Movies I have seen

A Town Called Panic: A French -- excuse me -- Belgian animated film with all the characters played out by the kind of action figures boys would play with before licensing took over. There's Horse, Cowboy, and Indian, who all live in a house like a little family. Horse is the "adult" while Cowboy and Indian act adolescent siblings (Cowboy is the younger, stupider one; Indian, the slightly less stupid bully). It's pretty funny for awhile, but this is based on a TV series, and they just couldn't come up with a story to last for even the 75 or so minutes that it takes up. And yes, they eat waffles.

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves: Universal made some really fun sword & sandal adventure flicks to make everybody forget there was a war for 90 minutes. Cobra Woman and Arabian Knights are ridiculous but diverting movies, and both star Maria Montez, a Dominican woman who couldn't act but had great screen presence. (She inspired a lot of drag queens.) Because of this, I had great hopes for Ali Baba, but it's dry, straightforward rehash of Adventures of Robin Hood, except that it's no fun. Heck, it has Andy Devine as an Arabian Little John, and he plays his part straight through most of the movie! Turhan Bey stands in for Sabu, who had appeared in the previous two flicks, and he's okay. Unfortunately, the movie star Jon Hall, the kind of cookie cutter stiff leading man I've always hated.

Seabiscuit: Man, what a disappointment. After reading the great biography by Laura Hillenbrand, I had to sit through this dreamy, over-the-top Great Depression allegory. I might have liked it more if I had never read the book, whose descriptions of races will keep you at the edge of your seat. (Especially if like me, your knowledge of the horse is limited to the many references to him in old Warner Brothers cartoons.)