Shaun Berk's 10 Movie Recommendations- 207th Edition and Horror Movie Madness: Bad Baby Edition week 4

Welcome to the 207th Edition, one week away from the FOUR YEAR ANNIVERSARY. This week, I pay tribute to Lucy Vodden, Lou Jacobi, Joseph Wiseman, Captain Lou Albano, and Bruce Springsteen. I have one movie from the Random Myspace Profile selection process and next week will have at least 1, possibly 3.

Whaledreamers (2006): This is my tribute to Lucy Vodden, the apparent inspiration for the Beatles' hit song LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS coming from a picture drawn from Julian Lennon of Lucy. I could not find anything for Vodden so I used something with Julian Lennon who produced and narrated this documentary. Kim Kindersley directed this documentary focusing on an indigenous tribe which talks about their history and their connection to the whale. It also talks about the poaching of whales which really angers the tribe. Julian Lennon narrates and takes part in some of these rituals. I really take interest in this subject and love the indigenous music that they play a lot of here. Julian Lennon wrote and performed a song played on here called SALTWATER showing he sounds exactly like his father John. Pierce Brosnan, John Hurt, and Geoffrey Rush all lend their voices here as well.

Chocolat (1988): This is not the same as the Johnny Depp film in 2000 of the same title. This is a French film about a French woman named France who gets picked up by a good samaritan and begins to reflect on her childhood when she and her family were in South Africa. She recalls the relationship between herself and a black man named Protee and the tension between him and her mother. There is a lot of racial and sexual tension which I felt was kept a little too low-key. I had a hard time with this movie which is not really what you expect and not knowing where I just went after watching. The high points are seeing the interactions of French and Protee and the scenery. Claire Denis directed this movie and apparently based it some on her childhood. This was nothing great to me but was worth a watch.

I'll Cry Tomorrow (1955): Susan Hayward stars in this biopic as singer/actress Lillian Roth. We first see her as a child whose mother is obsessed with making her a star and when Lillian becomes one as an adult, she takes to alcohol after her high-school sweetheart dies before they are about to get married. Jo Van Fleet is good as Lillian's mother and Hayward is great as Roth. Eddie Albert co-stars as one of the good men in her life. Susan Hayward does her own singing in the movie. This is not the most upbeat film of all time but can give people hope.

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984): The Facebook friend I chose for this week is Jess who I went to Yorktown with for many years. Hayao Miyazaki wrote and directed this anime tale which centers around the Princess of the title name who lives during a nuclear holocaust and is trying to prevent her people from warring. The animation in this movie is great. Apparently the original version was a little more adult-oriented but this one was produced by Disney so it was more family friendly. In this version, they brought in celebrities in 2004 like Allison Lohman, Edward James Olmos, Shia Lebeouf, Patrick Stewart, Mark Hamill, and many others.

The Man Without a Country (1937): This is my short film for the week which stars John Litel as Lt. Philip Nolan who is unhappy with his assignment in the army and is about to join Aaron Burr's plans to form a new country west of the Mississippi River. Before he can go through with it, he is charged with treason and is sentenced to life in exile on a US ship at sea. Gloria Holden plays his wife who lobbies through many years and to different presidents to get him a pardon. It is a pretty good 21 minutes while I'm not sure of the accuracy of what Burr was trying to do.

Splinter (2008): I found this low-budget horror film on Sci-Fi which actually pretty good. It shows a couple and escaped convict meet by chance but encounter a parasite that turns people into deadly hosts. They must all work together to stop this from effecting them. The performances are actually pretty good and director Toby Wilkins did a good job on a movie that went straight-to-dvd. Horror buffs might really like this and movie buffs in general should try it too.

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex * But Were Afraid to Ask (1972): This movie is in tribute to late actor Lou Jacobi who plays Sam Musgrave in this movie. I admit, I have seen and used a lot of Woody Allen for this blog and this one I find to be the most unknown and underrated of his movies. This is a parody on just what the title is saying and uses different sketches to get across its point. It starts out in medieval times where Woody plays a court jester who is having an affair with the queen but finds out the hilarious way that the king keeps the queen from having sex. We also have a sketch with Gene Wilder who is a psychiatrist who falls in love with a sheep that his client was already in love with. The best one in my opinion was with John Carradine playing a Victor Frankenstein type character who brings to life a giant body part that wreaks havoc all over the place. The last one shows all the hard-working sperm in our body and what they must do to reproduce where Woody plays the reluctant sperm. This might be my favorite Woody film which also co-stars Burt Reynolds, Lynn Redgrave, and even Regis Philbin who is part of a great game show segment. There were many segments cut from the film but the ones that stayed were great.

Dr. No (1962): This is in tribute to the late Joseph Wiseman who is most known for playing the title character in the first of many James Bond films which some say this one is the best. Sean Connery plays James Bond in the first Bond film and is investigating the death of his colleague which leads him to a strange island and meets Honey Ryder, played by Ursula Andress whose role here is iconic to her career and Bond women, and encounters Dr. No's fortress where he must find a way to save the world. HAWAII 5-0 alum Jack Lord plays the first Felix Leiter. This movie has some great dialogue and action and is worth a look.

