DailyView: Day 339, Movie 484

This is the start of Wrestlemania weekend in the WWE and I looked through some of the other films that feature the world of professional wrestling. I discovered a film that was shot as a mockumentary called Kayfabe: A Fake Real Movie About a Fake Real Sport.

Kayfabe is a pro wrestling term for treating everything as real, the characters, the rivalries, the injuries. For decades, wrestlers protected kayfabe above all else. If you were feuding with someone, you could not hang out with them after work.

This mockumentary looked at the world of the independent wrestling company, TCICWF (Tri-Cities International Championship Wrestling Federation). The mockumentary took you backstage and showed what the world of pro wrestling was like at the level of wrestling in the churches and bingo halls with a promotion that was on its final legs before folding.

“The Rocket” Randy Tyler (Pete Smith) was the promotion’s top heel (bad guy) who helped the legendary former wrestler Al Thompson (Travis Watters) book the TCICWF matches and storylines. “The Rocket” is the champion after defeating top babyface (good guy) Steve Justice (Michael Roselli). However, Thompson delivered Randy bad news. The promotion was going out of business after the final two shows that had been scheduled.

The film focused on the bizarre characters, not only inside, but outside the ring. You had the hardcore wrestler who always bladed and bled in every match, the suspected gay wrestler who walked around the locker room completely naked, the rookie who was having sex with Thompson’s daughter, play by play broadcaster with a fetish for midgets, among others.

If you are a professional wrestling fan, this is a mockumentary for you. They use plenty of insider terms (many of which are defined for you in the first scene of the film) and they show many of the tricks of the trade.

There are fascinating and eccentric characters to follow and the way that the matches are set up are fun to watch. You can tell that there are plenty of types of real wrestlers being used as inspiration of the weird, behind-the-scene world we are introduced to.

The whole film is found on YouTube and is certainly a film any wrestling fan should watch. I do think there is enough humor and intelligence in the script and the execution that non-wrestling fans could find enjoyable aspects of it as well.

DailyView: Day 338, Movie 483

With tonight being the start of Wrestlemania weekend and another episode of Friday Night Titans, I decided to finish Oscar week with another Academy winning short, this time a Live Action short from 2012 called Curfew.

This one kicked off in a massively powerful way, with our main character Richie (Shawn Christensen) in the bath tub, in the midst of killing himself when the phone rings. It is his estranged sister (Kim Allen) calling in desperation. She needs someone to watch her daughter Sophia (Fátima Ptacek). The request was a surprise to Richie who seemingly cannot say no to his sister, Maggie.

Sophia is distant from Richie at first, but as the evening continued, she begins to warm to her unfamiliar uncle and we learn some truths about them both.

Wow. This one was really good. It immediately gripped me with the bathtub scene and it dove deep into characters with very little screen time. Performances were vital and the three main actors involved here do a fabulous job.

The dance scene at the bowling alley is phenomenal and just came out of nowhere. The fact that Richie was seeing things happen that were not there speaks to the isolation of the character and led directly to Sophia discovering the cut marks on his wrist.

This was a fantastic live short and it used its time brilliantly to tell its story.

DailyView: Day 337, Movie 482

With Morbius scheduled for tonight, I needed to do the early morning DailyView today, which meant I needed to pull from the short category. Since I have been doing Oscar winners this week, I decided to look into the list of Oscar winners for Best Short and I found a film that was intriguing in the Best Animated Short category. It had the title The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore.

In the short, a hurricane levels a city leaving Morris Lessmore alone and confused. He saw a flying woman, supported by several books and this led him to a library with a portrait of the woman on the wall.

Morris becomes the proprietor of the library, taking care of the magical books and giving out books to those members of the community still suffering from the storm.

Morris begins to rewrite his memoir, completing it years later. Satisfied with his life’s work, the books swirl around him again and he becomes young once more, flying off much like the woman he saw originally. When a new young girl arrived at the library, Morris’s portrait has joined the wall.

There are lots of connections in this animated short to past films. There is a definite Wizard of Oz flare here, including a use of black and white/color scheme. Jules Verne’s book, From the Earth tot he Moon is referenced during the film as was the children’s rhyme Humpty Dumpty. Morris himself was modeled after Buster Keaton’s character in Steamboat Bill, Jr.

The animation is beautiful, as one could expect in an Oscar winner, and, according to IMDB, it used several techniques in its animation (miniatures, computer animation, 2D animation).

The importance of books and stories in a person’s life cannot be overstated in this film, clearly a major theme. There are plenty of ideas swirling around the film and it is worth a watch.

DailyView: Day 336, Movie 481

This Best Picture winner from 1946, All the King’s Men, has some distinct connections to the present day politics and made me think of a former president of the United States as I watched it.

Willie Stark (Broderick Crawford) was running for treasurer in his Southern state, and newspaper man Jack Burden (John Ireland) was on hand to report about the race. Stark lost that race, but he had learned a lot along the way and looked to campaign for the Governor of the state.

