March Recommendation: Phone Booth

 

                                         I've always in a fair sense associate March as the luck of the Irish month aka St. Patrick's Day and so I try at the best of my abilities to recommend an Irish themed movie, unfortunately it is very hard to find Irish themed films that are on the exceptionally good scale or lost treasures, as to put it. So, this year I have decided to look for films that have a famous Irish actor or actress in the starring role or best known for in that on movie, and I suddenly remembered a small independently suspenseful film, that has a unique special thing about it, mainly because it has that special tribute to Alfred Hitchcock in a way. The films called Phone Booth for which stars Irish legend Colin Farrell who is taken hostage in a phone booth, to those who don't know or not familiar with what a phone booth is, they were basically the first ever like telephone to be placed outside so in case you need to make in emergency phone call there's a private space to make a phone call with know what to disturbed you until an annoying a**hole knocks on it and invades your privacy. So, lets' dive right into our safe space of a Phone Booth.

                                        Cynical, smarmy PR man Stu Shepard (Colin Farrell) picks up a ringing phone in a booth in a busy New York Street to find a killer on the line. Armed with a high-powered sniper's rifle, the anonymous caller soon proves his prowess and presents Shepard with a choice - convince the police of his story before they shoot him or drop the phone and be shot. His only hope lies in self-abasement and facing up to the truths of his life.

                                        During my teenage years I believe Colin Farrell was the first actor of my generational years where I never thought he was going to be an accomplished actor that he is now, for many reasons he always portrait himself as a bad boy type image where he would smoke a lot, show off his tattoos more like being this biker/hipster that he was in Ben Affleck's Daredevil film. Furthermore this was long before he became a Golden Globe winner, but in fairness he was a special actor when he first started out because the first film I was introduced to him was a small WWII film called Hart's War for which he starred along Bruce Willis then starred alongside Tom Cruise in Minority Report, so in all fairness he had some great acting credits I guess the way I would see it he really wanted to do more independent films to work more on his acting ability, and I looked through his filmography from Daredevil to In Bruges and it really shows from doing one epic movie like Alexander to a small film like In Bruges where I have to look at that man with huge praise of being a true professional actor, because when you’re in Hollywood you have no choice but to find work that's something you don't want to do but you have to in order to pay the bills. but when it comes to films like Phone Booth, he really does in exceptional job moreover delivers a great acting performance for which now I am going to have to check out Harts War because that is one movie I have not seen in a long, long time. The way the script was developed was fascinating, in the late sixties Larry Cohan who wrote Phone Booth, pitched the idea to the master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock, for which Hitch loved the idea. But the problem was that the project did not move forward, because the two men were unable to devise the plot which explained why the action had to be restricted to the one location. Cohan even recalled that Hitch would ask him if he had a solution to the problem when they met periodically met over the following years. Sadly, though after two decades among the passing of Hitchcock was when he came up with the idea of a sniper holding the protagonist hostage, and in all honestly, I would have loved to see a Hitchcock portrayal of Phone Booth, but fate does things to life that we can never control. Now before you click out of this review let me explain things in a personal not and that's yes, late Joel Schumacher directed Phone Booth and this was after his run on Batman and in all fairness the man did in deed direct some great films like A Time to Kill and The Client even though it was some of these big budget movie he just felt short on, but the interesting fact is that him and Farrell actually worked together on a small film called Tigerland so he at least knew he can trust Farrell into delivering a great performance of a scum bag who finally has a come to Jesus moment by being forced to confess by a psychotic sniper, Phone Booth was in fact one of the few films I remember as a High Schooler learning that this film was made within twelve days, ten in terms of production along with two days for some establishing shots, pickups and reshoots. And the way they were able to do that is just fantastic moreover I would tell anyone if you were trying to make a movie with in one set furthermore finding some inspiration, I would suggest watching Phone Booth. Every suspenseful film you have to have that protagonist and antagonist, which we do have in Colin Farrell as the protagonist but who really steals the show is TV legend Kiefer Sutherland who plays the mysterious sniper/caller, and what makes his performance so exceptional is that he's hardly in the movie all you really have is his voice and what he's able to produce with that psychotic like voice is just outstanding and really I'd wish he do more roles like this because he's great at it. Phone Booth is defiantly one of those films that you'll never get to make any more for many reasons telephone booths are long gone, and there just absolutely no way you can do that in any other location, but most importantly this is a long lost treasure that belongs in a Turner Classic Movie vault, furthermore needs to be seen by everyone because it's a great film from start to finish you get great supporting list of actors who deliver great performances more importantly you get great performances out of a young/up in coming actor out of Colin Farrell and Kiefer Sutherland. Also, this was one of Joel Schumacher's best film ever and sadly his last great film. So, in closing if you are looking for a great suspenseful film, I would highly recommend watching Phone Booth till the final frame.

