Welcome to the 388th Edition of my series.  I did not get cast in LEGALLY BLONDE:  THE MUSICAL which is fine.  I did not figure I really fit any of the characters in the show and was a last minute audition.  This Tuesday, I will be auditioning for INHERIT THE WIND which will be at the Anderson Mainstage Theatre so I will keep updated on that on.  I will now get to my selections for the week.

Enigma (2001):  This movie takes place during WWII where Nazi U-boats have changed their enigma code.  They enlist the services of genius Tom Jericho, played by Dougray Scott, who has helped before but had trouble letting go of his love Claire, played by Saffron Burrows, who disappeared.  In his attempt to crack the code, he finds that Claire might have a connection and enlists her friend Hester, played by Kate Winslet, to help investigate Claire's personal life.  It's really hard for me to describe this movie without giving a lot away.  It is one that you must give full attention to and maybe give a second viewing if necessary.  This is based on a novel by Robert Harris and it is based on a true story upon a code breaker named Alan Turing.  The unlikely duo of Mick Jagger and Lorne Michaels produced this film and Jagger can be seen in a cameo appearance.

Justice League:  Doom (2012):  This is my animated superhero movie for the week and the latest of the Justice League animated superhero movies.  The superheroes of focus on this one are Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, the Flash, Wonder Woman, and Martian Manhunter while joined by a newer one named Cyborg who comes in handy a few times.  Immortal supervillain Vandal Savage raids Batman's batcave and finds files he has put together on each Justice League member that shows their weaknesses in which Batman put them together in the event that they turn or fall into mind control.  Savage now has these files in which he hires each one's rival so they can exploit those weaknesses.  Batman must deal with his strongest rival in Bane.  Wonder Woman must deal with her rival in female supervillain Cheetah.  The Flash must deal with his rival the Mirror Master.  Superman must deal with his rival in Metallo.  Green Lantern has a more personal battle with female supervillain Star Sapphire.  Martian Manhunter deals with his own kind in his rival Ma'alefa'ak.  I have really been enjoying watching animated superhero movies and even tv shows lately.  I admit I really don't have a lot of superhero knowledge on account of comic books but try to get educated through these and even look up characters for more background information when necessary.  I noticed in this one Barry Allen, who is the Flash, was working as a detective which I have not seen in other of these animated superhero movies.  This has some great action scenes as well as some good voice acting.  This was a pretty compelling movie and is available on Instant Netflix.

The Kite Runner (2007):  Marc Forster directed this great independent film which is based on a book by Khaled Hosseini.  Khalid Abdalla stars as Amir who has just gotten a book published and has a great life ahead of him but receives a call that leads him back into his home country of Afghanistan.  It then flashed back to his childhood with his best childhood friend Hassan and Amir does something that loses Hassan's trust which tears them apart.  Years later, he looks to rewrite that wrong and finds that his old country is now being run by the Al Qaeda.  He must do a very dangerous thing in order to earn that redemption.  This is a pretty good depiction of Afghanistan and even diverts from stereotypes like Amir's righteous father who wants nothing to do with terrorism.  While there are some very disturbing scenes, Forster managed to make this into a very moving film with a very authentic feel and good performances.

What Makes a Good Party? (1950):  This is my short film for the week and chose the always entertaining Coronet series of "educational" film.  This short shows a few teenage girls who look to throw a welcoming party for a new student.  It goes into detail how it must be organized to the last degree and the steps in which to go about it.  You also must have some fun activities like in here were hat-making contests and everyone getting together to sing JIMMY CRACKED CORN.  There was not any mention of alcohol, I guess that just was not as big for parties.  This teaches us that everything must be planned, there cannot be any spontaneity and what can be more fun than having about a dozen people standing around a piano and singing that song.

