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Caught the last 45 minutes of “Seems Like Old Times” on Sunday night (TCM)…what a delight! Haven’t seen it in several years. One of the last true great Romantic Comedies of the last several decades…right up there with “Chances Are.” So many classic scenes, lines, and facial expressions. Chevy Chase has never been better, fumbling his way through a situation beyond his control, and Goldie Hawn is perfect as the do-gooder public defender. Charles Grodin is in his element as a slightly befuddled – but always “in control” – DA. The dinner scene is priceless – Chester getting drunk, the Governor being very calm (because he’s the Governor, after all), Ira punching out Nick, Nick punching out Ira…it’s just great. Also: you may notice that one of the two goons (see picture above) who forced Nick to rob the bank is played by the same actor who portrayed “Mickey” the convict in “Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure.” Good stuff…great movie.

I’m sure many of you are familiar with the old joke about villians from the James Bond movies that goes something like this…what do you get when you cross Oddjob and Blofeld? Blo-job! Well, I thought of another one…what do you get when you cross Pussy Galore and Plenty O’Toole?

Well, I’ll be…until someone mentioned it the other day, I had no idea that it was Steve Buscemi posing as the waiter to Vincent Vega and Mia Wallace at Jackrabbit Slim’s. But as I watched the movie this evening, sure enough…that’s Steve Buscemi, shining through.

It’s the holiday season…there’s snow on the ground…and I’m listening to “Stubborn Kind of Fellow” by Marvin Gaye…it all adds up to wanting to watch “The Long Kiss Goodnight.”

I’m not usually a big fan of actioners, but this one just completely blew me away when I first saw it about a year ago. Sam Jackson is his usual bad self, and Geena Davis, one of my longtime screen crushes, is superb as a former secret agent who has been living a “normal” life since suffering amnesia eight years ago. Classic line from Jackson is when he tells Davis that he would have arrived (to save her life) sooner, but he was delayed while thinking up a snappy retort involving a ham on rye. And Davis’ “transformation” scene in the hotel, when she goes from brunette to blonde…aye carumba! The bad guy, Craig Bierko, just oozes smarmy evil at every turn. The stunts, explosions, and gunfire are…well, what you’d expect from Renny Harlin: completely unbelievable, but only by *this* much, and they all fit perfectly into this flick.

But the single scene that somehow lodged this movie in my head as a favorite is when Davis kicks Jackson out of her moving vehicle, and he lays flat on his back on the asphalt, lights a cigarette, and just keeps laying there, all while “Stubborn Kind of Fellow” is playing in the background. I don’t know why this particular scene just *gets* me so much, but I love it. I hope it airs sometime this weekend.

Saw most of this movie over the course of about two weeks. Completely lame. Extremely boring. Definitely sucked. But I do have a theory: if the part of the young lady (portrayed by Scarlett Johansson) had been played by, say, Bea Arthur or someone who is NOT a total babe, the movie would have tanked – drastically – both commercially and critically.

“This is the best film of the year,” says Roger Ebert of “Million Dollar Baby.” Ebert’s politics are at odds with mine—but his knowledge of films, acting, human nature, and the power of words make him a very credible critic. It takes a LOT to drag me into a movie theatre; haven’t seen a movie in a theatre since “Kill Bill, Volume 2,” but this movie might actually draw me into the local cineplex.