Welcome to the 352nd Edition of my series. Next week, I will be in
Philadelphia and will be there for a week visiting a good friend of
mine. When I return, we will likely start shooting for DOPE HOUSE which
is a web series and star as a pot dealer named Rourke. I know those
closest to me can tell I had a part in choosing the name. Let me get to
my 10 films of the week and next week will likely be published in
Philadelphia.
Thieves Like Us (1974): I start the week
out with a movie directed by Robert Altman. Keith Carradine stars as
prohibition era bank robber Bowie, who escapes prison along with his
friend Chickamaw, played by John Schuck, and goes on a bank robbing
spree while also falling in love. Soon, a robbery of theirs goes very
bad and each robber has a different point of view of what happened.
Shelley Duvall co-stars as Bowie's love interest named Keechie. Robert
Altman, as well as the leads, made this movie stand out among the bank
robbery films from this era. Louise Fletcher also co-stars in this film
and makes her film debut. This is available on Instant Netflix.
The
Lion King 1 1/2 (2004): This is my Disney film for the week which is
the third LION KING film but is told from the point of view of the
characters Timon and Pumbaa in a very humorous way. They also give
their own back story on how they met. It starts out with Timon not
fitting in well with his family and going off on his own. He then talks
about how he learns the Hakuna Matata concept and his meeting with
Pumbaa who also had a hard time fitting in. It then goes into their
meeting with Simba and the times that the first LION KING did not show.
Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella voice Timon and Pumbaa along with Matthew
Broderick voicing Simba. Whoopi Goldberg, Cheech Marin, Jerry Stiller,
Julie Kavner, and many others also lend their voices. There are also
some amusing cameos from past Disney characters. This is one of the
better of Disney's straight to dvd movies and is very fun but THE LION
KING should probably be watched first.
Bicycle Safety
(1950): This is my short film for the week. This one is a safety video
on the many things you should and should not do when riding a bike.
Most of it was rather humorous and probably provoked kids into doing the
more dangerous things. I found this on my Pub-D-Hub app on my Roku
player.
The Adventures of Tintin (2011): This is part
one of a two-part Steven Spielberg series. This is an animated film
which is about a boy reporter of the movie title who purchases a model
ship and finds that many people are after it including Sakharine, voiced
by Daniel Craig. Tintin soon begins his search for why people are so
eager to buy it and ends up on a ship where he is kidnapped. He soon
finds the head of the ship named Haddock, played by Andy Serkis, and has
become a drunk. When Tintin finds him, he talks him into helping to
take back his ship and take down Sakharine and his crew. It is very
hard to explain this film. This has a lot of action for an animated
movie and some ways reminded me of Indiana Jones. There is also a great
dog named Snowy who is a loyal partner to Tintin. Simon Pegg, Nick
Frost, Mackenzie Crook and many others provide voices. This is based on
a popular comic series from Belgian writer Herge. It was also a
cartoon series in 1991 which is available on Instant Netflix and it
might be a good idea to at least watch the first episode of the show
before the film. I thought Spielberg did a good job of bringing this
character to the screen for a new generation. He has been looking to do
this since the 1980s.
The Prince and the Pauper
(1937): This is based on a novel by Mark Twain. Billy and Robert Mauch
star as the title characters. Robert plays the spoiled Prince Edward
and Billy plays the beggar Tom Canty. Tom soon meets the prince and
they realize they look a lot alike and decide to switch clothes to see
what it's like which proves to backfire when they believe Edward is the
beggar and exile him. He soon hires soldier of fortune Miles Hendon,
played by Errol Flynn, who helps the Prince get his throne back. Claude
Rains co-stars the Earl of Hertford who is doing what he can to get the
throne and is very good in his villainous role. This was a pretty good
version of the Twain classic. Flynn had top billing but was more of a
supporting player in this one.
The Last Outlaw
(1993): This is my western for the week and stars Mickey Rourke in what
I call his "transition period" which is pretty much the 90s the early
2000s. Rourke stars as Graff who is the leader of an outlaw gang.
