Murder, Mystery & That's All, Folks!

Today's movie recommendation is a breakthrough in Hollywood history: Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988) staring Bob Hoskins as Detective Eddie Valiant, as well as all of the beloved Disney and Warner Brother's cartoons. Picture below.

The story takes place in Los Angeles (Hollywood) in 1947. The main character, Eddie Valiant, is a drunk private detective who is offered a job from R.K. Maroon (the owner of Maroon Cartoons) to take dirty pictures of Jessica Rabbit, the wife of the star, Roger Rabbit. Eddie hesitates at first, saying that he doesn't work with toons (we learn later that this is because his brother/partner was killed by a toon), but finally accepts when Maroon promises him he wont have to go to Toontown (a cartoon world where most toons reside). Later, Eddie goes to a night club called The Ink & Paint Club, where toons are both the entertainment and the staff. As Eddie enters the main room, a man in a crazy plaid suit turns around and sprays ink from his pen on Eddie's shirt. Furious, Eddie grabs the man only to find out that he is Marvin Acme (the guy who creates all of the gag toys) and that it was disappearing ink that was spilled on his shirt (now gone). Marvin informs Eddie that Jessica is about to perform and Eddie watches Roger's stunningly sexual wife enter the stage and sing to the lusty male audience. After the show is over, Eddie exits to the alleyway where he snaps some "dirty" pictures of Jessica and Marvin. Upon receiving Eddie's pictures, Maroon shows them to Roger, who explodes in a jealous rage and escapes through Maroon's window (leaving a Roger-shaped hole in the glass). The next morning Marvin Acme is found dead and Roger is the main suspect, but no one can find him... that is, until Eddie finds him in his flat claiming he was framed and pleading for help. The rest of the movie consists of Eddie's search for who framed Roger Rabbit.

This is a movie you can watch over and over again and always find something new. The amount of detail that is put into it is unbelievable. It actually appears believable that the toons are interacting with the actors and their surroundings. Don't let the cartoons fool you,this is not a movie for young children. Adults will definitely appreciate this film. The jazzy music, the period cars and costumes, and the multiple sexual references gives the movie a real 1940's detective feel. Although many of the toons present in the film did not actually exist until after 1947, it still is fun to see all of them again but this time just walking around "behind the scenes".

Fun facts:
- In the night club scene, the effects for Jessica's sparkly dress was created by filtering light through a plastic bag scratched with steel wool.
- Benny the cab was originally planned to be a Volkswagen Bug instead of a Taxi.
- Judge Doom's weasel gang is a satire of Snow White's seven dwarfs.
- The directer, Robert Zemeckis, compared Judge Doom's "dip" to Hitler's Final Solution.
- The rights were not acquired to use Popeye, Tom & Jerry or the Terrytoons.
- Mime artists, puppeteers, mannequins, and robotic arms were all used to help the actors interact with the "toons".
- The movie made a total of $329.8 million worldwide, which at the time was the 20th highest grossing film of all time and was the second highest grossing film of the year after Rain Man.
- Who Framed Roger Rabbit? won Academy Awards for Best Sound Editing, Best Visual Effects and Best Film Editing.
- Walt Disney Imagineering began to plan Mickey's Toontown for Disneyland in 1991.
- In 1994 it was discovered that on the Lazerdisc edition of the movie that viewers could slow down the film enough to find subliminal pictures of Jessica Rabbit in the nude. This would not show up at the normal playing rate of 24 film frames per second, but the Lazerdisc player allowed viewers to slow down the frames. Many people complained about this saying it was inappropriate. A Disney executive responded by saying that people need to get lives if they find stuff like that, and that it was a trick put in by the animators which they didn't know existed and that it would never show up if people watched it normally. Another controversial second in the movie is when Bsby Herman goes under a woman's dress and comes out (supposedly) with is middle finger up and drool on his lip.

This movie is rated PG, but I would give it at PG-9 (ok for kids over 9). Yes, there are a lot of sexual references, but a lot of them go right over kids' heads. Kids enjoy seeing all of the characters and love the mystery aspect of the story. There are some parts that are pretty dark and the ending scene with the villain has been known to scare younger kids, so only kids over 9 or at least take the advice of the given rating and give Parental Guidance.

