Shaun Berk's 10 Movie Recommendations- 249th Edition

Welcome to the 249th Edition of my long-running series. This week I pay tribute to the late Maury Chaykin. I started performances for ARSENIC AND OLD LACE and the show is going very well. We have performances on Friday and Saturday at 7:30 pm at the Anderson Mainstage Theatre and the tickets are $10 so get some laughs. Thanks to the cast, crew, and "dead bodies", I will tag the friends I have on Facebook involved.

Almost Famous (2000): I start the week out with this masterpiece from Cameron Crowe which is a semi-autobiographical coming of age tale for him. We start with Patrick Fugit who stars as aspiring rock journalist William who is 15 years of age. He then gets an assignment from Rolling Stone to write about an up-and-coming rock band called Stillwater who he meets at the concert. Billy Crudup plays their guitarist Russell Hammond and begins a bond with William who they nickname "the enemy" since he is a journalist. MY NAME IS EARL star Jason Lee plays their cynical lead singer Jeff. Kate Hudson, in a great performance that still has yet for her to even come close to matching, plays "band-aid" Penny Lane and also forms an unusual friendship with William. Other "band-aids" include Anna Paquin and Fairuza Balk. Frances McDormand is great as William's over-protective and unusual mother. Philip Seymour Hoffman plays the real-life rock critic Lester Bangs who is kind of William's mentor. Other actors include SNL alum Jimmy Fallon, Zooey Deschanel, THE OFFICE co-star Rainn Wilson, and many others. This movie works on so many levels starting with Patrick Fugit perfectly playing the naive William who is thrusted into a whole new world when trying to get a story together. The chemistry between him and Kate Hudson was great as well as his interactions with Billy Crudup.

Where the Truth Lies (2005): This is my tribute to Maury Chaykin who had a small part as Sally Sanmarco. I will just start by saying this is NC-17 so it is not for everyone. Atom Egoyan directed this film which stars Kevin Bacon and Colin Firth as the comedy duo of Lanny and Vince. Alison Lohman co-stars as reporter Karen who is trying to uncover the truth of a dead girl the duo finds in their hotel room and what their involvement might have been since they shortly broke up their duo. There are some pretty intense scenes but the movie kept me pretty well with the performances of Bacon and Firth. There is not much else I can say without giving too much away.

The Verdict (1982): This is possibly part one of a Paul Newman series but that is subject to change. This is my courtroom drama for the week which stars Mr. Newman as attorney Frank Galvin. Frank has seen better days in his career and in his older age has a long losing streak, is an alcoholic, taking any settlement available, and is quite the ambulance chaser as he conveys in the beginning of the film when he is at a funeral. He is then hired for a medical malpractice lawsuit where everyone expects that he will settle but then realizes that this could be the chance to redeem his career and self-respect and decides to pursue it further and goes after the people he feels were wrong instead of getting them off with a settlement. Jack Warden plays Frank's mentor and the one who reluctantly helps him with the case. James Mason, in a later role, plays the opposition and is very good near the end of his career. Charlotte Rampling plays Newman's no-nonsense love interest. This was a very compelling drama and possibly my favorite of Paul Newman. Look closely for Bruce Willis and Tobin Bell as courtroom observers.

Spider-Baby or, the Maddest Story Ever Told (1968): Jack Hill directed this horror-comedy which stars Lon Chaney Jr. in a later role near the end of his career. He even sings the theme song which is quite amusing. In this film he plays Bruno who promises a crazy and dying man that he will look after his three genetically crazed adult children. Things get all twisted when some distant relatives come to meet them and even try to dispossess their home where these people get far more than they bargained for. This is not for everyone but for me goes down as a very underrated horror-comedy which was pretty well done. Jack Hill makes his directorial debut here and I guess in 2004 it became a stage musical so not sure how that went. You can find this on instant Netflix.

