Shaun Berk's 10 Movie Recommendations- 515th Edition

Welcome to the 515th Edition of my series.  I am now 1-1 in my league among friends and 0-2 in my paid league hoping that things change this week.  Next week, will start having more Halloween oriented selections and the start of my favorite movie watching contest of The Madness.

Don Jon (2013):  This is part four of my four-part Julianne Moore series.  Joseph Gordon-Levitt makes his directorial debut and even wrote the screenplay in which he stars.  Gordon-Levitt stars as Jon who objectifies everything in his life like his apartment, car, family, church, and women but develops unrealistic expectations watching online porn.  He meets a girl named Barbara, played by Scarlett Johansson, who he forms a relationship with and tries to change his ways but both have their own self-absorbed ways in his online porn and her own unrealistic expectations for relationships from romantic movies.  Julianne Moore stars as Esther who is a middled-aged student in his class and forms an unusual relationship with her when he does not know what to do with Barbara.  Glenne Headly, Tony Danza, Brie Larson, Rob Brown, Jeremy Luke, Paul Ben-Victor, Anne Hathaway, Channing Tatum, Meagan Good, Cuba Gooding Jr., and many others co-star in this film.  It is an interesting look at relationships and both of his relationships have unique factors.  It is also good to see Tony Danza in a feature role.  If you can get past the porn element which is important to the story, I believe this is a good directorial debut for Levitt and puts on a good performance.  This is available on Instant Netflix.

Barrymore (2011):  Erik Canuel directed this movie which has a cast of two people.  Christopher Plummer stars as the legendary but aging John Barrymore.  He is putting on a rehearsal for a show in which he hopes to get backing to bring back RICHARD III.  In this he is reflecting on the ups and downs of his career like his drinking problem.  John Plumpis plays Frank who is his prompter and has a very difficult job.  This is likely more for people who like the old cinema and know who of John Barrymore beyond the fact he is the grandfather of Drew Barrymore.  Plummer carries the film well as Barrymore and actually played the part of Broadway into a Tony winning performance but maybe get to know John Barrymore as an actor first.

Before Sunrise (1995):  Richard Linklater directed and co-wrote this film.  Ethan Hawke stars as American tourist Jesse and Julie Delpy stars as French student Celine and meet by chance on a train going from Budapest to Vienna.  They form enough of a bond to the point that Jesse asks Celine to spend the day with him in Vienna.  They have some good times together but must consider what is to become of them when Jesse flies away.  This is actually the first part of a trilogy that includes BEFORE SUNSET and BEFORE MIDNIGHT and both I have not seen.  This is a pretty good start with Hawke and Delpy carrying the movie well and have uncredited rewrites of the script and have a lot of really good discussions they might have written.  This is a good love story that both sexes can enjoy for date night.

Headpin Hints (1955):  This is my short film for the week which comes from the "Sportscope" series.  This features professional bowlers Sylvia Wene and Lee Jouglard giving tips towards difficult spares and showing their different styles of bowling.  I did a lot of bowling in my middle school days so it interested me some.  Mostly for the casual bowler and for the classic short enthusiast.

The Champ (1979):  Franco Zeffirelli directed this remake of the classic 1931 film and the ultimate father and son story.  Jon Voight stars as former boxing champion Billy who is now a horse trainer making just enough money to raise his son T.J., played by a young Rick Schroeder in his film debut, after his wife Annie, played by Faye Dunaway, left them.  T.J. is very worshiping of his dad always referring to his dad as "champ".  After seven years, Billy gets an opportunity at another fight but must also deal with Annie coming back into the picture.  Jack Warden, Strother Martin, Joan Blondell, Elisha Cook Jr., Randall "Tex" Cobb, and many others co-star in this film.  This is a pretty decent remake of the 1931 classic that has a different angle than the first first one.  The other remake of the 1931 film was THE CLOWN with Red Skelton who was a washed up clown instead of a boxer which I thought was Skelton's best performance in what I have seen.  Voight and Schroeder work very well together in this really good father/son story that it sticks to what the 1931 movie started.  This is also the year for boxing films which included ROCKY II and THE MAIN EVENT.

