Welcome to the 377th Edition of my long running series. This
evening, my favorite team the San Francisco 49ers play the Baltimore
Ravens in the Super Bowl. Now the fact that the coaches are brothers
does not mean much to me. I just want a Niners win and I'll be happy
but I know both teams are going to give it their all I just hope for a
win for my team.
Blast from the Past (1999):
This is my harmless comedy for the week. Brendan Fraser stars as Adam
Webber whose father, played by Christopher Walken, fears that a bomb is
to hit so he takes his wife, played by Sissy Spacek, and son to a bomb
shelter and stay there for 35 years. Things happen where Adam must
venture out into the world and for the first time sees the real world.
He soon meets Eve, played by Alicia Silverstone, who is very bitter
about things and reluctantly agrees to help the naive Adam. With this
being a romantic comedy, I think you can guess where this goes. Fraser
did a pretty good job playing the naive character and was good for the
role. Dave Foley, Joey Slotnick, and Nathan Fillion all have parts in
this comedy. This is not the greatest comedy but still watchable and
good for the family and was pretty fun to watch in my opinion.
Beginners
(2011): This is part three of my Christopher Plummer series where in
the first two parts, I used some pretty dramatic epic pieces where now I
use a newer independent comedy where Plummer won many awards for Best
Supporting Actor. Mike Mills wrote and directed this independent film
which stars Ewan McGregor as Oliver who is a rather sullen man who must
deal with his father Hal, played by Plummer, who is terminally ill and
announces he is gay and has a boyfriend much younger. In this, Oliver
tries to connect with his father who wants to live life to the fullest.
Oliver also meets a French actress named Anna, played by Melanie
Laurent, who he falls in love with trying to re-energize himself. This
is one of those independent films which is driven more than anything by
characters and it has a lot of good characters and performances. This
is partly autobiographical by Mike Mills who dealt with a similar
situation with his father. I like the interaction a lot between Oliver
and his dog who seemed to really communicate well with each other. I
also liked when he was saying the year it was and talking briefly about
things that went on that year like the president and other things. This
movie jumps some with flashbacks but is still pretty easy to follow.
Even though Plummer won a lot of awards for this movie, I still think it
goes down as underrated so I'll look to get this on the radar.
Manos:
The Hands of Fate (1966): I went to see this at the movie theaters
done by Rifftrax which is something that MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000
alums Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett watch movies
usually very bad movies and do a long running commentary like they did
on MST3K. I'll just do the basic plot where a married couple and their
daughter get lost in the middle of nowhere and end up at a house that
turns out to be satanic and run by the Master and his servant Torgo.
Make no mistake, this is a very bad movie and there is a reason that it
has a 1.5 rating on the imdb website so I doubt I could watch this on my
own but Nelson, Murphy, and Corbett make it very fun by showing a
couple rather stupid short films and having a little skit within the
theater where a guy is dressed like Torgo and the Master. Harold P.
Warren directed this movie which was his first and only movie to direct
and I don't know that even Ed Wood would ever direct something this
bad. Quentin Tarantino actually calls this one of this favorite movies
and with the quality of films he makes, I'm not sure what makes this so
great to him but at least it does not effect his own film making. This
was a pretty fun night at the movie theater but I don't know that I
recommend this without Rifftrax or MST3K commentary.
So You Think You're a Nervous Wreck (1946): This is my short film for
the week which is a Joe McDoakes short which features the character who
has lots of fears and much towards his workplace. He then dreams of
besting his boss and getting his own office. This is a pretty funny
short worth the 10 minutes that just about anyone can relate to.
The
Adventures of Robin Hood (1938): Now I get something much better.
Michael Curtiz directed this film on the legend which stars Errol Flynn
in the title role and is possibly the best of their many
collaborations. We all know the story, Robin Hood of Sherwood Forest
becomes an outlaw to stand up for the oppressed. He develops a
reputation of robbing from the rich and giving to the poor which becomes
a label for similar people. He forms a band of merry men to go after
the tyrannical Prince John, played by Claude Rains, who is at thrown
while Richard the III is elsewhere and the corrupt Sheriff of
Nottingham, played by Melville Cooper. Olivia de Havilland co-stars as
Maid Marian who begins to see that Robin Hood is the righteous man and
not Prince John. This is possibly the best Robin Hood film and Flynn is
great in his performance. The movie also co-stars Basil Rathbone, Alan
Hale, and Una O'Connor. I was reading that James Cagney was in serious
consideration for the part of Robin Hood and I just don't really
picture him pulling that particular part off even if he is possibly the
best actor of all time. This is a very fun action movie from that era
and still stands today.
