Shaun Berk's 10 Movie Recommendations

Welcome to the 181st Edition of my blog. I have chosen two movies from the Random Myspace Profile selection process. I also did a rare thing that I included two silent films. I have noticed my writing lately seemed a little below average so I have just wrote on the movie once I have seen it so that it is fresh in my mind and that I am not doing everything at the same time. I have some pretty unusual selections which seems to be the thing lately so read on and enjoy.

The Weather Underground (2002): This is a selection from the Random Myspace Profile selection process and for the one I chose Headlocked. This is my documentary for the week which takes a look at a 70s radical group of the title name who was not a big fan of Vietnam and the politics that went on. They did some pretty extreme things include bombing buildings to get their points across. There are many former members of the group that give commentary on their time in the group. It also shows how the FBI was not much better in the ways they tried to stop them. It is a very fascinating story and pretty hard to believe.

Labyrinth (1986): This is another selection from the Random Myspace Profile selection process and for this one I chose Sally. Jim Henson directed this fantasy/part musical where young Jennifer Connelly plays Sarah who is forced to babysit her baby brother and accidentally wishes for her baby brother to go away. When this wish happens, the Goblin King, played by David Bowie, has the baby abducted and Sarah must complete a very complicated labyrinth in 13 hours to save her baby brother. Frank Oz is amusing as the voice of The Wiseman. This was a very fun fantasy film and to me the character of Sarah is kind of a cross between Alice and Dorothy where she meets many friends along the way. This is one of the greats of the 80s and David Bowie sings some pretty good songs. This was over 20 years ago and I believe Connelly looks even better now.

The Nutty Professor (1963): Long before there was Eddie Murphy, we had Jerry Lewis who starred, wrote, and directed this interesting variation of DR. JECKLL AND MR. HYDE. Jerry Lewis is the title character who plays his usual self as bumbling professor Julius Kelp but decides to come up with a formula that turns him into the better-looking but obnoxious Buddy Love. His student Stella ends up falling for both personalities in some way but for Julius, the formula does not last long. The Buddy Love character is said to be a cariacture of his former comedy partner Dean Martin. Many regard this as his masterpiece.


Radio Hams (1939): This is one of the many Pete Smith shorts where he likes to take note of interesting subjects with great narration. These were probably the most successful short films of that era. This one takes a look at the Ham radio operators which are a group of amateur radio operators that has not totally died out as of yet and some are still very passionate about it. This shows a man who is in danger in the air when flying a plane and uses a certain code to contact a fellow ham who is a young teenage boy. I did not become any kind of expert by watching this but it is very entertaining like many of the other Pete Smith shorts I have seen. People should check these out.


Within Our Gates (1920): This is a very important film in our history. Oscar Micheaux directed this silent classic and he was one of the very few black filmmakers of that era. This movie centered around an educated black woman and wants to be able to empower the others in her race but is low on funds and sets out get the money needed to save the school but with much trouble. This was a pretty violent film for the era and has interesting title cards to quote the more uneducated blacks. There is an interesting rape scene that was very controversial for the time and was shown a lot with it being cut making the movie less significant. Micheaux really took no sides on this movie and and has some really significant moments. This is sometimes said to be the response to D.W. Griffith's controversial epic A BIRTH OF A NATION but I really don't think that is what the director had in mind. This is rather hard to find and one of the few works that have been found for Micheaux.

Woman in the Dunes (1964): I was not sure what I would think of this one but this is one that I am glad I saw. Asian director Hiroshi Teshigahara directed this Japanese film which starts out with a bug expert doing some research in the desert and is taken captive in a sand dune which is inhibited by a lonely, widowed woman and seen over by many local villagers. He makes many plans to escape but begins to fall for the woman holding him captive in the sand dunes leading to some pretty erotic and even disturbing moments for the '60s. I have really become accustomed to movies where just a couple people hold it together by their acting without having a big budget. Recent examples of things on here as of late include HARD CANDY and BLACK SNAKE MOAN. I felt it was a little longer than it needed to be but I still was able to stick to it and find a way to care about the two characters. This was probably my favorite of the foreign films I have featured on here lately.