Stagecoach (1939):  John Ford directs this iconic western where after all kinds of b-westerns John Wayne gets introduced to the mainstream to become a western icon.  This takes place in a stagecoach trip where Geronimo is on the warpath and must rely on the skills of the gunslingers along the ride including the Ringo Kid, played by Wayne.  Along for the ride are Claire Trevor, John Carradine, Andy Devine, Thomas Mitchell, Donald Meek, Berton Churchill, among others.  For me, Mitchell stood out as the drunk Dr. Josiah Boone.  I also enjoyed Carradine in his role as the high class gunslingler Hatfield.  Some might consider this racist with the Indians but this happened a lot of this era especially in westerns so I look past this not really sure what the actual facts are on the history of cowboys and Indians.  This is also Ford's first sound western.  This has a lot of good action, characters, and performances.

First Blood (1982):  Ted Kotcheff directed this film based on the novel by David Morrell.  After playing the iconic Rocky Balboa, he brings to life a different iconic character in Vietnam veteran John J. Rambo.  He is no longer in the military and is going to Hope, Washington in the hopes of seeing a friend.  He is confronted by the overzealous Sheriff Teasel who does not want him in town, even to the point of eating a meal.  when Rambo is arrested, the police force mistreat him to the point where he just won't take it anymore and wages a one man war against the police force.  Richard Crenna co-stars as Trautman who is Rambo's former superior officer and comes to town to keep things from getting out of hand and trying to convince the small town police force they cannot compete with Rambo's military skills.  Michael Talbott and David Caruso co-star as a couple of the deputies.  From my understanding, this was written as a statement towards the treatment of Vietnam veterans.  This movie had some good action scenes leading up to a good verbal confrontation between Crenna and Stallone which was the most Stallone had said through the whole movie.  this and the sequels are available on Instant Netflix.

Kapo (1959):  This is my German/Italian film for the week.  Gillo Pontecorvo wrote and directed this film that takes place at a concentration camp.  Susan Strasberg stars as the young Jewish girl Edith who is put into a concentration camp.  With the help of another doctor, she is able to assume the identity of another woman in the concentration camp so that she can get a little better treatment by not being a Jew so she is now Nicole and not longer a Jewish girl.  After going through a lot of hell, she begins to think about survival.  She has an affair with a German officer and slowly begins to get more privileges soon becoming a kapo who is in charge of disciplining other women prisoners.  This is a pretty realistic looking film and makes us wonder what we might be willing to do for our own survival in such a horrible time.

The Avenging Eagle (1978):  This is my Chinese film for the week.  Lung Ti stars as Chi Ming-Sing who is a former disciple for a gang lead by Yoh Xi-Hung.  Chi is on a soul searching journey and being hunted down by his former gang.  He teams up with a seemingly bumbling person and is far more than what he appears.  This has some pretty decent action and has Mandarin subtitles at least if watching it on Instant Netflix instead of the over the top English dubbing though some might prefer than but I choose the original language.  As as said, this is available on Instant Netflix and those who like this genre I believe will like this movie.

Delilah (2015):  I end the week with this short film from the young and up and coming Annie Karner who I have had the pleasure of working with on a couple shows at the Muncie Civic Theater.  She is now a high school student and from what I am reading is the start of her college film portfolio.  Her friend Anna stars as a young girl who has a post-it which says the name of the short insisting this person is real.  I believe this is a good start to the portfolio and I will just post the link below so that people reading this can take a couple minutes to check this out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTM1XyCeEFo&feature=youtu.be

Well, that is it for this week but continue to read for my Movie Night at the Shera segment.  Tell me what you like and dislike and stay tuned for next week which so far includes David Strathairn, Christopher Lee, Tom Cruise, Casey Affleck, Peter Sellers, Antonio Banderas, and many others.



MOVIE NIGHT AT THE SHERA

Gummo (1997):  Shera was actually wanting to watch this one so I went out to obtain a copy at the library and watch this cult film for the first time.  Harmony Korine wrote and directed this experimental film taking place in the small town of Xenia, Ohio where there are many characters showing them passing time.  Jordan Reynolds stars as Solomon who is also the narrator recounting the events of a tornado also going into the local townspeople like a mute boy who wears bunny ears, two boys hunting feral cats, a gay dwarf, and many other very unusual characters.  I'm doing what I can to describe this but it is very difficult.  Most people in the movie were locals that had no experience with the exception of Chloe Sevigny, Linda Manz, and Max Perlich.  Sevigny helped a lot with costumes with things she got from thrift stores.  Casting locals gave a very good feel of a poverty town with an ensemble of very unusual people which most of the scenes were improvised.  The best scene in my opinion involved a man fighting a chair.  There is nothing upbeat about the film and does explore a broad range of issues like drug abuse, violence, mental illness, poverty and many other things.  As I am watching this, I keep thinking WTF but yet I could not take my eyes off of it.  It might need more than one viewing and might want to do some research before deciding if wanting to watch it.  Korine had an interesting vision for this film and believe he achieved it even if it has a limited audience.  I am glad that Shera suggested this one as she had seen it when she was younger and has stuck with her a lot.  As I end this, it is very hard to describe except for an ensemble of unusual characters and the movie can be a bit disturbing at times.

