Welcome to the 249th Edition of my long-running series. This week I pay
tribute to the late Maury Chaykin. I started performances for ARSENIC
AND OLD LACE and the show is going very well. We have performances on
Friday and Saturday at 7:30 pm at the Anderson Mainstage Theatre and
the tickets are $10 so get some laughs. Thanks to the cast, crew, and
"dead bodies", I will tag the friends I have on Facebook involved.
Almost
Famous (2000): I start the week out with this masterpiece from Cameron
Crowe which is a semi-autobiographical coming of age tale for him. We
start with Patrick Fugit who stars as aspiring rock journalist William
who is 15 years of age. He then gets an assignment from Rolling Stone
to write about an up-and-coming rock band called Stillwater who he
meets at the concert. Billy Crudup plays their guitarist Russell
Hammond and begins a bond with William who they nickname "the enemy"
since he is a journalist. MY NAME IS EARL star Jason Lee plays their
cynical lead singer Jeff. Kate Hudson, in a great performance that
still has yet for her to even come close to matching, plays "band-aid"
Penny Lane and also forms an unusual friendship with William. Other
"band-aids" include Anna Paquin and Fairuza Balk. Frances McDormand is
great as William's over-protective and unusual mother. Philip Seymour
Hoffman plays the real-life rock critic Lester Bangs who is kind of
William's mentor. Other actors include SNL alum Jimmy Fallon, Zooey
Deschanel, THE OFFICE co-star Rainn Wilson, and many others. This movie
works on so many levels starting with Patrick Fugit perfectly playing
the naive William who is thrusted into a whole new world when trying to
get a story together. The chemistry between him and Kate Hudson was
great as well as his interactions with Billy Crudup.
Where the
Truth Lies (2005): This is my tribute to Maury Chaykin who had a small
part as Sally Sanmarco. I will just start by saying this is NC-17 so it
is not for everyone. Atom Egoyan directed this film which stars Kevin
Bacon and Colin Firth as the comedy duo of Lanny and Vince. Alison
Lohman co-stars as reporter Karen who is trying to uncover the truth of
a dead girl the duo finds in their hotel room and what their
involvement might have been since they shortly broke up their duo.
There are some pretty intense scenes but the movie kept me pretty well
with the performances of Bacon and Firth. There is not much else I can
say without giving too much away.
The Verdict (1982): This is
possibly part one of a Paul Newman series but that is subject to
change. This is my courtroom drama for the week which stars Mr. Newman
as attorney Frank Galvin. Frank has seen better days in his career and
in his older age has a long losing streak, is an alcoholic, taking any
settlement available, and is quite the ambulance chaser as he conveys
in the beginning of the film when he is at a funeral. He is then hired
for a medical malpractice lawsuit where everyone expects that he will
settle but then realizes that this could be the chance to redeem his
career and self-respect and decides to pursue it further and goes after
the people he feels were wrong instead of getting them off with a
settlement. Jack Warden plays Frank's mentor and the one who
reluctantly helps him with the case. James Mason, in a later role,
plays the opposition and is very good near the end of his career.
Charlotte Rampling plays Newman's no-nonsense love interest. This was a
very compelling drama and possibly my favorite of Paul Newman. Look
closely for Bruce Willis and Tobin Bell as courtroom observers.
Spider-Baby
or, the Maddest Story Ever Told (1968): Jack Hill directed this
horror-comedy which stars Lon Chaney Jr. in a later role near the end
of his career. He even sings the theme song which is quite amusing. In
this film he plays Bruno who promises a crazy and dying man that he
will look after his three genetically crazed adult children. Things get
all twisted when some distant relatives come to meet them and even try
to dispossess their home where these people get far more than they
bargained for. This is not for everyone but for me goes down as a very
underrated horror-comedy which was pretty well done. Jack Hill makes
his directorial debut here and I guess in 2004 it became a stage
musical so not sure how that went. You can find this on instant Netflix.
