Shaun Berk's 10 Movie Recommendations- 619th Edition

Welcome to the 619th Edition of my series.  So far I'm doing average in my two fantasy football leagues, hopefully things will pick up but I've been more busy with the murder mystery TO WAKE THE DEAD which happens on October 20th and 21st.  For now I'll just get to my selections.

Courage Under Fire (1996):  I start the week out with this military film.  Edward Zwick directed this film which stars Denzel Washington as Lt. Colonel Nat Serling who is assigned to investigate the validity of a Medal of Honor about to be awarded to the first woman for combat in Captain Karen Walden, played by Meg Ryan, who died during combat in Desert Storm.  His investigation leads to conflicting accounts of what happened making him question whether she should get the medal.  Lou Diamond Phillips, Michael Moriarty, Matt Damon, Bronson Pinchot, Seth Gilliam, Regina Taylor, Zeljko Ivanek, Scott Glenn, Tim Guinee, Tim Ransom, Sean Astin, Bruce McGill, and many others co-star in this film.  This is many ways jump started the career of Matt Damon whose performance Francis Ford Coppola saw making him want to cast him in his actual breakthrough role in THE RAINMAKER after hearing about the method acting Damon went through to do this movie.  This has a good Rashomon style to to tell the story of conflicting accounts.  

Superman II (1980):  Richard Lester directed this superhero sequel in which mostly picks up right from where the 1978 film SUPERMAN left off.  Christopher Reeve reprises his role as the man of steel who after preventing a huge tragedy, he inadvertently frees three Kryptonian criminals from the Phantom Zone in General Zod, played by Terence Stamp, Ursa, played by Sarah Douglas, and Non, played by Jack O'Halloran.  Superman is not aware of this until after he makes the decision to sacrifice his powers for his love of Lois Lane, played by Margot Kidder.  Yes, the stupid things people do for love and from there he must go back to the fortress of solitude and try getting his powers back which I'm sure you can all guess the result of that one.  Gene Hackman reprises his role of Lex Luthor who is able to break out of prison and then hopes to help the three criminals destroy his biggest rival for good.  Ned Beatty, Jackie Cooper, Valerie Perrine, Susannah York, Clifton James, E.G. Marshall, Marc McClure, Richard Griffiths, John Ratzenberger, and many others co-star in this film.  Richard Donner still had some unused footage from the first film that was used in this one I guess which was how Hackman was filmed as he did not return for this movie.  There was a cut called "The Richard Donner Cut", I am not sure if I saw that version or not to be honest.  It sounds like the actors and crew had a hard time making this movie but the end result was still quite good in this very decent sequel.

Introducing Dorothy Dandridge (1999):  Martha Coolidge directed this HBO biopic which is based on the book by Earl Mills.  Halle Berry stars as Dorothy Dandridge who I suppose one could say she broke the color barrier among Hollywood.  This follows her early career when she was performing in nightclubs with a sister act among her family, into her rise in Hollywood where she became the first black actress to be nominated for Best Actress.  It also shows her dark side in life.  Brent Spiner co-stars as her her very faithful agent who stands by her no matter what.  Klaus Maria Brandauer co-stars as director Otto Preminger who has an affair with Dandridge and also helped her career get going but might have made some wrong decisions afterwards.  Obba Babatunde, Loretta Devine, Cynda Williams, William Atherton, D.B. Sweeney, Latanya Richardson Jackson, Tamera Taylor,  and many others co-star in this film.  This is a pretty decent story of an actress who broke ground being a black woman playing non-slave/servant roles but had a very tragic life.  Quite the irony that the star of the film was the first black woman to win Best Actress and portrays the first black woman to be nominated for Best Actress.

Hired! (1940):  This was the short film from the MST3K episode of MANOS:  THE HANDS OF FATE that I featured last week that Joel and his bots had to watch before the feature.  This features an auto sales manager that has a hard time keeping staff and realizes he might need a different approach.  It was one of those meant to be educational but is more entertaining and Joel and the bots have a good time on this one.  It is of interest to see that apparently they had door to door car salesmen in this era.

