The Weigh In 74

This week in my world:

I have been on kind of a kick lately and I need your help. In the past I have talked about what I believe is the greatest contribution to video rentals since Jenna Jameson, Netflix. Lately, I have been using Netflix to catch up on current running television shows and series’ that have long since disappeared. A thought occurred to me the other day that I can all use your help with. How can I, purveyor of all that is true, honest, and pure in television and film once a week to my dozens of readers; use the 40,000 films at my fingertips to sit around watching the entire run of Designing Women? That is when I realized that it is unfair. Unfair to myself and to everyone out there that accidentally runs across my article after googling weight loss secrets of the boxing world. This week, I’ve decided to fix that and to help all of you out there enjoy a weekend with as little movement as possible. Here is what I need from you; email me a list of three or four films with some connection, make it as obvious or as obscure as you’d like and once a month I’ll take the time to review and discuss these films. I’ll also throw in a few of my own occasionally to kind of mix up the pot a bit. You can email your ideas to DPlace76@yahoo.com. I hope to hear from you soon.


All the news that is fit to forget (news that could be real but probably isn’t):

We all knew it was coming. Oliver Stone is working on a second 9/11 film that covers the war in Afghanistan and the lead up to the war in Iraq. He is reportedly using hundreds of hours of taped footage from a rest stop bathroom off of the New Jersey Turnpike as inspiration for the film.

Most of the cast of the film version of the 80’s television show Dallas have abandoned ship leaving John Travolta as the only current cast member playing J.R. Ewing. In order to attract more talent to the project, McG has been hired to rewrite the script and direct the feature film. Larry Hagman was approached to make a cameo in the new film but declined after finding out that his musical number would involve making out with Olivia Newton John on roller skates.

The Grudge 2 knocked The Departed out of the top spot last weekend. Its first weekend’s gross receipts have executives scrambling to put together The Grudge 3. Unfortunately, the one person at the studio who had figured out what in the hell the film was about quit to sell pencils by the side of the freeway and live the “hobo” life. Unfazed, the studio has green lit the sequel about a rich white man that adopts two black children.

Madonna recently adopted an African baby while touring well.. Africa. In unrelated news, Michael Jackson has reportedly announced his comeback tour. Strangely enough, the tour to date only includes three secluded African villages with no electricity and almost no contact with the outside world.


This weekend at your local multiplex (10/20/2006)

Marie Antoinette: Drama
Kirsten Dunst, Jason Schwartzman, Rip Torn, Molly Shannon, Judy Davis, Steve Coogan, Asia Argento
Plot: The extravagant life and death of the young queen of France, Marie Antoinette.
Buzz: Audiences at Cannes laughed this one out of the theater, but it is Sophia Coppola and her first film with Kirsten Dunst The Virgin Suicides was a wonderful film, so who knows. I am personally gonna wait for word of mouth.

Flags of Our Fathers: Action/Drama
Ryan Phillipe, Jesse Bradford, Adam Beach, Paul Walker, Jamie Bell, Barry Pepper, John Benjamin Hickey
Plot: The story of the Battle of Iwo Jima, and the men that were involved in the raising of the flag, an iconic image that helped revitalize a nation at war.
Buzz: It is Clint Eastwood doing a war film, one of two actually, the second being the same battle from the Japanese perspective. If nothing else it sounds like a pretty cool experiment.

Flicka: Drama
Allison Lohman, Maria Bello, Tim McGraw
Plot: Katy dreams of working on her father’s horse ranch when she gets older and when she finds a wild horse, she names him Flicka and attempts to train him.
Buzz: ssssnoooorrrreeee.. I mean I suppose if you have kids you might like this film.

The Prestige: Thriller
Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, Scarlett Johansson, Michael Caine, Piper Parabo
Plot: Two friends spend their entire lives competing as magicians and when one of them learns a trick that the other cannot explain, he endangers the lives of everyone around him to learn a trick that may or may not be real.
Buzz: A film by Chris Nolan starring Christian Bale and Micheal Caine already did gangbusters and throw in Johansson and Jackman and you could be in for one hell of a cool flick.


This week on DVD (10/17/2006)

The Break Up
Over the Hedge
American Dreamz
The Omen (2006)
The Omen (se)
Feast
Rest Stop
Hard Luck
Charmed (season 6)
Big Love (season 1)
Reds (se)
La Femme Nikita (season 5)
That 70’s show (season 5)
CSI: NY (season 2)
Behind Enemy Lines 2
Astaire/Rogers Ultimate Collection
Big Black Comedy Box Set
Author! Author!
The Panic in Needle Park
Master of Horror (Larry Cohen)
Murder, She Wrote (season 4)
Starsky and Hutch (season 4)
Alfred Hitchcock Presents… (season 2)
Gunsmoke (director’s edition)


As always, send you hate mail and adoration to DPlace76@yahoo.com. You can read my innermost thoughts at http://bigdpimpin.livejournal.com/. You can also keep track of all things Stumblebum at our myspace site, www.myspace.com/stumblebumstudios.