Welcome to the 283rd Edition of my series. This week I pay tribute to
director Sidney Lumet who recently left us. Next week, I will be trying
out for A FEW GOOD MEN at the Anderson Mainstage Theatre so if I get a
part it will be my second version of the show. So I don't really have
much to say right now so just read on and enjoy.
Love Potion No. 9
(1992): This is the 23rd link on The Chain and it continues with Dylan
Baker who plays Prince Geoffrey in this movie. This is really my
guilty pleasure for the week. Tate Donovan stars as biochemist Paul who
has no luck with the ladies. He is then persuaded by his friends to
visit Madame Ruth, played by Anne Bancroft, who then gives him a potion
called Love Potion # 8 which he shares with his equally geeky biochemist
colleague Diane, played by Sandra Bullock. Together, they embark on a
journey to see how well this potion works while overlooking who they
really like. This did have some funny moments and it was good seeing
HIGHLANDER alum Adrian Paul. My uncle Cal actually got to be an extra
in this film but his scenes were cut. Next week, The Chain continues
with another movie with Dylan Baker.
Batman (1989): This is my
superhero movie of the week and the a pretty groundbreaking superhero
movie from Tim Burton. Michael Keaton stars as the caped crusader and
for the first time in live-action film, they portrayed Batman as more of
a haunted vigilante who was very bitter over the murder of his family.
Jack Nicholson plays one of Batman's most common arch-enemies, the
Joker and had a lot of fun doing so. Kim Basinger plays reporter Vicki
Vale who is trying to understand Bruce Wayne and Batman. Billy Dee
Williams plays Harvey Dent but long before he was Two-Face and there was
intention of making him that character but Joel Schumacher took over
the franchise and it did not happen. When this came out, most just
remembered that sitcom but in this movie we are long past the "Pow",
"Boom", "Sock" and so on. Robert Wuhl, Jerry Hall, Jack Palance,
Michael Gough, and many others co-starred. This movie gave way to the
future of the great Christopher Nolan franchise which is apparently
coming to an end soon and will have a reboot. This movie really goes
from when Batman was getting started and known but not really focusing
on how he comes to be which I thought was fine. In here, he was that
mysterious bat that nobody knew what to think of. One interesting thing
about Nicholson taking the part of the Joker. He demanded top-billing
which he got so his name is the first name and was able to get most of
the royalties. Nicholson was fun but Heath Ledger would go onto play it
a lot better in my opinion. Keaton was also quite good as the rich
playboy Bruce Wayne and his alter-ego Batman. This is available on
Instant Netflix.
Henry, The Funniest Living American (1935):
This is my animated short for the week and since I have not done
animated shorts in a long time, I would visit my public domain app on
the Roku. This is actually a Betty Boop short where she owns a pet shop
where her friend Henry, who is also a pretty famous character from the
era, wants a little puppy but does not quite have enough money. Betty
then lets him work it off but comes to regret her decision when things
get out of hand. I have seen better Betty Boop but this provides some
pretty funny moments.
The Docks of New York (1928): This is my
silent film for the week which was directed by Josef Von Sternberg.
George Bancroft stars as Bill who works as a stoker on the waterfront.
Betty Compton stars as Betty who tries to drown herself but is saved by
George. This becomes a very life-changing moment for both of them as
they fall in love. However, George's co-workers do not make their
relationship easy. This was released shortly after the talkies started
coming out but remains a pretty good silent film on love.
The
Blob (1958): This is something that should have been watched during
Elizabeth's Horror Movie Madness but I just didn't get to it until now.
Steve McQueen stars in this film as Steve who is a somewhat rebellious
high school teen who comes upon the title character who is swallowing
everyone up but no one believes him except one of the cops. This was a
pretty good horror film which was a star-making role for McQueen and the
only one who seemed to really have a big career afterwards. Burt
Bacharach wrote the title song to this movie.
The Princess and
the Frog (2009): I saw this for the first time when it was in theaters
after a rehearsal for A TIME FOR CHRISTMAS. Lisa said she was going to I
thought it might be good so I went too. Our other castmates Jade and
Kasey also came to see it and we all left very happy. This is Disney
returning to tradition of paper animation and having a good message.
This movie expands on their concept of how when wishing upon a star and a
dream comes true. This talks about how you can wish but the star can
only get you so far and that hard work is required to achieve dreams.
So this movie is set in the Jazz era of New Orleans where a very
hardworking girl named Tiana, voiced by Anika Noni Rose dreams of owning
her own restaurant but must work a low-end waitress job first. Tiana
is now billed as Disney's first black Disney princess but she is not
officially a princess in this movie. The other story is on Prince
Naveen, voiced by Bruno Campos, who has been cut off by his parents.
Naveen then meets voodoo man Dr. Facilier who offers him a lot but in
the end turns him into a frog. With Prince Naveen being a frog, he
desperately seeks to be human again. Tiana then encounters this frog
and has always heard the great stories of kissing a frog to become human
again but when it happens we have the opposite effect and they are both
frogs. Tiana and Prince Naveen must then work together to become human
again. This movie is quite possibly Disney's best and has some great
songs written by Randy Newman who also provides one of the voices. I
have heard of people accusing this film of racism but I saw nothing of
the sort. This is available on Instant Netflix.