          

                                          

Baseball Recommendation: Facing Nolan

 

                             

                             Well ladies and gentlemen, Baseball season is coming next week the greatest time in American sports history, the only great time where we can call in sick or call in a day off or fake in injury from work and we can just sit all day and watch Baseball all day and all night. And sure, there is a lot of Baseball movies to watch and talk about, but this Baseball documentary I have made my choice a long time ago in terms of wanting to watch and recommend for my yearly Baseball Recommendation. 

                             If you grew up with late 80's and 90's baseball like I have then you had heard of the legendary pitcher Nolan Ryan, who still to this day holds a lot of records, the best way I would describe Nolan Ryan, let us just say he is the John Wayne of Baseball, a lot of the stories you hear about him are kind of like a stuff of legend per say. Even though the guy is from Texas so yes, the man is indeed a Cowboy. My first introduction of Nolan Ryan was without a watching The Great Sports Moments of the 80's by Al Michaels where he showed highlights of Nolan Ryan's no-hitter number five, and though yes, he made some bone headed remarks about the Texas Rangers beating my Cardinals in six games which is defiantly an a**hole part on him. Deep down I was intrigued in wanting to hear the legend of this great Pitcher and thankfully we have a documentary like Facing Nolan to tell his story. 

                             I think the most unique way they were able to tell Ryan's story was using visual sequences of Ryan on the mound pitching, and the fact that they use actual uniforms that he wore with a minor detail of they're using reproduction hats of this year for which it's not bad at all but in a visual sense it's a nice usage in terms of telling the story of how he's felling on the mound when it comes to his emotions for when he's pitching with the Met's or when he's pitching his no-hitters with the Angles, Astro's or Rangers. Knowing Nolan Ryan's career especially when it comes to pitching his last decade-ish of his years in Texas I've always wonder that, for many reasons I never quite understood why he never pitched for some great teams like the Cardinals of the 80's or Yankees of the late 70's because sure as a ballplayer your goal without a doubt is to make it into the Major Leagues but more importantly win a World Series and sure he actually did win a World Series title in 69 with the New York Met's but deep down that was the same team he was drafted by furthermore he was just starting out and finding his technique, moreover the Astro's in the eighties had like two great teams but that was it they were deep down a minor league team in the eighties decade with flashy outfits, so it always bring the most interesting question why did he go to much better teams then spending the rest of his days in Texas through his retirement. And what I've learns explains a lot about him was that he wanted to stay closer to home especially with his family along with that during his time with the California Angles (who were originally called California Angles) was that one of his kids was hit by a car and that hit a knot in his stomach and when you want to stay closer to family you can't argue with his reasons why, also his kid did survive in case if your reading this review that he died or something no he didn't, though while watching the movie I was in a shock of wow he really died, but he didn't so deep down that's the most importantly. The thing what makes the documentary great is that you have a tone of legendary ballplayers talking about what it was like to face Nolan Ryan, though Robin Ventura didn't want to participate in the interviewing process for many reasons, ah screw it he got his a** handed to him by Ryan so that's why though I won't tell you when he didn't it that's for you all to find out. But you also have other great players like Pete Rose, George Brett, Dave Winfield, Roger Clemons and including the great Randy Johnson who Ryan actually helped him be the great pitcher that he was, I have to say my favorite moment in the documentary is where Rose and Ryan are doing an autograph session and Rose says while taking a picture "this is close I want to be with this guy" then Ryan says "aw you love me", just your typical love hate friendship. But when you listen to some of these great ballplayers was how scary Ryan is as a Pitcher because he threw a lot of balls inside basically bringing fear to the batters and to be honest, I'd be scared of Ryan if I was facing him. I will say the other great thing was that George W. Bush came into the film too, mainly because he was the owner of the Texas Rangers during his playing career. I did learn a lot about his earlier playing career with the Met's and Angels especially during his time with the Met's and that was during early years in Baseball you only get paid for just that season and once the season is over that's basically it you don't get paid till next season, so during road trips Nolan Ryan brought a lot of books mainly because he wasn't sure if Baseball was going to be his lifetime so he basically need a backup plan to get by during his time as a baseball player and really after each season in the sixties you had to find a job to get by so after the 69 World Series he went back to work he really didn't go on vacation like most player would today. I learned a surprising fact about the Angles, was it was founded by Gene Autry who was known as the Singing Cowboy who in the early movies and television as well as radio, for which who da thunk an actual Cowboy from Texas becomes a founding owner of the LA Angles. Speaking of Television, I did hear a mind-blowing fact was that Ryan acutely made a cameo appearance in the seventies soap opera Ryan's Hope which wasn't a show for him but did make an appearance so if you’re feeling adventurous go find it, the show's surprisingly on YouTube but I'm not mainly because I have a lot of respect for Nolan Ryan, so I don't want to have that respect for him fade. I should add that I found out about the documentary back in the summer of 2022 but the problem is when it was released it took a long time to find it in terms of streaming or finding it at your local stores because let’s face it you'll never find anything like this at your local store in Nebraska so really it took around Netflix to finally put it out so as of now the film is still on Netflix forever and hopefully forever, but as a documentary whole I knew this was a movie I wanted to watch once I saw the trailer on YouTube furthermore one to recommend it as a Baseball Recommendation because people today I doubt never heard of Nolan Ryan and I believe every fan of Baseball needs to hear about the legend of Nolan Ryan, also they guy in my opinion is up there in the top five pitchers of all time. And I believe this film will show every baseball fan that this guy was a respectable guy, moreover he played from the late sixties to early nineties and that is something I think is awesome beyond measure and they guy has a lot of MLB records that still stands to this day.  