Diary of a Country Priest (1951): This is my French film for the week directed by Robert Bresson. This movie takes place in a very strict religious town where a young priest comes to work but has a hard time getting accepted and is not in agreement with the strictness of the town. In all the chaos, he must also deal with his own failing health that does not seem to be getting better. Claude Laydu makes his debut as the young and unhealthy priest and is very good. Apparently, that character was the inspiration for the character Travis Bickle in TAXI DRIVER in terms of his eating habits and isolation. This is a rather beautiful film and good for any foreign film buff.

The Tall T (1957): This is part two of my two-part Randolph Scott and director Budd Boetticher series. This is an adaption from a novel from the great author Elmore Leonard who I credit for getting me through high school in assignments where we had to read 300 pages for a novel in each grading period. Randolph plays I guess a drifter who loses his horse in a bet and hitches a ride with a newlywed couple which is then taken hostage by a man named Frank Usher, played by Richard Boone, and his men and gets worse when they learn the daughter, played by Maureen O'Sullivan, is a the daughter of a wealthy man. Brennan must then do what he can to keep them safe and the husband proves to not be the nicest man himself. This would be more for people who love the western genre. It is not really my favorite genre but I did not mind this 78 minute film with some good action and decent story.

Carrington (1995): This movie focuses on painter Dora Carrington, played very well by Emma Thompson, and focuses on many of her loves but mainly on the relationship with homosexual writer Lytton Strachey, played by Jonathan Pryce. The time period was during World War one England. She later forms a more physical relationship with soldier Ralph Partridge, played by Steven Waddington, who Lytton accepts as a friend but turns into an awkward situation. I do not put this movie on the level of great but because of the performances by the leads I can put as good. Pryce is they type of actor that never really looks the same in any film and this is no exception. Pryce and Thompson worked very well together.

Somewhat Secret (1939): This is my short film for the week which I found on TCM. This takes place in a very strict girls school where the assistant dean of the school declares that if any girl is caught doing the horrible sin of swing dancing will be in a lot of trouble. She then has a boyfriend who is the leader of a swing band and things get very complicated. This is a pretty fun 21 minutes. I notice I have been doing the 1939 thing a lot lately and possibly again next week.

Sugar (2008): I found this one on HBO On-Demand which this movie was produced by HBO films. Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck directed this baseball film which focuses on baseball players from the Dominican Republic and are invited to come try out for baseball and the United States. Algenis Perez Soto stars as the title character which the title is his nickname. It is a great portrait on how difficult the transition can be learning a new language, culture, even baseball style. When looking up this actor, I find this is his only film and his only one is great. I don't know where they found him and what the actor wants to do but he deserves more work if he wants it. This was a very well done independent film that is much lower on the radar than it should be so I hope this gets it a little exposure. It is available through Netflix. I do not believe it is any longer on On-Demand.

From Russia With Love (1963): This is part two of my James Bond series and it might continue next week but I am not sure yet. I might even have a movie with Robert Shaw next week but that is also subject to change. Last week I did GOLDFINGER which was the third but this week I feature the second one and what I consider to be more underrated Bond. Connery plays everyone's favorite British spy James Bond where he must investigate Russia and what they believe are threats except that it is a plot from the terrorist organization SPECTRE to get the British and Russians to fight each other. We first meet Bond's arch-nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld but only see the back of his head. Lotte Lenya plays former KGB agent turned SPECTRE terrorist Rosa Klebb who has some very interesting shoes. Robert Shaw was also very good as their trained terrorist Donald Grant who also never looks the same in his movies. Daniela Bianachi plays the naive Russian Tatiana who is being used by SPECTRE for their master plan. This is also the introduction of Desmond Llewelan as Boothroyd who us Bond fans for years would later be known as Q. It would not be until GOLDFINGER where we has the great dialogue between him and Bond though. Walter Gotell also makes his Bond debut as terrorist Morzeny but would later become recurring character of the KGB General Gogal which got introduced in the Roger Moore era and would become more of an uneasy ally for the British. This is a very good entry and Connery notes it as his favorite of his Bond films.

Well, that is it for this week. Stay tuned next week for the 250th Edition which so far includes Sandra Dee, Colin Farrell, Ari Folman, Brittany Murphy, and many others.