Shaun Berk's 10 Movie Recommendations- 409th Edition

Welcome to the 409th Edition of my long running series.  I am as of now 0-1 in my Fantasy Football league but hopefully I can get an even record after Monday night.  Now on a bright now, my team the San Francisco 49ers are now 1-0 so I am happy about that.  I am right now trying to win a karaoke contest at Folly Moon.  I am unsuccessful so far but I'll just keep plugging away.  That is about all I have to say so I'll just get one with my recommendations for the week.

The Beaver (2011):  Jodie Foster directed and co-starred in this film which stars Mel Gibson as Walter Black.  Walter is a very successful ad executive who has delved into depression and anger while unsuccessfully trying to kill himself.  It gets to the point where he is kicked out of his home.  He then comes up with a very interesting coping mechanism in a beaver puppet.  He then uses the beaver to talk to himself and then try to reconnect with his family.  This movie will probably get a lot of mixed emotions but I really enjoyed this one.  It was really quite bizarre but an interesting movie showing the dealings of anger and that it can take unusual mechanisms to get through it.  Jodie Foster co-stars as his wife who is trying to deal with the new version of her estranged husband while Anton Yelchin co-stars as his older son who is very bitter.  Jennifer Lawrence also co-stars.  This movie in some ways is very uplifting but at the same time, it was quite downbeat.  I will also call the movie quite bizarre but I really enjoyed it.

How to Vote (1936):  This is one of my short films for the week.  This is from the Robert Benchley series of comedic shorts.  He is the replacement spokesperson for a political candidate to promote that person but clearly is not a very good public speaker.  He stumbles upon his words and is just not sure what to say.  This is a very entertaining 10 minutes and one of the better from that era.

Make Mine Music (1946):  This is my Disney film for the week and one that is more overlooked.  This is in the tradition of FANTASIA but while that movie used a lot of classical music, this one used more contemporary music.  It has many different animation sequences which use people like the Andrews Sisters, Nelson Eddy, Dinah Shore, Benny Goodman, and many others.  A couple of my favorite sequences were CASEY AND THE BAT and PETER AND THE WOLF, but there were some other decent ones while some were not great.  This was still some pretty fun sequences and one I'd like to get more on the radar.

Howl (2010):  Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman directed and wrote this film based on a part of poet Allen Ginsberg.  James Franco plays Allen Ginsburg who is put on trial in 1957 for his his poem of the movie title for obscenity.  It also focuses on events that lead to the counterculture artist and poet that he became and what lead into him writing it.  James Franco, Jon Hamm, David Strathairn, Bob Balaban, Mary-Louise Parker all co-starred in this film.  It also has some really interesting animation sequences that show the poem's surreal style.  Franco was very good as Ginsburg in a very important part of his life that begged the question of what was acceptable in society.

The Sandpiper (1965):  Vincente Minnelli directed this movie which was a teaming of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.  Taylor plays the very free spirited Laura Reynolds who is a single and unwed mother who teaches her son her way not wanting him in a traditional schooling system.  Her son Danny runs into legal problems and is forced into a private school ran by Reverend Dr. Edward Hewitt, played by Richard Burton. Hewitt looks to convince Laura that the school is really not so bad and slowly wins her over beginning an affair even though Hewitt is married which obviously leads to some trouble.  Eva Marie Saint, Charles Bronson, and Robert Webber all co-star.  It was interesting to see Bronson in the character he played.  This was a bit of Hollywood fluff but it was not bad with the leads pretty good in their roles and another movie on the list that challenges the system.

Captain America (1979):  This is a tv movie of the superhero which never really got off the ground.  This is more of a guilty pleasure but probably better than the 1990 movie which I have yet to see.  Reb Brown plays Steve Rogers who becomes injected with a serum that makes him a lot stronger and develops the persona of the title.  This really has nothing to do with the origin story so take that for what it is worth.  Brown does the best he can in this script.  It is a guilty pleasure more than anything.  This was not exactly the start of a franchise but something that can be fun to watch with some friends.

To Have and Have Not (1944):  Howard Hawks directed this film based on the novel by Ernest Hemingway but understand that it bears little resemblance to the novel.  Humphrey Bogart stars as Harry Morgan who runs a ship for hire on the island of Martinique during WWII.  When he is desperate for money, he takes a job for the resistance to transport a fugitive from the Nazis to Martinique while romancing Slim, played by Lauren Bacall in her film debut and the first of many teamings together.  Hoagy Carmichael, Walter Brennan, and Sheldon Leonard all star in this film that has quite a bit of action for a film of this era and the dialogue is even a bit racy for its time.  The movie does well despite being altered with the novel which is considered Hemingway's worst and Hawks made a bet with Hemingway that he could change it to a successful film which he won.

The Evil Dead (1981):  I decided to feature the start of the great franchise that has had two very good sequels, a remake I have heard good things about, and a musical which I hope to one day be in.  Sam Raimi directed this rather ground breaking horror comedy which was made on a very low budget and would go onto become the cult classic that it is today.  Bruce Campbell stars as Ash who goes on a vacation with some friends to a cabin in the woods that appears to be demonic like the demonic tree, among lots of other things making Ash take charge turning him into the hero to many in the movie world.  Raimi and Campbell pretty much got their careers started in this movie and are the only ones whose film careers really soared after it.  This is not for everyone and if you do not have a good stomach, this is not the one.  Otherwise, this is a very well-done action film that succeeded on many levels.  After watching this, it might be a good idea to read Bruce Campbell's autobiography IF CHINS COULD KILL, CONFESSIONS OF A B-MOVIE ACTOR which describes the difficulty of getting this movie filmed which might make you appreciate it more.  This is available on Instant Netflix.

Enter the Dragon (1973):  This is my martial arts film for the week and possibly the best of the era and the best for Bruce Lee.  Bruce Lee stars as Lee who goes undercover to infiltrate a crime lord named Han and goes undercover into a martial arts tournament which Han hosts.  John Saxon co-stars as Roper who is a martial artist on the run from the mafia and ends up in the tournament.  Jim Kelly co-stars stars as Williams who is harassed by racist police officers and defends himself against him and then uses a police getaway car to get to the island.  This is really a big showcase of martial artists around the world like Bob Wall, Bolo Yeung, Angela Mao, and many others.  This has some really good fight scenes and is possibly the best of the martial arts genre, especially of its time.  A young Jackie Chan is an extra and a young Sammo Hung is also in it.  Anybody into this genre should give this a look and give credit where it is due.  An interesting fact about this is that Lee accidentally struck Jackie Chan with a fighting stick where Lee apologized and told him he could always be in his movies but Lee died three weeks before the premier.

This Way Up (2008):  I end the week with this Oscar nominated animation short film.  A father and son who work at a funeral parlour are trying to get a coffin where it is supposed to be but their hearse is flattened by a boulder.  They must then do what they can to get the coffin their running into all kinds of funny obstacles as well as a really interesting scene in which appears to be hell.  This really was a lot of fun and the animation was very well done.  This is worth a watch if it can be obtained.

Well, that is it for this week.  Tell me what you like and what you dislike.  Stay tuned for next week.