Welcome to the 841st Edition of my series. I would like to announce that in March, I am making my debut at the Pulse Opera House in Warren, Indiana. I will doing the comedy MURDER AT CAFE NOIR which is a tribute to the '40s film noir. This will be in March and I will have more details in the coming weeks. Also today, my team the 49ers look to advance to the Super Bowl in a couple weeks so I will be cheering them on to get there. I think I've said enough so I'll just get on with my selections for the week.
Mystic Pizza (1988): I start the week out with this coming of age movie that helped get the careers going of some of these actors and was directed by Donald Petrie. This takes place in Mystic, Connecticut and centers around three employees of the local Mystic Pizza. Annabeth Gish and Julia Roberts star as sisters Kat and Daisy and Lili Taylor stars as their friend and co-worker Jojo. All three are having their issues including love and the baggage that comes along with it. Vincent D'Onofrio, William R. Moses, Adam Storke, Conchata Ferrell, Joanna Merlin, John Fiore, Gene Amoroso, Janet Zarish, John Cunningham, Suzanne Shepherd, Matt Damon, and many others co-star in this film. The pizza place being depicted is a real-life pizza place which I learned a couple years ago when I was in a show and saw someone wearing a shirt. Damon makes his theatrical film debut and Roberts would have her big breakthrough. This was a pretty moving film and I think what I like most about it is how the employees were like a family and willing to help one another. Ferrell co-stars as the owner of the restaurant and is a positive mother figure to the girls working there. This is available to watch on Tubi and Pluto TV.
C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America (2004): Kevin Willmont wrote and directed this mockumentary which takes a look at alternate history as though the south won the Civil War. This is shot like a documentary on PBS. There is a lot of history that was rewritten rather cleverly. There is also a lot of parodies of pop culture of movies depicted at this time like an obvious parody of D.W. Griffith's A BIRTH OF A NATION. It also has parodied commercials as though they had been promoted by the south and some of these products were real. This is a satire and is not for everyone. It is offensive and politically incorrect which is to be expected in my opinion. I think the best way to take this is as a "what could have been". This is very funny at times and even a bit disturbing at times. This is available to watch on Prime with a subscription to AMC+ or IFC Films Unlimited.
Stage Fright (2014): This is an homage to Meat Loaf as most of us know recently left us. Jerome Sable directed this horror comedy musical and co-wrote the music with Eli Batalon who also co-stars. This centers around a musical theater camp where Camilla Swanson, played by Allie MacDonald, dreams of following in the footsteps of her late mother Kylie, played by Minnie Driver, as a musical theater star. Instead, she is working at the camp for her stepfather Roger, played by Meat Loaf. She finally gets her wish but there is a killer at the camp. Douglas Smith, Brandon Uranowitz, Ephraim Ellis, Melanie Leishman, James McGowan, Steffi DiDomenicantio, Adrianna Di Liello, and many others co-star in this movie. This is essentially a parody on the world of high school musical theater and on the slasher movie. This is fun if you like musicals and are okay with gore. This is available to watch on Hoopla Digital and on Prime with a Magnolia Selects subscription. It is also available with ads on Tubi and Pluto TV.
Baseball Bugs (1946): This is my animated short for the week which was directed by Fritz Freleng. This features Bugs Bunny, voiced by Mel Blanc, who is forced into a baseball game against the Gashouse Gorillas by himself and is underestimated by the Gorillas. I liked seeing Bugs getting involved in the sports world and playing baseball the Bugs Bunny way. This is available to watch on HBO Max as well as other Looney Tunes cartoons.
Zouzou (1934): This is my French film for the week which was directed by Marc Allegret and based on a novel by G. Abatino. Josephine Baker stars as the title character Zouzou whose childhood friend Jean, played by Jean Gabin, has been framed for murder and tries to help him prove his innocence. Pierre Larquey, Yvette Lebon, Ila Mecsery, Palau, Madeleine Guitty, Marcel Vallee, and many others co-star in this film. This is mostly of worth to see Baker who was American born but found she could get better roles in France that go beyond the servant roles that were mostly the only roles for black actors in this era. She shows a lot of musical and comedic talent in this film. This is available to watch on the Criterion Channel until tomorrow as well as other Josephine Baker movies leaving that streaming service. It is also available to watch on Tubi.
One Way Ticket to Love (1960): This is my Japanese film for the week which was wrote and directed by Masahiro Shinoda in his debut. This centers around a group of night club performers including a saxophone player, a dancer, and a singer being presented as a Japanese Elvis. All of them are being manipulated by those that run the nightclub. This was inspired by Neil Sekada's song ONE WAY TICKET which was a big hit in Japan in 1959. This is the start of a great career for Shinoda and an interesting look at the music scene in Japan in this era. This is considered as part of the Japanese New Wave movement. This is available to watch on the Criterion Channel.
