Shaun Berk's 10 Movie Recommendations- 732nd Edition

Welcome to the 732nd Edition of my series and to the last one of the year and of the decade for that matter.  I have continued a few holiday selections for those still in celebration mode.  I'd say it's been a good year, like any year it has ups and downs but the ups have outweighed the downs.  I hope everybody has had a good holiday however celebrated and it continues into New Year's.  I am ready for what 2020 brings to me but for now I'll just get to my selections for the week.

More than a Game (2008):  I start the week out with this sports documentary which was directed by Kristopher Belman.  This takes a look at five players on a high school basketball team in Ohio which includes Lebron James and his rise to fame.  In addition to James, this also takes a look at players Romeo Travis, Dru Joyce III, Sian Cotton, and Willie McGee and they bond they had with one another as well as their coach Dru Joyce.  This is a really good look at this young team with all the ups and downs among them and the early hype that came to James.

Comet (2014):  Now I bring an interesting love story which was directed by Sam Esmail.  Justin Long and Emmy Rossum star as Dell and Kimberly who are very different people but fit together very well.  This goes back and forth within alternate universes and goes into the ups and downs of their relationship through the years.  I don't really know how else to describe this movie.  Long and Rossum work very well together and this is Esmail's feature film debut which was a good one.  I think this is one that a group of friends could watch together and then afterwards could spark a very good discussion.

A Christmas Visitor (2002):  This is my Hallmark movie for the week and likely the last one for awhile as I have managed a Hallmark movie every week in December this year.  Christopher Leitch directed this movie which stars William Devane as George Boyajian who is still grieving over the death of his son in the Persian Gulf War.  Himself, his wife Carol, and daughter Jean have not celebrated Christmas in 11 years but George decides it is time to celebrate Christmas again.  He meets a stranger named Matthew, played by Dean McDermott, who appears to have nowhere to go and is brought into the Boyajian for Christmas and changes their lives forever.  Aaron Ashmore, Jonathan Whittaker, and many others co-star in this Hallmark film.  This one actually goes deeper than most Hallmark movies in my opinion.  This does not have the usual Hallmark formula that so many have these days and has a lot more emotional depth.

Pluto's Christmas Tree (1952):  This is my Disney animated short for the week.  Mickey and his pet dog Pluto set out to get a Christmas tree.  The tree that Mickey gets is the one that chipmunk duo Chip and Dale take refuge in giving Pluto a hard time which stars a battle of wills.  This is a pretty funny holiday short which also have cameos from Donald, Goofy, and Minnie Mouse.  This did kind of make me wonder though about why Pluto did not get to talk and has to bark like a normal dog.  This is available on the Disney Plus network.

Kind Lady (1935):  This may not be considered a holiday film but it does take place on Christmas Eve.  Aline MacMahon stars as the wealthy Mary Herries who likes to help people less fortunate than her.  She soon meets struggling artist Henry Abbott, played by Basil Rathbone, who she takes pity upon and helps him out while also becoming friends.  She soon learns Henry has a more sinister plot.  Mary Carlisle, Frank Albertson, Dudley Digges, Doris Lloyd, Donald Meek, and many others co-star in this film.  This is a pretty interesting film that has a rather slow unfolding which really works well to pull us into the story.  Rathbone does very well in his role and deserves a watch among old movie lovers.

Alice in the Cities (1974):  This is my German film for the week which was directed by Wim Wenders.  Rudiger Vogler stars in this film as journalist Phil Winter who is struggling to write a good story and decides to return to Germany.  At the airport he meets a woman named Lisa, played by Lisa Kreuzer, and her nine year old daughter Alice, played by Yella Rottlander.  Lisa has things to do and asks Phil to watch her which turns out to be a lot longer than expected.  While together, Phil and Alice form a friendship while searching for her grandmother on a road trip.  This is a good entry from Wenders into the road trip genre.  Look for Chuck Berry in an appearance which is something Wenders seems to like to do seeing as Wenders put Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds in WINGS OF DESIRE.  This is available to watch on Criterion Channel.

Star Wars:  Episode IX- The Rise of Skywalker (2019):  I bring the conclusion of this particular trilogy that follows THE FORCE AWAKENS AND THE LAST JEDI.  As always, I approach these knowing as little as possible besides the movies that I have seen.  I have even walked out of the theaters during previews and then come back when it is done.  J.J. Abrams directed this film and I will be rather vague about this one except that our friends Rey, played by Daisy Ridley, Finn, played by John Boyega, Poe, played by Oscar Isaac, Chewbacca, played by Joonas Suotamo, C-3PO, played Anthony Daniels, BB-8, and R2-D2 must go after the First Order and Kylo Ren, played by Adam Driver.  There are also many other characters brought and and introduced but I find it best when it is vague.  This is one of those where I have seen both sides of love and hatred for what is possibly the most subjective franchise in film.  I must say that I really enjoyed this and the conclusion that happened.