Shaun Berk's 10 Movie Recommendations- 514th Edition

Welcome to the 514th Edition of my series.  Today is another day for football where I won in my casual league among friends and narrowly lost in my paid league where I hope to keep my streak going in the casual one and win the paid one.  I decided recently to actually become a fairly regular reader of books and will at some point have a segment that includes books.  Nothing else really going on so I'll just get on with my selections for the week.

The Fugitive (1993):  This is part three of my four part Julianne Moore series where in this one she has a smaller role but still important in this earlier movie of hers.  Andrew Davis directed this remake of the popular tv series in the 60s.  Harrison Ford stars as surgeon Dr. Richard Kimble whose wife Helen, played by Sela Ward, is murdered and he is wrongly accused and convicted of the murder.  When being transported, it crashes giving him an opportunity to escape to look for the real killer.  Tommy Lee Jones co-stars as Deputy Sam Gerard who is determined to catch Kimble.  Joe Pantoliano, Jeroen Krabbe, Daniel Roebuck, Jane Lynch, Andreas Katsulas, and many others co-star in this film.  This was a very compelling action film with Ford perfectly cast as the title character.  I also noticed that when he styled his hair after the escaped that he resembled wrestler JBL and have included a photo of Ford below for wrestling fans.

The House in the Middle (1954):  This is my documentary short which I recorded from the "Underground Shorts" segment of TCM.  This was brought to us by National Clean Up-Paint Up-Fix Up Bureau and yes that is what they were called.  This shows atomic tests at the Nevada Proving Grounds and the effects of well-kept homes.  It talked about how keeping the house clean will not get your house destroyed by an atomic blast.  It is also a good idea to mow the lawn before an atomic blast.  This was to be an informative short but now just gets laughs.

The Arrangement (1969):  Elia Kazan directed this film based on his own novel.  Kirk Douglas stars as Eddie who has it all, a wife, a well paying job but does not seem to be enough for him.  He becomes suicidal and has a psychotic breakdown in the process.  He must reevaluate his life reflecting on his life and his affair with his co-worker Gwen, played by Faye Dunaway.  Deborah Kerr co-stars as Eddie's wife Florence who knows of the affair but still wants to keep the marriage together.  Hume Cronyn, Richard Boone, and Harold Gould co-star in this film.  The movie itself is a rather heavy-handed melodrama but was still very interesting to me as long as your not expecting Kazan's best work when watching it.  It has some satirical moments on advertising that were pretty amusing.

Big Eyes (2014):  This is part two of a two-part Jason Schwartzman series.  Tim Burton directed this film based on a true story.  Amy Adams stars as artist Margaret Keane who is coming off a divorce, unheard of in the 50s, and trying to make it on her own with her daughter Jane, played by Delaney Raye in the younger version and Madaleine Arthur the younger version, by selling her paintings.  She soon meets fellow painter Walter Keane, played by Christoph Waltz, who she hits it off with right away and marries.  Margaret's art finally becomes a hit but with Walter claiming to have been the artist on her work.  She soon tires of him being in the spotlight and tries to take back her work leading to a rather strange trial of the two.  Danny Huston, Krysten Ritter, Jason Schwartzman,  Terence Stamp, Jon Polito, and many others co-star in this film.  I thought the leads did a really good job and always ready to see the underrated Danny Huston.   It was good to see Burton do something without all the weird cinematography and without Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter.  I really knew nothing about Margaret Keane before seeing this and found this movie and story to be very compelling.

Oliver Twist (1922):  This is my silent film for the week and had not actually heard of this adaptation to the Charles Dickens classic novel until I was looking for something to watch from TCM.  Jackie Coogan, who in his much later years would go onto play Uncle Fester in THE ADDAMS FAMILY, stars as the title orphan whose mother dies during childbirth and gets put into an unscrupulous boys orphanage.  Most know the basic story where Oliver's life changes when on a dare he asks for more gruel.  He first gets apprenticed to an uncaring undertaker, then falls in with a group of kids being raised by Fagin, played by Lon Chaney, who teaches them to become pickpockets for means of survival, then his meeting the ideal Mr. Brownlow, played by Lionel Belmore.  He must also try to stay away from the ruthless Bill Sikes, played by George Siegmann.  Coogan is very good as Oliver and Chaney is very ideal for Fagin and has a great look.  It also has an even more violent climax than I have seen when watching other adaptations or the musical adaptation that is one of my favorite musicals.

