Movies for Shut-ins—W.C. Fields and Me
~By Norm Robins~ There are many kinds of love in the world Love of a son for a mother Love
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Movies for Shut-ins Clint Eastwood’s Richard Jewell
Richard Jewell was a real-life bona fide hero. While working as a security guard he discovers a pipe bomb left in a knapsack larded with explosives and very hard masonry nails under a bench at the 1968 Atlanta Olympics. Calling in the cops and bringing in a U.S. Air Force bomb squad makes him a hero by even the most ordinary of measures. Only one or two people die in the subsequent explosion, depending on whose numbers you believe. But many more are injured, people whose lives might be lost but for Jewell’s presence of mind. Richard Jewell clears the periphery near the bomb including a tower housing journalists and camera crew despite the protests of the occupants.
Read moreMovies For Shut-ins Paddy Chayefsky’s The Americanization of Emily
On June 4, 1944, the largest amphibious assault in history was launched. Allied forces landed on five beaches of Normandy. They were from the U.S., Britain, Canada, Poland, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, and Norway. It began with a 1200 plane assault. Then 160,000 troops landed from 5000 naval vessels. By August 1944, 2 million allied troops were in France. Playwright Paddy Chayefsky was one of them.
Read moreMovies for Shut-ins Paddy Chayefsky’s Network
Howard Beale (Peter Finch) is a veteran news anchor on the evening news for UBS, the Union Broadcasting System, rated a pathetic fourth of four networks. His ratings have gone into the dumper along with UBS’s profit. He is fired for committing TV’s cardinal sin, low ratings. The news is given to him by the head of network news and longtime friend Max Schumacher (William Holden). Both are the face of TV from a prior day. Both are fossils. Beale snaps on that evening’s news broadcast. He announces on his show that next Tuesday he will commit suicide on live television. He is fired effective immediately. He pleads for one more show for old times’ sake so he can retire with dignity. His request is granted, but he uses his last hurrah to make things worse.
Read morePelish’s Gold Mine—Nuggets from Film History Fritz Lang’s M (1931) Starring Peter Lorre
~By Randy Pelish~ Fritz Lang’s film M was the first film to explore the mind of a serial killer. It
Read morePelish at the Movies—’Official Secrets’
A case in point is Official Secrets. It tells the true story of whistle blower Katherine Gun, a British Intelligence specialist who discovers a memo in 2003 that proves the U.S.A. and U.K are working in concert to provoke a war with Iraq. She knows Tony Blair and George W. Bush are liars.
Read morePelish at the Movies—Hustlers
Set in a high end sex club in Manhattan just before and after the 2008 economic collapse and based on a true story, Hustlers is a dazzling portrait of rich men and needy women. It is devastating.
Read morePelish at the Movies – ‘The Goldfinch’
Which brings us to The Goldfinch. This Pulitzer Prize winning novel was not admired by the cultural literati. The film is even less admired. The majority of critics have slaughtered this film. I cannot share their negative opinion of this rather clever if somewhat overlong mystery. While it may not be profound it is most certainly entertaining.
Read morePelish at the Movies, ‘Luce’
Nigerian born director Julius Onah has given us the story of Luce, an overachieving Eritrean born adolescent who is living
Read morePelish at the Movies , ‘Good Boys’
Good Boys is very good fun. A coming of age film about 3 best friends, it is a delightful prepubescent portrait of 21st Century boys with 21st Century problems.
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