Movie-A-Day #352: Cobb (1994).
Ty Cobb, who was born on this day in 1886, was one of the greatest baseball players the sport has ever seen. He was also a violent, cantankerous, racist asshole. These contradictions are brought to life vibrantly by Tommy Lee Jones, who plays the aging Georgia Peach in Ron Shelton’s “Cobb.” It’s a sad portrait of a tragic figure whose hatred for the world made him an incredibly talented athlete, but ultimately a lonely and broken man.
Movie-A-Day #351: A Mighty Wind (2003).
Happy 65th birthday to Eugene Levy. The highlight of his post-“SCTV” career is undoubtedly his work with Christopher Guest, taking center stage in a series of mockumentaries that he also co-wrote. They’re all funny, but his touching performance in “A Mighty Wind” just might top them all.
Movie-A-Day #350: Blade Runner (1982).
Happy birthday to Philip K. Dick, who was born on this day in 1928. Many of his landmark science fiction stories have been adapted into less-than-stunning films, but the best of the bunch is “Blade Runner.” It diverges quite a bit from its source material, “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”, but the movie (particularly the director’s cut) is a landmark in its own right.
Movie-A-Day #349: Gone With the Wind (1939).
If there’s one thing Hollywood has managed to do consistently well since the early days, it’s the hyped up, colossal movie event. And David O. Selznick’s “Gone With the Wind” is still one of the standard bearers, even more than seven decades after its release. The biggest film of its generation, it had its premiere in Atlanta on this day in 1939. It was the culmination of three days of star-studded festivities which included, among other things, recreations of Confederate balls and a state-wide holiday declared by the governor of Georgia. By every account a good time was had by all — except for the film’s black actors, who were prevented from attending by the South’s Jim Crow laws.
Movie-A-Day #348: King Kong (1933).
Happy Monkey Day, everybody! Since we’re celebrating the simian world, we might as well start with the biggest monkey of them all, “King Kong.” He’s shown up in plenty of variations over the years, but there’s still no beating the original.
Desuko Movie Spot. 