Shaun Berk's 10 Movie Recommendations- 263rd Edition

Welcome to the 263rd Edition of my series. I am now unemployed in the world of community theater and have had a pretty good year doing GUYS AND DOLLS at Belfry in Noblesville, WANDERING...FROM KENTUCKY which was a one-night read-through show through Muncie's Heartland Theater Company, ARSENIC AND OLD LACE at the Anderson Mainstage Theatre, and TALK RADIO at the Muncie Civic Studio Theater. Who knows, maybe something bigger will happen next year but thanks to all involved in these shows I have done. I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. I had a good time with family and watching football and a good day in Fantasy Football. My team is now in an undisputed lead in my division so hopefully this week I can keep it. This week I pay tribute to the late HAWAII 5-0 alum James MacArthur who recently left us. I also continue two-part series to Josh Brolin, Peter Lorre, and Alec Guinness as well as the continuation with "The Chain" with Christina Ricci. Now it is time for the ten recommendations for the week.

New York, I Love You (2009): This is part three of "The Chain" and Christina Ricci's last link for right now. This is something that might be good for a date night. One thing that you might already guess is that this movie takes place in New York and that is probably not hard to guess. The film looks at many different love stories which have many directors and actors. For me some of these worked and some did not. I really liked the segment between Maggie Q and Ethan Hawke as well as the one with the elderly couple of Eli Wallach and Cloris Leachman. No need to describe each and every one of these but my favorite was the one with more unknown actors Anton Yelchin and Olivia Thirlby who takes the girl in a wheelchair to prom with James Caan playing the girl's father. This is also not for everyone but had some pretty interesting short stories. There is quite the all-star cast in this one and this is available on Instant Netflix. Next week, the chain continues with one of the actors or actresses from this film.

American Gangster (2007): This is part two in my two-part Josh Brolin film where last week I featured his film debut THE GOONIES. Here he plays the corrupt Detective Trupo. Ridley Scott directs this movie and reunites with Russell Crowe who plays Detective Richie Roberts who is determined to bring down the drug empire of Frank Lucas, played by Denzel Washington. Like the first one, this one takes place in New York in the Manhatton area and is a true story. This film takes place shortly after the death of Lucas' mentor Bumpy Johnson who was likely the most successful black gangster in a mafia in the United States. Frank then takes everything he learns to create a very successful empire giving his family a much better life financially but at a very high price. Ruby Dee plays Frank's mother and gives a great performance in this film. The movie jumps back and forth with both Richie and Frank's story until their eventual meeting. Crowe was also very good as the dedicated detective whose personal life was more difficult. Washington jumps out of his comfort zone very well to play drug lord Frank Lucas who did whatever he had to in order to stay on top even at the expense of family. Next week may feature Denzel Washington again but I'm not sure yet.

Copy (1929): This is my short film of the week which I found on TCM On-Demand. This one takes place at a newpaper company where Roscoe Karns stars as editor John Mack who wants to do a series on the lack of safety measures that a ship owner uses. The owner puts a lot of pressure on the paper to now publish the stories but then a disaster on a ship happens which affects John's personal life. It is an interesting look at a Newspaper place of that era.

Swiss Family Robinson (1960): This is my tribute to the late James MacArthur who plays the oldest son of the Robinson family. The Robinson family gets stranded on an island because they are shipwrecked. They decide to make the most of their situation and settle on the island building a home on the island which is a treehouse but a very effective one. John Mills, Dorothy McGuire, James MacArthur, Tommy Kirk, and Kevin Corcoran play the Robinson family which is in order from the father, mother, the oldest son to the youngest. There are some pirates near the island which are not fond of the Robinson family leading to a climatic battle towards the end where the Robinson family make some very clever weapons to fight the pirates. This is a live-action Disney film and possibly their best in live-action. It is a fun movie to watch with the family and shows a family who appreciate what they have in each other and pick up lots of unusual pets in the process. This is a remake to a 1940 film from RKO which Walt Disney apparently confiscated all the copies he could find when purchasing the rights so now I am curious to check out RKO's version.

Jack and the Beanstalk (1952): I found this movie on my new app called Pub-D-Hub which is only available on my Roku player that also plays instant Netflix. This group plays public domain material which consists of film, television, cartoon, classic commercials, and radio productions and is a pretty cool thing. This is actually an Abbott and Costello film. In the beginning, Lou finds work babysitting the worst child ever where Lou has a hard time reading it so the kid reads it which then sets off the fantasy story of Lou being Jack who battles the giant on top of the beanstalk. Bud plays the person who supplies Jack with his beans. This is A & C's first film in color. It is a pretty entertaining later film for the comedy duo. The Roku is a small device that works off wireless or wired internet and can do a lot of cool things so check out roku.com for information.

