Cruise Travel

Cruise Travel

The exciting and romantic world of cruise vacations is yours! This industry-leading magazine features Ship of the Month, Port of the Month, Cruise of the Month, along with seasonal Cruise Calendars that provide itineraries, ports-of-call, and prices. Every aspect of cruising is covered from planning, dress codes, shore excursions, and shopping, to wheelchairs and special needs. Plus, the Annual Cruise Directory is the definitive must-have guide for vacationers and agencies alike.

User Ratings and Reviews

1 Star Magazine purchases via Amazon
I would not recommend the purchase of a magazine subscription from Amazon since it takes twice the time to receive your first issue. Becasue of that I have not received an issue to review it properly yet. I will purchase all subscriptions direct from the publisher especially if its the same price as this was.

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Meet the Robinsons

Meet the Robinsons

Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 10/23/2007 Run time: 95 minutes Rating: G

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Great!!
I really love that movie and Amazon did a great job at describing what I was getting.

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In N Out Burger A Behind the Counter Look at the Fast Food Chain That Breaks All the Rules

In N Out Burger A Behind the Counter Look at the Fast Food Chain That Breaks All the Rules

Amazon Best of the Month, April 2009: With In-N-Out Burger: A Behind-the-Counter Look at the Fast-Food Chain That Breaks All the Rules, BusinessWeek writer Stacy Perman presents a chronicle of how a family-run California hamburger joint went on to become an American pop culture icon. Founded in 1948 by Harry Snyder and his wife Esther in Baldwin Park, CA, In-N-Out Burger attracted a cult-like fanbase of cruising teens, surfers, and celebrities alike (who developed a secret shorthand for custom orders). As they expanded slowly over the years across California and into Nevada, Arizona, and Utah, they never sacrificed their core customer-service values and commitment to quality. Their made-to-order success story packs enough family drama to fuel an HBO miniseries. After Harry died in 1976, his son Rich took over the business (and was responsible for adding discreet Bible verses to In-N-Out cups and wrappers) until his death in a 1993 plane crash. His brother Guy, a drag-racing rebel with a dark side, stepped in to helm the business until his accidental overdose in 1999. If you’ve never had an In-N-Out burger, Perman’s book just might inspire you to find a good reason to get yourself to Southern California and seek out an off-the-menu 3×3 with a side of Animal Style fries. –Brad Thomas Parsons

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Author Stacy Perman’s Guide to In-N-Out Burger’s “Secret Menu”
Except for the addition of 7-Up and Dr. Pepper, In-N-Out Burger’s menu has remained much as it was when the chain opened its first drive-thru in Baldwin Park, California in 1948. However, at some point in time, a “secret menu” emerged. Something of an insider’s code, it is an off-menu series of variations on the chain’s standard fare (Double-Double, hamburger, cheeseburger, and french fries) that has been passed on entirely by word-of-mouth through the years.

Although the “secret menu’s” origins remain a mystery, part of its existence can be explained by the fact that In-N-Out Burger has always insisted on cooking-to-order each individual burger any way a customer wanted it prepared. Over time, several of these variations gained traction and somewhere along the way a number of them were given their own names. While frequently steeped in rumor and apocryphal tales the “secret menu” is almost always used by those In-N-Out customers in the know.

These are the most popular “secret menu” items. In-N-Out Burger has listed them on their website (and even trademarked their names):
Double Meat: Two beef patties, lettuce, tomato, spread, (optional onions) on a toasted bun.
3×3: Three beef patties, lettuce, tomato, sauce, three slices of American cheese, (optional onions) on a toasted bun.
4×4: Four beef patties, lettuce, tomato, sauce, four slices of American cheese, (optional onions) on a toasted bun.
Grilled Cheese: Two slices of melted American cheese, lettuce, tomato, sauce, (optional onions) on a toasted bun.
Protein Style: Any burger served sans bun and wrapped in lettuce.
Animal Style: Any burger with mustard cooked beef, lettuce, tomato, extra sauce, pickle, and grilled onions on a toasted bun. (Note: the Grilled Cheese can also be prepared Animal Style)

A few more “secret” variations that have made the rounds for those in the know:
X x Y: Any number of beef patties with corresponding slices of American cheese (note on one memorable Halloween evening in Las Vegas a group of friends famously ordered and consumed a 100×100).
Flying Dutchman: beef patty or patties and American cheese slice(s) no vegetables or bun.
Veggie Burger (sometimes called a Wish Burger): no beef or cheese, just lettuce, tomato, or (optional) onions on a toasted bun.
Extra Everything: just like it sounds–extra sauce, tomato, lettuce, and onions served grilled or raw.
Chopped Chilies: mild chopped peppers are added to any burger.

