Welcome to the 275th Edition of my long-running series. Tonight I will
be ring announcing for the debuting wrestling promotion Action Packed
Wrestling so I hope this is the start to a great independent promotion.
It is in Muncie, Indiana at at the Ross Community Center so if you are
in the area come check it out. Doors open at 6 pm and the show starts 7
pm. Tickets are $12 at the door. This week I pay tribute to film
composer John Barry and actor Kenneth Mars who recently left us.
Stir
of Echoes (1999): This is the 15th link on the chain and this link
goes to Kevin Dunn. This is my horror film for the week. Kevin Bacon
stars as Tom who is living a good life with a wife and son, has a good
job and has some good friends. However, during a discussion on
hypnosis, his sister-in-law Lisa, played by Illeanna Douglas puts a
hypnotic trance on him. He is then seeing some images of a young girl
being brutally murdered and sets out to find the body. His son also has
the abilities to talk to the dead which also plays a major part in the
investigation. This was a pretty enjoyable horror film with Kevin Bacon
good in the lead. Kathryn Erbe plays his wife who is getting a bit
concerned about her husband and even son. This may seem like another
THE SIXTH SENSE but it really is not in my opinion. Next week, the
chain continues with one of the actors, actresses, or director.
The
Glass Menagerie (1973): This is my tribute to the late John Barry who
wrote the music score for this film. This adaptation to the Tennessee
Williams play was brought to us by the Broadway Theatre Archive.
Katherine Hepburn plays the domineering mother Amanda Wingfield. LAW
AND ORDER alum Sam Waterston plays her son Tom who is overwhelmed and
wants to get out of the house. Joanna Miles is her daughter Laura who
is off in her own world and has some mental disabilities. To round out
the cast, another LAW AND ORDER alum Michael Moriarty plays Jim who is
invited over to dinner to possibly set him up with Laura who her mother
is concerned about her becoming and old maid. The cast of four works
very well together. There was an adaptation in 1950 but Williams has
actually said he prefers this one. Good later performance for Katherine
Hepburn and Waterston was great as Tom. This can be found on Instant
Netflix.
The Last Installment (1945): This is my short film for
the week which is an installment of the entertaining Crime Does Not Pay
series. We focus on a prison inmate named Clyde who is just about to be
released. He then reads a magazine article about a 20s gangster named
Bull Moose Branigan and feels this is the kind of life he would like to
lead with the money and the women. The warden then lets Clyde now how
Branigan ends up. There were a lot of these propaganda shorts that
talks about the price of crime and are mostly entertaining by today's
standards.
Welcome Home, Roscoe Jenkins (2008): I know some will
give me heat for this selection but I try to accommodate to all
audiences in some way. Martin Lawrence stars in this film as the title
character who is leading a successful life in L.A. as a talk show host.
He then takes his fiancee and son to see his family in the deep south
where he is in a much different world. James Earl Jones, Nicole Ari
Parker, Michael Clarke Duncan, Mo'Nique, and many others co-star. The
basics of the story are that the main character has not seen his family
in some time and is dealing with long-time problems in impressing his
family even with his success. There are some pretty funny moments in
the movie and can be fun if you can get past some of the stereotypes and
such. Nothing great but I thought it was pretty fun. I did like the
moments with the dogs and a traditional race between Martin Lawrence and
Cedric the Entertainer which was pretty funny.
The Producers
(1968): This is my tribute to the late Kenneth Mars who plays the
writer for SPRINGTIME FOR HITLER in this film. Mel Brooks makes a great
directorial debut here in this wonderful theater comedy. Zero Mostel
stars as struggling broadway producer Max Bialystock. Gene Wilder
co-stars as accountant Leo Bloom who sees that a lot of money can be
made on a flop if done right as long as it does not become successful.
Max really likes that idea and they team up to come up with a really bad
show and find SPRINGTIME FOR HITLER. The show is sure to fail as they
take every precaution to make it fail including getting the worst
director and actors they can find. However, the show experiences
unexpected success which can then get them in trouble. This was later
made into a musical but no adaptation will beat this classic though the
Belfry theater in Noblesville did a pretty good job with this show.
There is a very entertaining musical number called SPRINGTIME FOR
HITLER.
Forrest Gump (1994): This was a rare showing from TCM on
a 90s film but they were playing a lot of Oscar winning films. Robert
Zemeckis directed this adaptation on a novel by Winston Groom. Tom
Hanks, in one of his best, stars as the title character who has some
mental disabilities as well as a low I.Q. but he would do whatever he
could to make it in life. Sally Field plays his mother who would not
let anyone treat her son any different than others. Gary Senise is also
very complex as Lieutenant Dan. Mykelti Williamson plays Forrest's
military friend Bubba who loves shrimp Robin Wright rounds out the main
cast as Jenny, Forrest's love interest beginning in childhood but
always eludes getting the girl. Forrest is a simple man who is just
trying to do the right thing. He manages to accidentally become a part
in many moments of 60s history. I know a lot of people did not care for
this film but I really can't see why. It is such an inspirational film
and it even teaches acceptance as well as being careful when judging. I
really like this film but I just can't think of much to say except that
it's a beautiful film and a wonderful performance by Tom Hanks. TCM's
Robert Osbourne hosted this and said that John Travolta actually
declined the starring role in this film and one of the few times in his
career it would benefit him as he went on to star in another 1994 hit
PULP FICTION. People from the 60s will love the historical references.
