Welcome of the 195th Edition of my weekly series. I have two selections
from the Random Myspace Profile selection process. Net week will have
two selections. This week has been difficult due to my rules and
forcing me to put a few into the next week or two but good selections
continued to come into my hands so I hope you like all this.
Once
Upon a Time in America (1984): I start out with this gangster epic from
Sergio Leone which takes a look at a group of Jewish mobsters in the
20s and spans about 50 years. Leone is most known for his Man With No
Name trilogy with Clint Eastwood and had not directed anything in about
12 years so he return with people not knowing what he can do to top his
Spaghetti Westerns and he came out with this piece of greatness. Robert
De Niro stars as Noodles, a gangster who is returning home after 30
years to find that things have changed. James Woods is his friend Max.
Noodles reflects on his life through his rise in childhood and through
adulthood where it jumps around quite a bit so it must be followed.
Other actors include Elizabeth McGovern, Treat Williams, Joe Pesci,
Tuesday Weld, Danny Aiello, Burt Young, and many others. Ennio
Morricone writes a great music score for this movie and Leone adapted
from a Harry Grey novel called THE HOODS. Try to avoid the one that is
only 139 minutes which keeps a lot of good stuff out. If you want an
experience, you need the one that is nearly 4 hours. This is the last
movie directed by Sergio Leone. Look for Jennifer Connelly in her debut
as a child as the young version of Deborah which Elizabeth McGovern
plays in adulthood.
Shadows (1959): I go from Sergio Leone's
last movie directed to the directorial debut of John Cassavetes. This
was a pretty clever movie taking place on the jazz scene. This movie
takes a look at interracial friendships and relationships. The oldest,
Hugh, is a struggling musician whose agent is the only one who really
has faith in his abilities. Their sister, Lelia, looks more white than
African-American making things difficult for her new boyfriend which
make the difficulties lie both ways. Most of the characters were the
first names of the actors and much of it was improv. It was not without
flaws but still interesting to watch and the start to a big career from
Cassavetes.
Nights of Cabiria (1957): I now bring you Federico
Fellini. Giuletta Masina, Fellini's wife, plays the title character who
is a prostitute looking for true love but only finds heartbreak. After
being hurt many times, she meets a man named Oscar who takes an
immediate liking to her and may very well be the one she is looking
for. This is one of the best and most known of Fellini. it was remade
into the musical SWEET CHARITY in the 60s. Masina gives a great
performance as Cabiria making this Italian film great to watch. If you
really like Foreign films, this is great to watch and it is pretty easy
to follow even with subtitles.
Scooby-Doo and the Samurai Sword
(2009): Only here does director Chris Berkeley follow Leone,
Cassavetes, and Fellini. I found this on Cartoon Network and noticed
that it got some pretty good reception so I gave it a shot and it
turned out to be a pretty decent tv movie. The gang goes to Japan
hoping for a vacation but turns into a mystery when they learn of an
ancient samarai scroll that is loose and a dangerous samarai that is
out to kill everyone. STAR TREK alum George Takei and even Brian Cox
lend their voices to their fun adventure to Japan where they learn a
lot about the way of the samarai and Scooby and Shaggy might surprise
you. Casey Kasem does Shaggy's voice once again.
Abbott and
Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948): This is part of the Random Myspace
Profile selection process and for this one I chose Joe Leydon. This is
considered by many the best of the A & C films and also considered
the best horror-comedy by many. This was very entertaining with the
title people as a couple bumbling freight loader where an ever-so-alive
Dracula with a weakened monster of Frankenstein. Bela Legosi reprises
his role as Dracula and Glenn Strange takes the flat head of
Frankenstein's monster after Boris Karloff turned down the role
reprisal fearing box-office failure. Lon Chaney Jr. reprises his role
as Larry Talbot aka the Wolf Man. Talbot while trying to keep himself
locked up during the full moon tries to help A& C thwart Dracula's
plans. This was a very well-done film and did everything to not make
this a B-movie like it could have been instead it was a great script.
This is much better than the 2004 film VAN HELSING which also featured
all three characters. Listen for the voice of Vincent Price towards the
end.
