Shaun Berk's 10 Movie Recommendations- 224th Edition

Welcome to the 224th Edition of my blog series. This week I pay tribute to the late lead singer of the Knack Doug Fieger and producer David Brown. I am very excited for the March 2nd release of Peter Gabriel's new album SCRATCH MY BACK where he does remakes to twelve of his favorites with the use of an orchestra and his voice. I have heard some samples of the music and sounds pretty good to me so far but maybe I'm biased with Peter Gabriel being my favorite singer. Let's get on with the picks for the week and hope to accommodate to each person's taste in some way and if not I am sorry.

The Pale Horse (1997): This is my British tv movie for the week which is based on the novel by Agatha Christie. Colin Buchanon stars as sculptor Mark Easterbrook who is accused of the murder of a police. He then sets out to find the real killer with the help of art restorer Kate, played by Jayne Ashbourne, and stumbles onto a strange house of the movie title where three eccentric women live who all claim to be witches. This movie was a bit confusing at times and I have seen better Agatha Christie but overall not a bad film.

Reality Bites (1994): This is my tribute to the lead singer of The Knack Doug Fieger who recently left us and whose song MY SHARONA is featured in this film. Ben Stiller directed this coming-of-age comedy on Generation X graduates where he also co-stars. Winona Ryder stars as Lelaina Pierce who graduates as the valedictorian but finds that does not automatically get her a great job. She is also filming a documentary on post-education life using a lot of footage of her friends. Ethan Hawke co-stars as Troy who is an unemployed musician determined to not live a corporate lifestyle. Jeanine Garafalo is Lelaina's best friend Vickie who manages the GAP and this is probably my favorite performance of hers. Ben Stiller plays Michael, a tv executive and takes Lelaina's documentary where he makes it a little more exploitative than she wanted Lelaina must decide if she likes the life of Troy or the materialistic life of Michael. Steve Zahn also co-stars as Sammy who is trying to deal with his sexuality. The performances here were great and made quite a statement.

The Princess Bride (1987): The Facebook friend I chose is Megan who is the best Harpist in Muncie, and possibly Indiana. This is a great fairy tale comedy that has it all. We start the movie with WONDER YEARS alum Fred Savage who is sick in bed and his grandpa played by COLUMBO alum Peter Falk. His grandfather decides to read the book of the title movie to him saying it has been passed down generations. Robin Wright stars as Princess Buttercup who is kidnapped. Cary Elwes plays Westley who is determined his destined love. Mandy Patinkin co-stars as Inigo Montoya and is very amusing in that role. Former WWF wrestler Andre the Giant co-stars as the gentle giant and is very good in his role. Other co-stars include Wallace Shawn, Christopher Guest, Chris Sarandon, Billy Crystal, Carol Kane, and many others. This is a very fun fantasy comedy of the 80s and so far has not been remade to my knowledge. Dire Straits lead singer Mark Knopfler wrote the music score of the movie.

The Dark Knight (2008): The Facebook friend I chose for this selection is Eric who I knew at Muncie Civic Theater when I was a kid. 2008 was quite a year for superhero films which included this one, IRON MAN, THE INCREDIBLE HULK, and HELLBOY 2. This one did end up overshadowing them in this continuation of the 2005 film BATMAN BEGINS. Christian Bale reprises his role as Bruce Wayne who fights crime as Batman. Heath Ledger co-stars as the Joker which I believe is the best portrayal of that part but was unfortunately Ledger's last performance. I was just amazed by the portrayal of the Joker and still cannot even picture him playing the part until I actually see the film. The Joker proves to be a lot of trouble for Gotham City and really takes Batman to his limits testing the ethics of Batman and how far he will go. Gary Oldman reprises his role of Batman's loyal ally Lt. James Gordan. Aaron Eckhart plays District Attorney Harvey Dent who most know who he becomes. Maggie Gyllenhaal replaces Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes who is a childhood friend of Bruce Wayne but is with Harvey Dent. This was a very interesting film which puts a lot of questions to the word "hero". Batman does what he does because he feels Gotham City needs him but wants the town to need a more noble man like Harvey Dent who puts away criminals without violence. Other people in this movie are Eric Roberts, Anthony Michael Hall, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, and many others. It was also a very interesting ending that I did not expect. Heath Ledger unfortunately died shortly after filming making this his last completed role and will always go down as one of the best performances of all time.