Link to the trailer

Swapping Out Spaceships for Submarines

Today's movie is James Cameron's The Abyss, which was released to theaters in 1989. Picture below.

In The Abyss an American submarine called the U.S.S. Montana was sunk after accidentally colliding with an unidentified object. The Soviets and the Americans both begin planning trips to get to the sunk sub. The Americans decide that the quickest assembly of help they could put together was a SEAL team that would make base at an experimental underwater oil platform. The designer of the platform is Dr. Lindsey Brigman (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio), the wife of one of the SEALS, Virgil "Bud" Brigman (Ed Harris) decides that she should accompany the SEALS on their mission. Lindsey and Bud are in the process of getting a divorce and are none too thrilled to be working together. During this time we also learn that there is a huge hurricane coming which may threaten their pursuit. The SEAL team heads down to the U.S.S. Montana to seek the cause of its destruction and while doing so end up finding some other-worldly creatures which they call NTI's (non-terrestrial intelligence). The team becomes curious of these creatures and plan on learning about them. In the meantime,they also are forced to deal with one of their shipmates going crazy and attempting to destroy the mission.

This movie is an action-packed adventure that will have you holding your breath (literally) throughout. The shots are phenomenal and Cameron is a master at creating tension. It really makes you think about evil and corruption and how the bad guys aren't always who you'd expect them to be. Also, like in his more recent film, Avatar, James Cameron presents his viewers with a sense of morality at the end of the film. Some may find this a bit over the top cheesy, but it is an overall good message.

Fun facts:
- James Cameron came up with the idea for this movie when he was 17 and attended a high school science lecture about deep sea diving. The lecturer claimed to be the first person to breathe fluid in his lungs.
-Cameron based the character, Lindsey on the producer with whom he both married and divorced during the making of the movie, Gale Anne Hurd.
-The film was shot at the abandoned Cherokee Nuclear Power Station in South Carolina, which was at the time the largest fresh water filtered tank in the world. The tank held 7.5 million gallons of water and was 55 feet deep and 209 feet across. It took five days to fill this tank. Another 2.5 million gallon tank was also used.
-The background for several shots was also filmed at the world's largest underground lake: a mine in Bonne Terre, Missouri.
- $2 million was spent on construction.
- The cast and crew spent so much time deep underwater that they sometimes had to go through decompression.
- On the first day of shooting, the main tank sprang a leak and lost 150,000 gallons of water per minute. Dam repair experts were brought in to fix it.
- The breathing fluid shown in the movie actually does exist and they did really give it to the rat in the movie (this was cut out of the version shown in Great Britain because they believed it was cruelty to animals). Ed Harris did not breathe in the fluid, but just held his breath instead.
- Many of the actors had nervous breakdowns and/or walked out during shooting because of the extreme situations they were in and how long it took to complete each scene.
- James Cameron asked everyone to just pee in their wetsuits to save time.
- The Abyss won an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects in 1990.

This movie is rated PG-13 for language and some scenes of action. I think a kid as young as 10 would be alright watching it, so long as they're up for a long movie.

***SPOILER ALERT***
The director's cut version actually makes more sense because it shows that the aliens are causing the hurricanes and that they are threatening to essentially kill all of humanity if they don't stop hurting each other. I would recommend watching this version.

Link to the trailer

Talk About Reality TV...

Today's movie recommendation is one of my favorite movies of all time: a film from 1998 called Pleasantville (Picture below).

Pleasantville starts off at a high school in the 90's where we meet the main characters, David and Jennifer (played by Tobey Maguire and Reese Witherspoon). David and Jennifer are twins but couldn't be more different. David is a geeky kid who has a love of an old 1950's sitcom called Pleasantville and Jennifer is in the popular group and spends all of her time focusing on impressing boys and acting "cool". At the beginning of the movie we learn that David and Jennifer's mother is going out of town for the weekend so both kids make their own plans for their time home alone. David plans to watch the Pleasantville Marathon on television that night and Jennifer plans on inviting over a pretty, but stupid boy to watch a big concert on TV with her (and whatever comes after that). The twins end up fighting over who gets to use the big TV downstairs and end up breaking their remote in the process. Mysteriously, a TV repairman instantly appears at their door to replace their remote. While finding them a new remote, the repairman becomes impressed with David's knowledge of Pleasantville. The repairman finally departs, leaving the twins taken aback by this strange encounter, but happy to have a new remote (even if it is a weird looking one). They soon begin to fight over the remote once more and in the process David accidentally clicks one of the buttons which magically transports them into the TV show. The rest of the movie consists of David (now Bud) and Jennifer(now Mary-Sue)'s time spent in a black and white TV world where things are always perfect and stagnant. The influence the main characters have among other civilians of Pleasantville causes their world to change in unexpected ways, like turning things to color!