The “secret menu” also extends to a variety of french fry variations:
Animal Style Fries: an order of fries slathered in melted American cheese, sauce, and grilled onions.
Fries Light: reduced cooking time resulting in softer, chewier french fries.
Fries Well-Done: increased cooking time resulting in crispier, browner french fries.
Cheese Fries: french fries bathed in melted American cheese.
Onion Variations:
The usual scenario is a whole slice of fresh onion cooked with the burger but In-N-Out will serve onions grilled, raw, and chopped if asked.

For those really in the know:
If you ask an associate at the counter they will give you a serving of yellow chili peppers.
Pickles are added only upon request.

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User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars In-N-Out Burger
Tremendous read on the history of an American icon. Uncompromised focus on product quality, customer service and generously rewarding those who make it happen. A study and validation of the free enterprise system.

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The Lost City of Z A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon

The Lost City of Z A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon

Amazon Exclusive: John Grisham Reviews The Lost City of Z

Since first publishing A Time to Kill in 1988, John Grisham has written twenty novels and one work of nonfiction, The Innocent Man. His second novel, The Firm, spent 47 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, becoming the bestselling novel of 1991. The success of The Pelican Brief, which hit number one on the New York Times bestseller list, and The Client, which debuted at number one, confirmed Grisham’s reputation as the master of the legal thriller. His most recent novel, The Associate, was published in January 2009. Read his exclusive Amazon guest review of The Lost City of Z:

In April of 1925, a legendary British explorer named Percy Fawcett launched his final expedition into the depths of the Amazon in Brazil. His destination was the lost city of El Dorado, the “City of Gold,” an ancient kingdom of great sophistication, architecture, and culture that, for some reason, had vanished. The idea of El Dorado had captivated anthropologists, adventurers, and scientists for 400 years, though there was no evidence it ever existed. Hundreds of expeditions had gone looking for it. Thousands of men had perished in the jungles searching for it. Fawcett himself had barely survived several previous expeditions and was more determined than ever to find the lost city with its streets and temples of gold.

The world was watching. Fawcett, the last of the great Victorian adventurers, was financed by the Royal Geographical Society in London, the world’s foremost repository of research gathered by explorers. Fawcett, then age 57, had proclaimed for decades his belief in the City of Z, as he had nicknamed it. His writings, speeches, and exploits had captured the imagination of millions, and reports of his last expedition were front page news.

His expeditionary force consisted of three men–himself, his 21-year-old son Jack, and one of Jack’s friends. Fawcett believed that only a small group had any chance of surviving the horrors of the Amazon. He had seen large forces decimated by malaria, insects, snakes, poison darts, starvation, and insanity. He knew better. He and his two companions would travel light, carry their own supplies, eat off the land, pose no threat to the natives, and endure months of hardship in their search for the Lost City of Z.

They were never seen again. Fawcett’s daily dispatches trickled to a stop. Months passed with no word. Because he had survived several similar forays into the Amazon, his family and friends considered him to be near super-human. As before, they expected Fawcett to stumble out of the jungle, bearded and emaciated and announcing some fantastic discovery. It did not happen.

Over the years, the search for Fawcett became more alluring than the search for El Dorado itself. Rescue efforts, from the serious to the farcical, materialized in the years that followed, and hundreds of others lost their lives in the search. Rewards were posted. Psychics were brought in by the family. Articles and books were written. For decades the legend of Percy Fawcett refused to die.