The V.I.P.s (1963):  Anthony Asquith directed this ensemble drama where a flight is delayed by fog and they must wait in the V.I.P. lounge and each person has something going on in their lives.  The main story is of a love triangle between Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, and Louis Jordan.  There is also a pretty compelling story involving Rod Taylor and his trusted secretary in a young Maggie Smith.  Orson Welles is also pretty funny as a film director and Margaret Rutherford is very amusing even winning a Best Supporting Actress Oscar.  Elsa Martinelli, Linda Christian, Dennis Price, Richard Wattis, Ronald Fraser, David Frost, Robert Coote, Joan Benham, Michael Hordern, and many others co-star in this film.  This has multiple stories and intersect in some ways.  This is the second of eleven Taylor/Burton collaborations.  

Bullets or Ballots (1936):  Now I turn to the Warner Brothers gangster genre.  Edward G. Robinson stars as Johnny Blake who was a detective until police captain Dan McLaren, played by Joseph King, takes over as commissioner.  Barton Maclane co-stars as mob boss Al Kruger who convinces Blake to join him after losing his job.  Humphrey Bogart co-stars as "Bugs" Fenner who is the more wily gangster and does not buy into Blake's change.  Joan Blondell, Frank McHugh, Dick Purcell, George E. Stone, Joseph Crehan, Henry O'Neill, and many others co-star in this film.  I thought this was a very enjoyable entry to this genre and maybe Bogey's best role from his era in his career when he was being mostly typecast as supporting gangsters before becoming an unlikely leading man.  This had some loosely based portrayals of real-life people like Blake being based on real-life policeman Johnny Broderick, Kruger being based on Dutch Schultz, and Fenner being based on Lucky Luciano.    Keep in mind I said loosely.

Moonlight (2016):  Barry Jenkins directed this film that spans three generations in an all-black cast.  This centers around the character of Chiron, played by Alex Hibbert, Ashton Sanders, and Trevante Rhodes in each generation, who grows up around his crack addicted mother Paula, played by Naomi Harris, and must find himself in the way of bullying in school and discovering his sexuality in a rough Miami neighborhood.  In his childhood, he finds solace in the home of drug dealer Juan, played by Mahershala Ali and his girlfriend Teresa, played by Janelle Monae.  Shariff Earp, Duan Sanderson, Jaden Piner, Edson Jean, Patrick Decile, Stephen Bron, Andre Holland, and many others co-star in this coming of age independent film.  I thought the best part was when Chiron was a child and had Juan in the picture.  Ali really came around this year not only for this one but his part in HIDDEN FIGURES and his role in the Netflix tv series LUKE CAGE.  He won Best Supporting Actor and this movie was infamously read incorrectly by Warren Beatty when he said LA LA LAND was best picture when in fact this movie won which the highlights of this one winning are that it is the first time with an all-black cast, an LBGT film with the second lowest-grossing film domestically behind THE HURT LOCKER to win Best Picture.  I try not to judge on account of awards but this was a very well-done independent film dealing with many subjects and this is available on Amazon Prime.

Storm Warning (1951):  Earlier had had anti-gangsters, now I look at anti- Ku Klux Klan.  Stuart Heisler directed this film which stars Ginger Rogers as Marsha Mitchell who goes to visit her sister Lucy, played by Doris Day, in the south part of America and shortly after arriving in town, she witnesses a murder done by the KKK.  She also learns that her brother-in-law Hank is part of the KKK.  Our former president Ronald Reagan co-stars as District Attorney Burt Rainey who is determined to bring down the Klan.  Lloyd Gough, Raymond Greenleaf, Ned Glass, Paul E. Burns, Walter Baldwin, and many others co-star in this film.  This is a really good look at a small town and at the Klan.  This is a pretty daring film for the time and a rather violent climax for its time and where can you go wrong with Ginger and Doris together in a movie though don't expect any song a dance numbers.

Wild in the Streets (1968):  This is my counter culture musical for the week and a very interesting political satire.  Christopher Jones stars as rock star Max Frost who also becomes a political activist.  Hal Holbrook stars as Senator Johnny Fergus who is out to get the voting age reduced from 21 to 18 which at that time was an actual thing.  Max is on board with the political vision but then starts trying to reduce it more as well as other policies to the point that Max mostly takes over the United States politically.  Shelley Winters, Diane Varsi, Millie Perkins, Richard Pryor, Burt Freed, Kevin Coughlin, Larry Bishop, Ed Begley, and many others co-star or have cameos.  I wish I could describe this better.  I had never heard of this until I found it on TCM.  A lot of times, I'm thinking WTF, sometimes I'm laughing. It is a good look at '60s counter-culture.

