Welcome to the 92nd Edition of my blog. Next weekend I start
performances for MASH so if you live in or near the Anderson, Indiana
area or if you just want to come out just to see me, performances are
August 24-26, and August 31-September 2, Friday and Saturday are at 7 pm
and Sundays are at 3 pm. Now for what you came to see.
Moonlight Mile (2002): Jake Gyllenhaal stars in this drama as the
fiancee who was killed in an accidental death. While grieving with his
would-be in-law parents, played by Dustin Hoffman and Susan Sarandon, he
finds himself falling in love and must choose the life that he wants or
that he feels obligated to live. Good performances make this movie
worth watching and gives an interesting look into the lives of
interrelated family. If you're looking for great action or comedy, this
is not what you want to see.
You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown (1985): This is the animated musical
of the Broadway hit which was recently performed in Anderson, IN at the
Anderson Mainstage Theater and it was a great show. It included Myspace
and Facebook friends Tyler (Charlie Brown), Corey (Director, Linus),
Ashley (Snoopy), Hunter (Rerun), and Kelsey (The Little Red Head Girl).
This version was a modified version and long enough for an hour special
on television which include our best friends Charlie Brown and company
with Charlie taking us through one of his bad days. Some of my favorite
musical numbers from this include Lucy's song "Shroeder" and the chorus
song "Happiness" and the title song. This is a something for everyone
and parents who have not exposed their children to the "Peanuts" gang
should do so right aways, Peanuts should be passed down to all
generations, even in the year 3000.
The Magician (1958): This is my tribute to the late Ingmar Bergman
and this may not be his best but it was the only one I haven't featured
that I could get my hands on at the time. Max Von Sydow plays Albert
Vogler who along with his wife runs the "Vogler's Magnetic Health
Theater" and knowing it will turn some heads, the scientific-minded
townspeople ask them to perform a sample of their act before going
public which causes a lot of tension through the movie. This movie is
not considered to be Bergman's best but it is said to be one of his
favorites which was inspired by a play called "Magic".
White Light/ Black Rain- The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
(2007): When searching for something fairly new, I came across this
documentary on HBO and since I didn't have anything from this list
oriented to this movie, I thought I would try it. This movie comes from
accounts of the few survivors left of the infamous atomic bomb dropping
of those two Japanese cities in WW2 who many of them are physically
scarred forever. Also there were some of the American pilots who were on
hand who had some interesting accounts of dropping the first A-Bomb in
history. This could be dismissed as propaganda but I believe it is
important to watch so that history does not repeat and the price of war
to people who never asked to be a part of it.
The Crusades (1935): This is a Cecil B. Demille adaptation of King
Richard who leads his men to attack to avoid marrying a princess and
ends up marrying Berengaria to get his men food and she is captured.
Henry Wilcoxon plays the king and Loretta Young plays Berengia, the
princess of Navarre. This movie is really not historically accurate but
is still fun to watch. It is not as good as Demille's other religous
epics but still good to watch and quite underrated.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002): With all the
Pottermania going on, I thought it might be time to delve into it a bit
so since I have featured the first one, I decided to take another look
at this one. Back home with his abusive foster family, he does
everything possible to get back to Hogwarts and when he gets back, he
hears some mysterious voices and sees some strange things, prompting him
and the gang to investigate the going-ons. Kenneth Branaugh is in this
one and plays a famous wizard. I will say right now that I have never
read the books, but the movies are fun to watch, I'm just a casual fan
though but I admire all them hardcore fans.
King of the Hill (1993): I found this relatively unknown independent
film from Steven Soderberge on On-Demand. Jesse Bradford plays a young
boy in the Depression-Era '30s who is left to fend for himself while his
mother is in a rehab center, and his get-rich-quick minded father,
played by Jeroen Krabbe, is out trying to make a fortune. Adrian Brody
co-stars as his street mentor who tries to help him survive while just
trying to get by himself. Karen Allen, known most for Raiders of the
Lost Ark, plays his noble teacher who does not give up on him even
though information given is a bit shady. This is a good look into the
depression-era and the things that people had to resort to in order to
survive.
Wonderwall (1968): Before you go any further, I do not title this the
10 best movies. In looking for something from the 60s to record to DVR,
I came across this movie which Beatles alum George Harrison provides
the score. With the lack of dialogue, this could almost be considered a
psychedelic silent film. Jack MacGowran stars as a reclusive professor
who becomes a peeping tom when a model moves next door and losing
himself in daydreams and delusions. I was pretty much left asking myself
"What the F*&?" through the whole movie but at the same time rather
entertaining and I even kind of felt for that aging professor. I'm sure
many hippies from that era really enjoyed getting high to this movie.
Angel and the Badman (1947): I was searching for something from the
'40s and I decided to use this John Wayne western. I for one am not a
die-hard John Wayne fan but this movie here was very enjoyable to me. He
plays Quirt Evans who lives by the gun and is taken in by some Quakers
when he is wounded an nursed back to health where he finds love with
Penelope, played by Gail Russell, and finds himself taking to her ways
but his co-horts won't let him out that easy. This had some pretty good
action and a good story to make this my favorite John Wayne movie that I
have seen.
Serpico (1973): This is Al Pacino's follow-up to "The Godfather"
which has a good chance to win the Griffith Cup in my tournament, where
he goes from playing Michael Corleone to real-life New York cop Frank
Serpico. Serpico was an idealistic and hippie police officer who got
more than he bargained for when he saw a lot of corruption and does what
he can to stop it. Many officers thought his honesty was very dangerous
and tried to convince him to take the money that they all did. It took a
toll on his life and his marriage when being very dismayed about the
people that he worked with.. Pacino played the part very well and ranks
up as one of his best performances. Al spent a lot of time with the
real-life Serpico to prepare for the role. The real-life Serpico now
speaks to young rookies who are training for the force.
Well, that is it for this week, don't forget to vote in my second
round of the Tournament of Champions if you haven't yet. Voting will go
into tomorrow night sometime. Thank you all for your support and tell
your friends about this blog. I'm always looking for new readers. Next
week will have some very interesting selections.
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