Welcome to the 164th Edition of my blog series and the first installment
in this great new year. No real resolutions from me except just to live
my life and to continue to give you all new movies to check out. I made
some strange selections this week but that is what you love. In the
start of the New Year I want to thank you all for reading my blogs. I
guess I don't have much to say this week so let's get going.
Easy
to Wed (1946): I now pay homage to the late Van Johnson who recently
died and the debut of Lucille Ball on my blog. It was looking for a
movie for Van Johnson which made me discover Esther Williams who made
her debut on this blog a couple weeks ago. Esther Williams stars as
socialite Connie, whose father sues the newspaper for libel towards
comments made that her daughter is nymphomaniac and out for married
women. Van Johnson is reporter Bill Chandler who is out to try to get
her to drop the suit. Lucille Ball plays Gladys and has some funny
moments as a person caught up in the scheme. This is a pretty fun story
with Esther Williams being very overlooked today and was also a pretty
well-built woman.
Kung Fu Panda (2008): I now bring you a great
one from Dreamworks. I admit, I'm not a huge Jack Black fan but I really
like him in this one. He plays a Panda named Po, a slacker who loves
Kung Fu and when going to the land of his idols, he ends up getting
chosen to fulfill an ancient prophecy. He then must learn Kung Fu in
order to save the Valley of Peace from the villainous Tai Lung. Dustin
Hoffman is great as his master Shifu, who does everything to drive Po
out but realizes the dedication of Po. Other voices include Angelina
Jolie, Seth Rogen, Jackie Chan, Lucy Liu, David Cross, Ian McShane and
many others.
Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979): I now pay
homage to the late Majel Barrett-Roddenberry who was in all the
installments of STAR TREK and here plays Dr. Christine Chapel. I am by
no means a Trekkie, or is it Trekker, and this is the first time Star
Trek has ended up on here but I don't really hate it and I try to
accomodate to everyone. William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Deforest Kelley,
and many others reunite when an unknown entity seems to be wreaking
havoc. 7TH HEAVEN alum Stephen Collins plays Commander Decker who is the
head of the ship until Admiral James T. Kirk returns after three years
bringing back Spock and McCoy but has a difficult task ahead of him.
This was the first of many movies and a series that will never die out.
The
Miracle Maker (2000): I had no idea what to expect of this claymation
version of Jesus Christ but I ended up really liking it. Ralph Fiennes
is the voice of our savior and shows him from childhood until his last
days of dying on the cross. The animation was great and it was good to
see such a lost art come back and there where were some great flashback
sequences with regular paper animation. This was a very nice version
which also included voices from Julie Christie, Ian Holm, William Hurt,
Alfred Molina, Miranda Richardson and many others.
One Magic
Christmas (1985): I couldn't resist this one even though Christmas has
past. Mary Steenburgen stars as a mother who is about to be evicted and
loses the meaning of Christmas with her husband and two children. BIG
LOVE star Harry Dean Stanton plays Gideon, a Christmas angel who must
help her restore her love for Christmas for her husband and kids who
still love Christmas no matter how hard it gets. He goes through her
daughter Abby and even visits Santa. This was a nice story of redemption
even for a Christmas movie with Stanton in a great performances as an
unlikely angel who is second only to Henry Travers in IT'S A WONDERFUL
LIFE.
Fashions of 1934 (1934): I found this overlooked classic on
TCM. William Powell stars as Sherwood, a hustler in Paris who bootlegs
Paris fashions to sell to others. Bette Davis plays his assistant Lynn
who acts like she takes interest in a dress. When they are under threat,
they decide that they should put on a legitimate show which included a
Busby Berkeley song and dance number that only Berkeley could come up
with. Bette Davis was refreshingly more light-hearted than usual and the
movie is fun to watch for the two stars. Frank McHugh was also funny as
photographer Snap.
Turtles Can Fly (2004): I found this
Iran-Turkish film on IFC which takes place a week before the U.S.
invasion in Kurdistan. The story centers around a boy named Satellite
for his expertise who is a very resourceful and even manipulative 13
year old who is forced along with many other children to grow up very
fast. He then begins to fall for a young girl who was raped and has an
armless brother with a toddler child. This was nominated for Best
Foreign Film at the Academy Awards and was creditted to Iran. This was
the first movie to be made in the Iran-Iraq area since the fall of
Hussein. All the child actors were actual refugees. This gives a very
authentic feel and is very dark but still good to watch.