Shotgun Stories (2007):  I end the week with this low-budget independent film which was written and directed by Jeff Nichols.  Michael Shannon stars in this film as a small town man whose name is actually Son and has brothers named Boy, played by Douglas Ligon, and Kid, played by Barlow Jacobs.  A violent feud with their half-brothers erupts when their father dies and we see the lengths these people go to in order to protect their family.  Michael Abbott Jr., Travis Smith, Glenda Pannell, Natalie Canerday, and many others co-star in this film.  I suppose ways to describe this could be the modern-day Hatfields and McCoys though these are through brothers but half brothers an not a very good half.  This could also be described as the anti-Brady Bunch.  This is available on Amazon Prime.

Well, that is it for this week.  Tell me what you like and dislike and stay tuned for next week which so far includes Brie Larson, Winona Ryder, and many others.

Shaun Berk's 10 Movie Recommendations- 618th Edition

Welcome to the 618th edition of my series.  I started rehearsals for our murder mystery TO WAKE THE DEAD at the Muncie Amvets.  I always enjoy more independent productions when I can do them and I think this will be a lot of fun.  Last week I won one of my fantasy football games and lost in another league so we'll see how this week holds.  I don't have much else to say so I'll just get on with my selections.

The Pacific (2010):  I start the week off with this HBO mini-series on based on a group of marines in the Pacific fighting the Japanese empire.  Carl Franklin and Timothy Van Patten directed this 10 episode mini-series which is based on a real unit based on the accounts of Eugene Sledge, played by Joseph Mazzello, and Robert Leckie, played by James Badge Dale.  Jon Seda, William Sadler, Ashton Holmes, Jacob Pitts, Matt Craven, Brendan Fletcher, Rami Malek, Isabel Lucas, Nathan Corddry, Jon Bernthal, and many others co-star in this film.  This is a companion piece to the 2001 mini-series BAND OF BROTHERS which has the producers including Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks.  Hanks also provides narration at the beginning of some of the episodes.  I preferred the first one but this one stood on its own and was good in its own right.  Both of them showed the value of brotherhood during horrid times like these.  Both of these are available on Amazon Prime.

The Last Kiss (2006):  Tony Goldwyn directed this film that is a remake of the 2001 Italian film of the same name.  Zach Braff and Jacinda Barrett star as Michael and Jenna who have been together for three years and after Jenna's pregnancy announcement, they decide to get married.  Michael starts to get concerned for life and youth being over and at a friend's wedding, he meets a free-spirited girl named Kim, played by Rachel Bilson in her film debut, who leads him on a dangerous path.  The other people in his lives are having their own troubles with their love lives.  Casey Affleck, Michael Weston, Eric Christian Olsen, Marley Shelton, Lauren Lee Smith, Harold Ramis, Blythe Danner, Tom Wilkinson, and many others co-star in this film.  I have not seen the original version but it does spark my interest and would not know about it if it was not for this American remake.   This takes a good look at the everyday insecurities people have in relationships and one maybe couples should take a look at.

My Bodyguard (1980):  Tony Bill directed this comedy/drama about bullying and I did not know I was doing a two part series after featuring UNTAMED HEART last week in which he also directed.  Chris Makepeace stars as Clifford Peache who is new to a high school and inadvertently gets on the bad side of the school bully Moody, played by a very young Matt Dillon.  Clifford gets the idea to hire the sullen Linderman, played by Adam Baldwin, as a bodyguard.  Ruth Gordon, Hank Sales, Joan Cusack, George Wendt, Jennifer Beals, Martin Mull, also co-star in this film.  Gordon is very amusing as Clifford's very free-spirited grandmother, a part she played very well with things like HAROLD AND MAUDE.  This is one I had never heard of and remember him back to when he was in S.E. Hinton adaptations but this goes even before those.  It takes a pretty good look at bullying which is still a very talked about subject today.