Platoon (1986):  This is part three of my Willem Dafoe trilogy.  This is my war film for the week brought to us by director Oliver Stone which takes place during Vietnam.  Charlie Sheen stars as the young and naive soldier Chris who begins to face a moral crisis when he is in the middle of a fight between two non-commissioned officers in the ill-tempered Sergeant Barnes, played by Tom Berenger, and the more compassionate Sergeant Elias, played by Willem Dafoe.  Keith David, Forest Whitaker, Francisco Quinn, Kevin Dillon, John C. McGinley, Mark Moses, Johnny Depp, Richard Edson, Tony Todd, Dale Dye, and many others co-star in this film.  This was an early one for Depp who as far as I could tell had no lines.  Berenger and Dafoe were purposely cast as the opposite of their type where Berenger was usually a good guy and Dafoe usually played villains which worked very well.  I have heard Sheen's father Martin Sheen did not want his son doing this movie after his own near death experience in his Vietnam film APOCALYPSE NOW.  Another interesting thing I found was that Oliver Stone wrote this in the early 70s in hopes that the Doors frontman Jim Morrison would star but died before it could be discussed.  This is a very well done film from the controversial Stone that held nothing at all back on the horrors or war and just as good as APOCALYPSE NOW though would make a good Vietnam double feature and at FULL METAL JACKET for the triple Vietnam feature.

I Wake Up Screaming (1941):  Bruce Humberstone directed this film noir based on the novel by Steve Fisher.  Victor Mature stars as promoter Frankie Christopher who is being grilled by the police in the murder of model Vicky Lynn, played by Carole Landis, who Christopher helps break into the modeling industry.  Laird Cregar stars as investigating officer Ed Cornell who seems determined to pin the murder on Frankie.  Betty Grable co-stars as Vicky's sister Jill who does not believe Frankie is guilty and helps him prove his innocence while forming a relationship.  This is a pretty well-written murder mystery and very dark tones for that time.  Grable does a pretty good job in this dramatic role after doing mostly comedy before this one.  Also makes interesting use of the song SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW.  It is a film noir that goes with a different angle and really worth a look.

August Rush (2007):  This is part two of a two-part Freddie Highmore series.  Kirsten Sheridan directed this film which is in a sense an homage to music.  Highmore stars as Evan who is a music prodigy and has been orphaned all his life and sets out to find his parents believing the music will do it.  Keri Russell co-stars as a respected cellist named Lyla and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers plays talented guitarist Louis who all lose each other.  Terrence Howard, Robin Williams, William Sadler, Mykelti Williamson, Leon Thomas III, Alex O'Loughlin, and many others co-star in this film.  In some ways, this has some similarities to this week's feature OLIVER TWIST where we have an orphan and Williams plays a Fagin-like character who takes in orphan kids and teaches them music but also teaches panhandling instead of Fagin's pick-pocketing. It is really hard to describe in words how much I really enjoyed the movie.  The three leads do such a good job and is actually a rather beautiful film.  Williams also had a lot of interesting layers to his character the Wizaard.  It also pays features many types of music genres which was also a really good element of the film.  I know I did some tearing up during this film and might be hard for a lot of people not do shed tears.

Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975):  This is a follow-up to the 1974 GODZILLA VS. MECHAGODZILLA.  An alien race look to rebuild Mechagodzilla to destroy the city.  A traitorous scientist joins the aliens and has his own creature in Titanosaurus which he controls in hopes to weaken Godzilla in his fight against Mechagodzilla.  In this one, Godzilla is fully on the side of the humans working together to stop he two creatures from destroying the cities and stopping the aliens.  This is the end of this particular series and ends well.  This is going to be mostly for Godzilla fans and is a pretty enjoyable entry with Godzilla as the full hero.