Diary
of a Country Priest (1951): This is my French film for the week
directed by Robert Bresson. This movie takes place in a very strict
religious town where a young priest comes to work but has a hard time
getting accepted and is not in agreement with the strictness of the
town. In all the chaos, he must also deal with his own failing health
that does not seem to be getting better. Claude Laydu makes his debut
as the young and unhealthy priest and is very good. Apparently, that
character was the inspiration for the character Travis Bickle in TAXI
DRIVER in terms of his eating habits and isolation. This is a rather
beautiful film and good for any foreign film buff.
The Tall T
(1957): This is part two of my two-part Randolph Scott and director
Budd Boetticher series. This is an adaption from a novel from the great
author Elmore Leonard who I credit for getting me through high school
in assignments where we had to read 300 pages for a novel in each
grading period. Randolph plays I guess a drifter who loses his horse in
a bet and hitches a ride with a newlywed couple which is then taken
hostage by a man named Frank Usher, played by Richard Boone, and his
men and gets worse when they learn the daughter, played by Maureen
O'Sullivan, is a the daughter of a wealthy man. Brennan must then do
what he can to keep them safe and the husband proves to not be the
nicest man himself. This would be more for people who love the western
genre. It is not really my favorite genre but I did not mind this 78
minute film with some good action and decent story.
Carrington (1995): This movie focuses on painter Dora Carrington,
played very well by Emma Thompson, and focuses on many of her loves but
mainly on the relationship with homosexual writer Lytton Strachey,
played by Jonathan Pryce. The time period was during World War one
England. She later forms a more physical relationship with soldier
Ralph Partridge, played by Steven Waddington, who Lytton accepts as a
friend but turns into an awkward situation. I do not put this movie on
the level of great but because of the performances by the leads I can
put as good. Pryce is they type of actor that never really looks the
same in any film and this is no exception. Pryce and Thompson worked
very well together.
Somewhat Secret (1939): This is my short film for the week which I
found on TCM. This takes place in a very strict girls school where the
assistant dean of the school declares that if any girl is caught doing
the horrible sin of swing dancing will be in a lot of trouble. She
then has a boyfriend who is the leader of a swing band and things get
very complicated. This is a pretty fun 21 minutes. I notice I have
been doing the 1939 thing a lot lately and possibly again next week.
Sugar (2008): I found this one on HBO On-Demand which this movie was
produced by HBO films. Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck directed this
baseball film which focuses on baseball players from the Dominican
Republic and are invited to come try out for baseball and the United
States. Algenis Perez Soto stars as the title character which the
title is his nickname. It is a great portrait on how difficult the
transition can be learning a new language, culture, even baseball
style. When looking up this actor, I find this is his only film and
his only one is great. I don't know where they found him and what the
actor wants to do but he deserves more work if he wants it. This was a
very well done independent film that is much lower on the radar than it
should be so I hope this gets it a little exposure. It is available
through Netflix. I do not believe it is any longer on On-Demand.
From Russia With Love (1963): This is part two of my James Bond series
and it might continue next week but I am not sure yet. I might even
have a movie with Robert Shaw next week but that is also subject to
change. Last week I did GOLDFINGER which was the third but this week I
feature the second one and what I consider to be more underrated Bond.
Connery plays everyone's favorite British spy James Bond where he must
investigate Russia and what they believe are threats except that it is
a plot from the terrorist organization SPECTRE to get the British and
Russians to fight each other. We first meet Bond's arch-nemesis Ernst
Stavro Blofeld but only see the back of his head. Lotte Lenya plays
former KGB agent turned SPECTRE terrorist Rosa Klebb who has some very
interesting shoes. Robert Shaw was also very good as their trained
terrorist Donald Grant who also never looks the same in his movies.
Daniela Bianachi plays the naive Russian Tatiana who is being used by
SPECTRE for their master plan. This is also the introduction of
Desmond Llewelan as Boothroyd who us Bond fans for years would later be
known as Q. It would not be until GOLDFINGER where we has the great
dialogue between him and Bond though. Walter Gotell also makes his
Bond debut as terrorist Morzeny but would later become recurring
character of the KGB General Gogal which got introduced in the Roger
Moore era and would become more of an uneasy ally for the British.
This is a very good entry and Connery notes it as his favorite of his
Bond films.
Well, that is it for this week. Stay tuned next week for the 250th
Edition which so far includes Sandra Dee, Colin Farrell, Ari Folman,
Brittany Murphy, and many others.
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