ABCs at the Movies: The Doubles Round!

[memento]

Michelle Williams played the role of Emily.   



IMDB Plot: The passion of the lonely and quiet dwarf Finbar McBride is trains. Fin inherits some land with an old depot in the middle of nowhere in Newfoundland, New Jersey, when his partner, also a fanatic for trains and unique friend Henry Styles, dies. He moves to the train station, where his neighbor is the Cuban Joe Oramas, who is manning his sick father's hot-dog trailer. He also meets Olivia Harris, a clumsy divorced woman who grieves the death of her beloved son Sam. After some days, the weird trio becomes friends.

[southendmd]

Scott Michael Campbell (Monroe) plays Laith in this film AKA "Who's Your Monkey".

IMDb plot:  In Jacksonville, Florida, four friends since grade school who are now in their early 30s face the challenges of adulthood: Hutto is about to become a father, Laith is intimidated by his girlfriend's sexuality, a grieving Bobby drinks heavily and sleeps on the grave of a girlfriend who's been dead 18 months, and Mark, an OB/GYN who loves his work, can't practice medicine because he can't afford malpractice insurance. Things come to a head when Mark needs his three friends' help after a belligerent animal-abusing pornographer attacks Mark with a gun over something Laith did. A midnight road trip tests friendship: can the guys help each other?

[Fran]

Marit Allen (as Marit Lieberson) was also the costume designer on this one.



Review Summary:

After the suicide of her friend and employer, who has been teaching her to be a detective, Cordelia Gray (Pippa Guard) takes over his business and begins an investigation of the apparent suicide of the son of a businessman. When the suicide turns out to be murder, what she discovers disrupts the entire family and puts Cordelia's life in danger. This off-beat British film is a moody, entertaining thriller, much in the tradition of film noir, but with an unusual and determined female detective. Nicely directed by Christopher Petit, and based on the wonderful novel of the same name by the acclaimed British mystery writer P. J. James, this film gives a fresh approach to the detective-film genre and introduces an intelligent and resourceful woman to a profession usually dominated by men.

-- Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide   

[oilgun]

Ken Roberts who is listed as the signal bartender (uncredited) in BbM plays Wyman in this ludicrous thriller.



From IMDb:   Renegade scientists learn not to fool with mother nature in this ludicrous thriller about an experiment that backfires with disastrous consequences. After a researcher is killed in a lab accident, he is transformed into a computerized creature of superhuman strength.

==ASIDE==
Next time we do a BbM-related round, can we make it at least TWO degrees of separation? 

[southendmd]

The lovely Kate Mara starred as Annie.  IMDb plot:  When a plane crash claims the lives of members of the Marshall University football team and some of its fans, the team's new coach (McConaughey) and his surviving players try to keep the football program alive.

=aside=
Aw, Gil, it's not that hard, is it?

[southendmd]

The lovely Roberta Maxwell plays "sleazy reporter" Tracy Venable.

=alternate=
An alternate Wildcard "X" is A Touch of the Poet (1974).  It's a TV movie based on a Eugene O'Neill play, but it includes a very young Roberta Maxwell.  Here's a clip (with Nancy Marchand) where she looks great; do you recognize Ma Twist in her?

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vksG2gLEME8[/youtube]

[Fran]

Also known as:  Eat Drink Man Woman  [I was thrilled beyond thrilled to see that neither title had been played!!!]



Ang Lee wrote and directed this one.  James Schamus also contributed to the writing and served as an associate producer.

=aside=
During my hunt for a "Y", I came across an unplayed "Z".  If anyone's interested, here's a hint:  check under John Tench (Roughneck #2). 

[oilgun]

The same year he was cast as Roughneck #2 in BbM (Thanks, Fran!), John Tench starred in this film.
http://thezerosummovie.com/synopsis.htm

Plot: A mugger falls in love with one of his victims and struggles to balance the relationship with his secret life of crime and the secret reason why he must carry it on.


This image of the Zero Sum manga is totally unrelated to the film. 

[Fran]

Dysfunctional Families!

[southendmd]

IMDb:  "Affliction" doesn't have an immediate plot. It's mostly a delve into a man's (Nick Nolte) psyche, a divorced alcoholic man who was abused as a child by his drunken father (James Coburn). He tries to cope, he tries to make something of himself by attempting to solve a hunting accident which he thinks is really a murder. He claims that after this, everyone will remember him as a hero.

Luckily the audience isn't made to believe Nolte's cause, to us he looks just as mad as he does to the characters around them. This is well done, because it could've been presented as some big twist at the end.

Anyway, the "mystery" element to the film isn't that important. It's mostly about how hard - and almost impossible - it is to prevent an emotionally abused man to make the same mistakes his father made. This idea is presented well, but by the end it just feels so thick and depressing that it's hard to take anything from the film, because you don't want to remember it.

Acting-wise the movie is quite good. Nolte delivers what I think is his best performance here, with a quiet desperation wonderfully put out by his eyes, voice, face, and so on. James Coburn does his usual well, but I have to question just why he won an Oscar for this. Don't get me wrong, he was a terrific actor and his performance in this is great, but he's not in many scenes, and the scenes he is in are mostly just a variation of the same thing: Coburn drunkenly and violently mumbles at his sons and eventually starts to yell and thrash. This is all well and good, but his scenes never go beyond that, except for (maybe) at the end when he spews his own sort of twisted philosophy to Nolte.

Other great performances come from Sissy Spacek as Nolte's increasingly uneasy girlfriend. Also Willem Dafoe as Nolte's brother who is so concerned with being quiet and not problematic that he cant prevent the build-up of violence and abuse in his family. I'd say that this performance is more Oscar worthy than Coburn's.


=aside=
I'll be afflicted with no internet access for a few days.
Happy Independence Day!