Plan 9 From Outer Space (1959):  Ed Wood directed this b-movie that may be a very bad movie but it's the best bad movie.  The plot here is that aliens resurrect the dead into essentially zombies to stop the humans from making what is called a Solbonite which I guess is a sun-driven bomb.  In Wood's defense to some extent is that he did have a very low budget to work with on his very ambitious project.  Bela Lugosi is in his last role here and dies during the filming.  To replace Mr. Lugosi, Wood cast his dentist Tom Mason and being much taller than Bela, they had the bright idea for him to cover his face with his cape so sometimes you see Lugosi and sometimes you see some guy covering his face with his cape.  Other legends include Vampira, Tor Johnson, and Criswell.   This has to be appreciated for what it is which is a b-movie classic which have cardboard tombs, really bad looking flying saucers, not great acting, among other things that make it what it is today.  This is available on Amazon Prime with or without Rifftrax commentary.

The Town that Dreaded Sundown (1976):  Charles B. Pierce directed this very low budget horror film which is based on the Texarkana Moonlight Murders that happened in the '40s.  Ben Johnson stars as Captain Morales who comes to town to investigate the murders of "the Phantom Killer".  This was a hooded killer that would terrorize the town during the evening.  Andrew Prine, Dawn Wells, Jimmy Clem, Charles B. Pierce, Cindy Butler, Earl E. Smith, and many others co-star in this film.  This is a pretty well done slasher and one of the more underrated ones from this era.  I had never heard of this particular serial killer until I came across this movie.  This is available to watch on Amazon Prime.

I Am Santa Claus (2014):  I end the week with this documentary which was inspired by my Mick Foley reading binge that is featured in "The Bookwork Corner" segment.  Tommy Avallone directed this documentary where he goes around interviewing five different people who play Santa Claus during the holidays.  One of them is Hardcore Legend Mick Foley who had put on the costume during WWE shows but decided to go all the way and really become the character.  For the others it goes into their lives when it is not the holidays and their preparation for when the time comes around.  Foley would go onto do appearances as Santa after all this which he documents in his fifth autobiography.  This is a pretty moving documentary about the everyday people who give it their all to be Santa.  This is available to watch on Amazon Prime.

Well, that is it for this week but I do have a special feature of "The Bookworm Corner" where I pay homage to Mick Foley and I have returned with "Movie Time in the Town of Pottersville" where I watched couple movies with my friend Stephanie.  Tell me what like and dislike and stay tuned for next week.

THE BOOKWORM CORNER

This is from a binge read I started back in October where I decided to take a look at all five autobiographies from WWE Hall of Fame wrestler Mick Foley which took me just a little less than three months to accomplish.  Some question why someone would need five different autobiographies.  To be fair, each of these books take place during different eras of his life and his writing is very entertaining where he is reflecting on a wrestling match, his family life, or his times of being Santa Claus.

Have A Nice Day:  A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks by (2000):  This is the first of Foley's five autobiographies.  This covers a lot of his youth, more in his high school days where his wrestling inspiration comes about.  It also goes into the start of his wrestling training that was under Dominic Denucci.  It then goes into his wrestling career that consists of the independent promotions, Japan, his days in WCW, and up to the time in the WWE when he won his first championship.  This has a lot of funny stories and we get a more inside look into the mind of Foley who was known to do a lot to sacrifice his body like the King of the Death Match tournament in Japan.  While this is not the first wrestler autobiography, it is the one that started the trend.  Foley wrote this on the road with pen and paper, maybe pencil, I don't quite recall that one.  He is also a man that really paid his dues to get where he got and has some great road stories.

Foley is Good and the Real World is Faker than Wrestling (2002):  This is his second book which pretty picks up from where the first one left off.  This starts with I Quit match at ROYAL RUMBLE '99 with the Rock who many know got really carried away with his chair shots on Foley.  It goes up until his retirement match at the time at WRESTLEMANIA 2000.  This reflects a lot on his times in and out of wrestling.  He even talks about the development of his first book featured and his children's book MICK FOLEY'S CHRISTMAS CHAOS.  In this one, he also goes into some views on violence and the media, especially the extremist group the Parents Television Council aka the PTC.  This one is a lot shorter than the first one but still have over 400 pages but is still an informative and fun read on the wrestling industry.

The Hardcore Diaries (2008):  This is the third of his autobiographies but as the title indicates is more of a book of journal entries.  These are entries that lead up to his match at 2006 ONE NIGHT STAND where he envisions a tag team match where he teams up with Edge to take on ECW guys Terry Funk and Tommy Dreamer, or as Edge would say Tommay.  This talks a lot about him trying to get this together they way he wants and the disagreements from both creative and Vince McMahon that would continue to leave him derailed and questioning if it would be any good.  It also goes into some of his feud with Randy Orton and some of his outside projects.  He even talks some about his consideration to join the rival promotion Total Nonstop Action which most people know as TNA which would later happen.  This is far different from the first two where he would talk more about his personal and professional life.  This one as the title indicates is just him writing for a few weeks documenting his time leading to the mentioned pay per view.  This is still a very entertaining read and has some really funny as well as heartwarming stories.

Countdown to Lockdown (2010):  This is similar to the book before this one but this one is written during that stint he had with Total Nonstop Action which mostly people know as TNA.  In THE HARDCORE DIARIES, Foley talks about an offer he got to go there but turned it down when the WWE gave him a better deal.  As this book indicates, he did not stay in the WWE in this era.  This book reflects some of what makes him depart from WWE and writes weeks before leading into a match he had with Sting at their pay-per-view LOCKDOWN.  This also goes into detail about going to his work in Sierra Leone in West Africa where he did some really good things.  He talks a lot in high praise of Tori Amos and how her song WINTER is strangely motivational for him.  It is good to hear about the TNA guys in this one.  Foley continues his very entertaining and informative writing on his personal and professional life and we were blessed to have a fourth book from him.