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017): This is my superhero film for the week which was directed by Jon Watts. Tom Holland gets his first solo movie as Spider-Man fresh off the events of CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR. The teenage Peter Parker struggles to balance his personal life and his life as his alter-ego Spider-Man under the watchful eye of Tony Stark, played by Robert Downey Jr. After playing a superhero many years ago, Michael Keaton takes the villain route as Adrian Toomes who becomes Vulture and threatens everything Peter holds dear. Marisa Tomei, Jon Favreau, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Donald Glover, Laura Harrier, Tony Revolori, Bokeem Woodbine, Gwyneth Paltrow, Tyne Daly, Abraham Attah, Hannibal Buress, Kenneth Choi, Selenis Leyva, Angourie Rice, Michael Chernus, Jennifer Connelly, Chris Evans, Kerry Condon, Tiffany Espensen, Martin Starr, and many others co-star in this film. In this movie, Peter Parker is still learning what it is like to be Spider-Man and Holland does a great job as the awkward teenager. Batalon is also very amusing as Peter best friend Ned. We may love out SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME but it starts here.
Citizen Kane (1941): This is part five of my five-part Joseph Cotten series and the movie that made his career. Orson Welles directed and co-wrote this film with Herman Mankiewicz and also stars as publishing tycoon Charles Foster Kane. Kane has just died and uttered the word "rosebud" as his dying word making a reporter investigate the meaning of this word by interviewing people close to Kane. Through this, we get to know Charles Foster Kane in his rise and the ups and downs of his personal and professional life. Dorothy Comingore, Agnes Moorehead, Ruth Warrick, Ray Collins, Erskine Sanford, Everett Sloane, and many others co-star in this film. This is a movie that has been regarded as the best movie of all time which makes others look down on this film. Getting this movie made is a story in and of itself as William Randolph Heart, who Kane is based off of, fought against having this movie released. I try to look at the movie in general and I really like the story and execution of this film and favor this over a lot of movies from this era. Welles and many others in his group make their film debuts. This is available to watch on HBO Max.
The Mystery of Chess Boxing (1979): This is my Hong Kong martial arts film for the week which was written and directed by Joseph Kuo. The deadly Ghost Face Killer was thought to be dead but is very much alive and out for vengeance against the martial arts masters that opposed him. Yi-Min Li stars as the young Ah Pao who wants to learn to fight in order to avenge the murder of his father but has a lot to learn. He agrees to learn chess and is kind of like years later would be "wax on, wax off". Hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan used a lot of inspiration from this movie including one of them being named Ghostface Killah and have a song called DA MYSTERY OF CHESSBOXIN'. This also has some really good fight scenes and is a pretty good martial arts movie from this era. This is available to watch on Tubi.
The Father (2020): This is part one of a possible four part Anthony Hopkins series. Florian Zeller directed and co-wrote this film on a man slowly showing signs of dementia. Anthony Hopkins stars as Anthony who does not want assistance from his daughter Anne, played by Olivia Colman, and begins to question his world around him. Mark Gatliss, Olivia Williams, Imogen Poots, Rufus Sewell, Ayesha Dharker, and many others co-star in this film. This is taken from the point of view of Anthony's mental decline where we are also left to sort out what is real and what is fantasy in his world. It can be sad at times as I'm sure there are many who can relate to this movie with their own loved ones. Hopkins is great in his role and brings us right along as he must make sense of his world. This is available to watch on Starz.
Well, that is it for this week but I am returning with my segment "The Bookworm Corner". Tell me what you like and dislike and stay tuned for next week.
THE BOOKWORM CORNER
Butts in Seats: The Tony Schiavone Story by Dirk Manning and Tony Schiavone (2021): This is a graphic novel on the story of current AEW commentator and podcast co-host Tony Schiavone. This starts with his beginnings on how he got into wrestling as a fan. It then goes into his early days in radio and eventually getting hired for the National Wrestling Alliance that would become World Championship Wrestling where Tony would be the voice of many a childhood. Other contributors of this graphic novel include Marianna Pescosta, Scott James, Joshua Werner, Justin Birch, Drena Jo, Mike Dockins, and Travis McIntyre. Tony has had quite a career and his podcast WHAT HAPPENED WHEN where he co-hosts with the Podfather Conrad Thompson is one of the podcasts I listen to while I work. He has also a big fan of comic books and decided he wanted his story to be told this way. This is a very fun and informative look at the voice of our childhood. Check out WHAT HAPPENED WHEN with Tony Schiavone and Conrad Thompson where they do very comedic watch-alongs on wrestling ppvs and others wrestling shows.
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