Welcome everyone to the 97th Edition to my blog series. I mentioned
in my tag blog how I really rack my brain to find the right set of 10
films to feature and this week was extremely difficult for me to find
the right ones but I think I did a pretty good job of finding my crop of
10 pretty different films. I have no themes in this blog except
diversity, I don't like to include two movies with the same director, or
actor. I think Ward Bond even came into play once in that situation. I
don't really look so much towards producer and movie company but I try
to find different storylines, same genre is fine with me but I don't
like too much similarity and I ran into that a lot this week. My
unwritten rules change all the time and I have full authority to change
them. It's always worth it knowing I have many readers who appreciate
what I do, no matter how much you might agree or disagree. Now, here we
go.
Lost in Translation (2003): I might garner some mixed opinions on
this one. I saw this one time before I watched it again and I found it
to be alright and I think I might have taken it the wrong way when I
expected an all-out comedy which I believe is the issue for the people
who did not like it. Bill Murray stars in what is more of a character
study than a comedy as a washed-up, married actor staying in Japan to do
commercials where he meets the lonely girlfriend of a rock star who is
performing in Tokyo, Japan. Scarlett Johannson stars as this female who
forms this odd friendship due to their loneliness. Giovanni Ribisi plays
the rock star boyfriend. Sofia Coppola was the director and has made
quite a career for herself as a director, making me forgive her horrible
performance in the Godfather Part III. When I watched it for the second
time, I focused on the two main characters which made it more enjoyable
to me.
The Departed (2006): We go from Sofia Coppola to Martin Scorsese who
finally won an Academy Award for Best Director for this remake of
Japan's Infernal Affairs, that of which I have never seen but will
eventually when I'm ready. I'll start with Jack Nicholson who plays the
crime boss for an Irish mafia named Frank Costello which is not the
real-life mobster Frank Costello and does real well in his first teaming
(to my knowledge) with Scorsese. Next, Matt Damon plays one of his
employees who Frank took in when he was a child and sends him into the
police force as a mole. Now, we have Leonardo DiCaprio, who I used to
say I hate until I realized what a versatile actor he is, plays the
undercover cop who must fit in with the mafia. Those were three great
performances there. Mark Wahlberg and Martin Sheen play the police
handlers. I found Wahlberg's character to be a bit annoying but there
are probably many people in that field exactly like him. Alec Baldwin
even has a small role within the force. This was a long movie but flowed
very well and it wasn't that hard to follow.
The Fast and the Furious (1955): First, look at the year and no, the
2001 version is not a remake of this movie. I found this in the dollar
movie selection and decided to look into the Roger Corman cult classic.
This is actually his second film which starred John Ireland who plays
fugitive who escaped from jail to prove his innocence. He ends up
meeting Dorothy Malone and kidnapping her but I think you can all guess
how it ends up, you know she starts to like him and all that. He then
enters himself into a race in hopes that he will be able to get to the
Mexican border. This is a pretty decent independent movie if you don't
expect way too much and you're okay not seeing Vin Diesel.
Stop, Look, and Listen (1967): I decided to check into this strange
short film on On-Demand. Chuck Menville and Lee Janson direct and star
in this stop-animation film which could almost be considered silent.
Both of these guys are "driving" cars and demonstrating proper methods
of driving but they are driving seemingly invisible cars. I don't have
much more to say about this but it is fun and bizarre.
The Wiz (1978): Here is another that might get some mixed opinions,
especially the ones who expect this to compare to its predecessor, "The
Wizard of Oz". This is a more ghetto version of the classic which stars
Diana Ross this time as Dorothy who is a teacher torn as to what to do
in her life after her Aunt Em encourages her to go for a high school
job. As we know, she ends up in Oz and meets the scarecrow, being played
by Michael Jackson in a time when he was still black, the Tin Man
played by Nipsey Russell and the Lion, played by Ted Ross. I don't know
anything about the last two actors. Richard Pryor plays the title
character. Lena Horne, plays Glinda and Mabel King plays the Wicked
Witch of the West, but named Evillene. I felt both of the witch
characters were used much too sparingly. There were some pretty good
moments and musical numbers. If you watch it expecting another classic
like the 1939 version but if you can just watch it for the Broadway hit
The Wiz, you might like it a bit.