Varietese
(1954): I now pay tribute to pin-up queen Bettie Page who recently left
us in this documentary showing a burlesque show which shows Bettie in
quite a dance number which is a rare movie appearance. It also has a few
other rather entertaining performances like from Lily St. Cyr and even a
drag queen. I found this on Netflix and is definetly of entertainment,
especially for fans of Bettie page.
And the Band Played On
(1993): This is in tribute to the recent death of Anjelica Huston's
husband Robert Graham who is most known for sculpting the Roosevelt
Memorial but has done many things. I know I chose a movie of hers with a
very small role but this is what interested me the most. This was a
pretty daring film about AIDS aka "the gay disease" as they believe
first is what causes it. It takes us back to the first amount of strange
deaths which cause a lot of uproar during the Reagon Administration.
Matthew Modine plays a very dedicated doctor who does not give up his
quest for the truth. This has an absolute all-star cast including Alan
Alda, Bud Cort, Richard Gere, Steve Martin, Ian McKellan, and even Phil
Collins plus many more. Many of the actors received some criticism for
taking such small roles in a tv movie which was on HBO. This is very
insightful and moving and the last movie I watched in 2008.
Hang
'Em High (1968): I now end the ten recommendations and start 2009 with a
Clint Eastwood western. He plays a rancher who was wrongly hung and is
saved. He is then deputized to hunt down the people who did it to him.
This is Eastwood's first American western and was pretty decent. Dennis
Hopper has a small role as "The Prophet". There is not much more to say
than that plot and it also looks into the morality of justice in the
town he was in. What was interesting was when there was a hanging and it
being treated like a sporting even with concessions and all. We also
have one of the greats of the film industry in Eastwood and one of the
most important people in my opinion in that industry.
Well, that
is it for this week. Tell me what you love and what you hate. I'm going
to keep track of everything that I watch and periodically release it in a
blog. Stay tuned next week for a classic French film, Bob Hope, and
William Hurt. I may have a movie from the Random Myspace Profile
selection
HONORABLE MENTION
Happy New Year, Charlie Brown
(1986): I think this is the first time I have ever seen this Charlie
Brown special. While everyone is planning for the New Year, Charlie is
busy reading the assigned WAR AND PEACE. All of our usual friends are
there so if you like Charlie Brown, you'll like this one.
FUN LITTLE FACTS
My
Facebook friend Julia played Lucille Ball in an I LOVE LUCY skit in the
play BEEN THERE, SCENE THAT at the Anderson Mainstage Theatre.
In
the special features of KUNG FU PANDA, they said how they created some
of the sounds and one that stood out in my mind was how they used a
diggerie-do for the spear sounds and it made me think of my Facebook and
Myspace friend Jacob who may very well be the best diggerie-do player
in Muncie, if not in Indiana.
Dustin Hoffman (Kung Fu Panda)
played Captain Hook in HOOK and my myspace and Facebook friend Kayla
played the role at Lee's Theatrical Productions. Kayla is the only
person who in the theater world actually shoved me to the ground in a
scene in MASH.
Wayne Knight (Kung Fu Panda) and William Shatner
(Star Trek) were recurring characters in my Mom's favorite sitcom 3RD
ROCK FROM THE SUN in the 90s. Knight was Officer Don and Shatner would
later play the Big Giant Head.
Jackie Chan (Kung Fu Panda) did
the voice of Shang in the Chinese release of MULAN. B.D. Wong (And the
Band Played On) did the voice for the American version.
William
Shatner (Star Trek) and Christian Clemenson (And the Band Played On)
were both the the tv series BOSTON LEGAL. Shatner was hotshot attorney
Denny Crane and Clemenson played Jerry Espenson.
Marvel Villains
-Michael Clarke Duncan (Kung Fu Panda) played Kingpin in DAREDEVIL
-Alfred Molina (The Miracle Maker) played Doctor Octopus in SPIDER-MAN 2
-Ian McKellan (And the Band Played On) played Magneto in all three X-Men films
No comments:
Post a Comment