Welcome to the 163rd Edition of my blog. I hope everyone had a good
holiday. I know I have really lacked Christmas movies this year but as
random as this is, you just never know which one I might use in the
coming months. I now have the last three selections of this part of the
Random Myspace Profile selection. I have made nine more selections which
will not start next week but maybe the week after. For you readers,
please keep your movies updated so that I can use you. The way the
Random Myspace Profile selection works is that I put top friends on
random and as soon as I see the top friend I choose a movie. I choose
the top random friend until I get nine. This week has an interesting mix
of violence, dance and sadness so get your netflix and blockbuster
queues out and read on.
The Blue Angel (1930): This is part 7 of
the Random Myspace Profile selection process and for this one I choose
Daniel. Daniel is quite the movie buff, maybe even more than me and has
his own website at www.boxofficereport.com which a lot of work is put
into that. This is a German film and a very daring one at best. Josef
Von Sternberg directs this dark film which stars Emil Jannings as the
respectable Professor Immanuel Rath. He learns that his students are
going to a speakeasy and wants to confront the star of the place Lola
Lola, played very well by Marlene Dietrich. He has good intentions when
confronting the night-club singer but then gets drawn in by her sending
his life into a downward spiral. This was a nice, dark film and
something that should be viewed. It is in German but pretty easy to
follow.
Swing Time (1936): George Stevens directed what is
arguably the best Astaire and Rogers collaboration of all time so I get a
little more upbeat in this one. Astaire plays Lucky Garrett, a gambler
who must raise $25,000 to marry his fiancee but then gets involved with a
dancer named Penny Carroll, played of course by Ginger Rogers. This
movie has many diverse songs and dance numbers with the dancing telling
quite a story. There is also a nice tribute to Bill "Bojangles" Robinson
in a tap number called BOJANGLES OF HARLEM. Fred is in blackface so
people today might consider racist today but it really was not regarded
that way in that time period. All the dance numbers were done in one
take no so if a mistake was made they had to start over, making for some
very difficult days on the set and even a time when Ginger Rogers' feet
literally bled and she still finished the number.
Becoming Jane
(2007): This is part two of my inadvertant Anne Hathaway series. The
Facebook friend I chose this week was Becca who I know from the theater.
I have never had the pleasure of working with her in a show but have
done a couple shows with her sister Caity and have become very good
friends with their family. This is a biographical portrait of famed
author Jane Austen, played by Anne Hathaway. It shows Austen in a much
different light and was considered very rebellious for her time. She
would not marry for money. She then meets aspiring attorney James
Lefroy, played very well by James McAvoy, who form an unusual
relationship and consider marrying out of love. Austen is like the black
sheep of her family and does many things women were not supposed to do
and many of the ideas come out of her books where she bases her books on
this time of her life. I admit, I am not into Jane Austen stories or
some of the movies I have tried to get into, maybe I'll try again
sometime, but this was very enjoyable with Hathaway being a long time
fan of Jane Austen so she worked very hard to make the performance look
as good as possible.
Betty Boop's Crazy Inventions (1933): This
is my short film for the week which of course features the legendary
Betty Boop where she, Bimbo, and Koko demonstrate some very strange
inventions including fried eggs right out of the hen. This shows Betty
Boop is more than a nightclub singer.
Adventures in Babysitting
(1987): This is my two-part Elizabeth Shue series and one of those kinds
of movies that could have only worked in the 80s. Elizabeth Shue plays
Chris, a high-schooler whose boyfriend bailed on her and is then talked
into babysitting a couple kids, one a girl obsessed with Thor. Chris'
friend Brenda, played by Penelope Ann Miller, decides to run away from
home and is very uncomfortable where she is so she calls Chris and asks
her to pick her up. Chris then gets the kids and one of their friends
played by a young Anthony Rapp of RENT fame and set off for the journey
they will never forget. They soon get a flat tire and run into a series
of mishaps. Look for a young Vincent D'Onofrio as a car mechanic. If you
can get past the absurd plot and just hope for fun your may like this.