This time. Stark does not lose, and he begins to grab power through deals and corrupt plans. Stark became a shadow of the former honest man he was seen to be as he continued to carry through with misbehaviors and criminal dealings.

When his son (John Derek) got drunk and crashed his car, putting his girlfriend into a near death state, Stark arranged for the girl’s father to disappear.

The power that Willie Stark had come to find had corrupted him completely, unable to see the horrendous human being that he had become.

Almost 80 years later, this whole story of this governor (who was reportedly based on Louisiana Governor Huey Long) draws quite a parallel with Donald Trump, right down to the impeachment attempt and the chanting crowd protesting the impeachment.

This made this film even more difficult to watch. It was as if I’d been watching this for the past six years.

DailyView: Day 335, Movie 480

We go back to 1945 for tonight’s DailyView Best Picture Academy Award winner. This is a film noir drama directed and co-written by Billy Wilder. The Lost Weekend not only won best picture but it also won for Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Director.

Failed writer Don Birnam (Ray Milland) has been sober for 10 days, but he was finding it impossible to stay on the wagon. After avoiding a trip out of town with his brother Wick (Phillip Terry), Don went on a four day bender where he had flashbacks to his early days as a drunk and his meeting with his girlfriend Helen (Jane Wyman).

Oscar winner Ray Milland is exceptional in this role as the obsessed alcoholic just after his next drink. Watching his spiral into chaos was riveting and powerful. Milland carries it off brilliantly. This film does not work without his epic lead performance, but work it does.

We see the heights to which Don will go to get another drink. The desperation in his face and the shame hidden behind it. The passion of another drink juxtaposed with the anguish and distress of Helen as she struggled to find any way to help the man she loved.

I have to say, the scene with Don in “Hangover Plaza” at the local hospital after he had fallen down the stairs was a frightening scene that made this film almost a horror film. It was about as unnerving as it could be. Fascinating that it did not have that much of an effect on Don, showing exactly how far gone he was.

Having said that, the ending does feel a little pat, with things being ended with a nice little bow. It felt as if the ending was not deserved for this picture. There should have been more of a battle at the end, something more powerful to accomplish what happened. I’m not sure what it should have been, but it just felt as if the end just happened.

While the ending may not have been perfect, there is so much more in this movie that works well. It looked at some of the real horrors that alcohol can bring upon a person and how it can change a person’s path in life.

DailyView: Day 334, Movie 479

I am continuing the Oscar winning Best Picture films section of the DailyView in honor of the Academy Awards last night. Today, I watched the 1955 Best Picture winner, Marty, a romantic movie starring Ernest Borgnine and Betsy Blair. It was the directorial debut of Delbert Mann in which he won an Oscar for Best Director.

Marty (Ernest Borgnine) was a lonely 34-year old butcher whose brothers had all gotten married and people were on his back about when he was going to get married. He lived at home with his Italian mother (Esther Minciotti) and tried to think of something to do with his friend Angie (Joe Mantell).

When they go out one night to a club, Marty meets up with a shy teacher Clara (Betsy Blair). Clara was plain looking and called a “dog” by many of the men at the club. However, Marty and Clara connected with their shared low-self images and spend the night talking and walking around the neighborhood.

Marty’s mother, afraid that Marty would toss her aside if he got married, told him she did not like Clara despite only meeting her for a few minutes, and Angie was jealous of the time Marty spent with her and told him she was a dog. With everyone in his life telling him to end this with Clara, Marty was unsure what he was supposed to do.

Ernest Borgnine was great in Marty as he brought a realism to the part. Marty was a character that you could relate to easily, with his doubts and his loneliness. Borgnine would win the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in this film.

The story was simple and sweet, based solely on the connection between the two main characters. And I loved the way the ending of the film went.

Marty was a quick watch, only around 90 minutes, and it gives several true life performances of a couple of characters that you can’t help but root for. Marty was a wonderfully charming film.

DailyView: Day 333, Movie 478

The third Best Picture winner of the day for the DailyView is the musical An American in Paris starring Gene Kelly.

According to IMDB: “Jerry Mulligan (Gene Kelly), a struggling American painter in Paris, is “discovered” by an influential heiress (Nina Foch) with an interest in more than Jerry’s art. Jerry in turn falls for Lise (Leslie Caron), a young French girl already engaged to a cabaret singer. Jerry jokes, sings and dances with his best friend, an acerbic would-be concert pianist, while romantic complications abound.”

I have to say that I was not in love with any of the songs in this musical, but the dance routines are spot on, including the long 20-minute dance routine at the conclusion of the movie. The one exception I would include was “I Got Rhythm” with the kids singing the “I Got” part.

Jerry and Lise are also just a pair of jerks here as they string along their own partners as they fall in love with each other. Lise accepts a marriage proposal even while she is secretly dating Jerry. Her fiancé seemed to be a great guy and was a friend of Jerry which makes it all the worse. Am I supposed to support these two people who are downright cruel to the people they are with?

I was entertained with the dancing. The romance does not work as well for me. I did not hate the romance, but I thought they deserved each other at the end. An American in Paris is a classic, and an enjoyable watch.