The great mystery of what happened to Fawcett has never been solved, perhaps until now. In 2004, author David Grann discovered the story while researching another one. Soon, like hundreds before him, he became obsessed with the legend of the colorful adventurer and his baffling disappearance. Grann, a lifelong New Yorker with an admitted aversion to camping and mountain climbing, a lousy sense of direction, and an affinity for take-out food and air conditioning, soon found himself in the jungles of the Amazon. What he found there, some 80 years after Fawcett’s disappearance, is a startling conclusion to this absorbing narrative.

The Lost City of Z is a riveting, exciting and thoroughly compelling tale of adventure.

(Photo © Maki Galimberti)

A Q&A with Author David Grann

Question: When did you first stumble upon the story of Percy Fawcett and his search for an ancient civilization in the Amazon—and when did you realize this particular story had you in “the grip”?

David Grann: While I was researching a story on the mysterious death of the world’s greatest Sherlock Holmes expert, I came upon a reference to Fawcett’s role in inspiring Arthur Conan Doyle’s novel The Lost World. Curious, I plugged Fawcett’s name into a newspaper database and was amazed by the headlines that appeared, including “THREE MEN FACE CANNIBALS IN RELIC QUEST” and tribesmen “Seize Movie Actor Seeking to Rescue Fawcett.” As I read each story, I became more and more curious–about how Fawcett’s quest for a lost city and his disappearance had captivated the world; how for decades hundreds of scientists and explorers had tried to find evidence of Fawcett’s missing party and the City of Z; and how countless seekers had disappeared or died from starvation, diseases, attacks by wild animals, or poisonous arrows. What intrigued me most, though, was the notion of Z. For years most scientists had considered the brutal conditions in the largest jungle in the world inimical to humankind, but more recently some archeologists had begun to question this longstanding view and believed that a sophisticated civilization like Z might have existed. Such a discovery would challenge virtually everything that was believed about the nature of the Amazon and what the Americas looked liked before the arrival of Christopher Columbus. Suddenly, the story had every tantalizing element–mystery, obsession, death, madness–as well as great intellectual stakes. Still, I probably didn’t realize I was fully in the story’s “grip” until I told my wife that I planned to take out an extra life insurance policy and follow Fawcett’s trail into the Amazon.

Q: Tell us about the discovery of Fawcett’s previously unpublished diaries and logbooks.

DG: Researching the book often felt like a kind of treasure hunt and nothing was more exciting than coming across these materials in an old chest in the house of one of Fawcett’s grandchildren. Fawcett, who had been a British spy, was extremely secretive about his search for Z–in part because he didn’t want his rivals to discover the lost city before he did and in part because he feared that too many people would die if they tried to follow in his wake. These old, crumbling diaries and logbooks held incredible clues to both Fawcett’s life and death; what’s more, they revealed a key to his clandestine route to the Lost City of Z.

Q: In an attempt to retrace Fawcett’s journey, many scientists and explorers have faced madness, kidnapping, and death. Did you ever hesitate to go to the Amazon?

DG: I probably should have been more hesitant, especially after reading some of the diaries of members of other parties that had scoured the Amazon for a lost city. One seeker of El Dorado described reaching a state of “privation so great that we were eating nothing but leather, belts and soles of shoes, cooked with certain herbs, with the result that so great was our weakness that we could not remain standing.” In that expedition alone, some four thousand men perished. Other explorers resorted to cannibalism. One searcher went so mad he stabbed his own child, whispering, “Commend thyself to God, my daughter, for I am about to kill thee.” But to be honest, even after reading these accounts, I was so consumed by the story that I did not think much about the consequences–and one of the themes I try to explore in the book is the lethal nature of obsession.

Q: When you were separated from your guide Paolo on the way to the Kuikuro village and seemingly lost and alone in the jungle, what was going through your mind?

DG: Besides fear, I kept wondering what the hell I was doing on such a mad quest.

Q: Paolo and you made a game of imagining what happened to Fawcett in the Amazon. Without giving anything away about The Lost City of Z, I was wondering if you came away with any final conclusions?

DG: I don’t want to give too much away; but, after poring over Fawcett’s final letters and dispatches from the expedition and after interviewing many of the tribes that Fawcett himself had encountered, I felt as if I had come as close as possible to knowing why Fawcett and his party vanished.