Saint Mick (2017):  This is the last of his autobiographical novels at least for now.  This one focuses the least on his wrestling career and is more about his year-long obsession with Christmas.  The main focus is on his journey of becoming Santa Claus each year where it is far more than just putting on a Santa suit but is about making children believe he is Santa Claus.  There are also some funny stories of him trying to maintain the realness of being Santa with his two younger children.  There is also a lot of mention of Holiday World which is in my own state of Indiana and visited there on a few occasions in my childhood so maybe consider a trip to Santa Claus, Indiana with your children.  I enjoyed reading about his love for Christmas and putting smiles on the faces of children just as much as his wrestling career.  One thing that is for sure is whatever Mick does in life, he gives it everything he has.  This is the first I read digitally as I checked it out from the Hoopla Digital website.

MOVIE TIME IN THE TOWN OF POTTERSVILLE

Rocketman (2019):  When I went over to Stephanie's house, I had the idea she might want to see this movie and I was right.  Dexter Fletcher directed this rock biopic which features the rise of Reginald Dwight who would go onto be the iconic Elton John, played by Taron Egerton.  This shows Elton a little bit in his childhood when discovering his love and potential in music up to his rise.  Jamie Bell co-stars as Elton John's longtime collaborator Bernie Taupin who has been a very significant part to Elton's career.  This is told about his personal and professional life and is done in a fantasy way where his songs are turned into musical numbers which advance the story a lot of times.  Richard Madden, Bryce Dallas Howard, Gemma Jones, Steven Mackintosh, Tom Bennett, Matthew Illesley, Kit Connor, Charlie Rowe, Tate Donovan, and many others co-star in this film.  This is a very fun biopic on the legendary singer and is a great musical for those that are Elton John fans.  Stephanie and I laughed many times and really enjoyed this film.

Krampus (2015):  This night turned into a double feature when seeing Stephanie turn to her own dvds and so I just let her put the dvd in and watch whatever selection she made which turned out to be this horror comedy for the holidays.  Michael Dougherty directed and co-wrote this horror comedy about the festive demon.  Emjay Anthony co-stars as Max who has always been a big believer in Christmas but becomes disillusioned over his dysfunctional family which unleashes the wrath of Krampus where the family must band together to stop the demonic force including a great take on the Gingerbread Man, voiced by Seth Green.  David Koechner co-stars as Max's Uncle Howard who is practically today's Cousin Eddie from NATIONAL LAMPOON'S CHRISTMAS VACATION so could be a good double feature for the holidays.  Adam Scott, Toni Collette, Stefania LaVie Owen, Krista Stadler, Conchata Ferrell, Allison Tolman, and many others co-star in this horror comedy.  This was both fun and creepy at the same time and enjoyable if not taken too seriously.  This is perfect for those that hate the Hallmark movies.  This was a great double feature for Steph and me to end the year out.

Shaun Berk's 10 Movie Recommendations- 731st Edition

Welcome to the 731st Edition of my series.  I hope everyone is having a good holiday however it is being celebrated.  I don't really have much happening this week so I'll just get on with my selections.

The Night Manager (2016):  I start the week out with this British mini-series.  Susanne Bier directed this intense mini-series which is based on the novel by John le Carre and adapted by David Farr.  Tom Hiddleston stars as Jonathan Pine who runs a hotel in Cairo and gets involved with a girlfriend of a local gangster.  She is soon found dead and he finds information linking to arms dealer Richard Roper, played by Hugh Laurie, and is soon approached by MI-6 agent Angela Burr, played by Olivia Colman, to infiltrate his group.  Pine does what he must to keep his cover even going through extreme measures and Burr struggles to keep afloat through her own red tape.  Elizabeth Debicki, Alistair Petrie, Michael Nardone, Hovik Keuchkerian, Adeel Akhtar, Tom Hollander, Douglas Hodge, David Harewood, Natasha Little, Antonio de la Torre, Tobias Menzies, Noah Jupe, Aure Atika, and many others co-star in this mini-series.  This is a very compelling series with Hiddleston and Laurie working very well together.  This has six episodes that are all around an hour long.  This is available to watch on Amazon Prime.

A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965):  This is my holiday short for the week and one I have pretty much watched on a yearly basis all my life.  Bill Melendez directed this animated movie which was written by PEANUTS author Charles M. Schulz.  Our depressed hero Charlie Brown gets worked up about the commercialism of the holiday season and seeks deeper meaning.  This is the first animated special for PEANUTS which would go onto have many more through the years.  It is also the first time that an animated special used all children to voice characters.  This is a timeless classic that has appealed to many a generation.

Pink Flamingos (1972):  Leave it to me to go from a Charlie Brown special to this absolute sleaze.  This was shown by Dennis the Librarian Menace as part of Muncie Public Library's Attack of the Movie series and as many will know this is not something for everyone.  John Waters wrote and directed this very sleazy film.  Divine stars as sleaze queen Divine who lives in a caravan with her son Crackers, played by Danny Mills, and her mother Edie, played by Edith Massey.  She is trying to live a quiet life with her family as "The Filthiest People Alive" but they have people trying to take that title from them with couple Connie and Raymond Marble, played by Mink Stole and David Lochary, where things get violent.  Mary Vivian Pearce, Cookie Mueller, Susan Walsh, and many others co-star in this film.  This is a very independent movie and has a rating of NC-17 which fully lives up to the rating.  It is really hard to describe this movie in any sort of words.  I think most will know if they fit the audience or not.  If you are offended easily, this is not the one.  Thank you Dennis for this rather daring showing.

