Welcome to the 261st Edition of my long-running series. Fresh off my
five-year anniversary, I return to my normal format of 10 rather than
100, something I won't be doing again anytime soon. This week, I am
introducing a new thing called "The Chain" where I am starting it with
Christina Ricci and I will continue using her until I run out of films
in my Netflix queue of her, then I move onto another person. I admit I
will be the most entertained by this concept I came up with really to
maintain that each week I get something out of Netflix. In Fantasy
Football, I am now 4-5 in Fantasy football but am only one game out of
the division lead so we'll see what Sunday holds for me to stay in it
and win it all. Last week, my mom and I had our annual tryout at
AMERICA'S GOT TALENT in Chicago which went real well. I moved up the
farthest place in can in the preliminary auditions and now I hope for a
call from them which they said if they decide to use me they will call
me in April sometime so that I can give it another shot.� Last night
TALK RADIO opened and it went real well so come check it out if you are
in the area.� Now I'll get onto my ten films for the week so get your
Netflix queues out.
Jesus of Montreal (1989): I start off with
this French-Canadian film directed by Denys Arcand. Lothaire Bluteau
stars as Daniel who is brought into the church to direct the annual
Passion play. He is also told that they have not had very good crowds
so he decides to do a very controversial interpretation. This becomes
well received by some but looked down upon by the catholic church who
thought they knew what they wanted but were wrong when they see what
Daniel puts on. There is also an interesting element where characters
they play mirror their own lives. This was a pretty good foreign film
and can be found on Instant Netflix.
The Laramie Project (2002):
This is the first link of my chain starting with Christina Ricci.
Moises Kaufman wrote and directed this film which is based on his play
where he interviews many local people in Laramie, Wyoming where the
horrific murder of Matthew Shepard occurred. Many actors play the
characters involved in his life and people in the community. Peter
Fonda, Steve Buscemi, Laura Linney, Janeane Garofalo, and many others
co-star as town-members. For those who do not know, Matthew Shepard was
a gay man going to college and was brutally murdered by a couple young
boys in the town. There was also a really good moment where the
supporters of Shepard non-violently combated a picket from the Westboro
Baptist Church. This is used a lot in schools to teach acceptance and
tolerance. This was put on at Pruis Hall at Ball State University by
the Multicultural Center. Next week, the chain continues with more
Christina Ricci. This was a movie put on by HBO getting many big-name
actors who want to help the cause.
The War of the Worlds (1953):
This is the first film adaptation to the H.G. Wells classic where a
small-town is dealing with an alien attack. Gene Barry stars as Dr.
Clayton Forrester who bands everyone together to deal with this alien
attack but sees that weapons are not really the answer. This story is
really a statement towards are Cold War with Russia. This story is most
known for the 1938 radio broadcast narrated by Orson Welles where many
people really thought these events were happening sending many into a
panic. This was presented by my local library and the effects look
cheesy by today's standards but really meant something then where
special effects took a lot more effort. This was remade in 2005 where
they had the great CGI but that did not make it a better film.
My
Best Fiend- Klaus Kinski (1999): This is my documentary for this week
which was presented by my friend Travis on his Co-Op film series.
Werner Herzog directed this film which takes a look at the very volatile
working relationship he had with actor Klaus Kinski. Herzog directed
Kinski in five films. This does take a very good look at Kinski showing
the first film clip that Herzog saw of him. This also shows Kinski's
softer side and even moments where he did get along with Herzog. They
are about as important as Scorsese/De Niro, Akira Kurasowa/Toshiro
Mifune, D.W. Griffith/Lillian Gish, and many others. They had many
volatile moments on the set but possibly what was needed for Kinski to
give everything he had to his characters.
Anna Lucasta (1958):
This is an interesting early portrait of a black family of that era.
Eartha Kitt plays the title character whose father has kicked her out of
the house. She then turns to prostitution to make ends meet until her
father asks her back because of the rest of the family wanting her back.
Sammy Davis Jr. plays her friend who just can never get to the next
level with her like he wants. Rex Ingram plays her father where some of
the scenes get to be a bit much in his temper towards his daughter.
However, while not a classic, it was worth seeing Eartha Kitt in her
part. This is available on Instant Netflix This is based on a 1944
play by Philip Yordan.
The Most Dangerous Game (1932): Leslie
Banks stars in this film as Count Zaroff who enjoys hunting where the
victim of the sport are humans. He is on an island where a ship is
shipwrecked where the three passengers, played by Joel McCrea, Fay Wray,
and Robert Armstrong. They first believe he is very generous but
realize there is a little more to him and must fight for survival. It
has quite a bit of violence for this era and something I'm sure was
rather controversial for its time. It is good to see Fay Wray in
something else besides KING KONG which is all she is really known for.
Banks is good in his film debut.
Believe It or Not (1931): This
is my short film that I found on TCM. I am not sure of which one this
is in a long series of these shorts from 1930-1931 but Robert Ripley,
my hero, did a series of these showing some of the great oddities he
found. In this one a little boy is supposed to be doing his homework
but only finds interest in his book. He then falls asleep and has a
dream where he and Mr. Ripley walk through his book to show some really
cool things. I had the pleasure of going to this place in Orlando and I
love looking at those books so this was a very fun few minutes.
(500)
Days of Summer (2009): Marc Webb directed this romantic comedy but
please keep reading before you just dismiss it as such. Joseph
Gordon-Levitt plays Tom Hansen, a greeting card writer, who then meets
and falls for Summer Finn, played by Zooey Deschanel, who says she does
not believe in love but still forms a complicated relationship with Tom.
She then breaks up with him which causes him to flashback to their
relationship to analyze what went wrong. This was a very well done love
story. Chloe Moritz is also good as Tom's little sister who is
probably more mature and tries to help him through his break-up. This
also puts great use of 80s alternative like some music from The Smiths.
Ali:
Fear Eats the Soul (1974): Rainer Werner Fassbinder directed this
foreign film which is another unusual love story from the last
selection. We first meet Emmi, an older German woman, who meets a
Moroccan man named Ali who is not only a different race but 10 years
younger. They then form a relationship leading up to marriage which
becomes looked down upon the whole town including Emmi's family who just
cannot understand how these two different people fall in love. This
takes a great look at the price of being prejudice and what it can do.
The two leads in the film are great and really make you feel for them
even though they might be quite different than we are.
The Bucket
List (2007): I end this week with a selection from my Facebook friend
Rod who owns Wishbone Gifts, a great local store in Muncie, so if you
are in the area, check out some really cool things that are sold there.
Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman team up in this one. Nicholson plays
Edward who is a selfish billionaire. Freeman plays Carter, a
working-class mechanic, family man, and history buff. The one thing
they have in common is that they are terminally ill men who are in the
same room and decide to escape to do the things that they have always
wanted to do. They both learn a lot in the process. This was a great
film showing us to live life like it is the last day you have because
for them there was not much left. It is also very interesting watching
Nicholson evolve into a more humanistic person. Rob Reiner directed
this one.
Well, that is it for this week. Tell me what you like
and dislike and stay tuned for next week which so far includes more
Christina Ricci, Sean Astin, Alec Guinness, Peter Lorre, David Arquette,
the late Jill Clayburgh, and many others.
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