Les Miserables (2012): I made
another appearance to the theater to see this current popular musical
version of the Victor Hugo classic. Tom Hooper directed this musical.
This was first a novel in 1862 by Victor Hugo and when movies started
being made, they made many versions of this timeless classic. In 1985,
Herbert Kretzmer wrote this into a musical that is very popular. In
this movie, Hugh Jackman stars as Jean Valjean who is paroled after 19
years in a prison doing very hard labor, all for his stealing a loaf of
bread when his family was in desperate need. When he gets out, he finds
that being a parolee is very hard for him to find work and housing so
he breaks parole to start a new life under a new name. Russell Crowe
co-stars as Javert who is a very relentless policeman in pursuit of
Jean. Anne Hathaway co-stars as Fantine who is very mistreated where
she works and Jean agrees to raise her daughter so he must evade Javert
at all costs. Hathaway deserves every award she gets for this one.
This movie is set in France against the backdrop of the French
Revolution where there is quite a bit of violence and sad moments where I
even cried some. The music in this film like I DREAMED A DREAM and
EMPTY CHAIRS AT EMPTY TABLES is beautiful. Jackman became fully exposed
as a musical actor where I feel that just some people knew that before
this mainstream film. Crowe also does a good job and thought he
actually sang pretty well. The highlight of this movie is Anne Hathaway
who was amazing and did a great job of I DREAMED A DREAM. Helena
Bonham Carter and Sacha Baran Cohen and kind of the comic relief as
neglectful foster parents who are out to make a buck at all costs. This
movie does have multiple plots that can get confusing but not enough to
take away from the beauty of this adaptation that was well done on so
many levels. Amanda Seyfried and Eddie Redmayne also co-star. This is
not for everyone. This is not your upbeat Rodgers and Hammerstein
musical where you get all kinds of great dance numbers. This is a very
sad but inspiration musical. In 2010, they released a DVD version of
the theatrical production that was the 25 year anniversary which really
stands on its own and for musical lovers could be a very good double
feature. Unfortunately I have never seen a live production of this
musical but after seeing these two versions it is one of my favorites
and hope to someday see it live and even be in it.
Operation
Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience (2007): This is my
documentary for the week about the experiences of the troops in Iraq and
Afghanistan and the writings by many of these people. There are
interviews with some of these people who give a first hand account but
convey that no reading, movie or anything can really give an accurate
picture. Many of them wanted to write on their experiences for others
to understand better. This is a very moving documentary where Robert
Duvall, Aaron Eckhart, Beau Bridges and many other provide voiceover
work when reading some of the writings. They talk about some funny
moments in making the most of their difficult lives. It also talks
about the idealism they had going in and then finding there is no way to
prepare for what they are in for. This is a documentary worth a look
and really has no agenda except to convey a realistic account of their
lives.
The Blue Lamp (1950): This is my British crime
thriller for the week. Jack Warner plays a veteran cop named George who
is murdered and rookie Andy Mitchell, played by Jimmy Hanley steps in
to help investigate the murder. Dick Bogarde and Patrick Noonan co-star
as a couple low-life hoodlums who try to evade the police at all
costs. Bogarde is very good as the psychotic thief and killer. The
movie jumps a lot of the crime group and to the police group but it does
a good job of focusing on the points of view for each person. This is a
very compelling crime drama from that era that is available on Instant
Netflix.
Jimi Hendrix (1973): This is my rock
documentary for the week that was filmed and released shortly after the
death of the rock legend. This documentary consists of a lot of concert
footage and even rare performances of songs like Chuck Berry's JOHNNY
B. GOODE and Bob Dylan's LIKE A ROLLING STONE. There were also some
interviews from people like Mick Jagger, Pete Townshend, Eric Clapton,
Lou Reed, Little Richard, many of his peers reflecting on their
experiences with him. It also has some interview footage from Hendrix
himself. Little Richard is very amusing to listen to in this
documentary. This was a pretty good documentary for its time and covers
the basics of his life but mostly shows him in his career and footage
from many concerts. I watched this movie with Tony who is a guitar
player himself and pointed out a lot of good things he did with the
guitar and even some flaws he thought there were. I guess I had never
really seen much of him live and saw he was playing the guitar with his
teeth which I have never seen. Hendrix fans will love this movie,
casual fans I think will enjoy it, if you don't like Jimi, then this
probably is not for you.