Meshes in the Afternoon (1943): This is my usual short film for the week but a much different one than usual. Maya Deren directed this short film which centers on a woman who who lives in a strange world where she sees a hooded man walking up the stairs and has a knife handy. This was shot in many unusual camera angles and has a music score but no dialogue. It conveys a woman who does not know who this hooded man is and if it ends well or not. This is really hard to explain but is available with many other Maya Deren's short films.

Daratt (2006): This is a very rare movie made in Chad, Africa which takes place in the post years of their 40 year civil war which Mahamat-Saleh Haroun wrote and directed. Many war criminals were given amnesty. Gumar is very outraged when man named Nassara who killed his son is released and orders his grandson Atim to track down Nassara and kill him. Atim finds Nassara who has gone straight and is married with children. He then becomes an apprentice in Nassara's bakery but Atim begins to question the orders of his grandfather. This is a great character study on Atim whose ethics and morals become conflicted leading to what I thought was a very good conclusion. I recorded this one from the Link channel which had a very good interview with the director.

The Eiger Sanction (1975): This is my tribute to the late producer David Brown who recently left us. This is an early directorial effort from Clint Eastwood who plays a retired assassin named Jonathan Hemlock who is now a professor and art collector. He is then coerced out of retirement when an old friend of his is murdered. He must then join a mountain climbing team to find out which person he has been assigned to kill. He then finds himself in a world where he cannot trust anyone. George Kennedy plays Hemlock's friend who helps train him since he has not done mountain climbing in a long time. The highlights of this film are the mountain climbing sequences and the dialogue. The plot is rather far-fetched but a fun action film which was the start of a great directorial career for Clint Eastwood.

Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938): This is the fourth movie where Mickey Rooney plays the title character which was one of the most popular series of film in the depression and war era. He is part of a family where his father is the town judge, the mother stays at home, and has a sister he does not always get along with. In this one, Andy's girlfriend Polly, played by Ann Benedict, must spend Christmas at her Grandmother's house leaving Andy with no one to go to the Christmas dance with. He is then asked by his friend to go with his own girlfriend Cynthia, played by Lana Turner, to keep her away from other suitors. He agrees to do it but things become very complicated when Polly comes back. We also get introduced to Betsy Booth, played by Judy Garland, who also loves Andy but also helps him with his love life. Mickey Rooney is very likable in this movie as someone who gets a little trouble sometimes but has good intentions and these were a great series of movies for people who wanted escape for the uncertain times. Plus, where else do you see Ann Rutherford, Lana Turner, and Judy Garland in the same film. Judy Garland has a pretty good musical number.

Three Little Words (1950): This is a movie based on the songwriting team of Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby who wrote such songs as I WANT TO BE LOVED BY YOU, YOU SMILED AT ME, the movie title, and many others. Fred Astaire plays Kalmar and Red Skelton plays Ruby. We first see Bert Kalmar as a song and dance man who then gets injured and becomes a songwriter. He then meets composer Harry Ruby who is looking to get off the ground. The beginning of the movie was pretty funny where Kalmar was trying to be a magician where just about everything goes wrong. This movie takes a look at the partnership, love life, and even their falling out. This was a very entertaining film which also also stars Vera-Ellen, Arlene Dahl and Debbie Reynolds in her debut as Helen Kane though she was dubbed by the real Helen Kane.

The Firemen's Ball (1967): I end with Milos Forman's last film in Czechoslovakia. We then see a local fire department to celebrate the 86th birthday of the ex-boss. They invite the whole town but nothing goes as planned when the lottery prizes are being stolen and the contestants for their beauty contest are unwilling and don't quite look the part for that type of contest. There are some pretty funny and even sad moments in the 71 minutes mostly at the party. This was also a statement against the rule of Czechoslovakia at the time which was actually banned by their government sending Forman here to have a great directorial career.

Well, that is it for this week. Please tell me what you like and what you hate and I would like you to include a recommendation for the future. It must at least be available on Netflix and I just want one per person so really give it some thought and it may become a future selection. Stay tuned next week