Storm Over Asia (1928):  This is my silent film for the week which is Russian and came out when talkies were starting to come out though I have no idea when Russia had their first talkie.  Valery Inkijinoff stars as Bair who is Mongol herdsman who is cheated by a western fur trader and must escape to the hill after a brawl.  He is soon captured by the Soviets who is found alive after he is shot by the Mongols and they find him alive and discover an amulet that suggests that he is a descendant of Genghis Khan.  They soon restore him to full health and make him the head of a Mongolian puppet regime.  For those who like the silent film, this has some great footage and possibly the best from Russia in this era.  If silent is not part of your repertoire, this is not for you but if you do like this cinema.  I was presented this when seeing my 1001 MOVIES YOU MUST SEE BEFORE YOU DIE book and this is available on DVD which I got from Netflix.

The Muppet Movie (1979):  With the rise of the tv show THE MUPPET SHOW that started in 1976 and what better idea than to turn this into their first movie?  The movie shows Kermit who lives in the swamp and expresses his feelings by singing THE RAINBOW CONNECTION which has gone onto becoming one of the best songs of all time.  An agent, played by Dom Deluise, convinces out favorite frog to pursue a career in Hollywood and in the process meets who would become his best friends like Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, the Great Gonzo, among many others.  In their pursuit of Hollywood they must face a frog-leg restaurant magnate, played by Charles Durning, who is after Kermit.  There are many celebrity cameos like Milton Berle, Mel Brooks, James Coburn, Elliot Gould, Bob Hope, Madeline Kahn, Carol Kane, Cloris Leachman, Richard Pryor, Telly Savalas, Paul Williams, and Orson Welles.  There is also a very amusing cameo from SESEME STREET'S Big Bird who did not join the Muppets because he was in pursuit of public tv while they wanted Hollywood and both ended up very successful.  This is available on Instant Netflix.  This is a very fun movie that is for everyone and I still question if I was supposed to be born a man feeling like I'm more of a Muppet.

Possessed (1947):  This is my film-noir this week directed by Curtis Bernhardt and stars Joan Crawford fresh off her great 1945 film MILDRED PIERCE.  Crawford stars as Louise Howell who we first meet in a very dazed state of mind looking for a man named David, who will be played by Van Heflin.  She is then taken to a psychiatric hospital where she is able to piece together events of what happened revealing her borderline personality taking an early look at Schizophrenia.  The story of Louise and David is that Louise is very emotionally unstable and in love with David but David is not really returning the amount of love nor does he want that kind of life at the time so he leaves.  Louise is working as a nurse for Dean Graham, played by Raymond Massey, and tending to his invalid wife who soon dies and she forms a relationship with Dean but still longs for David making the events all unfold to a very satisfactory film and possibly Crawford's best performance.  This is really worth a look even by today's standards.

Half Nelson (2006):  Ryan Fleck co-wrote and directed this independent film that stars Ryan Gosling.  Gosling plays Dan Dunne who is an inner city middle school history teacher and coaches girls basketball.  Dunne strays from the history curriculum and teaches in a way to make students thing for themselves which does not do well with his superiors who want him to go with the curriculum.  He still has much stress in his life and has a problem with drugs.  Shareeka Epps co-stars as Drey who is a middle school girl in Dan's class and on the team.  She has her own problems like her father always being absent.  She is close to her mother but her mother works a lot.  She finds Dan doing drugs at school and they form an unlikely friendship and find their lives changing.  Anthony Mackie stars as Frank who is a small-time drug dealer who Dan is trying to keep Dray away from.  All three of these people put on very good performances.  This is a rather realistic portrait of the inner city struggles and a movie driven by the characters which is something I can usually enjoy.  Gosling is someone I can usually really enjoy and he did not disappoint me in this one.

Jacob (1994):  This is my tv movie for the week and part of "The Bible Collection" that TNT aired.  Matthew Modine stars as the biblical title character who is the son of Isaac, played by Joss Acklund, and Rebekah, played by Irene Papas, and when his father is dying, Rebekah and Jacob scheme to not have the other son Esau, played by Sean Bean, have the inheritance.  This sets off a lot of tension which makes Jacob leave and soon meets Rachel, played by THE PRACTICE alum Lara Flynn Boyle, and falls in love.  In order to earn her hand in marriage he must work for her father Laban, played by Giancarlo Giannini, for seven years.  For seven years, he proves to be a very good worker and believes he is getting his wish only to be tricked into sleeping with his oldest daughter Leah, played by Juliet Aubrey, and must work another seven years to have Rachel.  This is mostly going to be for those who are religious but is a pretty good love story with Modine very good as Jacob who would go onto have twelve sons and at least one daughter including who most know as Joseph. 

