Shaun Berk's 10 Movie Recommendations- 254th Edition

Welcome to the 254th Edition of my long running series. Starting next week I will have some focus towards Halloween oriented films as I'm sure Horror Movie Madness will start soon so much focus will be on that and whatever "loopholes" I can find. This week I end my five-part Robin Williams series. I started out with animation and I end with him in animation. I started with him in HAPPY FEET where he lends out his great speaking voice. I then went to a couple of his 80s classics of DEAD POET'S SOCIETY and THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP. From there I featured Williams' best film in years with WORLD'S GREATEST DAD and end in another animation film where his voice is used. I also end my Quentin Tarantino series where I started out with his great feature debut, then went to the great KILL BILL VOLUME 1, and end it inglouriously. Also, I had a three part Steve Martin series where I started with his western comedy THREE AMIGOS, I then went into a smaller part but great performance for LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS and now I end with lots of moving vehicles. I also have a lot more so get out your Netflix and Blockbuster queues and read on.

Arsenic and Old Lace (1944): I was recently in this production at the Anderson Mainstage Theatre where I played Lt. Rooney so like after every show I like to check out the movie. I had seen this but it had been quite a while. Cary Grant stars as Mortimer Brewster, a theater critic who is just getting married and learns his beloved aunts as well as other people are rather insane. Josephine Hull and Jean Adair play aunt Abby and Martha who believe they are doing lonely men a favor by poisoning their drinks to put them out of their misery and give them a burial. Mortimer also has a brother convinced he is president Theodore Roosevelt. Raymond Massey co-stars as the very insane Jonathan Brewster who has escaped prison and decides to reside in his aunts' home much to the dismay of Mortimer. Peter Lorre plays Dr. Einstein who is Jonathan's henchman and the one that gives him a face that looks like Boris Karloff. Karloff actually originated this part on stage in 1941 where he plays this guy who "looks like Karloff. In observing my character, James Gleason plays Lt. Rooney and is quite a bit older than me and he was rather sarcastic. I played the serious lieutenant where is was apparently so serious it was funny as some people said. Cary Grant regards this film as his least feeling he was very over-the-top but I felt he remained at a good level for a part that already is rather over-the-top. This movie obviously has differences to the play like any adaptation but it remained pretty faithful to the script and had lots of laughs in this rather dark comedy from the great director Frank Capra.

Robots (2005): I end the five-part Robin Williams series with this animated film from Twentieth Century Fox where he plays the robot Fender. Ewan McGregor stars as idealistic young inventor Rodney Copperbottom who hopes to get his inventions noticed and sets off to the metropolis robot city. Fender is his fast talking friend he meets in the big city. His dreams go up in jeopardy when he sees his idol Bigweld is no longer running his corporation that has been taken over by the evil Ratchet, voiced by Greg Kinnear. I know this got mixed opinions but I really enjoyed the animation and the concept of a robot society weing taken over by big business. There were lots of people who provided voices here like Halle Berry, Paul Giamatti, Jim Broadbent, Mel Brooks, and many others. I was not big on the fart jokes and even fat jokes but mostly enjoyed the film as a whole.

Inglourious Basterds (2009): This is the last part of my three part Tarantino series. In this film, he gives us his take of Nazi era WW2. Brad Pitt stars as Lt. Aldo Raine who leads the military group of the film title whose job is to kill as many Nazis as possibly and have a very extreme way of killing them. Christoph Waltz co-stars as ruthless Nazi Colonel Hans Landa who we see in the beginning lead a massacre of a Jewish family leaving the daughter Shoshanna, played by Melanie Laurent, who years later owns a German movie theater while planning revenge against the Nazis. This was a very complex story which would be rather hard to really go any further but with Tarantino, we know this is the real story of the Nazis and Hitler. Eli Roth, Mike Myers, Julie Dreyfus all co-star. There are a lot of violent, funny, and sad moments in this film where Tarantino does it again. Waltz won many awards for this star-making performance for his American fame. This is a script that Quentin has been working on for many years but put it off for a little bit in favor of his KILL BILL films. Pitt was also a lot of fun in his role. Eli Roth directed the film within-a-film that was shown at the movie theater. There are also a lot of references to the German cinema of that era including someone playing the legendary German actor Emil Jannings.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (1987): This is the last part of my three-part Steve Martin series. John Hughes directed this comedy starring the great combo of Steve and John Candy. Martin stars as businessman Neal Page who is trying to get home from Thanksgiving but things go awry when his flight gets cancelled and must find other means to get home. John Candy plays Del who is always with Neal no matter how much he wants to get away from him. Del always give Neal advice, tells bad jokes, and has other things that irritate Neal which make it a lot harder for him. Together, they must go through all means that include vehicles of each kind listed in the title. The two stars worked very well together and John Hughes pulled off a good adult comedy when known for directing the Brat Pack. Other actors include Kevin Bacon, Michael McKean, Dylan Baker, and many others. Steve Martin has cited this one as his favorite.

