Welcome to the 306th Edition of my blog. This was a very busy week for
me and put in three short films for the week which is really a record
but really wanted to finish on time plus shorts are important as well. I
have just been real busy with SWEENEY TODD and the movies I watched
just did not fit my "unwritten rules". I have another busy week but I
think it will be a little more normal now on here. I write this as the
football game is on and in Fantasy things aren't looking too good and I
may go 1-2. Looks like I'd better make some changes. For now I will
get to my selections for the week.
Tootsie (1982): I start out with this Sydney Pollack film. Dustin
Hoffman stars as actor Michael Dorsey who cannot find work because he is
hard to work with so he poses as a woman to get a job on a soap opera
to raise enough money to put on a friend's play. Jessica Lange co-stars
in this film as actress Julie Nichols who Michael takes a liking to but
must resist while he is posing as a woman. Teri Garr, Bill Murray,
Dabney Coleman, and Charles Durning co-star. Director Pollack also
plays Michael's frustrated agent. This is a pretty good look into the
acting industry and the soap industry and a great ending.
Easy Life (1944): This is one of my shorts for the week which comes
from the Crime Does Not Pay series. This one shows a late teen dropping
out of high school to join a gang thinking the title but finds out soon
that it is not a life to lead. There are many of these shorts meant to
steer people away from crime and in some ways show relevance but mostly
entertainment.
Ace Drummond: The Doorway of Doom (1936): This is a serial from the
30s and this is one of the thirteen chapters. Ace Drummond is a
character created by Eddie Rickenbacher for the comics and brought alive
here. You might have guessed that he is a pilot and is the "G-Man of
the sky fighting crime." It is pretty entertaining if you can find it.
Beer Wars (2009): This is my documentary for the week which as you
might guess focuses on the beer industry. This focuses on a lot of
smaller beer companies trying to survive and not sell out to "the big
three" which are Miller, Coors, Budweiser. This was a very biased
documentary but kind of to be expected. It is a very interesting look
inside the beer industry that many independent brewing companies can
relate to. This is available on Instant Netflix.
The Guns of Navarone (1961): This is my war film for the week and quite
the classic taking place in WWII. Gregory Peck stars as Captain Keith
Mallory who is heading a British team out to destroy a German gun
emplacement and proves to be a very hard job. David Niven stars as one
of the team who is an expert on explosives. Anthony Quinn also co-stars
in this war classic.
Nocturna Artificialia (1979): This is my third short film for the week
which is silent animation. It shows a figure going through a town in a
dream world where some is reality. It has some really interesting
animation and music. This is available on Instant Netflix in the
Phantom Museum shorts.
The Buster Keaton Story (1957): As you might guess, this is a movie
about Buster Keaton which is played by Donald O'Connor. Now we might
not want to call this a biopic as the facts appear to have been imagined
quite a bit. In this movie, he performed on Vaudeville with his family
which was not true. It also focused on his transition from silent to
talkies which I do not believe he had that difficult of transition.
Keaton made a lot of money on the rights which he lived off of the rest
of his life. His real mentor was really Fatty Arbuckle and there is no
mention of him, maybe because he was kind of blacklisted. There are
some pretty good recreations of Keaton's silent routines but if you want
accuracy this is not it, it's just a little entertaining. My biopic
THE RISE AND FALL OF SHAUN BERKEY will be more accurate. This is
available on Instant Netflix.
Imagine Me and You (2005): This is my British comedy for the week which
stars Piper Perabo as a bride getting married to her new husband Heck,
played by Matthew Goode. At the reception, things get complicated when
forming a friendship with a lesbian named Luce, played by Lena Headey,
where she begins to question her sexuality. This is not a bad film and
something a group of girls might enjoy for their movie night. I always
like seeing BUFFY alum Anthony Head who plays the father of the bride.
Come Next Spring (1956): I always like finding hidden gems like this on
Instant Netflix. Steve Cochran stars as Matt Ballot who is returning
to his estranged wife after about 12 years of heavy drinking and wanting
to get his life together and connect with his kids who are now 14 and
12 years old. Ann Sheridan plays his wife Bess who reluctantly takes
Matt back as a worker on the farm hoping his life has been together.
This movie takes place in a small town in Arkansas during the
depression. This is a great movie of a small town coming together,
especially in the end. This is something that deserves far more
exposure and can be seen on Instant Netflix.
Tekkonkinkreet (2006): I end this week with some Anime. This takes
place in a town called Treasure Town which can be both peaceful and
violent. Two street-urchin brothers named Black and White must fight
off the evils forcing them to go into battle with the Yakuza. This
movie has some really good animation and a must for anime fans. This is
available on Crackle which is an app I have on my Roku but can be
gotten on cell phones and other things.
Well, that is it for this week but I did do an Honorable Mention so keep
reading after this paragraph. I put everything together at the last
minute so I know the writing is not great, I'll try to do better next
week. Stay tuned for next week which so far includes Jodie Foster, Don
Johnson, Woody Harrelson, and many others.
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