Welcome to the 113th Edition of this series. I can now be found on
Tony D's http://www.filmarcade.net. I made some pretty strange
selections this week and I know Fred saw everything I featured last
week, I'd like to see him say the same for this one.
Bubba Ho-Tep (2003): This is the second part of my two-part Bruce
Campbell series. This is the second Bruce Campbell film my dad got me
and it probably my favorite Bruce Campbell performance. Don Coscarelli
directed this strange story taking place at a nursing home where Elvis
Presley and John F. Kennedy reside. Bruce plays Elvis who took the name
of an impersonater so that he could lead an easier life and Ossie Davis
plays JFK who survived the assassination but was turned black by the
government. I believe both of these stories are actually true. The
fictional part of this movie is where a mummy is out to take souls from
people in the nursing home and only Elvis and JFK can stop this mummy
and even redeem themselves. The leads are great in this movie and has
some great dialogue references from their history and even a discussion
on how they were never there for their kids as much as they should have
been and even some references blaming Lyndon Johnson for what happened
to him. Watching this was such an enjoyable experience that everyone can
enjoy.
This is Not a Test (1962): This is part two of my four-part Sci-Fi
Invasion series. Last week, I used KILLERS FROM SPACE. This was a dvd I
bought for a buck and this movie I thought was more entertaining, though
I didn't really see it as a Sci-Fi so much as a film of paranoia. It
all started with a road block with a cop stopping a few people after
hearing about a threat of a nuclear attack. Tensions rise heavily as the
cop is trying to protect them by any means necessary. It's not a bad
film, it works well and has some suspense. Part 3 won't necessarily come
next week but it might.
Underground (1995): This was an unexpected view from Travis' Co-Op
film viewing at Ball State. He has introduced me to some pretty
interesting films over the past year and where would I be without him?
This is no exception. This was a very long movie about a story which
starts in WW2 Nazi Germany and is shown through the years up to the
'90s. This is a very dark comedy with some very disturbing images. It
centers around an arms dealer trying to survive in the Nazi era Germany
and his family through the years, including his son from bith into the
90s. It's really hard to describe this movie, you just need to find a
copy. This is actually a Serbian film and does a good job of making
comedy from such horrific things. I saw the 167 minute version but
apparently there is a 300 minute version.
Raw Force (1982): Here comes another strange choice in this
installment. My stepbrother Mike and his girlfriend Erin got me a Best
Buy gift card so I used it to buy a Grindhouse Experience DVD and they
were 20 different selections from a Grindhouse film festival from
Quentin Tarantino. First, I'll talk some about what Grindhouse is for
those of you who do not know what that is. These kinds of movies are
b-movies and don't look so much at quality, plot, great acting or
anything else which makes a quality movie. These rely more on
entertainment and usually they have been shown at Drive-ins and cheap
buildings and usually they show two or three movies in a row. Anyone can
feel free to elaborate on the world of Grindhouse but now onto the
movie. We have a story of a bunch of martial arts students who are going
to an island which they are told contains ghosts of fallen martial arts
heroes but find much more. Instead, they encounter female slavery,
cannibals and so on. This is definetly not for everyone and not
something anyone wants to see everyday but it might make for a good
midnight viewing. I will be featuring some more of these in the coming
weeks as well, not necessarily every week though.
Catch a Fire (2006): Now we get a more dramatic film which is still
pretty unknown like the first four picks but it's just the way things
fell this week. This movie takes place during the Apartheid era in South
Africa which centers around a young, black family man who has a horrid
encounter with a police agency. Derek Luke plays the real-life Patrick
Chamusso, who joins the ANC. For those of you who have no idea who the
ANC, including myself until now, ANC stands for African National
Congress which was at one time a group against the oppression in Africa
who were a bunch of freedom fighters. Tim Robbins plays a cop who is
determined to bring down Patrick whatever it takes. I don't know the
accuracy of the portrayal of Nic Vos, portrayed by Robbins. These kind
of movies seem to portray the white man as a corrupt cop which may or
may not be true here and I'm not going to do much more research for that
but this is a very insightful movie to check out and how far Africa has
come since that period.
Disorder in the Court (1936): I now bring the Three Stooges into my
blog for the first time in this hilarious short comedy taking place in a
courtroom where Larry, Curly and Moe are witnesses and naturally, chaos
ensues. Comedy like this nowadays in our politically correct society
would bring all kinds of objections but that kind of comedy got by in
those days. I'm sure many friends after that decided to beat each other
up, hit each other with hammers, whatever, it was okay then, as long as
you didn't kill each other. This is available in public domain at
http://www.moviesfoundonline.com.
