Welcome to the 114th edition of my series. As I write this, the
Patriots just won and my internet went out last night at home so forgive
me if my writing is below par this week.
Rain Man (1988): I start this week out with Dustin Hoffman and our
favorite Scientologist which I believe is one of his best performances
as a shallow youngster whose father died and leaves him a very limited
inheritance which was a car but no money except he learns of a brother
living in a group home, played by Dustin Hoffman. He is an autistic
savant who has the gift of rememberance. Charlie (Cruise) sees that
Raymond (Hoffman) can be used to get the inheritance but begins to form a
relationship with him on their road trip. Both leads were great and
brought back some memories to me after working at Isanogel Summer Camp
for a week.
Dick Tracy (1945): I found this version of the Chester Gould comic
strip. Morgan Conway played the title detective and unfortunately did
not have the resemblance to the character with the trademark chin but
this was a pretty good film-noir version where Dick Tracy must
investigate multiple murders by Splitface. I found this on http://www.moviesfoundonline.com so go check it out for free.
Unknown World (1951): This is part 3 of 4 of my Sci-Fi Invasion
series. Victor Kilian stars (though is not credited, I'll get to that)
as Dr. Morley who feels that nuclear war is inevitable and talks other
scientists to go below the earth to find land to live in and tensions
mount. It's a $1 movie, take it for what it's worth.
Frogs (1972): My friend Bill had me borrow this after a discussion
on "bad films" and this is does not disappoint. Sam Elliot stars as a
freelance photographer doing an assignment and joins a family of wealth
along the way lead by Ray Milland, the man who hates nature and is very
stubborn. Along the way, nature wanted its revenge. This was a fun
movie to watch but I wanted to see the frogs more vicious but we can't
all be winners. Sam Elliot would go onto play some good character roles
but they all must start somewhere.
Infamous (2006): This is a story of Truman Capote and his research
for his most famous novel IN COLD BLOOD. Toby Jones plays the
flamboyant author who forms a relationship with the two convicted
killers and even forms even more with Perry Smith, played by Daniel
Craig. That is something that is a rumor and not known whether or not
to be true. Jones seems to play the author with more flamboyancy than
Philip Seymour Hoffman did in CAPOTE. This movie also focused more on
the relationship between Capote and the killers and his friendship with
Harper Lee, played by a nearly unrecognizable Sandra Bullock.
The Debt (1993): This is my short film for the week which I found on
IFC. This started out with a bickering married couple who both found
suspicious messages about each other which made things worse and then a
salesperson enters to try to bring in peace with a self-help book but it
might be too late. Some may recognize THIRD ROCK FROM THE SUN alum
Kristen Johnston. This was a very entertaining short which won lots of
awards at film festivals.
Beauty and the Beast (1991): This was on my very first list and it
was backstage for this show when I came up with this idea for a blog
which survives more than two years later. I was fortunate enough to
play Lefou, Gaston's sidekick where I got to sing my longest solo song
in the song GASTON. Other friends in this movie include Elizabeth
(Belle), Sean (Beast), Kevin (Gaston), Corey (Lumiere), Ric (Cogsworth),
my mom (Wardrobe), Melissa (Babbette), Zack (D'arque), Lisa (Silly
Girl), Missy (Villager), and Lauren (Villager). I am sorry if I forgot
anyone. This is definetly one of my favorite Disney films and one I
will always be grateful for since I got to be in a stage version of
this. We all pretty much know the jist of the story. You have a
selfish prince turned into a beast who must break the curse by learning
to love and be loved in return, and Bell who must be a prisoner of the
Beast's castle and you know the rest. Everyone else in the castle also
turns into some comical object. LAW AND ORDER alum Jerry Orbach plays
Lumierre and does a good job singing BE OUR GUEST and MURDER, SHE WROTE
alum Angela Lansbury voices Mrs. Potts and sings the title song very
well.
The Shop on Main Street (1965): This is my co-op selection for the
week. This is a czechoslavakian film which takes place during the Nazi
era. It first centers around a poor couple where the husband is sent to
manage a small flower shop run by a senile old woman who believes she
hires an employee. Someone had to run it and Jewish people could not
own business. I really have a hard time explaining like Travis can so
I'll just say to watch it and it does a good job of incorporating dark
humor into horrible times.
Shall We Dance (2004): My cousin bought me this movie for Christmas
and I will admit I really didn't have much interest in seeing this movie
but I decided to give it a chance and I was quite surprised by the end
result to me. This is a remake to a Japanese movie in 1996 but not a
remake of the Fred Astaire classic. Richard Gere stars as a bored
workingman who is fixated with a dance instructor he sees when riding a
train home one evening played by Jennifer Lopez. He then leads a secret
life of taking dance lessons from his wife and daughter and starts to
make noticable changes. Stanley Tucci plays a good role who is a sports
writer leading a double life as a great dancer who really does not like
sports. This could be dismissed as a chick flick but I thought there
was far more to it than that.
The Edge of the World (1937): I was looking for a movie from the 30s
to record to DVR so I found this unknown Scottish film which is a story
of a man named Peter Manson who resisted a move from his native land
when others wanted to leave. This was definetly worth a watch and I had
to watch it pretty carefully but I got through it alright so you can
too.
Well, that is it for this week, Stay tuned next week for more. Happy Martin Luther King Day.
No comments:
Post a Comment