Shaun Berk's 10 Movie Recommendations- 205th Edition

Welcome to the 205th Edition of my blog. I have one selection from the Random Myspace Profile selection process. Next week will have none. I am releasing this one a little early since I don't know when I'll be home tomorrow because I'm trying out again for AMERICA'S GOT TALENT to give it another shot. Get out your Netflix and Blockbuster Queues and read on.

The Union: The Business of Getting High (2007): I saw this movie at Pruis Hall for the viewing of the Truth Movement group at Ball State. This is a great documentary which talks about that drug marijuana. Brett Harvey directed this and goes around to explore the history of marijuana and hemp which is used for it along with the effects. They made a big argument that there really are no effects and that it has always been blown way out of proportion. It shows how alcohol and cigarettes lead into more deaths than marijuana. People being interviewed include Joe Rogan and Tommy Chong plus many other politicians and doctors who support the legalization. There are also some interesting comparisons to Prohibition of 1920 showing how criminals take full advantage of the prohibition. This movie has some humorous moments, good archival footage, and soundtrack. I also enjoyed seeing Tommy Chong reflect on his life and his recent arrest. I have only seen him in shows and movies playing the stoner but he was very informative in what he had to say. I will start by saying that I do not smoke pot but I do support the legalization of it. If you are totally against pot, this could change your mind. For you stoners out there, you will love this one.

Ocean's Eleven (2001): This is a selection from the Random Myspace Profile selection process and for this one I chose Juliana. This is a remake of the 1960 film which starred the Rat Pack. Steven Soderbergh directed this film which stars George Clooney as Danny Ocean who is just getting paroled from prison and goes straight...straight into plans for a heist of three casinos. He then gets a group together that consists of Brad Pitt, Elliot Gould, Scott Caan, Casey Affleck, Bernie Mac, Carl Reiner, Matt Damon, among others. Andy Garcia plays Terry Benedict, the head of the casinos and Julia Roberts is Tess, Danny's ex-wife who is now with Terry. Reiner is very amusing as one of the elderly members of the heist. I have seen the original one a while back but have not seen any of these until now and I must say it kept me engaged the whole movie. There is an interesting opening scene with Brad Pitt trying to teach former tv stars like CHARMED alum Holly Marie Combs, 7TH HEAVEN alum Barry Watson, and THAT 70S SHOW alum Topher Grace how to play poker.

The General (1926): I actually had the pleasure of viewing this silent comedy classic on the big screen at the Paramount Theater in Anderson. Ball State was shooting a movie and needed extras so the reward was to see this movie. This is considered by many to be Buster Keaton's best work and though there are others of his I prefer, this was a very groundbreaking comedy. Buster stars as Johnny Gray, a train conductor during the Civil War. He tries to enlist in the south but is declined because they feel he is valuable as a train conductor. The woman he loves, Annabelle Lee, believes that he is a coward and will not speak to him unless he is in uniform. Things change when his locomotive is stolen and at the same time they kidnap Annabelle Lee. He then sets out to rescue Annabelle Lee with some comic results on a train as he is pursuing soldiers in the north. He is able to come up with all kinds of hilarious gags on that train. It is loosely based on a true story but I'm sure not this funny as Buster Keaton, like Chaplin, made comedy out of some pretty dark events just not as extreme as Chaplin.

Written on the Wind (1956): Douglas Sirk directed this great drama which stars UNSOLVED MYSTERIES alum Robert Stack as Kyle Hadley, a rich playboy who marries Lucy, played by Lauren Bacall. Lucy is secretly loved by Kyle's best friend Mitch Wayne, played by Rock Hudson. Kyle learns that he is sterile but his wife gets pregnant causing him to suspect Mitch of having an affair. Dorothy Malone plays Kyle's conniving sister who watch Mitch for herself and puts the belief in his head that Mitch and Lucy are having the affair which leads to disastrous results. The performances by all were great and was a soap opera and love story with intelligence. I really liked Malone in this movie.

Shortbus (2006): The Facebook friend I chose for this week was Zach who I was in 12 BAR BLUES with at the Muncie Civic Studio Theater. This movie is by no means for everyone, I'll get that out of the way now. John Cameron Mitchell wrote and directed this movie. First we got Rob and Sophia, a happy couple but Sophia, who is a sex therapist, has never experienced an orgasm. Jamie and James are a gay couple and James wants to bring a third man into the relationship. Sophia then goes into a world she has never seen where she meets a dominatrix and they help each other with their lives. This movie does not hold back at all. Soon-Yik Lee was great as Sophia and the rest of the actors also fare pretty well for most having acted for the first time. I admit, there were times even I had to turn my head but still enjoyed this movie.

San Quentin (1937): Lloyd Bacon directs this prison film which was an early role for Humphrey Bogart as inmate Red Kennedy. Pat O'Brien is an army trainer named Captain Jameson, who is assigned to be the head of the prison. It's a big place but he immediately starts getting results but takes interest in Kennedy, feeling he just got a bad break and can reform. Ann Sheridan plays Red's sister May and forms a relationship with the prison captain. One of the prisoners tries to stir up trouble with Kennedy when he spreads rumors on his sister and the captain leading into some bad decisions. This was an interesting film depicting prison of a place of rehabilitation and that people can change. O'Brien was very good and Barton Maclane co-stars as the previous corrupt captain who plays the role very well.

