Shaun Berk's 10 Movie Recommendations

Welcome to the 144th Edition of my series. I think this week only has a couple mainstream films so you'll need to check out the rest. I don't have much to say except get your Netflix Queues, hopefully they got it together like say they do, and read on.



Smiles of a Summer Night (1955): I kick off the 144th Edition with Ingmar Bergman in this romantic comedy. This movie takes place in a small town at the turn of the 20th Century and centers around an attorney named Fredrik whose untrusting wife meets his former mistress which lead into a lot of crazy things. This was a great romantic comedy and underrated Bergman.


American History X (1998): I chose my facebook friend Curtis for this one who was in a class of mine at Ball State. Tony Kaye directs this disturbing and to a point, inspiring film which stars Edward Norton as Derek who is a skinhead who gets a wake-up call in prison. Edward Furlong is his younger brother Danny who Derek sees is becoming him after getting out of prison. I had seen this a couple other times but this is the first time I have ever really analyzed the movie the way I did. I am about to say some things, please don't take them to be racist. I do not condone anything that the skinheads do or have done. However, this is a movie where not only the whites need to take a look at but I really feel the black race should look at this too. There really is not a side chosen in this movie except that we all need to take a look at ourselves because ultimately segregation is what leads to this racism. In a scene where Danny has an encounter with a black kid, it is after that person is beating up a nerdy kid in the restroom. We all just need to have a discussion here because the racism worked both ways but the whites chose the wrong response by joining the skinheads. This has a parallel storyline from the modern-day where Derek gets out of prison and sees that he must help Danny and in his early days of being a skinhead and ending up in prison where ironically a black prisoner is who helps him change. I think I have said plenty here but this is one of the rare times that I get very serious.



Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips (1944): We now take a look at a bit of more racism though in a more humorous way and we must consider the times. Yes, this is a Bugs Bunny short where he is in WW2 Japan and must contend with a stereotyped Japanese soldier and even a sumo wrestler. I found this controversial Bugs Bunny cartoon on Youtube. This would never get over today but when watching it just remember, it was the times and an interesting way of showing their political views.



Ripley's Game (2002): I found this one of the IFC channel. John Malkovich plays Tom Ripley, a character made famous by Matt Damon in THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY. Though Malkovich is older, it's really not a sequal. Mr. Ripley hires a terminally ill man to murder a Russian gangster after one of his business partners asks for his help. John Malkovich was great at Tom Ripley but I did like the other movie mentioned better. However, this movie should have been under the radar like it has been.



Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007): I chose this because I recently met Doug Jones, who plays Silver Surfer, in the local movie MY NAME IS JERRY. I know this is not nearly as good as the two great superhero movies of this year which are IRON MAN and THE DARK KNIGHT but I was still entertained by this one which was better than the first one in my opinion. Ione Gruffudd (Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic), DARK ANGEL alum Jessica Alba (Sue Storm/Invisible Woman), Chris Evans (Johnny Storm/Human Torch) and THE SHIELD star Michael Chiklis (Ben Grimm/The Thing) all reprise their roles. Reed and Sue are trying to get married but an alien who is sent to destroy the world kind of gets in the way. They reluctantly team up with Dr. Doom, in a role reprised by CHARMED alum and NIP/TUCK star Julian McMahon, to stop the world from impending doom. Stan Lee has a funny cameo here. While Doug Jones plays the Silver Surfer, it is PEE WEE'S PLAYHOUSE alum Laurence Fishburne who does the voice.



5 Against the House (1955): This was a very interesting heist film that I found on TCM's Kim Novak marathon. Four friends go to a casino in Vegas and after hearing that the Casino cannot be robbed, a brainy college student hatches a plan to rob it. The four friends go along with the robbery but one of them does not go along like everyone else. Guy Madison was good as the leader of this group who falls in love with night-club singer Kim Novak. This was a good, early casino heist film which does not get much notoriety today.



Shelter Dogs (2003): This is my documentary and this was very hard to watch and I watch these movies so that you can make your judgement on if you want to see it or not. This takes a look at the world of animal shelters which contain dogs that people either don't want or must give up. It mostly takes place in a shelter in New York run by Sue Sternberg who tries to give her dogs in the shelter the best lives possible but must analyze each dog for things like aggression and make the difficult decision of euthanization, one of which was shown on screen which was very difficult. I had two cocker spaniels and for each of their deaths my mom was present when they were at the end of their ropes and had to be put to sleep. I'm glad I did not have to go, I can't imagine how she felt or how I would have felt. We now have three great dogs. Again, it was very difficult for me to watch but I did develop a respect for this animal shelter though.



The Octagon (1980): I believe this is the first ever Chuck Norris movie I have ever shown. I found this early Chuck role on AMC when searching for a movie in the 80s. Chuck Norris plays a retired martial-arts champion who must protect a woman from a group of Ninjas of the title. If you want a movie with great performances and a great storyline, this is not what you want. If you want some entertainment, invite your friends over to check out this movie where Chuck Norris seems to hear a lot of voices in his head and has some pretty lame pick-up lines but is made up by the climatic fight scene in the end.



Mad Love (1935): I chose this movie in the Peter Lorre marathon on TCM where he is a brilliant surgeon whose obsession with an actress clouds his judgement. Colin Clive plays the husband of the actress who he obsesses with and he gets his hands smashed. Lorre agrees to give him the surgery but the hands seem to be a little mean. Many may know Clive from FRANKENSTEIN and THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN where he played Dr. Henry Frankenstein. Lorre was great and creepy as the bald-headed surgeon who would go to have a great career and this performance gained a lot of admiration from Charles Chaplin.



Go Kill, and Come Back (1967): This is my Grindhouse movie for the week which is a Spagetti Western with shades of THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY. We have three gunmen vying for a buried treasure with George Hilton playing The Stranger so guess who this seems to be a ripoff of from the film I mentioned. This was a little bit better storyline wise than the 8th movie I featured.



Well, that is it for this week, tell me what you love and what you hate.



CONNECTION TIME



I'm bringing back the connection segment this week, I finally got time to work on it.



-Edward Norton (American History X) and John Malkovich (Ripley's Game) were in the 1998 film Rounders


-Edward Furlong (American History X) plays John Connor is Terminator 2: Judgement Day and Lena Headey (Ripley's Game) plays his mom Sarah Connor in the tv series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Small world I know.


-Beverly D'Angelo (American History X) and Chris Evans (Fantastic 4) were in the 2007 film Terra



-Beverly D'Angelo (American History X) and Laurence Fishburne (Fantastic 4) are in the upcoming 2008 film Black Water Transit


-Ethan Suplee (American History X) and Ray Winstone (Ripley's Game) were in the 2003 film Cold Mountain


-Ethan Suplee (American History X) and John Malkovich (Ripley's Game) were in the 2006 film Art School Confidential



-Stacy Keach (American History X) and Laurence Fishburne (Fantastic 4) were in the 1980 tv movie A Rumor of War


-Elliot Gould (American History X) and Julian McMahon (Fantastic 4) were in the 1992 film Wet and Wild Summer



-Joe Cortese (American History X) and Kerry Washington (Fantastic 4) were in the 2004 film Against the Ropes


-Ray Winstone (Ripley's Game) and Ioan Gruffudd (Fantastic 4) were in the 2004 film King Arthur



-John Malkovich (Ripley's Game) and Doug Jones (Fantastic 4) were in the 2002 film Adaptation