Welcome to the 342nd Edition of my series. This one has been
difficult to put together due to my mini-series and some selections that
did not work. I started rehearsals for THE PRODUCERS last week and
resume tomorrow. So far I have just rehearsed the music but I hope for
it to be a good show.
The Kennedys (2011): This is a TV mini-series for the
week which focuses on the infamous political family. Greg Kinnear
plays the part of John F. Kennedy. In the abstract it might be hard for
someone to picture Kinnear playing Kennedy but he ended up really
pulling it off. Barry Pepper plays his younger brother Robert. Pepper
is another one that we might not picture at first but also does a good
job as the younger brother always in his brother's shadow in some ways.
Tom Wilkinson plays the overbearing patriarch Joseph Kennedy and
DAWSON'S CREEK alum Katie Holmes plays John's wife Jackie and both of
them did good. In the start of the movie, we see Joseph Kennedy Sr.
trying to get into politics but fails. He is soon determined for his
son Joe Jr. to follow and become successful where he fails. Things
change though when his oldest son Joe is killed in the war. Soon after,
he feels John is the one to follow in politics and first getting him
into the Senate followed by the presidency. He was also influential in
RFK being named as Attorney General. This portrays Joe Kennedy as a
very ruthless person but with good intentions as he uses rather crooked
means during the election. As I researched this, the portrayal does
appear fairly accurate. Much of this is shot in flashbacks where one
remembers a similar event to the past. With JFK, it focuses on many of
his events like Bay of Pigs, the Cuban Missile Crisis, some Civil Rights
issues, among other things. It also focuses on his fidelity issues,
his troubled marriage to Jackie, and some mob connections that he had,
especially through his father. With RFK, we see his difficulty in
living up to his father, as well as advising his brother a lot in his
role as the Attorney General. We also see his focus on bringing down
the mob and disagreements he had with J. Edgar Hoover, played by Enrico
Colantoni. The movie then goes into the assassination of RFK when he
was trying to become president and obviously focuses on JFK's
assassination. Of the Kennedy children, the only other one they feature
is Rosemary who had some learning and emotional issues. Her father put
her up to a lobotomy thinking that would improve her but instead made
her not remember anything. There is no mention upon Ted Kennedy in the
series which I felt was rather strange but maybe they either did not
want to add more than eight hours or they only had the limit of eight
hours and had to leave that name out. A lot of what was showed here
was dramatized but still very informative for what it focuses upon.
This was shown on the Reelz channel and consists of eight episodes of
about 45 minutes. This can be viewed upon Instant Netflix.
Use
Your Eyes (1970): This is my short film for the week that I recorded
on TCM for Underground Shorts. This is actually a police training video
which shows us how to differentiate cigarettes from marijuana. I'm sure
at the time this was considered very informative since we sure would
not want people to do that marijuana. It is really just more
entertaining now. This is findable on Youtube. This is something that
can be used to start off a double feature on a movie night.
Baby
Face (1933): This is part two of a Barbara Stanwyck series and
unexpectedly one for John Wayne. Last week I featured Stanwyck in the
women's prison movie LADIES THEY TALK ABOUT as a female bank robber. In
this film, she plays Lily who aspires to climb the social ladder and
uses men as her stepping stones to get to that top. George Brent
co-stars as bank manager Courtland who becomes her main love interest
and begins to rethink her life. John Wayne has a small part in the
beginning and is quite different than usual. In this film, he took a
liking to Lily and kind of follows her around like a puppy dog. This
was a pretty controversial film at the time with its sexual innuendo and
even banned in the U.S. at first. It then required a lot of cuts but
has been restored in its full form. This is part of a TCM dvd set
called Forbidden Hollywood which I might use next week.
Con
Air (1997): This is my guilty pleasure action film for the week.
Nicolas Cage stars as a parolee named Cameron Poe who did some time for
manslaughter from a drunken brawl who longs to get back to his wife and
daughter who has not personally met her father yet. He is soon put on a
convict plane where soon the convicts take over where he then takes
charge of the situation. Leading the hijack is the psychotic Cyrus "The
Virus" Grissom, played by John Malkovich, and followed by Ving Rhames,
Dave Chappelle, Danny Trejo, among others. John Cusack plays US
Marshall Vincent Larkin who takes note of Poe and realizes he is their
ally in the air. Steve Buscemi plays serial killer Garland Greene and
as much as I like Buscemi, I felt he was a bit wasted in this film as
his character really had no significance on either side. I will add
that he has some interesting dialogue. Other than that, it is a fun
action film produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. This is good if you are
looking for a lot of action and some explosions that has some humor as
well.
Harlem Globetrotters (1951): This is a movie
that is based on the famous comedy basketball team that still is around
to this day. Billy Brown stars as Billy Townsend who is determined to
join the all-negro team but is encouraged to get his education. He
decides to go ahead and drop out of school and play ball with the team.
