Welcome to the 108th Edition of my series. I am now 1 in the Myspace
Fantasy Football league ran by Tony F which is not saying much since
there is no real home field advantage in Fantasy but I do get a bye next
week. I focused quite a bit on independent film, but still some
mainstream so now for what you came to see...
Call of the Wild (1935): We start off with the Jack London classic
novel about a gambler named Jack Thornton, played by Clark Gable who
decides decides to buy a sled dog named Buck which is part wolf for $250
and make a gamble that wins him $1000 which is the money he needs for
the supplies to trek to the Yukon. He then rescues a woman, played by
Loretta Young, whose husband is missing. Much of this film is spent on
the bond between Jack and Buck, both of which have crushes on the
opposite sex of their breed. This was also a time in which Gable and
Young had quite an affair in real life resulting in an illegitamate
daughter in Judy Davis. This was a pretty good version of the classic,
though the ending is different from the book due to the times.
Grove Lake (2007): Most of you readers have probably never heard of
this movie before and that is because it was filmed by students at Ball
State University, much was filmed in the Reservoir area. I actually
almost got a part in this movie but I did not have the availability.
Many of my civic theater friends were in this film including Ryan Lash,
Tom Cherry, Juanita Spence, John Lee, Larry and Sonya Rees. BSU student
Kris Knight directed this movie which included BSU students and people
from the community. I went to this premier at Ball State with my mom not
really know what to expect and I got the unexpected, a good,
student-made film. Juanita Spence plays a painter named Mandy Donovan
who was once big, decided to throw it all away and move to a smaller,
simpler town and is now planning a big art show. A young, female
reporter named Diane is coming to the town to get an interview with
Mandy and realizes that it is not very simple. Diane comes to this town
with big-city ideals who then learns the values of a smaller community.
Ryan Lash plays the villain here who wants nothing more than to get rid
of all the geese. Tom Cherry was also quite hilarious as the town
outcast. When this movie becomes available, I will give more
information. For now you can visit http://www.myspace.com/grovelake.
The Nutcracker Prince (1990): I found this animated movie randomly at
my local library so I decided to check this out which I probably
wouldn't have given this the time of day had I not been in the show but
being in that gave me a bigger appreciation for this ballet composed by
Tchaicovsky which in this movie had dialogue. Other people who starred
in this show with me were my facebook friends Kelly, Esther, Kelsey,
Ashley, and Chris, who played the Prince. All of the girls are actual
ballet dancers unlike me, I just got by with my good movement as
Drosselmeyer. This is the story of a young girl named Clara who gets a
doll for Christmas which turns out to be a cursed prince turned into a
doll by the Mouse Queen. 24 star Keifer Sutherland actually does the
voice for the Nutcracker Prince. Clara then finds herself in a strange
world of fantasy and reality. Peter O'Toole voices one of the elderly
soldier dolls and Phyllis Diller is the voice for Mouse Queen. It's a
good story for the family to watch.
3 Godfathers (1948): This is John Ford's retelling of the Three Wise
Men in a western setting with three bandits who have enough heart to
make a promise to a dying woman to get a baby to safety even if it
jeopardizes their chances to escape the law. John Wayne, Pedro
Armendariz, and Harry Carey Jr. star as these three bandits who become
attached to the baby. Harry Carey Jr. is of no relation to that guy from
the Chicago Cubs. This Harry Carey was a character actor in many
westerns. I guess you could call this a religious western and a very
good one. This is the second week in a row I have featured a John Wayne
film and this is much better than what I used last time, in fact this is
my favorite so far from the Duke, since I'm not a die hard fan of him
but this one could stand to be watched.
Annie (1999): I decided to go with the Disney version of this musical
based on the comic strip LITTLE ORPHAN ANNIE which was directed by Rob
Marshall. My local Muncie Civic Theater has been doing this production
and my myspace friend Becca, played Annie wonderfully and my other
facebook/myspace friend Kristen was hilarious as Lily St. Regis. They
are also doing it in Fishers, Indiana which features my MASH co-star
Kellin who is one of the orphans and that I have yet to see but intent
to. Here Alicia Morton, who makes her debut as the title was remarkable
in this role and played very well along side ALIAS alum Victor Garber
who played billionaire Oliver Warbucks who decides to take in an orphan
for the holidays which turns out to be Annie and becomes more and more
attached to her. Kathy Bates plays crooked orphanage owner Miss
Hannigan. There were some possibly unneccary changes to the script,
music-wise and such but the movie still works especially the chemistry
between Morton and Garber.
Twins (1988): The Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger shows
his comedy side in this moving comedy where through some scientific
experiments result in twins, the other Danny Devito, both separated at
birth and who turn out to look a little differnt. Arnold plays Julius,
who is a very smart, built scientist living on an island in the
Phillipines. Danny DeVito plays Vincent, a small-time crook always in
trouble with someone. Julius learns of this brother and sets out to find
him and as smart as he is, he becomes ignorant to the ways of the
western world. Kelly Preston plays the love interest who takes an
immediate liking to Julius. The two stars play great off each other
bringing a certain balance into each other's lives and Arnold showing he
can do comedy. Look for Heather Graham in the beginning as the
mother-to-be and even NYPD BLUE alum and CSI: MIAMI star David Caruso.
Vertigo (1958): I decided to use Alfred Hitchcock this week in his
masterpiece which stars James Stewart as a former detective, who is
afraid of heights. He is then hired by a friend to watch his mysterious
wife, played by Kim Novak, taking a dangerous obsession with her and
taking him to a strange world of intrigue. Hitchcock had some very
innovative camera work with the stairs and the dream sequence with
Stewart. This is a very complicated film which must be watched very
carefully with an interesting ending, originally this took a lot of
criticism by critics but now hailed as Hitchcock's masterpiece. Stewart
and Novak are great.
The Goat (1921): This is a very early Buster Keaton short film where
he stars as a regular guy who is mistaken as criminal Dead Shot Dan.
This mistake leads into a lot of hilarious chaos when he must prove he
is not that person. Buster Keaton and Mal St. Clair directed this
comedy.
Last Chance (1999): This was an independent film on Showtime which
was written, directed and co-starred in by MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE alum
Bryan Cranston who made a great film here. It took me a while to realize
that he later played the hilarious father on that show because he was
nothing like that here. Tim Thomerson is the actual star of this movie
who stars as Sam, a truck driver whose truck breaks down in a small town
and is stuck there until he gets it fixed. He then befriends a family,
lead by the mother, played by Robin Deaden who takes a liking to him as
well as her daughters much to the dismay of the husband. There is not
much more to say besides to give this a chance. This is a great portrait
of a struggling family and a small community.
F For Fake (1972): I saw this Orson Welles film this evening at
Travis' Co-Op film showing. He directed this "documentary" about fakery,
mainly focuses on art forger Elmyr de Hory and his biographer Clifford
Irving who wrote the fake Howard Hughes biography. Hory was a master
forger from the 70s and takes a look at the gray areas of forging.
Welles does not forget to look at his own fraudulent ways which include
getting a role on the London stage by lying about being a famous
Broadway actor and his infamous radio broadcast of WAR OF THE WORLDS, as
well as some tricks with this movie. This is an interesting look at the
world of art and the rights and wrongs of art; are there any?
Well, that is it for this week. PETA might be pissed by some of my
choices but what do you think. Please leave your comments and let it be
known what you like and don't like, be specific. Also, if anybody who
reads this blog has some movie on myspace, youtube or some other domain,
let me know, and I will be willing to check it out and possibly feature
it here.
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