Shaun Berk's 10 Movie Recommendations- 267th Edition

Welcome to the 267th Edition of my long-running series. I hope everyone is having a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, or a Happy Kwanzaa. This one is the last installment for the year 2010 and a good year it has been. This week I pay tribute to the late Blake Edwards who recently left us. This week I am in the finals of fantasy football and if I win this week I win a $150 cash prize so we'll see how that goes.

The Hurt Locker (2008): This is the seventh link of the chain and the first one for Brian Geraghty who co-starred in last week's JARHEAD, another war movie. JARHEAD was based on Desert Storm and this one was based on the current war in Iraq. Jeremy Renner stars as Sergeant James who joins an elite group and proves to be a man who lives on the edge as part of a bomb disposal team. His reckless actions really dismay Sanborn, played by Anthony Mackie, and Eldridge, played this this week's chain link Brian Geraghty. The movie was filmed in Jordan hoping to make the look authentic. I know this has went to very mixed opinions and have found that its biggest haters are people in the military and the portrayals. Many have said that the Explosive Ordinance Disposal is not nearly as active as they are in the film. There has also been criticism towards the character of James and his recklessness. I will not pretend to have any kind of expertise towards this war and maybe if I was in Iraq I would have thought different but I have heard praise that it captures the war conditions very well. Ralph Fiennes, David Morse, and Guy Pearce are the biggest names of the film but have very small parts as director Kathryn Bigelow wanted as many unknowns as possible. The film was written by Mark Boal who was a freelance journalist and wrote a fictional story about the things he saw. This movie beat out the visually stunning AVATAR which was coincidentally enough directed by Bigelow's ex-husband James Cameron. Maybe there was some exaggeration which was to be expected but I also thought it was a good portrayal on a unit in the military though I liked last week's war film JARHEAD better but not really into the war genre much anyways. The Chain will continue next week with another Brian Geraphty film.

Strangers With Candy (2005): This is part three of my four part Philip Seymour Hoffman series which features a very small part from him. This is actually a prequel to the short-lived cult series of the same title in 1999. Amy Sedaris plays Jerri Blank, a 47 year old ex-con, who returns home to find that her father is in a coma and that he has married with another son who are not eager to accept Jerri. Jerri feels that if she does something to make her father proud that he will come out of the coma. With that she decides to re-enroll in high school which was the storyline in the tv series in order to finally graduate. She then finds that it is not an easy task when she gets put on a science team and must learn to be a team player. I have not seen the tv series. I may check it out on Instant Netflix when I am done with NIP/Tuck, but this had some pretty funny moments. Stephen Colbert, Sarah Jessica Parker, Dan Hedaya, and Matthew Broderick co-star.

A Christmas Carol (1910): Last week, I promised another adaptation to the Dickens classic and found this Thomas Edison produced version on my Pub-D-Hub app on my Roku. With Edison's invention of the video camera, he produced countless short films including this 10 minute version of the timeless classic. I wondered how good this would be with only being a few minutes but it ended up working pretty well using the basic elements to put it together. With the scenes with the ghosts, they actually had some pretty good special effects for the time with double exposures. It is on public domain so it can probably be obtained through websites that feature this.

The Pink Panther (1963): This is my tribute to Blake Edwards who directed this film which introduced us to the bumbling Inspector Jacques Clouseau. Peter Sellers plays the detective who is investigating the master thief The Phantom who he does not know is right under his nose. David Niven stars as Sir Charles Lytton who becomes one of the main suspects. Robert Wagner, Capucine, Robert Wagner, and Claudia Cardinale also co-star. I liked the sequel A SHOT IN THE DARK a lot better but this was a good introduction with a great opening sequence, the birth of one of the best movie scores of all time from Henry Mancini, and a great performance from Sellers who I did not feel was used enough.

Holiday Affair (1949): I found this one on TCM which I find is a very overlooked holiday film. Robert Mitchum stars as sales clerk Steve Mason who gets fired due to a misunderstanding with a customer named Connie. Janet Leigh plays Connie who is a single mother and widowed from a husband who died in the war. Connie then feels bad for what happened where she forms a friendship with him which does not sit well with her suitor Carl, played from Wendell Corey, but sits well with her son who really likes Steve. From there romantic complications follow. Mitchum was great as Steve who is a very friendly person. Mitchum took the part in order to clean up his "bad-boy" image he had and this was something different for Robert Mitchum. Leigh was also very good as Connie and Gordon Gebert was good as her son who did not want Carl as a stepfather but really took a liking to Steve.

Always (1985): Henry Jaglom wrote, directed, produced and stars in this romantic film on a couple on the verge of divorce. Jaglom and Patrice Townsend star as married couple David and Judy where Judy wants to get a divorce. When about to sign the papers, their divorce attorney makes them wait until after the weekend. To distract them, they are joined by some of their other friends which are two other couples where they begin to question their divorce. This is a rather personal film for Jaglom who had his own divorce settlement going on where while there is poor editing and such, he captures this type of couple pretty well. I also liked the way it ended.

