I am a Disney fan plain and simple. I grew up watching "The Wonderful World of Disney", going to Disneyland more than six times in my life and visiting Walt Disney World once. I buy Disney DVD's and other products from the Disney line. However, I knew a little about the man who created the "magic" and after viewing this outstanding DVD about the life of Walt Disney, I feel like I know him so much more.

This is an account about the life and thoughts of the man who created a world where people are more happier today because of the dreams shared by Walt Disney. The film begins with Walt's childhood in Missouri and California. There are family films that are shown for the first time with the permission of the Disney family that show the love and warmth not only of Walt, but of his family and friends.

The film also tells about his early workings in creating cartoon characters, working and paying his dues in the entertainment industry of the 1920's and finally with a bold stroke, creating his own studio where Walt could finally create much of the magic that we enjoy today. The film also tells about the work and creation that went into full length animated movies such as "Snow White", "Bambi", "Pinnochio", and other classic masterpieces. Also shown is the vision that led to the construction of Disneyland and Walt's final dream...Epcot Center.

The film also has moving interviews with intimate Disney family members such as Walt and Lillian's daughter Diane, grandson Walt Elias Disney Miller, grandaughters, grandnieces and grandnephews. Close family friends such as Art Linkletter, Dean Jones, Ray Bradberry, and the late Buddy Epsen are interviewed as well as early live Disney stars such as Dean Jones.

Each give a wonderful insight into Walt Disney and all still show loving devotion to him even 37 years after his death.

Walt Disney definitely made the world a better place to live him and we can thank him for giving us a magical place to escape to everyday by watching the films, going to the amusement parks and so much more, because of his magical immagination.

Every Disney fan will enjoy watching this DVD over and over again.

Very highly recommended!!

Gary Laine and Morris Penny have written an outstanding book about Law's Alabama Brigade. This hard fought brigade fought in some very bloody battles from First Manassas (Bull Run), Sharpsburg (Antietam), Gettysburg, Chickamauga to General Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox Courthouse. Organized in Alabama in 1861, this brigade made up of men from Montgomery to Mobile and every small town, farm, and corner of Alabama.

Led by the brilliant yet controversial leader Evander Law, this brigade endured disease, severe weather, struggles within the brigades leadership. Yet they always answered the call of their superiors in bravery and determination.

This brigade was always under the "baptism of fire" in violent and bloody battles. Every Civil War buff, historian, or enthusiast knows about Law's Brigade at Gettysburg. Especially the brave 15th Alabama Regiment (part of Law's Brigade" that fought valliently at Gettysburg on Little Round Top on July 2, 1863. This regiment fought hand to hand against General Joshua Lawrence Chamberlains 20th Maine and nearly turned the tide of the battle of Gettysburg. Controversy surrounds General Evander Law at Gettysburg and other battles due to accusations of not being at the right place at the right time, as well as his well known anomosity with General James Longstreet. It is ashame that these two excellent leaders had quarrels with each other at all since they were a vital part of the Army of Northern Virginia.

After Gettysburg, Law's Brigade was transferred to the Western Theatre of the Civil War. Again, Law's Brigade was involved in bloody and violent battles such as Chickamauga, The Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, and the sieges of Richmond and Petersberg, which ultimately led the brigade back to Virginia and General Lee's surrender.

The author's not only tell about the battles that Law's Brigade played a role in, they describe the "ordinary" soldiers and officers that were in the brigade. Camp life, everyday duty, and friendships and leaderships struggles are also told in a clearly written manner that make this book an interesting and important read to anyone who is interested in learning more about a Confederate Brigade.

I highly recommend this book to any serious Civil War enthusiast who wants to know more about a valiant brigade who fought in many major battles of the Civil War. Even General Lee commented about the bravery of Law's Brigade, and that is high praise indeed.

Highly Recommended!

This is another great WWII action movie with Sir Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood giving fine performances. The movie is set in either the Winter of 1943/1944 and an American General is captured by the Germans and is held in an unpenetrable castle deep in the heart of Germany.
Burton is the leader of an elite commando squad with orders to parachute into Germany, enter the Castle (built on a steep cliff by the way) and get the General out of German hands. It seems the General knows about the plans for the invasion of Europe and the Germans are trying to get him to talk.
The supporting cast, Clint Eastwood et al, are outstanding. From beautiful women who are helping Burton to the assault squad with their own "agenda" to follow, this is a great action movie that has an unexpected twist of plot.
This is the kind of movie that "guys who like action movies" would enjoy. It is also a movie you have to follow closely because if you don't you will be scratching your head until close to the very end. The movie version does the Alistair Maclean's novel quite outstandingly.

