Six Degrees of Separation Blogathon

I was chosen by Steve Honeywell at 1001plus to participate in the Six Degrees of Separation Blogathon, which was started by Nostra at My Film Views.  This is an interesting one; most everyone who watches movies tries to make connections with others.  The idea here is pretty simple: connect one actor to another through six or fewer steps.

The task before me is to connect Vinnie Jones with Jean Gabin.  We got here via the following list of previous posts in the series:

Weird Al Is Back With a Message for All Bloggers

Weird Al Yankovic pretty much spans my musical consciousness.  I was in high school when a friend brought in something he had taped off the radio.  It was the song Another One Rides the Bus – a parody of Queen’s then current hit Another One Bites the Dust.  It was by some guy calling himself Weird Al Yankovic.  It was played on the Dr. Demento show. (Anyone other than me remember that?)

Al is back once again showing that no matter what genre or artist is popular he can turn it around and make a song and video at least as entertaining as the original (if not more.)

Here’s Word Crimes, his version of Blurred Lines, and it’s the one with the message for all bloggers.  Other than featuring annoying pop ups from Vevo instead of naked models, it beats the original by a large margin.

Now here’s Foil, his version of Royals.  Yes, that’s Patton Oswalt as the director.

Finally, here’s Tacky, his version of Happy.  You’ve got to love all the familiar faces he got to be in the video.  Can you name them all?

Rock on, Al.

Movie – Far from Heaven (2002)

The film Far from Heaven is set in the 1950s, but explores topics that no 1950s film would have been able to touch – homosexuality and interracial romance.  Writer/director Todd Haynes is a big fan of Rainer Werner Fassbinder (Ali: Fear Eats the Soul), who was in turn a big fan of Douglas Sirk (All That Heaven Allows).  Fassbinder’s film, which I reviewed earlier for this Interracial Relationships category, was a tribute to Sirk’s melodramas from the 1950s.  And Haynes deliberately made Far from Heaven have the same look and feel of Sirk’s films, while employing some techniques from Fassbinder.  The result – a film with both Fassbinder and Sirk in its pedigree – is one almost guaranteed to make professional movie critics get all tingly in their special areas.  Here’s the thing – it’s not just a “critics’ film”; it’s well worth watching for regular people, too.

Movie – Monster’s Ball (2001)

Nowadays the film Monster’s Ball is probably best remembered for “the sex scene”.  It involved Halle Berry and Billy Bob Thornton and there was no Austin Powers like goofiness with objects blocking our view (unlike many films with major stars in them).  Both Berry and Thornton committed to the scene and the film.  Almost inevitably the scene was censored in the U.S. in order to get an R rating, but was released as is around the rest of the planet.  The thing is, there’s a lot more to this movie than just a sex scene.  In fact, this is the film for which Berry won the Best Actress Oscar.

Preview of the 2014 Edition of the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die Book

Here’s the cover of the 2014 edition of this series.

I found it on Amazon UK.  The text with it mentions the films Gravity (the cover image), Nebraska, American Hustle, 12 Years a Slave, and The Wolf of Wall Street.  All of them were Oscar Best Picture nominees.  The Palme d’Or winner is usually a lock so that means Blue is the Warmest Color will probably be joining them.  That’s six films; a year usually adds 10-12 new ones.

Speculating on others, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Rush added.  The list skews more European, and they do love their Formula One racing.  And considering one of the two characters is a major British driver, and that the main editors of the books are British, that also seems to point in the favor of this film.

It would surprise me to not see Her added, but it’s yet another Best Picture nominee and the editors seem to only allow a certain number of them in for a given year.  This might only be 50/50.

The Great Beauty was the foreign film winner for the Oscars, the Golden Globes, and the BAFTAs.  I didn’t think it was that special, but the director already had another film added to the list last year (The Consequences of Love), so I think this one is probably a reasonable pick to be added.

Three films that didn’t get a lot of notice, but that I had in my Top 10 for the year are Stoker, Mud, and Much Ado About Nothing.  It would be nice to see at last one make the list.  Other than Much Ado About Nothing, though, I don’t know that they bring anything unique to the discussion. 

