Welcome to the 443rd Edition of my series. Last night was our last performance of THE GOOD DOCTOR. Thanks to a great cast and crew for making this a good and fun production. I do not know what is next as of right now but as always I will keep everyone updated. Now for what you are wanting to learn, the recommendations.
Justice
League: The Flashpoint Paradox (2013): I start the week out with this
animated superhero movie from the DC Universe. This movie centers
around Barry Allen aka the Flash, voiced by Justin Chambers, if you had
not noticed. Even with a museum dedicated to him and the many times he
has stopped crime, he still feels guilty about his mother being murdered
during his childhood. He finds a time to go back and save his mother
but then inadvertently creates a ripple which makes a much darker
world. In this world Batman, voiced by Kevin McKidd but Kevin Conroy in
the modern world, is a lot darker and is more about killing his
enemies. Also, Wonder Woman, voiced by Vanessa Marshall, and Aquaman,
voiced by Cary Elwes, are at war with each other in a very brutal war.
There is also a resistance group that have people like Lois Lane, voiced
by Dana Delany, and Lex Luthor, voiced by Steve Blum. In this world,
Wonder Woman and Aquaman are no better than Luther. Batman and the
Flash along with Cyborg, voiced by Michael B. Jordan, look to fix
Flash's mistake and get the other world back. Other Justice League
members included are Superman, voiced by Sam Daly, Green Lantern, voiced
by Nathan Fillion, and Captain Atom, voiced by Lex Lang. The main
villain in this one is Professor Zoom, voiced by C. Thomas Howell, who
has the Flash's abilities. Other voices include Grey DeLisle, Danny
Huston, and Jennifer Hale. The one I missed was Martian Manhunter but I
was glad to see people like Aquaman and Captain Atom who usually aren't
in the animated movies. This is not really a family movie like the
animated series was. This is quite dark but very compelling. I have
found that some of my favorite superhero movies are these DC animated
movies that go straight to video and this one is no exception. It was
also really good to see something centered around the Flash and his
working relationship with Batman who are pretty much partners in this
movie. This has a great array of heroes and villains and is really
worth a watch.
Porky
and Daffy (1938): I continue with this animated short that is a little
more family oriented and this one centers around Porky Pig and Daffy
Duck. In this short, Daffy Duck is a boxer and Porky is his manager and
Daffy gets a title shot against a rooster and uses rather underhanded
techniques in attempt to win. This is an early one for both of them but
was a very fun boxing parody. 
Don't
Be Afraid of the Dark (1973): This is my tv movie for the week. Kim
Darby and Jim Hutton star as married couple Sally and Alex. They have
just moved into a Victorian mansion. Sally begins to witness strange
happenings but her husband dismisses her for being paranoid and
neurotic. She also has a hard time getting anyone else to believe that
she has seen a group of small creatures that inhabit the house. This is
a really good made for tv horror movie and is quite a chiller. Pedro
Armendariz Jr. also co-stars in this movie. This was remade by
Guillermo Del Toro in 2010 and I have not seen that one. This has a
very good look to it, a good feeling of creepiness and is really worth a
look especially for horror buffs.
The
Ghost Writer (2010): Roman Polanski directed this political thriller.
Ewan McGregor stars as the title character who is being hired to
complete the memoir on former UK Prime Minister Adam Lang, played by
Pierce Brosnan. Lang soon becomes embroiled in a major scandal which
then puts the ghost writer's life on the line. James Belushi, Timothy
Hutton, Kim Cattrall, Olivia Williams, Eli Wallach, Tom Wilkinson, and
many others co-star in this film. I'm not going to go into much more
detail as that may give it away. Polanski does a great job directing
this and the performances were very good along with the Alexandre
Desplat music score which really contributed to this thriller.
3:10
to Yuma (1957): This is my western for the week which was directed by
Delmer Daves. Glenn Ford stars as Ben Wade who leads a group of outlaws
and he gets captured though the rest of the gang is determined to free
Ben. Small-time rancher Dan Evans, played by Van Heflin, is hired to
get him to court at Yuma while evading the other gang that wants to free
him. Wade is a poor farmer and takes the job for the money but also
for money reasons feeling an obligation to help justice happen. Felicia
Farr, Henry Jones, and Richard Jaeckel co-star in this western. There
are some great interactions between Ford and Heflin. This is one of my
favorite westerns from this era and prefer this one over most John Wayne
or James Stewart westerns I have seen. This is another movie which has
a remake which I have not seen yet but may look into this one soon
hearing good things about it. Credit still must be given where it is
due so give this one a viewing if you have seen the new one.