Witchfinder General (1968):  I end this week with some Vincent Price where in England, there are a lot of witch superstitions as there is a lot of political strife that allows unscrupulous men to gain local power.  Michael Reeves directed this movie and is his final movie as he died of a drug overdose shortly after it was put out.  Price stars as witch prosecutor Matthew Hopkins who along with his sadistic assistant Stearne, played by Robert Russell, they go around and interrogate those they say are witches and in a very torturous manner.  Ian Ogilvy stars as Richard Marshall who is engaged to a priest's niece and after they go after the priest he sets out to go after Hopkins and Stearne.  This is a pretty dark movie and is quite violent and disturbing but I do not believe it is as unrealistic as some might think with the paranoia of people thought to be witches and must go through very extreme measures to prove their innocence.  Price is great in his role and might be one of his best performances.  This is available on Instant Netflix and is a very well-done and underrated Vincent Price film.

Well, that is it for this week.  Tell me what you like and what you dislike.  Stay tuned for next week which so far includes Walter Matthau, Emma Stone, Mike Myers, Tilda Swinton, Gong Li, Spencer Tracy, Ed Helms, and many others.

 

Welcome to the 304th Edition of my series. I started rehearsals this week for SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET. It is coming along pretty well and believe this will be a good show. Today is the start of the regular season and with last Thursday's game between the Saints and Packers I am down in fantasy but hope that my guys can get me an opening week victory. It's been a pretty fun weekend. Last Friday, I went to Vecino's to support Ashley's singing gig and while it was a small crowd it was a very good one even if it was one we had to conjure up. Last night, I had a wrestling show for Action Packed Wrestling and while it was rather chaotic, still had a lot of fun. Today, I went to the Westfield Playhouse to see my friend Doug in the musical DON'T HUG ME and was a very fun musical. Now I am just hoping that my fantasy team wins. I'll get to my picks for the week now.

Brothers (2009): This is part three of my four-part Natalie Portman series. This is a remake of a 2004 Denmark film. Tobey Maguire stars as Captain Sam Cahill and Jake Gyllenhaal plays his ex-con brother Tommy Cahill. Natalie Portman plays Sam's wife Grace. Grace and Sam are the ones who are married and he is sent on another tour of duty in Afghanistan. While in Afghanistan Sam is captured and was tortured being forced to do unspeakable things. He is also believed to be dead. Tommy is the brother getting out of prison and more of the black sheep. In his getting his life together, he tries to help Grace and he two kids cope forming more of a relationship with Grace. When Sam gets out of the prison and back home he is very bitter and difficult to deal with bringing tension with everyone. This was a pretty well-done film with good performances from the stars. Sam Shepard and Mare Winningham co-star as the parents of the brothers. This is available on Instant Netflix.

The Old Grey Mayor (1935): This is my short film for the week which stars Bob Hope as Bob. Him and his fiancee are trying to break the news to her father but finds that is not easy as her father does not want her to marry him. She then has to go through some comic means to marry her. There are some pretty funny moments and good for purposes of seeing Bob Hope.

School For Scoundrels (1960): Yes, this is the original movie to the 2006 film with Billy Bob Thornton and Jon Heder. This is a British comedy which stars Ian Carmichael as Henry Palfrey who always wants to impress but loses out to the rotten Raymond Delauncey, played by Terry-Thomas. Most notably he is interested in a girl but Raymond also wants her. Henry then enrolls in the College of Lifemanship in order to learn the secrets of success. Alastair Sim plays the so-called professor of this college. This is a pretty funny but must appreciate British humor. This is available on Instant Netflix.

