Welcome to the 224th Edition of my blog series. This week I pay tribute
to the late lead singer of the Knack Doug Fieger and producer David
Brown. I am very excited for the March 2nd release of Peter Gabriel's
new album SCRATCH MY BACK where he does remakes to twelve of his
favorites with the use of an orchestra and his voice. I have heard some
samples of the music and sounds pretty good to me so far but maybe I'm
biased with Peter Gabriel being my favorite singer. Let's get on with
the picks for the week and hope to accommodate to each person's taste
in some way and if not I am sorry.
The Pale Horse (1997): This
is my British tv movie for the week which is based on the novel by
Agatha Christie. Colin Buchanon stars as sculptor Mark Easterbrook who
is accused of the murder of a police. He then sets out to find the real
killer with the help of art restorer Kate, played by Jayne Ashbourne,
and stumbles onto a strange house of the movie title where three
eccentric women live who all claim to be witches. This movie was a bit
confusing at times and I have seen better Agatha Christie but overall
not a bad film.
Reality Bites (1994): This is my tribute to the
lead singer of The Knack Doug Fieger who recently left us and whose
song MY SHARONA is featured in this film. Ben Stiller directed this
coming-of-age comedy on Generation X graduates where he also co-stars.
Winona Ryder stars as Lelaina Pierce who graduates as the valedictorian
but finds that does not automatically get her a great job. She is also
filming a documentary on post-education life using a lot of footage of
her friends. Ethan Hawke co-stars as Troy who is an unemployed musician
determined to not live a corporate lifestyle. Jeanine Garafalo is
Lelaina's best friend Vickie who manages the GAP and this is probably
my favorite performance of hers. Ben Stiller plays Michael, a tv
executive and takes Lelaina's documentary where he makes it a little
more exploitative than she wanted Lelaina must decide if she likes the
life of Troy or the materialistic life of Michael. Steve Zahn also
co-stars as Sammy who is trying to deal with his sexuality. The
performances here were great and made quite a statement.
The
Princess Bride (1987): The Facebook friend I chose is Megan who is the
best Harpist in Muncie, and possibly Indiana. This is a great fairy
tale comedy that has it all. We start the movie with WONDER YEARS alum
Fred Savage who is sick in bed and his grandpa played by COLUMBO alum
Peter Falk. His grandfather decides to read the book of the title movie
to him saying it has been passed down generations. Robin Wright stars
as Princess Buttercup who is kidnapped. Cary Elwes plays Westley who is
determined his destined love. Mandy Patinkin co-stars as Inigo Montoya
and is very amusing in that role. Former WWF wrestler Andre the Giant
co-stars as the gentle giant and is very good in his role. Other
co-stars include Wallace Shawn, Christopher Guest, Chris Sarandon,
Billy Crystal, Carol Kane, and many others. This is a very fun fantasy
comedy of the 80s and so far has not been remade to my knowledge. Dire
Straits lead singer Mark Knopfler wrote the music score of the movie.
The
Dark Knight (2008): The Facebook friend I chose for this selection is
Eric who I knew at Muncie Civic Theater when I was a kid. 2008 was
quite a year for superhero films which included this one, IRON MAN, THE
INCREDIBLE HULK, and HELLBOY 2. This one did end up overshadowing them
in this continuation of the 2005 film BATMAN BEGINS. Christian Bale
reprises his role as Bruce Wayne who fights crime as Batman. Heath
Ledger co-stars as the Joker which I believe is the best portrayal of
that part but was unfortunately Ledger's last performance. I was just
amazed by the portrayal of the Joker and still cannot even picture him
playing the part until I actually see the film. The Joker proves to be
a lot of trouble for Gotham City and really takes Batman to his limits
testing the ethics of Batman and how far he will go. Gary Oldman
reprises his role of Batman's loyal ally Lt. James Gordan. Aaron
Eckhart plays District Attorney Harvey Dent who most know who he
becomes. Maggie Gyllenhaal replaces Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes who is
a childhood friend of Bruce Wayne but is with Harvey Dent. This was a
very interesting film which puts a lot of questions to the word "hero".
Batman does what he does because he feels Gotham City needs him but
wants the town to need a more noble man like Harvey Dent who puts away
criminals without violence. Other people in this movie are Eric
Roberts, Anthony Michael Hall, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, and many
others. It was also a very interesting ending that I did not expect.
