Welcome to the 190th Edition which is a pretty cool number and hard to
believe that in two to three months that the 200th Edition will come
out. I put out some pretty unusual selections this week so I hope
you'll like it. I look forward to my ring announcing gig later tonight.
Also, my mom is making her movie debut in a local Ball State University
film. Okay, now for the movies.
Sinatra (1992): This is my
overdue tribute to the late performer Danny Gans who died in the
beginning of May of this year and plays Rat Pack alum Dean Martin
here.. This is a mini-series on the famed singer which starts with his
early adulthood, going into his rise in the music and film industry
where he had some struggles. In trying to rise to fame, he did not let
anyone get in the way of what he wanted and took many risks to get to
the top instead of being content in the middle. Philip Casnoff plays
the title role and played it very well. It also goes into his
relationships with Mia Farrow, Ava Gardner, and first wife Nancy
Barbato-Sinatra, played by Gina Gershon. It shows his connections to
the mob, to the Kennedy family and a little of the rise in the Rat
Pack. Look for 7TH HEAVEN alum Beverley Mitchell as his daughter Nancy.
There is not much else I can say without rambling but this wa a two
part mini-series and worth watching.
Heaven and Earth (1993):
Oliver Stone directed this movie which is based on the real-life Le Ly
Hayslip, who is played very well by Hiep Thi Le in a stunning film
debut. This movie takes place during the Vietnam War, showing her as
part of an oppressed family during the Viet Cong rule and experiences a
lot of hardship and some very horrifying things which can be hard to
watch in the film. With her Mom, played by Joan Chen, she flees and
gets a job in Saigon but things become difficult when she becomes
pregnant by her master where she then must leave. To make money she
must hustle American soldiers and in the process meets soldier Steve
Butler, played very well by Tommy Lee Jones, who she falls in love with
and moves to the beautiful land of America. There, she must adjust to
the different world and Steve's war flashbacks become very difficult to
deal with. Le Ly becomes an American author and humanitarian even
making a cameo in this film. While she falls in love with an American
and moves to America with him, don't watch it expecting some kind of
love story because that is really not what this movie is. It is
however, very beautiful and I feel carries through very well. This is
the third in Oliver Stone's "Vietnam Trilogy".
Captain EO
(1986): This is my tribute to the late Michael Jackson. I was talking
to Lisa and saying that I wanted to use Michael Jackson in this blog
but that I wanted to avoid THE WIZ since I have already done it. She
then turned me on to this one which they used to show a lot at Disney
World and that I found on Youtube. Francis Ford Coppola directed this
this short musical which stars Jackson as the title character who leads
a crew that includes an elephant-looking creature, robot and other
puppets on a mission to see the Wicked Queen, played by Anjelica
Huston, to give her the gift of beauty and starts by singing the song
WE ARE HERE TO CHANGE THE WORLD. This is a very entertaining 16 minutes
to watch and it is accessible on Youtube.te
Fun with Dick and
Jane (1977): This is my tribute to the late Ed McMahon who recently
left us. He plays the crooked boss of Dick who fires him in the
beginning. George Segal and Jane Fonda star in this satire of life in
the middle class and trying to make ends meet during a tough economy
which was mentioned in this movie so we are in nothing new right now
when they talk about this recession. At first Jane believes that she
will work and Dick will collect his unemployment but she realizes that
it is not that simple so they start leading a life of crime by robbing
just about anything they can see. They soon find out that armed robbery
is very hard work but have many funny moments. I have not seen the Jim
Carrey version of this movie which worked with two good actors and a
pretty big statement to middle-class life. Look closely for a very
young Jay Leno in his film debut.
Meet Bill (2007): Aaron
Eckhart stars in this comedy as the title character. His life is going
downhill with a cheating wife and a job at a bank his father runs.
Elizabeth Banks is his cheating wife. He also reluctantly mentors a
very self-assured high school kid, played by Logan Lerman, who is
determined to get him set up with a cashier named Lucy, played by DARK
ANGEL alum Jessica Alba. They help him to try to win a donut company
that Bill wants and to win back his wife. It is a great movie of a man
trying to get his life back on track and a good performance from
Eckhart and even Lerman who showed him how to have fun again. Timothy
Olyphant play reporter Tim that is having the affair with his wife.
There is not much more to say except that Eckhart is someone to be
noticed.
