Welcome to the 263rd Edition of my series. I am now unemployed in the
world of community theater and have had a pretty good year doing GUYS
AND DOLLS at Belfry in Noblesville, WANDERING...FROM KENTUCKY which was
a one-night read-through show through Muncie's Heartland Theater
Company, ARSENIC AND OLD LACE at the Anderson Mainstage Theatre, and
TALK RADIO at the Muncie Civic Studio Theater. Who knows, maybe
something bigger will happen next year but thanks to all involved in
these shows I have done. I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. I had
a good time with family and watching football and a good day in Fantasy
Football. My team is now in an undisputed lead in my division so
hopefully this week I can keep it. This week I pay tribute to the late
HAWAII 5-0 alum James MacArthur who recently left us. I also continue
two-part series to Josh Brolin, Peter Lorre, and Alec Guinness as well
as the continuation with "The Chain" with Christina Ricci. Now it is
time for the ten recommendations for the week.
New York, I Love
You (2009): This is part three of "The Chain" and Christina Ricci's
last link for right now. This is something that might be good for a
date night. One thing that you might already guess is that this movie
takes place in New York and that is probably not hard to guess. The
film looks at many different love stories which have many directors and
actors. For me some of these worked and some did not. I really liked
the segment between Maggie Q and Ethan Hawke as well as the one with
the elderly couple of Eli Wallach and Cloris Leachman. No need to
describe each and every one of these but my favorite was the one with
more unknown actors Anton Yelchin and Olivia Thirlby who takes the girl
in a wheelchair to prom with James Caan playing the girl's father. This
is also not for everyone but had some pretty interesting short stories.
There is quite the all-star cast in this one and this is available on
Instant Netflix. Next week, the chain continues with one of the actors
or actresses from this film.
American Gangster (2007): This is
part two in my two-part Josh Brolin film where last week I featured his
film debut THE GOONIES. Here he plays the corrupt Detective Trupo.
Ridley Scott directs this movie and reunites with Russell Crowe who
plays Detective Richie Roberts who is determined to bring down the drug
empire of Frank Lucas, played by Denzel Washington. Like the first one,
this one takes place in New York in the Manhatton area and is a true
story. This film takes place shortly after the death of Lucas' mentor
Bumpy Johnson who was likely the most successful black gangster in a
mafia in the United States. Frank then takes everything he learns to
create a very successful empire giving his family a much better life
financially but at a very high price. Ruby Dee plays Frank's mother and
gives a great performance in this film. The movie jumps back and forth
with both Richie and Frank's story until their eventual meeting. Crowe
was also very good as the dedicated detective whose personal life was
more difficult. Washington jumps out of his comfort zone very well to
play drug lord Frank Lucas who did whatever he had to in order to stay
on top even at the expense of family. Next week may feature Denzel
Washington again but I'm not sure yet.
Copy (1929): This is my
short film of the week which I found on TCM On-Demand. This one takes
place at a newpaper company where Roscoe Karns stars as editor John
Mack who wants to do a series on the lack of safety measures that a
ship owner uses. The owner puts a lot of pressure on the paper to now
publish the stories but then a disaster on a ship happens which affects
John's personal life. It is an interesting look at a Newspaper place of
that era.
Swiss Family Robinson (1960): This is my tribute to
the late James MacArthur who plays the oldest son of the Robinson
family. The Robinson family gets stranded on an island because they are
shipwrecked. They decide to make the most of their situation and settle
on the island building a home on the island which is a treehouse but a
very effective one. John Mills, Dorothy McGuire, James MacArthur, Tommy
Kirk, and Kevin Corcoran play the Robinson family which is in order
from the father, mother, the oldest son to the youngest. There are some
pirates near the island which are not fond of the Robinson family
leading to a climatic battle towards the end where the Robinson family
make some very clever weapons to fight the pirates. This is a
live-action Disney film and possibly their best in live-action. It is a
fun movie to watch with the family and shows a family who appreciate
what they have in each other and pick up lots of unusual pets in the
process. This is a remake to a 1940 film from RKO which Walt Disney
apparently confiscated all the copies he could find when purchasing the
rights so now I am curious to check out RKO's version.
Jack and
the Beanstalk (1952): I found this movie on my new app called Pub-D-Hub
which is only available on my Roku player that also plays instant
Netflix. This group plays public domain material which consists of
film, television, cartoon, classic commercials, and radio productions
and is a pretty cool thing. This is actually an Abbott and Costello
film. In the beginning, Lou finds work babysitting the worst child ever
where Lou has a hard time reading it so the kid reads it which then
sets off the fantasy story of Lou being Jack who battles the giant on
top of the beanstalk. Bud plays the person who supplies Jack with his
beans. This is A & C's first film in color. It is a pretty
entertaining later film for the comedy duo. The Roku is a small device
that works off wireless or wired internet and can do a lot of cool
things so check out roku.com for information.