Casino Royale (1954): This is part two of my two-part Peter Lorre series and this is actually an episode of a tv show called CLIMAX and probably the episode that lives on due to its historic value. Yes, this is based on Ian Fleming's novel and the first featured James Bond film which stars Barry Nelson as Jimmy Bond and Peter Lorre plays crime boss Le Chiffre. Bond must beat the expert poker player in a high-stakes game. This is very interesting to watch but far from the great movie character we would meet. This is also the reason that the first Bond film was DR. NO instead of this one which is the original novel. CBS owned the right and many years later, the rights were bought and this would go onto become my favorite Bond film with my favorite Bond actor in Daniel Craig so maybe it was good this was made. One interesting thing about this is that Bond's CIA ally Felix Leiter is renamed Clarence Leiter and in this show was British and Bond being American and having the name "Card Sense Jimmy Bond". This is also said to have been a possible pilot for a James Bond series which never got off the ground. This is available on Instant Netflix.

Talk Radio (1988): As many know, I just got done with this show which was performed at the Muncie Civic Studio Theater. Oliver Stone directed this adaptation to the play written by Eric Bogosian who also stars as controversial radio host Barry Champlain. This character was inspired by real-life radio talk show host Alan Berg. In this story, Champlain learns that his show is to go national which he does not like fearing that he may be forced to edit his content so now he is at full emotion with all his callers where he holds nothing back with them. He is also having personal problems with his love life and his ex-wife coming back to town. This is not an upbeat story by any means. The play version takes place solely at the radio station but in the movie they expand outside of the station which I understand. I feel they did a pretty good job making this into a workable film. Ellen Greene, Alec Baldwin, John C. McGinley, and many others co-star. Thanks to Bill Wilkison for obtaining the play to direct at the Muncie Civic Studio Theater and for his dedication to the show. This is available on Instant Netflix.

The Proposal (2009): This could be another a couple could get for date movie night and one even a man might enjoy. I liked this a lot more than I expected. This is part of what I call the 2009 Sandra Bullock trilogy. In this year, we have THE BLIND SIDE which she won an Academy Award for Best Actress. We also have ALL ABOUT STEVE where she won a Razzie award for Worst Actress. This is the one that slides right in the middle. Sandra plays the very successful but pushy boss Margaret Tate. Ryan Reynolds plays her hapless assistant Andrew who does everything for her in hopes for promotion and his own success. Margaret is a native of Canada who learns of her Visa expiring so she forces Andrew to marry her to stay in the country in pretty much blackmailing him knowing he will lose his job if she leaves. He reluctantly plays along and takes her to meet his family in Alaska so that she can pose as the fiancee. Mary Steenburgen, Craig T. Nelson and Betty White co-star as his family with White very amusing as the grandmother. I found there to be more to this than a typical romantic comedy which I felt focused more on the comedy than romance. To the guys out there, if getting a movie to watch with your significant other, this is one of the better ones to watch. This is available on Instant Netflix.

Oliver Twist (1948): Most of us know the musical version but this is the non-musical version of the Dickens classic which was still a great story and film. David Lean directed this version which stars John Howard Davies as the title character whose mother dies at childbirth, ends up in a very mean orphanage, escapes to find refuge with a group of thieves. Alec Guinness stands out in this film as Fagin who teaches children the art of pick-pocketing where he and the Artful Dodger take in Oliver which is a better situation than what he had. The performances were great in this film as well as the cinematography. This was actually released in 1951 because at the time Jewish groups did a lot of protesting feeling that Guinness' portrayal of Fagin was anti-semitic. Anderson Mainstage Theatre did this show in musical format in October and the Muncie Civic Theater will be doing it starting next weekend but I just could not get a part in either version and it is one of my favorite musicals from that era but I'm sure I'll enjoy it just the same. This is available on Instant Netflix.

Happy Together (1997): Kar Wai Wong directed this very daring Hong Kong film which stars Hong Kong stars Tony Leung and Leslie Cheung as gay couple Yiu-Fai and Po-Wing. They decide to go to Argentina for the holiday where their relationship goes adrift and both find it hard to get back to Hong Kong. This is not for everyone but is a pretty well-done foreign film about a gay couple who just keep moving apart. The beginning of the film really make sure we know they are gay for if that is not your thing, you better not watch it. The two actors worked very well together and probably took criticism for taking these parts. The end when Yiu-Fai was analyzing and comparing his life to Po-Wing was a pretty well-done scene.

Well, that is it for this week. Tell me what you like and what you hate and stay tuned next week which so far includes Anna Chlumsky, Jennifer Garner, Vince Vaughn, Fred Williamson, Red Skelton, John Wayne, and many others.