Welcome to the 91st Edition of my blog. I know I'm a little later
than usual so I decided to do a 3-in-1 deal this time. Now for the
recommendations.
Liar, Liar (1997): I'm going the rare Jim Carrey route this week, I
haven't featured very many of his movies in 91 weeks but fate took me to
this one. Jimbo plays an attorney who is great at his job which calls
for lying but his lying extends over to his son. Newsradio alum Maura
Tierney plays his ex-wife who must decide to stay with him or go with
her new boyfriend to Boston, played by Cary Elwes. After much lying,
his heart-broken son makes a with for his father to tell the truth for a
whole 24 hours. There is a lot of great comedic moments from Jim
Carrey including a scene in the restroom and a decent supporting
performance from Jennifer Tilly who is his client in a case. One of
Carrey's best which also includes a pretty good message about many
things.
The Crying Game (1992): I now go a much darker route in the second
selection with this innovating British film. The movie starts with
Forrest Whitaker who is a British soldier taken hostage by an IRA
group. One IRA member named Fergus befriends the hostage forming a bond
between the two which leads to a botched job. Fergus then pursues the
Brit's girlfriend like he promised leading him into a very strange world
when he meets the night-club singing girlfriend, played by Jaye
Davidson. Most of you know what the secret is of the movie but for
those of you that do not, I won't tell and I ask that no readers give it
away either.
Aliens (1986): Sigourney Weaver returns after a deep sleep as Ellen
Ripley who wakes up as the only survivor of the mission from the first
film after over 50 years. She reluctantly decides to help a military
group go to destroy these aliens. Paul Reiser also stars as the person
who seems to have his own motives in going after these aliens. There is
a lot of good character development from the group making many
characters likable and many unlikable and then has great action plus the
relationship between Ripley and the little girl she meets who she is
determined to protect. This ranks up with some of the best of the
sequals directed by James Cameron.
Inside Man (2006): I was looking for a newer movie on HBO On-Demand
and found this and it starred Clive Owen, who will play me in a biopic
so I chose this interestingly done heist film. Denzel Washington stars
as burned-out hostage negotiator who must negotiate with the head of the
heist which has turned into a hostage situation. Clive Owen plays the
leader of the group and has it well planned out but his motives seemed
to go much furthur than money. Spike Lee directed this movie and went a
little different route this time, some people might call this
reverse-racism but it could also show that line between good and bad.
Song of Revolt (1937): I found this short film on TCM On-Demand
which focuses on the rise of the French National Anthem written by
Claude Rouget. B-Movie director Roy Rowland directed this movie which
was nothing great but still fun to watch and an entertaining 10 minutes.
The Winning Team (1952): Last week, I brought you a sports film on
Boxing legend Jack Johnson, this week I decided to go the route of our
former President Ronald Reagon who plays early baseball legend Grover
Cleveland Alexander. Doris Day plays a farm-girl and his very devoted
wife who helps Alex the Great to overcome adversity to get back into
baseball. A relatively unknown baseball film with pretty good
performances from the leads.
Dodge City (1939): This is my western for the week which stars Errol
Flynn in his first western with director Michael Curtiz where he rolls
into the title city as Wade Hatton and witnessed a lot of corruption and
decided to take a job of Sheriff where he does everything possible to
make it a safe town to be in. Olivia De Havilland plays his love
interests but complications arise later which makes things much more
difficult. This movie was the biggest inspiration to the Mel Brooks hit
Blazing Saddles.
Brigadoon (1954): Vincent Minnelli directed this underrated musical
which stars Gene Kelly, Cyd Charisse, and Van Johnson. Kelly and
Johnson play two Americans on a trip to Scotland and come across an
unusual town of the title name and learn that the place comes to life
once every hundred years. Guess which actress Gene Kelly falls in love
with, hint, the name is mentioned already and she plays one of the
people in the village. Not the greatest musical of all time but has
some great numbers and dance numbers and many good moments.
Solo Tu Con Pareja (1991): This was Travis' Co-Op Selection for this
week and he chose the first film directed by Alfonso Cuaron who is most
known for Y Tu Mama Tambien and Children of Men and this would become
the precursor to a great career. This is more of a comedy about a
commercial writer and a womanizer played by Gimenez Cacho where one of
his women had enough and falsely diagnoses him with AIDS and decides to
find a way for a quick suicide which leads into some rather touching and
hilarious moments. I don't know when Travis will show his next film
but he is free to advertise on my blog as long as he comments on the
blog part first and if you live in or near the Ball State area and want a
fun outside film, that is the place to go before the weather gets cold
and he starts showing them inside but he always has an interesting film
to watch and likes to educate us on these films.
The Passenger (1975): This is my tribute to the late, legendary
Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni. I decided to show this one
which stars Jack Nicholson as a reporter in the Sahara Desert who after
researching a story and finding a gunrunner dead, he takes his identity
and goes into another world and is now a gunrunner and his reporter life
is dead taking him into more than what he bargained for. This was a
beautifully shot film in the Sahara and a great character study of the
reporter who thinks his life might get better if he is a gunrunner.
Next week, look for a selection on the late Ingmar Bergman.
Well, that is it for this week as far as my recommendations are
concerned. I just want to thank everyone for their support. I do
something different because I can't write a real detailed review so I
just do these summaries/mini-reviews. Leave your comments on your
favorites and your least favorites and how many of these you have seen.
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