Welcome to the 121st Edition of my blog. As of the first week, I am
ahead in my own tournament but it is by no means a runaway and I really
wasn't trying to win, it just happened. I'll just get on with the
films...
Casablanca (1942): Michael Curtiz directed this classic
which is based on a play called EVERYBODY COMES TO RICK'S by Murray
Bennett and Joan Alison. Many consider this the greatest film ever made.
Humphrey Bogart stars as Rick Blaine, an owner of a gin joint who
sticks his neck out for no one but something happens where he must
rethink his views. His former love Ilsa comes and is married to a man
named Victor Lazslo who is on the run from the Nazis asking for his
help. Rick is quite bitter towards Ilsa but soon falls in love again and
must make a decision leading into one ot the greatest movie endings of
all time. This movie is the subject to many great quotes and songs like
AS TIME GOES BY. It is also subject to the misquoted "play it again,
Sam" which my dad points out to me. Claude Rains plays a Nazi captain
who doesn't seem to have the usual Nazi views. Peter Lorre, Sydney
Greenstreet, and Dooley Wilson also have roles. Not much else needs to
be said for this classic love story.
David Copperfield (1935):
This is the movie I kept promising in which I have used three short
films with in the process so if you were all wondering where they came
from, her you go. George Cukor directed this adaptation to the Charles
Dickens classic and no this is not about that magician. Freddie
Bartholomew makes his American film debut as the title character as a
child whose father dies and his mother remarries to a very mean
stepfather, played by Basil Rathbone. His mother eventually dies leaving
him with his stern stepfather making David escape to set out to find
his aunt and uncle. This was a very good film adaptation with quite the
all-star cast at the time which seems to be a running theme on this
installment which includes Lionel Barrymore, Elsa Lanchester, Una
O'Connor, W.C. Fields, Maureen O'Sullivan, among others.
Crime
Wave (1954): Andre De Toth directed this film noir based on a story
called CRIMINALS MARK by John and Ward Hawkins. We start out with a
reformed criminal named Steve, played by Gene Nelson, who is paroled and
married but one of his wounded partners seeks his help in his apartment
after a robbery gone wrong. Sterling Hayden stars as a police officer
who wants to use Steve to bring down the crime ring. This was a pretty
decent b-film noir and I have always had a place in my heart for
Sterling Hayden so it made it enjoyable.
The Muppet Movie (1979):
James Frawley directed this film written by Jack Burns and Jerry Juhl.
This is the first movie featuring all of our Muppet friends which tells
the story of how they all met. We start out with Kermit the Frog in his
swamp singing the ever-famous song THE RAINBOW CONNECTION when he meets
an agent who recommends he goes to Hollywood to get into the movie
industry. Kermit sets off to go across America to the land of Hollywood
to become a star. Along the way is where he meets all his friends like
Fozzy, Miss Piggy and everyone else. However, the trip is not so easy
when a frog-legs restaurant owner wants Kermit as his spokesperson and
stops at nothing to get him. Charles Durning plays this person. This
movie contains all kinds of celebrity cameos like Steve Martin, Richard
Pryor, Mel Brooks, James Coburn, Milton Berle, Orson welles and just go
to imdb.com to see the rest. Even a Seseme Street star makes a cameo in
there along with at the end I noticed about all the Henson characters,
even from FRAGILE ROCK were there. I also liked Gonzo's reference to
Bollywood when he said he was headed to Bombay, India to become a star.
How can this go wrong and someday I'm sure I'll find my own rainbow
connection which will hopefully get me a better job and be able to do
the things I love.
JFK (1991): The man who will direct THE RISE
AND FALL OF SHAUN BERKEY, Oliver Stone directs this controversial film
based on CROSSFIRE: THE PLOT THAT KILLED KENNEDY by Jim Marrs and ON THE
TRAIL OF THE ASSASSINS by Jim Garrison who the movie is based upon.