Highly Recomended!

This is a funny movie. Steve Martin and Queen Latifah and an Excellent supporting cast make this one of the best comedic movies of 2003.

Steve Martin plays a Dad with three kids, divorced, a tax lawyer in an upscale WASP community who gets his life "shaken and stirred" by a runaway yet innocent convict portrayed by Queen Latifah. His life is never the same afterwards as he has to "broaden" his mind and lifestyle due to Queen Latifah invading his home, life, friends, and work. At first of course things don't go well at all for either of them. Latifah is on the run from the Police for a crime she didn't commit and Martin has a safe yet "boring" life where his work comes first in front of his kids.

Eugene Levy is HILLARIOUS as Martin's best friend who has fallen for the QUEEN. His "slang" truely is laugh out loud funny and he almost steals the movie. Missi Pyle is the obnoxious ex-sister in law to Martin and the fight scene between her and Latifah is fantastic!

I won't spoil the plot and ending but let's just say that the ending is "all good" and the almighty QUEEN Latifah has me "straight trippin"!!

Recommended!!

What a great movie Erin Brockovich is. I usually don't write reviews on DVD's/Movies unless they are typical guy movies, war movies, etc. However, I had to make an exception for this wonderful, outstanding acted movie.

Julia Roberts portrays true life Erin Brockovich. A lady who came from a not so glamerous background who with the help of the law firm she worked for took on big and powerful Pacific Gas And Electric (PG&E) and won a huge settlement for the townspeople of Hinckly, California. This is a true life case where PG&E used Hazardous Chemicals in their electric turbines and took the waste from the turbines (Chronium) and instead of safely containing them in lined waste ponds, decided not to make the ponds safe and thus the Chronium seaped into the ground soil and contaminating the town's water supply.

Erin Brockovich (Roberts Character), needed a job desperately and was able to work for a law firm who had the case "pro bono". THANK Goodness for the law firm and Hinckly that Brockovich worked for the lawyers (even though she isn't a lawyer).

Overcoming a tremendous burden (single mom, low paying salary), Brockovich researched the cases, got to know the townspeople, gathered evidence, and to make a long story short, won for the "little people", over 300 Million Dollars!!

This is a movie that everyone would enjoy. Roberts rightfully won the Oscar for Best Actress from this movie. All actors/actresses in this movie did an excellent job. The plot is true life captivating, intelligent, and will keep the viewers interest from the very first scene.

Highly Recommended!!

I admit that I did not know much about the life of Katharine Hepburn. I always admired her movies and found her to be an attractive woman who always remained out of the public's eye. A.Scott Berg was fortunate to give her fans and people who wanted to know more about her a glimpse into her "everyday" life, her thoughts, her memories, and her likes and dislikes. While reading this book, it made me feel like I was an unseen observer who watched the author and Miss Hepburn carry on conversations ranging from flowers to her unforgetable romance with Spencer Tracy.

Miss Hepburn felt quite comfortable talking with the author. I find it amusing how they first met each other and the conversation that ensued. I too would be quite nervous in meeting Miss Hepburn. She was quite intimidating and didn't suffer fools lightly (not that I am one mind you).

It seems like Mr. Berg found a connection with Miss Hepburn that most people would envy to have. She talked openly about her past relationships with the men in her life, such as Howard Hughes, Spencer Tracy, and other famous men. She also talked about her family, the power brokers in Hollywood (Louis B. Meyer, Samuel Goldwyn to name a few). Her thoughts about famous actors of the past and those famous today. All told, I found this very interesting and fascinating because not much is written about this private woman.

I got from the book that Miss Hepburn very much missed her friends from Hollywoods "Golden Age". She had genuine feelings for people who helped her career and she kept in touch with them throughout the years, but always at an "arms distance".

The most touching is the genuine friendship she had with her assistant Phylis. It stuck me that these two were "sisters" who really admired each other. Miss Hepburn also had a unique relationship with her brother Dick. She was quite exhaused with him but as she said "what can I do? He's my brother".

A. Scott Berg gives the reader what Miss Hepburns days were like at Fennwick, at her apartment in New York City. She enjoyed the routines in her daily life. I think it is because outside of these routines, her life could of been quite messy due to her popularity.

It is sad to see what happened to Miss Hepburn in her final years, however I don't believe the author was being mean spirited or obtrusive when describing the declining health of Miss Hepburn. He was simply telling what she looked like and what she was thinking. I don't believe Miss Hepburn would of minded what he wrote, because I think she wanted the author to share what her life was like to those of us who are her fans and those who are interested in her, since she remained out of the public eye for so long.