The 39 Steps (1935): I bring in Hitchcock this week in
one of his early and some say one of his best. Robert Donat stars as
Richard Hannay who becomes a suspect in a murder and goes on the run to
stop a spy ring while getting handcuffed with a woman who does not like
him. Madeline Carroll plays that woman who is handcuffed to him and
they work very well together. This had a lot of suspense and dark
comedy which really hit the mark for the Master of Suspense.
Shaolin
Invincibles (1977): This is my Cult of UHF movie for the week and this
week in a martial arts film. To say that I really got this would be an
absolute lie but to watch the fighting and the badly dubbed English
made this worth a watch. This one was made in Taiwan and what was
interesting was people in gorilla suits fighting. I'm not about to try
to explain a plot but if you like the old-school martial arts and
b-movies you should check this out on the Cult of UHF podcasts.
Alien
Apocalypse (2005): I admit, the only reason this is here and that I
DVRed it from the Sci-Fi network was because of that name Bruce
Campbell and even his fellow XENA alum Renee O'Connor. They come back
from a mission in space only to find out that earth is taken over by
giant grasshoppers where humans are enslaved by them and some work for
them. Bruce then bands everyone together to take down the grasshoppers
and restore freedom. Like last one, if you're looking for something
with merit, good plot, this is not it. The grasshoppers really seemed
pretty easy to kill and why I observed that I don't know. If you want
some entertainment and to see Bruce, here you go.
The Cheat
(1915): This is my silent film for the week that I found on TCM. Fannie
Ward stars as Edith, the wife of a stockbroker who embezzles $10,000
from her husband's charity. Jack Dean plays her husband Richard. She
then turns to Haka Arakau, played by Asian star Sessue Hayakawa, who is
a Japanese Ivory trader that Edith is flirting with. When things go
wrong, Edith shoots him and Richard takes the blame. It was a pretty
dark film and quite interesting. Hayakawa was pretty widely known in
America and got some pretty good work for an Asian actor in that time
period.
Kismet (1955): I end this week with this very unknown
musical which stars Howard Keel. This movie takes place in Iraq and not
the one we know today, I'd say this took place in the 1800s where Keel
stars as a poet name Hajj, who is very poor where the Wazir believes
Hajj put a curse on him years ago and schemes to stay alive and to be
able to steal the Wazir's favorite wife. Ann Blyth plays the poet's
daughter and can sing very well while taking her own interest in a
prince. Delores Gray is also great as Lalume, the wife that Hajj takes
a liking to. This was filled with some nice, lavish musical numbers but
was quite hard to follow. It is still something to take a look at,
especially for Howard Keel.
Well, that is it for this week.
Leave your comments for what you like at what you don't like. I put
some pretty unusual things on this one I admit so we'll see how you all
take this one. Next week I will likely write a blog on my experience in
AMERICA'S GOT TALENT and I will have a movie blog that include Clint
Howard, the late Farrah Fawcett, a musical, and a French short film..
FUN LITTLE FACTS
BATMAN FRANCHISE
-Gina Gershon (Sinatra) does the voice of Catwoman aka Selina Kyle in a few episodes of THE BATMAN
-Tommy Lee Jones (Heaven and Earth) plays Two-Face aka Harvey Dent in the 1995 film BATMAN FOREVER
-Aaron
Eckhart (Bill) also plays Harvey Dent where you see him as the heroic
district attorney before he becomes Two-Face in the 2008 film THE DARK
KNIGHT.
Rod Steiger (Sinatra) plays the role of Jud Fry in the
1955 film OKLAHOMA. My facebook friend Kyle played the part in the
version at Muncie Civic Theater last summer
Marcia Gay Harden (Sinatra) and Timothy Olyphant (Meet Bill) have both been on the FX tv series DAMAGES.
Tommy
Lee Jones (Heaven and Earth) plays the role of Agent Kay in the 2002
film MEN IN BLACK II and Michael Jackson (Captain EO) is himself but
wants to be Agent M.
Conchata Ferrell (Heaven and Earth) does
the voice for Calamity Jane in the 1993 tv documentay THE WILD WEST.
Anjelica Huston (Captain EO) played the role in the 1995 tv movie
BUFFALO GIRLS
Elizabeth Banks (Meet Bill) was considered for the
role of Susan Storm in the 2005 film FANTASTIC FOUR but the part would
ultimately go to her MEET BILL co-star Jessica Alba
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