Christmas With Holly (2012):  Now I go from what some could call porn to Hallmark.  Allan Arkush directed this holiday movie which is based on a novel by Lisa Kleypas.  Sean Faris stars as Mark Nagle who is caring for his 6 year old niece Holly, played by Josie and Lucy Gallina, whose mother died leaving her traumatized to the point of not talking.  In true Hallmark fashion, they move from the big town of Seattle into Mark's old hometown moving in with his brothers to help raise Holly.  Eloise Mumford co-stars as Maggie who buys the local toy shop in town and through her friendly store ways forms a bond with Holly in turn a budding romance with Mark.  Daniel Eric Gold, Dana Watkins, Catherine Berube, Alex Paxton-Beesley, Vanessa Matsui, Rhonda McLean, and many others co-star in this Hallmark movie.  This unfolds like a typical movie but has some really good moments in the uncle trying to be a father to his niece and having to keep learning.  The twin girls were also very good as Holly and brought a lot of sympathy and likability to the character.

A Christmas Carol (1938):  I had to bring the Dickens classic at some point this month so I chose this one which was directed by Edwin Marin.  Reginald Owen plays the miser Ebenezer Scrooge in this movie so as the basic story goes, Scrooge is a very bitter man, especially on the holidays and gets a visit from the ghost of his late business partner Jacob Marley, played by Leo G. Carroll, who informs him he will be visited by three ghosts of the past, present and future in hopes it will make him a better man.  Gene Lockhart, Kathleen Lockhart, Terry Kilburn, Barry MacKay, Lynne Carver, Lionel Braham, Ann Rutherford, D'Arcy Corrigan, Ronald Sinclair, and many others co-star in this holiday classic.  I think most people know this story by now.  This is a very popular version and is well done.  Lionel Barrymore was originally to play the role as he had done so in radio productions for many years but had to back out because of illness and found a suitable replacement in his friend Owen.

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018):  I'll take a break from the holiday selections for this western comedy brought to us by the Coen Brothers.  This is told in six different tales of life and violence in the old west starting with the title character, played by Tim Blake Nelson who is a singing gunslinger.  We also have tales of a bank robber, traveling impresario, an elderly prospector, a wagon train, and a couple bounty hunters.  Willie Watson, Clancy Brown, Danny McCarthy, David Krumholtz, Tim DeZarn, E.E. Bell, Alejandro Patino, Tom Proctor, Matthew Willig, J.J. Dashnaw, James Franco, Stephen Root, Ralph Ineson, Mike Watson, Brian Brown, Ryan Brown, Richard Bucher, Jesse Luken, Andrew Cullen, Austin Rising, Liam Neeson, Harry Melling, Jiji Hise, Paul Rae, Tom Waits, Sam Dillon, Bill Heck, Zoe Kazan, Grainger Hines, Jefferson Mays, Prudence Wright Holmes, Eric Petersen, Jonjo O'neill, Brendan Gleeson, Saul Rubinek, Tyne Daly, Chelcie Ross, and many others co-star in this western comedy.  I really enjoyed this western film with the comedy, action, and even musical numbers involved.  Some stories were better than others and in some ways is a parody and homage to the older westerns.  This is available to watch on Netflix.

A Night Before Christmas (1942):  Lloyd Bacon directed this holiday comedy which is based on a play by Laura and S.J. Perelman.  Edward G. Robinson, Broderick Crawford, and Jack Carson star as three ex-cons who decide to buy a luggage shop in order to rob the bank next door.  They come into some unexpected success legitimately through the shop and reconsider their plan but must deal with escaped criminal Leo Dexter, played by Anthony Quinn.  Jane Wyman, Edward Brophy, Harry Davenport, John Qualen, Barbara Jo Allen, Grant Mitchell, Jackie Gleason, Andrew Tombes, and many others co-star in this comedy.  This is a pretty good movie for the holidays that does not get extremely sentimental.  Robinson does well showing his comedic side.  This also seems to be a statement towards the difficulties that ex-cons face in the real world, most notably the workforce.  As the photo indicates, this is also known as LARCENY INC.

Prancer (1989):  John Hancock directed this family holiday movie.  Rebecca Harrell Tickell stars as the eight year old Jessica Riggs who comes across an injured reindeer and through her own deductions becomes convinced this is Santa's famed reindeer Prancer.  She hinds the reindeer in the family barn but must do what she can to hide him from her father, played by Sam Elliott, who would not like the idea of a reindeer in his barn.  Cloris Leachman, Abe Vigoda, Michael Constantine, Rutanya Alda, Ariana Richards, Mark Rolston, Johnny Galecki, and many others co-star in this underrated holiday film.  This is a good tale of a struggling family on the farm.  It is also a pretty moving story where we could get behind that reindeer that was apparently one of Santa's.  This is a good one for the family and is available to watch on Amazon Prime.

