Welcome to the 152nd Edition of my blog. I am now 3-2 in Fantasy
Football after a three point loss. My three players that really killed
me are Chiefs RB Larry Johnson, who either has a great game or a really
horrible one. Others are Colts WR Marvin Harrison and 49ers TE Vernon
Davis. This week I replaced Davis with Raiders TE Zach Miller so
hopefully he helps me this week. Last week I featured SALO, a movie of
which I clearly made known of my mixed feelings. That just shows you
that these are not my 10 favorite movies but 10 I recommend. I got much
more response on that than what I thought I would be I appreciate any
response I get so please keep letting your feelings be known. I know you
all did not come to hear me ramble on about my Fantasy Football league
so let me give you my 10 picks for the weeks.
Sweeney Todd: The
Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1936): Check the year here and believe it
or not this is the third movie version of what has now been known to be
one of the best musicals of today by Steven Sondheim. George King
directed this simple 67 minute thriller which starred Tod Slaughter as
the title character. He is a murderous barber who helps Mrs. Lovett with
her "meat" pies. The big difference here is that in this movie Sweeney
Todd is an absolute psycho who takes pleasure in what he does. Sondheim
added a back story to show that he is bitter which is how he was driven
to murder. Either way, it was good to see this even though the transfer
to DVD was horrible. Most of the characters that the SWEENEY TODD fans
come to love are here though Anthony is named Mark.
The Condemned
(2007): I now bring you WWE films starring "Stone Cold" Steve Austin.
This movie is not great but is better than of the WWE films that have
been put out. Austin stars as Jack Conrad who is in a prison in El
Salvador waiting for the death penalty. He is chosen among others to
take part in a deadly game which is to be broadcast on the internet. Ten
prisoners are chosen and must survive to win their freedom. This movie
reminds me a lot of THE RUNNING MAN even though RUNNING MAN was more
ahead of its time in my opinion. Vinnie Jones and former WWE wrestler
Nathan Jones co-star in this decent action film which some of my reads
may like and I'm sure I may hear it from other readers.
George
Washington (2000): This is my IFC film for the week which was written
and directed by David Gordon Green. This movie has nothing to do with
the first president of the United States of America but is a simple
story about a group of youth friends in a small town who experience a
tragedy among them and must cover it up. They all deal with their grief
in different ways including George who wants to become a superhero for
redemption.
Symphony of Swing (1939): This is my short film for
the week that I saw on TCM. This shows part of a concert put on by Artie
Shaw. He had a big band with some guest singers like Tony Pastor and
Helen Forrest. This is a pretty fun 10 minutes if you like this kind of
music.
Bedlam (1946): This is part 2 of 2 of my Mark Robson/Boris
Karloff series. I did this wanting people to know Boris Karloff for
roles other than Frankenstein's Monster and the Mummy Im-Ho-Tep. Here,
he plays the head of an insane asylum where he is very abusive to his
prisoners. Anna Lee co-stars as someone suspicious of the way the asylum
is run and is committed herself. Not much else needs to be said here,
one of the great classics.
The Fear Vampire Killers (1967): Roman
Polanski directed, wrote and co-starred in this vampire comedy. Jack
MacGowran stars as Professor Abronius who has for years studied
vampires. Polanski is his apprentice Alfred. Together they stumble upon a
town which seems to have problems with vampires. Polanski's then
girlfriend Sharon Tate plays the local Sarah who Alfred falls in love
with the falls prey to Count Krulock. This was a nice mixture of horror
and comedy and it is unfortunate that people who know Sharon Tate only
know her as one of the Manson family victims.
Pink Floyd- The
Wall (1982): With the death of their founding member Richard Wright, I
felt compelled to write this blog. Alan Parker directed and Pink Floyd
member Roger Waters wrote the screenplay for this movie which focuses on
a fallen rock star named Pink, played by Boomtown Rats singer Bob
Geldof. The movie focuses on Pink and his childhood flashbacks. I
remember hearing Roger Waters say in the commentary that the child was
based on Roger Waters but that Pink was based more on former member Syd
Barrett. There is a limit of dialogue and mostly plays the Pink Floyd
music from their album THE WALL which excluded my favorite song from
there HEY YOU. This movie is quite dark and depressing but still very
interesting. I guess if you hate Pink Floyd, you may not like this movie
but is a very compelling film with a little anti-fascist message.
