Welcome to the 821st Edition of my series. I am preparing myself for week one of this year and hoping for a big season out of my 49ers and my fantasy team. Last Thursday was a bad start in fantasy so I hope to bounce back soon. I will get on with my selections and see the bottom for Clue.
Manny (2014): I start the week off with this documentary which was directed by Leon Gast and Ryan Moore. Liam Neeson narrates this documentary on boxer Manny Pacquiao where we see his beginnings in the Philippines where he grows up with a poor but very loving family. As a teen, he learns boxing and would do that to support his family and rise into the professional ranks. This also takes a look at his political career. This is a really good rags to riches documentary on this boxer and is available on Amazon Prime with ads as well as other free streaming services that have ads.
The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008): This is part five of my five-part David Strathairn series. Mark Waters directed this film based on the books by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black. Helen Grace, played by Mary-Louise Parker, brings her kids Jared, Simon, both played by Freddie Highmore, and Mallory, played by Sarah Bolger, to a much smaller town. As the kids try to adjust, they come upon an alternate world that consists of fairies and other creatures. Nick Nolte, Joan Plowright, Seth Rogen, Martin Short, Ron Perlman, and many others co-star in human form or provide voices to the creatures. I know there are books on this so I have no way of judging the movie on account of them. For me, it was a pretty fun fantasy film that is watchable for the family.
Preparations to be Together for an Unknown Period of Time (2020): I decided to return to Hungary after last week. Lili Horvat wrote and directed romantic drama. Natasa Stork stars as Vizy Marta who is a neurosurgeon abandoning the American life and returning to her country of Budapest to start a new life with a man named Drexler Janos, played Victor Bodo. Janos claims to not know her making Marta's plans change. Benett Vilmanyi, Andor Lukats, Linda Moshier, and many others co-star in this Hungarian film. This is a pretty compelling film with a great performance from Stork. It is far more than just a romance and is kind of a character study on Vizy Marta. This is available to watch on the Criterion Channel.
Gallopin' Gals (1940): This is my animated short for the week. A young Joseph Barbera and William Hanna directed this MGM short years before they would form a very successful animation studio for themselves. This takes place in the world of horse racing where much of the female horses preparing for the upcoming horse race. This is a pretty clever animation short from this era and good to see early work from Hanna-Barbera before they would go onto create some of their iconic characters.
Red-Headed Woman (1932): Jack Conway directed this pre-code film based on the novel by Katharine Brush. Jean Harlow stars as Lillian who works for a company and seduces her boss Bill, played by Chester Morris, while managing to break up his marriage with Irene, played by Leila Hyams. It still ends up being a dysfunctional relations has Lillian is shunned by society. Lewis Stone, Una Merkel, Henry Stephenson, May Robson, Charles Boyer, Harvey Clark, and many others star in this film. This is a rather controversial film and taboo topic for its time. This is an interesting tale of morality and is available to watch on the Criterion Channel.
Murder By Death (1976): This is part two of my Peter Sellers trilogy where he plays Japanese detective Sydney Wang which is a parody of Charlie Chan. Robert Moore directed this comedy which was written by Neil Simon. Truman Capote in a rare film appearance stars as the wealthy Lionel Twain who invites the the greatest literary detectives with a "dinner and murder" invitation. The detectives are Sidney Wang, played by Peter Sellers, Sam Diamond, played by Peter Falk, Jessica Marbles, played by Elsa Lanchester, Milo Perrier, played by James Coco, and Dick and Dora Charleston, played by David Niven and Maggie Smith. Alec Guinness, Eileen Brennan, Nancy Walker, Estelle Winwood, James Cromwell, Richard Narita, and many others co-star in this murder mystery comedy. This is a send up of some of the classic murder mystery novels and has kind of a CLUE sort of feel to it as there is a very similar premise thought I guess that is the other way around since the movie of it came out after. This is a pretty fun murder mystery with lots of twists and turns.
Carny (1980): Robert Kaylor directed this carnival tale and co-wrote with Phoebe Kaylor and the Band member Robbie Robertson. A young Jodie Foster stars as Donna who is bored in her small town and when the carnival comes into town, she becomes fascinated by hustlers Frankie and Patch, played by Gary Busey and Robbie Robertson. She decides to go out on the road with them and learns a lot along the way. Meg Foster, Kenneth McMillan, Elisha Cook Jr., Tim Thomerson, Teddy Wilson, Bill McKinney, and many others co-star in this carnival film. This was Gary Busey before he became our modern-day Socrates. It was also cool seeing Robertson in a movie as I am a pretty big fan of his solo music. I learned about this movie when listening to the wrestling podcast SOMETHING TO WRESTLE WITH BRUCE PRICHARD in which Bruce's brother Tom advised him to watch this when they were younger. This is a very underrated film that really deserves a look.