The Breaking Point (1950):  I movie into a film noir which was directed by Michael Curtiz and based on the novel by Ernest Hemingway.  John Garfield stars as boat captain and family man Harry Morgan, who is struggling financially and is drawn into criminal activity in order to keep his payments on the boat while his wife and kids worry.  Patricia Neal, Phyllis Thaxter, Joano Hernandez, Wallace Ford, Edmon Ryan, and many others co-star in this film.  This is a pretty dark film and is suspenseful throughout.  It is really hard to describe this movie further than what I already have so far but is a very compelling film that deserves a look.  This is available to watch on the Criterion Channel.

Alice (1988):  I end the week with this selection which was part of the Cinemuncie series at my local library which we were told all year would be a mystery selection from Dennis the Librarian Menace.  Many of us went in anticipation of what he would choose and he chose this Czechoslovakian film to the point of going into the place this has always held in his heart since childhood when he first saw it.  Jan Svankmajer directed this really weird take towards Lewis Carroll's ALICE IN WONDERLAND.  Kristyna Kohoutova stars as Alice and is the only actor in this whole film and all the characters were done through stop-motion animation through the use of various objects and dolls.  The White Rabbit may have been the most creepy rabbit in film history.  Anyone who knows about Svankmajer will know that stop-motion animation has always been his specialty.  This is more adult oriented than other adaptations of the classic story.  Those who attended this event were very intrigued by this film.  I look forward to next year for the Cinemuncie series.

Well, that is it for this week.  Tell me what you like and dislike and stay tuned for next week and Happy Holidays everyone and everyone can use whatever holiday greeting they would like to use.

Shaun Berk's 10 Movie Recommendations- 730th Edition

Welcome to the 730th Edition of my series.  I hope everyone is doing okay so far in the holiday season however celebrated.  I'm just glad to see my 49ers doing well and hope to see it continue into later today.  I don't really have anything else going right now so I'll just get on with my selections for the week.

Going Postal (2010):  I start the week out with this fantasy mini-series which was directed by Jon Jones and based on the novel by Terry Pratchett who also has a role as the postman.  Richard Coyle stars as con artist Moist Von Lipwig, a name I'm sure many readers will cringe upon reading the first name, who gets conned himself when being put into Ankh-Morpork Postmaster General which is a position that has not been filled in years.  At first he ties to escape but finds it is not possible with golem Mr. Pump.  He starts to see the error of his ways but also learns of the corruption around him that resulted in the previous postmasters to die.  Claire Foy, Charles Dance, Steve Pemberton, Tamsin Greig, Jimmy Yull, Nicholas Farrell, Marnix Van Den Broeke, Adrian Schiller, Ingrid Bolso Berdal, Andrew Sachs, Timothy West, David Suchet, and many others co-star in this mini-series.  I know nothing of the novels so I cannot judge the similarities one way or the other.  It was a pretty fun series with a really good cinematography look and amusing characters.  This has two episodes that are about 90 minutes and is available to watch on Amazon Prime.

Windows (1975):  This is my short film for the week which I came across when my friend Dennis the Librarian Menace posted.  Peter Greenaway directed this documentary short where he narrates statistics on deaths of falling out of windows and puts on other statistics within it.  This is an early film of Greenaway who would go onto direct movies like THE COOK, THE THIEF, HIS WIFE, AND HER LOVER.  This is a rather interesting, while rather morbid short film on deaths from falling from Windows.  This is only about four minutes long and is available to watch on Youtube.

The Crawling Eye (1958):  This is my b-movie for the week.  This takes place in a remote Switzerland mountain resort where people are being decapitated which lead into some really strange looking alien creatures that are pretty much what the title indicates.  This was shown at my local library as part of a B-movie series they like to show at that place.  While being a B-movie, it does have some significance in pop culture.  For fans of John Carpenter, he has cited this movie to be the inspiration for his movie THE FOG.  For Stephen King fans, the crawling eye creature has a cameo in his novel IT where the children run into the creature during a 1958 segment of the novel.  For fans of the Misfits, they wrote a song with the same title inspired by this movie which is on their album FAMOUS MONSTERS.  For B-movie fans, this is worth a look and to maybe get a few friends, order pizza and maybe do your own riffing.

Home Alone 2:  Lost in New York (1992):  Last week I featured part one so I decided it was time to revisit this one.  Like the first one, Chris Columbus directed this sequel which was written by John Hughes.  Macauley Culkin reprises his iconic role of Kevin McCallister.  A year after being left home alone by himself, he is able to make it out with the family but with everyone in a hurry and rather incompetent airport employees, and lets be real here parents at least in times of family holiday vacations, he ends up boarding the wrong plane that takes him to New York instead of the Miami destination his family went.  Also in New York, escaped criminals Harry and Marv, reprised by Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern, end up in New York only to encounter their nemesis Kevin who had put them away before.  John Heard, Catherine O'Hara, Devin Ratray, Hillary Wolf, Michael C. Maronna, Gerry Bamman, Terrie Snell, Senta Moses Mikan, Diana Rein, Kieran Culkin, Tim Curry, Dana Ivey, Rob Schneider, Brenda Fricker Ally Sheedy, and many others co-star or even have cameos including our current president Donald Trump.  This is a rehash sequel to the core, just different situations that lead up to the rather violent climax between Kevin and the bandits that had me starting to wonder if Jigsaw is Kevin McCallister all grown up.  While being a rehash sequel, it still has that great nostalgiac feeling and an entertaining holiday watch.  This is available to watch on the Disney Plus network.

