EDGE OF TOMORROW (2014)

GROUNDHOG DAY meets Gears of War (with a dash of STARSHIP TROOPERS) and it's pretty fucking badass.  Military officer Tom Cruise wants no part in actual fighting, but one day he finds himself on the front line of a D-Day style beach invasion of humans (in battle suits) versus some awesome looking aliens called Mimics.  Things happen and Cruise is killed, but not before being bathed in weird alien goo.  (Kinky.)  Then...Cruise wakes up the previous day.  He's forced into battle again and dies again...only to wake up in the same time and place as he did before.  What the Hell is going on here?

I really, really enjoyed EDGE OF TOMORROW.  The video game feel to it, the time travel aspect with a strong story, awesome looking alien invaders that have a terrifying fighting style, very impressive editing, beautiful photography, the light humor that's not forced and actually funny, tons and tons of action.  EDGE OF TOMORROW is a blast!  I've always been a fan of Tom Cruise, but he's really been upping his game lately with films like this and OBLIVION. 

Highly recommended and the less said the better.  Just watch it.

OPERATION PETTICOAT (1959)

Mildly amusing tale of a WWII submarine captain who, due to some extraordinary circumstances, is forced to allow five Army nurses to catch a ride onboard his sub.  Naturally this causes chaos among the all-male crew and gives the writers reason to unleashes all kinds of G-rated sex jokes, like the ship's mechanic saying "A woman just shouldn't mess around with a man's machinery." or when a female who's climbing down a ladder asks "Am I going down alright?"  Hardy-har-har.

Innocent story, corny humor, Joan O'Brien stretching that shirt for everything it's got, a couple of tattoos on sailors in the background, numerous vintage military ships, airplanes and, of course, the sub.  Also, this is yet another movie where the singing of "Auld Lang Syne" is quickly followed by disaster.  It'd be interesting to see exactly how many movies feature a similar situation.  I'm pretty sure it also happened in THE APARTMENT and THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE.

Anyway, despite the dated humor, I still enjoyed OPERATION PETTICOAT.  It's not really funny at all, but both Cary Grant and Tony Curtis are a pleasure to watch together.  And audiences agreed because this was the number 10 biggest box office draw back in 1959.

If you need me, I'll be in my room watching MISTER ROBERTS.