Q: In his praise for your book, Malcolm Gladwell asks a “central question of our age”: “In the battle between man and a hostile environment, who wins?” Obviously, the jungle has won many times, but it seems man may be gaining. What are your thoughts on the deforestation taking place in the Amazon?

DG: It is a great tragedy. Over the last four decades in Brazil alone, the Amazon has lost some two hundred and seventy thousand square miles of its original forest cover–an area bigger than France. Many tribes, including some I visited, are being threatened with extinction. Countless animals and plants, many of them with potential medicinal purposes, are also vanishing. One of the things that the book explores is how early Native American societies were often able to overcome their hostile environment without destroying it. Unfortunately, that has not been the case with the latest wave of trespassers.

Q: You began this journey as a man who doesn’t like to camp and has “a terrible sense of direction and tend[s] to forget where [you are] on the subway and miss[es] [your] stop in Brooklyn.” Are you now an avid outdoorsman?

DG: No. Once was enough for me!

Q: Early in the book, you write, “Ever since I was young, I’ve been drawn to mystery and adventure tales.” What have been some of your favorite books–past and present–that fall into this category?

DG: I’m a huge Sherlock Holmes fan, and every few years go back and read the stories again. I do the same with many of Joseph Conrad’s novels, including Lord Jim. I’m always amazed at how he produced quest novels that reflected the Victorian era and yet seem to have been written with the wisdom of a historian looking back in time. As for more contemporary authors, I read a lot of crime fiction, especially the works of George Pelecanos and Michael Connelly. I also relish books, such as Jonathan Lethem’s Motherless Brooklyn, that cleverly play with this genre. Finally, there are the gripping yarns written by authors like Jon Krakauer and Nathaniel Philbrick-—stories that are all the more spellbinding because they are true.

Q: Brad Pitt and Paramount optioned The Lost City of Z in the spring. Any updates?

DG: They have hired a screenwriter and director and seem to be moving forward at a good clip.

Q: What are you working on now?

DG: I recently finished a couple of crime stories for The New Yorker, including one about a Polish author who allegedly committed murder and then left clues about the real crime in his novel. Meanwhile, I’m hoping to find a tantalizing story, like The Lost City of Z, that will lead to a new book.

Q: Anything else you’d like to add?

DG: Just that I hope that readers will enjoy The Lost City of Z and find the story of Fawcett and his quest as captivating as I did.

(Photo © Matt Richman)

Look Inside The Lost City of Z

Click on thumbnails for larger images

Percy Harrison Fawcett was considered “the last of the individualist explorers”—those who ventured into blank spots on the map with little more than a machete, a compass, and an almost divine sense of purpose. He is seen here in 1911, the year of his fourth major Amazon expedition. (Copyright © R. de Montet-Guerin)	Fawcett mapping the frontier between Brazil and Bolivia in 1908. (Courtesy of the Royal Geographical Society)	Dr. Alexander Hamilton Rice, Fawcett’s main rival, was a multimillionaire “as much at home in the elegant swirl of Newport society as in the steaming jungles of Brazil.” (Courtesy of the Royal Geographical Society)	A member of Dr. Rice’s 1919-20 expedition deploys a wireless telegraphy set—an early radio—allowing the party to receive news from the outside world. (Courtesy of the Royal Geographical Society)

User Ratings and Reviews

3 Stars Fun, not great
With every passing chapter, I expected more from this book. In my opinion, it read more like a college paper than a well written/well researched non-fiction book about a thrilling topic.

I think the writer should be commended for trying to bridge past and present forays into the unknown, using first character descriptions, but he ultimately fails as it becomes evident that he is doing so just for effect and more pages rather than for real purpose.

Had the last chapter and its contents (do not want to ruin it for those who have yet to read it) presented the core theme of the book, this could have been a ground breaker, for those of us with little or no knowledge of the Amazon, The Lost City of Z or Fawecett. Instead I felt it was just thrown in there to find a way to end the book, when in reality, it should have been the core of the book.

I give it only three stars, because it was enjoyable and good, but should have been great.

