Welcome to the 290th Edition of my series. After this, in ten weeks
will my 300th Edition so I'm excited over that thought. This week I pay
tribute to "Macho Man" Randy Savage who recently left us. Last Tuesday
started season six of AMERICA'S GOT TALENT but they showed in L.A. and
Atlanta so I was not featured. I have no idea right now if I will be
featured or not. Whatever happened, it was quite an experience. Last
Thursday, my Facebook friend Sean was given the opportunity to display
some of his art at the Muncie Civic Theater for the first Thursday
artwalk and displayed some very good work. He can paint and act as he
is one of the best actors I have worked with there and his acting made
many believe I was actually hurting him when I barely touched him.
My
Best Friend (2006): This is one of two foreign language films I am
using this week. This is a French film directed by Patrice Leconte.
Daniel Auteuil stars as art dealer Francois who is very successful in
his living but not at making friends. Julie Gayet co-stars as Catherine
who is his business partner and does not believe him when he says he
has a best friend. Francois then makes a wager that he has a best
friend and will introduce that friend but he has limited time to find
that "best friend". He then meets a very sociable taxi driver in Bruno
who he then enlists hoping to make him the best friend but in the
process begins to like Bruno who really helps him in his life and even
his troubled relationship with his daughter. This movie is a comedy but
really has a good message on the importance of having friends. There
was a great moment with the French version of WHO WANTS TO BE A
MILLIONAIRE.
The Crucible (1996): This is the 30th link on The
Chain and this link continues with Joan Allen who plays Elizabeth
Proctor in this film. This is based on the play by Arthur Miller which
takes place during the Salem Witchcraft Trials during in 1692. Daniel
Day-Lewis stars as the local John Proctor who is a loving husband to his
wife Elizabeth. Everything starts when a few teen girls are caught
conjuring up potions and dancing in the forest and all come up with some
lies. Leading this group is Abigail Williams, played by Winona Ryder,
who is very conniving and had an affair with John. She soon accuses
Elizabeth of witchcraft where everything unfolds from there. The
closest I have come to being in this play was in high school where we
did a class reading from the play and I read for Reverend Hale who did
not agree with the extremism of what the local town was doing. For
people who think we have it bad now, think of what these people had to
go through in this era. This was a good film adaptation for the play
with good performances. This is available on Instant Netflix.
Justice
League: The New Frontier (2008): This is part three of a four-part
Neil Patrick Harris series. In this animated DC film, he provides the
voice for Barry Allen who is better known as The Flash. This is a very
interesting story which takes place during the McCarthy era in the 50s
where even superheros were being questioned in which people like Batman
were fugitives. Superman signed some peace contract to avoid trouble
and Wonder Woman signed the same thing but really went off the deep end
when she felt she was not being rewarded for her heroism. They must all
team up though to fight a menace to earth which includes the Green
Lantern, Martian Manhunter, and many others. The biggest problem I had
with this film was Jeremy Sisto who was the voice of Batman. I did not
like his voice to Batman which is not saying anything bad about him as
an actor, just the casting. Other voices include ANGEL alum David
Boreanaz as Green Lantern, XENA alum Lucy Lawless as Wonder Woman,
DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES alum Kyle MacLachlin as Superman, among others.
This was a pretty good tale including the origins on Hal Jordan who
becomes the Green Lantern. When seeing the cover, it has quite a few of
the heroes but not all are featured much, if at all in this film
including Robin who just has a cameo. Otherwise a good animated tale
which very rarely fails with DC.
Big Blue Goose (1956): This is
my short film for the week which I found on TCM On-Demand. This is part
of the Sportscope series which focuses on Van Campen Heilner who was a
hunter and this focused on a trip to the Louisiana border to hunt a
specific form of goose. This is a mildly entertaining short if you can
except seeing animals being killed on screen that is worth a viewing but
there are better shorts from this era.
