Welcome to the 338th Edition of my series. I have had a great
weekend. I am a little later than usual because I work weekends right
now so it will likely stay this way for a while. I am not ready to get
to my recommendations for the week.
Life in a Day (2011): This is one of two selections
from Travis' Co-Op film series. Ridley and Tony Scott produced this
much different film. These consist of videos taken around the world on
the day of June 24th of 2010 that were submitted on Youtube. They vary
on happy times, sad times, and some even a bit hard to watch. These
videos are very well put together and is really worth a watch. There is
not much more I can say except to take a look at all the people around
us in the world and what it was like to live life that day. This is
available on Instant Netflix.
Love Never Fails (2011):
This is another local movie that I am featuring. Last week was
LIGHTNING IN A BOTTLE but this one is a Ball State short film and
received some Frog Baby awards which is a Ball State awards show. BSU
student David Tyler Sheets directed and co-starred in this short film
This starts out with an older man reflecting on his younger days where
he is a fighter in an underground fight league trying to get out but
finds it is not easy. It also leads into the name of the title. There
is a good making of video on http://vimeo.com/33734426. The hard work
on this was very obvious and has a good story as well as good
performances.
Futurama: The Beast With a Billion Backs
(2008): This is a video from the popular Matt Groening series
FUTURAMA. This shows the Planet Express crew encountering a tentacle
alien who soon gains control of Fry and others creating their own
heaven. When this happens, Bender and other robots begin to take
control of earth but have their own tension between them. This is part
of the cartoon series and may want to get to know the show some before
watching this and the other feature length videos they put out so you
can enjoy it more. This had some pretty funny moments and is available
on Instant Netflix.
Dead End (1937): William Wyler
directed this film that features the Dead End Kids. This is an earlier
film from Humphrey Bogart plays gangster Baby Face Martin who returns to
his neighborhood on the east side only to be disowned by his mother and
to see his ex girlfriend as a hooker. Billy Halop co-stars as Tommy,
one of the dead end kids who has grown up idolizing Martin. Sylvia
Sidney is the older sister named Drina trying to find meaning in her
life and keep her younger brother out of trouble. Joel McCrea co-stars
as struggling architect Dave who befriends Drina and sees the kind of
path that Tommy is going down and tries to get through to him. This is a
very interesting portrait of life in that area. Bogart is good in his
earlier role and McCrea also does a good job. Claire Trevor makes the
most of her small appearance as Bogart's ex and gets an Oscar
nomination. This is available on Instant Netflix.
Terror
in a Texas Town (1958): This is my western for the week. Sterling
Hayden stars as Swedish whaler George Hansen who soon finds out his
father was killed by a greedy oil baron, played by Ned Young. He soon
sets out to find the murderer. Dalton Trumbo wrote the screenplay but
was blacklisted at the time because of the McCarthy era and used the
name Ben Perry. I have always had a place in my heart for Sterling
Hayden and always tend to enjoy him when I see him so I jumped at this
when finding it on Instant Netflix. This is a pretty good western noir
which leads into quite the dual where Sterling Hayden uses his harpoon
instead of a gun. Western fans will likely enjoy this one.
Serpico
(1973): This is a true story on New York police officer Frank
Serpico. Sidney Lumet directed this film which stars Al Pacino as
Serpico, fresh off his star-making performance in THE GODFATHER, who is
very idealistic and wants to be an honest cop. He soon finds that much
of the people he works with are very crooked and soon blows the whistle
on corruption which makes his life very difficult and even more
dangerous for being honest. It also shows his personal struggles that
the difficulty of his job causes like in relationships. Pacino does a
great job as Serpico and at one point invited the real-life Serpico to
his home to prepare for the role. This movie is available on Instant
Netflix and is a great film on corruption.
Are You
Ready for Marriage? (1950): This is my short film for the week and
decided to go with the always-entertaining Coronet instructional films.
These are meant to be very educational but instead just flat out
entertain. In this one, two young people are considering marriage and
believe they are ready. They soon visit a church counselor who then
explains things like how attraction starts and has some interesting ways
of explaining things. These are available on the Pub-D-Hub app on my
Roku player and are likely available on Youtube. These short films
would make some great entertainment with friends.
Stop
Making Sense (1984): This is the second of Travis' Co-Op film series
selections and likely his last one until the fall semester at Ball State
unless he decides to do something in the summer. Jonathan Demme
directed what is considered by many to be the best concert film of all
time. The 80s band The Talking Heads are the band featured in this
great 80s concert. Many of our favorite Talking Heads songs are done
here like BURNING DOWN THE HOUSE, PSYCHO KILLER, and many others. There
is always some action going on like some dancing, some images posted,
and many other entertaining things. It soon leads up to lead singer
David Byrne in his very big suit. Byrne is always very entertaining
with his facial expressions and body movements as well as everyone else
on stage. This is a must for Talking Heads fans and if you do not know
who they are this is a big must.
Appointment With
Danger (1951): I was looking for something from this era from Instant
Netflix and found this Film Noir which I decided when I saw it takes
place in Gary, Indiana. Alan Ladd stars as Al Goddard who is a postal
inspector who is sent to Gary to investigate the murder of a police
officer. It is clear that years on the job have affected most of his
emotions like trust and compassion. He is very relentless and learns
that the only witness is a nun who is very scared to talk. This is a
pretty good and unknown crime drama that is filmed on location on the
north part of Indiana. This is a tribute to the United States Postal
Services. I did not know they had inspectors in the post office. I am
not sure they still do that. If anyone wants to explain, be my guest.
Either way, a good selection from Instant Netflix.
Not
the Messiah: He's a Very Naughty Boy (2010): I end with my second live
performance film of the week which was done in October of 2009 and
written by Eric Idle and John Du Prez which was the 40th anniversary of
Monty Python. This was performed in London at the Royal Albert Hall
with a big orchestra and Choir and is based on LIFE OF BRIAN. Eric Idle
leads this performance which consists of a few solo singers and cameos
by other Python alums Michael Palin, Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam.
Palin does the most of those three like his amusing song about
lumberjacks and playing a woman. Jones has a pretty amusing song
number. Gilliam does not come on until the end and does not do as much
as the others. The other surviving Python member John Cleese did not
make an appearance in this film. The performance is mostly musical
numbers written to retell the story of Brian backed by an orchestra and
is more of a concert than anything. There were some very entertaining
music numbers that some were in earlier films but most written for this
one night performance. I honestly did not know anything about this
until I was going through Instant Netflix to find it. This is the only
time it ever got performed and Monty Python fans will really like this
one. It is something that you might want to see the earlier Monty
Python films to understand some of the jokes but this could be part of a
Monty Python film series to end upon.
Well, that is it
for this week. Tell me what you like and dislike. Stay tuned for next
week which so far includes Robert De Niro, Meryl Streep, and many
others.
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