Welcome to the 317th Edition of my long-running series. I have been
done quite a bit this week but I still managed to finish this up. I do
not have much to say on this one so I'll just get to my picks for the
week.
Brothers at War (2009): This is my documentary for the
week directed by Jake Rademacher. Rademacher goes to Iraq looking to
understand the experience and sacrifice of two of his brothers who were
in the war. To do this, he risks his life in order to understand the
experience and to do this film. This film not only focuses on the unit
each of his brothers are in but takes a look at his family and the
effects it has on them. This documentary really had no pro or anti-war
messages but gives a realistic look of a unit making the most of their
everyday lives of danger. Gary Sinise is an executive producer and
evidently understood the importance of the film. This is a great
documentary on the war unless you're looking for an anti-war film.
Small
Fry (2011): This is my Pixar short for the week which they showed
before THE MUPPETS. This is a short featuring all the Toy Story
characters we have come to love with all the actors returning plus new
ones. This continues with Bonnie going to a fast food chain where a
mini-Buzz Lightyear, who is a toy with meals, manages to replace himself
with Buzz and Buzz must find his way home. In his search for the home,
he finds a support group for happy meal toys that have been forgotten
which was a great scene. Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, and many
others reprise their roles. GLEE co-star Jane Lynch provides the voice
of Neptuna who runs the support group. Not as good as the great trilogy
but still entertains. I went with Lisa to see this and THE MUPPETS was
great. I wish all movies would feature some short film like this one.
The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey (2007): This is a pretty good
holiday film for the family. This movie is about a young boy named
Thomas whose father dies. The one thing he is left to remember the
father is a nativity set which was lost. NIP/TUCK alum Joely Richardson
stars as the boy's mother who is very worried about him and asks an
ill-tempered woodcarver to make a new set. Tom Berenger plays the title
character who is the woodcarver and very distant with everyone. He
reluctantly lets Thomas watch him work where they form an unexpected
bond. This movie is based on a children's book by Susan Wojciechowski.
This is a good holiday tale of love, loss, and redemption and perfect
for the season.
Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas (1977): This is really more of a tv
special but it's my blog and I'll call it a movie all I want. This is a
Jim Henson special which focus on the title character and his mother
who are both very poor but want to do something special for each other
for Christmas and enter the talent contest for the $50 prize. Emmet
forms a jug-band and his ma comes up with a song not knowing they are
both in the contest. Henson comes through big time with this story of
new puppet characters. This is another great one to watch with the
family and is about 45 minutes long. This is available on Instant
Netflix so if you have that access watch this with the kids.
Santa Claus (1959): I have done inspirational and family friendly films
but this one was just plain weird. Last year I used this and just
watched the standard version but this year I decided to watch it to
MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 to hear the commentary from the robots.
Every year, children look forward to seeing Santa and getting their
presents but kids may not look at Santa the same if they see this one.
For starters, Santa lives in outer space. He does not have elves
working for him but children from each country and at the start of the
movie each group of the country's kids sing very annoying music. Every
year, he must battle the Devil who sends his minion Pitch to try to stop
Santa and destroy Christmas. If Pitch fails, he will be fed chocolate
ice cream. The reindeer are something that are created and if they
don't make it back by sundown they will melt. To add to this, Merlin
works for Santa at the North Pole. I guess King Arthur did not really
need him anymore and decided to help Santa. Need I say more? This may
very well be the most bizarre film I have seen and it was filmed in
Mexico. This is a good one to watch with friends and Instant Netflix
has both the regular version and the MST3K version so you all have your
choice. The MST3K episode is quite funny but maybe watch the standard
one with friends so that you can come up with your own color commentary.
The Stolen Jools (1931): This is another short film for the week that
features quite a bit of stars from this era like Laurel and Hardy,
Buster Keaton, Wallace Beery, Edward G. Robinson, Joan Crawford, Gary
Cooper, and many others. This was a fundraiser for National Variety
Artists tuberculosis sanatarium and produced by a cigarette company.
How far we have come. The story here is that actress Norma Shearer lost
her jewels and the investigation of the theft. It is pretty
entertaining considering it was a fundraiser and quite the starfest.
The Black Swan (1942): Now see the year and no the 2010 film is not a
remake of this movie. This is a pirate film where notorious pirate
Captain Morgan is governor of Jamaica and enlists some of his partners
in ridding the Caribbean of the Buccaneers. Tyrone Power stars as Jamie
Boy who is a former pirate who abducts the governor's daughter Lady
Margaret, played by Maureen O'Hara, and a fight is set. This was a
pretty entertaining pirate film from the era and the leads were a lot of
fun.
Nutcracker: The Motion Picture (1986): After being in a version of
this at Minnetrista Cultural Center and doing it five years ago at
Cornerstone Center for the Arts, I thought this would be quite fitting
to feature this film in this month's edition. Both times, I played
Drosselmeyer but in different version and I noticed differences even in
this version. This was a live version on the Seattle stage for the
motion picture some effects were added. The main character of Clara
provided a couple scenes of narration to maybe get the audience to
understand better. It started out with Drosselmeyer and him making
clocks. Part of this version is ballet but other parts have a lot of
other dancing and character portrayals though no dialogue except for the
little bit of narration. This one is a little more bizarre but the
book by E.T.A. Hoffman is quite strange as I read it in preparation for
my show. It's still okay for the family to watch if you like this sort
of thing. This is available on Instant Netflix.
Deranged: Confessions of a Necrophile (1974): So I have done a lot of
holiday themed selections and even comedy so for all you Christmas
haters, I give you this film. Roberts Blossom stars as Ezra Cobb who is
a deranged rural farmer whose possessive mother dies and he decides to
preserve her while also becoming a grave robber and serial killer. This
is by no means for everyone and this is based on serial killer Ed
Gein. Some may see the mention of the mother and think PSYCHO but that
was also based on Gein. The beginning has someone talking about the
case this is based on and mentions that people can learn. It was
interesting in parts when Gein's neighbor friends did not suspect a
thing about him as strange as he was but seemed harmless. I think the
purpose was for people to see the signs of this type of thing to avoid
it happening. This was a very violent film and very disturbing. So
this is for the horror fans out there and the ones tired of reading
about my Christmas selections. This is available on Instant Netflix but
be warned.
Iron Monkey (1993): So for all you Christmas haters who also do not
really want to see horror, maybe you'll like this martial arts
selection. Rongguang Yu plays the title character who is a doctor but
masquerades at night as a Zorro type character. Donnie Yen co-stars as
Wong Kei-Ying who is another martial artist who is forced by the
government to try to capture Iron Monkey in order to save his son which
is the child version of Wong Fei-Hung. Fei-Hung is known as a Chinese
Folk Hero portrayed a lot in film as an adult but here as a child. They
soon team up against the corrupt government of a Chinese village. I
guess at one time this movie was very hard to watch but Quentin
Tarantino decided to re-translate the dialogue and re-score the film and
what I saw was a very good martial arts film and lately Donnie Yen is
slowly becoming my favorite Asian actor. The fight sequences from all
were very good. This is available on Instant Netflix.
Well, that is it for this week. Tell me what you like and what you dislike and stay tuned for next week.
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