Welcome to the 119th Edition of my series. Tonight is the night of the
Academy Awards and it is also the evening that my contest started.
Contestants have all read the rules and just remember that with my
scoring, watching thirty 90 minute films is the same as six movies that
are more than 3 hours. Okay, onto my picks for the week.
Medicine
Man (1992): This will get some mixed opinions I'm sure. This is mostly
of worth for Sean Connery's performance who plays a scientist living in
the Amazon jungle to find a cure for cancer. SOPRANOS alum Lorraine
Bracco plays the assistant sent to help him much to his dismay but
predictably enough, she grows on him. However, bulldozers are moving in.
This is something a family can watch, maybe a bit propagandic but still
enjoyable.
The Human Stain (2003): I remember seeing this in the
local theater in my dad's hometown and I was into it every minute.
Anthony Hopkins plays former Dean and Professor Coleman Silk whose
comments in a classroom were taken as racist remarks provoking him to
resign and that is where we see his life fold from the modern era and in
flashbacks growing up where we learn a secret about him. I started
caring about Coleman Silk right away. Nicole Kidman stars Faunia who is a
troubled janitor and Coleman and Faunia have a love affair. Gary Sinise
is good as reclusive author Nathan Zuckerman who is befriended by
Coleman who wants him to write a story about him. Ed Harris has an
interesting role as Faunia's estranged husband who both seem to have
issues and it's hard to tell who is telling the truth. I saw a similar
story on Oprah showing that this is not impossible so watch to find out.
Most of you probably already know the secret. Great performances,
especially by Hopkins showing he is more than Hannibal Lector.
Giant
(1956): This is part of what was unfortunately the James Dean Trilogy.
This is actually the last movie that he was in. Let's start from the
beginning though. This movie centers on a family in Texas headed by Rock
Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor. They are Jordan aka Bick and Leslie
Benedict. This movie is quite full of Texas stereotypes but also human
qualities as well. Rock Hudson is a bit unlikable at first but then you
start to understand him as the movie goes on. James Dean plays Jett Rink
who is a cowhand working for the Benedict family who is not treated
very well. Into the movie, he strikes oil which makes him become very
greedy. He goes from the character you sympathize with to an absolute
villain and vice versa with Bick. This movie spans three generations and
they do a great job aging the actors, especially James Dean. Other
actors are Dennis Hopper, Mercedes McCambridge, Sal Mineo, and Carroll
Baker. George Stevens did a great job directing this adaptation from the
Edna Ferber novel and he did his directing by re-filming scenes from
different angles, something he was notorious for. I actually watched
this again with commentary giving some great insight into many things
including James Dean. He unfortunately died days after his filming was
done. There's not much more to say excempt that it's worth the 201
minutes so participants in my contest can watch this and the version
with commentary and get a total of 10 points since they are five points
each.
Closer (2004): I made this pick when I drew my facebook
friend Nina from my Facebook bucket. I was friends with her oldest
brother growing up in middle school and high school. While this movie is
compelling, it's definetly not my favorite though the four actors were
very good in their roles. The four people most emphasized in this film
are Clive Owen, Natalie Portman, Jude Law, and Julia Roberts. All I can
do to describe this is to say it's a deceitful love story. My issue is
that I felt it jumped around too much without any real explanation but
maybe I just need to see it again. Nonetheless, still a very watchable
film but probably not for everyone. This movie is based on a play by
Patrick Marber and Clive Owen was in the theater version of the story.
Star
Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977): This was the time where we were
introduced to such friends as Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo,
Chewbacca, C-3PO, R2-D2, among others. George Lucas wrote and directed
these films which created many pop-culture icons and made people want to
dress up as the characters to go see it. We have Leia's infamous hair,
we have the great Darth Vader outfit, storm trooper outfits, etc. This
movie made a star of Harrison Ford, who plays the outlaw Han Solo who
was always my favorite character in the series. Even Hammer Films
veteran Peter Cushing is in this movie as well as Alec Guinness as the
veteran Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi. Whoever has wanted to see this movie has by
now and if you don't like it or don't want to see it I don't believe I
can really convince you otherwise. Also, if you love these films and
have children, chances are that you have or will show it to them so I
don't believe I really need to go much into plotline here. These movies
have been referenced and parodied many times in movies, tv shows, and
about anywhere else you can think of.
Charley's Aunt (1941):
Finally, I get a comedy on here starring comic legend Jack Benny who
stars as Babbs Babberly. A couple of his friends ask him to pose as Aunt
Donna Lucia to chaperone a couple girls while Stephen Spettigue, played
by Edmond Gwenn, to make sure things go well. Things get complicated
when Stephen falls for what he believes is a woman and the real Donna
Lucia comes into the picture. This movie is based on a very durable
play. Jack Benny is hilarious as a cross-dresser.
Pirate
Party on Catalina Island (1935): This is my short film for the week,
once again part of a DVD of a movie I intend to feature next week. I was
going to do it this week but decided against it due to time. This is a
pretty good Hollywood promotion video which is a pirate themed variety
show with some pretty good musical numbers. You can see Cary Grant,
Robert Armstrong, Errol Flynn, Marion Davies, Mickey Rooney, Randolph
Scott, among many others.
Trois Couleurs: Bleu (1993): This
is Travis' Co-Op selection for the week. This part one of Polish
director Krzysztof Kieslowski's trilogy and for those of you who don't
know the title translates to THREE COLORS: BLUE. The others are red and
white. Juliette Binoche stars as Julie, the whose composer husband and
daughter die in a car accident. Julie decides to live stress free
without worry or personal commitment but keeps getting dragged in by her
husband's unfinished composition and others who go to her for their
needs. I can't explain this like Travis but it is a very interesting
movie which uses the music very cleverly where the music is like the
enemy to Julie but the music is what tries to save Julie from the
reclusive lifestyle. The cinematography was awesome and they did a good
job using the color blue. You'll go on a great journey to the mind. I
look forward to checking out the next two on this trilogy.
Hard
Contract (1969): I was searching for something from this era to record
to DVR and this is what I found. James Coburn stars as a hitman who goes
to Europe to do one more job but ends up falling in love. Burgess
Meredith co-stars as his mentor who seems to have some compassion. Lee
Remick is good as the hitman's love interest. What excited me was when
seeing the credits, Sterling Hayden was in this movie who doesn't show
up until much later in the movie but as a fan of him I was excited. It's
definetly worth a try.
Brick (2005): This was an issue I had a
hard time finding a movie of this era. Everything I put to DVR just
didn't fit into this particular installment so I went to the library,
made some random picks and I ended up with this indie flick. This is an
interesting approach to the Film-Noir genre which stars THIRD ROCK FROM
THE SUN alum Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars as Brendan, who starts his own
investigation of the murder of the girl he loved. He's come quite a long
way since being on the mentioned sitcom. ROSWELL alum and LOST co-star
Emilie de Ravin plays the doomed girlfriend. Brendan's investigation
leads him into a strange world of small-time drug dealers. Look for the
original John Shaft aka Richard Roundtreee who plays the principal of
the school.
Well, that is it for this week. Good luck to all my
competitors in my tournament. Next week on early sunday morning, I am
going to release a blog which will allow you to post your movie watching
results instead of me having to locate blogs so please have your
results to me by sunday and just have fun.
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