Welcome to the 240th edition of my blog. GUYS AND DOLLS had a great run
but it is now over. It will be a difficult adjustment for a week but
I'll be fine. I am once again writing this at the last minute so
forgive me if my writing seems a bit rushed. I have one selection from
the Random Myspace Profile selection process. Next week will likely
have none. Get your Netflix and Blockbuster queues and read on.
Lilies
of the Field (1963): Sidney Poitier stars in this film as Homer, an
unemployed construction worker who comes into a small town and
encounters five nuns who speak very limited English. They believe he
has been sent by God to make a church that is much needed. He agrees to
help a little bit but intends to move on but then with them not
understanding his English and his heart, he stays to build this church.
This movie moved very well for me on account of Sidney Poitier who was
very good in his part of someone who just could not bring himself to
leave the nuns no matter how much he wanted to leave. Poitier won best
actor for this film and agreed to less of a salary in order to be in
the movie.
The Wild Bunch (1969): This is a selection from the
Random Myspace Profile selection process and for this one I chose
Producer Phill. This is my western for the week which ranks very high
in the western genre. Sam Peckinpah directed this western which shows
an aging group of outlaws who decide to do one more job which then
results in a very violent shootout. It is an interesting look at people
who cannot really adjust to the changing times with the technology and
the ending of the wild west. William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Warren
Oates, Robert Ryan, and many others star in this iconic western. This
is not a very upbeat film and it is also very violent but also
realistic.
High Fidelity (2000): Steven Frears directed this
movie which stars John Cusack as Rob who is the owner of a small-time
record store whose girlfriend dumps him. Rob then decides to make a top
5 list of his worst breakups to see what happened that made them want
to leave. Jack Black and Todd Louiso co-star as his socially inept
employees who bring a lot of comic relief as well as Cusack as there
are lots of good music discussions in this movie. Lisa Bonet, Catherine
Zeta-Jones, Natasha Gregson-Wagner, and Joan Cusack all co-star in this
great film of the music scene and a mid-life crisis with a great
performance from John Cusack.
Grave of the Fireflies (1988): The
Facebook friend I chose for this one was Yu-Ching who was our great
piano accompanist during BIG RIVER. I also know that my friend John
will like that I have done two weeks in a row with Anime films. This
one is regarded as one of the best anime films by many. In this movie,
we focus on the teenage Setsuko and his 4 year old sister Seita who are
living in WW2 Japan and struggle to survive as their mother has died in
an air raid and their father's status in the war is unknown. This is a
rather sad film at times but can be inspirational and is quite
different from a lot of Anime films where there is not much of the
supernatural. It is really a story of the cost of a war and the lost
innocence of these children where the teen was forced to grow up but
really could not and the little girl who could not really act her age.
Ayiyuki Nosaka wrote this book after losing his sister whose death he
blamed himself for.
The Four Feathers (2002): This is part one
of what might be a multiple part Heath Ledger series. Shekhar Kapur
directs this film based on the novel by A.E.W. Mason. There are
actually many versions of this film but I have not seen any. This takes
place in a war in 1894 in Sudan where the British are fighting a war
with some rebels in the country. Heath Ledger stars as Harry Fevelsham
who is a British officer who resigns and then his fiancee, played by
Kate Hudson, and three other friends each give him a white feather
which symbolized cowardice. What they do not know is that he is then
going undercover which might earn redemption. Wes Bentley and Djimon
Hounsou also co-star in this story on another film in this that kind of
shows the price of war with Ledger good in the lead and even Hudson was
pretty good in this film.
I Love Sarah Jane (2008): This is my
short film for the week which I got off the IFC channel for their
GRINDHOUSE SHORT FILMS. This short takes place in a Zombie ridden world
where children appear to have to fend for themselves. In their zombie
quest, Jimbo becomes more obsessed with winning over a young girl named
Sarah Jane. This was actually a pretty good 14 minutes so check it out
if you can find it.
Gentleman (1993): This is my Bollywood film
for the week which holds its place in history as the first
Tamil-language spoken film. I'd be lying if I said I totally got this
movie but we have a certain modern-day Robin Hood who wants to help
provide education to the poor by taking from the rich. With Bollywood,
their movies are long, colorful and have some very lavish song and
dance numbers. There was also a very interesting fight scene that takes
place in the balls of a Chuck-e-Cheese type place. Some of the musical
numbers seemed rather unrelated but the movie still provided some
entertainment. I found this on Netflix.
The Giant Gila Monster
(1959): This is my sci-fi B-movie for the week which I found on the
Colours network. This takes place in a small town in Texas where there
is a giant lizard who is wreaking havoc all over town. The Sheriff with
the other townspeople must band together to stop this lizard. This is
something to check out when you have a bunch of people over. If you
want a great movie with a good plot and acting, this might not be it.
The
Enchanted Cottage (1945): I found this one on TCM. This was a nice love
story where we first have a homely maid named Laura, played by Dorothy
McGuire, who is not the most physical attractive person in other
people's minds and especially hers. Robert Young stars as Oliver
Bradford who is just getting back from the war and is scarred so does
not feel he has much to live for. When they first meet they are not
attracted to each other but as they get to know each other, they
understand each other and slowly falling in love becoming beautiful to
each other which begins to show the beauty in the characters we do not
see where the title of the movie comes into play. This was a beautiful
story and a very enchanted one as well.
Anna Karenina (1935): I
now go to a more tragic love story that I found on TCM which is one of
many film adaptations of the Leo Tolstoy novel. Greta Garbo stars as
the title character who is very unhappily married to the authoritarian
Karenin, played by Basil Rathbone. She falls in love with Count
Vronsky, played by Fredric March, who is willing to take the risk of
being with her even though Karenin will not grant a divorce. Freddie
Bartholomew plays their son Sergei and Maureen O'Sullivan plays Anna's
sister Kitty. I think this takes place in the 1800s and is an
interesting look at the social situations of the country. Garbo and
Bartholomew have some good interactions and Rathbone is perfect for his
part and we had quite an ending. I thought this was a pretty good love
story but it's hard to explain.
Well, that is it for this week.
Tell me what you like and what you hate and stay tuned for next week
which so far includes Robert De Niro, Tom Cruise, Rudolph Valentino,
Wes Craven, Jet Li, and many others.
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