Welcome to the 193rd Edition of my blog. I return with week with two
selections from the Random Myspace Profile selection process. Next week
will have at least one but a possibility of three. Alright, let's get
it out of the way. I was on tv for AMERICA'S GOT TALENT. I really did
not want to see it but it happened. It showed
only about 20 seconds but enough for people to possibly think I suck.
There were some bloggers out there that had things to say but that is
to be expected. I even have my name on Wikipedia now regarding the
episode. The reality was that I was out of my element and I choked.
Judge now how you like, most understand the high pressure of what I was
doing. I probably am my worst critic for it and am paranoid about the
reaction. I'm not going to hide things from anyone and I'm sure I can
be seen over the internet. Most people understand it was a lot of
pressure and admire my guts for going on. Well, enough of that, let's
get you some movies for the week.
Trading Places (1983): I start
this week with this corporate comedy from John Landis and the
star-making movie for Eddie Murphy. Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche play
brothers in their family brokerage firm and make an unusual bet with
each other. They place a bet with each other to take a petty criminal,
played by Eddie Murphy, and make him into a full-fledged broker. The
other part of the bet is to take their employee Louis, played by Dan
Aykroyd, and turn him into a criminal by setting him up for crimes not
committed. Eddie Murphy is Billy Ray and finds himself living the high
life but finding things are rather strange. Louis loses everything and
must take refuge with a hooker he met named Ophelia, played a Jamie Lee
Curtis, also in a star-making role. When both people who are part of
the bet realize what is going on, they hatch their own plan to get back
at the brothers. This was a very funny movie and an enjoyable 80s
movie. Aykroyd and Murphy work very well together.
Lan Yu
(2001): This is my Chinese film for the week and I suppose some might
call this a "Pre-Brokeback Mountain". Stanley Kwan directed this movie
which centers around Chen Handong who is a very successful intern. He
becomes sexually attracted to an intern of the title name but does not
want a long-term relationship. He does whatever he can to make him very
happy, then hurt him to avoid the long-term relationship. When he
finally succeeds he realizes what he really feels. This is a story that
takes place in a ten-year period showing the ups and downs of their
lives. Ye Liu plays the title character and Jun Hu plays Handong. This
is a pretty moving story but not for everyone.
Music and Lyrics
(2007): Maybe this was some guilty pleasure for me but I really enjoyed
this one. Marc Lawrence wrote and directed this movie. Hugh Grant plays
Alex Fletcher, a has-been 80s singer, who is then recruited by a pop
star to write a song for her. The only problem is that he has never
really written any clever lyrics but when the woman who waters his
plants started speaking, he saw that she is unknowingly gifted for
lyrics. Drew Barrymore plays Sophie, an unusual young woman but rather
unstable. She agrees to help him write that song and starts to form a
relationship. I felt this movie did a good job of conveying the life of
a has-been singer where he had to take bookings in night clubs, fairs,
but not in the big-time venues. EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND alum Brad
Garrett is Alex's manager. THIRD ROCK FROM THE SUN alum Kristen Johnson
is Sophie's older sister and a big fan of Alex. I also loved the
beginning showing a 80s looking music video of Alex's band and their
one hit song. If you like the 80s, I believe you'll like this one. I
really don't know the consensus from others in this movie but I sure
enjoyed it. Barrymore and Grant worked well together.
At the End
of the Sentence (2005): This is my short film for the week that I found
on IFC. This is an 8-minute short which shows the life of a man, played
by Stephen McCole, who learns that his father has been released from
prison. This works with McCole's performance and the scenery. There was
not much depth in story but was still good to watch. It also had some
pretty good dialogue.
The Time Machine (1960): This is part of
the Random Myspace Profile selection process and for this one I chose
Larry Longstreth, the first person to have been selected for this
process twice now. George Pal directed this great adaptation to H.G.
Wells' novel where Rod Taylor stars as George, an inventor obsessed
with time travel in the year 1899 and wants to go to the future. He
builds the time machine and goes into the warring years of WW1 and WW2
and eventually ends up around year 820,000 where he finds a group of
people called Eloi who are very gentle, then he finds an underground
group of people who seem to control the population and that underground
group gets a hold of his time machine and he must do what he can to get
it back. I have not seen the one from 2001 but this movie is still very
good and the special effects are pretty good even now in a time when
effects took effort instead of CGI. I had a little problem with the
beginning and George coming back to explain the story. I think this
would have been better suited to let the audience follow the story but
no huge deal there.
Mad Max (1979): George Miller co-wrote and
directed this great low-budget futuristic tale. Mel Gibson stars as the
title character in his star-making role in this Australian film. He is
a police officer who decides to leave the force to be with his wife and
child. Just when his life was getting great, the wife and child are
murdered by a biker gang. Max then sets out to get vengeance on the
people who killed his family. This was followed by two sequels. This
was a very bleak looking Australia and a great independent film plus
good action. If you are looking for non-stop action, this may not be
for you since it does tell a story as well.
The Wasp Woman
(1959): This is my Cult of UHF selection for the week. B-movie king
Roger Corman directed this movie which shows the price of eternal
youth. Susan Cabot stars as Janice Starlin who runs a business but does
not like the idea of getting old. She soon meets a scientist who says
he has a formula that he has only tried on animals to stay young. She
decides that she will be the human test and learns of a high price.
Just think of the title. I really don't need to go into much more
detail on this. It's a good one to get together with friends and watch
but if you watch for merits, you might be disappointed. This is Susan
Cabot's last movie.
Buried Alive (1939): This is my tribute to
the late Beverly Roberts who recently died. Robert Wilcox stars as
Johnny, a model prisoner and scheduled to be paroled soon. Things
become rather complicated however when he is accused of being in a
barroom brawl. Yes, I guess he has a lot of privileges in his position.
He saves the actual executioner from death and is blamed by a tabloid
reporter who really started it. He is then accused of a murder that was
caused by a mentally slow inmate and now faces the chair. Johnny is
planning to get out and marry the prison nurse, played by Beverly
Roberts. This really does not rank very high in that year of 1939 but
still is interesting to watch. This was part of the film noir
collection I got at the library but I really didn't feel this qualifies.
Badlands
(1973): This is part of the Random Myspace Profile selection process
and for this week I chose Scriptgirl. This is the first of four movies
directed by Terrance Malick. Terrance Malick is one of my favorites and
with he could double the number of things that he does. His
cinematography is always great and just the feel of his movies really
gets me. I really have no explanation for it. Martin Sheen plays Kit, a
25 year old that looks like James Dean. Sissy Spacek plays Holly, a 15
year old that he takes a liking to but has a father who does not
approve of Kit and makes it well known to Holly with a rather extreme
punishment. Warren Oates plays her father who is the first of a killing
spree by Kit who runs away on the run with Holly leaving quite a trail
of blood. Sheen and Spacek worked great together. This movie shows a
lot of beauty behind all the senseless violence.
The Strange
Woman (1946): I end this with rather unknown film I found on TCM. Hedy
Lamarr plays Jenny Hager, a beautiful woman who can always get what she
wants. She then uses men for everything they are worth and even stoops
to murder. George Sanders and Louis Hayward also star in this movie.
Lamarr is great as the femme fatale in an unusual performance and
probably a pretty daring person. Sorry, I just want to get this
released and don't really have much more to say.
Well, that is
it for this week. Please leave your comments on what you like and what
you don't like and stay tuned for the 194th Edition which so far
includes director Denys Arcand, Karen Allen, Humphrey Bogart, James
Stewart, and Marlene Dietrich.
No comments:
Post a Comment