Mighty Aphrodite (1995): I found this on the IFC channel and took note of it from a discussion that myself and my friend Kayla had on Helena Bonham Carter. I wanted to feature a movie where she is a more "normal" person than what she does in the Tim Burton films. Woody Allen wrote and directed this unusual comedy where he stars as sportswriter Lenny who is married to Amanda, played by Helena Bonham Carter. They adopt a child who turns out to be quite a genius so Lenny becomes obsessed with finding the birth mother but is quite disappointed when the mother is Linda Ash, played very well by Mira Sorvino in a star-making role, who is a prostitute and adult film star. He then sets out to change her where the story of OEDIPUS REX is being told by a chorus of Greeks that weaves the story with the movie characters. People who play the chorus include F. Murray Abraham, Olympia Dukakis, DEAD ZONE alum David Ogden Stiers and Jack Warden. Other people in the cast include a young Michael Rapaport, Peter Weller, SOPRANOS alum Tony Sirico and even a small role for Paul Giamatti.

The Phantom Carriage (1921): This is my second silent film of this edition. I found this on TCM and I recall trying to get it and having a hard time so I figured I'd see when I have a chance. This was a Swedish film which stars Victor Sjostrom who also directed. He stars as David Holm who has not done much good in life and spends a lot of time at the bar. At the stroke of New Year's Eve he dies and is visited by a carriage of the title name and must drive it for a year. He is forced to see his past and the sins of his past. He must also see what the consequences are for his family. This was a very good silent film which was an inspiration to some works of fellow Swedish director Ingmar Bergman. These were some very good special effects for its time and a good musical score. If you get a chance to see this, you should do so, it's pretty easy to follow. This is my favorite of all the silent dramas I have seen so far.

Running With Scissors (2006): My facebook friend that I chose this week was Ashlee who is expecting a little boy and someone I have worked with in theater. This was a very warped comedy and apparently a true story. Joseph Cross plays Augusten Burroughs whose autobiographical novel this is based upon. He is part of a very dysfunctional family and his mom goes to see Dr. Finch, played by Brian Cox, and has him spend his teenage life with his own strange family. Annette Bening and Alec Baldwin play Augusten's parents. In his new family, Jill Clayburgh is Agnes, Dr. Finch's television obsessed wife. Gwyneth Paltrow is an extremely religious daughter and their younger daughter, played by Evan Rachel Wood, is more free-spirited and he becomes friends with her. They also have an older, adopted son played by Joseph Fiennes who also teaches Augusten a lot about life. Annette Bening is great as the mother with deluded thoughts of success in her poetry. I am really becoming a fan of Wood right now. Other people in the movie include Kristin Chenowith, Gabrielle Union, and Patrick Wilson. Also look for the real-life Augusten Burroughs towards the end. It was very entertaining to me but not for everyone.

Planet Terror (2007): This is one of two Grindhouse movies that Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino teamed up for in their "double feature" and this one is directed by Rodriguez and Tarantino would direct DEATH PROOF. To really appreciate this, you must understand the concept of Grindhouse. These are usually a double feature of exploitation type films. They almost always make use of a lot of sex and violence, have bad dubbing, and a bad print but are enjoyed by a group of people. These are never Academy Award films, these are on a much lower-level. So this one had a great phony trailer called MACHETE which featured Danny Trejo and Cheech Marin and then we get to the movie which you will see the print is bad quality but it was on purpose because that was how Grindhouse films usually are. The concept here is that a bio-nuclear chemical gets out and releases a gas that turned many good people into flesh-eating zombies. CHARMED alum Rose McGowan is a stripper fed-up with the job but has these new zombies to contend with and teams with her old flame Wray, played by Freddy Rodriguez, to take them down. Many things lead into her losing her leg that gets replaced by a machine gun, possibly the first person in movies to have a machine gun leg. There are many other actors in this great over-the-top film including Josh Brolin, Marley Shelton, LOST star Naveen Andrews, Bruce Willis, Jeff Fahey, Quentin Tarantino, among many others. This is definetly not for everyone but is enjoyable if you understand the goal of the director.