My Financial Career (1962):  This is my animated short for the week.  Gerald Potterton directed this animated short where a man has a hard time opening a bank account and and red tape one has to go through which was likely a lot more then than now because I recall mine not being so difficult.  This is a rather simple but humorous seven minutes of a man doing something just about all of us have done at some point.  This is available to watch on Youtube.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939):  This is Frank Capra and James Stewart's entry into the Golden Age of Cinema.  Capra directed this political film in the style on Capra could do.  James Stewart stars as Jefferson Smith who is a simple and idealistic man like being the leader of a group called the Boy Rangers.  A seat in the Senate becomes open and the political people get word of his name and decide he should be put into senate but they do so because they don't think he would stand in the way of their own agenda.  The idealistic Smith gets to meet his idol and childhood hero Senator Joseph Paine, played by Claude Rains, but soon discovers that his hero has been corrupted through the years and sees corruption all around.  Jean Arthur co-stars as Saunders who helps the inexperienced Mr. Smith get oriented into the political world and help him with a bill he wants to pass.  Edward Arnold, Guy Kibbee, Thomas Mitchell, Eugene Pallette, Beulah Bondi, H.B. Warner, and many others co-star in this film.  This is a very timeless film that really every politician should be required to watch and maybe a rewatch every so often.  This is one that can be enjoyed by all generations and might be a good double feature to go along with DAVE.

Brute Force (1947):  Jules Dassin directed this prison film which was written by Richard Brooks.  Burt Lancaster stars as Joe Collins who is a prisoner in a very crowded prison which is seen over the sadistic Captain Munsey, played by Hume Cronyn. With everything going wrong that could go wrong, Joe plans an escape to get out of the really bad conditions leading into a very violent climax.  This is really quite a statement towards prison and even the movie itself clearly did everything possible to challenge the Hays code of the time.  Charles Bickford, Yvonne de Carlo, Ann Blyth, Jeff Corey and many others are in this film.  I also consider the most violent movie I have seen from that era.  This is a great prison movie and in my opinion is the best of the prison films.  This movie really holds nothing back.  Cronyn is great as the power-hungry captain and Lancaster also does great as the tough inmate.  The rest of the cast was great in this very gritty film which holds nothing back at all.

Living in Emergency (2008):  This is my documentary for the week.  Mark N. Hopkins directed this documentary which takes a look at four doctors with Doctors Without Borders that volunteer in the war zones of Liberia and Congo and struggle with their lack of resources as well as ideals.  It also shows difficult choices they face everyday in these countries.  These are some very courageous people that do what they do.  They by no means make the kind of money a conventional doctor makes but still get a lot out of what they do.  There is not much else I can do to explain this so just give it a watch if you can to get a look into the group called Doctors Without Borders and you can visit the website http://www.doctorswithoutborders.com .  This can be watched on www.hoopladigital.com .

Manos:  Hands of Fate (1966):  After watching the new MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000, I decided to start watching it from the beginning.  According to Netflix is this season one and episode one which is not true as I learned this is in the 5th season of MST3K.  This is in a time when they still had their original host and MST3K creator in Joel Hodgson  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 1.9 rating on the imdb website.  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.  Before this I saw this theaters when MST3K's counterparts Rifftrax did their own commentary.  If watching this, it would be best to watch with one of the two or just get a group of friends together to put together your own riffs.

A Streetcar Named Desire (1951):  Elia Kazan directed the adaptation of this Tennessee Williams play. Brando plays the rough Stanley Kowalski and Kim Hunter plays his wife Stella. Vivian Leigh stars as Blanche Dubois who is the sister of Stella and comes to visit them as well as live with them when things are going so well in her life.  Stanley is not very fond of his sister-in-law Blanche who has some secrets and Stella must add to her stress as she is already pregnant.  Karl Malden co-stars as one of Stanley's poker buddies and becomes a love interest of Blanche. This was full of great performances and is quite the classic. In THE SIMPSONS, there was once a musical version where I believe Marge was Blanche and Ned Flanders was Stanley and I think they should write that more in depth and start doing this musical version of the Tennessee Williams story.