A Young Dorothy Dandridge co-stars as Billy's love interest Ann. Billy
soon becomes the big star but gets hurt which complicates things. Much
of the actual Globetrotters are in this film and while it is not the
best story of all time, it is good for historical purposes in terms of
seeing some of the original Harlem Globetrotters in action.
A
Fighting Chance (2010): This is a documentary from ESPN films that
focuses on Kyle Maynard. Maynard was born with no arms and legs but
managed to be quite successful in wrestling becoming an All-American in
high school. After that he was determined to make it into the MMA which
proved to be a big challenge as many could not look past his
disability. This is someone who does not want to be seen as "disabled"
and fights for everything he gets. There is a lot of focus on him
growing up and fitting in. It also shows his very understanding and
proud parents who talk about their thoughts on his MMA aspirations and
him when he was in wrestling. It also focuses a lot on people who did
not feel that he should be able to compete in MMA which are mostly from
internet comments and even UFC president Dana White who felt the idea of
him competing is "criminal". This is a very inspirational documentary
and may leave you reconsidering the word "disability". He is someone
who does a lot of motivational speaking and encourages others to fight
for what they want no matter the limitations. He also owns a gym called
No Excuses Crossfit gym in Suwanee, GA where the name of his gym says
it all in the way he approaches life. This is available on DVD on
http://fightingchancemovie.com where a portion of the proceeds will go
to help disabled veterans coming home from the war. This is also
available on the app Crackle and that is free to watch. This is
something that everyone should take a look at, I am glad I did.
The
Inspector General (1949): This is my musical comedy for the week that
stars Danny Kaye. He plays an illiterate stooge named Georgi who is
part of a traveling medicine show. He soon goes into a strange town and
is picked up on a vagrancy charge. He is mistaken for the inspector
general who they believe is traveling in disguise. Soon, the corrupt
officials fear they will be caught for some criminal activities and make
some bungled attempts to kill Georgi. He also decides to use his
newfound power to make the town a little bit better. Elsa Lanchester
and Walter Slezak co-star in this comedy. This is a good showcase for
Danny Kaye in his comedic role and Danny Kaye fans will love this
movie. This is available on Instant Netflix.
The Terminator (1984): This is my sci-fi film for the week and
in my opinion one of the best of the genre. James Cameron wrote and
directed this tale that started it all. For those of you that do not
know this, Arnold Schwarzenegger was in movies before he became the
governor of California and stars in this film as the T-101 cyborg sent
from the future to kill Sarah Connor, played by Linda Hamilton. Another
person sent from the future was a resourceful human named Kyle Reese,
played by Michael Biehn, to protect Sarah who is destined for big
things. The cyborg proves to be very hard to destroy. Many don't
understand how difficult the part of the terminator is to play. Arnold
was great at being absolutely unemotional and just doing what he is
programed to do which was kill. This movie in my opinion in one of the
most innovative sci-fi films of all time and has a great music score
from Brad Fiedel. If all you have seen was TERMINATOR: SALVATION, you
must watch this one. This is available on Instant Netflix.
When Eight Bells Toll (1971): Anthony Hopkins stars as Philip
Calvert who is a British Agent out to investigate the disappearance of a
ship in Scotland. His investigation leads him to a wealthy greek
tycoon who becomes the chief suspect. Nathalie Delon plays the female
lead who is a lot of fun. This is in the vein of a James Bond film but
Hopkins does a good job as Calvert and makes the part his own. It was
very good to see Hopkins play this type of role. This movie is a little
grittier than the Bond film and has some good action scenes. This is
available on Instant Netflix.
Tsumiki No Ie (2008): This is my rare second short film for this
edition but I wanted to finish so I found this Japanese animation short
film. This short film shows an older man through the years whose home
continues to be flooded forcing him to add levels to his home with
bricks in order to stay dry. This is a simple story which has no
dialogue but some good animation and a good story. This won an academy
award for best animated short film. I recorded this from the Sundance
Channel.
Well, that is it for this week. Tell me what you like and don't
like. Stay turned for next week which so far includes Robert De Niro
and many others. Continue to read, I have an honorable mention for the
week.
HONORABLE THEATER MENTION
Edward Albee's The Zoo Story: My Mom and I went to see this
play
last night that is done in a rather unusual place which is the Heorot
which is a bar at Downtown Muncie. Lysa Franklin directed this two-man
show from American playwright Edward Albee that feature two of the best
local actors in Barry McMullen and Ryan Lash. McMullen plays a man who
is relaxing on a bench in the park and reading a book. Lash plays a a
young vagrant who discusses his life with the other man in a very
hostile way at times leading to quite the conclusion. This was a very
compelling show and don't expect a bunch of zoo animals. Both actors
worked very well together and Lysa Franklin did a good job of directing
and getting the show together. There are three more performances of
this show Thursday-Saturday of this week upstairs at the heorot. The
show starts at 7pm and the tickets are $7. The show is only a little
over an hour long and you can get a beer to drink
during the show. Please come support this show, I'd love for them to
be able to do more theater in that space and a place I would love to
perform someday.
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