walks off and drops her necklace in the snow.

Quantum Solace is a great follow up to Casino Royale. It is full of action, keeps the viewer guessing and answers the unanswered questions from Casino Royale. The theme song in the film is not like any other theme song from the rest of the movie. The credit sequence is also very good. The movie features many great action sequences including, the car chase to open the movie, Bond chasing Mitchell, the boat chase in Port au Prince and the aerial dogfight in Bolivia. The biggest let down as with Casino Royale was that there was no Miss Moneypenny of Q in the film. It is hard to watch a James Bond movie without Miss Moneypenny or Q. As with any James Bond movie, this is a much watch, especially if you are a James Bond aficionado.