Welcome to the 156th Edition, aka THREE YEAR ANNIVERSARY, of my
blog. Wow three years some may say including myself. I don't know how I
do it, I'm sure many did not think I'd last this long but here I am.
Make no mistake, this is just another 10 recommendations by me where
some you'll like and some you might not like. I would like to thank
everyone who reads my blog like Jerry, Fred, Tony, and plenty of others.
In Fantasy Football, I am struggling more than ever now but it is not
hopeless. Alright, now on with this week's 10 recommendations.
Days of Heaven (1978): I start with Travis' Co-Op selection from a couple weeks ago. Terrance Malick directed this poetic film which takes place in the beginning of the century. Richard Gere and Brooke Adams star as Bill and Abby who are posing as brother and sister to get a job in the Texas Panhandle. Linda Manz also stars as Linda who is Bill's kid sister who actually narrates this film. Sam Shepard is their dying boss who Abby marries to get his money when he dies. I watched this another time which did not have as much effect on me as it did this time. Gere is great and the movie flows so well and is absolutely beautiful.
Subtext (year unknown): I caught this at Ball State in a little short film series put on by the Campus Crusade for Christ. This is part of many short films on youtube of the Tales of Mere Existance. This one is written by Lev Yilmaz and shows what one may go through when writing an e-mail. They guy that hosted this thing quite amazed me by how these really did not show much religious reference but he got very deep into relating in life. I will be featuring more of these in the coming weeks and Muncie also has their Harvest Moon Film Festival coming soon so I'll be featuring a lot of those as well.
The Terror (1963): B-movie king Roger Corman directed this low-budget film which is a very early film for Jack Nicholson and a much later one for Boris Karloff. Nicholson is a soldier for Napoleon's army who encounters a mysterious woman and a strange plot to kill of Karloff's character. There is not much more that needs to be said. This is rather atmospheric, but if you are expecting something first-rate or the best Jack Nicholson/Boris Karloff film you will not get it here but still something that can be enjoyed if you don't go in with expectations. Nicholson got quite a bit of work from Corman in those days. This movie was shot in about three days.
SpaceCamp (1986): I can see that I ate a lot of cheese this week with my last selection and this one. This is one of those fun 80s films that can be enjoyable if you let it. We have a few teens who are chosen to train at NASA. With one of the trainers they get launched into space and must band together if they want to land. We have a young Joaquin Phoenix in his film debut who at the time went by Leaf who is one of them and is an absolute STAR WARS buff in this movie. We have three female 80s icons including Lea Thompson, Kelly Preston, and Kate Capshaw. It's a harmless film if you want some entertainment and let's not forget Jinx the robot, a very underrated robot.
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949): This is a Disney double feature which are adaptations of THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS which was narrated by Basil Rathbone and THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW which was narrated by Bing Crosby. During the time of the war when Disney was a little under budget, they released a lot of these double features and this one is the last of them. Bing Crosby has some pretty cool musical numbers and the villain in the Sleepy Hollow segment reminded me a lot of Gaston from BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. This is a Disney film that went under the radar but hopefully, it will become a little more exposed now.
The Gorgeous Hussy (1936): This is a biopic on Peggy Eaton, a controversial person during the Andrew Jackson administration. Joan Crawford plays Eaton who was friends with the former president but was in love with John Eaton, among others. Lionel Barrymore stars as Andrew Jackson and Melvyn Douglas co-stars as John Randolph. I felt it would have been better if it centered more on Jackson but it is worth it for Barrymore, Douglas and a young James Stewart. I just could not really bring myself to really care for Peggy Eaton.
The World is Not Enough (1999): With the new James Bond around the corner, the Bond marathon on USA and my need for a 90s movie I decided to go with this one which stars Pierce Brosnan as James Bond Agent 007. Brosnan went to a mixed reception. He was not my favorite actor to play the role but I felt he did his part and provided his own unique twist to the role but Daniel Craig remains my favorite Bond actor but enough said there. In this movie, 007 becomes the bodyguard of the Elektra King, daughter of a murdered oil baron played by Sophie Marceau. She is not exactly the nice girl everyone thinks she is. Robert Carlyle plays Reynard, a man who feels no pain. Robbie Coltrane reprises his role as Valentine Zukovsky from GOLDENEYE which really added to this film. Denise Richards plays the good Bond girl Christmas Jones but I felt she was rather dull but with all the non-stop action and a scene where Bond really takes full advantage of his license to kill, it was a good one to watch. Desmond Llewelan makes his final appearance as Q and introduces his next-in-line John Cleese.