We Are Happy (2015):  I had a lot going on this week so I decided this would be a great time to work in a short film to end the week.  Matt Winn directed and co-wrote this short film.  Elliott Cowan and Anna Madeley star in this British short film as married couple Paul and Sarah whose friends visit to announce their divorce making Anna question the happiness within her own marriage.  This was a pretty clever few minutes and one that has not gotten a lot of exposure but can be found buried on Amazon Prime and was worth about twenty minutes.

Well, that is it for the week.  Tell me what you like and dislike and stay tuned for next week which so far includes Meg Ryan, Gene Hackman, Halle Berry, and many others.

Shaun Berk's 10 Movie Recommendations- 617th Edition

Welcome to the 618th Edition of my series.  Usually I have these written by Friday or sometimes Saturday during the day.  Today was not one of those days.  I had some of it written but I was more obsessed over getting my murder mystery TO WAKE THE DEAD cast all the way and have a full cast before we start rehearsing tomorrow and I'm glad to say we finally have that cast.  Another thing that delayed my writing was a vacation I took to see some family down south where there was no internet service so I ask you forgive my lackluster writing this week but still check out my selections for the week.

Midnight Special (2016):  This is my sci-fi film for the week which was written and directed by Jeff Nichols.  Michael Shannon stars as Roy whose son Alton, played by Jaeden Lieberher, possesses special powers and has many people after him.  They are on the run fro the National Security Agency lead by Paul Sevier, played by Adam Driver.  Joel Edgerton, Kirsten Dunst, Bill Camp, Scott Haze, Sam Shepard, Paul Sparks, David Jensen, Sean Bridgers, and many others co-star in this film.  This is a pretty decent independent sci-fi film which does revolves more around the father and son relationship than the sci-fi.  It also has pretty good special effects for an independent film when it calls for them.  So I guess if you are looking for an all out sci-fi film, this is not the one.  However, if you want one that is centered more around the characters, this could be a good watch.

Spooking About Africa (1957):  This is my animated short for the week.  This one features that friendly ghost Casper which does the usual of trying to be friendly but everyone still gets scared.  This time Casper is in an African jungle and after scaring a few animals, he meets an elephant with a sneezing problems and uses his resourcefulness as a ghost to help him.

Too Busy to Work (1932):  This is my classic comedy for the week which stars the legendary Will Rogers.  In this one, he plays a depression era tramp named Jubilo who is out looking for his wife that left him.  Through his journey, he deals with an assortment of characters.  Marian Nixon, Dick Powell, Charles Middleton, Louise Beavers, and many others co-star in this comedy.  This is mostly for those who enjoy classic comedy and enjoy the comedy of Will Rogers.  I'm sure many can relate to its title.

20,000 Days on Earth (2014):  Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard directed this film which combines drama and reality in the life of writer and singer Nick Cave.  This has him preparing for upcoming concerts and him putting together some of his songs with his bandmate and song co-writer Warren Ellis.  Came is not exactly the most known singer which is unfortunate.  Some mayhave heard his song RED RIGHT HAND which gets used in a lot of soundtracks.  Ray Winstone and Kylie Minogue play themselves in the film and interact with their friend.  Cave has also written some music scores like to one of my favorites THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD.  He has also written screenplays like THE PROPOSITION and LAWLESS which were both received pretty well.  Before watching the movie, you might want to check out some of music and then see a fictional but rather realistic day in his life.  It is really hard to describe this one future but was a very clever and well done.

Death in Venice (1971):  Luchino Visconti directed this film that was based on the novel by Thomas Mann.  Dirk Bogarde stars as composer Gustav von Aschenbach who travels to a Venetian resort hoping to get away from everything but not finding that peace he was hoping for.  He forms an unhealthy fixation on an adolescent named Tadzio, played by Bjorn Andresen.  This is another one that is hard to describe.  It mostly centers around the world of Gustav and the feelings he just cannot help but feel.  It has a limited amount of dialogue and it is enhanced with the music of Gustav Mahler whose life this was loosely based upon.  A lot of this is left to our own interpretation.  This is available to watch on www.hoopladigital.com.  