Tarzan, the Ape Man (1932): This is the first movie that introduced
us to the character created by author Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan was a
man of the jungle, raised by apes and encounters a trader and his
daughter named Jane, who would go on to be with Tarzan forever. Olympic
swimmer Johnny Weissmuller plays the title character and played the role
the best he could, it is not a character that will win best actor
anyways. Maureen O'Sullivan plays Jane and together, they are the duo
that would live on in infamy and the two actors people liked the most.
Gods and Generals (2003): Let me get to what I know will get said:
Gettysburg is better. Yes, you're right but I still liked this prequal
to Gettysburg. It took a lot of criticism, one of which being pro-South.
Well, we all have a different perspective and they had theirs. It was
more confusing since it covered more battles. This takes a look at
General Robert E. Lee, played by Robert Duvall, Lt. Col. Joshua Lawrence
Chaimberlain, played by Jeff Daniels and Lt. Gen. Thomas "Stonewall"
Jackson, played by Stephen Lang. I felt that Lang was the standout of
this movie in a warm performance of someone conflicted on what he had to
do and his religion plus his objection to his nickname. I really missed
seeing Tom Berenger who played Longstreet in Gettysburg which I felt
was his best performance. Like in Gettysburg, a log of Civil War
renactors took part in this film and the battle scenes were pretty
realistic. Take this as you want, I can't satisfy everyone.
Go (1999): Well, take the first two letters of the last title and you
have this title. This is where I started really getting conflicted on
what to feature and in looking for something from the 90s and on HBO I
found this two-letter title. I really had no idea what to expect from
this movie for it was the first time I had seen this. This is the story
of the after-math of a drug deal which is told from three
points-of-view. Sarah Polley, Dawson's Creek alum Katie Holmes, Desmond
Askew, Scott Wolf, Jay Mohr, William Fichtner, Taye Diggs and many
others star in this strange movie which is considered by some to be a
cross between Rashomon and Pulp Fiction which delivers clever dialogue
and good storytelling. I'm not really going to go into the complex
story, just watch it sometime.
The Incredible Shrinking Woman (1981): The 80s was the next decade I
struggled to find something to fit into this installment and I found
Joel Schumacher's debut which I'm aware many of my readers do not like
him. Lily Tomlin stars in a dual role, mostly as the title character who
finds herself shrinking and learns it is due to all the household
products but the conspiracy goes much further in this consumer-satire.
This is loosely a remake of the Incredible Shrinking Man but I don't
believe there is much similarity, though I have seen Man. Charles Grodin
plays the title character's husband who works for the consumer company
and finds himself conflicted. There were some pretty funny moments,
though I'm aware some do not like this movie. It's not the greatest but
still interesting and funny.
A Lawless Street (1955): Finally the last movie, another which I had a
real hard time but found this western starring Randolph Scott and
Angela Lansbury, both of which I featured in last week's installment,
now they are together. On-Demand has really introduced me to Randolph, a
western star I had never really heard of until I started viewing some
of his movies. He stars here as a very dedicated marshall which has
gotten in the way of his love life and finds his past haunting him when
three outlaws come into the town looking for some vengeance. Pretty fair
High Noon-ish story but this time, he has a little help.
Well, that is it for this week, I see I did some pretty strange
selections. Last week, I lost in Fantasy making me 1-1, this week, I go
up against the commissioner of our league, Tony F, also 1-1 so may the
best man win and hopefully that is me. Everyone tell me your favorites
and your least favorites. Tonight I have rehearsal for my show but then
I'm going to see the greatest Hank Williams of them all; Hank Williams
III. Also, please check out my website http://www.ionways.com/saberkey.
It has done a lot for my health.
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