Shaun Berk's 10 Movie Recommendations- 307th Edition

This is my documentary for the week where it focuses on Rembrandt's famous painting Nightwatching. This painting has 34 characters who had motives for the killing in the painting. Peter Greenaway directed this documentary which featured some actors in a theatrical setting to reenact some of the things. This is a rather strange film but entertaining especially for Rembrandt enthusiasts. This is available on Instant Netflix.

David Fincher directed this thriller which stars Jodie Foster and a pre-TWILIGHT Kristen Stewart as mother and daughter. Foster plays Meg who is estranged from her wealthy husband and Stewart is Sarah, Meg's tomboy daughter. They soon by a nice house which has something very unusual of the title of which when in that room it can only be opened from the inside. They must take refuge when there are three thieves. Things get very complicated for them when learning that what they need exists in that room. Forrest Whittaker, Dwight Yoakam, and Jared Leto co-star as the thieves doing what they can to get to that room. This is a pretty suspenseful film and gets very violent throughout the film. I believe this may very well be Kristen Stewart's first time to make it into my blog. Foster is also very good as the resourceful mother with Stewart faring well herself.

This is my short film for the week and from the great Crime Does Not Pay series. This focuses on an issue very big today in the world of illegal immigration. It shows the U.S. Department of Immigration in their efforts to stop people from smuggling in the immigrants who cannot wait to go through the legal process and pay high fees and lead to their deaths. It was a pretty well-made short about immigration.

Former Charlie Chan actor Warner Oland stars as a mad scientist who is determined to take revenge on a family he believes is responsible for his daughter's death. This is a pretty unknown film but a pretty decent one. Oland's name in the movie is Dr. Boris Karlov which can be associated as a reference to Boris Karloff but I do not believe that is the case as Karloff did not rise until about this year when he was the Creature in FRANKENSTEIN but even then the credits did not show his name but a question mark. This was available on my Pub D Hub app on my roku player which shows public domain material.

L.Q. Jones directed this post-apocalyptic sci-fi film based on the novel by Harlan Ellison. A pre-MIAMI VICE Don Johnson stars as Vic and has a dog named Blood who he seems to be able to talk to but no one else can. Together they scavenge the world for food and sex. Vic then ends up in a strange underground world in a community that lacks people and have strange methods of keeping up the population. This was a very interesting sci-fi film that kept me from the beginning. This is not for everyone and is quite vulgar but very entertaining. Jason Robards has a small part as the leader of the community. This is available on Instant Netflix and was quite worth it.

This is my Japanese film for the week which is directed by Akira Kurasowa. Takashi Shimura stars as Kanji Watanabe who has worked in a local city office for many years as a bureaucrat. He soon learns he has terminal cancer will die soon but then looks back to realized he has not lived much in his job and family life. He then decides to make a difference through his job. We then lead into his death where people who have known him for a long time try to piece together his unusual behavior. This was a very moving film and the title is a translation for "to live" which is what are protagonist finally learned to do when he knew he would die. This is the inspiration for the later Kevin Kline film LIFE AS A HOUSE.

This is my western for the week which stars Paul Newman as the title character who establishes an unusual form of law and order in a town that he makes. Roy Bean has become known as "the hanging judge". Anthony Perkins as a good cameo as Reverend LaSalle in the beginning. John Huston directed this film and has his own amusing cameo as Grizzly Adams. Ned Beatty, Stacy Keach, Roddy McDowell, Jacqueline Bisset, Ava Gardner, and many others co-star. This is a pretty fun western and while Roy Bean was a real character had a great billing of "Maybe this isn't the way it was- It's the way it should've been!" This is an underrated performance from Newman.

This is my guilty pleasure film for the week. WONDER YEARS alum Fred Savage stars as Brian who soon finds that there really are monsters under the bed and the main one is named Maurice, played by Howie Mandel. He soon makes friends with Maurice and even goes with him to pull pranks on kids. He soon learns that not all the monsters are as nice as Maurice. Fred Savage's younger brother Ben, most known from BOY MEETS WORLD, co-stars as his movie brother Eric which is his acting debut. Daniel Stern plays their father. Stern and Savage play father and son here but play the same character in THE WONDER YEARS where Stern narrates as the grown Kevin and Savage plays Kevin. This may not be for all children and likely those in later elementary school as it does have a bit of language and dark moments. I know Mandel is quite the germaphobe so I'm not sure how he felt about putting on so much make-up. He is the one person in this edition that I have met when going in front of him this year in AMERICA'S GOT TALENT. This is available on Instant Netflix and may be a good one for the family this month.

So I finally got around to watching this great zombie comedy which takes place in a zombie filled world where there are few humans. Jesse Eisenberg stars as shy college student named Columbus who has learned the art of survival in this world and has many rules. Woody Harrelson joins him and calls himself Tallahassee. He is a tough guy who loves Twinkies but shows a soft side. Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin round out these humans who are two girls also out to survive by any means necessary. The four of them must then band together in hopes of getting to an amusement park in L.A. leading to a good climax. Bill Murray has a cameo where he plays himself. Other cameos include Mike White, John C. Reilly, and Amber Heard. This is a very fun with pretty good performances from the leads to carry the film.