Blue Velvet (1986):  I end the week with some David Lynch who wrote and directed this film that I believe is referred to a neo-noir.  Kyle MacLachlan stars as Jeff who is returning home from college into his small hometown.  While walking, he discovers an ear lying around and becomes obsessed in finding out what happened against the wishes of Detective Williams, played by George Dickerson, who advises him to leave it to the police and not to divulge any information.  Me meets the the detective's daughter Sandy, played by Laura Dern, who also takes an interest in her overhearing of her father talking about the case.  Their investigation leads into a very dark world and more than they bargained for.  Dennis Hopper co-stars as the sadistic Frank Booth and Isabella Rossellini co-stars as nightclub singer Dorothy Vallens.  Hope Lange, Dean Stockwell, Frances Bay, and Brad Dourif all co-star in this film.  Like a lot of Lynch films, this is a very dark, violent, and twisted film which many actors turned down because of the dark content.  Hopper is perfectly as the villain character.  MacLachlan also works well as the rather naive college student who believes he is doing good by investigating what he found.  This is available on Instant Netflix.

Well, that is it for this week.  Tell me what you like and dislike.  Stay tuned for next week which so far includes Julianne Moore, Christopher Plummer, Ethan Hawke, Faye Dunaway, John Wayne, and many others.

Shaun Berk's 10 Movie Recommendations- 513th Edition

Welcome to the 513th Edition of my series.  Good to see that the football season has started.  I have my real team of the 49ers, I have a casual Fantasy league that I am in among friends and a paid league where I look to win money.  We will see where this season takes me and I'll get to my selections for the week.

Still Alice (2014):  This is part two of a Julianne Moore trilogy.  Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland co-directed this film based on the novel by Lisa Genova.  Moore stars as linguistics professor Alice Howland whose life comes crashing around her when she is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's Disease at a younger age.  Alec Baldwin co-stars as her husband John who must adjust to his wife's condition and does what he can to help her through it.  Kate Bosworth, Hunter Parrish, and Kristen Stewart co-star as her kids and really liked the interactions between Moore and Stewart like a Skype conversation they had together.  Shane McRae, Seth Gilliam, Stephen Kunken, Erin Darke, Daniel Gerroll, and many others co-star in this film.  Moore does a great job in this film and is a really good look at someone trying to make the most of their life that will soon change.  Richard Glatzer suffered from ALS when doing this film and was his last movie before dying in March of this year.

Whisperin' Bill (1933):  This is my short film for the week and kind of an anti-war short or maybe just anti-propaganda.  Charles Sale stars as Mr. Bowman who is a farmer who is visited by a congressman looking to get a vote and Mr. Bowman catching him off guard with a poem telling him the story of his son and being wounded in mind, body, and spirit.  It was a rather moving short film.

Kotch (1971):  Jack Lemmon decided to go behind the camera to direct starring his friend of many teamings Walter Matthau.  Matthau plays Joseph Kotcher who is an aging man living with his son but they discuss putting him in a nursing home.  This makes him decide to leave upon a road trip and striking up an unusual friendship with a pregnant teen named Erica, played by Deborah Winters, and helps her to get through the pregnancy.  Felicia Farr, Charles Aidman, and Ellen Geer co-star in this film.  Matthau puts on a very good performance in this film that I had never head of until I found it on DVD at the library and in my opinion might be his best.  This is Lemmon's only film that he has ever directed.

Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009):  This is part three of my Meryl Streep trilogy, part two of a Willem Dafoe trilogy, and part one of a possible Jason Schwartzman trilogy.  Wes Anderson directed his first animated film based on a book from Roald Dahl.  George Clooney stars as Mr. Fox who has always walked a thin line upon farm raiding finally takes a step back from his ways and writes a newspaper column after getting married and having a son.  Years later, he just cannot resist "one more job" in raiding the three meanest farmers.  When this happens, lives change for everyone and he must redeem himself by getting his friends and family into a safe haven.  Meryl Streep and Jason Schwartzman provide the voices for his wife and son.  Bill Murray, Wally Wolodarsky, Eric Chase Anderson, Michael Gambon, Owen Wilson, Jarvis Cocker, Karen Duffy, Wes Anderson, Hugo McGuinness, Roman Coppola, Brian Cox, Adrian Brody, and many others also provide voices to this film.  Anderson did a good job in the animation department along with a fun story like Anderson always does.  I also liked the way the animals had to try to make it below ground and had their own community of animals while the humans were above ground.

The Window (1949):  Ted Tetzlaff directed this film noir centering around a boy named Tommy, played by Bobby Driscoll.  The 9 year old Tommy lives in an apartment where he is always telling stories getting himself and at one point even his parents into trouble.  One night he witnesses a murder and now his parents will not believe him but the killers know that he knows and scheme themselves to make it look like Tommy is lying.  Barbara Hale, Arthur Kennedy, Paul Stewart and Ruth Roman all co-star in this film.  I have always enjoyed this genre and probably enjoy this genre the most from this era.  This was a very good and different take on a child and the killers trying to one up each other leading into a rather violent climax.

