Welcome to the 198th Edition. It is hard to believe how close I am to
the 200th Edition. I have one selection from the Random Myspace Profile
selection and next week will have none. I am going to start to talk on
the special features of dvds and maybe choose one movie a week to watch
with commentary if available. With the car trouble I have had this
week, I still turn out another blog so get your netflix and blockbuster
queues and read on.
Three Faces West (1940): I open this week
with John Wayne. He plays a farmer named John Phillips who lead the the
townsfolk to better pastures in Oregon. Charles Coburn plays a surgeon
named Dr. Karl Braun who is a refugee who comes to the U.S. with his
daughter Leni, played by Sigrid Gurie. Not one of Wayne's best but it
was pretty entertaining with a different type of character for Wayne in
my opinion.
Angry Harvest (1985): This is my German film for the
week. Armin Mueller-Stahl stars as Leon, a catholic farmer who takes in
a sick woman who he learns is a holocaust survivor and a Jew named
Rosa, played very well by Elisabeth Trissenaar. Leon slowly falls in
love with Rosa but knows he must keep his hiding from her secret from
everyone. It is a great story of love and morality and still hard to
believe that two religions really can't co-exist. There is an
interesting argument between Leon and Rosa on their two different
religions. There is not much else to say here except that we have a
great foreign film here that looks at the hardships of the holocaust.
Stop!
Or My Mom Will Shoot (1992): This is my tribute for the week to Blake
Snyder who helped write the screen play. I must say that this is my
guilty pleasure for the week which stars Sylvester Stallone as a cop
named Joe who feels content in his bachelorhood but his life is turned
upside-down when his mom Tutti, played by Estelle Getty, visits him
meddling in his life and career. Things change when she witnesses a
murder and must team up with her son. It is a different buddy movie
showing the son and mom together to take down some criminals. Look for
Ving Rhames in an early role. While rather absurd, it had some pretty
funny moments. DVD shows an alternate ending and a featurette of the
making of the movie.
Find Me Guilty (2006): This is a selection
from the Random Myspace Profile selection process and for this one I
chose the Unofficial Vin Diesel Fan Club so I chose this Vin Diesel
movie here. Vin plays the real-life Jackie DiNorscio, who decided to
defend himself in a trial of many members of the Lucchese family
instead of ratting them out. This is known as the longest trial of all
time lasting around two years. Jackie turns the courtroom upside-down
with his lack of trial experience but making the jury laugh a lot and
angering the judge just as much. Sidney Lumet directed this comedic
movie and using the testimony from the court transcripts to make this
as authentic as possible. I feel Vin Diesel had his best performance
and showing he does not always have to beat people up all the time.
Linus Roache plays the dedicated prosecutor Sean Kierney who did not
know how to handle Jackie. Other people include Ron Silver, Annabella
Sciorra, Peter Dinklage, and many others. DVD contains an interview
with Sidney Lumet but doesn't show much in-depth interview footage as
there seemed to be.
Cross Country Detours (1940): This is my
animated short for the week which came from the DVD of VIRGINIA CITY
that I featured last week. This is an animated film that shows life at
national parks that show various animals and people. One interesting
part was showing how a lizard sheds her skin. It is a pretty good 10
minutes with bobcats, birds, a park ranger, and even a Gila monster.
The
Valley of Light (2007): This is a pretty well-received tv movie which
stars Chris Klein as Noah, a WW2 veteran and drifter who comes into a
small town. He immediately shows off his fishing skills while also
befriending a mute boy who does not seem to have parents and a widowed
woman, played by Gretchen Mol. I really can't describe much to you
except to say that it is a great movie about relationships and life. I
think this is the best performance from Klein, though I haven't seen
him in much. I found this on the Hallmark channel which I don't usually
use but I saw good things on this and thought I should check it out.
The best part is seeing him with the young mute boy, played by Zach
Mills.
Long Way Home (1975): This is actually the pilot episode
to the brief tv series THE FAMILY HOLVAK. Glenn Ford stars as Reverent
Tom Holvak, whose son brings in an escaped convict which Tom does not
know. A young David Carradine plays that convict named Craw who is
hiding out but helps the family a lot. I actually found this one on the
Trinity Broadcasting Network and I don't usually do two tv movies in
one week, I sure found myself doing it this week. Carradine was great
in this one as was Glenn Ford in his later role. This is my long
overdue tribute to David Carradine and this will unfortunately remain
very underrated but I hope I can expose it a little bit.
Bedknobs
and Broomsticks (1971): This is my Disney movie for the week that
combines live action and animation. Angela Lansbury stars as Miss Price
who is a witch's apprentice who is sent to take care of three children
and puts a spell on the bed and takes the children with her to meet her
professor named Emelius, played by David Tomlinson. Emelius reveals the
rest of the words to bring inanimate objects to life which help the WW2
effort that this movie takes place in. Roddy McDowell has a little
appearance as Mr. Jelk. This movie has a lot of unfortunate comparisons
to MARY POPPINS which show similarity but it still stands on its own
with Lansbury being great as the bumbling witch Miss Price who
continues to learn through the movie. It also has a great animation
sequence where they enter. Some may even consider this satanic with the
witchcraft but if you look past all these things, this movie can
absolutely be enjoyed.
Intermission (2003): I found this one on
IFC, probably my most used channel besides TCM. This is a good Irish
film which have a few intersecting stories of petty criminals,
publicity hungry cops, and many others. Colin Farrell plays a thief in
this movie who puts together a rather botched robbery. STAR TREK alum
Colm Meaney is good as the cop who is enjoying the reality show filmed
on him. Cillian Murphy also stars as part of the team of robbers. This
was a pretty funny and entertaining film, it does not really rank high
for me but I'm glad I watched it.
Wuthering Heights (1939):
William Wyler directed this adaptation to the Emily Bronte literary
classic which has been made many times into movies but not better than
this one. Merle Oberon plays Cathy and Laurence Olivier plays
Heathcliff. They are childhood friends and even lovers but her
high-class status and Heathcliff's lower status come between them and
Cathy marries a rich man named Edgar, played by David Niven. Heathcliff
leaves town but returns years later very rich but still doomed in his
relationship. The beginning was great with the story being told about
their relationship with the actors all doing a great job. This came out
the same year as GONE WITH THE WIND and THE WIZARD OF OZ and at the
time was just as popular as the classics. Oberon and Olivier worked
well together even though they apparently did not like one another.
Well,
that is it for this week, tell me what you love and what you hate. Stay
tuned for next week which will include Bernardo Bertolucci, Drew
Barrymore, and Marilyn Monroe.
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