Three Came Home (1950): Jean Negulesco directed this film which is based on the novel by Agnes Newton Keith, played by Claudette Colbert. Keith is an author imprisoned in a Japanese POW camp while having to care for her young son George, played by Mark Keunig, and being separated by her husband Harry, played by Knowles. Florence Desmond, Sessue Hayakawa, Mark Keuning, and many others co-star in this film. This is not always easy to watch and really conveys the price of war for everyone. This is available to watch on Hoopla Digital and was really worth checking out.
The Wrestler (1974): This is my wrestling comedy for the week and much different than that Mickey Rourke movie many years later that shares the same title. I did not originally intend this bu this is my homage to Edward Asner who recently left us. James Westman directed this wrestling comedy where Asner stars as promoter Frank Bass who looks to take a stand against gamblers and mobsters. Wrestling legend Verne Gagne stars in this movie as Mike Bullard which was essentially just him playing Verne Gagne under another name. Elaine Giftos, Billy Robinson, Don Muraco, Danny Hodge, Dick the Bruiser, the Crusher, Dan Gable, Vincent J. McMahon, Dusty Rhodes Dick Murdoch, Wahoo McDaniel, Nick Bockwinkel, Superstar Billy Graham, Sarah Miller, Ric Flair, Ray Stevens, Greg Gagne, Eddie Graham, Larry Hennig, Wilbur Snyder, Ken Patera, Jim Brunzell, and many others co-star or make cameos as themselves. This is mostly something that will be enjoyed most by wrestling fans and most notably fans of the AWA. Murdoch and Rhodes have some pretty amusing bar scenes. Notice the Vince McMahon is the current WWE chairman's father who ran WWWF at the time in a cameo scene involving promoters. I found this on Youtube and is fun if you're a wrestling fan or at least was at one time.
The Bookshop (2017): Isabel Coixet directed this film based on the novel by Penelope Fitzgerald. This takes place in 1959 England in a small East Anglian town. Emily Mortimer stars as Florence Green who decides to start a bookshop despite local opposition which is mainly from local grand dame Violet Gamart, played by Patricia Clarkson. Bill Nighy co-stars as Florence's biggest supporter Edmund Brundish. Hunter Tremayne, Honor Kneafsey, Michael Fitzgerald, Frances Barber, Reg Wilson, James Lance, and many others co-star in this film. This is a really good film that is surrounded by a local community and the perseverance to keep an unlikely thing going. Classic book lovers will also really like this one.
Well, that is it for this week but I do have a debut segment of "Lishin' Out at the Movies". Tell me what you like and dislike and stay tuned for next week which so far includes Mickey Rourke, and many others.
LISHIN' OUT AT THE MOVIES
This is a new segment with my friend Alisha where we sat down on her couch and went through Amazon Prime to find us some bad movies where we agreed to this double feature with lots of laughs. We also had occasional wtf looks from her roommate Brett who would walk in from time to time.
The VelociPastor (2018): Brandon Steere wrote and directed this horror comedy. Greg Cohan stars as Father Doug Jones who after losing his parents, travels to China where somehow he inherits a power to turn into a dinosaur. When a hooker named Carol, played by Alyssa Kempinski, discovers this, she convinces him to fight crime and some ninjas. Claire Hsu, Nicholas M. Garofolo, Jesse Turits, Aurelio Voltaire, and many others co-star in this B-Movie. I don't think there is much else to explain here. This may not be very good but it was good as Alisha and I got a lot of laughs out of this one doing our own little MST3K.
Llamageddon (2015): Howie Dewin directed this movie which as far as I know is the first movie about a killer llama, played by Louie the Llama. This centers around a big party where a llama from outer space starts wreaking havoc with things like its laser eyes. Dany Ambassa, Pinki Brainweis, L. Lean Burnside, E.B. Buxxner, James Earl Cox III, and many others co-star in the greatest killer llama movie ever made. This was the one where Brett would walk in on the most with his wtf looks. Ambassa displays quite the gift on changing shirts. This was a college project that got off the ground and did win over Amazon Prime to get it featured on there. We might need us a sequel soon.
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