Two Lovers (2008):  James Gray directed and co-wrote this romantic drama.  Joaquin Phoenix stars as Leonard who has moved back with his parents after his fiancee leaves him and is very burned out and suicidal in the process.  In the process, he meets a couple different women that he becomes very torn between.  One is Sandra, played by Vinessa Shaw, who his parents try to get him with as she is the daughter of the associates and shares a lot of their values.  The other is Michelle, played by Gwyneth Paltrow, who is the new neighbor and is very beautiful and volatile.  Isabella Rossellini and Elias Koteas co-star in this film.  This was more of a character driven film where Phoenix shows he plays the conflicted character very well.  The women also do a job of playing character opposite of each other in this love triangle where it is him deciding which one he wants.  There is a scene which shows the start of his rap phase in which this was his last movie before pursuing the "rap career".

All Quiet on the Western Front (1979):  This is my war movie and tv movie for the week.  Delbert Mann directed this tv remake of the 1930 classic based on the novel by Erich Maria Remarque.  Richard Thomas, most known for playing John-Boy Walton, stars as the young German WWI soldier Paul Baumer.  He starts out as a very idealistic person who believes this will be a great adventures but reality hits him very soon as the war drags on and loses many in his class.  Ernest Borgnine, Donald Pleasence, Ian Holm, and Patricia Neal co-star in this tv movie.  Borgnine does a great job as the older and more experienced soldier.  Thomas is also very good in this role different from John Boy.  I remember watching this a couple times in my high school days in history class.  This does a really good job showing the horrors of war.

A Good Year (2006):  This is part one of a two-part Freddie Highmore series.  Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe team up this time to do a far more toned down film than their usual action and crime movies.  Crowe stars as the successful businessman Max Skinner whose life now revolves around his job.  He learns that his Uncle Henry, played by Albert Finney, in the flashback scenes, has died and inherits a chateau and vineyard in Provence where he spends a lot of his childhood there.  Highmore stars as the young Max where he learns things like winning and losing from his uncle leading up to becoming the person he is to become.  At first Max intends to sell the place after remodeling it but slowly starts to see a different life.  Abbie Cornish co-stars as his cousin that he had never met and Marion Cotillard co-stars as his love interest.  Archie Panjabi, Rafe Spall, Daniel Mays, Tom Hollander, and many others co-star in this film.  This is another one of those character driven films that I really enjoy.  Crowe does a really good job in a more toned down and more comedic role.  I really liked the interaction between Crowe and Cotillard.  This was very well written and well-acted and really deserves a look.  This would be really good to watch over a glass of wine.

Leave Her to Heaven (1945):  John Stahl directed this film based on the novel by Ben Ames Williams.  Cornel Wilde stars as novelist Richard Harland who meets young socialite Ellen, played by Gene Tierney, who hit it off pretty quick.  They decide to get married and Richard soon learns how possessive and destructive she can be endangering everyone around them even leading to murder.  Vincent Price co-stars as Russell who is the ex-fiance of Ellen.  Jeanne Crain, Gene Lockhart, Darryl Hickman, Chill Wills, and many others co-star in this film.  This is best to watch when not really knowing a lot.  Tierney does a great job being more and more unlikable as the movie goes along.  It gets very intense at times and quite daring to do during this era.  Martin Scorsese has named this as one of his favorite films.

God Said, "Ha!" (1998):  I end the week with this live one-woman show from SNL alum Julia Sweeney.  She was able to make humor of the hard times with her family like with her brother getting cancer, her parents moving back in, and Sweeney herself being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer.  She has a lot of sad but funny stories of what happened in her house and feeling like she was reliving her childhood.  This was also directed by Sweeney and does a really good job with the way her stage was set up as well as keeping the audience involved and laughing making humor out of sad times.  This is available on Instant Netflix.

Well, that is it for this week.  Stay tuned for this week which so far includes more Julianne Moore, Faye Dunaway, Amy Adams, Lon Chaney, Willem Dafoe, Freddie Highmore, and many others.

Shaun Berk's 10 Movie Recommendations- 512th Edition

Welcome to the 512th Edition of my series.  I hope everyone is having a good Labor Day weekend.  Tonight I have the first of my two Fantasy Football drafts.  For the first time I am playing in a league where I actually know most of the teams.  Tuesday I have my draft for CBS so we'll see where the season takes me but look forward to some actual football that I will be able to watch now that I have a job that gives me weekends off.  I will get to my selections now.

