Welcome to the 298th Edition of my long-running series and two weeks
away from the 300th Edition so looking forward to that one. It's good
to know the NFL lockout is over so I will soon be looking to join a
fantasy team on CBS Sports. I am still plugging away in the world of
community theater and hope to be in something soon but things are going
well in my life right now so I'll still live if I don't get a part right
away. Now I will get onto my selections for the week.
Clay
Pigeons (1998): This is the 37th link on The Chain and this one
continues with Janeane Garofalo who plays an investigating officer.
Joaquin Phoenix, yes he was an actor before his big-time rap career,
plays Clay who witnesses a friend kill himself because of an affair he
is having with his wife. He then resists any advances from the widow.
He then meets Lester, played by Vince Vaughn, who is a charming serial
killer and befriends Clay. Lester then decides to help Clay with the
problems in his life which leads into a lot of trouble for Clay. Vince
Vaughn can be a bit hit or miss with me but I really liked his
performance in this film. Phoenix is also good in his role. This was a
pretty good independent film with an interesting ending.
Taps
(1981): This film takes place at a military academy which features a
young Tom Cruise, Sean Penn, and Timothy Hutton. The academy soon
becomes threatened by local condo developers which cause these students
of a large age range to take very extreme measures to protect their
academy. George C. Scott co-stars as the head of this academy but gets
taken out of the picture. Timothy Hutton is the leader of the revolt
but must soon deal with the actual military with some bad results.
While this movie had some entertaining moments and featured these young
actors, it had moments of violence which bothered even me at times. I
also did not agree with the way these kids went about what they did
especially with smaller kids involved. It is still an entertaining 80s
film.
Smile, Darn Ya, Smile (1931): This is my animated short
for the week which was featured on the DVD for THE PUBLIC ENEMY. This
is a Warner Brothers short which features a character named Foxy who is a
train conductor and runs into a lot of problems. Foxy seems in some
ways their answer to Disney's Mickey Mouse. This is the second of three
Foxy shorts where he originates the line "That's All Folks" which would
be famously used years later by Porky Pig. This sings the song of the
title and is pretty entertaining. Also, good for historic purposes.
Diary
of a Madman (1963): This is my chiller of the week which features
Vincent Price. Price stars as magistrate Simon Cordier who visits a
prisoner before the execution who claims that a spirit makes him do the
murders. The prisoner then changed his personality and tried to kill
Simon forcing him to kill him in self-defense. Cordier soon begins to
feel effects and hears voices soon realizing that all that happened was
true. He soon is forced to kill but does what he can to stop the
spirit. I really like how this movie played out and flowed pretty well
as a psychological thriller.
Forbidden Games (1952): This is my
French film for the week directed by Rene Clement. We start with the
little 5 or 6 year old girl named Paulette who is with her parents but
becomes orphaned in a Nazi attack when her parents are killed. She then
makes her way and finds a farming family and a boy named Berthe who is
about 2 or 3 years older than her. He soon befriends her and is able to
talk the family into taking her into their home. These two children
must look to come to terms with the realities of death at their young
age getting in trouble with the family and church. This was one film
that I will call beautiful with the cinematography and the friendship of
the two children dealing with adult situations. This is available on
Instant Netflix.
Harriet the Spy (1996): This is my Nickelodeon
film for the week which is more geared towards the kids but is a pretty
good one for them. BUFFY alum Michelle Trachtenberg stars as the title
character who really wants to be a writer and writes everything down in
her notebook in her spying activities. The whole school turns on her
when they find her notebook. It is then she must find some way to win
back her friends and decide if she can still be in the spy business.
Rosie O'Donnell is good in this movie as her nanny and Trachtenberg is
also good in her role. This is the first feature film from Nickelodeon
films and is a film that even us adults can relate to when we were that
age.
The Man in the White Suit (1951): Alec Guinness stars in
this Ealing Studios comedy which he did a lot of work for. Here he
plays a chemist named Sidney Stratton who makes a white suit which
cannot get dirty or go downhill. This seems like a great idea but
people in the garment industry fear loss of jobs and do what they can to
stop it. This movie delivers some laughs but is also a very
thought-provoking film. This is available on Instant Netflix.
A.K.A.
Cassius Clay (1970): This is my documentary for the week. Most know
that Cassius Clay is the controversial boxer who would become Muhammed
Ali. This documentary mostly takes a look at his avoidance of joining
the military during the Vietnam War and the effects it had on his life.
It also focuses on a short-lived musical he was in which appeared to
focus on his life. It is a pretty interesting older documentary to take
a look upon. My mom always tells the story of the time she met Ali and
was one of the great moments in her life. This is available on Instant
Netflix.
Cowboys and Aliens (2011): I made a rare appearance to
the movie theater to see this one. I met my friends Doug, Tammy, and
Jeff at the Hamilton 16 Imax theater in Noblesville which was my first
time going to that movie theater. Jon Favreau directed this movie which
is a western. Daniel Craig stars as Jake who stumbles into the town of
Absolution but does not remember anything of his past or what has
happened. He also has a strange shackle on his wrist and a really bad
wound. Harrison Ford stars as Colonel Dolarhyde who pretty much runs
the town in a bad way. Jake slowly sees his dark past and finds he is
not welcome in the town he is in. Things then change for everyone when
aliens attack their town and Jake is the person they must rely upon to
save the town. Not much explanation needs to be made. It has a great
cast including Clancy Brown who plays a preacher and looks a lot
different than usual. I have seen some very mixed opinions on this film
and that is not even just the critics but moviegoers in general.
Myself and the people I was with really did enjoy this film. It did not
reach the point of great but thought it was a pretty fun action film
and Daniel Craig was great in his role which started to make me rethink
recasting him as myself in THE RISE AND FALL OF SHAUN BERKEY in which I
am torn between him and Casey Affleck. For me this is a summer
block-buster and a pretty good one but I can see some will disagree with
me.
My Dog: An Unconditional Love Story (2010): This is
another documentary for the week which has a few celebrities reflecting
on the relationship with their dogs including Richard Gere, SOPRANOS
alum Edie Falco, Lynn Redgrave, Richard Belzer, and many others. They
each talk about their individual dogs and the unconditional love they
provide. This is one thing that just about anyone with a dog can relate
to with these celebrities. I know because of the three chihuahuas we
have and right now as I am writing this, two of them are lying against
me.
Well, that is it for this week. Tell me what you like and do not like and stay tuned for next week.
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