Fifty Dead Men Walking
(2008): This is another British film for the week which is based on
events in the life of author Martin McGartland. Jim Sturgess stars as
Martin who is a young hood in Belfast and recruited by the British
police to spy on the IRA. Martin works his way up the IRA while feeding
secrets to the British and making his life very complicated. Ben
Kingsley co-stars as his handler and CHARMED alum Rose McGowan has a
small part as well. It is a very good look at that part of the country
with Sturgess very good as McGartland and a pretty compelling film that
is available on Instant Netflix.
Well that is it for
this week in the recommendations. Tell me what you like and what you do
not like and stay tuned for next week which so far includes Jennifer
Aniston, Ernest Borgnine, more Christopher Plummer, Samuel L. Jackson,
and many others.
FUN AND USELESS FACTS
BATMAN FRANCHISE
-Alicia Silverstone (Blast From the Past) plays Batgirl in the 1997 movie BATMAN AND ROBIN.
-Anne Hathaway (Les Miserables) plays Catwoman in the 2012 film THE DARK KNIGHT RISES.
-Aaron Eckhart (Operation Homecoming) plays district attorney Harvey Dent in the 2008 film THE DARK KNIGHT.
Sissy Spacek (Blast From the Past) and Robert Duvall (Operation Homecoming) were in the 2009 film GET LOW.
Joey
Slotnick (Blast From the Past), Ben Kingsley (50 Dead Men Walking) and
Sacha Baran Cohen (Les Miserables) were in the 2012 film THE DICTATOR.
Ewan McGregor (Beginners) and Helena Bonham Carter (Les Miserables) were in the 2003 film BIG FISH.
Christopher
Plummer (Beginners), Josh Lucas (Operation Homecoming) and Russell
Crowe (Les Miserables) were in the 2001 film A BEAUTIFUL MIND.
Christopher
Plummer (Beginners) plays legendary actor John Barrymore in the 2011
film BARRYMORE. Errol Flynn (The Adventures of Robin Hood) plays
Barrymore in the 1958 movie TOO MUCH, TOO SOON.
Christopher
Plummer (Beginners) plays detective Sherlock Holmes in the 1977 tv
short SILVER BLAZE. Basil Rathbone (The Adventures of Robin Hood)
several times in the 30s and 40s.
Christopher Plummer
(Beginners) plays King Herod in the 1977 tv mini-series JESUS OF
NAZARETH which was featured last week. Ben Kingsley (50 Dead Men
Walking) will play Herod in the upcoming 2013 film MARY MOTHER OF
CHRIST. Claude Rains (The Adventures of Robin Hood) plays Herod in the
1965 film THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD.
Hugh Jackman
(Les Miserables) is to play P.T. Barnum in the upcoming THE GREATEST
SHOWMAN ON EARTH. Beau Bridges (Operation Homecoming) played the part
in the 1999 tv movie P.T. BARNUM.
Hugh Jackman (Les
Miserables) was considered for the part of Harvey Dent in the 2008 film
THE DARK KNIGHT which would ultimately go to Aaron Eckhart (Operation
Homecoming)
Russell Crowe (Les Miserables) plays Robin
Hood in the 2010 film ROBIN HOOD. Errol Flynn plays Robin in this
week's feature THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD.
Amanda
Seyfried (Les Miserables) and Sissy Spacek (Blast from the Past) were in
the 2005 movie NINE LIVES. Spacek also had a stint in the HBO series
BIG LOVE which starred Seyfried.
Ben Kingsley (50 Dead Men Walking) and Sacha Baran Cohen (Les Miserables) were in the 2011 film HUGO.
Jim Sturgess (50 Dead Men Walking) and Eddie Redmayne (Les Miserables) were in the 2008 film THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL.
Rose McGowan (50 Dead Men Walking) and Brendan Fraser (Blast From the Past) were in the 1992 movie ENCINO MAN.
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