Welcome to the 281st Edition of my series. This week I pay tribute to
the late Richard Leacock, Michael Gough, and Elizabeth Taylor. We are
starting April and soon hopefully we will see more and more of that warm
weather coming as March was a start but still pretty bad. I sent in my
audio recording to Aflac recently hoping to be the new voice of Aflac
after Gilbert Gottfried got fired. I know it's a longshot but so was
getting on AMERICA'S GOT TALENT though I guess chances of that are a
little better since they do not just choose one person unlike Aflac who
will just choose one. Tomorrow evening after work, I will be hitting
Buffalo Wild Wings to watch Wrestlemania where I know many other
Coleminers will be. Last Wednesday I wrote a blog on how I put these
together and people who read saw that this is a very hard-thought
process which I never really make easy for myself. Next Saturday on
April 9th, I will be ring announcing for Action Packed Wrestling at the
Ross Community Center in Muncie, Indiana. The show starts at 7 pm and
doors open at 6 so anyone from that area should come out if they have
nothing better to do. I will tag all my facebook friends involved in
the show.
The Wedding Singer (1998): This is the 21st link of
The Chain and this continues with Steve Buscemi but this week is his
last link for this chain. This movie stars SNL alum Adam Sandler as the
title character Robbie who as the title implies, he sings at weddings
for people. This is actually my favorite Adam Sandler film, maybe
because I am a geek for the 80s. Robbie soon meets Julia, a waitress
who works at one of his singing gigs. They soon realize that they are
engaged but to the wrong people as Robbie gets stood up at the alter and
Julia is just getting married out of obligation and must figure out how
to get to each other since they are meant to be. This movie has a lot
of great 80s references as well as 80s songs and was a great romantic
comedy. Ellen Albertini Dow is very entertaining in her version of
Sugarhill Gang's RAPPER'S DELIGHT. Steve Buscemi is also quite funny in
his cameo in the beginning and end of film. Next week The Chain will
continue with one of these actors, actresses, or the director.
Wings
of Desire (1987): This is my German film for the week which was
directed by Wim Wenders. Bruno Ganz stars as Damiel, an angel who
oversees the daily activity of mortals to help them as much as possible.
However, he decides he wants to be mortal and live life when falling
in love with an acrobat. Peter Falk co-stars as himself and is kind of
the comic relief. This movie has some beautiful cinematography and
great dialogue but you must have patience as this has a deliberate slow
pace but it works. Also look for the band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
who perform in a concert that is seen. Nick Cave is probably best known
for his great music score in THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE
COWARD ROBERT FORD. What I have described so far may sound familiar and
yes CITY OF ANGELS is the American remake of this film.
Ong-Bak:
The Thai Warrior (2003): The Facebook friend I selected for this film
is Ransom who I co-starred with in the play 12 BAR BLUES. Most of the
martial arts films I feature on this blog come from Hong Kong but this
one is from Thailand where we meet Thai star Tony Jaa who plays the
pacifist Ting who knows Muay Thai but has been instructed to not use it.
All that changes when the sacred head of the village statue is stolen
and he volunteers to find it and must use what he has learned in Bangkok
to track the statue down. The plot is rather standard but I feel this
movie does have some emotional depth to it. What really stands out here
are the great fight scenes and amazing stunt work from Jaa who can make
even Jackie Chan jealous with envy. There were a couple sequels but
the sequels were in name only and had nothing to do with this. This is
available on Instant Netflix as well as parts two and three.
The
Golden Years (1960): This is my short film for the week which I found
on Comcast On-Demand. This is actually a short from the Brunswick
bowling company. This is more of a short film for owners of the bowling
alley as it talks about some of the new advances in the bowling system.
It has some good information but is mostly an informative video and
not quite as entertaining as the great shorts that show the horrors of
drunk driving and drugs but is still watchable as the 60s will be most
known for bowling I guess.
Dracula (1979): I now bring you the
Frank Langella version of the Bram Stoker classic. Langella plays the
title character and Laurence Olivier has a later role as Van Helsing and
both actors are quite good in their parts. I am pretty big into the
vampire genre though I have not brought myself to watch the TWILIGHT
series and I have problems with BLADE. My favorite will always likely
be the 1992 version of the classic which goes in-depth into Dracula's
origins showing why he becomes who he does. Also, I really liked the
Christopher Lee version from Hammer Films in 1958. The most known
version is probably from 1931 which stars Bela Legosi. I feel like all
including this one have their image and each one really has a storyline
that is a bit different, especially the 1958 version. While this one
was not nearly as high, it was still good for what it was. John
Williams had another great music score and the climax of the film was
great. I felt a nice chill feel for this atmospheric film. Donald
Pleasence co-stars as Dr. Jack Seward so what more can you ask for in
this trio of Langella, Olivier, and Pleasence. This is available on
Instant Netflix.