Jezebel (1938):  William Wyler directed this film which is based on a play by Owen Davis Sr. which takes place in 1850s Louisiana.  Bette Davis stars as spoiled southern belle Julie Marsden who is engaged to successful banker Preston Dillard, played by Henry Fonda, but drives him away with her arrogant behavior.  When trying to win Preston back, Julie finds it may no longer be possible.  George Brent, Margaret Lindsey, Donald Crisp, Fay Bainter, Richard Cromwell, Henry O'Neill, Spring Byington, John Litel, Gordon Oliver, Janet Shaw, Theresa Harris, Margaret Early, Irving Pichel, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, and many others co-star in this film.  Some might be thinking "this sounds like GONE WITH THE WIND" which was actually in pre-production by the time this came out.  You could say there are some similarities between the relationship in this movie to the one between Scarlett and Rhett in GONE WITH THE WIND.  Either way, these do stand on their own and could make for a good double feature.  The title also puts into my head Jim Ross's voice when he would sometimes refer to evil women in wrestling as "that jezebel".  This is available to watch on the Criterion Channel.

The Christmas Train (2017):  This is my Hallmark holiday movie for the week which was directed by Ron Oliver and based on the book by David Baldacci.  Dermot Mulroney stars as writer Tom Langdon who is on a train in hopes of getting ideas for a book to write.  His old love Eleanor, played by Kimberly Williams-Paisley, is also on this train for her own reasons.  They bond with the others on the train and with each other.  Danny Glover, Joan Cusack, Holly Elissa, Kirsten Zien, Anthony Konchny, Jill Teed, Karen Holness, Terence Kelly, John Innes, Nelson Wong, Jesse Stanley, Eric Gustafsson, and many others co-star in this Hallmark movie.  I felt this one was a little different than other typical Hallmark movies.  This was almost fully filmed on the train and did not have that usual small-town element that most seem to have.  While the love story element was predictable, the twist to get there was rather interesting in my opinion.

Holiday Inn (1942):  Mark Sandrich directed this holiday musical with the music being written by Irving Berlin.  Bing Crosby stars as Jim Hardy who has a successful act with dancer Ted Hanover, played by Fred Astaire, but gets burned out being on the road all the time.  He gets the idea to turn his country home into an Inn where he does performances only on the holidays having the rest of the days off.  It becomes successful but Jim gets dismayed when Hollywood wants a piece of it making his friendship with Ted very difficult.  Marjorie Reynolds, Virginia Dale, Louise Beavers, Irving Bacon, and many others co-star in this film.  This is a holiday movie in a sense which has its main focus of Christmas but looks at a few other holidays, even Lincoln and Washington's birthday.  There is some political incorrectness by today's standards that include actors, most notably Bing, in Blackface and the portrayal of black servants.  This also introduces the popular holiday song WHITE CHRISTMAS which I felt was the start of brainwashing people's minds into thinking that we need snow on Christmas.  If you can get past those elements and understand that times were different, this can be pretty enjoyable.  I like the idea of working only on the holidays and this is available on Amazon Prime.

Joan Baez:  How Sweet the Sound (2009):  This is my music documentary for the week which is technically an episode of PBS series AMERICAN MASTERS.  Mary Wharton directed this documentary which takes a look at her life and career.  It shows how she rose into the folk music scene but also shows her times as an activist like working some with Martin Luther King.  This has interviews from Bob Dylan, David Crosby, Steve Earle, and many others.  I really knew nothing about Joan Baez until I watched this documentary.  It was a very insightful documentary on someone who really did not feel that big.

Carol for Another Christmas (1964):  Joseph L. Mankiewics directed holiday tv movie which was written by Rod Serling giving his TWILIGHT ZONE twist to the Dickens classic A CHRISTMAS CAROL.  Sterling Hayden stars as Daniel Grudge who is a wealthy industrialist very bitter towards the loss of his son in WWII and has a disagreement with his nephew Fred, played by Ben Gazzara, on whether American involvement should happen in the war.  Grudge is soon visited by three ghosts on Christmas Eve in hopes he will change his mind.  Percy Rodriguez, Steve Lawrence, Eva Marie Saint, James Shigeta, Pat Hingle, Robert Shaw, Peter Sellers, and Britt Ekland round out the all star cast in this tv movie.  This is one I enjoy watching from time to time.  I have found it on TCM in the past and in this situation it was on Youtube.  This is a pretty underrated holiday movie from Serling and is really worth a watch, especially the anti-Hallmark crowd.

Follow that Bird (1985):  I end the week with this unexpected selection.  This is an homage to the late Carroll Spinney who recently left us and for many years brought us Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch.  Ken Kwapis directed this SESEME STREET movie which features Big Bird in his own movie.  A social worker named Miss Finch, voiced by Sally Kellerman, feels that Big Bird needs to stay with other birds so she arranges for him to live with a family of Dodo birds.  Big Bird does not like it there and ends up running away in hopes to get back to his real home in Seseme Street while all his friends looked to find him before Miss Finch did.  Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Richard Hunt, Kathryn Mullen, Jerry Nelson, Paul Bartel, Sandra Bernhard, John Candy, Chevy Chase, Joe Flaherty, Waylon Jennings, Dave Thomas, Laraine Newman, Eddie Deezen, and many others co-star in this film.  Jennings has a rather amusing cameo and some work that most people don't know about in his career.  This has some pretty good music numbers and a really fun story of friends banding together.  R.I.P Carroll and thank you for many good years of entertaining us with your iconic characters.  A good double feature would be to follow up with the documentary I AM BIG BIRD which is based on Spinney.