As I said earlier, this is one of my absolute favorite movies. The shots are so beautiful and the characters and the message of the story are both very heartwarming and eye-opening. This movie is obviously a study on human conformity as well as loneliness.

Fun facts:
- Pleasantville is the first film to ever have the majority of the movie scanned, processed, and recorded digitally.
- The movie was shot entirely in color and then parts were desaturated digitally.
- Some of the songs in the movie such as "Take Five" by Dave Brubeck and Debussy's "Claire de Lune" were revolutionary songs when they were originally released, which symbolizes change in the movie.
- J.T. Walsh, who plays the Mayor of Pleasantville in the movie died before the movie was actually released (it was his last film).
- Fiona Apple, who has two songs in the movie, made her music video for "Across the Universe" Pleasantville-themed.
- Pleasantville won Oscars for Best Art Direction/Set Decoration, Best Costume Design, and Best Music/Original Score (by Randy Newman).
- Tobey Maguire received a Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Young Actor/Actress for his role as David/Bud.

This movie is rated PG-13 for sexual references. The references aren't very inappropriate and I think a kid as young as 11 would be fine watching this movie.

Link to the trailer

Quiz Show

Today's movie recommendation is Robert Redford's Quiz Show which was released in 1994 (picture below).

The movie is based off of a famous television scandal in the 1950's involving a quiz show named 21. 21 became a hit television show all around the country due to its two biggest contestants, Herb Stempel and Charles Van Doren. Stempel was a poor, Jewish college kid who had a very high IQ but lost to Charles Van Doren in the show. Van Doren was from a line of well educated and wealthy people and was an instant celebrity in American society. Awhile after accepting his defeat, Stempel begins to protest against the quiz show claiming that the answers were given to the contestants and the entire show was rigged. Stempel's claims leads to a private investigation of 21 by Congressional Investigator Dick Goodwin.

This movie will keep you interested from start to finish. The story is very intriguing, especially because it is based on real events. Neither Charles Van Doren or Herb Stempel are portrayed as particular good or bad men. Instead, the film focuses more on the deceit that is formed by the media.

Fun facts:
- Although the real Goodwin did investigate this scandal in 1959 (about three years after Stempel's run on the show ended), the movie never mentions the man who did most of the investigation: prosecutor Joseph Stone from the New York City District Attorney office of Frank Hogan.
- There was a documentary episode based on this scandal on the PBS show, The American Experience in 1991.
- Charles Van Doren beat Herb Stempel on December 5, 1956, which happened to be the 13th episode of the show. 21 was only scheduled to have 13 shows and then see from there if they were making high enough ratings to continue filming. This 13th episode sent the show's ratings through the roof.
- There were other quiz shows from the 1950's that were also rigged but are not mentioned as being so in the movie. One of these unmentioned rigged quiz shows was the show Charles Van Doren was originally trying out for: Tic-Tac-Dough.
- The real Herb Stempel actually made an uncredited appearance in this film as a different contestant being interviewed by Goodwin.
- Goodwin actually wrote a novel about this scandal that this movie is based off of.
- Quiz Show was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Paul Scofield who plays Charles Van Doren's father) and Best Adapted Screenplay.

This movie is rated PG-13, but would be fine for kids a few years younger. The only real problem with showing younger kids is that they wouldn't be able to follow the plot as easily.

Link to the trailer

When James Bond meets The Twilight Zone...

...You get Boris Segal's 1971 film, The Omega Man. This film is based off of the novel, I Am Legend written by Richard Matheson and was released in 1954. Picture below (I don't own it).

