Welcome to the 228th Edition of my long-running series. This week I pay tribute to the late Corey Haim, Fess Parker, and Robert Culp. I also have two selections from the Random Myspace Profile selection process. Next week will have one. I recently visited my dad who is having some tough times after breaking his ankle but seems to be pulling through pretty well. His wife is doing a great job of helping out however she can which I really appreciate. Tonight I will be checking out the Wrestlemania PPV at Buffalo Wild Wings.
Murphy's Romance (1985): I start the week out with my tribute to the late Corey Haim. Sally Field stars as Emma Moriarty who is divorced and moves into a small town with her son Jake, played by Corey Haim, trying to make a go of a horse ranch. James Garner stars as the title character Murphy Jones who is the town druggist and forms an immediate bond with Emma and Jake. It is very clear that he has quite a past but is very helpful to his townspeople. Things begin to change when Emma's ex-husband Bobby Jack, played by Brian Kerwin, comes into town wanting to get back with his wife and son. I really like watching movies about life in a small town and this portrays it very well. James Garner was very good as Murphy and it is too bad I had to learn about this on account of Haim's death.
Ghostbusters (1984): This is a selection from the Random Myspace Profile selection process and for this one I chose ONIFC. Ivan Reitman directed this comedy written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. Aykroyd, Ramis, and Bill Murray play parapsychology professors Raymond, Egon, and Peter who have a great job at a New York university studying the occult. However, they lose their jobs becoming unemployed. They soon go into business for themselves and hire Winston, played by OZ alum Ernie Hudson. They are soon hired by Dana Barrett, played by Sigourney Weaver, who is seeing strange occurrances. Rick Moranis co-stars as her nerdy neighbor. There is really not much more I can say here about this iconic film of the 80s. We have the great title song by Ray Parker Jr. We have a lot of hilarious dialogue. We also have such icons as Slimer and the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man. This also spawned a cartoon series, a sequal and apparently it will become a trilogy soon.
The Crossing Guard (1995): Sean Penn wrote and stayed behind the camera for this film as a director. Jack Nicholson stars as jeweler Freddy Gale who swears to kill the man who killed his daughter in a hit and run. David Morse plays John Booth who has been released from prison after six years for hitting Gale's daughter. Freddy visits John to tell him that he will soon kill him. Booth then tries to make peace with himself and others while finding love in Penn's wife Robin Wright. Anjelica Huston plays Freddy Gale's ex-wife who apparently could not get through their marriage after the loss of their daughter. This really was nothing great but Nicholson was good in his part. It also has an interesting message about forgiveness that kept me with it. There are a couple songs from Bruce Springsteen and Jewel that I have never heard that I really liked.
Audioscopiks (1935): This is my short film for the week which came from the DVD of TALE OF TWO CITIES which was featured last week. This is one of many short films narrated by the great Pete Smith. This one talks about the use of 3-D glasses and then shows footage of 3-d films of that era. There are many of the one or two reel films where Pete Smith narrates humorously about various topics. TCM shows these a lot so when you get a chance they are quite worth it. I am glad to revisit Pete Smith this week.
Them! (1954): This is my tribute to the late Fess Parker who had a small albeit important role. This is a movie which deals with the price of atomic testing. The atomic tests in New Mexico result in ants becoming very giant and deadly which threatens the state of the world. This is one of the better sci-fi films from that era where the direction, script, acting, and special effects all worked out. The ants were very well-done and believable. For all you DAVY CROCKETT fans, Walt Disney watched this movie because he was interested in James Arness who played FBI agent Bob Graham but ended up going with Fess Parker who he really liked in his small role of a farmer who no one would believe that he saw giant ants. So because of this movie, he was made an icon into the character of Davy Crockett.
Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story (2005): This is my second selection from the Random Myspace Profile selection process and for this one I chose West, Codename Mayor. This is a straight-to-video movie from the popular cartoon series FAMILY GUY. We then see everyone's favorite maniacal baby Stewie who sees a man on the news he believes is his father hoping that Peter is not his dad. He then sets out to find this man who he believes is his dad only to find that he is his future-self. Stewie then sees that in the future he has not taken over the world and does not seem to have any plans of world domination. He then looks to see what he must do to not end up like his boring future self. If you don't like FAMILY GUY you likely will not like this but even as a person who has not watched the show much I still really enjoyed this one. There are a lot of celebrity cameos like Drew Barrymore whose cameo film SCREAM was featured last week.
Cousin Cousine (1975): This is an On-Demand selection I made when I was at my dad's house and this was On-Demand from IFC free. I have not included a foreign language film in a while so I saw this as my opportunity. Jean Charles Tacchella co-wrote and directed this French film. Families all meet at a wedding banquet where celebrating with an elderly couple. Soon, two distant cousins meet an decide they should see more of each other. They soon form a very close bond but each of them have spouses who believe there is more to their friendship. This is a very interesting look at a family which is naturally a bit dysfunctional. I liked the teenage daughter who put together a slide show and took some rather vulger photos.
The Werewolf (1956): I found this interesting version of the Lycanthrope on Fearnet On-Demand. This is a version that takes place during Post-nuclear WWII. Steven Ritch plays Duncan Marsh who is injured in a car accident and is given a serum by two scientists which has a very bad side effect which turns him into a werewolf. The usual werewolf rules have really changed in this one. They don't need a full moon to change. What seems to change Duncan into a wolf is fear. A small town must band together after murders have been committed to discuss what to do with Duncan. Don Megowan plays the local sheriff who does not necessarily want to kill him but knows he must protect the town. This is a very nice take on the genre which has gone unknown so I hope to give this some exposure if it is available.
White Zombie (1932): I could not really find anything else older that I wanted to see on On-Demand so I turned to to the podcast series Cult of UHF. A man named Beaumont turns to a witch doctor, played by Bela Legosi, who wants him to lure a woman away from her fiance. What happens instead is that the witch doctor turns her into a zombie slave. Beaumont is not satisfied with her emotionless state and becomes a zombie himself. The fiance Neil hears she may still be alive and seeks her out. This was a pretty good 30s chiller and one of the earlier zombie films. Legosi was very entertaining in his role and yes this is where Rob Zombie got the band name White Zombie.
Pineapple Express (2008): When hanging out in the living room with my dad, he was going through On-Demand selections and selected this and saw this as a potential 10th film for this week which came true. David Gordon Green directed this film which was co-written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. Seth Rogen stars as stoner Dale Denton who goes to visit his dealer friend Saul Silver, played by James Franco, to get some pot and gets a very rare kind which is of the movie title. Dale becomes the witness of a murder b a corrupt female cop, played by Rosie Perez, and a big crime lord, played by Gary Cole. When he witnesses this, he panics and drops his pot and they pick it up knowing the rarity and trace it back to Saul. Saul and Dale must then run for their lives as people are trying to kill them. This movie had some pretty comical moments even if it was a bit unrealistic. I really liked James Franco as Saul and thought he did a good job doing such a human portrayal of a drug dealer who is still likable.
Well, that is it for this week. I used a lot more from the sci-fi, supernatural, Zombie and even time travel genre than usual. Tell me what you like and what you hate. Also, I would like in the comments to have one suggestion that I can put to Netflix. I want one per person so think hard and it may get featured here in the future. Stay tuned for next week which will include the late Peter Graves, Kate Winslet, Ginger Rogers, George Clooney and many others.
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