Shaun Berk's 10 Movie Recommendations

Welcome to the 139th Edition of my long running blog. Oklahoma starts this friday so if you're near Muncie, come check it out. I really don't have much else to say so get out your queues and start reading.

Juno (2007): Jason Reitman directed this independent comedy. This movie kind of reminds me of NAPOLEON DYNAMITE. No, not because of the storyline but because of the following it recieved. Both were independent movies going into the mainstream with a very mixed reaction which I'm sure I will get here. Ellen Page plays the title character, a teen who ends up becoming pregnant. She then looks for a good set of parents to adopt her baby and finds a yuppie couple played by ALIAS alum Jennifer Garner and ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT alum Jason Bateman. When meeting these people, everyone is forced to search their soul. This movie was nominated for academy awards and should it have been? I really don't know. This by no means is something that will live on in my soul but I found it to be rather entertaining and I thought Ellen Page was very good in her role. I found the character pretty likable so I guess some judgement might be on how you view the character.

A Bronx Tale (1993): I end my long Robert de Niro series with his directorial debut which is based on the play which was written by the star Chazz Palminteri. De Niro plays Lorenzo in 1960s Brooklyn as a city bus driver who was underpaid but very proud. Lillo Brancato makes his film debut as his son Calogero who wants a little more than what his dad has but is still proud of his dad. Chazz Palminteri plays the local mobster in the area, Sonny, who befriends Calogero and becomes like a second father to him. I really analyzed this movie more than ever this time and it was interesting to me how his father hated him being around Sonny who he did not want his son to become like. However, it was Sonny who kept him on the right path with the friends that Calogero hung out with who were an even worse influence which Lorenzo did not seem to think much of. This movie really deals with growing up in an urban area and takes on some pretty touchy subjects. Look for Joe Pesci in a cameo. I hate to hear about Brancato right now and the murder charges he is being brought up upon.

The Yes Men (2003): The Facebook friend I chose here was Jerry who was in a Political Science class with me. This is my documentary for the week which takes a look at anti-corporate people Mike Bonanno and Andy Bichlbaum who go around the world impersonating people from the World Trade Center and use amusing pranks to look at the dark, corporate world. This movie had some pretty funny moments. I did not like it as much as some and have liked many of the other documentaries featured here more but I still enjoyed this since they share some of my views.

Penny Serenade (1941): This is part 4 of 5 in my Cary Grant series. This movie has the most serious role from Grant I have seen where he and his wife look to adopt a child. Irene Dunne plays his wife and she remembers through a stack of records of their times together in both joy and tragedy. This one is quite the tearjerker and one that just needs to be seen. There is not much more to say here.

River's Edge (1986): This is part 2 of my Keanu Reeves series. Tim Hunter directs this strange movie of a town who reacts strangely to a murder done by a high schooler who shows off the body to his friends. Crispin Glover stars as Layne who does what he can to keep his friend from getting caught. Once again, I really don't have much more to say but that it was a rather bizarre film. Dennis Hopper has a very amusing, small role. Character actor Daniel Roebuck also stars who went on to become a decent character actor but it was too bad that not very many people really know him and even I haven't really put much mention to him but I felt this was his best performance. This movie also stars Ione Skye.

Wide Awake in Nothing (2004): This was a strange short film I found on IFC which takes place in a bleak, futuristic world where everyone seems to be slaves in a factory. The boss is very domineering and is finally challenged by his new employee. This was quite interesting. I don't know how easy it will ever be to find but I'll give the filmmaker Paul Lingas his due.

Small Town Girl (1936): William Wellman directed this romantic comedy which stars Janet Gaynor as Kay Francis as a small-town girl who is unhappy with life in the small town and wants to get away. Robert Taylor stars as a wealthy man who meets Kay and takes her on a night in the town. After a drunken night, they find themselves married the next morning. They then try to stay married for 6 months for publicity reasons but you all know how the story goes. James Stewart is fun in an early role.

Daughters of Darkness (1971): Harry Kumel directed this erotic vampire tale. A newlywed couple honeymoons in a French hotel and meet some rather strange people which changes their lives forever. This is the vampire genre and if you don't like that genre very much, you may not like this one. It is rather strange and disturbing at times. To a point, it reminds me of THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW just on the aspect of a newlywed couple ending up in the wrong place.

The Ladies Man (1961): Notice the year, this is not the Tim Meadows SNL skit. Jerry Lewis stars here as the title character Herbert Heebert who after graduating college, finds his fiance with someone else. He then finds a job in a mansion he finds is populated by women where he becomes their slave and finds himself overwhelmed. I really enjoy the old Jerry Lewis films and I found this one to be one of his best.

Oklahoma (1955): I end with the show in which I am in starting on Friday which features my myspace and facebook friends Corby (Curly), Jennifer (Laurie and the musical director), Andrew (Will), Kristen (Ado Annie), Jason (Ali Hakim), Sean (Ike Skidmore), Katie F. (Gertie) Kyle (Judd), Joseph (Cord Elam) Lisa, Caity, Nick, Casey, Lindsey. I had never seen this movie but figured it was time to watch it. It was interesting to watch it and compare it to ours. We have a couple young cowboys, Curly and Will, who return to town to seek their loves but find that their is competition. Curly wants Laurie, played by Shirley Jones in her great debut, but finds that the hired hand Judd, played by Rod Steiger, has his own interests which lead to a rather violent feud. Will seeks Ado Annie but finds she is with the peddler Ali Hakim. This movie omits Judd's solo song LONELY ROOM, maybe because it was too dark for the movie and Ali Hakims humorous song IT'S A SCANDAL but everything else from the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic remains and I feel that our version is coming along quite well and hope to see many people there.

Well, that is it for this week, I will return next week with a lot of more unknown films which consist of a tv movie, some foreign films and some independent films. Leave your comments, tell me what you liked, what you did not like and if you don't like my first choice, please say so but I ask that you comment on one of my other 9 films if you have seen any of them.

-Jason Bateman (Juno), Robert De Niro (Bronx Tale), and Chazz Palminteri (A Bronx Tale) all provided American voices in the 2006 film Arthur et Les Minimoys

-Jason Bateman (Juno), Michael Cera (Juno) and Ione Skye (River's Edge) were in an episode of the tv series Arrested Development

-Allison Janney (Juno) and Chazz Palminteri (Bronx Tale) were in the 1996 film Faithful

-Allison Janney (Juno) and Crispin Glover (River's Edge) were in the 2000 film Nurse Betty

-J.K. Simmons (Juno) and Keanu Reeves (River's Edge) were in the 2000 film The Gift

-Cameron Bright (Juno) and Robert De Niro (Bronx Tale) were in the 2004 film Godsend

-Cameron Bright (Juno) and Chazz Palminteri (Bronx Tale) were in the 2004 film Running Scared

-Robert De Niro (Bronx Tale) and Jerry Lewis (Ladies Man) were in the 1982 film King of Comedy


-Joe Pesci (Bronx Tale) and Dennis Hopper (River's Edge) were in the 1989 film Catchfire

-Cary Grant (Penny Serenade) and James Stewart (Small Town Girl) were in the 1940 film A Philadelphia Story

-Irene Dunne (Penny Serenade) and Robert Taylor (Small Town Girl) were lovers in the original 1935 version of Magnificent Obsession