Swamp Women (1955): I decided to use some Roger Corman for the week. Carole Matthews stars as police lieutenant Lee Hampton who goes undercover in a women's prison to lead an escape to find a stolen loot of diamonds which leads them into a very swampy place. They then take a couple hostage which really complicates things as the women start fighting each other and Lee begins to like the man whose girlfriend did not seem to care much about him. This is the directorial debut for Roger Corman which is you are expecting a great plot, this is not it but it is a good B-Movie to watch with the friends.

The Rookie (1990): Clint Eastwood directed and stars in this buddy cop film as veteran cop Nick Pulovski who is stuck with rookie cop David Ackerman, played by Charlie Sheen. Together they go after Pulovski's rival Strom, played by Raul Julia. This is not one of Eastwood's better films but is a fun action film and has some humorous moments. Sheen was pretty fun as the tense rookie who becomes a very loose cannon when exposed by his partner including a scene where he drives through his own home on his motorcycle knowing his wife is in danger. He also has the death of his brother on his head from when they were kids which he still blames himself for. Sonia Braga, Tom Skerritt, Lara Flynn Boyle, and Xander Berkeley co-star. The beginning takes place at Christmas.

Superman (1978): I found this one on Encore On-Demand which is the special edition version of the film and is two and a half hours rather that the version that is a little over two hours. Richard Donner directed this superhero film which was a great superhero film before it became the big thing that it is today. This film holds its own among all the superhero fans we have. Christopher Reeve plays the Man of Steel in this film which takes a look at his father Jor-El, played well by Marlon Brando, condemns three criminals and must get his baby boy Kal-El sent to Earth before Krypton is destroyed. Kal-El is sent to the small town of Smallville where he is adopted by the Kents and becomes Clark Kent. It takes a look at how difficult it was for him to grow up where he is quite different from other. Clark then becomes a mild-mannered reporter in the Metropolis and doubles as Superman who gets his power from our sun. Gene Hackman stars as Superman's arch-enemy Lex Luthor who is a great criminal mind whose efforts are complicated by Superman. Margot Kidder plays Lois Lane who would become a good friend of Superman and have a bit of a love triangle with Clark and Superman. We also get a great music score from John Williams and some great opening sequences which I seems to be commenting quite a bit on this week. Jackie Cooper plays newspaper editor Perry White who reminded me of a nicer J. Jonah Jameson who is the editor in the world of Spider-Man. Look closely for Kirk Alyn who plays the father of young Lois Lane in the beginning on the train. Alyn was the first live-action Superman. The sequel was also very good and this was a near-perfect superhero film that is just as good if not better than most of the superhero films they put out today.

Tsunami: The Aftermath (2006): I end with this HBO mini-series which takes place after the real-life tsunami that took place in Southeast Asia in 2004. These are fictional situations that were inspired by the stories of people who lived it. Chiwetel Ejiofor and Sophie Okonedo co-star as a couple who lost their daughter in the tsunami and who deal with her disappearance in much different ways. Tim Roth plays a reporter who is obviously a loose cannon and is trying to uncover the truth of the knowledge people had of the tsunami. Toni Collette and Hugh Bonneville also co-star. This one did go to mixed opinions and the first part was a lot better. I liked the segments with Ejiofor and Okonedo the most who lent the most emotional depth. I can always watch Toni Collette who plays a relief worker. Maybe it could have been better if they took out one or two of the stories but still pretty well-done.

Well, that is it for this week. Stay tuned for next week which so far includes more Brian Geraphty, more Philip Seymour Hoffman, and many others. I decided to use a couple Honorable Holiday Mentions so keep going.

HONORABLE HOLIDAY MENTIONS

These are two of my favorite annual holiday viewings. I know there is a lot more but this is all for right now.

A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965): This is such a timeless special where Charlie Brown seeks the meaning of Christmas when he sees that everyone is going commercial. He is appointed director of the Christmas Pageant and finds even that is going to be quite difficult when his actors are not the most cooperative and must have Linus' help to discover the true meaning. This year I decided to buy the great Charlie Brown Christmas Tree which plays the Charlie Brown theme. This a timeless classic that each generation can appreciate even in the year 3000.

It's a Wonderful Life (1946): This is something that I can watch every year on Christmas. James Stewart stars as George Bailey who is a small-town boy looking to get out of Bedford Falls but things happen when his father dies and must stay in town to keep his father's banking business going. Lionel Barrymore plays Mr. Potter who is doing everything he can to take over the town and needs Bailey's business to go further. Things happen to Bailey where everything comes full circle where a second-class angel named Clarence, played by Henry Travers, is sent down and shows George the kind of life he would have if he had not been born. Frank Capra directed this ultimate holiday film which shows us we must embrace life and doing little things can go a long way. Look for a grown-up Alfalfa from THE LITTLE RASCALS during the reunion scene.