Welcome of the 269th Edition of my series. This week, I pay tribute to
Bud Greenspan and Anne Francis who both recently left us. Today I will
just be watching football, now that the 49ers are not in and the Colts
got knocked out, I will support the Eagles and Chiefs to go into the
superbowl because of their running backs really helping me in Fantasy
Football this year. This edition was very hard to put together but
finally came out with a good finished product. I return this week with
my DVD review segment for the last film that is featured in the blog.
Domino
(2005): This is the 9th link on the chain and this link goes to Kel
O'Neill whose movie EASIER WITH PRACTICE I used last week. This will be
his only link on the chain. Keira Knightley plays the title character
in this film of real-life bounty hunter Domino Harvey. Her father was
actor Lawrence Harvey most known for the film THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE
so you see a lot of footage of that movie. This movie shows that she
comes from a high-class background where she rebels and becomes a bounty
hunter, much to the dismay of her mother. Mickey Rourke co-stars as
her mentor Ed Moseby who teaches her what she knows. Many actors like
Monique, Christopher Walken, Mena Suvari, Jacqueline Bisset, Dabney
Coleman, and many others co-star. This film is loosely based on her
life and I thought it could have been a more compelling biopic. With
that said, I thought Knightley was very good in her portrayal of Domino
and my idol Mickey Rourke was also very good as Ed but maybe I'm biased
for speaking that way of Rourke. This came out right after SIN CITY so
he was in the rebuilding process where his biggest break would come a
few years later in THE WRESTLER. The real Domino Harvey died of an
accidental overdose months before this movie which the movie is
dedicated to her. Tony Scott directed this film and had bee working
with the real Domino Harvey for years. Next week, the chain continues
with one of the actors, actresses, or director of this film.
Fame
(1980): This is one of those 80s classics. Alan Parker directed this
film which chronicles a few high school students in New York in the
performing arts who then hope to have successful careers in things like
acting, singing, theater, etc. One of the interesting parts about this
film is that the title of the film did not really reflect their careers
but they still gave good performances. The most famous person in this
cast would be Richard Belzer and even he just had bit part. Irene Cara
has had a few hits like this title song and was pretty good in the film.
After this came a pretty successful tv series and one of of the early
part of 80s pop-culture. I'm not going to go into detail about the
characters but each had their own unique issue where we were with them
every step of the way. There were some clever home-made tap shoes in
the beginning that I liked. This is actually based on the real-life
Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music and Art and Performing Arts
where New York high school students get in on account of auditions. We
also have the iconic scene of the title song being played very loud
outside the school. This is available on Instant Netflix.
The
Blind Side (2009): I watched this on On-Demand when I was at my dad's
house. Sandra Bullock shows that she can actually do something good
where she plays the very caring Leigh Anne Tuohy who takes in a homeless
black high school student named Michael Oher. Quentin Aaron plays Oher
who in real-life would go onto be drafted by the Ravens in 2009 and has
been pretty successful so far. When watching this, I had no idea this
was a true story. Country star Tim Mcgraw plays Leigh's husband Sean
who was reluctant at first to take him in but very supportive. Kathy
Bates also co-stars as Michael's tutor who does what she can to help him
bring up his grades to get into a college to play football. I really
enjoyed this film and it could be very sad at times but very inspiring
knowing there are still good people in this world with the whole Tuohy
family and Michael who became a part of the family and a successful
Offensive lineman in the NFL. I admit, I shed a few tears watching this
one.
Jezebel (1938): Now I go to one that is not so
inspirational. Bette Davis plays the character Julie who has the title
label here. Before we had Southern belle Scarlet O'Hara from GONE WITH
THE WIND, we had this southern belle who spends her life going after the
successful Preston Dillard, played very well by Henry Fonda, who cannot
take Julie's domineering and controlling personality. The film also
takes place during a Yellow Fever epidemic which also impacts this film a
lot as well. William Wyler directed this film and Henry Fonda had to
take some time off the set as this was around the time Jane Fonda was
born. This was also a star-making role for Davis who won an Oscar for
this film. This film is quite the classic and a great performance from
the leads.
Wilma (1977): This is my tribute to the late Bud
Greenspan who was known for directing a lot of the Olympic events and
directed this tv biopic. I bring you another sports drama that is based
on a true story and this one is about Olympic track star icon Wilma
Rudolph. This documents Rudolphs physical handicaps in her childhood
and her overcoming those handicaps, sorry if you feel I'm being
politically incorrect, to become a star in the 1960 Olympic games.
Shirley Jo Finney plays Wilma in this and is pretty good in her part.
Cicely Tyson plays her mother Blanche who does everything she can to
help Wilma even in such hard times. Also of note is the debut of a very
young Denzel Washington who plays Robert Eldridge who is Wilma's love
interest and shades of what would become a great career for Washington.
Not as good as THE BLIND SIDE but still watchable for a tv movie.
King
of the Islands (1936): This is one of two short films I have for this
week and this one I recorded from TCM but can see this may be a bit hard
to obtain. This is actually a musical short where New Yorker Warren
Hymer gets shipwrecked on an island and falls for the Princess of what I
believe is a Hawaiian island. The hula dancing was good to watch but
this is really made for the Technicolor which was great but this short
was not but still worth a watch if you can find it for the color and
even the dancing.
