Movie-A-Day #13: Walk the Line (2005).
Johnny Cash’s legendary Folsom Prison concert took place on this day in 1968. The album of the show, which was released in May of that year, helped bolster Cash’s career comeback from drug addiction and would eventually cement his place in American music history. That concert is also the centerpiece of James Mangold’s terrific biopic, “Walk the Line.” Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon each do their best work at Johnny and June Carter Cash, and even do their own singing on the soundtrack. It’s a great way to pay tribute to the Man in Black.
Movie-A-Day #12: The Ice Storm (1997).
Man, it’s cold outside. If you’re reading this in the United States, there’s a good chance are you’ve either just had a major snow storm, are shoveling out from one currently, or are bracing yourself for the one that’s about to hit. The last thing you probably want to do is to bring some of that winter chill inside. But even if you’re snuggled up warm beside your fireplace, Ang Lee’s “The Ice Storm” is still worth your time. Adapted from Rick Moody’s novel, it has a top notch cast, including Kevin Kline, Joan Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Elijah Wood, Christina Ricci, Tobey Maguire and Katie Holmes. This portrait of two generations of two families trying to cope with their emotional distance is cold and bracing, just like the weather raging outside.
Movie-A-Day #11: The Trip (1967).
Today we commemorate the birth of Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann, the father of LSD. While researching other, more conventional, pharmaceuticals in his lab in 1938, he first synthesized the drug in 1938. The sample wasn’t what he was looking for, so he set it aside. While handling it five years later he accidentally absorbed some into his fingertips and took the world’s first acid trip. Hofmann would dedicate the rest of his career to research into LSD and other hallucinogens, and he would become a vocal advocate of their therapeutic use in psychiatry. In the 1960s his zeal was picked up by Timothy Leary and other counterculture gurus who would help make LSD the defining drug of the Woodstock generation.
B-movie legend Roger Corman was plugged into the zeitgeist as usual and was among to exploit the LSD phenomenon on film with “The Trip,” starring Peter Fonda, Bruce Dern, Susan Strasberg and Dennis Hopper. The acid trip sequences are pretty cheesy, especially by today’s standards, and the rest of the script is a little too talky. But it struck a chord with audiences and is still one of the classics of the hippiesloitation genre.
Movie-A-Day #10: North By Northwest (1959).
The United Nations General Assembly met for the first time 65 years ago, on Jan. 10, 1946. It was a much bigger deal back then than it is now, when (here in the United States, at least) the U.N. is either reviled or just simply ignored. But back in the postwar years, there was genuine interest in what went on there and there was even a mini-wave of movies with scenes or intrigue surrounding the U.N. The best of these – and probably one of Alfred Hitchcock’s best films – is “North By Northwest.” Murder, mystery, action… Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, romance… What’s not to like?
Movie-A-Day #9: The Party (1968).
We’ve been featuring a lot of birthday’s lately, but guess what? Today is mine! And it’s a nice round number too. Every birthday deserves a good party, which is why I’m leaving you with “The Party” today, even though I just posted the review. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to get offline and party it up.
Desuko Movie Spot. 