Saturday, January 26, 2013

Shaun Berk's 10 Movie Recommendations- 347th Edition

Welcome to the 347th Edition of my series. This Friday on the 13th Ashley Gray will be playing from 7-8 pm at Freaky Tiki Friday in Downtown Muncie. Another band will be going to likely around 10. Ashley is coming back from Philadelphia so come check out one of the best singers I know. Now I will get to my selections for the week.

Taking Woodstock (2009): Ang Lee directed this tribute to the music festival of 1969. Demetri Martin stars as Elliot who is still working for his parents in a run-down motel ran by the family. He soon inadvertently sets events forward for the most famous concert when letting a group of hippies stay who are about to organize the concert which gets a lot of backlash from the conservative town they live in. Martin puts on a great performance in this film and Liev Schreiber and Paul Dano have rather amusing cameos in this film. If you expect to see any concert footage this is not really what to watch. This is a very good and realistic tribute to the big concert of 1969 which changed the world of music forever. You could have a great double feature with this movie and the movie WOODSTOCK which is the documentary.

Tangled (2010): This is my Disney movie for the week and this is their take on the Rapunzel fairy tale. The long-haired blonde has lived her whole life in a tower. Mother Gothel runs the tower and kidnapped Rapunzel as a baby knowing that her hair holds healing powers. She never has allowed Rapunzel to leave the tower but in her teen years she is very curious to see the outside world. Soon, a charming bandit named Flynn Rider tries to scale the tower but is outsmarted by Rapunzel but she strikes a deal that she will guide him on a journey if he helps her see the outside world embarking on the biggest journey of her life. This was a great entry from Disney has some great songs written by Alan Menken and Glenn Slater. Mandy Moore provides the voice to Rapunzel and Zachary Levi voices Flynn. Ron Perlman also has a voice in this movie. This has a lot of action and comedy like with the horse Maximus who delivers a lot of laughs.

Millennium (2010): This is technically three Swedish movies from 2009 which are THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE, and THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET'S NEST which they put together in a mini-series format. Last week, I used the American version of Dragon Tattoo which starred Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara which was a good version but this one is good too if you are okay with subtitles. Michael Nyqvist stars as Mikael Blomkvist who is a disgraced journalist and hired by the patriarch of a rich but dysfunctional clan named Henrik Vanger to investigate the disappearance of his niece 40 years ago who he believes was murdered. Mikael soon gets an unlikely partner in the tough hacker Lisbeth Salander, played by Noomi Rapace. They soon stumble upon other murders and find there is a very dark secret. This has some very good action scenes and moves very well even with subtitles. This is pretty dark and intense at times and is not for everyone. I do not want to give away too much as what I described was the first movie. This is available on Instant Netflix which is called DRAGON TATTOO TRILOGY: EXTENDED EDITION which contains six 90 minute episodes with addition footage on each movie. You can also watch the individual movies I just decided to watch the whole series. These are all from the novels of Stieg Larssen. I also have not heard of anything going on as of right now with American remakes to the other two.

Six Murderous Beliefs (1955): This is my short film for the week that was from the National Safety Council which entertains more than educates. We hear all the time about the seven deadly sins but now we hear about six common beliefs that could get us killed. Some of them include things like "safety is for sissies" and "your number is up" and then plays out an example of these beliefs of how you can end up dead. These are worth about 10 minutes or so and can likely be found on Youtube. I found this on TCM with the Underground Shorts program they have.

My Name is Nobody (1973): This is my western for the week which is kind of a Spaghetti Western comedy. Henry Fonda stars as the legendary gunslinger Jack Beauregard who is looking to retire. Terence Hill stars as a younger gunslinger known as "Nobody" and has always idolized Beauregard. He wants to see Beauregard go down in a blaze of glory and arranges for him to take on a gang called The Wild Bunch. This movie has some good gunfights and some very funny moments. Fonda was great as Beauregard and Hill was equally good as the title character. These guys worked very well together and this has gone down as a very underrated western. Sergio Leone is credited for the idea and did some of the directing though not credited. Ennio Morricone wrote the music score for this film like he did for many of Spaghetti westerns and spoofs his own scores. This is available on Instant Netflix and great for western lovers.

How to Frame a Figg (1971): This is another comedy that stars Don Knotts. In this movie he plays Hollis Figg who is a bookkeeper and the dumbest in town. The people he works for are very crooked and have him on hand knowing he will not catch on to their plan. They soon buy a computer to cover up their shenanigans and even frame him for embezzlement. Soon, he stumbles onto their plan and with the help of some friends look to uncover the plot and clear his name. This is an average comedy that is mostly for Don Knotts fans and does deliver some laughs. One highlight was his friend being played by Frank Welker who is known for voices in cartoon characters like Scooby-Doo, Garfield, and many others. Watch this for some old-fashioned Don Knotts humor and is available on Instant Netflix.

No Impact Man (2009): This is my documentary for the week brought from Colin Beavan who along with his wife and daughter live for a year in Manhattan to generate no trash and give up things like electricity, cars, and even toilet paper where they use cloths instead. His wife is named Michelle Conlin who runs a magazine and has a harder time with this journey but tries to stick by him and go along with it. This is someone who came up with an idea and stayed very dedicated to it where he found benefits to his plan. He also makes people think of the everyday things we can do to try to make the world a better place. One of the things I found interesting was an interview with a dairy farmer. This farmer did not do the organic milk and explains that if he went organic he would not be able to treat his cows if they were sick with things like antibiotics. This was a very well-done documentary and can open a lot of eyes. This is available on Instant Netflix.

Street Scene (1931): This takes place on a stoop of Hell's Kitchen during a day on a heat wave so very fitting right now. King Vidor directed this film where lots of gossip takes place in front of a residential building. Lots of things are going on like affairs, juvenile delinquents, and many others things. Each story in this film counts and fits into the story leading into a big tragedy in the end. The performances were good in this film and the characters were very really good. In some ways, this kind of reminded me of what would be many years later AVENUE Q minus the puppet element. I believe this is considered pre-code. This was a play before it became a movie and much of the actors played there parts in the movie. It is hard to really describe the plot as there are many but it is worth a watch and I found this on TCM On-Demand.

The Naked Truth (1957): This is my dark British comedy for the week. Dennis Price plays a tabloid writer named Nigel Dennis who loves to write about celebrities and then promise to suppress the story for money. He soon begins to mess with the wrong people in people like Terry-Thomas, Peter Sellers, and Peggy Mount. They each for their own reasons try to kill Nigel but each fail in very humorous ways. Soon, these people team up when they find out they have a common enemy. Peter Sellers is great in his role and shows he is good with disguises. This is one of my favorite British comedies from that era which had a lot of very amusing characters and a good farce that may be overlooked right now. This is available on Instant Netflix.
 
Tiny Furniture (2010): I end with this independent film that was directed, written, and starred in by Lena Dunham. She stars in this film as Aura who has recently graduated college and returns home not sure of what to do. She is joining her artist mother and sister who she has a hard time getting along with. These people were played by her actual mother and sister. Dunham did a good job playing Aura who is someone that many can relate to. She does not have have a model body or a skinny body but she is real and she is human. This is a good effort from Dunham and hopefully is the start of things to come. She is now the writer of the HBO series GIRLS which i have heard good things about. This is available on Instant Netflix.

Well, that is it for this week. Tell me what you like and dislike. Stay tuned for next week which so far includes Helen Mirren, James Franco, and many others.

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