Well, that is it for this week but I did bring back my "Bookworm Corner" segment, tell me what you like and dislike and stay tuned for next week.

THE BOOKWORM CORNER

Slobberknocker:  My Life in Wrestling by Jim Ross with Paul O'Brien (2017):  When I saw this book, I thought it would be as interesting as any other autobiography of those in the wrestling industry and I think I was right.  Just about any wrestling fan knows of "Good Ole JR".  He was most known as arguably the best play by play commentator of all time but was far more than that as he worked backstage like as the Vice President of Talent Relations where he together a great roster in the WWF, now known as the WWE.  This was a man who always loved wrestling but accepted he would not be a wrestler and found other places in the industry to be an asset.  His story of how he broke into the business is just as compelling as just about anyone and even though he never wrestled, he paid his dues to get where he did in the industry batting through things like Bell's Palsy.  He has some really good stories to tell and wrestling fans should really take a look at this book.  I also think that non-wrestling fans could read this and get behind it for the man's hard work ethic.  Also check out his podcast Grillin' JR which is co-hosted by Conrad Thompson and relive his days in the WCW and WWE.  He also has a follow-up book called UNDER THE BLACK HAT that can be pre-ordered.

Shaun Berk's 10 Movie Recommendations- 729th Edition

Welcome to the 729th Edition of my series.  My 49ers suffered a close loss to the Ravens last week so I'm hoping they rebound this week.  Other than that, not much else is going on so I will just get on with my selections for the week.

Ray (2004):  This is part four of my four-part Regina King series where she plays Ray's band member and mistress Margie Hendricks.  Taylor Hackford directed this biopic which stars Jamie Foxx and the legendary blind singer Ray Charles Robinson who would go onto be known as Ray Charles.  This goes into some of the pivotal moments in his childhood into his struggle in the start of his music career where people tried to take advantage of his blindness.  It also takes a look at his rise but his problems with drugs and infidelity. Kerry Washington, Clifton Powell, Harry Lennix, Bokeem Woodbine, Aunjanae Ellis, Sharon Warren, C.J. Sanders, Curtis Armstrong, Richard Schiff, Larenz Tate, Terrence Howard, Wendell Pierce, Chris Thomas King, Thomas Jefferson Byrd, Rick Gomez, Denise Dowse, Warwick Davis, Patrick Bauchau, Robert Wisdom, Kurt Fuller, Julian Bond, Kimberly J. Ardison, Gary Grubbs, and many others co-star in this biopic.  This looks at many ups and downs of the life of Charles.  Jamie Foxx plays him to perfection.  Ray unfortunately died shortly after production and was able to sit through the first edit of the film.

Home Alone (1990):  This is the start of my holiday selections for the week.  Chris Columbus directed this holiday comedy which was written by John Hughes.  Macauley Culkin in his star-making role stars as the eight year old Kevin McCallister who gets into a scuffle with his older brother and is sent to the third floor of the house.  The entire family is set to go to Paris the next morning and running very late, they forget about Kevin they leave him at the house by himself.  While enjoying being by himself, at least a first, he discovers two burglars, played by Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern, who are plotting to rob all the houses in the neighborhood that are off vacationing.  He takes charge of this leading to a rather violent confrontation with the criminals through some rather interesting traps that Kevin makes.  Catherine O'Hara, John Heard, Roberts Blossom, Angela Goethals, Devin Ratray, Gerry Bamman, Hilary Wolf, John Candy, Larry Hankin, Michael C. Maronna, Kristin Minter, Diana Rein, Kieran Culkin, Hope Davis, and many others co-star in this holiday comedy.  I remember this was my absolute favorite movie in my childhood when it came out and I believe this is the first time in my adult life revisiting this movie.  This was a great revisit and seeing it in a different way.  I also was not aware until now that John Williams wrote the music score.  I have to say that was some rather extreme violence, almost like cartoonish violence but still entertains if we can just suspend our disbelief for a little bit.  I know it never made me try coming up with my own traps.  This is available to watch on Disney + and I know people will wonder how it ended up on there.  This is from 20th Century Fox and Disney bought them out and now this and the sequels are on Disney +.

Christmas in Evergreen:  Letters to Santa (2018):  This is my Hallmark selection for the week and is the second of a trilogy of this title.  Jill Wagner stars as retail designer Lisa who decides to go to her old hometown of Evergreen.  She is sad to see that her favorite historic general store has been closed and with her skills she decides to help bring the store back to life in hopes they will have a buyer.  She is able to get another visitor named Kevin who is a local contractor to help him put it together.  Holly Robinson Peete, Barbara Niven, Michelle Martin, Chris Cope, BJ Harrison, Andrew Francis, Rukiya Bernard, Colin Lawrence, Marlon Kazadi, Daryl Shuttleworth, Ashley Williams, and many others co-star in this holiday movie.  This has the usual Hallmark feel with the small town, the successful person that left and this case there is more than one, and the predictable romance that goes on.  I don't really know anything of the first or third one, this was just the one I was able to get at the library that is on dvd.  Seems like typical Hallmark that its audience will enjoy.