Upstream Color sharply divides people (I’m on the “con” side), but enough editors might be on the “pro” side to add it.  I’d much rather see Shane Carruth’s earlier film Primer make the list instead.

I’ve already seen every film mentioned here, so if the new additions are close to these guesses then I won’t have much catching up to do this fall.

The Amazon U.K. entry says that the book will be available October 6, 2014.  A similar date was given last year, but it started shipping in early September instead.  Of course, that was the hardcover American edition.  This year is likely to only have the U.K. softcover edition.  There is no entry for the book on the main Amazon site in the U.S., but I know that it eventually offered the U.K. editions in prior years, so it is very likely that will happen again this time.

Movie – When Night Is Falling (1995)

When Night Is Falling is a Canadian film from writer/director Patricia Rozema.  It features a love triangle between a white man, a white woman, and a black woman.  The two women could not be more different.  Camille (Pascale Bussieres) is a respected professor at a conservative Christian college.  Petra (Rachael Crawford) is a bohemian circus performer.  And the triangle isn’t the two fighting over Camille’s fiancé – Martin (Henry Czerny); it’s Petra trying to seduce Camille away.

Movie – The Lover (1992)

Once upon a time movie studios were able to produce serious films for adults with a minimum of teenage boy smirking or older prudish condemnation.  That era is now gone, but while it lasted it produced some good films.  The Lover is one of them.  It is based on the semi-autobiographical 1984 novel of the same name by noted French author Marguerite Duras.  The film received an Oscar nomination for its cinematography and some of the natural beauty it captured was that of the lead actor and actress.  The Lover also received six Cesar (the “French Oscar”) nominations.  In case you are allergic to subtitles, the film is presented in English.

June Movie Status

I saw three new movies in the month of June, plus I re-watched four films.  My movie watching has been much lower the last few months as I’ve started a new job and as I’ve been working on my book – a 15 year supplemental update to my 1999 Parkman genealogy.

I am semi-actively working on the following lists: Oscar Best Picture Nominees, the six 101 [Genre] Films You Must See Before You Die lists, and They Shoot Pictures Don’t They.  All of these different lists can be seen by clicking on the names of them.  They link to my Lists from Chip posts on them.

Here are the 3 new movies and 4 re-watches I saw in June.  Highlighted films are ones to which I would give at least three stars out of five.

Oscar Nominees (0):

101 Genre (0):

TSPDT (1): The Circus (1928)

Other Movies (2): The Monuments Men (2014), The Purge (2013)

Rewatches (4): The Parent Trap (1998), The Phantom (1996), Warm Bodies (2013), Commando (1985)

I saw so few films this month that I will just write a bit about each.

The Circus – Chaplin delivers another comic gem.  There are some slow sections where the movie shows us how boring the circus performers are without the Tramp character among them, but the beginning and end of the film are quite good.  3.5 stars

The Monuments Men – Just an okay movie.  The cast are separated through most of the film as they peel off in ones and twos and we see vignettes with each one.  It never feels like we are watching a movie, but rather a bunch of almost unconnected shorts.  2.5 stars

The Purge – This was only a one star movie until a scene right at the end that resulted in a bloody nose (for anyone who has seen it.)  This film isn’t scary or suspenseful.  Every “twist” is telegraphed from a mile away.  It’s too bad because the premise was sort of interesting.  1.5 stars

The rewatches – I like both versions of The Parent Trap and the remake has more for adults in it.  The Phantom is based on the decades long running newspaper serial.  The story has large parts of it that were ripped off to later make Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.  This is the first time I’ve seen it since way back when it came to VHS.  I didn’t realize Catherine Zeta Jones was in it.  It was interesting to see her before she was a star.  Warm Bodies still makes me laugh a lot on what is now the third watch of it.  And seeing classic Arnie kicking ass and spewing one-liners is the reason to re-watch Commando.