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Golf Digest 1 year

Golf Digest 1 year

Golf Digest is the #1 golf publication. Each issue is packed with: instructional tips and techniques, exclusive instruction from the game’s hottest pros like Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods, reviews of the top equipment, personalized instruction section, and Pocket Tips to take with you wherever you go!

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Great Service
We give our Golfer son-in-law his favorite Golf magazine for his Birthday, and so appreciate the heads up we get from Amazon when it is

time to re-new.Not only do we get a great price, but we do not even have to think about when to re-order. Doesn’t get any better than this !

Norma C.

Florida

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Alice in Wonderland Masterpiece Edition

Alice in Wonderland Masterpiece Edition

Imaginatively rendered but slightly chilly, this 1951 Disney adaptation of the Lewis Carroll classic is also appropriately surreal. Alice (voiced by Kathryn Beaumont) has all the anticipated experiences: shrinking and growing, meeting the White Rabbit, having tea with the Mad Hatter, etc. Characterization is very strong, and the Disney team worked hard to bring screen personality to Carroll’s eccentric creations. For a Disney film, however, it seems more the self-satisfied sum of its inventiveness than a truly engaging experience. –Tom Keogh

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Excellent
I love this Movie and the seller sent me exactly the item described. The movie is authentic Disney, and it has extras of 1951 footage when the movie was barely released. I love this film and im very happy i was able to find it on amazon.

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Dan in Real Life

Dan in Real Life

n/a

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Love this movie!
I absolutely love this movie! Steve Carell does a wonderful job of acting as a lonely father, son, & widower. You will believe that his family is a real-life family & you’ll feel right at home.

5 Stars Dan In Real Life - Blu Ray
Loved the movie, of course, liked the price from Amazon as well and it came when they said it would. Thanks! Have been a long time customer and will continue to be.

5 Stars Real Dan
Dan in Real Life is different than what I expected. The first thing I couldn’t get over was the musical score, but then it grew on me. The progression is also a little strange (very independent feeling, whereas I thought it would be more of the slapstick comedy), but it’s a fun story. I actually really like the movie now. The kids and family do a great job of portraying what a real family is like when they all hang out together… very natural acting, if I can call it that (i.e. when singing around the piano before Ruthie shows up).

I like Dan in Real Life.

5 Stars Dan in Real Life by Brandon M. Moskos
This is one of my favorite movies. This movie really shows that no matter what you plan in life, you should always plan to be surprised. Steve Carell plays “Dan” a widowed father of 3 daughters who is having trouble raising the girls on his own. He is so bitter about his life and love that he takes this bitterness out on his kids and family. They take a trip to a family reunion, and he soon meets a woman in a bookstore. He connects really well with the woman and soon he finds instant happiness. As he returns to the family reunion, he finds out this woman is actually his brother’s girlfriend. Dan and this woman can’t control their sparks and connection and they soon fall in love. People might be negative toward this movie because the story is outrageous, but it shows that connection and spark you can have with somebody and how love can bring happiness to your life. Steve Carell is great as always. He proves he can work the drama movies, as well as the comedies. I recommend buying this movie, It is very good!

4 Stars Super cute although the ending could’ve been better
I was a bit surprised to see Steve Carell in this type of film considering that yes, although there are funny parts, it isn’t exactly Steve Carell funny. That being said, Mr. Carell did really well in this love story.

So what’s the movie about? Dan is a single father of 3 daughters. During a family reunion-type of event, Dan goes to a bookstore and meets a woman named Marie who he falls for. He goes back to his family and tells them that he has met a wonderful woman. Rather quickly Dan learns that Marie is the girlfriend of his brother.

Let’s talk about the positives first. First, the cast is spot on (including Dane Cook who I can’t stand). Although some would describe this movie as a romantic comedy, I think the comedy is more relaxed. There are a few funny moments but they aren’t distasteful (like the romantic comedy Shallow Hal). The general storyline is rather interesting and we all sort of know how it’s going to end. However, the movie is super cute without any dull points.

And now for the negatives. The only thing that I wasn’t too crazy about was the ending. The ending wasn’t horrible but I just expected something more interesting to end the movie.