Winning
(1969): Now I am paying tribute to Paul Newman. I know he has many
great movies and maybe better ones to choose from but I wanted to focus
on something a little more unknown and I came across this racing movie.
Paul Newman plays Frank Capua who is a racer who wins by any means
necessary. Joanne Woodward plays his wife who has trouble understanding
his life. WALTONS alum Richard Thomas is Woodward's son who takes a
liking to Frank. This is more than a racing movie but one of a man whose
only life is racing. Part of it takes place at the Indy 500 and I live
in Indiana so that was kind of cool to see the Indiana references. There
may be a second unknown Newman film next week.
Mary Shelley's
Frankenstein (1994): Kenneth Branaugh directed this adaptation to the
Mary Shelley classic. Many people do not like this movie and some of you
may not like it but I was in a version similar to this which was more
to the novel and any other adaptation that mixes both horror and drama.
Branaugh stars as Dr. Victor Frankenstein who begins to despise death
and wants to find a way to stop people from having to die. Please don't
get me wrong, I like those classic Universal films and even a couple of
the Hammer versions but it was nice to see Victor being portrayed as
obsessed rather than mad which is how the character is intended. Helena
Bonham Carter plays Elizabeth who is Victor's fiance. Robert De Niro
plays the Creature in a rather strange performance which I came to
accept him in the role knowing that can be a hard role to play when
people like Karloff are so known for the role. Tom Hulce plays Henry
Clervall, who is Victor's long-time friend from college who has mixed
opinions of what Victor is doing. This is a story which shows the price
of "playing god" and also of fearing the unknown. The Creature is seen
by others as very ugly and hideous and is dismissed as to being that
way. he forms the brief friendship with a blind old man who can't see
him so he does not judge him like others. My facebook and myspace
friends Lisa and Joe were in the FRANKENSTEIN that I was in and many who
know me cite that as my best performance they have seen where I was a
grave digger hired by Victor Frankenstein.
Shrek (2001): I did
not really intend to use this movie but as time was winding down I
needed something fairly short and in looking at Tony's extended DVD
collection I chose this one. This was a great Dreamworks film which like
my last movie also focuses some on fearing the unknown. Mike Myers does
the voice of an ogre of the title name who wanted to be friends with
society but was rejected because people felt he was ugly and hideous.
John Lithgow does the voice of Lord Farquaad, who banishes many fairy
tale characters and a donkey to Shrek's swamp. Eddie Murphy does the
voice of Donkey who is very annoying but very noble. Shrek is not happy
that his swamp is being over-populated and Farquaad sends Shrek on a
journey to rescue Princess Fiona, voiced by Cameron Diaz. Shrek and
Fiona slowly form their relationship but it remains very uneasy for both
of them. This is a great animated film with some hilarious references
to the fairy tale world and has spawned quite a franchise. Myers is
great as the voice of Shrek.
Well, that is it for this week.
Please tell me what you love and what you hate. Performances for ANNIE
start go from Thursday to Saturday of this week so if you are near the
Anderson, Indiana area, please come check me out.
FUN LITTLE FACTS
This
will be a segment I do instead of the Connection Time. I may still do
that from time to time but please understand that it is very time
consuming for me to do that so if you still want to see Connection Time
on a more regular basis, you'll need to volunteer yourself and I'll be
in communication with each movie I feature so that you can do that.
Helena
Bonham Carter (Mary Shelley's Frankenstein) plays the role of Mrs.
Lovett in the 2007 version of the first movie I featured which was 1936
version of SWEENEY TODD. Stella Rho plays Mrs. Lovett in the 1936
version.
Robert de Niro (Mary Shelley's Frankenstein) plays the
creature in my featured version of the Mary Shelley classic and Boris
Karloff (Bedlam) made the role very iconic after being in FRANKENSTEIN
(1931), THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1935) and in SON OF FRANKENSTEIN
(1939). However, Karloff was not the first person to play the Creature.
The first was Charles Ogle in the 1910 version which was produced by
Thomas Edison. This was a 10-minute short film which is quite a bit to
the novel by Mary Shelley. It used to be on moviesfoundonline.com but it
seems to have been taken off of there. That is where I saw it.
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