Casino Royale
(1954): This is part two of my two-part Peter Lorre series and this is
actually an episode of a tv show called CLIMAX and probably the episode
that lives on due to its historic value. Yes, this is based on Ian
Fleming's novel and the first featured James Bond film which stars
Barry Nelson as Jimmy Bond and Peter Lorre plays crime boss Le Chiffre.
Bond must beat the expert poker player in a high-stakes game. This is
very interesting to watch but far from the great movie character we
would meet. This is also the reason that the first Bond film was DR. NO
instead of this one which is the original novel. CBS owned the right
and many years later, the rights were bought and this would go onto
become my favorite Bond film with my favorite Bond actor in Daniel
Craig so maybe it was good this was made. One interesting thing about
this is that Bond's CIA ally Felix Leiter is renamed Clarence Leiter
and in this show was British and Bond being American and having the
name "Card Sense Jimmy Bond". This is also said to have been a possible
pilot for a James Bond series which never got off the ground. This is
available on Instant Netflix.
Talk Radio (1988): As many know, I
just got done with this show which was performed at the Muncie Civic
Studio Theater. Oliver Stone directed this adaptation to the play
written by Eric Bogosian who also stars as controversial radio host
Barry Champlain. This character was inspired by real-life radio talk
show host Alan Berg. In this story, Champlain learns that his show is
to go national which he does not like fearing that he may be forced to
edit his content so now he is at full emotion with all his callers
where he holds nothing back with them. He is also having personal
problems with his love life and his ex-wife coming back to town. This
is not an upbeat story by any means. The play version takes place
solely at the radio station but in the movie they expand outside of the
station which I understand. I feel they did a pretty good job making
this into a workable film. Ellen Greene, Alec Baldwin, John C.
McGinley, and many others co-star. Thanks to Bill Wilkison for
obtaining the play to direct at the Muncie Civic Studio Theater and for
his dedication to the show. This is available on Instant Netflix.
The Proposal (2009): This could be another a couple could get for date
movie night and one even a man might enjoy. I liked this a lot more
than I expected. This is part of what I call the 2009 Sandra Bullock
trilogy. In this year, we have THE BLIND SIDE which she won an Academy
Award for Best Actress. We also have ALL ABOUT STEVE where she won a
Razzie award for Worst Actress. This is the one that slides right in
the middle. Sandra plays the very successful but pushy boss Margaret
Tate. Ryan Reynolds plays her hapless assistant Andrew who does
everything for her in hopes for promotion and his own success.
Margaret is a native of Canada who learns of her Visa expiring so she
forces Andrew to marry her to stay in the country in pretty much
blackmailing him knowing he will lose his job if she leaves. He
reluctantly plays along and takes her to meet his family in Alaska so
that she can pose as the fiancee. Mary Steenburgen, Craig T. Nelson
and Betty White co-star as his family with White very amusing as the
grandmother. I found there to be more to this than a typical romantic
comedy which I felt focused more on the comedy than romance. To the
guys out there, if getting a movie to watch with your significant
other, this is one of the better ones to watch. This is available on
Instant Netflix.
Oliver Twist (1948): Most of us know the musical version but this is
the non-musical version of the Dickens classic which was still a great
story and film. David Lean directed this version which stars John
Howard Davies as the title character whose mother dies at childbirth,
ends up in a very mean orphanage, escapes to find refuge with a group
of thieves. Alec Guinness stands out in this film as Fagin who teaches
children the art of pick-pocketing where he and the Artful Dodger take
in Oliver which is a better situation than what he had. The
performances were great in this film as well as the cinematography.
This was actually released in 1951 because at the time Jewish groups
did a lot of protesting feeling that Guinness' portrayal of Fagin was
anti-semitic. Anderson Mainstage Theatre did this show in musical
format in October and the Muncie Civic Theater will be doing it
starting next weekend but I just could not get a part in either version
and it is one of my favorite musicals from that era but I'm sure I'll
enjoy it just the same. This is available on Instant Netflix.
Happy Together (1997): Kar Wai Wong directed this very daring Hong
Kong film which stars Hong Kong stars Tony Leung and Leslie Cheung as
gay couple Yiu-Fai and Po-Wing. They decide to go to Argentina for the
holiday where their relationship goes adrift and both find it hard to
get back to Hong Kong. This is not for everyone but is a pretty
well-done foreign film about a gay couple who just keep moving apart.
The beginning of the film really make sure we know they are gay for if
that is not your thing, you better not watch it. The two actors worked
very well together and probably took criticism for taking these parts.
The end when Yiu-Fai was analyzing and comparing his life to Po-Wing
was a pretty well-done scene.
Well, that is it for this week. Tell me what you like and what you
hate and stay tuned next week which so far includes Anna Chlumsky,
Jennifer Garner, Vince Vaughn, Fred Williamson, Red Skelton, John
Wayne, and many others.
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