Days of Heaven (1978): I start with Travis' Co-Op selection from a couple weeks ago. Terrance Malick directed this poetic film which takes place in the beginning of the century. Richard Gere and Brooke Adams star as Bill and Abby who are posing as brother and sister to get a job in the Texas Panhandle. Linda Manz also stars as Linda who is Bill's kid sister who actually narrates this film. Sam Shepard is their dying boss who Abby marries to get his money when he dies. I watched this another time which did not have as much effect on me as it did this time. Gere is great and the movie flows so well and is absolutely beautiful.
Subtext (year unknown): I caught this at Ball State in a little short film series put on by the Campus Crusade for Christ. This is part of many short films on youtube of the Tales of Mere Existance. This one is written by Lev Yilmaz and shows what one may go through when writing an e-mail. They guy that hosted this thing quite amazed me by how these really did not show much religious reference but he got very deep into relating in life. I will be featuring more of these in the coming weeks and Muncie also has their Harvest Moon Film Festival coming soon so I'll be featuring a lot of those as well.
The Terror (1963): B-movie king Roger Corman directed this low-budget film which is a very early film for Jack Nicholson and a much later one for Boris Karloff. Nicholson is a soldier for Napoleon's army who encounters a mysterious woman and a strange plot to kill of Karloff's character. There is not much more that needs to be said. This is rather atmospheric, but if you are expecting something first-rate or the best Jack Nicholson/Boris Karloff film you will not get it here but still something that can be enjoyed if you don't go in with expectations. Nicholson got quite a bit of work from Corman in those days. This movie was shot in about three days.
SpaceCamp (1986): I can see that I ate a lot of cheese this week with my last selection and this one. This is one of those fun 80s films that can be enjoyable if you let it. We have a few teens who are chosen to train at NASA. With one of the trainers they get launched into space and must band together if they want to land. We have a young Joaquin Phoenix in his film debut who at the time went by Leaf who is one of them and is an absolute STAR WARS buff in this movie. We have three female 80s icons including Lea Thompson, Kelly Preston, and Kate Capshaw. It's a harmless film if you want some entertainment and let's not forget Jinx the robot, a very underrated robot.
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949): This is a Disney double feature which are adaptations of THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS which was narrated by Basil Rathbone and THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW which was narrated by Bing Crosby. During the time of the war when Disney was a little under budget, they released a lot of these double features and this one is the last of them. Bing Crosby has some pretty cool musical numbers and the villain in the Sleepy Hollow segment reminded me a lot of Gaston from BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. This is a Disney film that went under the radar but hopefully, it will become a little more exposed now.
The Gorgeous Hussy (1936): This is a biopic on Peggy Eaton, a controversial person during the Andrew Jackson administration. Joan Crawford plays Eaton who was friends with the former president but was in love with John Eaton, among others. Lionel Barrymore stars as Andrew Jackson and Melvyn Douglas co-stars as John Randolph. I felt it would have been better if it centered more on Jackson but it is worth it for Barrymore, Douglas and a young James Stewart. I just could not really bring myself to really care for Peggy Eaton.
The World is Not Enough (1999): With the new James Bond around the corner, the Bond marathon on USA and my need for a 90s movie I decided to go with this one which stars Pierce Brosnan as James Bond Agent 007. Brosnan went to a mixed reception. He was not my favorite actor to play the role but I felt he did his part and provided his own unique twist to the role but Daniel Craig remains my favorite Bond actor but enough said there. In this movie, 007 becomes the bodyguard of the Elektra King, daughter of a murdered oil baron played by Sophie Marceau. She is not exactly the nice girl everyone thinks she is. Robert Carlyle plays Reynard, a man who feels no pain. Robbie Coltrane reprises his role as Valentine Zukovsky from GOLDENEYE which really added to this film. Denise Richards plays the good Bond girl Christmas Jones but I felt she was rather dull but with all the non-stop action and a scene where Bond really takes full advantage of his license to kill, it was a good one to watch. Desmond Llewelan makes his final appearance as Q and introduces his next-in-line John Cleese.