Waiting
for Guffman (1996): This is my tribute to the late Paul Benedict who
has a small but important role towards the end. Christopher Guest
directed this mock-documentary and the actors who would go onto be in A
MIGHTY WIND, BEST IN SHOW, and FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION all co-star in
this film. This movie takes place in the small town of Blaine, Missouri
which is the stool capital of the world. Christopher Guest stars as
theater director Corky St. Romero who decided it would be good to direct
a theater musical of the town and its proud residents. Bob Balaban
plays his musical director but unfortunatly as proud as the town is, it
did not produce the best talent in the world, even by community theater
standards, but they still work very hard to put on this musical and hope
to see a man named Guffman to try to get the show to Broadway. Parker
Posey, Lewis Arquette, Catherine O'Hara, Fred Willard, and Eugene Levy
add a lot to this movie that really hits home with me being in community
theater and all.
A Clockwork Orange (1971): This is part 8 of
the Random Myspace Profile selection and for this one I chose successful
independent wrestler Alex Shelley, one half of the tag team Motor City
Machine Guns with Chris Sabin, who is right now with TNA and has done a
lot of work for Ring of Honor which is the promotion that is featured in
Mickey Rourke film THE WRESTLER. He really did not give me much choice
since this is the only one featured in his profile but this will do.
Stanley Kubrick directs this very violent and bizarre futuristic film
based on the novel by Anthony Burgess. Malcolm McDowell stars as Alex,
the leader of the gang the droogs. He is still an intellectual person
and likes Beethoven a lot. He and his gang go around terrorizing homes.
Soon, some tension comes out of the gang and they soon turn on their
leader who in turn lands in jail. He then agrees to take part in a
strange, developmental therapy by the government in order to get out
early. This therapy makes him fear violence and even Beethoven's 9th
symphony. When getting out of prison, he is left defenseless to the
people he hurt. This movie had a lot of bizarre imagery and had some
good dark comic moments like when Alex is torturing a couple and singing
SINGIN' IN THE RAIN. I feel like such a sick person for being amused by
that scene. It's got a great music score. This movie was originally
rated X because no one really knew what to think of this because this
kind of movie just was never really made. It has now went down to R but
is still very violent and disturbing. A friend of mine at work was
saying this story is actually is a statement against psychological
drugs, something very common in today's society. This movie is the
subject of controversy to this day and is by no means for everyone.
My
Life Without Me (2003): These are the movies that I want to give more
exposure to and I really hate the circumstances of which I chose this
movie. I chose this because of the death of Mark Ruffalo's brother Scott
which has been ruled a homicide. My thoughts go out to him but reading
about him some I can see he is a very resilient person after going
through a bout with a brain tumor and surviving. Isabel Coixet directed
this independent film based on the novel by Nanci Kincaid. Sarah Polley
stars as Ann. She is a mother of two young girls who the first she had
at age 17 with her flawed but loving husband played by FELICITY alum
Scott Speedman. They live in a trailor in the back yard of her mother,
played by Blondie singer Deborah Harry. Ann then learns that she has
terminal cancer and makes the decision to keep it between her and her
doctor. She then makes many recordings to her loved ones where she asks
her doctor to give them to her family after her death and to her
daughters for each birthday. After hearing about the news, she decides
to make a few goals in her life and ends up meeting a lonely man named
Lee, played here by Mark Ruffalo, where they learn a lot from each
other. You may recognize PULP FICTION actresses Amanda Plummer and Maria
de Medeiros who have nice supporting roles. Some of these that I watch,
I enjoy a viewing but they won't really live on in my mind but this was
very unforgettable to me. Sarah Polley was great as the person who
learns she is dying but decides not to worry everyone by telling them
but still does things she has never gotten to do. Look for Alfred Molina
in an uncreditted role. This is something I believe goes past the
"chick flick" label and is so much more. I admit I shedded tears a few
times watching this. I am proud to have seen this but nothing impresses
everyone so some may not agree and that is okay.
Scrooge (1970): I
now bring you the timeless classic from Charles Dickens and one story
that will always produce different versions in theater, tv and film and I
always take pleasure watching them because I'm just a sucker like that.