DailyView: Day 333, Movie 477

Continuing the previous Best Picture winners at the Academy Award section of the DailyView, I have come across a 1963 British comedy called Tom Jones, a film that I was unaware of and one starring Albert Finney.

Tom Jones (Albert Finney) was left as a baby in the care of Squire Allworthy (George Devine) by a woman claiming to be his mother, Jenny. Jones became a womanizer, troublemaker but roguishly beloved by many. Tom falls for Sophie Western (Susannah York) but his reputation and behavior causes Sophie’s father to refuse him.

First of all, the plot of this is fairly convoluted. Trying to keep track of the comings and goings around the story is difficult at best. However, Tom Jones, as played by Albert Finney, is charming and easy to like. He is a rapscallion and makes for a strong protagonist.

The film is very funny, filled with the typical British humor we would see in the time period. It is not quite as satiric as Monty Python comedy, but this most definitely has that feel to it. There are weird moments through the film, including some characters breaking the fourth wall and speaking directly to the audience. When it happens with Lynn Redgrave near the end of the film, it was kind of jarring. There is a narrator telling us the story as the film progressed.

While I watched this Academy Award Best Picture winning movie, all I could think about was that this is the type of movie that would never win Best Picture today and, in fact, would never even be nominated. It astounds me that the Academy not only nominated this in 1963, but also decided that it was the best movie of the year. In fact, it won despite being in the same category as Lilies of the Field, Cleopatra and How the West Was Won. All three of those films would have a much more likely win with today’s Academy than Tom Jones would. I would like to see the Academy expand their thoughts on what a Best Picture is. Sure, they nominate 10 movies, but let’s face facts. Only about two or three have a reasonable chance of winning, and there are plenty of films that could have been nominated that are great but not considered “Oscar” movies.

Anyway, Tom Jones was fun and had some good moments. Albert Finney was very charismatic even within a story that was really messy. If you like British humor, you should enjoy Tom Jones.

DailyView: Day 333, Movie 476

With the Academy Awards tonight, I decided that I would go about a week with watching some of the Academy Award winning films (mostly Best Picture winners) that I have not yet watched. There were quite a few on the list that I had never seen. I decided to start with one that I had seen discussed on Twitter a week or so ago and that I then rented on Vudu. It is the 1942 British classic Mrs. Miniver.

I was unaware of this movie before I saw the discussion on Twitter about it and I was fascinated by the concept. I was going to watch it before I knew it was an Oscar winner, but it fit right in with this week’s DailyView theme.

Mrs. Miniver (Greer Garson) is our lead character and a part of a middle class family in England around the start of World War II. She was married to Clem Miniver (Walter Pidgeon) and had several children, including a grown boy named Vin (Richard Ney). A local man, Mr. Ballard (Henry Travers) created a rose and named it “Mrs. Miniver” and planned on entering it into the local flower competition against the roses of Lady Beldon (May Whitty), the grandmother of Carol (Teresa Wright), the young lady that Vin was courting before he left to join the British Air Force.

If that recap is a bit disjointed, then you understand what the narrative of the film was like. It was more like a series of scenes or vignettes strung together all about the family of the Minivers, instead of a continuous storyline. Despite this unlikely narrative structure, the film really works well. This type of structure fit into the chaotic time in history that Mrs. Miniver took place within.

The film was made in the middle of World War II and used references/scenes including historical moments such as Dunkirk. A German (they do not use the term Nazi) pilot was shot down and came to Mrs. Miniver’s house. The air raids across London during this time really emphasized the terror and the fright being committed against the Brits.

There was some criticism of the film that it was nothing more than a piece of wartime propaganda, but the quality of the movie overcame any questions there may have been about it.

There were some wonderful performances, especially Greer Garson as Mrs. Miniver. She did win an Academy Award for the Best Actress for her role. Garson had the gamut of emotions to play throughout the film as each vignette brought about a new circumstance for the character to dive into. It included easier moments such as rose contests to huddling with her loved ones during an air raid attack.

It is a deserving Academy Award winner and I am glad I got the chance to see it.

DailyView: Day 332, Movie 475

I’ve said before that I like films involving serial killers. Sadly though, there are a whole lot of them that are pretty bad. Suspect Zero is one of those.

Suspect Zero featured Ben Kingsley, Aaron Eckhart and Carrie Anne Moss in a sleeper of a story that sees Eckhart pursuing Kingsley’s character across the country, believing him to be a serial killer of dozens of missing people, only to discover that he is actually killing other serial killers. Eckhart was also being tormented by psychic visions of the future that was making him irrational to the other FBI guys.

Carrie Anne Moss is here for reasons. She was a former flame of Eckhart’s character which is touch upon once where Carrie Anne seemed to be angry at Eckhart and the next scene seemed like she was desperately concerned for him.

The whole psychic flashes were here to just try and build a confusion for the story and build tension. It does not work.

Ben Kingsley was good overall, especially with the garbage that was given to him.

This is forgettable. It was a waste of time and had little to no tension. The final act was laughable and our killer had nothing to him. It is a bad film.