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

HONORABLE TV MENTION

Monk Season One: I finally got around to start watching this show that I have heard a lot of good things on so I checked it out on DVD. Tony Shalhoub stars as Adrian Monk, a former detective on the police force who had to leave because of his anxiety issues. His anxiety and more extreme case of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder started when his wife was murdered. He then becomes a private investigator and with the help of his nurse Charona does work for the detective agency he was forced out of. Ted Levine plays Captain Stottlemeyer who both admires his work but becomes annoyed to his eccentricies. Stottlemeyer does realize the Monk, through his OCD can see the little things that get overlooked. Just about every episode had me guessing until the end and even if I did guess, I never really guessed how. This show gave me many laughs and I will continue to check out this show since I see it is coming to an end soon.

FUN LITTLE FACTS

I must say I came up with more things on here than I thought

STAR WARS FRANCHISE
-Frank Oz (Labyrinth) plays Yoda through the whole series
-Kenny Baker (Labyrinth) is R2-D2 through the whole series
-Warwick Davis (Labyrinth) plays one of the ewoks in Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

F. Murray Abraham (Mighty Aprhodite) plays Josef Stalin in the 1996 film CHILDREN OF THE REVOLUTION and Brian Cox (Running With Scissors) played the role in a 1969 episode of the tv show THIRTY-MINUTE THEATRE entitled THESE MEN ARE DANGEROUS: STALIN.

David Ogden Stiers (Mighty Aprhodite) does the voice for Cogsworth in the 1991 Disney film BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. My facebook friend Ric played the role in the stage version at Muncie Civic Theater which I was in as well.

Michael Rapaport (Mighty Aphrodite) played Danny Hanson in the tv series BOSTON PUBLIC and Nicky Katt (Planet Terror) played Harry Senate in the series. Both were teachers in the high school.

Annette Bening (Running With Scissors) and Bruce Willis (Planet Terror) team up in the 1998 film THE SIEGE

RUNNING WITH SCISSORS actors Joseph Fiennes and Gwyneth Palrow are adopted siblings in this week's feature and they have quite an affair in the 1998 film SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE where Fiennes is a young Shakespeare.

Evan Rachel Wood (Running With Scissors) is currently dating rock star Marilyn Manson and Rose McGowan (Planet Terror) was engaged to him between 1998-2001

RUNNING WITH SCISSORS actors Alec Baldwin and Patrick Wilson have both played Alamo hero William Travis
-Alec Baldwin played the role in the 1987 tv movie THE ALAMO: THIRTEEN DAYS TO GLORY
-Patrick Wilson played the role in the 2004 film THE ALAMO

Gabrielle Union (Running With Scissors) has done three episodes of UGLY BETTY as Renee Slater, the estranged daughter of magazine mogul Wilhemina. Freddy Rodriguez plays recurring character Gio Rossi
-Patrick Wilson played the role in the 2004 film THE ALAMO

Kristin Chenoweth (Running With Scissors) plays Lily St. Regis in the 1999 Disney version of ANNIE. My facebook friend Kristen played the role in a production at Muncie Civic Theater.

Marley Shelton (Planet Terror) was announced to play the role of Annabeth Schott in the tv series THE WEST WING but the role would go to Kristin Chenoweth (Running With Scissors)

PLANET TERROR actors Jeff Fahey, Naveen Andrews, and Cheech Marin have both been on the tv series LOST
-Fahey joined the cast later as a recurring character Frank Lapidus
-Andrews stars as regular Iraqi veteran Sayid Jarrah
-Marin was never on the island but is David Reyes, the father of Hurley in the flashbacks

Bruce Willis (Planet Terror) was considered for the role of Kyle Reese in the 1984 film TERMINATOR which would ultimately go to PLANET TERROR co-star Michael Biehn