Tea With Mussolini (1999):  Franco Zefferelli directed this film which was based on his own life.  This is based on WWII Italy and centers around a group of elderly British women, played by Maggie Smith, Judi Dench, Joan Plowright, Lily, Tomlin, and their American friend Elsa, played by Cher.  They all each have something going on and try to make the most of the really bad times.  Baird Wallace, Charlie Lucas, Paolo Seganti, and many others co-star in this film.  This is a very good cast with some very good performances in a very intriguing story that happened in WWII Italy.

Dumbo (1941):  Now I bring in a more family oriented film that is a Disney classic.  We first meet a stork who is giving animals their children.  Now I'm not sure where this stork concept started but this really emphasizes how it's a stork that delivers babies.  Circus elephant Mrs. Jumbo finally gets her elephant baby who she calls Jumbo Jr.  The elephants of the group are full of women and Jumbo seems to be the only nice one as the others are very judgmental of her baby elephant because of his really big ears.  One of them soon dubs the baby elephant as the title name.  Dumbo soon gets separated from his mother and also finds he does not fit in the circus act with the other elephants.  He soon gets relegated to doing work with the clowns.  He soon meets a very energetic mouse named Timothy who does not judge Dumbo for his ears and tries to help him get to good spirits eventually exposing a pretty cool gift that Dumbo has.  This is a movie that really teaches acceptance and has some pretty funny moments.  There is some crows later in the movie and one even named Jim but they are pretty funny while being a bit stereotypical.  There is also a really good pink elephant sequence.

Headhunters (2011):  This is my Norwegian film for the week.  Morten Tyldum directed this action film based on the novel by Jo Nesbo.  Aksel Hennie stars as Roger Brown who is a successful headhunter which is another word for art thief.  He looks to steal a painting that was inherited by a man named Clas Greve, played by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, not knowing he is a former member of a special tactical military force and looks to do whatever possible to get Roger out of the picture.  Elvind Sander, Julie Olgaard, Kyrre Haugen Sydness, and many others co-star in this film.  This has some really good and natural scenery with a lot of good action with its cat and mouse game.  If you can get past the English subtitles, this is really worth a look to action fans.  This is available on Netflix.

At the Earth's Core (1976):  This is my MST3K episode of the week and is the season, hopefully not series, finale of the new one with Jonah.  They must watch their second movie based on a non-Tarzan novel by Edgar Rice Borroughs, the first being THE PEOPLE THAT TIME FORGOT and they both started Doug McClure where they get right to THE SIMPSONS jokes.  Legendary horror star Peter Cushing stars as Victorian era scientist Dr. Abner Perry who along with his American backer David, played by McClure, where they have an earth-boring machine which they find is more powerful than expected and end up in a world of enslaved humans and prehistoric birds with Caroline Munro as an eye-catching slave.  As the show this was riffed on would indicate, this is more guilty pleasure with a really fun cameo in the episode with Joel McHale.  If they bring this back, I would like to see them incorporate more of the short films they have done in this past.  This is available on Netflix along with the rest of the series.

Untamed Heart (1993):  Tony Bill directed this romantic drama.  Marisa Tomei stars as Caroline who is a waitress at a restaurant and has trouble finding love.  She never really notices that the shy busboy Adam, played by Christian Slater, has a crush on her until he rescues her from a brutal attack and slowly gets to know him while liking him enough to have a relationship.  Rosie Perez, Kyle Secor, Willie Garson, Vincent Kartheiser, and many others co-star in this film.  This was one that I was pleasantly surprised and wondered how I have missed out on this one.  This was a romantic that really sucked me in with very likable characters in my opinion and found myself wanting for them this whole movie.  Many may find their heart of the title when watching this film which has a lot of heart.

Well, that is it for this week, tell me what you like and dislike and stay tuned for next week which so far includes Tom Hanks, Casey Affleck, Matt Dillon, James Stewart, Burt Lancaster, Vivien Leigh, and many others.

Shaun Berk's 10 Movie Recommendations- 616th Edition

Welcome to the 616th Edition of my series.  I hope everyone has a good Labor Day, I'm celebrating by working tomorrow.  I am glad to say that it looks like I have my cast together for the upcoming murder mystery TO WAKE THE DEAD which will be on October 20th and 21st at the Muncie Amvets.  I'm also excited about football starting on Thursday and I hope I have a good year and make some money.