Scent
of a Woman (1992): This is part 10 of my eleven part Al Pacino series
which is probably the longest I have ever had on this blog. Martin
Brest directs this movie based on the novel by Giovanni Arpino. Chris
O'Donnell stars as prep school student Charlie Simms who finds an add to
look after someone for the Thanksgiving weekend and when finding who he
is being hired to watch he finds this is not the simple job he thinks
it will be. Pacino stars as Lt. Col. Frank Slade who is now blind and
whose family is leaving for Thanksgiving and want to hire someone to
make sure he is okay. At first Frank seems very unlikable but slowly
forms a friendship with Charlie. Frank unexpectedly decides to go to
New York and Charlie reluctantly agrees to go along having quite the
life-changing weekend. A young Philip Seymour Hoffman co-stars in this
film as one of the prep school students. James Rebhorn, Gabrielle
Anwar, Bradley Whitford, and Ron Eldard co-star in this film. Pacino
finally won an Oscar after many unsuccessful nominations and does great
as a blind man who may not be able to see but knows what is going on
around him. O'Donnell holds his own with Pacino. This has some very
dramatic and comedic moments like Pacino's character driving a car when
he was blind. This is really worth a look.
Conversations
with Other Women (2005): Hans Canosa directs this independent film
which makes interesting use of the split screen. Aaron Eckhart and
Helena Bonham Carter star as people who are in a wedding and then begin
to flirt afterwards and rekindle on times when they met when they were
younger. These people are not given names, they are only credited as
"man" and "woman". The split screen method gives different angles of
their interactions as well as sometimes using flashbacks. Both actors
worked very well together and did a great job of carrying the film and
the split screen was very clever as well. This is more of a character
driven film that worked very well.
Samson
and Delilah (1949): This is my biblical film for the week that was
directed by Cecil B. Demille and I suppose you could say this is the
first of the Demille biblical trilogy that includes THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
in 1956 and BEN-HUR in 1959. Victor Mature stars as the strongman
Samson who falls in love with Philistine Semader, played by a young
Angela Lansbury, who in turn betrays Samson and is killed in the
infighting. Hedy Lamarr stars as Delilah who is the sister of Semander
and is determined to get revenge against Samson. She soon has an affair
and learns Samson's source of his strength and betrays him to the
Saran, played by George Sanders. Henry Wilcoxan and a young Russ
Tamblyn star in this biblical film. This was a pretty decent biblical
film which had great use of colors as well as good action scenes. The
special effects weren't bad for the time. It is also of worth to see a
young Lansbury. Out of all three of these biblical films, I liked
BEN-HUR the most but favor this one over TEN COMMANDMENTS. 
The
Hustler (1961): Robert Rossen directed this pool drama. Paul Newman
stars as "Fast" Eddie Felson who is a very good pool player but is also
very self-destructive. He then meets pool legend Minnesota Fats, played
by Jackie Gleason is a more dramatic role than usual, and challenges
him to a high-stakes marathon but is unsuccessful. He then goes onto
becoming even more self-destructing with alcohol and his lack of
confidence. George C. Scott co-stars as Bert Gordon, who kind of takes
him in and looks to help him get his confidence back but at the same
time is very shady making Eddie realize working with him could cost him
his soul. Piper Laurie also co-stars as Eddie's girlfriend Sarah who
has problems of her own and is Laurie's last movie until the horror
classic CARRIE came around. Look for boxer Jake LaMotta and actor
Vincent Gardenia who play bartender roles. This movie at the time
started a big resurgence of pool. Newman did not play much pool before
the movie but got a pool table and played every chance he could to
become good. He ended up doing most of his own shots and Gleason was
already a good pool player before the film. This is a very good drama
that centers around the world of pool and hustling and one where winning
is not always black and white. It also takes a look at the dangers of
being a hustler where one does not seem to know when to quit and lacks
knowledge of what they are getting into. This is a pretty authentic
looking film and one of Newman's best in my opinion.
Assassins
(1995): I end this week with some action. Richard Donner directed the
action movie which stars Sylvester Stallone as burned out hitman Robert
Rath who is looking to get out of the business. He finds that will not
be easy when encountering another hitman named Miguel Bain, played by
Antonio Banderas, who is a young up and comer and wants to make a name
for himself. Julianne Moore co-stars as Electra who is a computer
hacker and finds herself in the middle of their feud having to stick
close to Robert for survival. I don't think I really need to go any
further on this one. This is not the greatest movie of all time but a
good one to suspend your disbelief for awhile and take your mind off
things. Well, that is it for this week. Stay tuned for next week which so far includes more Al Pacino, Matt Damon, and many others.
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