Welcome to the 815th Edition of my series. I don't really have a lot going on right now. I don't have any plays at this time but that could change soon. I will just get on with my selections for the week.
Powder Blue (2009): Timothy Linh Bui directed and co-wrote this ensemble film, not really sure what to call it. This centers around the characters of stripper Rose-Johnny, played by Jessica Biel, mortician Qwerty, played by Eddie Redmayne, suicidal priest Charlie, played by Forest Whitaker, and ex-con Jack, played by Ray Liotta, who are brought together under a mixture of circumstances on Christmas Eve. Lisa Kudrow, Patrick Swayze, Kris Kristofferson, Sanaa Lathan, Chandler Canterbury, Ravi Patel, Don Swayze, Riki Lindhome, and many others co-star in this film. This is Swayze's last feature film which was acutally shot in 2007 and months before his cancer diagnosis. I was very intrigued watching this and interested to see what's going to happen to each of the characters and how they intersect. This movie can bring out just about any emotion. I know I said it takes place on Christmas Eve but it's not really a holiday film, just takes place at the time. This could be a good holiday selection for those who don't want something real sappy. This is available to watch on Amazon Prime.
Odor of the Day (1948): This is my animated short for the week that centers around a homeless dog looking for a place to stay but getting turned away. Wellington the dog comes onto a home of a skunk, likely not the controversial Pepe Le Pew, more on that later. When Wellington gets to the house, he does not know it is owned by a skunk who uses his smell to try to drive him away starting a game of one upsmanship. This was a different sort of skunk in many ways including this one could not talk. Many have said it is Pepe who has come under some controversy in this culture we are in today. This is available to watch on HBO Max as part of the Looney Tunes collection.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966): This is my western for the week which was directed by Sergio Leone and is the conclusion of "The Man With No Name" trilogy. Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach, and Lee Van Cleef star as the three title characters who come across some information of a buried treasure and are all out to get it. Rada Rassimov, Antonio Casale, Antonio Casas, and many others co-star in this Spaghetti western. I don't think I need to give much description which could be called the granddaddy of the Spaghetti western. It also has what might be the most memorable music score from Ennio Morricone that just about anyone has heard at some point. This works on just about every level with the performances, action, cinematography, music, you name it. Make a night for A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS, FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE, and then this one.
I am Not Your Negro (2016): Raoul Peck directed this documentary which is based on some writings by James Baldwin on civil rights activists Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and Medgar Evers. Samuel L. Jackson narrates this documentary which takes a look at the three named people as well as race in modern America. It also looks at their portrayal in film through the years. This is based on Baldwin's unfinished manuscript for a novel. This is a pretty eye-opening documentary that everyone should probably take a look at sometime. I honestly did not know much about Medger Evers but this gave me a better look. This is available to watch on Netflix and Hoopla Digital.
Scarface (1932): Howard Hawks and Richard Rosson directed this film based on the novel by Armitage Trail. Paul Muni stars as gangster Tony Comonte who is trying to get to the top through very violent means. This is a very thinly veiled portrayal of Al Capone in which much of the events that happened in this movie were based on real events like a scene resembling the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. Ann Dvorak, Karen Morley, Osgood Perkins, C. Henry Gordon, George Raft, Boris Karloff, Edwin Maxwell, and many others co-star in this gangster film. Many will likely know more about that movie made in 1986 and yes that is a remake of this film. Both of these movies stand alone with one another. This is a loosely based portrayal on Al Capone while Al Pacino's character Tony Montana is a Cuban refugee living in America and trying to rise to the top of the drug world. Capone was said to have had a copy of this movie and really liked it. This was a very daring movie to make during its time with Capone being on the rise. I say watch this and the 1986 remake which will make a great double feature. This is available to watch on the Criterion Channel.
Year of the Fish (2007): David Kaplan wrote and directed this modern-day variation of CINDERELLA which takes place in New York's Chinatown. An Nguyen stars as Ye Xian who is the equivalent of Cinderella who takes a job at a massage parlor which is more than that and gets relegated to cleaning jobs when she refuses to do the jobs given to her. Ken Leung stars as Johnny who is a musician and takes a liking to Ye being the equivalent of the prince. Tsai Chin, Randall Duk Kim, and many others co-star in this film. This is an interesting enough take on the timeless story that was really worth a look.
Saturday Night Fever (1977): John Badham directed this iconic disco film. John Travolta stars as the 19 year old Tony Manero who has a difficult home life and escapes to the local disco nightclub. The club is having a dance competition and discovers Stephanie on the dance floor and makes her his partner. Barry Miller, Joseph Cali, Paul Pape, Donna Pescow, Julie Bovasso, Martin Shakar, Sam Coppola, Nina Hansen, Fran Drescher, and many others co-star in this film. This goes much deeper than just the world of disco and is really more of a coming of age story with some rather dark undertones at times. Another star of the film was the Bee Gees soundtrack which was for a long time the best-selling soundtrack until THE BODYGUARD. This was mostly a star-making role for Travolta. This is available to watch on HBO Max.
Notorious (2009): George Tillman Jr. directed this biopic on the late rapper the Notorious B.I.G and will tell you right now it is not a remake of the Alfred Hitchcock film of the same name. Jamal Woodward stars as Christopher Wallace who would go onto be known as the Notorious B.I.G. in his short but memorable life. This starts from his childhood going to his rise to the rap world up to his tragic end. Derek Luke stars as Sean Combs and Anthony Mackie stars as Tupac Shakur. Dennis L.A. Wright, Marc John Jefferies, Christopher Jordan Wallace, Ricky Smith, Angela Bassett, Cyrus Farmer, David Costabile, Julia Pace Mitchell, Naturi Naughton, Aunjanue Ellis, Kevin Philips, John Ventimiglia, and many others co-star in this biopic. The actor Christopher Jordan Wallace is the actual son of the Notorious B.I.G. who potrays his father at the age of 12 years of age. This was a pretty good and sad biopic of the rap icon.
Vertigo (1958): Alfred Hitchcock directed this film based on the novel by Pierre Boileau. James Stewart stars as retired cop John 'Scottie' Ferguson who left the force after contracting vertigo. He is hired by his friend Gavin, played by Tom Helmore, to watch his wife Madeleine, played by Kim Novak, who he believes is in danger to herself. This case causes Scottie to go off the deep in questioning what is real and what is not real. Barbara Bel Geddes, Henry Jones, Raymond Bailey, Ellen Corby, Konstantin Shayne, Lee Patrick, and many others co-star in this film. To go further on the plot will just give too much away in my opinion. I will say this is as Hitchcockian as it gets and is a very deep story. An interesting fact about this movie is that the title sequences by Saul Bass were computerized making this the first movie to use computer graphics. This is also the last time Hitchcock and Stewart would work together with Hitchcock apparently feeling that Stewart was "too old". This also has quite the music score from Bernard Herrmann which fits the tone perfectly. It also has a really good and brief animated sequence along with a very well shot dream sequence. This is available to watch on Amazon Prime.
Colette (2020): I end the week with this Oscar-winning documentary short which was directed by Anthony Giacchino. This takes a look at Colette Marin-Catherine who was a French resistance fighter against the Nazis in WWII. For many years, Colette refused to go to Germany until a young history student named Lucie Fouble convinces her to visit the concentration camp where he brother was killed. Obviously this was very difficult for both the young and the old so both people in this situation. This was a pretty moving documentary short on facing the past and well done with the limited time they had. I was able to watch this on Youtube.
Well, that is it for this week. Tell me what you like and dislike and stay tuned for next week which so far includes Christopher Lloyd, Allison Janney, and many others..
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