The Outsiders (1983): Francis Ford Coppola directed what I call this Before They Were Stars films which includes C. Thomas Howell, Matt Dillon, Rob Lowe, Patrick Swayze, Emilio Estevez, Tom Cruise, Ralph Macchio, and Diane Lane before they became the actors they are today. S.E. Hinton wrote the novel. The guys are part of the Greasers and when some members of their rival gang the Socs are killed in self-defense it sets off a bad chain of events leading into a rumble between the two gangs. C. Thomas Howell is the main person Ponyboy who narrates the story. Patrick Swayze plays his oldest brother who must be the father to him and Sodapop who is played by Lowe. Estevez is the more comic relief. The rest put on pretty good, early performances helping their careers. Coppola is good about helping people's careers get going like Pacino in THE GODFATHER. Look for 80s teen star Leif Garrett and musician Tom Waits. This is a pretty moving film on just trying to survive and does not really put the focus on gangs as it is just part of the story. I remember reading this book and seeing the movie in Middle School which English classes use this a lot.

The Long Night (1947): Henry Fonda stars in this film where he is to be arrested for murder but is not letting anyone in even though he is surrounded. He then reflects on how he ended up there as he does not remember everything so we see flashbacks and flashbacks-within-flashbacks of how he ends in the situation. Vincent Price co-stars in this film. It is had to really explain this story but it is very suspenseful and uses the flashbacks very well leading into what happened. This is a more unknown Henry Fonda but still a very good one.

It Came From Beneath the Sea (1955): This is my sci-fi film for the week and not bad for a movie about a giant octopus. This movie shows the price of H-Bomb testing and the testing resulting in an octopus becoming quite big and wreaks havoc in California. People must then band together to stop it before it destroys Golden Gate Bridge. This was a pretty compelling story making this more than a B-Movie.

The Panic in Needle Park (1971): This is an early Al Pacino film of which was right before THE GODFATHER and that Francis Ford Coppola saw and really liked him. This takes place in the "Needle Park" part of New York City and gives a portrayal on a group of heroin addicts. Pacino plays Bobby who is an addict and small-time hustler. Kitty Wynn co-stars as Helen, who is homeless and meets Bobby but also becomes homeless. This is a very honest look into this world with good performances from the leads. The next year is when Pacino would become Michael Corleone in THE GODFATHER. Coppola really wanted him for this part but producers did not want this unknown actor until Coppola showed the producers this film.

The Company Men (2010): I had never heard of this movie until Tony got this on Netflix so I thought I'd give it a shot. This last selections portray the world of drugs and this portrays the corporate world. Ben Affleck has been with his corporate job for a long time but is let go due to cost-cutting measures. He has a wife and kids and this firing shows the effect it has on his self-worth and his difficulties in trying to find a job. Chris Cooper is someone who has been with that company for a long time and is very paranoid about his job. Tommy Lee Jones is the boss who is not liking having to let go of employees and the idea of downsizing. Kevin Costner, Maria Bello, and Craig T. Nelson co-star. I was not sure what I would think of this but really like this look at a big job and the effects of downsizing.

Red White Black and Blue (2006): This is one of my documentaries for the week which was produced by PBS. This movie focuses on an attack from Japan to Alaska on June 7, 1942. In the modern day, some of the survivors go back and retrace their steps and reflecting on the forgotten battle of WWII. This is pretty informative and not a very long movie that is available on Instant Netflix.

There's Something Wrong with Aunt Diane (2011): I end this week with this HBO documentary. This focuses on the case where Diane Schuler drove on the wrong side of the road where eight people died including her, a daughter and three nieces. There was a high amount of alcohol and marijuana in her system. Her widowed husband and sister-in-law are determined to prove that was another cause like a stroke. This movie does not discriminate and looks at every side. This is available on HBO On-Demand.

Well, that is it for this week. I kind of wrote this at the last minute so forgive the writing. Next week will include more Natalie Portman, Rock Hudson, Roger Moore, and many others.