Theater of War (2008):  This is part two of a possible Meryl Streep trilogy.  I start the week with this documentary.  John W. Walter directed this documentary that takes a behind the scenes look at the Public Theater's production of Bertolt Brecht's MOTHER COURAGE which stars Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline.  It also goes into the biography of Brecht and the themes for his play.  Playwright Tony Kushner believes it is the best of the 20th century and it is also interesting to see Meryl Streep going behind the scenes.  It is clearly a very intense play but still quite compelling.  It goes into the life of Brecht and interviews with those involved in the play like Streep.

Catch Me if You Can (2002):  This is part three of my Martin Sheen trilogy.  Steven Spielberg directed this film based on the autobiography of Frank Abagnale Jr., played very well by Leonardo DiCaprio, who at a very young age managed to con millions of dollars worth of checks posing as a Pan Am pilot, doctor, and attorney.  This shows him as a teen who runs away when things were not going so well as a kid.  He picked up some skills from his street smart father, played by Christopher Walken, and is able to make a living by successfully posing as a pilot, doctor, and attorney.  Tom Hanks co-star as FBI agent Carl Hanratty who is on his trail and while chasing him he comes to admire him for being able to do what he does at such a young age.  Martin Sheen, Nathalie Baye, Amy Adams, James Brolin, Brian Howe, Jennifer Garner, Ellen Pompeo, Elizabeth Banks, Amy Acker, Chris Ellis, John Finn, Nancy Lenehan, and many others co-star in this film.  The real-life Abagnale Jr. makes a cameo as one of his own arresting officers.  This ranks up as one of my favorite movies.  It is a very intriguing and even admirable story as much as we hate to admit it.  It is also a pretty fun watch with good performances from the leads.  The DVD has some really good extras as well like interviews from Frank Abagnale Jr.

Mississippi Burning (1988):  Alan Parker directed this film taking place in the segregated '60s Mississippi.  Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe star as FBI agents Rupert Anderson and Alan Ward who are two different personality types investigating the murder of three civil rights activists.  They begin to uncover quite a conspiracy within the town.  Michael Rooker, Frances McDormand, Brad Dourif, R. Lee Ermey, Stephen Tobolowsky, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Kevin Dunn, Frankie Faison, Darius McCrary, Tobin Bell, and many others co-star in this film.  Dafoe is a lot more toned down than usual and does a good job as the by the book agent and Hackman is more about getting the job done even if it means bending some rules.  The two different personalities worked very well in their trying to get the job done.  This is a very good look at racial segregation and a good murder story.  This is available on Encore On-Demand.

A Wild Hare (1940):  This is my animated short for the week and the first pairing of Elmer Fudd and Bugs Bunny as well as the first official appearance for Bugs.  The dim-witted hunter wants some wabbits but messes with the wrong one in Bugs.  I notice that the voice Mel Blanc has for Bugs was a little deeper.  This is a classic animation short that I am sure is available on Youtube.

Maid of Salem (1937):  Frank Lloyd directed this earlier film during the 17th century Salem Witchcraft Trials before Arthur Miller wrote his famous play THE CRUCIBLE.  Claudette Colbert stars as Barbara Clarke who is suspected to be a witch due to behavior that was considered rather rebellious in that era.  A young Fred MacMurray co-stars as Roger who is more progressive in his beliefs but gets him in trouble with the close-minded town he comes in.  Gale Sondergaard, Louise Dresser, Beulah Bondi, Donald Meek, Sterling Holloway, and many others co-star in this film.  It is interesting to watch this and to see there is always something like this going on in our society.  Colbert and MacMurray are great together.  This was a very dark period and this is a good depiction of this time.

Rooster Cogburn (1975):  This is my western for the week.  Stuart Miller directed this sequel to the 1969 western classic TRUE GRIT so with that success they decided to made a sequel where John Wayne reprises his role as the title character and gets paired with Katherine Hepburn.  Katherine Hepburn stars as Eula Goodnight who is the daughter of a minister living in a small village in Indian Nation which gets overrun by some drunken thugs who end up killing the minister while hurting many others.  Eula comes across Rooster and asks for his help in avenging her father.  Anthony Zerbe, Richard Jordan, John McIntyre, Paul Koslo, Strother Martin, and many others co-star in this western.  It is good to see the only teaming at least to my knowledge of Wayne and Hepburn who do what they can to work together despite their much different personalities.  While this does not top the first one, it is still fun to watch and does have some pretty good action.  Western fans could have a good triple feature starting with the the first one, this sequel and the 2010 remake in which I don't care what anyone says is the best of them.