Overall, I think it’s a pretty good movie. I don’t think it’s Oscar-worthy but it does provide a good amount of entertainment.

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The Brave Little Toaster

The Brave Little Toaster

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars Toaster
the recipient was pleased to get this from us as an Easter gift…but was shocked at how much she had forgotten about its scariness factor! Great service & fair price though

5 Stars “BLT” is not just a sandwich
My recent purchase is the third “Brave Little Toaster” (BLT) copy I’ve bought. The first was for a ganddaughter who wore it out, then lost it.

The second was a replacement when she was about age 17. The third copy, the current one is for my spouse and me. We’ve watched it perhaps more often than the grandaughter has. It’s a perfect morality/integrity tale. Explicit, easy to understand cliff-hanger , without ever being sappy. I’d wanted the third copy for ourselves for several years, couldn’t find one in retail stores, and finally, while scouting work boot prices,realized Amazon was a place most likely to provide. And it was. Live and learn. Disc is suuperior to VHS tape.

3 Stars A fine product for young and old
My sister received the product of her youth in record time, still too late for her bday, but that was all my fault. She was happy to see it in her possession and is happy to see it to this day as is her daughter… As I said, great for young and old.

5 Stars Spectacular - an Animated Movie with Real Heart
Full of spirit and character, the Brave Little Toaster is one of my favourite animated movies of all time. The rightful winner of the 1988 Parents’ Choice Award, it has stood the test of time remarkably well. This is a moving story about loyalty and friendship through hardships, and I can recommend it without blinking.

Five dated appliances in an old summer house finally get enough of waiting for their master to come back, and decide to go to the city to find him. While the big world is not a very inviting place for them, they’re determined to find him at all cost. A very moving story, told with real heart. The characters are wonderful - the toaster is the leader, feeling responsible for the group. The radio likes to keep jabbering away, much to the annoyance of the lamp. The electric blanket - sort of the little kid of the group - is perhaps most eager to find the “Master”. Then we have my favourite, Kirby the vacuum cleaner. He is tough and grumpy, but he has a soft side which he unsuccessfully tries to hide. These five characters captivate me and they are done good justice by animators who clearly did their homework.

The music of this movie is wonderful as well. The four musical numbers are all very memorable - the optimistic”City of Light”, the dramatic “B-Movie”, the futuristic “Cutting Edge” and the melancholically beautiful “Worthless”. All wonderful. Exciting, scary but above all moving and captivating, the Brave Little Toaster is one of those truly deserved classics. I love it, always have and I’m sure I always will.

5 Stars My son’s favorite
This was my son’s (now 22) favorite movie when he was little. it has cute songs and action to keep a child entertained. I am so happy I found it again to play for my granddaughter

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My Father the Hero

My Father the Hero

Gerard Depardieu (GREEN CARD) stars as an overprotective father who lands in hot water when his overactive teenage daughter gets in over her head at a tropical vacation resort! Soon, the mischievous teen is getting dad in big, big trouble — hurling him into one madcap misadventure after another. Combining uproarious comedy and a beautiful island setting, MY FATHER,THE HERO, simply overflows with nonstop fun in the sun. Discover for yourself the comedy hit that left critics and audiences alike drowning with laughter.

User Ratings and Reviews

1 Star Horrible!!
Never received my purchase. Seller wouldn’t respond to emails. Had to file a claim with Amazon. Eventually got my money back. Tell everyone not to buy from them. Gives Amazon a bad name.

5 Stars I liked the movie
it is a funny interesting movie and it is similar to what happened in our lives but in a funny way..

5 Stars Great movie
I loved this movie when I was younger and couldn’t find it anywhere on DVD. Local stores only had copies on VHS. The movie arrived in perfect condition and my experience with the seller was nothing but great. If you haven’t seen this movie, see it- it’s a good, light-hearted movie with excellent ’90s clothes, ha!

5 Stars You are Here
Gerard D is fantastic as the straight guy who doesn’t have a clue. Adorable!

2 Stars My Father The Hero
I thought it was a cute story line but it got slow and boring in several spots. Not as funny as it claims to be.