The Vampire (1945):  This is my documentary short for the week which comes from France.  Jean Painleve directed this this short that is not about an actual vampire that feeds on us even though it does have footage of the classic silent film NOSFERATU.  It is about a vampire bat and how it lives.  It has some rather disturbing footage of a vampire bat in a cage with a guinea pig both literally and figuratively.  This is available to watch on the Criterion Channel.

Our Daily Bread (1934):  King Vidor directed this film on people banding together during the depression.  Tom Keene and Karen Morley star as John and Mary who are both hit very hard by the depression.  They decide to go to the country and manage to set up a farming community in a socialist environment.  They experience a lot of hardship with the elements, drought, and even each other at times.  John Qualen, Barbara Pepper, Addison Richards, Lloyd Ingraham, Henry Hall, Nellie Nichols, and many others co-star in this film.  This is a really good look at a desperate group forming their own community in a very difficult time in our era.  The relatively unknown cast makes this work very well and is available to watch on Amazon Prime.

It Happened One Christmas (1977):  This is a tv holiday movie that is a remake or maybe reworking of IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE.  Donald Wrye directed this tv movie where Marlo Thomas stars as Mary Bailey Hatch who dreams of leaving her small town of Bedford Falls but circumstances keep her in town.  She ends up marrying a man named George Hatch, played by Wayne Rogers, and have a great life for themselves along with some kids.  Things happen that couple get Mary into trouble and an angel named Clara, played by Cloris Leachman, is sent down to help Mary see she is not a failure.  Orson Welles co-stars as the town villain Mr. Potter.  Barney Martin, Karen Carlson, Dick O'Neill, Doris Roberts, Richard Dysart, Archie Hahn, Christopher Guest, Gino Conforti, Morgan Upton, and many others co-star in this tv movie.  I'm sure for those who have seen its predecessor, one big change is the gender reversal on the characters of Mary and George and having a woman angel instead of the male, though the personalities are very similar.  IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE is a holiday favorite of mine and knew this was not going to top it.  I still enjoyed this variation though of the holiday classic which is also available on Amazon Prime.

An Extremely Goofy Movie (2000):  This is my Disney movie for the week which is a sequel to A GOOFY MOVIE.  Max, voiced by Jason Marsden, has graduated high school and is going to college also in hopes to get into the X-Games.  Things take a turn for the worst when Goofy, voiced by Bill Farmer, loses his job and needs an education to find something else.  He decides to join his son at college much to Max's dismay.  Jeff Bennett, Brad Garrett, Vicki Lewis, Bebe Neuwirth, Rob Paulsen, Pauly Shore, and many others provide their voices in this Disney sequel.  Not quite the original but still is a lot of fun and laughs with father and son in college together.  This is available to watch on Disney Plus.

Santa Claus (1959):  This is a mostly annual watch for me nowadays.  When watching it, I just keet watching and throughout this movie, I'm just thinking WTF but yet I cannot keep my eyes off of it.  There are many things I learn when watching this movie.  For starters, Santa does not have elves, he has child labor from all over the world in which sing very annoying music.  Also, he is apparently at another planet and have reindeer which are made up of what looks like Styrofoam and can only last for so long.  We also learn that Santa and Satan are rivals in which Satan tries every year to ruin Christmas and sends his very inept dance-loving minion Pitch who is told he would be punished with ice cream if he fails.  Now to add to that, we learn that after Merlin was done helping King Arthur, he decided to go work for Santa Claus.  Jose Elias Moreno stars as Santa in this movie and has probably been an a lot of really good Mexican films but will only be known by this one.  I don't really know what was going through the minds of those involved when this was being made but was bad enough to become a great holiday tradition and I actually prefer this over Santa Claus Conquers the Martians but that is a good double feature.

Placido (1961):  This is my Spanish holiday movie for the week.  Luis Garcia Berlanga directed this film which takes place in a small Spanish town.  This centers around a social experiment on Christmas Eve where each wealthy household has a homeless person dining with them that night.  It is there we meet that title character, played by Cassen, whose family is forced to stay in a public lavatory because of the lack of money for rent.   Jose Luis Lopez Vazquez, Elvira Quintilla, Manuel Alexandre, and many others co-star in this holiday movie.  This is a pretty touching film and for those who are looking for something different to watch for the holidays, maybe this is where to start.  This is available to watch on the Criterion Channel.

Mountains of the Moon (1990):  I end the week with this period piece which was directed by Bob Rafelson and based on the novel by William Harrison.  Patrick Bergin and Iain Glen star as Richard Burton and John Hanning Speke who lead an expedition in the mid-1850s to Central America to find the source of the Nile River.  This takes a look at their meeting up to their own falling out and the hardships of the expedition.  Richard E. Grant, Fiona Shaw, John Savident, James Villiers, Adrian Rawlins, Peter Vaughan, Delroy Lindo, Bernard Hill, and many others co-star in this film.  This is a really good period piece that is based on a true story.  This is one that has gone overlooked but really deserves a look.

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