Looking forward into July I might be watching more movies again.  I’ve ordered proofs of my book.  I just need to finalize that and then get communications out to the family association about how they can buy it and I’ll finally be able to get some free time back.  And I have started posting movie reviews again.

Movie – Zebrahead (1992)

Zebrahead is a small independent film that made somewhat of a splash when it came out, but then was pretty much forgotten over the next couple of decades.  I honestly can’t remember the last time I even came across a reference to it, so if you’ve never heard of this movie you’re probably in good company.  It features some good performances by the young stars (Michael Rappaport and N’Bushe Wright), both in their first feature films.  It also features three dimensional portrayals of teenagers – something that is rare in movies.  It is the combination of the lead actors and the naturalistic presentation of teenagers that make this film worth seeking out.

Movie – The Crying Game (1992)

The film The Crying Game actually represents something unique in all my movie-watching experiences.  (No, it’s not the twist, for those who have already seen it.)  It’s that I specifically went to see this movie in the theater before it got spoiled for me.  It may be hard nowadays to imagine a time when every single film wasn’t already spoiled well in advance with social media reporting casting and storylines well before the movie is even released, but this was the way it was in 1992.  You could actually go see a movie not knowing anything more about it than what you saw in the trailer, if you even saw that.

The Crying Game was a little different in that it was making news for the fact that it had a fantastic twist in it that supposedly you wouldn’t see coming.  I decided I’d rent it right away when it came out on VHS tape, but then it went and got nominated for six Oscars, including Best Picture.  (It would eventually win for Best Original Screenplay.)  I knew there was little chance of it having that kind of attention being paid to it by the press and it not getting spoiled for me.  I decided on a pre-emptive strike: I’d go see it in the theater.  To this day that is still the only time where the primary reason I bought a movie ticket was to see a movie I knew would be spoiled for me if I didn’t see it as soon as possible.  And you know what?  It was well worth it. 

He Emerges from the Depths

I’ve been away for a while working on my book.  Now that I’m returning I might get a reaction like this…

But if I do I hope to eventually win you back.

My genealogical supplement is now in the proofing stage with the printer.  I’ve still got some small things to do with it, but I’m waiting on a couple companies to get back to me first.  In the meantime I’ve got some bandwidth back and I’m going to start making posts again. 

I was in the middle of a category on interracial relationships when I had to stop to concentrate on my book.  I’ve also been putting in quite a few hours at work, so getting the book to this point took me even longer than I had been expecting.

Anyway, next up are three separate posts for movies from 1992.

May Movie Status

I saw 10 new movies in the month of May, plus I re-watched two films.  My movie watching has been much lower the last few months as I’ve started a new job and as I’ve been working on my book – a 15 year supplemental update to my 1999 Parkman genealogy.

I am semi-actively working on the following lists: Oscar Best Picture Nominees, the six 101 [Genre] Films You Must See Before You Die lists, and They Shoot Pictures Don’t They.  All of these different lists can be seen by clicking on the names of them.  They link to my Lists from Chip posts on them.

Here are the 10 new movies I saw in May.  Highlighted films are ones to which I would give at least three stars out of five.

Oscar Nominees (0):

101 Genre (0):

TSPDT (3): The Hour of the Furnaces (1968), The Party (1968), In Vanda’s Room (2000)

Other Movies (7): Trance (2013), The Stranger Within (2013), The Decoy Bride (2011), The Vow (2012), Straight from the Heart (2003), Grown Ups 2 (2013), Planes (2013)

Rewatches (2): The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), Project X (2012)

I saw so few films this month that I will just write a bit about each.