What Maisie Knew (2013):  This is part one of a possible four-part Julianne Moore series.  Scott McGehee and David Siegel both direct this film which is from a 7 year old girl's perspective.  Onata Aprile stars as Maisie who is caught in the middle of a bitter custody battle between her parents Susanna and Beale, played by Moore and Steve Coogan.  It shows how both parents each have their own issues and self-center lifestyles.  Alex Skarsgard and Joanna Vanderham co-star as her step parent figures who both do a better job than the biological figures.  This was very well-written and well-acted with Skarsgard and Vanderham stepping up very well in their roles.  Last year I featured Streep as a rock singer but in this one Julianne Moore is the rock singer.  I will go so far as to call this a beautiful film that is also quite unpredictable.  I really hope to give this more publicity than it has gotten.

House on Haunted Hill (1959):  I decided to bring in some horror before the holiday season hits.  I also decided to watch the RIFFTRAX version which is a dvd I found at the library.  Vincent Price stars as millionaire Frederick Loren who along with his 4th wife Annabelle invite five people to their mansion for a "Haunted House" party promising those who last a whole night $10,000 each.  As the night progresses, strange happenings and murder occur making them regret their decisions.  Richard Long, Alan Marshal, Carolyn Craig, Elisha Cook Jr., and Julie Mitchum all co-star.  This is actually one of the better movies that RIFFTRAX has done but even so we still get some amusing riffs.  They did a very good job with the low budget they had and is said to have inspired Alfred Hitchcock to do his low-budget horror film PSYCHO.  The dvd I found has both RIFFTRAX and regular version to choose from.

Heroes of the East (1978):  This is my Asian film for the week which combines martial arts and is more of a comedy.  Chia-Hui Lui aka Gordon Lui stars as Ho Tao who has an arranged marriage with a Japanese woman named Yumiko, played by Yuka Mizuno.  When meeting the Japanese family he manages to inadvertently in insult them and must prove how good his Chinese Kung Fu is with seven Japanese martial artists.  Mizuno also shows some really good martial arts scenes in some of the more comical parts of the film.  One of the good parts is the contrasting Chinese and Japanese style in martial arts and weapons.  I also liked that this was in Chinese and Japanese and not the really bad English dubbing which I believe made it into a more compelling film.  This is available on Instant Netflix and people who like martial arts movies should check this one out.

The Age of Innocence (1993):  Martin Scorsese directed this film based on the classic novel by Edith Wharton.  This takes place in 19th Century New York high society where Day-Lewis stars as Newland Archer who is engaged to be married to May Welland, played by Winona Ryder.  Things change when May's cousin Ellen arrives into town after leaving her husband which gets her looked down upon in the society even if her reasons were justified.  He starts out as her defender but begins to fall in love with her.  Richard E. Grant, Geraldine Chaplin, Mary Beth Hurt, Stuart Wilson, and many others co-star in this film.  It is a good look at the social behavior of the high class.  The three actors do very well and Scorsese is able to pull off a period piece just like he has any other genre he has tried.  I believe Scorsese is possibly the most versatile director of our time and yes I will include Werner Herzog.  I also believe that it is time for Scorsese to put his skills to a superhero film.  A more underrated Scorsese film that deserves a look.

Well, that is it for this week  but still have a Movie Night at the Shera after this one.  Tell me what you like and dislike which so far includes Julianne Moore, Walter Matthau, Meryl Streep, and many others.



MOVIE NIGHT AT THE SHERA

Cobain:  Montage of Heck (2015):  This was more like Movie Day at the Shera where we were there during the day before we had to go off to work for he evening and did not actually get to finish it.  We decided to look for some documentary to watch intending on a shorter one but settled on this one which is over a couple hours.  As we got to watching this, Shera was starting a really cool art project which I observed that and what I got to see of this HBO documentary.  This goes into his childhood, then to the formation of Nirvana, up to his marriage with Courtney Love.  What intrigued me the most was some of his rather dark artwork as well as some home footage of him and Courtney including some where they were clearly very high on drugs.  Maybe I'll watch it all the way through next time but what I saw did intrigue me some as a casual Nirvana fan.  There are also some interesting versions of their songs that were mostly instrumental and one a choir version of SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT and told Shera we need to talk to her daughter's choir teacher they need to do that song.  This documentary is available on HBO On-Demand.