Pocahontas (1995): I now bring you a more mainstream film. I'll
admit, I'm a big sucker for musicals so I like a lot of that 90s Disney
and music-wise, this one is my favorite. This is Disney's interpretation
to the Pocahontas/John Smith legend. This movie takes place in the 16th
Century when English colonists invade the 16th Century Virginia. In
this process, Pocahontas meets John Smith and falls in love with him and
vice versa at least here anyways. As the story goes, she save John
Smith from execution from her tribe. Mel Gibson provides the voice of
John Smith and he also sings his own music and does a pretty good job. I
thought this was a less racial portrayal of the indians, some might
disagree though. Some of the aspects that I liked was the way it showed
the price of hatred. I also liked the song SAVAGES which was sang by
both the white man and the indians showing their side to things as well.
David Ogden Stiers did the voice for the corrupt governor who was the
villain of the story. Also, Christian Bale does the voice for the of the
English soldiers and he would go onto play the role of John Rolfe in
THE NEW WORLD, who is the one that Pocahontas ends up marrying in real
life but he doesn't enter the picture yet in this story and remember,
there is a sequal here. She actually dies at a very young age of an
unknown illness. This movie might now be for real young kids. In the
real history of Pocahontas, she ends up with American John Rolfe and
lives in America and even the relationship between her and Smith seems
quite exaggerated but oh well, Disney can do whatever they want with
history, it still ends up great. I loved the music in this movie and
many other things.
Night Passage (1957): In searching for something to record to the DVR
from this era, I found this James Stewart western. James Stewart plays a
former railroad worker hired to get payroll through undercover and past
the gang led by his younger brother the Utica Kid. When the train is
taken hostage, he must protect the money any way that he can. This is a
pretty decent action film from the era and work checking. It is
definetly worth seeing Stewart sing and play an accordian.
The Godfather (1972): Now I bring you one of my favorites. This is
the movie I feel predicted the downfall of the mafia...drugs...and John
Gotti as well. This was a great adaptation from Francis Ford Coppola to
the novel from Mario Puzo which stars Marlon Brando as the aging Don
Vito Corleone. Al Pacino, James Caan, and Robert Duvall become stars
from this movie. Coppola lobbied endlessly to get Pacino cast as Michael
Corleone, who goes from war hero to mafia hood to mob boss. James Caan
plays the Don's wily older son Sonny. Robert Duvall plays the family
attorney and Consigliere Tom Hagan who is a foster son of the Don. I
actually read the novel and it is really good to read if you love the
movie. It gives quite a bit of details, even to supporting characters
like Al Neri, Captain McClusky and so on. Sterling Hayden, in one of his
later roles, plays the corrupt McClusky. Brando had a great performance
when he put wool in his cheeks and did an imitation of mobster Frank
Costello. The infant in the baptism scene is Sofia Coppola. Many people
dismiss this movie as long and boring and some of them just need to see
it again and see how compelling it really is. You won't see any all-out
killing sprees or even war but you have some great characters, scenes,
and quotes.
I am a Fugitive From the Chain Gang (1932): Melvin LeRoy directed
this groundbreaking film which exposed the horrors of a chain gang in
prisons. Paul Muni plays the role of James Allen comes home from WW1 and
wants to take a different career path which sets him off on a journey
with a fateful meeting with someone and unwittingly becomes part of the
robbery and gets the book thrown at him. He experiences some harsh
conditions with the chain gang and forms an escape which leads into him
needing to make it as a fugitive. This was based on autobiographical
writings from Robert Burns who actually escaped from a chain gang which
got him there for stealing a small amount of money. His book and this
movie really got a lot exposed and made some drastic changes into the
chain gang system. Paul Muni is great in this film and is very
underrated today.
HONORABLE BOOK RECOMMENDATION
If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B-Movie Actor by Bruce Campbell
: This is the first time I have ever done this but I am going to start
doing these kind of mentions on occasion. I usually don't care about the
outside life of a celebrity but I have always admired Bruce Campbell
and figured he must lead a pretty interesting life and I was right. He
gives a lot of insight on his days with Sam Raimi on the Super 8 films
including the one which would rise to stardom EVIL DEAD. I gained even
more respect for that movie when I read what it took to get that movie
off the ground. This was actually written around 2001 and 2002 and this
has an added chapter from his If Chins Could Kill book tour with some
funny commentary on fan encounters. He also spoke on how complicated it
became after 9/11 and his efforts to keep it going. There was also some
interesting information on a near strike from the Screen Actors Guild
written before the WGA strike. He also has good insight on the world of
acting and his own career of just doing what he wants in order to have
fun, not to become the greatest actor of all time. Long live Bruce
Campbell, who in many ways can be considered a blue collar actor.
Well, that is it this week. Leave some comments, tell me your
favorites and your least favorites. I'm sure I'll be back next week with
some more. I see I really only hit upon a couple real mainstream films
of today but that's just how things fell, we'll see what fate does this
week. I don't really pay attention to known and unknown in my selection
process, it just comes naturally
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