Lemmy (2010):  I start the week out out with this music documentary which was directed by Greg Olliver and Wes Orshoski.  This takes a look at revered heavy metal musician Lemmy Kilmister who was the lead singer for the band Motorhead which gave influence to bands like Metallica, Megadeth, Anthax, and many others.  This takes a look at the earlier part of his career in the band Hawkwind and then forming Motorhead.  If you are like me, you never really knew much about them until they started doing the music for wrestler Triple H.  Even if you do not like metal, I believe this can be a pretty enjoyable documentary with Lemmy being a very interesting person.  This is available to watch on Netflix.

The Other Fellow (1937):  This is my short film for the week which features Edgar Kennedy giving a very early and comedic look at driving safety.  Kennedy plays various roles in this comedic short.  He is not very known today but was kind of a jack of all trades during his career starting out as a boxer and finding himself in a career as a comic doing a lot of short films and doing supporting roles in feature films.  This is available to watch on Youtube.

Sunset Boulevard (1950):  Billy Wilder directed this look at a darker side of Hollywood and possibly the first to really do so.  William Holden stars as struggling screenwriter Joe Gillis who soon ends up at the home of silent star Norma Desmond, played by Gloria Swanson.  Desmond is now a has-been who cannot let go of her stardom and is still deluded that she will rise to the top again.  Norma gets Joe to write a script that will star her but becomes a very destructive working relationship.  Erich Von Stroheim co-stars as Max the butler who lives in Norma's home and helps Norma in her delusion of fame.  Nancy Olson and Jack Webb co-star in this film.  Many celebrities play themselves like Cecil B. DeMille, Hedda Hopper, Buster Keaton, among others.  This movie has been one of my favorites from this era which still really lives on to this day.  This movie has some of the best movie lines of all time.  This is a really great story but feel if I go on any further I will ruin things and we would not want that to happen.  This is possibly the best movie about Hollywood.  It was also turned into a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and while I have never seen it I have been known to sing the title song on karaoke.  This is available on Netflix.

Homeward Bound:  The Incredible Journey (1993):  This is my Disney movie for the week which was directed by Duwayne Dunham and based on the novel by Sheila Burnford.  A family must movie where the stepdad, played by Robert Hays, must take a job in another town and feels the pets, which include an aging dog named Shadow, voiced by Don Ameche, a younger dog named Chance, voiced by Michael J. Fox, and a cat named Chance, voiced by Sally Field, would not have enough room in their new place so they drop them off at a family member's farm.  Shortly after they get there, they decide they must journey to find their family so they escape from the farm and set off on a really long journey home.  Kim Griest, Veronica Lauren, Jean Smart, and many others co-star in the human world.  Also, Big Bird voice Carroll Spinney has an uncredited voice of another dog.  This is a remake of the 1963 film AN INCREDIBLE JOURNEY, also by Disney where it relied on narration instead of putting voices to the animals.  This is still a really good one to watch and is really one for the family.  I have found that lost animal movies are the hardest for me to watch and there were many moments where I actually teared up in some of the dangerous obstacles these animals had to go through so get you might want some Kleenexes.  I have not seen the original but might need to wait a bit before I do see it.  This is available on Netflix.

The Christmas that Almost Wasn't (1966):  This is my episode of the MST3K reboot for the week and I know I'm probably supposed to wait until Christmas to do this one but I know there are all year round Christmas enthusiasts out there who would appreciate this type of selection.  Rossano Brazzi directed this holiday movie and probably saw how bad the 1959 movie SANTA CLAUS was and then a few years he must have seen the 1964 movie SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS and then thought he could do something much better.  In this one, Christmas is in jeopardy when an anti-Christmas businessman named Phineas Prune, played by Brazzi himself, manages to take over the deed at the North Pole and forces Santa to pay a very high amount of rent on Christmas Eve or he'd have to leave and the elves could not do what they needed.  I guess they had nowhere else to go.  Santa seeks out an attorney who wrote him a memorable letter as a child and enlists his help in saving the North Pole and Christmas.  There is not much more to say except if on holidays you are looking for a good Christmas B-movie besides the named titles, this is another one to check out.  It may not top SANTA CLAUS but is still very watchable.  This like the rest of MST3K is available on Netflix.