Clouds
over Europe (1939): I found this film on my Pub-D-Hub app on my Roku
player which shows a lot of public domain work. This is a British
pre-war spy story which stars Laurence Olivier. It is actually a
comedic film which has some pretty entertaining moments. Worth a watch
for Olivier's entry into the "Golden Year of Film" which by no means
ranks with the other 1939 greats. However, Olivier is quite funny as a
British pilot.
Torch Song Trilogy (1988): This is a film
adaptation to Harvey Fierstein's play of the same title which is based a
lot of Fierstein himself and he stars. Fierstein plays Arnold who is a
pretty successful drag queen and also must deal with his sexuality.
Arnold forms relationships with a couple of the guys which includes
Matthew Broderick and Brian Kerwin. Kerwin plays a man who is with a
woman and cannot decide which side to go. However, Arnold's biggest
challenges are with his mother who cannot seem to accept him and his
adopted teenage son who is gay at a young age. This is not for everyone
but it was pretty well done and Fierstein remains pretty likable
through the film. Anne Bancroft plays his mother who cannot accept that
her son in gay. The Muncie Civic Studio Theater recently did two of
the three acts of this play which was directed by my Facebook friend
Robbie and features my Facebook friends Kevin, Lisa, and Sonja. Matthew
Broderick who plays Alan here was in the play version as David,
Arnold's adopted son.
Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941): This is my
afterlife comedy for the week. Robert Montgomery stars as Joe Pendleton
who is a rising boxer who is getting his championship fight. He is
then taken 50 years too soon due to a mistake in heaven. Claude Rains
plays the title character who has a lot of authority in heaven. Mr.
Jordan tries to make up for his mistake by putting him in the body of a
wealthy man named Bruce Farnsworth who has just been murdered by his
wife. Joe then tries to make Farnsworth's terrible reputation into a
more clean-cut image while also wanting to get his own body back to be
able to get his championship. However, in his never life, he begins to
fall in love but must also deal with the wife. This film deals with an
important topic but manages to make into such a great and enjoyable
comedy.
A Prophet (2009): This is my foreign film for the week.
Tahar Rahim stars as a young Arab named Malik is sent to a prison in
France. In this prison, he hopes for a peaceful stay but it does not
happen. It shows him as a young prisoner doing things for others but
rising to the ranks of a kingpin in prison. This is another one which
is hard to explain but it has a lot of very good characters and good
performances in this prison film. This was quite an award-winning film
which can be found on Instant Netflix. This is a must for Foreign film
buffs.
Well, that is it for this week. Stay tuned for next week
which so far includes Dylan McDermott, Diana Rigg, and many others.
Keep on reading because I now have an honorable mention for the week.
HONORABLE TELEVISION MENTION
Nip/Tuck
(2003-2010): I have made this clear to many friends how much I love
this FX drama created by GLEE creator Ryan Murphy, but I lost track of
the show in about the 5th season so then my very dear friend Netflix had
these available instantly, I decided to start from the beginning and
just get all six seasons watched. As the title may indicate, this show
has to do with plastic surgery. The two main characters consist of
plastic surgeons Christian Troy, played by CHARMED alum Julian McMahon,
and Sean McNamara, played by Dylan Walsh. These two are Miami surgeons
who have known each other since college and have built a very successful
practive even forming a brotherly relationship. The two surgeons do
have very different personalities. Christian is the doctor who is
looking for all the glamor in life and seduces all the women he can.
Sean is more idealistic and is more of a family man. Sean always finds
himself questioning is values in his position as a plastic surgeon but
there were plenty of times he could go off the deep end. I'll explain
the family situations which started in the first season. Joely
Richardson plays Sean's wife Julia who gave up her successful potential
of a medical career to help raise their children Matt and Annie. John
Hensley plays Matt who makes a lot of evolution through the show even
having him join Scientology in the 4th season only to have all his money
taken from him in the end. Kelly Carlson plays the adult film star
Kimber who throughout the series has a lot of ups an downs with
Christian. GLEE co-star Jessalyn Gilsig plays another of Christian's
recurring love interests Gina. Roma Maffia plays Sean and Christian's
loyal anesthesiologist Liz Cruz. Through the series, the surgeons must
deal a lot with each other as well as other people like a Colombian drug
lord, "The Carver", a black-market kidney ring, and many other things.
Many veteran actors have had guest appearances and/or recurring roles
like Vanessa Redgrave, Jill Clayburgh, Jacqueline Bisset, Kathleen
Turner, Larry Hagman, and many others. Rosie O'Donnell has a good
recurring role as Dawn Budge who was a Trailer-Park trash woman who wins
the lottery. Bradley Cooper had a stint as an arrogant actor in the tv
series HEARTS AND SCALPELS which Sean joined for a while. I guess I
cannot list all the colorful characters of the series but there were a
lot. I feel this show is what lead Cooper to such parts as in THE
HANGOVER and THE A-TEAM. Each episode is titled by the name of one of
their patients and always has an interesting surgical procedure
requested of them. This show is not for everyone and I'm sure Murphy's
GLEE has a bigger following since that show is geared to a more
mainstream crowd but this also has its audience and was a pretty
compelling series. If you don't have a good stomach, you'd better not
watch it. Even I had to turn my head at times at the close-up surgical
scenes. This show does not glorify plastic surgery and looks at the
price of plastic surgery. I know watching that show that I don't want
any plastic surgery. McMahon started in this show shortly after he left
CHARMED which was another series I enjoyed and hated seeing him leave
at first until I saw this one.
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