Shaun Berk's 10 Movie Recommendations- 198th Edition

Welcome to the 198th Edition. It is hard to believe how close I am to the 200th Edition. I have one selection from the Random Myspace Profile selection and next week will have none. I am going to start to talk on the special features of dvds and maybe choose one movie a week to watch with commentary if available. With the car trouble I have had this week, I still turn out another blog so get your netflix and blockbuster queues and read on.

Three Faces West (1940): I open this week with John Wayne. He plays a farmer named John Phillips who lead the the townsfolk to better pastures in Oregon. Charles Coburn plays a surgeon named Dr. Karl Braun who is a refugee who comes to the U.S. with his daughter Leni, played by Sigrid Gurie. Not one of Wayne's best but it was pretty entertaining with a different type of character for Wayne in my opinion.

Angry Harvest (1985): This is my German film for the week. Armin Mueller-Stahl stars as Leon, a catholic farmer who takes in a sick woman who he learns is a holocaust survivor and a Jew named Rosa, played very well by Elisabeth Trissenaar. Leon slowly falls in love with Rosa but knows he must keep his hiding from her secret from everyone. It is a great story of love and morality and still hard to believe that two religions really can't co-exist. There is an interesting argument between Leon and Rosa on their two different religions. There is not much else to say here except that we have a great foreign film here that looks at the hardships of the holocaust.

Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot (1992): This is my tribute for the week to Blake Snyder who helped write the screen play. I must say that this is my guilty pleasure for the week which stars Sylvester Stallone as a cop named Joe who feels content in his bachelorhood but his life is turned upside-down when his mom Tutti, played by Estelle Getty, visits him meddling in his life and career. Things change when she witnesses a murder and must team up with her son. It is a different buddy movie showing the son and mom together to take down some criminals. Look for Ving Rhames in an early role. While rather absurd, it had some pretty funny moments. DVD shows an alternate ending and a featurette of the making of the movie.

Find Me Guilty (2006): This is a selection from the Random Myspace Profile selection process and for this one I chose the Unofficial Vin Diesel Fan Club so I chose this Vin Diesel movie here. Vin plays the real-life Jackie DiNorscio, who decided to defend himself in a trial of many members of the Lucchese family instead of ratting them out. This is known as the longest trial of all time lasting around two years. Jackie turns the courtroom upside-down with his lack of trial experience but making the jury laugh a lot and angering the judge just as much. Sidney Lumet directed this comedic movie and using the testimony from the court transcripts to make this as authentic as possible. I feel Vin Diesel had his best performance and showing he does not always have to beat people up all the time. Linus Roache plays the dedicated prosecutor Sean Kierney who did not know how to handle Jackie. Other people include Ron Silver, Annabella Sciorra, Peter Dinklage, and many others. DVD contains an interview with Sidney Lumet but doesn't show much in-depth interview footage as there seemed to be.

Cross Country Detours (1940): This is my animated short for the week which came from the DVD of VIRGINIA CITY that I featured last week. This is an animated film that shows life at national parks that show various animals and people. One interesting part was showing how a lizard sheds her skin. It is a pretty good 10 minutes with bobcats, birds, a park ranger, and even a Gila monster.

The Valley of Light (2007): This is a pretty well-received tv movie which stars Chris Klein as Noah, a WW2 veteran and drifter who comes into a small town. He immediately shows off his fishing skills while also befriending a mute boy who does not seem to have parents and a widowed woman, played by Gretchen Mol. I really can't describe much to you except to say that it is a great movie about relationships and life. I think this is the best performance from Klein, though I haven't seen him in much. I found this on the Hallmark channel which I don't usually use but I saw good things on this and thought I should check it out. The best part is seeing him with the young mute boy, played by Zach Mills.

Long Way Home (1975): This is actually the pilot episode to the brief tv series THE FAMILY HOLVAK. Glenn Ford stars as Reverent Tom Holvak, whose son brings in an escaped convict which Tom does not know. A young David Carradine plays that convict named Craw who is hiding out but helps the family a lot. I actually found this one on the Trinity Broadcasting Network and I don't usually do two tv movies in one week, I sure found myself doing it this week. Carradine was great in this one as was Glenn Ford in his later role. This is my long overdue tribute to David Carradine and this will unfortunately remain very underrated but I hope I can expose it a little bit.

Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971): This is my Disney movie for the week that combines live action and animation. Angela Lansbury stars as Miss Price who is a witch's apprentice who is sent to take care of three children and puts a spell on the bed and takes the children with her to meet her professor named Emelius, played by David Tomlinson. Emelius reveals the rest of the words to bring inanimate objects to life which help the WW2 effort that this movie takes place in. Roddy McDowell has a little appearance as Mr. Jelk. This movie has a lot of unfortunate comparisons to MARY POPPINS which show similarity but it still stands on its own with Lansbury being great as the bumbling witch Miss Price who continues to learn through the movie. It also has a great animation sequence where they enter. Some may even consider this satanic with the witchcraft but if you look past all these things, this movie can absolutely be enjoyed.

Intermission (2003): I found this one on IFC, probably my most used channel besides TCM. This is a good Irish film which have a few intersecting stories of petty criminals, publicity hungry cops, and many others. Colin Farrell plays a thief in this movie who puts together a rather botched robbery. STAR TREK alum Colm Meaney is good as the cop who is enjoying the reality show filmed on him. Cillian Murphy also stars as part of the team of robbers. This was a pretty funny and entertaining film, it does not really rank high for me but I'm glad I watched it.

Wuthering Heights (1939): William Wyler directed this adaptation to the Emily Bronte literary classic which has been made many times into movies but not better than this one. Merle Oberon plays Cathy and Laurence Olivier plays Heathcliff. They are childhood friends and even lovers but her high-class status and Heathcliff's lower status come between them and Cathy marries a rich man named Edgar, played by David Niven. Heathcliff leaves town but returns years later very rich but still doomed in his relationship. The beginning was great with the story being told about their relationship with the actors all doing a great job. This came out the same year as GONE WITH THE WIND and THE WIZARD OF OZ and at the time was just as popular as the classics. Oberon and Olivier worked well together even though they apparently did not like one another.

Well, that is it for this week, tell me what you love and what you hate. Stay tuned for next week which will include Bernardo Bertolucci, Drew Barrymore, and Marilyn Monroe.