Tuesday, June 29, 2010

July Movie Nominations - 90's


Random 90's Films

A small time thief from Belfast, Gerry Conlon, is falsely implicated in the IRA bombing of a pub that kills several people while he is in London. Bullied by the British police, he and four of his friends are coerced into confessing their guilt. Gerry's father and other relatives in London are also implicated in the crime. He spends 15 years in prison with his father trying to prove his innocence with the help of a British attorney, Gareth Peirce. Based on a true story. (IMDB.com)

Bulworth

Senator Jay Bulworth is facing speculation-induced financial ruin, so he puts out a contract on his own life in order to collect a large, new insurance policy for his family. Living each moment on borrowed time, he suddenly begins spouting raw, unfiltered--and sometimes offensive in word but satirical in spirit -- thoughts to shocked audiences and handlers in the speech of hip-hop music and culture. His newfound uninhibitedness and new relationship with Nina carry him on a journey of political and spiritual renewal. (IMDB.com)

When Waring Hudsucker, head of hugely successful Hudsucker Industries, commits suicide, his board of directors, led by Sidney Mussberger, comes up with a brilliant plan to make a lot of money: appoint a moron to run the company. When the stock falls low enough, Sidney and friends can buy it up for pennies on the dollar, take over the company, and restore its fortunes. They choose idealistic Norville Barnes, who just started in the mail room. Norville is whacky enough to drive any company to ruin, but soon, tough reporter Amy Archer smells a rat and begins an undercover investigation of Hudsucker Industries. (IMDB.com)

A biopic of the life and work of the legendary 'worst director of all time', Edward D. Wood Jr., concentrating on the best-known period of his life in the 1950s, when he made Glen or Glenda (1953), Bride of the Monster (1955) and Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959), and focusing on both his transvestism and his touching friendship with the once great but now ageing and unemployed horror star Bela Lugosi. (IMDB.com)

Glengarry Glen Ross

Times are tough in a New York real-estate office; the salesmen (Shelley Levene, Ricky Roma, Dave Moss, and George Aaronow) are given a strong incentive by Blake to succeed in a sales contest. The prizes? First prize is a Cadillac Eldorado, second prize is a set of steak knives, third prize is the sack! There is no room for losers in this dramatically masculine world; only "closers" will get the good sales leads. There is a lot of pressure to succeed, so a robbery is committed which has unforeseen consequences for all the characters. (IMDB.com)

Monday, June 28, 2010

So Long and Good Luck, John Anderson

Left, Micah Roderick; Right, John Anderson


Movie Geeks Club:


John Anderson, the idea man behind the Movie Geeks Club and co-founder has left Springfield today, with his wife Aubrey, to start a new life in Richmond, VA. The idea of a movie club was conceived about 4 years ago when John and I began looking for more creative endeavors after getting our television show up and running. John pressed on with the idea and finally made contact with the guys at Capital Bar and Grill who had just recently renovated the old theater next door.


We held our inagural Movie Geeks Club with Run Lola Run on January 30, 2007. Since then, we have shown films that range all time periods and genres. Some good, most great. John and I never knew where this "Club" was going when we started but we knew we weren't going to quit until we were asked.


I will continue to try to provide the same caliber of films that were shown in the John Anderson era but I have also brought in some help from a long time Movie Geek, Bart Rogers. He will assist in nominating films and other duties as not assigned.


John will be greatly missed in Springfield but I'm sure Richmond will gain something interesting and fun. We just don't know what that will be yet. I can say this, I'm glad John left us the Movie Geeks Club for all of Springfield to enjoy.


Good Luck John and Aubrey!


On behalf of all the Movie Geeks in Springfield, you will be missed.


Micah

100 Classic Sci-Fi Movies You Can Watch Online For Free

Click here to see the list. Thanks to Movie Geeks friend Amanda Harris for this.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Five Gems From British Directors

The Third Man

An out of work pulp fiction novelist, Holly Martins, arrives in a post war Vienna divided into sectors by the victorious allies, and where a shortage of supplies has lead to a flourishing black market. He arrives at the invitation of an ex-school friend, Harry Lime, who has offered him a job, only to discover that Lime has recently died in a peculiar traffic accident. From talking to Lime's friends and associates Martins soon notices that some of the stories are inconsistent, and determines to discover what really happened to Harry Lime.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041959/





The 39 Steps

Richard Hannay is a Canadian visitor to London. At the end of "Mr Memory"'s show in a music hall, he meets Annabella Smith who is running away from secret agents. He accepts to hide her in his flat, but in the night she is murdered. Fearing he could be accused on the girl's murder, Hannay goes on the run to break the spy ring.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0026029/





Withnail and I

London 1969 - two 'resting' (unemployed and unemployable) actors, Withnail and Marwood, fed up with damp, cold, piles of washing-up, mad drug dealers and psychotic Irishmen, decide to leave their squalid Camden flat for an idyllic holiday in the countryside, courtesy of Withnail's uncle Monty's country cottage. But when they get there, it rains non-stop, there's no food, and their basic survival skills turn out to be somewhat limited. Matters are not helped by the arrival of Uncle Monty, who shows an uncomfortably keen interest in Marwood...

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094336/





The Lavender Hill Mob

Holland, a shy retiring man, dreams of being rich and living the good life. Faithfully, for 20 years, he has worked as a bank transfer agent for the delivery of gold bullion. One day he befriends Pendlebury, a maker of souvenirs. Holland remarks that, with Pendlebury's smelting equipment, one could forge the gold into harmless-looking toy Eiffel Towers and smuggle the gold from England into France. Soon after, the two plant a story to gain the services of professional criminals Lackery and Shorty. Together, the four plot their crime, leading to unexpected twists and turns.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044829/





The Commitments

Jimmy Rabbitte, just a tick out of school, gets a brilliant idea: to put a soul band together in Barrytown, his slum home in north Dublin. First he needs musicians and singers: things slowly start to click when he finds three fine-voiced females virtually in his back yard, a lead singer (Deco) at a wedding, and, responding to his ad, an aging trumpet player, Joey "The Lips" Fagan. Song by song, gig by gig, the Commitments start their climb to the top: Dublin gets soul. But internal strife also builds: Deco is insufferable, Joey's a Casanova, and Jimmy may lack the seasoning to hold things together. Will the Commitments slip away?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101605/