Gridiron Gang (2006): I know another football movie but I seem to be a sucker for them. This is very formulaic but it has that right part where football is not that important. Dwayne "I used to be the Rock" Johnson plays the real-life Sean Porter who works for an L.A. Juvenile Center and was sick of the 75% statistic of the kids will end up in prison so he wanted to do something about it. His big idea was to form a football team within the center and even put them in a high school league. This obviously was not easy for him and had to jump through a lot of hoops but it happened. With this football team, the kids learned how to work as a team and some discipline. When I went to Ball State, I volunteered at a juvenile center where the employees just said "these are kids who will be in jail in 10 years". I understand that in this imperfect world some will but given meaningful activities some can change. Phil Joanou directed this at the real life juvenile camp to get a pretty authentic feel of a juvenile detention center. He also got input from kids in there to get it as right as possible. Many of the people on the team had been at that place. I felt this was Johnson's best performance in the movie industry and as much of a wrestling fan as I am, I also understand how rough that life on the road can be and support his decision to leave the wrestling industry. I'm trying to get used to him now just being Dwayne Johnson. His grandmother Leah Maivia recently died so I decided to do this in tribute to her. Stay tuned with the credits because it has some good documentary footage of the real Sean Porter and some of his players.
The Blue Gardenia (1953): This is my film noir for the week. Fritz Lang directed this tale of a mind-mannered telephone operator named Norah, played by Anne Baxter, who receives a letter from her fiance informing her that he is breaking up. She then meets a rather sleezy man named Harry Pebble, in a refreshingly different role from Raymond Burr. She gets drunk but finds out the next day he was hit by a poker with no recollection of what happened. This is something to keep a close eye on. Richard Conte plays a reporter out to find "The Blue Gardenia". Nat King Cole has a small role and sings the nice title song. Look for former Superman George Reeves as one of the officers. I see that most of my older movies are quite unknown so maybe I can make them a little more known.
Dreamgirls (2006): I admit that I chose this movie under horrible circumstances. Most know that AMERICAN IDOL alum Jennifer Hudson's mother, brother, and nephew were recently murdered. My thoughts go right out to Hudson but I need to now discuss this movie. This is a great musical look into the 60s R & B scene focusing on a trio of singers lead by Effie, played very well by Jennifer Hudson. They get their start when backing up Jimmy Early, in one of Eddie Murphy's best performances in years, but like anyone tension breaks out. Early is a has-been singer who can't let go of his stardom. Jamie Foxx stars as their producer who angers Effie when he appoints their band member Deena, played by Destiny's Child's Beyonce Knowles, as the lead singer which leads to Effie's firing and her life in poverty. It takes a look at the sad political side of the musical industry. All the musical numbers were great and the performances were great. Danny Glover and John Lithgow all have roles.
Well, that is where I end this week in my movies. Again, thanks to everyone who has read this blog. I always enjoy putting these together each week and seeing such a variety of movies. Many when seeing three years may say wow but I say it every week. I will be back next week with 10 more. Please leave your comments on what you like and what you hate.
HONORABLE THEATER MENTION
The Rocky Horror Show (The Artist's Studio, Fishers, Indiana): I have seen many different productions of this show in Muncie and I always tend to enjoy going for such a wild show where you do not have to be quiet to watch. My myspace and facebook friends Alli (Columbia) and Kellin (Phantom chorus) were both in this show. This is not for everyone. It's kind of a spoof on horror. We have a newlywed couple who get a flat tire and the closest place is a strange castle which turn out to be transvestites and their lives are never the same. Need I say more? I have always had comfort issues in doing this show but next time Muncie does it, I will try to overcome my fears and do it though I still prefer EVIL DEAD: THE MUSICAL. Frank-n-Furter was great in this show and in the end, he decided to land on top of me which was very unexpected.
No comments:
Post a Comment