Trance – Gets a little too tricky for its own good.  There’s not really much suspense about who’s playing who, but there is about the reasons why.  This is the kind of movie where you need to pay attention, so put down the phone while you are watching it.  3 stars

The Stranger Within – Made for TV movie I stumbled upon while switching channels.  I liked the concept: former Amish woman banned from her religious life returns a dozen years later as the newly appointed sheriff and immediately has to solve a murder that looks very familiar.  Ultimately, there’s not quite enough “there” there to recommend it.  2.5 stars

The Decoy Bride – Harmless piece of fluff with a number of characters all running around on a remote island in Scotland.  The cast has some people that might attract notice (i.e. Kelly MacDonald, Alice Eve, and David Tennant).  I was in the right mood for it when I watched it.  3 stars

The Hour of the Furnaces - Four hours of propaganda badly disguised as a documentary. The Argentinean filmmakers hate, well, just about everything. From Europe, to the U.S., to the "sluts" living openly in sin in the late 60s, to trade with other countries, to the current and most former governments, to "neo-colonialism", to, well, you get the idea.  The only thing that they express a liking for is the former fascist dictator Juan Peron and they openly call for the viewers to rise up, overthrow the government, and return Peron to power.  1 star

The Vow – Another one I stumbled upon while switching channels.  I caught it just as the gorgeous Rachel McAdams was waking up in the hospital with no memory of the last several years, including her husband.  I had somehow gotten the impression this was just another Nicholas Sparks tearjerker, so I was pleasantly surprised to find it actually had some substance to it and it kept my interest.  I stuck around after it ended as the channel immediately started showing it again.  I watched the opening 20-30 minutes I had missed.  3 stars

Straight from the Heart – I was in the mood for something brainless and heartwarming so I flipped to the Hallmark channel.  This movie was showing.  It hits all the clichés of a romance movie – immediate dislike masking their attraction, a man’s man who’s hiding an inner emotional loss, the driven career woman who needs to learn to unclench, etc.  I just didn’t feel much chemistry between the two leads.  2.5 stars

Grown Ups 2 – I was one of the few people who liked the first film.  Instead of playing the moronic teenager in a man’s body like he usually does to appeal to his core audience – moronic teenagers – Sandler had played a middle aged man and it hit close to home.  The second film, though, is more obviously just thrown together to repeat the fun of making the first one for all of them.  2.5 stars

The Party – It might as well have been another Pink Panther movie with director Blake Edwards and star Peter Sellers playing a bumbling idiot who ruins the lives of everyone around him.  The only difference is that Sellers plays a man from India instead of one from France.  If I had seen it when I was eight years old I probably would have been laughing my ass off.  Nowadays, this shtick from Sellers has worn thin a long time ago.  2 stars

In Vanda’s Room – Three hours of two sisters smoking crack and having incoherent conversations, all while their neighborhood is periodically being demolished.  (The film tries to pretend it’s a documentary, but it’s not.)  There are some interesting camera shots in the film…of ugly things.  If that’s your cup of tea then check this out, otherwise avoid it like, well, like you would real crack addicts in condemned neighborhoods.  1 star

Planes – This probably would have been a direct to video Disney sequel like they do with many of their films, but it was following a couple of Pixar films, so it made a brief appearance in theaters.  Of course, those two films (Cars and Cars 2) are generally considered among the worst Pixar has produced.  So, a quasi-direct to video Disney sort-of sequel to two not great Pixar films?  The results are predictable – okay at best and not good enough to recommend.  2.5 stars

No Posts for a Little While

“Did I fall asleep?”

“For a little while.”

– Standard exchange on Dollhouse

Other than my end of month movie status I probably won’t be posting anything for a little while.  I’m at crunch time with my Genealogy book.  I’ve got all the information in it and it’s formatted for 6 by 9 printing, but I still have to build the Index and it’s going to be a bear.  I’ve got to mark thousands of names for it.  I have to get that done before I can know how many pages I will have so that I can then apply for a Library of Congress number.  And I need that for the copyright page before I can submit the manuscript for printing.

How long is “a little while”?  I don’t know.  I may get so worn out from indexing that I write a review just for a change of pace, but right now I can’t justify the time for it.  I’ve got a hard deadline to have copies of the book available for a family association meeting in August.

To leave you with a movie quote: “I’ll be back.”