Heath Ledger unfortunately died shortly after filming making this his
last completed role and will always go down as one of the best
performances of all time.
Meshes in the Afternoon (1943): This
is my usual short film for the week but a much different one than
usual. Maya Deren directed this short film which centers on a woman who
who lives in a strange world where she sees a hooded man walking up the
stairs and has a knife handy. This was shot in many unusual camera
angles and has a music score but no dialogue. It conveys a woman who
does not know who this hooded man is and if it ends well or not. This
is really hard to explain but is available with many other Maya Deren's
short films.
Daratt (2006): This is a very rare movie made in
Chad, Africa which takes place in the post years of their 40 year civil
war which Mahamat-Saleh Haroun wrote and directed. Many war criminals
were given amnesty. Gumar is very outraged when man named Nassara who
killed his son is released and orders his grandson Atim to track down
Nassara and kill him. Atim finds Nassara who has gone straight and is
married with children. He then becomes an apprentice in Nassara's
bakery but Atim begins to question the orders of his grandfather. This
is a great character study on Atim whose ethics and morals become
conflicted leading to what I thought was a very good conclusion. I
recorded this one from the Link channel which had a very good interview
with the director.
The Eiger Sanction (1975): This is my tribute
to the late producer David Brown who recently left us. This is an early
directorial effort from Clint Eastwood who plays a retired assassin
named Jonathan Hemlock who is now a professor and art collector. He is
then coerced out of retirement when an old friend of his is murdered.
He must then join a mountain climbing team to find out which person he
has been assigned to kill. He then finds himself in a world where he
cannot trust anyone. George Kennedy plays Hemlock's friend who helps
train him since he has not done mountain climbing in a long time. The
highlights of this film are the mountain climbing sequences and the
dialogue. The plot is rather far-fetched but a fun action film which
was the start of a great directorial career for Clint Eastwood.
Love
Finds Andy Hardy (1938): This is the fourth movie where Mickey Rooney
plays the title character which was one of the most popular series of
film in the depression and war era. He is part of a family where his
father is the town judge, the mother stays at home, and has a sister he
does not always get along with. In this one, Andy's girlfriend Polly,
played by Ann Benedict, must spend Christmas at her Grandmother's house
leaving Andy with no one to go to the Christmas dance with. He is then
asked by his friend to go with his own girlfriend Cynthia, played by
Lana Turner, to keep her away from other suitors. He agrees to do it
but things become very complicated when Polly comes back. We also get
introduced to Betsy Booth, played by Judy Garland, who also loves Andy
but also helps him with his love life. Mickey Rooney is very likable in
this movie as someone who gets a little trouble sometimes but has good
intentions and these were a great series of movies for people who
wanted escape for the uncertain times. Plus, where else do you see Ann
Rutherford, Lana Turner, and Judy Garland in the same film. Judy
Garland has a pretty good musical number.
Three Little Words
(1950): This is a movie based on the songwriting team of Bert Kalmar
and Harry Ruby who wrote such songs as I WANT TO BE LOVED BY YOU, YOU
SMILED AT ME, the movie title, and many others. Fred Astaire plays
Kalmar and Red Skelton plays Ruby. We first see Bert Kalmar as a song
and dance man who then gets injured and becomes a songwriter. He then
meets composer Harry Ruby who is looking to get off the ground. The
beginning of the movie was pretty funny where Kalmar was trying to be a
magician where just about everything goes wrong. This movie takes a
look at the partnership, love life, and even their falling out. This
was a very entertaining film which also also stars Vera-Ellen, Arlene
Dahl and Debbie Reynolds in her debut as Helen Kane though she was
dubbed by the real Helen Kane.
The Firemen's Ball (1967): I end
with Milos Forman's last film in Czechoslovakia. We then see a local
fire department to celebrate the 86th birthday of the ex-boss. They
invite the whole town but nothing goes as planned when the lottery
prizes are being stolen and the contestants for their beauty contest
are unwilling and don't quite look the part for that type of contest.
There are some pretty funny and even sad moments in the 71 minutes
mostly at the party. This was also a statement against the rule of
Czechoslovakia at the time which was actually banned by their
government sending Forman here to have a great directorial career.
Well,
that is it for this week. Please tell me what you like and what you
hate and I would like you to include a recommendation for the future.
It must at least be available on Netflix and I just want one per person
so really give it some thought and it may become a future selection.
Stay tuned next week
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