Equus (1977):
This is my tribute to the late Sidney Lumet who directed this film.
Richard Burton stars in this film as Dr. Martin Dysart who then agrees
to help a 17 year old boy named Alan, played by Peter Firth, who blinded
six horses with a metal spike. He tries to understand why he would do
such a horrible thing and even interviews his parents to see what kind
of part they could have had. Dysart also must also face demons of his
own when looking into this situation. This is a rather dark film that
is not for everyone and does a good job weaving from the present into
flashbacks. I have sen this show twice done at the Muncie Civic Studio
Theater and they do a good job but I felt Lumet transferred this Peter
Shaffer play very well to film with the help of Shaffer on the
screenplay. Many years later Daniel Radcliffe, known to most of us as
Harry Potter, played the part on Broadway and yes he had to do the
things that Firth had to do in this film. I know I'm too old to play
Alan now but probably would have to turn that part down as I would not
feel very comfortable. The climax scene can be disturbing for anyone.
This is available on Instant Netflix.
Kayla (1999): I go from a
rather depressing film to a more family oriented film. Tod Fennell
stars as Sam whose explorer father disappeared but will not give hope
that he is still alive but really effects his family life and school
life. He then finds a wild dog that really resembles the leader of his
dad's sled dogs so he decides to enter the dog race competition with
that dog and his stepfather's two dogs but the community is not the most
accepting of wild dogs and Sam who is 12 must really grow up to be able
to do this race and protect the dogs. This really is a very good
family film. I had never heard of this until I came across it and no
actors I have ever heard of. It also comes from a studio called The
Cookie Jar Company which is evidently a Canadian company showing that a
good family movie is not impossible. Hopefully I can get this on the
radar some so if you are looking for a good family film, please look
into this one.
Romeo and Juliet (1968): I was inspired to watch
this one after watching DANCING WITH THE STARS with my mom last week and
Ralph Macchio and his dance partner Karina Smirnoff danced to this
great musical score from Nino Rota. This is probably my favorite
Shakespeare play and film adaptation and like the last one, no big-name
actors besides a young Michael York who plays Tybalt. Leonard Whiting
and Olivia Hussey were perfect for the title roles of the star-crossed
lovers. This is the ultimate story of forbidden love and feuding
families. Just for a brief description for those not familiar. Romeo
is part of the Montague family and Juliet is part of the Capulet family
and these are both rival families. As you might guess, these two meet
and fall in love but must keep it secret. This story really conveys the
price of hatred and one of the earlier stories to do so. The music
score is great and in the party scene, a guy sings a really good song
written by Nino Rota called WHAT IS A YOUTH. I'll warn you, there is a
split-second where we see Juliet's boobs and this movie was made in
Italy so maybe it was more acceptable there. The first time I saw this
was in high school and even then I really liked this and when I saw the
split second, if that even, of the boob shot, there was no reaction.
Nobody cared. This was one of the few units in English class that I
enjoyed. This is available on Instant Netflix.
Vision Quest
(1985): Now this in some ways came upon chance. I was in Bracken
Library at Ball State and my friend Ashley comes to see me and talk to
me briefly. Somewhere in our conversation she asks me if I have seen
this film and the truth there is that I had not even heard of it. She
then mentions how it is a wrestling film and it is about a high-school
wrestler and I believe if I remember correctly she was the manager for
her high-school wrestling team. I then saw this was available on
Netflix through DVD so I agreed to list it and put it to the top. About
a week ago, I went over to The Landing where she was booked to sing and
she reminded me of this but I showed it was on DVD and about to get
watched. Matthew Modine stars as high school senior Louden Swain who is
on the wrestling team and wants to drop to another weight class in
order to wrestle a rival who has never lost. However, he does not
receive much support as many believe he is being selfish towards the
team. The wrestling was really just more of an element of the movie and
is really about the person who is not sure what he really wants to do
in life. Linda Fiorentino co-stars as a drifter named Carla who rents a
room to Louden's father and they soon begin to fall in love. I have
seen that there are some who do not like this movie but I am not really
sure on that. It by no means will rank as one of my favorites but does a
good job with high school wrestling from what I can tell and I'm sure
many wrestlers can relate to this film. Also, look for Madonna in one
of her first movie roles and introduces us to her hit song CRAZY FOR
YOU. I do not usually write messages specifically for friends on this
blog but will here for Ashley. Ashley, good suggestion and it was a
pretty good movie from the 80s and on high school wrestling. In return,
please look into my request of having a version of a non-SLEDGEHAMMER
Peter Gabriel song because I think you could do a good job.
Well,
that is it for this week. I seemed to focus a lot on animals this week
and other fantasy elemends like potions, bats, dogs, blobs, frogs,
alligators, horses, and many others. Tell me what you like and what you
do not like. Leave suggestions if you like but please comment on the
material at hand first. Stay tuned for next week which so far includes
more Dylan Baker, James Dean, Jonah Hill, Chow Yun-Fat, Lionel
Barrymore, and many others.
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