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National Lampoons Vacation 20th Anniversary Special Edition

National Lampoons Vacation 20th Anniversary Special Edition

No Description Available.
Genre: Christmas
Rating: R
Release Date: 3-FEB-2004
Media Type: DVD

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars truly a classic
One of my favorite old time movies. Chevy Chase is a sometimes oblivious but loving father taking his family on a vacation to a theme park in California. A lot of wacky things happen along the way and while visiting relatives. The acting is superb and the writing is fun. This is a great family movie and one for your collection of dvd’s.

5 Stars One of the greatest movies of the 80’s!
Got this movie for my Husband for his birthday. It’s one of his all time favorite movies and couldn’t believe I found it for him!! Amazon has all what you are looking for and you can’t beat the free shipping!

5 Stars Hay Wire
National Lampoon’s Vacation is one wild incredible movie. It is an insane mixture of side-splitting humor and unnerving adventure. Chevy Chase plays the part of the con-man father. Other actors include Beverly D’Angelo, Randy Quaid, Dana Barron, Micahel Hall, John Candy, Imogene Coca, and Christie Brinkley.

There is one ridiculous scene after another as the family travels down the road to their vacation destination: the girl stirring the punch with her hand, the hamburgers with no meat, the biting dog, Aunt Edna in her hair rollers, the disaster in the desert, the dip in the pool. The fun goes on and on. Then there is the grande finale.

This movie made millions. It’s classic comedy — a real hoot. Don’t miss it.

5 Stars One wild and crazy vacation that is well worth taking…
As one would gather from my review of `Caddy Shack’, there is just some humor that, while achieving much praise and cult status, I just don’t really get. You’d expect that since I was not a huge fan of `Caddy Shack’ that I also would find `National Lampoons Vacation’ to be a bit of an overpraised comedy, but what you fail to realize is that Chevy Chase was my favorite thing about `Caddy Shack’ and when you strip away everything I didn’t really like about the golfing spectacle you are left with `Vacation’, a film that I can very much enjoy.

The film tells the story of the Griswold family as they attempt to travel cross-country to visit the amusement park Wally World. Along the way they meet with many obstacles that strain their relationships and prevent them from attaining their end goal, of having fun. They meet up with oddball relatives who hit them up for money. They get stuck transporting a crotchety old woman to another relative’s home. They break down, break up, fight, make up, get lost, endanger their lives and pretty much fall into every type of hazardous condition imaginable and yet nothing compares to what happens when they actually make it to their destination!

All of this is propelled by the hilarious performances by the cast, Chevy Chase in particular. As the everyman Clark Griswold, Chase develops a comical version of ourselves and this is a joy to watch. As he races up alongside the babe in the convertible, giving her the eye while his wife is asleep we can see what is running through his mind. Does he want to cheat? No. Does he like the idea of having the opportunity? Of course he does. Beverly D’Angelo is also wonderful as Ellen. She is the right sort of counterbalance to Chase’s breed of humor and she helps ground the film and makes it more relatable. Imogene Coca is hysterical as the crazy Aunt Edna and Randy Quaid as a memorable cameo as bumpkin Cousin Eddie.

The antics that happen are outrageous and at times even ridiculous (Aunt Edna on the hood of the car = laugh riot), but it never feels that extreme because we are so wrapped up in that `this could really happen’ phase. We see so much of our own family within the Griswold clan that everything they experience feels that much more believable.

Well, some may find it baffling that I enjoy this film so thoroughly yet found much to dislike in `Caddy Shack’. What can I say; they are too very different movies that leave me feeling very differently. The acting here is much more consistent in my opinion, as are the jokes and gags. I found myself laughing out loud here as apposed to concealing a halfhearted chuckle. I have not seen the other `Vacation’ films, and I hear that they are not as good, but I’m definitely going to check them out because this one is a real keeper.

5 Stars Very Funny Movie!!
This is such a great movie. Chevy Chase is really funny in it. Actually all of the people in it are great. If you like funny movies this is one for you. All of the Vacation movies are funny. The one I really like is Christmas Vacation. The price isn’t bad either.

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