Shaun Berk's 10 Movie Recommendations- 214th Edition

Welcome to the 214th edition of my series. This week I have two selections from the Random Myspace Profile selection process, next week will likely have two but that is subject to change. This week I pay tribute to Gene Barry, Richard Todd, and Rupert Everett. I have two selections this week from the Random Myspace Profile selection process, next week will likely have none but is subject to change. The show is over now so I am as of right now without a play to be in but hopefully I'll get a part in a spring show.

A Hole in the Head (1959): This is a selection from the Random Myspace Profile selection process and for this one I chose Eminent Sinatra. Frank Capra directed this movie which stars Frank Sinatra as Tony Manetta who is running a very unsuccessful hotel and is struggling to keep his 12 year old son. He then asks his brother Mario, played by Edward G. Robinson, to bail him out once again. Mario then gives Tony some options including to give up his son or to find a nice woman to marry. All three names mentioned have done better but this was a decent film that in some ways focuses on the value of family.

Greed (2008): This is a selection from the Random Myspace Profile selection process and for this one I chose Coffee Shorts which you can view many of them at http://www.coffeeshorts.co.uk. This is a two minute Swedish short written and directed by Alli Sadegiani. This focuses on the psychological effects that greed has on someone which has some great animation and is pretty disturbing.

Fanny and Alexander (1982): I guess this is my second Swedish film for the week and is by a more known director in Ingmar Bergman. The title characters are sibling children from the Ekdahl household in the early 20th Century which their parents are big into the local theater. Their lives then turn very difficult when their father Oscar dies and their mother marries the very authoritarian bishop of the church who Alexander challenges many times. This movie does a great job showing each person's conflict and what they must do to deal with it. It also has the Jewish merchant Isak who is the lover of the grandmother and becomes the refuge for the two kids. There is actually quite a bit of Christmas in the beginning part so it fits here some. I actually got this from the library which is on the criterion collection. It actually has both the mini-series of five hours which Bergman prefers and the 3 hour version which was for the movie theater. I did the mini-series and while it took a while for me, it was worth it but not for everyone. There was a really good scene where Alexander is speaking to a "ghost".

Nothing Like the Holidays (2008): This is my main Christmas film for the week which I realized would have been a perfect "loophole" for the Horror Movie Madness Contest due to the distributor being Anchor Bay. This movie takes place with a Latin-American family getting together for Christmas and each person's conflict. I know it sounds familiar but I found it to be enjoyable for the holiday. Alfred Molina plays the patriarch of the family and Elizabeth Pena plays his wife who wants a divorce believing he had an affair so that announcement sends the family in an uproar. John Leguizamo is one of the family members and has a fiance in Debra Messing who can't decide between a child and a big career. I really liked UGLY BETTY alum Freddy Rodriguez who is trying to adjust to life after Iraq and an incident that happened there. I'm not going any further but I do believe that Rodriguez is very underrated and most performances were pretty good. I admit, I am a sucker for the holiday films in the December time of year.

Thunder Road (1958): This is my tribute to the late Gene Barry who recently left us and here he plays a Treasury agent who is trying to bring down a Moonshine ring. Robert Mitchum actually wrote the short story this film is based on and plays Korean veteran Lucas Doolin who is running the Moonshine business in his small-town but must go against big-time gangsters and the police trying to nab him and possibly even turn against the others out to get him. Mitchum's real-life son Patrick actually plays his younger brother who he does not want to end up in the same racket. It was a pretty good low-budget film where Mitchum actually sings the opening song. I was a little confused by the end but still enjoyed the action and such in the film.

A Man Called Peter (1955): This is my tribute to the late Richard Todd who recently left us and here he plays the title character of Peter Marshall. This is a true story where a Scottish boy dreams of going out to sea but gets what he believes is a calling from God to become a minister. He then goes to the states to form a small congregation but then lands a position of pastor for the Church of the Presidents and eventually becomes chaplain to the senate. Jean Peters plays his loving wife who is sometimes overwhelmed the way he works. This is mostly a character study and a film that has gone overlooked through the years. I actually did not know this was a movie as I heard of it when Lee's Theatrical Productions did a version of it. Their version focused on his life after he had a heart attack and his hard time resting instead of working. It mostly took place in Peter's home where he did a lot of work from and helped some people along the way. This movie goes more in depth from a little bit of his childhood up to his death. Todd was great as Marshall and I hope to be able to put this one a little more on the radar.

The Piano Lesson (1995): This is my tv movie for the week. This week I used NOTHING LIKE THE HOLIDAYS which focused on a hispanic family. This movie focuses on a dysfunctional black family in '30s Pittsburgh. This is based on a play written by August Wilson. Charles S. Dutton stars as Boy Willie, a man who does not like to work. He comes home hoping to claim the piano which is considered the family heirloom so that he can sell it to buy some land. Alfre Woodard plays his sister Berniece who does not want to part with it which adds a lot of tension between the two that obviously have never gotten along. We then see flashbacks as to her reasons of why she does not want to get rid of it. Dutton actually won a Tony Award in 1990 for playing the same part. It gives a very good look at a minority family of that era.

Johnny Got His Gun (1971): This is my WWI drama for the week which was written and directed by Dalton Trumbo which is based on his own novel and this is also the only movie he ever directed. Timothy Bottoms plays a WWI soldier named Joe who is wounded to a fate worse than death. He loses his legs, arms and face so he is confined to a bed but the doctors have no idea he still has the biggest part of his body which is the mind. Part of the movie is him in the hospital room and wanting to know what is going on around him since he does not know because he lost his hearing and his sight. He also reflects on his life before his horrible fate where some of it is reality and some is in dreams. There are also some very interesting interactions with Jesus, played by Donald Sutherland, which were written by the legendary director Luis Bunuel. I was quite blown away by the beauty and sadness of the film and the strange ending. There is a remake that was made in 2008 and have heard it is actually pretty good but don't forget this one.

Shrek 2 (2004): This is my tribute to Rupert Everett whose father recently died and he provides the voice of Prince Charming. I am a big fan of the SHREK series and even the third one. This is obviously the second in the series where Shrek and Fiona are happily married and are summoned by Fiona's parents to the kingdom to meet her new husband not really knowing their fate. Joined by Donkey, they set out to meet the parents, which are voiced by John Cleese and Julie Andrews, and they have a hard time accepting the ogre she married and also became. Prince Charming is also not giving up on his princess and with the help of his mom, the Fairy Godmother, he does what can to win Fiona. The King also helps them because he actually owes the fairy godmother and hires Puss in Boots, voiced by Antonio Banderas in a Zorro type portrayal, to kill Shrek but ends up becoming their ally. This movie was a lot of fun to me with Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, and Eddie Murphy all reprising their parts. Jennifer Saunders is fun as the crooked Fairy Godmother and does a good rendition of HOLDING OUT FOR A HERO.

Doctor X (1932): This is my horror film for the week which would have fit in better in October but since when do I make those kinds of considerations. Lee Tracy stars as an eccentric reporter named Lee Taylor who is looking for "the Moon Killer". He stumbles upon a man named Dr. Xavier, played by Lionel Atwill, who gets together many colleagues and goes through some very strange experiments to prove they are not the killer. Pre-KING KONG beauty Fay Wray plays Dr. Xavier's wife and gets caught up in quite a bit of the mystery. It is a pretty well-moving chiller and absolutely for classic horror fans. Michael Curtiz directed this movie and would go onto direct far better than this one including CASABLANCA but this was a start.

Well, that is is for this week. Stay tuned for next week which includes more Frank Capra, James Cagney, Eric Bana, Francois Truffant, and many others.