Wild Women of Wongo
(1958): This would be my cult classic for the week which is available
on the free movie section of Comcast On-Demand. If you are looking for
quality in terms of plot, acting, and direction this is not it. This
takes place on the island of Wongo in which the women are beautiful and
the men are ugly. They then discover the other side of the island where
the men are quite beautiful and the women are ugly and soon tension
mounts. Need I say more? James Wolcott is credited in this film as the
director but apparently he was friends with the great playwright
Tennessee Williams and Williams directed a majority of the film which is
not his finest work.
Cries and Whispers (1972): Now I bring a
much better film which is my second foreign language film and directed
by Ingmar Bergman. This is a Swedish film which focuses on a woman
dying of cancer who is visited by her two sisters. Through this visit
and condition, tension rises with the sisters in jealousy and envy which
is explained a lot through the childhood flashbacks. This is a very
moving film that focuses on a lot of philosophical questions and is
Bergman in top form. Anything more I say will give it away but this is a
must for foreign film buffs.
The True Story of Wrestlemania
(2011): This is my tribute to Macho Man Randy Savage who was not
featured much in this documentary but is very important to the history
of the early Wrestlemanias, most notably three in which him and Ricky
"The Dragon" Steamboat have one of the best matches of all time for the
Intercontinental Championship. Anybody who has been a wrestling fan at
some point in their life know of this long-time annual show called
Wrestlemania dreamed up in the early 80s in a hit or miss gamble by
Vince McMahon Jr. This documentary takes a look at important moments
on each of the beginning Wrestlemanias and some of the later ones which
is an event that now spans for 26 years. It also takes a look at the
many celebrities who have been involved in the Wrestlemanias which are a
very important part of these events starting with the first one and
even football legend Lawrence Taylor actually having a surprisingly good
match with Bam Bam Bigelow. We also get a good look at some of the
most important wrestlers of this event which include Hulk Hogan, Shawn
Michaels, the Undertaker and like him or not John Cena. This movie
packs some pretty good information in the two hour period and the
documentary is available on Instant Netflix. When looking at Netflix
and you see that Volume 1 is available on Instant and the other two
volumes are on DVD, remember it is the documentary that can be watched
instantly and select matches are included on the other two. This is
quite possibly the best of the WWE documentaries. Ooooh yeah!
In
the Wake of the Bounty (1933): I found this film on the Pub-D-Hub app
on my Roku which shows public domain films. This is an early film on
the story of the Bounty which was headed by the tyrant Captain Bligh and
his assistant Fletcher Christian who starts quite the mutiny. In 1935,
a film came out which was far better than this one. However, I did
like the way it started with one of the aging crew members was telling
his friends about his experience on the Bounty. This movie focuses more
on the happenings after the mutiny on the island that was inhibited.
This is mostly of interest to see Errol Flynn in his movie debut playing
Fletcher Christian whose performance in this film was topped by Clark
Gable in 1935.
Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973): This is
the fifth and last installment of this ape series where Roddy McDowell
reprises his role of Caesar from CONQUEST OF THE PLANET OF THE APES who
now lives in a world where the humans are enslaved by them but is
looking to have a world of peace unlike the world he has heard about
that his parents Cornelius and Zera lived in. Caesar's vision is
challenged by the gorilla General Aldo who does not agree with Caesar
and some human survivors which I assume are meant to be like the ones
from BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE APES. This is one of the weaker entries
of the series but has its moments and it was good to just end the
series.
Ghosts of the Abyss (2003): I end this week with this
documentary produced by Disney and directed by James Cameron. After the
success of Cameron's very successful 1997 film TITANIC which was loved
and hated by many, he decides to do this documentary exploring the
history of the ship and an underwater journey to see the wreckage of the
titanic. TITANIC co-star Bill Paxton narrates this film and joins the
journey with Cameron. This was made for the Imax theater and was
probably better on that screen but this still sparks some interest and I
liked hearing about the history of some of the most important employees
and passengers of the titanic. One interesting moment for this film
was during the filming, the horrible event of 9/11 took place putting
what they were doing in perspective.
Well, that is it for this
week. Tell me what you like and dislike. Stay tuned for next week
which so far includes more Joan Allen, more Neil Patrick Harris, Emma
Thompson, Walter Huston, Brigitte Bardot, Toni Collette, and many others.
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