Most of us know, this is not a biopic on John F. Kennedy. This movie is
based on an investigation on the assassination of Kennedy which was
obsessingly lead by New Orleans DA Jim Garrison, played very well by
Kevin Costner. Controversy is an understatement here. There is a lot of
dispute to this film and of course there will be. This is based on the
theories of each novel. Now in reality, we all know what happened to
JFK. He survived, only to be turned black by the government but we still
need to know the conspiracy, if there is one on the assassination. This
movie was put together very well by Oliver Stone who made some footage
look documentary like including scenes with Lee Harvey Oswald, played by
Gary Oldman. We have another all-star extravaganza here which includes
an interesting performance from John Candy. Tommy Lee Jones stars as
Clay Shaw, the one person ever tried for the Kennedy murder. I guess if
you followed Garrison closely during the time of this investigation and
you hate him, then you may not like the movie. The real Garrison appears
as Chief Justice Earl Warren. Garrison lives on being liked by some and
hated by some but many did not remember him until this movie came out.
Other actors included Kevin Bacon, Joe Pesci, Sissy Spacek, Ed Asner,
John Larroquette who I believe was only in the director's cut version
that I saw, and even Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau who did not have a
scene together. I believe Stone deserves a lot of credit for this film,
and I don't believe that this is propaganda like some might believe. I
watched it with commentary from Oliver Stone who added some good insight
into the film acknowledging this film as his "godfather".
Elizabeth (1998): Shekhar Kapur directed this adaptation of the
Virgin Queen which was written by Michael Hirst. With all the success of
THE GOLDEN YEARS, I thought I would take a look into this one. This is
based on the early years of the queen. Her beliefs were a little
different than normal. Like me, she did not see marriage as very
important. Cate Blanchett stars as the title character in her
breakthrough performance. This focuses a lot on her on-again, off-again
relationship with Lord Robert Dudley, played by Joseph Fiennes which
turned a lot of heads. Joseph Fiennes and co-star Geoffrey Rush both
starred in SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE which was in 1998 and featured Queen
Elizabeth.
The Man Who Planted Trees (1987): This is my short film for the week.
Frederic Back directed this interesting animated tale written by Jean
Giono. Christopher Plummer narrates this tale of a shepherd who found
nothing better to do than re-forest a valley who is seen through the
years in his non-stop effort to save the eco-system. The animation is
beautiful as well as the story and I can't say much else than to say
take 30 minutes to watch this on http://www.moviesfoundonline.com/.
Three Times (2005): Hsiao-hsien Hou directed wrote this interesting
love story which takes place in three different stories of 1955, 1911,
and 2005. Shu Qu and Chen Chang star in all three stories as different
characters but in similar stories. Each one show a destructive affair
and the times of these. The 1911 one was very interesting which is done
as a silent film. I loved the music score since I love a lot of Asian
music. You need to follow it rather closely and maybe watch it again but
it's worth it.
The Palm Beach Story (1942): Preston Sturges wrote and directed this
hilarious screwball comedy which stars Joel McCrea and Claudette Colbert
as a married couple always at each other's throats. Colbert decides she
wants a divorce and heads off to Palm Beach, Florida to pursue it and
meets some interesting rich men including one who falls in love with
her. Now we know that McCrea is in full pursuit and arrives with
hilarious results.
The Astronaut Farmer (2006): Michael and Mark Polish wrote and
directed this inspirational tale which has shades of FIELDS OF DREAMS.
Billy Bob Thornton stars as Charles Farmer who once had to give up his
dream of being an astronaut but can't stay away from it even if he needs
to make sacrifices for the farm. He his his wife and children all
dreaming with him but the rest of his community is not very happy
including his bank. This is all about following dreams and not giving
up. Look for an uncredited Bruce Willis appearance. Virginia Madsen, OZ
alum J.K. Simmons, Bruce Dern and Tim Blake Nelson also co-star.
Well, that is it for this week. I won the first week of March Movie
Madness so we'll see what happens this week. I'm more focused on putting
this together and when this is done, then I pursue the longer ones, the
JFK was very long. Many actors made this list this week with all the
all-star casts that I used both old and new.
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