Welcome to the 427th Edition of my series. This weather is driving me nuts. I like my state of Indiana but
this time of year would love to live in Florida. I know it is temporary
though and will just live day by day knowing the warm weather will
come. This evening, my San Francisco 49ers return to Seattle for the
NFC championship where they were blown out earlier in the year but hope
they can adjust and overcome that Seattle curse. I will now get to my
recommendations for the week.
George Harrison:
Living in the Material World (2011): I start the week out with this
music documentary directed by Martin Scorsese. I have been using a lot
of music documentaries lately and may continue to do so for a few
weeks. For those who don't know, George Harrison was a part of that
British group the Beatles as their lead guitarist. This documents his
early days where he meets his bandmates in the Beatles. It then shows
his work as a solo artist, his work with musician Ravi Shankar, his time
with the Traveling Wilburys, among other parts of his life. Harrison
died in 2001 and much of his friends and family reflect on their times
with with Harrison. This is a very informative documentary which take a
very good look at the ups and downs of the former Beatle. This is
available on HBO On-Demand.
The Proposition (2005):
This is my western for the week which was directed by John Hillcoat and
written by Nick Cave who is most known for this band Nick Cave and the
Bad Seeds though Cave is becoming a jack of all trades showing his
ability to write a screenplay. This takes place in 19th century rural
Australia where lawman Captain Stanley, played by Ray Winstone, captures
two of Burns brothers in Charlie and Mike, played by Guy Pierce and
Richard Wilson, who held responsible for a raid on the farm. Their
older brother and the mastermind of the raid Arthur, played by Danny
Huston, is still at large. Stanley then propositions Charlie into
killing Arthur which will get him and Mike a pardon if he can do it in
nine days. There are quite a bit of holiday elements so I wish I knew
that and I would have posted it last month but glad to have seen it.
John Hurt and Emily Watson co-star in this film. The acting,
cinematography, and music score really work for this film to look very
authentic. Cave is one of my favorite musicians but has made quite a
mark in the film industry and this is a very good one here.
Get
Low (2009): Aaron Schneider directed this film based on the real-life
Felix Bush. This takes place in 1930s Tennessee where Robert Duvall
stars as the hermit Bush who is a rather mysterious person and hires a
funeral director named Frank, played by Bill Murray, to have a funeral
while he is still alive so that he can hear what people have to say
about him. Lucas Black co-stars as Frank's employee who tries to
promote the funeral and get everyone there. Sissy Spacek and Bill Cobbs
co-star in this independent comedy-drama. This was a rather odd but
fun and moving film with a great performance from Duvall as well as the
others.
Man with a Movie Camera (1929): Dziga Vertov
directed this silent documentary film which takes a look at a day in the
Soviet Union. It takes a look at everyday city life to the point of
showing an audience watching the film as well as even the editing. This
is more of a visual film which has very fitting music scores for each
one. The footage and the camera work was absolutely amazing. This is
available on Instant Netflix and Amazon Prime.
Have You
Ever Wondered? (1947): This is my short film for the week which is a
comedy short from Pete Smith. This in a comedic way takes a look at
questions about driving, gumballs, food combinations, and even knocking
on wood. The questions are rather stupid but still some funny moments
into this entry into many shorts from Pete Smith.
Harold
and Maude (1971): Hal Ashby directed this cult classic which stars Bud
Cort and Ruth Gordon as the title characters. Harold is I believe 18
years of age and has grown up in a very rich family but does not seem to
fit in with them. He spends his time staging suicide tableau
situations and going to funerals. Maude is a very free spirited woman
who is almost 80 years of age and she also seems to like funerals. The
two of them meet at a funeral and form an unusual relationship with a
bit of an age difference. Vivian Pickles co-stars as Harold's mother
who tries to find her son a future wife through a dating service but
Harold clearly does not want it. I suppose this could be considered a
coming-of-age story for Harold. The two leads worked very well together
and was a very well-written story. There is also a really good
soundtrack from Cat Stevens. It contains some funny moments but also
good themes of love and life. This is available on Amazon Prime.
King
Dinosaur (1955): This is a selection from MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER
3000. Let me see if I can even explain this movie. Four scientists are
sent to visit Planet Nova which is moving into our solar system. They
soon encounter dinosaurs which really looked more like regular lizards.
I never really found a dinosaur that could believably be called "King
Dinosaur". This is the perfect movie to punish Joel, Crow, and Tom
Servo to watch. This is available on Amazon Prime.
Fighter
(2007): This is not that really good movie with Mark Wahlberg. This
movie was actually made in Denmark and directed by Natasha Arthy. Semra
Turan stars as Aicha who is a Turkish girl who is determined to be a
Kung Fu fighter at all costs even with her strict father expecting her
to follow in her footsteps. She secretly joins a co-ed kung fu club and
begins to fall in love with her teammate Emil, played by Cyron
Melville, but must decide to continue her dream or to follow the Muslim
family tradition. This is a nice little independent film of a girl who
wants to break tradition and become a fighter but has a lot more than
fighting and cultural divide. This was a pretty well crafted film with
good fight scenes.
Cape Fear (1962): J. Lee Thompson
directed this thriller based on the novel by John D. McDonald. Gregory
Peck stars as small-town attorney Sam Bowden whose life becomes very
difficult when ex-con Max Cady, played by Robert Mitchum, comes into
town. Bowden helped put Cady behind bars so Cady does what he can to
annoy him and his family then slowly becomes meaner. He most notably
appears to be targeting his daughter Nancy, played by Lori Martin.
Polly Bergen, Martin Balsam, and Telly Savalas co-star in this
suspenseful film. It does a great job of unfolding in slowly building
up to a very good climax. Mitchum did a great job in playing the part
rather subtle, then becoming more psychotic. Many years later, Martin
Scorsese directed a more intense version of this film and I feel both
have their qualities. This one took a more subtle approach which worked
very well though I liked the scenes between Cady and the daughter
better in the remake. This is still worth a look and is available on
the Comcast On-Demand free movies.
Her (2013): I end
with this recent Spike Jonze film and made a rare appearance to the
movie theater to see this one. After an unsuccessful pursuit of a rap
career, Joaquin Phoenix turns in a great performance as Theodore who
works as a letter writer and is a lonely man going through a divorce.
He spends his life at home playing video games and sometimes being with
friends. He soon decides to purchase an operating system called OS1
which is the first artificially intelligent operating system. He soon
becomes drawn to the operating system which has a female voice which
names herself Samantha, voiced by Scarlett Johansson. Samantha soon
begins to understand Theodore more than anyone and they begin to fall in
love even if he cannot physically be with her. This takes place in the
future and while technological it does not portray a bleak future like a
lot of movies do. Jonze has been able to really amaze me with movies
like BEING JOHN MALKOVICH and ADAPTATION and this did not disappoint.
This was a very unusual but very beautiful love story. Chris Pratt,
Rooney Mara, Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig, Amy Adams, Olivia Wilde, Brian
Cox, and many others either make appearances or provide voices. It may
not have needed to be as long as it was but was still a really great
movie in my opinion and is one of those I would rather go to a movie
theater to see.
Well, that is it for this week. Tell
me what you like and what you hate and stay tuned for next week which so
far includes Drew Barrymore, Gwyneth Paltrow, D.W. Griffith, Mickey Rooney, Clive Owen, and many others.
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