This is an outstanding read and I for one am glad that I read it. It makes me feel like I know more about Katharine Hepburn and what she was like outside the moviescreen. She was an outstanding actress, stubborn as a mule, gracious to her loved ones, opinionated to a fault, yet a survivor of tragedy, which made her shine even more, even if she didn't know or understand it. What a woman!

Highly Recommended!

The Battle of Britain was a critical phase of World War Two. Adolf Hitler's military might was ready to invade Great Britain and if not for the couragous Royal Air Force, Hitler might have been marching on Westminster Abbey in 1940 or 1941.
The movie "The Battle Of Britain" shows both the R.A.F. and the German Luftwaffe squaring off with each other. Excellent aerial photography, and my hats are off to those professional/amateur aviators who spent many hours recreating combat over the skies of Great Britain.

Famous stars abound in this movie, from Sir Lawrence Oliver, Michael Caine, Robert Shaw, Susannah York, Kurt Jurgens, and many others boost up an average storyline, to make this a classic film.

I don't know of any other film that documented the Battle of Britain in fiction based on fact to this scale. Filmed in 1970, the digital remake of the film is quite good. What an action packed and great fun film this is.

Highly recommended!!

This is a neat little guide to those who like to tour Civil War Battlefields. National Geographic did a good job with the pictures and brief overviews of various important battles of the Civil War. The book is divided up by states and the battles that were fought in the individual states. The guidebook is not much into the finite detail, but that is okay, it is not the objective of the guidebook.
This makes a nice "companion" to the Civil War enthusiast who wants to know the basic details about individual battlefields. It should not be limited to those who are visiting the actual battlefields themselves, but also to those "arm chair" historians who would just like to have a brief overview of the important battles of the Civil War.

Highly Recommended!

Gregory L. Coco has brought the horror and tragedy of the Civil War to readers in this book. The Battle of Gettysburg lasted for three days (July 1-3, 1863), yet the battle effected thousands afterwards for decades. Coco has given account of what happened to the Confederate dead and mortally woundededwho were not transported after the battle, but were left where they were mortally wounded or killed. Thousands of soldiers of the Confederacy had no tombstone, marker, or any identification after they were killed. Most were left in a mass grave, or buried in a farmers field, with no marker. What a tragedy, yet it was expected after such a tremendous battle.
Many families of southern soldiers made the trek up north to claim their loved ones and take them back for burial in the south. Unfortunately, many families returned to the south empty-handed because they could simply not find where their beloved son, father, or brother were buried. This was a too common tale on both southern and northern families during the war.
Coco describes how southern soldiers were mortally wounded and ultimately buried after the battle. Most were buried hastily and thus today, their grave location is unknown.
This makes the battlefield and the land around it even more hallowed. It dosen't matter what side of the Civil War a reader of this book is for, we should all be somber and respectful to these brave soldiers of both the North and South who fought and paid the ultimate sacrifice of their beliefs.
This book is fascinating, accurate, and articulate and I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in the Battle of Gettysburg and the Civil War.

Jay Jorgenson has done an outstanding job describing the bloody events of the Wheatfield during the Battle of Gettysburg. He describes in overview the events leading up to not only the Wheatfield struggle but also the battle itself.

In the Wheatfield many brigades from the Confederate and Union Armies were thrust against each other at very close range and thus tragic and bloody events followed. The Confederate Brigades(mainly the Georgia, South Carolina, Arkansas, and Texas Brigades) fought at close quarter against the Union Brigades (mainly Pennsylvania, Michigan, and New York). In three long hours Jorgenson describes how lines of companies on both sides were simply decimated by intense firing of rifles, artillery, and hand-to-hand combat.

Jorgenson has made this intense phase of the Battle easy to understand and his maps and visual aids tremendously helps readers gain an understanding of how this struggle for the Wheatfield and beyond developed.

Both sides lost a tremendous amount of men, Jorgenson describes how not only dead soldiers filled the wheatfield but also hats, rifles, bayonets, personal items, and gruesomely, body parts of arms, legs, heads, and entrails littered the ground. This was a very climatic and bloody struggle. Both sides had tragic loss of men and material. Yet, the battle waged on all around them.

The Battle of Gettysburg was eventually a Union victory, however, the Wheatfield was not a clear victory for either side. Jorgenson acurately summarizes that the Confederate soldiers who fought and died became a commodity the Confederacy and the Army of Northern Virginia could hardly afford to replace.

I highly recommend this book to those who are interested in the Battle of Gettysburg, Civil War Historians and enthusiasts, and those who enjoy a very well written book.