A Walk Among the Tombstones (2014):  Scott Frank directed this action film based on the novel by Lawrence Block.  Liam Neeson stars as private investigator Matthew Scudder who is hired by a drug kingpin to find the who kidnapped and murdered his wife.  His investigation leads him deeper than what he wanted when finding these things have happened more than once.  Boyd Holbrook, Dan Stevens, Brian Bradley, Danielle Rose Russell, and many others co-star in this film.  This is an action film but is also a very intriguing mystery and while we get to see a lot of that great Liam Neeson violence, we also see a good performance as the private investigator.  In the beginning, it has quite an action scene which is significant for later in the film.

A Picture of Dorian Gray (1945):  Albert Lewin directed this film based on the novel by Oscar Wilde.  It is more centered around the character of Lord Henry Wotton, played by George Sanders.  Henry meets the title character, played by Hurd Hatfield, who is posing for a painting for his artist friend Basil, played by Lowell Gilmore.  Henry advises Dorian that he needs to seek pleasure in life and talks about the loss of youth making Dorian wish that the painting could age but he could stay young.  His wish gets granted where he begins to stay young while everyone else ages but the painting slowly reveals his corruption.  Donna Reed, Angela Lansbury, Peter Lawford, and many others co-star in this film. Sanders does a great job as the main character and narrator which essentially brings out the corruption in Dorian.  Hatfield does a very good job playing a mostly unemotional character but cannot think of anything else he did in his career.  This has good Victorian London feel to it.  I had the pleasure of watching this on a bigger screen at my local library which was really worth the watch.  This still holds onto it's creepy and disturbing factor.

Bugsy (1991):  Barry Levinson directed this biopic on the tempered New York mobster Ben "Bugsy" Siegel, played by Warren Beatty,  who had a nickname of Bugsy that should not be said right in front of him.  He also spends a lot of time in Hollywood with his mistress Virginia Hill, played by Annette Bening, and has a vision of creating a gambling haven in Nevada where he helps to create Vegas but uses a lot more money for his dream that he should which anger fellow mobsters.  Harvey Keitel, Ben Kingsley, Elliott Gould, Joe Mantegna, Bebe Neuwirth, Kimberly McCullough, Andy Romano, Robert Beltran, Bill Graham, Wendie Malick, and many others co-star in this film.  Beatty plays the part to perfection and his credit toward Vegas is a bit exaggerated from my understanding but was a big part of it.  I've always been interested in this era of the mafia and this movie does not disappoint.

Bloody Mama (1970):  I decided to do another true crime movie this time directed by Roger Corman.  Shelley Winters stars as Ma Barker who lead her four sons on a crime spree in the depression era.  Don Stroud, Bruce Dern, Robert Walden, and a very young Robert De Niro play her four sons, each of which have problem of some sort and none can get away from their mother.  Pat Hingle, Diane Varsi, Alex Nicol, Scatman Crothers, and many others co-star in this film.  This is a pretty unconventional crime film but it does do a pretty good job of not glorifying the criminals.  Winters does great at the very unlikable Ma Barker and the sons follow suit very well.  It is also of interest to see a young Dern and De Niro before they became the stars later in their career.  There is also a very violent climatic shootout.  Now in the later years, it has been said that the matriarch of the Barker family had no involvement in crime.  I don't think it has been proven one way or another and has been said that J. Edgar Hoover started the myth.  Still an entertaining and rather dark film.

Beasts of No Nation (2015):  I end the week with some more violence, this being in a civil war country of Ghana.  Cary Fukunaga directed this film based on the novel by Uzodinma Iweala.  Abraham Attah stars as Agu whose family is located in a "buffer zone" and when escaping ends up along coming across a group called NDF led by a man named Commandment, played by Idris Elba, who takes Agu under his wings and trains him to be a child soldier.  Attah and Elba put on great performances in this film of a very sad country.  This is the first Netflix produced feature film after putting out a few tv shows.  It had a very authentic look and feel to it being shot in the country and the many locals cast in the film.  This is still available on Netflix.

Well, that is it for this week.  Tell me what you like and dislike and stay tuned for next week which so far includes Kirsten Dunst, Will Rogers, Maggie Smith, Peter Cushing, and many others.