Welcome to the 93rd Edition of my series. I started performances for
MASH this weekend and it's going great. I have one more performance
today at 3 pm eastern for anyone who lives in or near the Anderson
area. I also have a fantasy football draft later this evening as well.
Now for what you came to see.
Fellini Satyricon (1969): In the 60s, America had "A Clockwork
Orange" which really pushed the envelope. In Japan, they had "Blind
Beast" which was very bizarre and pushed the envelope, among other
things I'm sure. In Italy, they had this... I decided to go the
Fellini route and feature his very bizarre film that takes place in
Rome. This takes place during the rule of Nero and centers around a
student named Encolpio and Ascilto who fight over ownership of a boy.
This has a lot of images of Homosexuality which I'm sure garnered a lot
of controversy. This is based on a book by Petronius and when I spoke
to my friend Charlie at the library, he said that he read the book and
that the book was even stranger than the movie. This is not for all
tastes.
Sons of Liberty (1939): I found this short film from the DVD of
"Dodge City" which I featured a couple weeks ago. Like Dodge City,
Michael Curtiz directed this more elaborate short film. Claude Rains
stars as Haym Salomon, an American patriot during the American
Revolution and admired by George Washington.
Robin Hood (1973): When I was a little kid, I thought that Robin
Hood was a fox because these were the only pictures I had seen. It
wasn't until I was in 3rd grade and saw a movie where he was actually
human. This was clearly a children's version of the legend putting
Robin Hood as a fox and Little John as a bear. It has some funny
moments and some good singing. It may not be Disney's best, especially
in that era, but it can still be fun to watch and the kids will love it.
The Stranger (1946): Orson Welles directed and stars in this film
noir. He stars as a professor with a very dark past as a Nazi. When
his secrets are in danger of coming out, he resorts to some very extreme
measures. Edward G. Robinson plays a detective investigating the
professor's past and Loretta Young stars as his wife who does not know
his secrets and has a hard time taking them in. This was a pretty
compelling film though it is said to be Orson's least favorite of his
films.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004): Jim Carrey stars in a
comedic but more serious role, which he is good at, playing Joel who
meets a very unpredictable girl, played by Kate Winslet, named
Clementine. After quite a while together, Clementine decides to undergo
a new memory-erase procedure where she will forget Joel. When he
decides to do the same, he starts to have second thoughts about his
procedure when he finds himself loving her more than ever. This
was co-written by Charlie Kaufman who is known for "Being John
Malkovich" and "Adaptation". Elijah Wood, Kirsten Dunst and Tom
Wilkinson also star in this movie. This has some interesting imagery
and a great musical score.
The Bourne Identity (2002): With all the publicity going on with
Ultimatum, I figured I would feature the start of this surprising
trilogy. Matt Damon stars as Jason Bourne who is an amnesiac and
realizes he has a lot of strength and intelligence only to find out he
was an assassin for the CIA and is now on the run after a botched job.
Franka Potente stars as the girl who unplanningly gets involved with
Bourne. I saw this when it first came to DVD and I didn't know that was
Clive Owen as another assassin who has very limited dialogue. Also,
look for Oz and Lost alum Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as a target. Other
people in this film are Chris Cooper, Brian Cox and Julia Stiles. This
movie had many great action scenes and great character development of
the main characters and made Jason Bourne your friend right away.
Reincarnation (2005): I found this Japanese horror film on
On-Demand. It centers around an aspiring actress getting a big break in
a horror film which was based on a true story and begins to experience
images of the real experience which begins to drive her crazy. There's
not much more I can say about this. There's probably better horror
films in Japan but this was still enjoyable and I didn't see the end
coming.
Gunfight at the OK Corral (1957): This is only the second adaptation
of the Wyatt Earp/Doc Holiday legend and the first was Tombstone. In
Tombstone, it appeared that the two were best friends for many years and
on this movie, they formed an uneasy alliance and slowly began to
take liking each other. I believe that Tombstone was more accurate
because it also showed a dark side to Wyatt Earp which is very noted by
many historians but this was the 50s where Wyatt still had to be the
noble, do-no-wrong lawman. Burt Lancaster plays Wyatt and Kirk Douglas
plays dentist-turned-gunslinger Doc Holiday who is always looking for
trouble but tries to mend his ways for Wyatt which I don't believe is
very accurate. It's still a great adaptation of the legend and even
looks at different Earps like Jimmy Earp. A young Dennis Hopper plays
the younger Billy Clanton and Star Trek alum Deforest Kelley plays
Virgil Earp. They also did a good job of leading up to the infamous gun
battle.
Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade (1998): My friend John told me that I
needed to do some anime so I decided that I will every few weeks. Like
many Animes I have watched, this takes place in a bleak, futuristic
society. This centers around a member of a militaristic group and
failed to shoot a young female suicide bomber before she blew herself
up. In his trauma, he meets her look-alike sister and falls for her.
This was a pretty good story where he still must confront his past. I
found this on the Action Channel of the Encore networks.
Kagemusha (1980): Well, I started with Fellini and I end with Akira
Kurasowa. This historical epic centers around feudal Japan in the 1500s
where a petty thief becomes the imposter to Shingen after his death and
finds very hard shoes to fill. Kurasowa had a lot of trouble funding
this film and got some help from his admirers Francis Ford Coppola and
George Lucas. There is an awesome dream sequence scene which you will
notice very easily. This was Kurasowa's dream film and tried to make it
as accurate as possible. It needs to be viewed very closely but is
still very good.
Well, that is it for this week. I focused a lot on foreign films
this week. My tournament will be coming to an end very soon and the
winner of the Griffith Cup will be revealed tomorrow or Tuesday. Thank
you all for being such loyal readers and please leave your comments here
as to what you have seen and your favorites, plus least favorites.
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