Blackboard Jungle (1955): This is my tribute
to Anne Francis who recently left us. Glenn Ford stars as Richard
Dadier who gets his first teaching job in a difficult urban-city school
where the students did not seem to want to learn. However, he just did
not buy that and did everything he could to get through to his students.
Sidney Poitier and Vic Morrow have early roles in here as a couple of
his students. Poitier is very good as Gregory Miller who Richard takes
the most interest in of his students. Anne Francis plays Richard's
insecure and pregnant wife he is trying to support. This film helped
launch the song ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK by Bill Haley and the Comets.
This film is based on author Evan Hunter's experiences as a teacher in
the South Bronx and Hunter himself would become known as author Ed
McBain. This film is a statement towards juvenile delinquency and our
need to address it in our school system so yes there were juvenile
delinquents even then and our world was not perfect even then. Ford was
great as Dadier and is one of my favorites from this era.
The
Antichrist (2002): This is my second of the short films and as you see
this is a more modern short which I found on IFC Short Film Showcase.
This was a Polish short film and very dark. We have four child friends
who are at a mining excavation where they play all kinds of pretty
dangerous games. Szafran is the leader of these kids and claims the
title of the film where he is the one who has them do some pretty
extreme things. This is something that really kept my attention for the
27 minutes with all the crazy things they did. The children were
pretty good in their parts as well.
The Immortals (1995): This
was definitely not one of my original choices but when I found this on
Encore On-Demand it sounded interesting to me so I checked it out and
ended up liking it. Eric Roberts stars as Jack who is a seedy nightclub
owner who recruits eight small-time hoods together for what turns out
to be a double-cross to a rival gangster named Dominic, played by Tony
Curtis. The more that happens, the more that there is a lot more to
these heists that meet the eye. SNL alum Chris Rock, Tia Carrere,
SOPRANOS alum Joe Pantaliano, Clarence Williams III, William Forsythe,
among others play these criminals. There are actually some pretty funny
moments, especially from Rock, as well as some very violent ones. It
also shows that pairing criminals who have no knowledge of each other is
not always the best idea. There was a very interesting climatic
standoff where many guns pointed in many directions. I had forgotten
about Carrere who was pretty big in the 90s but have not heard much from
here since. This is a straight to video film but one that is actually
quite good in my opinion with interesting reasons as to why the
criminals were recruited.
DVD REVIEW: METROPOLIS (1927)
TRAILER
This
is actually a trailer which features the 2010 release and its 25
additional minutes which obviously shows footage from the film.
FILM
Fritz
Lang directed this early German sci-fi film which in many ways is one
of the first sci-fi epics we have had. This is a futuristic film that
takes place in a Utopian city where the residents lead a care-free life
including Freder but changes his mind when he discovers the workers that
are used to keep this Utopian lifestyle going. The most known thing
from this film is the robot that was used and the very elaborate set
that was used for this very expensive film. The model of the robot was
the inspiration for C-3PO of STAR WARS fame. I'm not going to go too
much more into details but sci-fi buffs should check this out as this
was cited as an inspiration to many. There has been many releases of
this film where footage continues to be found but this one is apparently
the masterpiece that Lang had in mind and which he was made to cut a
lot of its footage. This movie actually had over 37, 000 extras. It is
also said to be one of Hitler's favorite films. With the expenses of
the film, the box office did not make up for it almost putting the movie
company UFA into Bankruptcy. I also had the pleasure of watching it on
my dad's flat screen television which gave a great picture even for a
silent film.
INTERVIEW WITH PAULA FELIX-DIDIER
This is a
brief interview with the curator of the Museo Del Cine which is the
museum credited for finding this lost footage. She talked about how
lots of footage was burned and goes on to say that was because nitrate
was very expensive if not protected and many did not have the equipment
to preserve it. I was still unclear of how the footage was found but
that is okay as long as it was found.
VOYAGE TO METROPOLIS
This
is a 50 minute documentary which talks about the troubles of making the
film. It also talked about inspirations it had with the huge set and
how the idea for it came from a visit to New York where Fritz Lang felt
overwhelmed by the buildings. It would then go onto talk about how much
of a box-office flop it was and the studios demanding Lang cut many
things out of it and many years of trying to find that lost footage. It
is a pretty informative documentary that covered the needed bases.
FILM NOTES BY BRUCE BENNETT
This
is the booklet that came with the DVD. This really just covers what
the documentary covers with a little more detail. It also goes on to
mention the screening at a theater in Berlin which was the first
screening since 1927 when it came out as well as a screening at the TCM
theater. This is a pretty good, short read.
OVERALL ANALYSIS
My
dad got me this, among other dvds, for Christmas. Kino Video is who
released what is called THE COMPLETE METROPOLIS. No, it does not have a
big load of features but just that fact it could be released this way
is enough. It is an iconic silent film which the movie buffs should
watch and if possible try to obtain this version which is the 2 and a
half hour masterpiece that Lang first envisioned rather than the cut 90
minute version. I thought the extras with this film covered enough of
what needed to be covered. I'm going to try to do this on a more daily
basis but no guarantees.
Well, that is it for this week. Tell
me what you like and what you do not like and stay tuned for next week
which so far includes Charlotte Rampling, Lon Chaney Sr. and many
others.
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