This film is actually the second film adaptation of this novel. The first is a movie called The Last Man on Earth which was released in 1964 starring Vincent Price. In the '64 adaptation the "creatures" are portrayed as vampires, whereas in The Omega Man they are mutated humans who were infected by a biological warfare, which turned them into some sort of strange nocturnal albinos. These creatures are not out to suck the blood of the living (or eat out their guts like in the more recent adaptation I Am Legend starring Will Smith, where the creatures are portrayed as zombies who were created by receiving vaccines that supposedly cured cancer), but are out to finish off all of the people who started the biological plague. The main character, Colonel Robert Neville, played by Charlton Heston, was a military scientist who the creatures believe is partially responsible for their fates. Neville believes he is the only man left in the world who wasn't infected (he actually got the plague, but was able to cure himself in time with a not-yet-tested vaccine).

This movie has a real Twilight Zone feel to it and Charlton definitely has a James Bond-esque air to him. The empty street scenes and the way the character copes with his loneliness gives the viewer a sense of unease. The costumes in the film are particularly awful (it was made in the 70's), especially the suit Charlton wears about 20 minutes in which looks like like it's straight out of Austin Powers. Also, the sparkly robes the creatures wear is particularly amusing.On a side note, keep an eye out for all of the Jesus Symbolism.

Overall, this is a movie worth watching as long as you know going into it that it is very 70's which makes it a bit over the top at times. If you have read the book or seen any of the other adaptations (especially the Will Smith version which has a very similar introduction to the character), I would recommend checking this out. Keep in mind that this is one of those movies that you may either love or hate.

Link to the trailer

The City that Never Sleeps

Today's movie recommendation is an older Martin Scorcese film from 1976 entitled Taxi Driver (it was actually the fifth film he directed not including the documentaries he made). This film (picture below, which I don't own) stars a young Robert De Niro who plays Travis Bickle, an insomniac who takes on a night shift taxi driver job to fill the long hours of the night. During these night shifts Travis witnesses the filth and crime of New York nightlife. These sinful sightings (especially the prostitution) disgust Travis tremendously. Travis cannot help but see loneliness all over the city and is saddened by this especially because he is so lonely, himself. Travis ends up forming a crush on a political worker and also becomes interested in helping a child prostitute (played by the young Jodi Foster).

This movie definitely has a charm to it with the old taxi cabs, the type writers, the cheap movie concession prices, the old soda bottles, etc. Scorcese really captures the seedy, dirty side of New York but was still able to make each shot beautiful. The dramatic lighting and the repetitive jazz intros within scenes gives the movie a Film Noir feel. De Niro is no short of brilliant in this role. Travis isn't necessarily the most likeable character, but De Niro's talents really makes the viewer care about him. Travis shows good character development from the beginning to the end as both a hero and a villain.

Fun facts:
- Robert De Niro was nominated for an Oscar, a BAFTA and a Golden Globe for this role.
- This movie was nominated for 4 Academy Awards including Best Picture in 1976.
- This film inspired John Hinckley Jr.'s attempt to assassinate President Ronald Reagan in 1981. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity. He reasoned that he was trying to impress Jodi Foster's character. During his attempt, Hinckley Jr. shaved his hair into a Mohawk like Travis did at the end of the movie. His attorney showed this movie to the jury in his defense.
- The final shoot out at the end of the movie was considered to be too graphic that the movie was rated worse than R. To obtain an R rating, Scorcese desaturated the colors in that scene. Scorcese ended up liking this desaturated look better and was very happy with the results.
- Jodi Foster was required to complete a psychological test before she was casted to ensure that her role in the film wouldn't psychologically scar her.
- The friend of the child prostitute in the movie was an actual child prostitute who was there to help Jodi get more into her character.
- There's talk that Robert De Niro and Martin Scorcese will start filming a sequel to this movie sometime this year.

This movie is rated R for graphic violence, drug use, language, and sexual references. This is not a movie I would recommend for anyone under 17.

Trailer for the movie

Requests

I just realized that I should let you readers know that if you have any requests for the sort of movies I could recommend in future posts (for example, Science Fiction or even something more specific like a movie with a particular actor or whatever) I'd be happy to help you out. Just let me know! I'd love to hear back!

Also, if you like the movies I've posted so far keep checking back each day and see if you find other ones that you might also like. If you haven't liked my choices so far still check back because there may be some posted later that you will like. I'll do my best to post a varied selection of flicks.

Rachel