Friday Foster (1975): I now bring you some Blaxploitation though this one is milder than some. This movie stars Blaxploitation queen Pam Grier who plays the title character who is a photographer. Foster is sent to photograph Blake Tarr, the richest black man in the world where she witnesses an assassination attempt on him. She teams with police officer Colt Hawkins, played by Yaphet Kotto, to take down an assassination ring on many other rich black men. Eartha Kitt co-stars as Madame Rena. This was a pretty entertaining film and a pretty good performance from Grier. This is based on a comic strip that started in 1970.

Hollywood Hobbies (1939): This is my short film for the week which I found on TCM On-Demand. This movie shows a couple women taking a tour to see what kind of hobbies people in Hollywood have. This shows Clark Gable in his hobby and later a big, celebrity baseball game. It was interesting seeing all these actors from the Golden Age which include Buster Keaton, James Stewart, Mary Pickford, Tyrone Power, and many others. It looks like this is available on the Clark Gable Signature Collection boxed set.

An Autumn Afternoon (1962): This is my Japanese film for the week which was directed by Yasujiro Ozu in his last film. This is a character study on an aging Japanese man who realizes that his daughter should not have to care for him the rest of her life and looks to get her married. Many people when thinking of Japan, think Samurai, horror, and other violent films. This takes a very good look at a simple Japanese family in that era. There is not much to say but this was quite a work of art and very moving which I think foreign film buffs will enjoy.

The Funeral (1996): This is my mafia film for the week which was directed by Abel Ferrera. This movie features a mafia family from the 1930s, whose youngest brother, played by Vincent Gallo, was murdered and they do what they can to find out who killed him and to avenge his death. Gallo plays Johnny who was murdered and it flashes back to the events leading into his murder. Christopher Walken plays the oldest brother Ray who wants to find the killer but is pretty laid back about it. Chris Penn plays the other brother Chez who is a lot more angry making himself a loose cannon. Other people include Benicio Del Toro, Gretchen Mol, Isabella Rossellini, and Annabella Sciorra. This is an interesting look at the mafia showing that how even though the brothers did not kill Johnny, they were not necessarily innocent as they taught him the things he knew. Del Toro was also good as their rival Gaspare.

The Cry Baby Killer (1958): This is part one of my two-part Jack Nicholson series. I now bring you the film debut of Jack Nicholson. Here, he plays Jimmy who is bullied a lot and panics when he believes he has killed a couple people. In his panic he takes some people hostage including a mother and her baby. THe police plead with him to let the hostages go but his fear clouds his judgment. Roger Corman produced this film thus helping Nicholson get started when seeing him in an acting school. Nicholson shows signs of what he will become later making a pretty good debut here. Make no mistake this is a b-movie but still very fun to watch and worth the 70 minutes.

Tipping the Velvet (2002): I end this week with this British mini-series and probably the best of the BBC mini-series I have seen to date. This is a three-episode series looking at a lesbian affair from the 1890s. Rachel Stirling stars as Nan who becomes very fascinated by male-impersonator Kitty, played very well by Keeley Hawes. She soon meets Kitty where they form an affair, even become a partnered act, but then Nan gets hurt and must go on her own journey of self-discovery realizing she must rely on herself. This is a very beautiful story which moves very well through the three episodes. I got this off Netflix.

Well, that is it for this week but stay tuned for next week which so far includes more Jack Nicholson, James Caan, Vincent Price, Bill Paxton, Allison Lohman, Kurt Russell, and many others. October will focus a lot on Halloween oriented film and look for a lot featured from Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell, some together, some separate.