Wise Guys (1986): This is my tribute to the late wrestling Captain Lou Albano who plays mob enforcer Frankie the Fixer and Bruce Springsteen whose cousin recently died. Springsteen's song PINK CADILLAC was played and I wanted to use BODY SLAM with Albano but could not obtain a copy from Netflix or library and even blockbuster so I chose this one. Brian De Palma directed this mafia comedy which stars Danny Devito and Joe Piscopo as best friends and errand boys for the mafia. When they lose $250,000, they are both separately ordered to kill each other. They go to New Jersey when trying to run from the mafia but find it is not easy. I know there are better mob comedies and I was on the fence some here but Devito and Piscopo are fun in this movie and Albano gave an interesting over-the-top performance. Albano looked a lot different with just short hair and a mustache. Dan Hedaya and Harvey Keitel also co-star. I was really hoping for a different end and I begged for it to not end like I thought it would but it did end how I thought it would and how I did not want it to end. I got this off Netflix and was worth a view to me. It's not anything I'll go out and buy.

The Thirteenth Guest (1932): I end with this selection from the Random Myspace Profile selection process and for this one I chose the Ginger Rogers tribute profile and decided to try this early Rogers film. 13 years ago, there was a dinner party with 13 guests and the 13th guest did not show up, the master of the manor died leaving the 13th guest the bulk of his estate which was a mystery to everyone. 13 years later, the guests are being murdered. Ginger plays a woman claiming to be the 13th guest. Lyle Talbot plays the head detective investigating the murders. This is nothing great but worth seeing for early Ginger Rogers. It might have been more enjoyable for me if the transfer was better but even today's technology could not salvage the bad print.

Well, that is it for this week. I made some pretty unusual selections and some not really my favorites but I never claim to do my favorites and some people reading this may have not seen any of these movies. Tell me what you love and what you hate and stay tuned for next week which is my 4 year anniversary which so far includes John Cleese, Glenn Close, Tom Skerritt, Meryl Streep, and much more.

HORROR MOVIE MADESS: BAD BABY EDITION WEEK 4

So this is the last one for the year and hope Elizabeth and Duckboy bring it back next year. Congrats on the baby, probably not something I'll ever do but who knows. When this went on a couple years ago, there was all kinds of leniency where there were many people listed where I took more notice than anyone of the words "Does not have to be horror" so I found all kinds of things like SPIDER-MAN, SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS, THE JACKIE CHAN ADVENTURES, JACK OF ALL TRADES, BLUE CHIPS, and much more. For various reasons when listing names, they did not make it nearly as big and mostly listed directors where the movies that did not have to be horror had to be directed, produced, written, or distributed so being known as the "King of the Loophole", I had a bigger challenge ahead of me and maybe a couple years ago they had no idea someone like me would take such advantage of these loopholes. This year, I really did not do as much on the list of names except for a couple things from William Friedkin and John Sayles including an episode of CSI directed by Friedkin. While I did not do as much of that, I still feel I have really done a lot in variety where I would usually find some non-horror movie that might have some horror element like LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST which featured the Devil. I also used some things from History which focus on categories like Satan, vampires, and werewolves, especially this week so read on

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984, 3 stars, 4 points): I believe this falls under fantasy and while I don't know Nausicaa's age, there were a couple village children that were endangered when the ohms were attacking.

The Man Without a Country (1937, 3 stars, .5 points): I know I'm pushing this one but it was 21 minutes and in the end when John Litel and Gloria Holden finally reuniting as ghosts after death. Since I put it on the recommendations, I figured I would give this a shot.

Splinter (2008, 2.5 stars, 2 points): This qualifies as the Splinter parasites effects a body and turns them into zombie-type people.

Vampire Secrets (2006, 2 points): This was one of the few documentaries I watched and this one focused on vampires in pop culture, through history and the supposed vampires of today.

Werewolves: The Dark Survivors (2009, 2 points): This was a mockumentary I found on Animal Planet. It looks at a fictional family of werewolves. This was interesting to say the least.

Fatal Attraction (1987, 3 stars, 4 points): I would like to see this being counted as psycho as Glenn Close was and four points because of Michael Douglas's little girl being endangered by Close.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007, 3.5 stars, 4 points): I feel this should count because of the dark imagery, the gore from all the murders and 4 points because of Tobias being endangered near the end.

Everything Your Always Wanted To Know About Sex * But Were Afraid to Ask (1972, 3.5 stars, 2 points): I know I am pushing it on this one but John Carradine plays a mad scientist character who brings to like a giant breast which wreaks havoc all over town.

The Three Faces of Eve (1957, 3.5 stars, 4 points): I know I'm pushing this one too but Joanne Woodward plays Eve who has multiple personalities which one of them is very mean and tries to choke her daughter to death as that personality and is a pretty disturbing scene.

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966, 4 stars, .5 points): I need no explanation here as Linus awaits the arrival of the Great Pumpkin and I will look for a pumpkin patch myself to wait for the Great Pumpkin.

The Haunted History of Halloween (1997, 1 point): I found this on the History Channel which talks about the history of Halloween and the popularity of it today.

Bloodlines: The Dracula Family Tree (2003, 1 point): I also found this on History which talks about Vlad the Impaler who is kind of the inspiration behind Dracula.

Charmed: Series Finale (2006, 3.5 stars, 2 points): This show, BUFFY and ANGEL were the shows I grew up with in High School and I thought it was going to be a bad idea to have another season of this show but was I wrong. This show and episode ended greatly showing everyone the future of the Halliwell family. This was one hour but am asking for two points because of litle Wyatt being endangered.

Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey (1991, 3 stars, 2 points): This counts because they are in Hell, the Devil is a character and so is the Grim Reaper. Wow, the minds who came up with this storyline.

The Real Wolfman (2009?, 2 points): I found this one on History channel where a couple people investigate some past murders thought to be done by a werewolf and come to some interesting conclusions.

Little shop of Horrors (2009, 2 points): Last week I saw the one at Muncie Civic Theater, this is Jay County Civic Theater