         

25th Anniversary of The Big Lebowski

 

                                         The Big Lebowski is twenty-five years old now, man time sure fly is by so fast and yet movies age like fine wine. Especially when it comes to The Big Lebowski, written and directed by the Coen Brothers the same geniuses behind such great classics like Fargo, Blood Simple, and No Country for Old Men. The Big Lebowski is one of those films like Major League where you can recite a line or dialogue, and everyone can know what that movie is in a blink of an eye. Sure, I can review another Oscar movie for this year’s Academy Awards, but this was one of the best decisions I have ever made in terms of sitting down and re-watching a classic. Now do not get me wrong I still consider this a great classic that still stands the test of time, but holy crap I still felt a little on the confused side in terms what the story and the inconclusive ending it has, though in all honesty that why it is considered a cult classic. 

                                        Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski (Jeff Bridges) is mistaken for Jeffery Lebowski, who is The Big Lebowski. Which explains why he is roughed up and has his precious rug peed on. In search of recompense, The Dude tracks down his namesake, who offers him a job. His wife has been kidnapped and he needs a reliable bagman. Aided and hindered by his pals Walter Sobchak (John Goodman), a Vietnam Vet and Donny (Steve Buscemi), master of stupidity.

                                        Twenty-Five years old and the film itself is still hilarious from start to finish. As a fan of this movie, you can defiantly watch this for some time in a while and recite any one liner and still have a great time watching the film and like I said again this is up there between Major League, in the category of best comedies you know by heart. I am not going to go much length in terms of the actors that bring the story to life and its characters but give more of a backstory behind how the Big Lebowski was developed and believe me the development is intriguing to hear about. The character of The Dude was based on The Coen Bros, producer behind their first movie Blood Simple, Jeff Dowd who just so happens to be that man based on Jeff Bridges, for which preferred to drink White Russian's, who of all people liked to be known as The Dude. The Dude as a character was also partly based on a friend of the Coen brothers, Peter Exline who was a Vietnam vet who reportedly lived in a rundown of an apartment, just like Jeff Bridges character in the movie and was proud of a little rug that "tied the room together". Both Peter Exline and the Coen Bros became friends through the course of the years after the success with Blood Simple and in 1989, told the brothers all kinds of stories from his own life, including ones about his actor-writer friend Lewis Abernathy (one of the inspirations for Walter aka John Goodman's character) a fellow Vietnam Vet who later became a private investigator and helped him track down and comfort a high school kid who stole his car, so bottom line is that this was a huge story research of using two guys as inspiration for a cult classic that stands the test of time, but most importantly a great story of using inspired events into a Raymond Chandler mystery/wacky comedy. Now the Coen Bros, stated that yes, they used these real-life friends as inspiration but most importantly wanted to create a Big Sleep type mystery where a hippie bum lost from the 1960's gets involved in a bizarre kidnapping case and to be truthful looking up this story that is creative when you think about it, despite being puzzled at times. I almost forgot that Academy Award winner sir Roger Deakins was the cinematographer behind The Big Lebowski, for which makes a tone of sense because let’s be honest he did a ton of work with Joel and Ethan Coen through the years including Fargo, and a lot of scenes where The Dude is tripping out or knocked out and has a bizarre acid like trip is truly outstanding including one favorite scene where the Dude is somehow trapped in the thumb hole of the bowling ball and we see a point of view of the ball going through the pins and the way they achieved this was they mounted a camera "on something like a barbecue spit" according to Ethan, and then dollied it along the lane. Though the challenge for them was figuring out the relative speeds of the forward motion and the rotating motion. With the help of CGI was used to create the vantage point of the thumb hole in the bowling ball. Now granted I do have a Blu-ray copy of the movie, so I am having read how they we are able to accomplish that shot is incredible and I'd now want to see how they we're able to do that because that's something I've never figured out. Granted I've said this a bunch of times on this review of how great this film is and sure I could say great things about Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi and Julianne Moore's performances in the movie but deep down it's like retelling how amazing Star Wars is, now granted there's a lot of people out there that don't quite get this movie at all, hell I had my Dad watch this movie while back and he didn't get this at all. So, if you do not like the movie because you do not get the story, I can totally understand your reason. Though now that this film has stood the test of time on its twenty-fifth birthday, I would highly recommend watching this hilarious comedy from start to finish moreover if you have not heard of Joel and Ethan Coen, I would also recommend checking out there films as well, so you can be a fan of their work as well. 