Movie – Mississippi Masala (1991)

Mississippi Masala was made at a time after Denzel Washington had hit it big with 1989’s Glory, but while he still sometimes did a smaller film like The Mighty Quinn (1989), Devil in a Blue Dress (1995), and this one.  This was a lucky casting break for director Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding) because her financial backers had pulled out after Ben Kingsley declined a role in the film.  Once Washington signed on he was a big enough name to attract other backers and get the movie made.  This was a good thing because the film is now an interesting diversion from Washington’s better known big box office/action hero persona.

Movie – Purple Rain (1984)

To a lot of people nowadays the 1984 Prince film Purple Rain is probably seen as a kind of kooky snapshot of a very specific time in music – the same way some people think of Saturday Night Fever (1977).  What many of those same people tend to forget, though, is all the very popular songs that came out of both films – songs that will still get people humming, tapping, or dancing along to them.  At the time the film Purple Rain came out it was a phenomenon.  It pretty much took over popular culture for a while with both the movie and the music dominating the airwaves, and the videos dominating this new channel calling itself Music Television, or Mtv for short.  And while Prince had had a few hits prior to this, the combination of this film and the soundtrack shot him into the stratosphere.

Movie – Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974)

Despite the year and the title, Ali: Fear Eats the Soul has nothing to do with Muhammad Ali (in case you were wondering.)  It’s a German film from writer/director/producer Rainer Werner Fassbinder.  At the center of the movie is a marriage between a 60ish white German woman and a 30-something Arab immigrant.  The two meet by chance, get married almost by accident, and then receive the collective condemnation from almost everybody they know.  This film avoids most of the clichés about this either bringing them together or driving them apart.  Instead, what has a bigger impact on their relationship and marriage is that both seem lost at where they are at this point in their lives and neither really seems to know what they want.

Movie – Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967)

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner features three screen legends – Spencer Tracy, Katherine Hepburn, and Sidney Poitier.  As a result, the fourth main member of the cast – Katherine Houghton – ends up getting overshadowed.  This film earned 10 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, and won for Best Actress (Hepburn) and Best Original Screenplay.  This was Spencer Tracy’s very last movie and he received a nomination for Best Actor.  He died just 17 days after filming was complete.  He does a great job in the movie of playing a man who has just come face to face with his own hypocrisy.

Movie Pet Peeves

Note: this post is inspired by Alex Withrow’s April 5, 2013 post Top 10 Movie Pet Peeves and his April 1, 2014 post Top 10 Movie Clichés (that I’ve never experienced in real life) – both at his site And So It Begins…  Check out his site when you get a chance.  Don’t think from these two posts that all he does is poke fun at movies.  Far from it.  There are a number of types of analysis he does that you will probably find interesting.

In my comment on his first post I tossed out a bunch of other things that are laughingly ridiculous and Alex responded that it was obvious that we could make a whole other list just on Movie Sex Scene Pet Peeves.  I made a mental note to someday write out in a little more detail some of the things I included in that comment.  Don’t worry, this post is about more than just sex; there’s also discussions of nudity in it.  (Kidding…not about the nudity, but there will be more than just sexually related topics.)  And I’m not going to just jump right into the sex.  First, a little foreplay.

Throwing Away/Leaving Behind Something Very Valuable – note: there is a spoiler in this section for Titanic (1997) if you’ve somehow managed to never see this film.

April Movie Status

I saw 13 new movies in the month of April.  I didn’t start or complete any new lists.

I am semi-actively working on the following lists: Oscar Best Picture Nominees, the six 101 [Genre] Films You Must See Before You Die lists, and They Shoot Pictures Don’t They.  All of these different lists can be seen by clicking on the names of them.  They link to my Lists from Chip posts on them.

Here are the 13 new movies I saw in April.  Highlighted films are ones to which I would give at least three stars out of five.