Albert Finney stars as Ebenezer Scrooge, who we all know is a very
bitter man and does not understand that there is more to life than
money. Sir Alec Guinness plays the ghost of Jacob Marley who informs him
that if he does not live that he will recieve his fate of having to
always wear a chain and informs him that three ghosts will visit. All
three come and show him his past, present and future and you all know
the rest. It includes the musical number THANK YOU VERY MUCH which many
will remember from the credit card commercial a few years ago. I have
been in two different musical version of this show and if the chance
arises again, I might just have to do it again. I would love to play
Marley one day and as I get older even Ebenezer Scrooge. Albert Finney
was very believable as an older man when he was only 34 and Michael
Medwin, who played his nephew Fred Scrooge, was actually a few years
older than him.
Dead Presidents (1995): I now end with part 9 of
the Random Myspace Profile selection and for this one I chose wrestler
Jake Omen who has come a long way in the independent wrestling world and
has improved a lot and has a lot of future potential. This is the only
wrestler who has ever actually insulted this blog to get heat from the
crowd at a wrestling show. That just shows the respect I have in the
strange world of wrestling. The Hughes Brothers directed this film which
has a heist but is more than a heist film. I know when it first came
out and seeing the previews, just not seeing much to this and had no
desire to see it but hearing more on it through the years and seeing it
on Jake's profile, I decided it was time to give it a chance and I'm
glad I did. Lorenz Tate stars in this movie as Anthony Curtis, a high
school graduate who decides to defy the family and go into the Marines.
Along with his friends, they witness some horrific situations. When
coming back home, he sees that his life is going nowhere no matter what
he did in the military. He then gets some friends along to do a heist to
rob a truck of money that will be burned in order to make a better life
for himself. Chris Tucker stars as his best friend. Look for SOPRANOS
alum Michael Imperioli as one of the soldiers and an appearance by
Martin Sheen. This movie takes a good look at Civil Rights and even
shows people going about to address these issues in the wrong way.
Well, that is my ten for this week. Stay tuned next week when I feature a movie with the late Van Johnson and also Jack Black.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
A
Christmas Story (1983): Who can forget this classic which gets a 24
hour marathon on TBS this year of Ralphie wanting a Red Ryder BB Gun.
Bob Clark directed this story based on the novel by Jean Shepperd who
narrates the story. Peter Billingsley plays Ralphie in this
coming-of-age story who experiences a lot of difficulty being a child
with a bully, and everyone telling him he'll shoot his eye out with the
BB gun. There are many great moments like the leg lamp, the Santa scene
and many others. Sit down with your family on Christmas and get a
viewing out of this.
It's a Wonderful Life (1946): I always got
to mention this in some way, shape, or form. Most know this story
charting the life of George Bailey from times in this childhood up to
adulthood. James Stewart plays him as an adult. Frank Capra directs this
movie which shows us that little things can go a long way. George's
father dies and he becomes overwhelmed trying to get the business to
stay in place and feels his life has gone downhill. Lionel Barrymore
plays Mr. Potter, the town villain who only needs this bank to take over
the whole town and George won't allow it. Henry Travers plays the
wing-less angel Clarence who is sent down to show George what life would
be like if he had never been born. There is an interesting reference
where his friends, a taxi driver and a cop are named Bert and Ernie, two
notable characters in SESEME STREET. Also look for Alfalfa from THE
LITTLE RASCALS as the person who pulls the lever to open the swimming
pool. This is definetly one of my favorites
FUN LITTLE TRIVIA
David
Prowse (A Clockwork Orange) and Alec Guinness (A Christmas Carol) where
both in STAR WARS episodes 4-6. David Prowse played Darth Vader, though
James Earl Jones did the voice and Guinness was Obi-Wan Kenobi who was
the mentor of Vader before he turned to the dark side.
My
Facebook friend Burt recently played Ebenezer Scrooge in a recent
version of A CHRISTMAS CAROL at the annual production at the Madison
County Park Church of God which was another musical and the music was
written by my facebook friend Rick who is a big part of that church and
the world of theater. Scrooge was not the only person that both Burt and
Albert Finney have played. Burt also recently played Daddy Warbucks in
the recent version on ANNIE which Finney played in the 1982 movie
version.
My facebook friends Mike and Adam were in a Muncie Civic
Theater version of A CHRISTMAS STORY. Mike was the narrator and Adam
was one of the kids.
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