The Field (1990): Jim Sheridan directed this movie that takes place in Ireland which centers around "Bull" McCabe, played very well by Richard Harris, whose family has farmed for many years and have given much of his sweat and tears to the field. Then "the Widow" who the Bull pays rent to, played by Frances Tomelty, decides to put up the land for sale. The Bull is determined to take it but an American comes in feeling he must make highways out of it. Tom Berenger plays "The American" who very much dismays the Bull when he buys the property Bull feels is his so Bull takes some very drastic measures to keep it. Sean Bean also co-stars as Bull's son who is clearly intimidated by his father but very loyal to him. This was rather moving but pretty dark too. The Irish scenery was great and I always love that Irish music. John Hurt was pretty amusing as Bird adding some comic relief.

Hyde and Hare (1955): This is my Looney Tunes short for the week where Bugs Bunny meets a nice, quiet man who gets him carrots and insists that the man adopt him. Bugs does not know this person is really Dr. Jekyll whose evil side of Mr. Hyde tries to harm Bugs with a comical end result. This is well worth the seven minutes.

Robocop (1987): I found this 80s action classic on IFC and I had not seen it in some time so it was time to bring it back on here. Peter Weller stars as the title character who is first an officer named Alex Murphy, who is murdered, then reconstructed by a massive company who first develops a crime-fighting robot that goes absolutely awry. They then develop Robocop who cares about nothing but fighting crime but when going after the people who had him killed, he slowly develops his memories back. This is an interesting futuristic film taking place in the not-so-distant Detroit. I never realized how satirical this movie is on finding ways to reduce crime and developing this technology that can go awry or be clouded by corruption within the company. THAT 70S SHOW alum Kurtwood Smith and REAPER star Ray Wise co-star as a couple of the thugs who made the mistake of killing Murphy. Paul Verhoeven directed this movie which I feel is his best work. I also liked the use of the phony commercials and newscasts. This is a great blend of action and satire and very innovative for its time.

Creature From the Black Lagoon (1954): I end with this Universal horror film which shows a group of people on a scientific expedition to the Amazon river only to encounter the title character. One of the people in the group becomes obsessed with catching this creature and while succeeding, he only escapes with Kay who the creature likes throwing in that BEAUTY AND THE BEAST theme. I have seen this one in the past but this time I analyzed it more like I did the last featured film on here and realize that the Creature is really the tragic hero in all this. It did not seem to mean much harm until man does the usual and fears the unknown so he had to defend himself however he needed to. This is a really good one of the later Universal films and starts this part of the sci-fi genre.

Well, that is it for this week. Tell me what you love and what you hate and stay tuned for next week which includes Edward James Olmos, Paul Muni, an Australian film.

HORROR MOVIE MADNESS: BAD BABY WEEK 2

I didn't quite match my score from last week but we'll see how others do. Kelsey is the only one who can really take off with the lead right now but we'll see what I can do next week. Maybe if I didn't focus so much on my recommendations blog and focused on this I would do better but I still have a method for my recommendations that I still stick to. I am releasing this early because I don't know when I'll be home tomorrow.

1. It Lives Again (1978, 1.5 stars, 6 points): I got the sequel in which is good for entertainment value but does not match IT'S ALIVE which I used last week. These babies are crazy. Larry Cohen wrote and directed again. Liz, if your baby turns out like this, please stop it. Don't be like the parents in the first two and try to protect the baby.

2. The French Connection (1971, 2.5 stars, 2 points): Directed by William Friedkin, not one of my favorite movies but a good loophole for me, I'll check it out again sometime when I'm in a better mood to put it into the recommendations

3. Bubba Ho-Tep (2003, 4 stars, 2 points): We got a collaboration between Don Coscarelli and Bruce Campbell which is probably very high on my list of favorites. Just to let everyone know, Bruce Campbell plays an aging Elvis in a nursing home, who claims to be the real person and took the name from an impersonator who had died. Ossie Davis plays JFK who survives the assassination but is turned black by the government. Together, they team up to take on a mummy who is feeding off of souls in the nursing home. It is a true story except the part of the mummy. What's the Horror Movie Madness without some Bruce.

4. It's Alive 3: Island of the Alive (1987, 2 stars, 6 points): The last of the evil baby trilogy. Michael Moriarty stars as a father who does not believe these evil babies should die so the judge puts them on an island. Moriarty had a strange, over-the-top performance.

5. Baby, It's You (1983, 3 stars, 2 points): This is my John Sayles loophole for the week which stars Rosanna Arquette and Vincent Spano in this coming-of-age film. No evil babies or endangered children, or even violence, just a loophole. I know no one would no what to think if I didn't take advantage of "does not need to be horror".

6. Jekyll: Episode 4 (2007, 3.5 stars, 1 point): I'm liking this more and more. This is a really cool variation of the Stevenson classic.

7. Creature From the Black Lagoon (1955 3 stars, 2 points): The only one on here that was on my recommendations but that doesn't mean these others won't be though

8. Jekyll: Episode 5 (2007, 3.5 stars, 2 points): Yes, you see that right, I am trying to argue for double points here. It was not really like this on the other episodes but in this particular episode, Dr. Jackman's two twin children are put in quite a bit of danger with the Mr. Hyde persona and the people who work at the scientific lab who want Mr. Hyde for their own purposes. We learn more and more of the connection between Tom Jackman and Henry Jekyll who James Nesbitt plays in the flashback scenes.

9. Jekyll: Episode 6: Hyde (2007, 3.5 stars, 2 points): This is series finale and an episode where Dr. Jackman's children and wife were abducted by a secret agency to get to Mr. Hyde. I really enjoyed this British series which was left open for another series but I guess they did not decide to pursue it since what more could they do but a great show from BBC

10. My Name is Bruce (2007, 3.5 stars, 2 points): Bruce Campbell directed this great one where he plays himself. An obsessed fan of his from a small town encounters a real monster and believes Bruce can really do all the things he can in the movie. This is great seeing him to a parody on himself.