Commando (1985): This is another selection from the Random
Myspace Profile selection process and for this one I chose the
Webmaster Wade Productions. This movie has 80s action written all over
it with California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger as the retired
military commander John Matrix who is living a great life with his
daughter, played by a very young CHARMED alum Alyssa Milano. Matrix's
life catches up with him when his daughter is kidnapped and he has 11
hours to save her. With the help of stewardess and pilot in training
Rae Dawn Chong, they go after her at full force no matter who might be
in danger. I guess this is the first time I have really watched Rae
Dawn Chong and she was very likable here. Dan Hedaya was the leader of
the group that had Matrix's daughter kidnapped. Look for Bill Paxton as
someone in traffic control. This had some great action scenes and one
of those that really could have only worked in the 80s as some might
notice I say a lot.
Going Hollywood (1933): I saw a big Marion
Davies marathon on TCM so going through my choices I decided upon this
one. Marion stars as Sylvia, a teacher who is out of place where she
works and leaves after hearing the great voice of Billy Williams,
played by Bing Crosby. She decides to follow him out to Hollywood to
pursue him. Billy is starring in a movie with Lili, played by Fifi
D'Orsay, who has quite the diva attitude plus he is with her in real
life. Sylvia gets a part in the chorus and replaces Lili but still
doesn't have what she wants which is Billy. Bing Crosby seemed more
different than usual with his attitude and all but still sang some
great songs which make this movie go. Davies' boyfriend at the time
William Randolph Hearst actually funded this movie which took about 6
months due to the little hours that Marion put in. Bing Crosby also
took a lot of money. The portrayal of Marion Davies in the Orson Welles
film CITIZEN KANE was the main source of Hearst's well-known hatred of
the film.
Pan's Labyrinth (2006): Guillermo Del Toro directed
this very good fantasy film set against a backdrop of a Spanish Civil
War. Ivana Baquero stars as Ofelia, a young girl fascinated with fairy
tales, dealing with the horrors of the war and a very sadistic
stepfather comes across a Faun who says she is a princess but must
survive three grueling tasks to be taken into the kingdom. While this
is a very eerie world she comes across, it is much better to her than
the real world that she lives in. This is an adult fantasy tale by all
means. There are some pretty brutal scenes of violence. Doug Jones was
great as both Fauno and a part as the Pale Man. Some may know that I
met him in the local movie here and he was just a very nice person and
worked very hard to get his lines memorized in Spanish with his lack of
Spanish. He was the only American on the set and took a lot of time to
get into the characters that he played with the make-up and all. I
really like the ending of the movie.
Number, Please (1920): This
is my short film of the week with the great Harold Lloyd. I like to use
him when I get a chance. Harold this time was haplessly trying to catch
his girlfriend's dog in an amusement park and it does not prove easy as
he is also having a hard time getting through to her over the phone.
The telephone booth sequence is great and his way of not being noticed
by the police by using a kid which was hilarious. This is worth the 23
minutes and I hope I have given Mr. Lloyd some recognition through this
blog.
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1974): I end with
this tribute to the late Ted Swanson who was the Unit Production
Manager of this movie. Swanson helped get a lot of big movies off the
ground. I looked pretty thoroughly for some quality film made from him
and found this tv movie. It is not often that one can associate the
word great with a tv movie but this is a big exception. Cicely Tyson
stars as the title character, who is a fictional former slave who is
about 110 years old and tells her story from when she was a slave into
the era of segregation which was her current time. Tyson is great in
playing someone in that age then back to her younger days. She won and
Emmy for this but they probably should have made exceptions for this
one to go into the Oscars. This movie is actually based on a novel from
Ernest Gaines who based it on generations of his family. Cicely Tyson
did some great preparation of visiting people in the nursing home to
get into her character. This movie is just so believable and plays like
such a true story. It is movies like these that I am proud to give
exposure. Not much else can explain my feelings for this movie except
to please watch it if you get a chance and/or read the book and you can
learn a lot. This shows that tv movies CAN be good
Well, that is
it for this week. Tell me what you like and what you hate and stay
tuned next week for another installment which will include William
Shatner, Meg Ryan, Matthew McConaughey, Anna Paquin.
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