Welcome to the 117th Edition of my series. So far in the March Movie
Madness contest, I have myself, Tony D., Jenny, Fred, Zombie Boy and
joining them are Tournament Man and Garney so there are now seven
competitors in this contest and when the time comes closer I will
announce the rules. It will be similar to Summer Movie Madness and the
Halloween Movie Marathon but this will have a different rule that won't
be based only on quantity of films watched and that will also be
announced when the rules come out closer to the end of the month. If you
are not in my contest and would still like to be, just comment here.
For Christmas, my dad bought me a book featuring 501 Directors through
the years and I will be featuring these directors where I will choose a
movie and try to do a little synopsis on the director. I also started a
drawing where I put all of my facebook friends in a bucket and featuring
a favorite on their movie section so anyone who wants to be a facebook
friend can request me and to my actual facebook friends if you actually
read this, all I know is the title and if there is nothing by it like
the year or whatever I will make the choice myself. Well, enough about
me, let's get on with the recommendations of the week.
Victor/Victoria
(1982): I start out with a film from musical queen Julie Andrews who is
a struggling to find work as a singer in the Great Depression and with
the help of a new, gay friend, becomes a female impersonator and while
having success as a female impersonator, she is struggling in her
personal life. James Garner stars as her love interest who can tell from
the beginning that she is not a man. This was a German movie in 1933
which later was turned into a Broadway musical.
The Champ (1931):
The director I am featuring this week is King Vidor who liked to look
into the struggling class and had a hard time getting some of his movies
out into public but he was one of the big box-office successes of the
era but lives on in a bit of obscurity. Wallace Beery stars as a
washed-up boxer and a single father who is still fighting to support his
son Dink, played by Jackie Cooper. Dink has an undying love for his
father despite his alcoholism and his gambling addiction and is always
in his corner no matter what. This is the ultimate father/son tale and
will be enjoyed by many people.
Jacob's Ladder (1990): Adrian
Lyne directed this disturbing psychological thriller which stars Tim
Robbins as a traumatized Vietnam veteran who is haunted by both war
flashbacks and by his son's death. He then begins to see some strange
things where reality and insanity become a very thin line. It's really
hard to describe this any more so just check this out. Look for SEINFELD
alum Jason Alexander, ER alum Eriq La Salle, and even Ving Rhames, all
in early roles. Now for someone else to look for, a very young Macauley
Culkin who plays Jacob's late son in flashbacks.
The Girl Who
Leaped Through Time (2006): This is my anime pick for the week. Ball
State University's Japanese Animation group put this movie on and it was
quite enjoyable. This movie centers around a miserable high school girl
who discovers she has a gift to leap through time and takes full
advantage of it but can she get what she wants? This is not an Anime
story with a lot of violence, more of just a story with a touch of the
supernatural but it was entertaining and relatable.
I Am Sam
(2001): My facebook friend I drew for this week was Joanna, a friend of
mine who went to Ball State and I see she is now pregnant so
congratulations Joanna. I decided to give this one another view. Sean
Penn stars as the title character who is mentally disabled with a
fixation on the Beatles (is that politically correct enough?) and he is a
single father after the mom left. A young Dakota Fanning plays his
daughter Lucy, named after the Beatles song LUCY IN THE SKY WITH
DIAMONDS, who is now seven. Child protection starts to question Sam's
ability as a single father and takes Lucy away. He then looks in every
way possible to get her back and is able to get the services of a
cold-hearted attorney, played by Michelle Pfeiffer, who took his case on
a bet but begins to learn a lot from Sam about family and love. Sean
Penn was great as Sam and Dakota Fanning was real good as well. This
movie begs a lot of questions, should a man like Sam be able to father a
child? Maybe not as a single parent, since that's difficult enough
anyways but should any loving parent have their child totally taken
away? I don't think so. I liked the scene where he goes off on a Beatles
moment and talks about how Yoko was not at fault for the breakup and
that John Lennon just wanted to do different things which is what I have
always thought myself. Maybe some of use need to take a look at Sam and
his friends who always stick together and who would never stab each
other in the back. Look for a reference to the cover of the Beatles'
ABBEY ROAD.
Women's Camp 119 (1977): Here is my Grindhouse
selection for this week. Once again, it's ripped from a bad VHS
recording. This movie takes place in the Holocaust where a bunch of
women who have comitted crimes are in a camp where they are used for
experimentation. I will say it had some interesting insight into the
Nazis and even at the end they gave info on some of the people featured
but this is still a midnight movie for friends to watch.
Breakfast
at Tiffany's (1961): My mom recorded this adaptation to the Truman
Capote novel to HBO and I remembered really liking this so I decided to
give it a re-watch. Audrey Hepburn stars in this movie as Holly
Golightly, a socialite who does a lot of partying. A-TEAM alum George
Peppard, in a character much different than "Hannibal" Smith, plays a
writer who forms a fascination to Holly and even a relationship. Mickey
Rooney co-stars in a very politically-incorrect performance as a
Japanese man who runs the apartments. This movie contains one of the
greatest movie scenes of all time when Audrey Hepburn is outside the
apartment singing MOON RIVER.
Pony Soldier (1952): I found this
western on AMC and thought I might give it a try. Tyrone Power stars as
Constable Duncan McDonald, you thought I was going to say Duncan McLeod,
who is sent to Canada to contend with a tribe of Cree Indians who have
taken two hostages for safe return. He then must team up with the group.
Not a bad western and Tyrone Power was pretty good.
To Kill a
Mockingbird (1962): Watching this again really raised this movie in my
list of favorites. This is based on the classic novel from Harper Lee
which centers around a family from the Depression-era south. It is lead
by single father and honorable defense attorney Atticus Finch, brought
to wonderful life from Gregory Peck, who with the help of his maid
Calpernia raises his son and daughter, Jem and Scout. He also wants to
teach them acceptance and he is appointed attorney to defend a black man
against a rape charge who was obviously innocent but in this era and
area was guilty either way. One of the most beautiful scenes in film in
my opinion is when Atticus walks out of the courtroom and the negros up
top all stand together out of respect for his efforts. Look for Robert
Duvall in his film debut as Boo Radley. Where are the Atticus Finch's
out there, I know they exist. I did not realize until now that I have
done adaptations to Truman Capote and a good friend of his, Harper Lee.
The character, Dill is based on Capote. Good performances everywhere.
Bowling
For Columbine (2002): I'm going down controversy lane now featuring a
movie from left-wing radical Michael Moore. I was just looking for
something to watch on the Independent Film Channel and I found this one.
Michael Moore takes us to investigate possible causes mainly in
Columbine and takes no prisoners. Now, if you're looking for a
documentary that looks at both sides equally, this is not it. This is
basically Michael Moore's opinion and while I don't agree with
everything he says, some of it I do agree with. Mostly what I agree with
is that the media pumps us with fear and countering that things like
violent movies and video games caused things like Columbine. He went to
other countries to show that they are not much different and I will say
he did not take a look at the Per Capita rate, it is something to think
about. I really don't blame Dick Clark for the child doing a school
shooting because I'm aware that family was very troubled. His main
target was Charlton Heston who no matter what was going to look bad.
Michael Moore just laughs all the way to the bank though in his
filmmaking and he'll continue to do so.
Well, that's it for this week. Leave your comments, what did you like, what did you hate, etc.
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