Welcome to the 158th Edition of my long-running blog series. Next
weekend in A TIME FOR CHRISTMAS at the Muncie Civic Theater. November
28th and 29th is at 7:30 and the 30th is at 2 pm. It is a show about
Christmas through the Ages and a spin on A CHRISTMAS Carol.
Punishment
Park (1971): This was a co-op film shown by Travis. This is a very
interesting and daring pseudo-documentary from Peter Watkins. This shows
about seven different hippies who do not want a part of the Vietnam War
and are sentenced to a place of the title name where they are subjected
to some inhuman torture. The cast are very good and very believable and
question the reality of what was shown. This is an underground film
very hard to find from what I understand but Travis always manages to
come through in his selection.
Monsieur Ibrahim (2003): This was
another co-op selection by Travis where he just wanted to show something
that went straight under the radar which needs to go on the radar and
he was absolutely right about this one. Francois Dupeyron wrote and
directed this French film about a poor town. Pierre Boulanger stars as
Momo, a small-town boy whose mother and brother have abandoned him and
his father making the relationship with his dad very difficult. The
legendary Omar Sharif plays the title character who is the owner of a
little store and forms a bond with Momo where he becomes the father he
never had. Together they have a lot of fun together and learn to enjoy
life more. This was more of a character study and a very beautiful film
to watch with two very likable characters.
Yesterday Was a Lie
(2008): This was a showing at the Harvest Moon Film festival in my town
which was very mind-boggling to say the least. James Kerwin wrote and
directed this film noir which stars Kipleigh Brown as Hoyle. She is a
detective with a bit of an alcohol problem investigating a murder which
takes her into a world of intrigue. MELROSE PLACE alum John Newton stars
as her love interest. This was something that requires a lot of
attention. To say I understood this whole movie would be an absolute lie
but the camerawork and the imagery made up for me. I might need another
viewing sometime. If this comes into a film festival in your town you
should check it out. Also look for Peter Mayhew who is most known as
Chewbacca in STAR WARS.
The Great Mike (1944): I dug up a very unknown comedy here, on that I
really don't believe will ever stay very long on the radar but
something worth watching. We have a horse racing movie here where young
Jimmy Dolan believes his domesticated horse can win a race and teams
with some big-shots to get him in the race. Robert "Buzz" Henry stars in
this child role and you might recognize his best friend who is played
by Carl Switzer. He is best known as Alfalfa from THE LITTLE RASCALS.
Not much more needs to be said here.
It Came From Beneath the Sea (1955): I seemed to have gotten into a
little horror kick this week. A navy commander and a scientist must work
together to stop a giant octopus from wreaking havoc all over the
place. This movie has some pretty good special effects for that era and
works with a bunch of no-name actors. This is a must for classic horror
films since this is a good one.
Aladdin and his Wonderful Lamp (1939): This is my short film for the
week and you will see many short cartoons in the coming weeks, now I
choose Popeye who debuts in this blog. We have Popeye as Aladdin, Olive
Oyl as the Princess and a bad guy trying to get a hold of the lamp. This
is about 22 minutes long and fun to watch. It came out in the year for
great movies so I"m sure it goes under the radar but my job here is to
get it closer to the radar. Not as good as the Disney film but it is
worth watching for Popeye.
I walked with a Zombie (1943): Now I go
into the Val Lewton produced horror films. We have a young Canadian
nurse who is sent to the West Indies to care for a plantation owner's
wife who seems to be suffering from mental paralysis. She is determined
to help her and takes her to a voodoo cult learning there is more to
this than meets the eye. This was a nice, chilling horror film produced
by Lewton who did a lot for the horror industry in that era.
The
Witches of Eastwick (1987): Now we go a little more comedic but still a
bit disturbing. Now we have three bored women, played by Cher, Michelle
Pfeiffer, and Susan Sarandon who cannot resist the charms of a devilish
man named Daryl Van Horne, who is played by Jack Nicholson. When they
meet him, strange things begin happening. This got quite bizarre at
times but the performances were good and it was an great premise and a
funny movie.
Legend of the Black Scorpion (2006): This is my
Asian film for the week which is a spin on Shakespeare's HAMLET. My love
Ziyi Zhang stars as someone who starts out as a princess but her
lover's father takes her as his empress which starts a lot of
in-fighting. I will say that I enjoyed CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON
and HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS but this still managed to bring me in with
the fights, the beautiful imagery and that Asian music I oh-so-love.
This movie also shows how power can be very corrupting as Ziyi
demonstrates. Some may find this movie too violent but I gotta say that I
like that they showed how times were violent in those days but through
all the violence was a lot of beauty.
The Usual Suspects (1995): I
end with this complex Bryan Singer film which stars Kevin Spacey as a
criminal named Verbal Kent who has Cerebral Palsy. He is in the survivor
of five criminals who team up for revenge after being put in a
seemingly random lineup. Gabriel Byrne, Benicio Del Toro, Stephen
Baldwin, and Kevin Pollak are the other four criminals. Verbal is in an
interrogation room with an agent played by Chazz Palminteri and tells a
very convoluted story of what happens. This is something that like the
last movie I put on here must be followed very closely and don't give
up.
Well, that is it for this week. I leave you with these ten.
Please tell me what you like and don't like and get ready for the 159th
Edition.
FUN LITTLE FACTS
John Newton (Yesterday Was a
Lie) played Superboy in the pre-SMALLVILLE tv series SUPERBOY which went
from 89-92. Kevin Spacey (The Usual Suspects) played Superman's
long-time rival Lex Luthor in the most recent Superman effort SUPERMAN
RETURNS.
WITCHES OF EASTWICK actors Jack Nicholson and Michelle
Pfeiffer play Batman villains to Michael Keaton. Jack Nicholson was the
Joker in BATMAN and Pfeiffer was Catwoman in BATMAN RETURNS.
Susan
Sarandon (Witches of Eastwick) was Janet in THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE
SHOW. My Myspace and Facebook friends Jillian, Kristen, and Amanda were
all in theater versions of it at the Muncie Civic Theater
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