Son of Frankenstein (1939): I bring you that
Golden Year for film and I go from the vampire to this monster icon.
This would be part three in the Universal series were we follow
FRANKENSTEIN and THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN. In this one, Basil Rathbone
stars as Wolf von Frankenstein who is the son of the late Dr. Henry
Frankenstein and returns to his town to claim his inheritance and move
into the estate hoping to be able to shed the reputation of his name.
He finds after arriving there that things have been going on and see
that the Monster appears to be alive and in a coma being tended to by a
crooked blacksmith named Ygor which is a name through the years that has
been so overly-emphasized as to my knowledge, this movie and the the
great 1974 parody are the only movies to really use this particular
character. Bela Legosi is great as Ygor in what may be his best
performance of his career. Frankenstein then gets hit with the
temptation to try waking the Monster hoping to be successful in what his
father could not do which was to create a nice person but got a bad
brain. However, things prove difficult with Ygor and his scheming ways.
Boris Karloff makes his last appearance as the Monster in this movie.
This is one of a few teamings of Karloff and Legosi and it's always
said that Karloff gets the much better parts but in here Legosi is
really who shines in this movie as Karloff does not really do much in
this movie. It's not as good as the first couple in the series but is a
pretty good entry in the Universal horror series. Also, a very OCD
thing I have is when people refer to the Monster as Frankenstein and I
always explain that the title character is the scientist of Dr.
Frankenstein, not the Monster or Creature, however you want to refer to
him. This is available on Instant Netflix.
Louisiana Story
(1948): This is my tribute to the late Richard Leacock who recently
left us and was the cinematographer for this film which was the big
highlight. Robert Flaherty directed this movie which was mostly
documentary but also part story where I'm sure there has been writing
for the boy and his pet raccoon. The boy is an innocent child who
spends his days with his raccoon and does a lot of fishing, playing and
fishing. His life changes however when part of the bayou is broken down
by an oil drilling well. This movie has some great images of the bayou
and the oil drilling. Flaherty is most known for his silent
documentary NANOOK OF THE NORTH which is considered the first
documentary. This one is not as much of a documentary since the story
is rather obvious with the boy but still pretty entertaining and good
imagery and music score to go with this so-called documentary. This is
also available on Instant Netflix.
Caravaggio (1986): This is
part two of my Michael Gough series which I intend to make a four-part
series. In this movie he plays Cardinal Del Monte. This is a
fictionalized telling of the life of Baroque painter Michelangelo Merisi
Da Caravaggio. Derek Jarman directed this film which stars Nigel Terry
as the title character who uses street people, drunks, and prostitutes
as the basis for his deeply religious paintings. Tilda Swinton makes
her film debut as Lena, a lover of Caravaggio. Sean Bean plays Ranuccio
who also has feelings for Caravaggio in a lifestyle that obviously was
not as acceptable in that era. This is a rather strange film but it is
also quite a work of art on an artist that went to mixed opinions.
Performances were very good here and not for all tastes but some will
enjoy this one.
Life With Father (1947): This is my tribute to
the late Elizabeth Taylor who recently left us. In this movie, though
she receives third billing, it is not a big part but still important in
her young career. William Powell stars as Clarence Day Sr. who is the
matriarch of a family with four sons and a wife. He is a financier and
tends to run his house like a bookkeeper which brings a lot of tension
with him and his wife. Irene Dunne plays his wife Vinnie who stands by
him even if there is a lot they do not agree upon. Elizabeth Taylor
plays Mary who is the daughter of a family friend and takes a liking to
one of the boys. This movie takes place in the 1890s and is a pretty
well-done family portrait from that era. Michael Curtiz directed this
thoughtful movie on an American family. This is available on Instant
Netflix.
Moon (2009): I now end this week with this sci-fi film
written and directed by Duncan Jones. Sam Rockwell stars as Sam who is
assigned to work for Lunar Industries for three years. His main
objective is to rocket back supplies of helium-3 to Earth. In this
assignment, he is isolated by himself and the only one he has to contact
is a robot named GERTY, voiced by Kevin Spacey in what I suppose is a
nicer version of the HAL-9000. This time is really starting to get to
Sam as he wants to be able to get back to his wife and daughter and
begins to hallucinate. Rockwell did a great job of carrying this movie
with Spacey as the comic relief. There is a very limited cast as there
is a few actors like for his wife and daughter who speak to him on a
computer. Duncan Jones is the son of the singer David Bowie.
Well,
that is it for this week. Give me comments on what is liked and what
you hate. I really enjoyed this list I made more than others I make.
Next week will so far include Jodie Foster, Christopher McDonald, Mickey
Rourke, the late Farley Granger and many others. Since I tackled the
Dracula and Frankenstein franchise I will tag anyone who was in the
plays at Muncie Civic Theater that I saw.
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