Oscar Nominees (0):

101 Genre (0):

TSPDT (3): A Short Film About Killing (1988), A Woman of Paris: A Drama of Fate (1923), Port of Shadows (1938)

Other Movies (10): Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), An Amish Murder (2013), Escape Plan (2013), 30 for 30: You Don’t Know Bo (2012), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (2013), The Cheat (1915), 30 for 30: The Price of Gold (2014), A Case of You (2013), Admission (2013), Cloud Atlas (2012)

I saw so few films this month that I will just write a bit about each.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) – Shakycam invades the Marvel Universe.  Not as good a film as the first one, but this will be an important bridge to the movies that follow.  3 stars

An Amish Murder (2013) – This was a TV movie I happened upon just as it was starting.  It did a decent job with the story.  Overall, it was okay.  2.5 stars

Escape Plan (2013) – Schwarzenegger and Stallone finally do their own film together.  There were some good memories for a guy like me who saw just about every 80s action movie when they came to video.  Ultimately, the spark just wasn’t there.  This was an okay film.  2.5 stars

30 for 30: You Don’t Know Bo (2012) – Anyone not old enough to remember Bo Jackson should see this documentary.  He was the best natural athlete of the last several decades and this shows you why.  3 stars

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (2013) – The first one was entertaining enough, but this one falls a little flat.  Almost all the same characters are back, so if you have a favorite you’ll probably see them.  It was okay.  2.5 stars

A Short Film About Killing (1988) – More a “director’s cut” of the fifth Decalog episode than a real movie.  It has about 20 minutes extra, mostly spent with the lawyer, added to the TV episode.  While it adds more depth to that character I’m not sure that’s enough to recommend that anyone who has already seen the Decalog episode seek this movie out.  3 stars

The Cheat (1915) – D.W. Griffith film that plays on the stereotype of the Asian man out to prey on white women.  It’s daring for it’s time, though.  2.5 stars

30 for 30: The Price of Gold (2014) – I was sick of hearing about the whole Nancy Kerrigan/Tonya Harding thing not long after it happened, so I hadn’t intended to watch this 20 year retrospective documentary.  I ended up being surprised that it kept my interest.  Much like people have forgotten that Lizzie Borden was acquitted of the murders of her parents, so too do people forget that the only thing Harding was ever found guilty of was finding out after the fact that her husband planned the attack and then not telling the police immediately.  3 stars

A Case of You (2013) – Independent film that treads much of the same familiar territory as big movie studio romantic comedies.  It was okay.  2.5 stars

Admission (2013) – This turned out to be a lot more serious than I expected.  The trailer had made it look like a rom-com.  It was okay.  2.5 stars

Cloud Atlas (2012) – A film that transcends space, time, race, and even gender.  Six stories that on the surface are unconnected in fact turn out to be intimately intertwined in many different ways.  Making it even better is that each of the six stories is presented in the style of other films in similar settings, from Moby Dick, to Merchant/Ivory films, to 70s political thrillers (with a dash of Shaft), to comedic old folks, to Logan's Run, to The Road Warrior.  It would have made my Top 10 of 2012 had I seen it before posting the list.  4.5 stars

A Woman of Paris: A Drama of Fate (1923) – When is a Charlie Chaplin film not a Charlie Chaplin film?  When he puts a disclaimer at the front that he will not appear and that he instead wants to do a serious drama.  This is more melodrama than drama, but still effective enough.  3 stars

Port of Shadows (1938) – I was perhaps expecting too much from the team up of Marcel Carne (Children of Paradise) and Jean Gabin (Grand Illusion, La Bete Humaine), but this was still a decent movie.  3 stars

Movie – Sayonara (1957)

Sayonara is the oldest mainstream film I can think of that is openly supportive of interracial marriage.  It garnered a lot of notice from having big star Marlon Brando as its lead and from the 10 Academy Award nominations and 4 wins it received, including Best Supporting Actor for Red Buttons and Best Supporting Actress for Miyoshi Umeki.  The latter is the first Asian performer to ever win an Oscar (not counting 1956 winner Yul Brynner who was born in the Asian part of Russia and was ¼ Russian Mongol).  This film, along with a few with similar themes that followed, is credited with loosening up Americans’ attitudes towards the concept of marrying outside your own race.