              

The Lady From Shanghai

 

                                          Well, it is March the day to get ready and celebrate St. Patty's Day and I am not sure this could qualify for an Irish themed movie, though I doubt it. But hey, Orson Wells dons an Irish accent? for this a movie I am not quite sure what in terms of story wise this movie is though in at least it has the ever-beautiful Rita Hayworth doing what she does best, if you know what I mean. The Lady from Shanghai was another one of those Film Noirs that I had to check out and watch after watching The Third Man, so at first I never quite understood the story aspect of the movie now having watched it again I still don't understand the story aspect but will get to that later, bottom line is that this movie does have some creative camera work along with Rita Hayworth again doing what she does best, and Orson Wells doing an over the top Irish accent although I can't really tell if its authentic or not.

                                           A seaman (Orson Wells) becomes involved in a complex murder plot when he is hired to work on a yacht. He soon finds himself implicated in a murder, despite his innocence.

                                            At first when I saw this intriguing well-crafted movie at first I didn't quite understand what the story was going, then watching it for about the third time I still feel a little on the baffled side mainly because some of the structure and scenes don't make a lot of sense great example of that is the actor Glenn Anders who plays a shady lawyer that wants Orson Wells to kill him but I'm not sure if the guy is chewing up the scenery or playing crazy for which in fair sense it's more of the bewildering state I was in, the other plot hole in the movie is both D.A. and Husband lawyer who have this bizarre argument in terms of representing the case of Orson Wells innocence, furthermore the D.A. ask the defense to take the stand and then the defense asks himself questions, for which what was the point of this I honestly can't say mainly because well Orson's dead and there really no way to ask him on that specific purpose, and really some of these plot points I just don't understand the real purpose behind the story, mainly just doesn't make sense. A side from the confusing story with much plot holes that hurts my brain at times, what really makes this film memorable is pretty much the climax of the film where we have a standoff scene where it takes place in a hall of mirror's like an old carnival which in all honesty is really amazing when it comes to figuring out where Wells placed the camera especially when the camera were extremely huge in the mid-forties. Now deep down I can't say that the entire story makes scenes because there some moments in the movie that keeps you thinking until the final frame moreover keeps you surprised in terms of who was really responsible, also Rita Hayworth was excellent in this movie even though she had her hair cut and bleached, but she was still beautiful as ever on screen, though it's weird because this movie and Gilda are the only films I know of Hayworth and nothing else, kind of like Judy Garland from the Wizard of Oz and Meet me in St. Louis. As far as Orson Wells films go, I have seen Citizen Kane, The Third Man, The Stranger and The Lady from Shanghai, so of course I love the film for its directing style and cinematography I really do not put this up in the top five of Orson Well's best films more like in the top ten which in all fairness is not bad, hell every movie star has that one bad movie on their belt or two. So, if you are wanting to have a classic movie night, I would highly recommend watching The Lady from Shanghai.