After a job gone wrong, Graff is soon betrayed by his gang making him
join the side of the law to hunt down the gang one by one. Dermot
Mulroney, Steve Buscemi, Keith David, Ted Levine, and John C. McGinley
all co-star. Rourke did a great job of conveying the character and the
way he could manipulate everyone and everything around him. This is not
a western for everyone and is very violent. I did think this movie was
worth a watch. Rourke has done a lot better but still did a good job
in this one.
The Streetfighter (1974): No, this is
not about that popular video game in the 90s or the movie starring Van
Damme that was based on the game. This is a Japanese martial arts film
which stars Sonny Chiba who was kind of like Japan's Bruce Lee. He
plays a mercenary who the Yakuza try to hire him to kidnap the daughter
of a late businessman who leaves his daughter a lot of money. They
refuse his price and in turn try to kill him so he sets out to protect
the daughter. This are some really good fight scenes and a lot of
violence. This is for someone who likes this genre and the era of the
genre. This is followed by three other sequels.
Rebecca
(1940): Alfred Hitchcock directed this film. Joan Fontaine stars as a
shy woman who soon meets the weathy Maxim de Winter, played by Laurence
Olivier, who she falls in love with and marries. Maxim is a widowed
man who lost the title character. His wife soon finds that he and the
servants in the home have a hard time adjusting to the new wife. Most
notably, Mrs. Danvers, played well by Judith Anderson, makes life very
difficult for the new Mrs. de Winter. Hitchcock is known as the "Master
of Suspense" and this one is probably his most atmospheric film whereas
other Hitchcock films use a lot of dark comedy elements. It becomes
suspenseful when learning the past of Rebecca De Winter. This Hitchcock
film is his first one in Hollywood and the only one of his films to win
Best Picture.
Drive (2011): Ryan Gosling stars in
this film as a mysterious man who has worked as a garage mechanic,
Hollywood stuntman, and as a getaway driver. He appears like he is
trying to move on from his dark past and meets a neighbor named Irene,
played by Carey Mulligan, and becomes friends with her and her son.
Irene's husband is in prison and soon pressed to do a job where he talks
the driver into being the getaway driver. He agrees to do it but when
things go wrong he must do what he can to protect Irene and her son.
Bryan Cranston, Ron Perlman, and Albert Brooks co-star and they are all
rather shady characters. This is a very good action film that does not
need all the effects. It is a very subtle film, and then a very violent
scene breaks out where the violence is very brutal and hard to watch.
Nicolas Winding Refn directed this film and maybe wanted to make very
clear to us that violence is not a good thing. Gosling is great in this
film and is able to convey well through emotion with limited dialogue.
This may not be for everyone, especially those squeamish towards
violence but if you want a good action film, this is a good selection.
The soundtrack to the film was also very good in my opinion. This is
available on Instant Netflix.
The Lost and Found Shop
(2010): I decided to end this week with a short film. I was looking
to get this finished and on Facebook I realized it was the birthday to
my latest supporter Alana Jo Beckman who is a young actress who has done
some short films and had a small part in the feature film CONVICTION.
Once I saw it was her birthday I thought why not give her a little gift
by having her in my blog. This film takes place in a mysterious shop
where the shopkeeper takes some strange requests from his customers for
finding things like souls, tempers, and even virginity. Beckman plays a
little girl who walks in looking for a lost memory and being very
persistent in finding it. Alana won Best Supporting Actress at the
Detroit Independent Film Festival. I am very glad to present this one
as it is a very good short film and very much worth the 8 minutes. Be
on the lookout for Alana Jo Beckman as she could have quite a career
ahead of her. Here is a link for it to watch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AagR4mcyjrM.
Well, that
is it for this week. Tell me what you like and dislike. Stay tuned for
next week which so far includes Cloris Leachman, Paul Thomas Anderson,
more Steven Spielberg, Bruce Lee, Peter Lorre, Rose McGowan, Toshiro
Mifune, and many others.
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