Last Ten Films I've Seen- Che Guevara and a Donkey

Here are the last ten films I've seen (actually as of Monday at 6:00 p.m.). Most of these are new films, and I saw six of the films in theatres.

"Submarine" opens at the delightful a/perature Cinema in Winston-Salem, NC, on
Aug. 12 (wow! That would be tomorrow). "Buck" opens at the Lyric Theatre in Blacksburg, Va., on Aug. 26.

Even though the IMDB counts "Che," the four and a half hour epic film about the Argentinian revolutionary figure Che Guevara, as two films, I count it as one here. I have read the 800-page plus biographer by Jon Lee Anderson, who was an advisor to the film, about irregardless of how one feels about Che's politics or his brutal violence, the story is quite a telling one.

The first part of "Che" deals with his succesful venture into Cuba which lead to the leadership of Fidel Castro. The second part focuses on Che's failed mission that lead to his own execution in Bolivia.

It is interesting that one of the films on this list focuses on guerillas, and the one ("Rise of the Planet of the Apes") examines gorillas!

John Cazale was a great character actor who died way too young at age 49. He is the subject of Richard Shepard's documentary which gives fairly good insight into the life of an actor who appeared in "The Godfater" films, "The Conversation," "Dog Day Afternoon" (pictured here with Al Pacino) and "The Deer Hunter."

Here is the list of films:

1. "Buck" (doc. 2011. Dir- Cindy Meehl) ***1/2 stars (out of ****)

2. "Submarine" (UK. 2010 Dir-Richard Ayoade) ***1/2

3. "Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011. Dir-Rupert Wyatt) ***

4. "Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer (doc. 2010. Dir-Alex Gibney) ***

5. "Che" (Parts One and Two) (USA/Spain/France. In Spanish. 2008. Dir- Steven Soderbergh) ***

6. "Jackasss the Movie" (2002. Dir-Jeff Tremaine) *

7. "Horrible Bosses" (2011. Dir- Seth Gordon) **

8. "Crazy, Stupid, Love" (2011. Dirs. Glen Ficarra and John Requa) **1/2

9. "The Hangerover 2" (2011. Dir- Todd Phillips) **1/2

10. "I Knew It Was You: Rediscovering John Cazale" (doc. 2009. Dir-Richard Shepard)

PS- The donkey, which was a reference to the awful "Jackass The Movie" is from Turkey.

SIDEBAR: I jokingly said that tonight's Republican Party Debate from Ames, Iowa, which is going on as off this writing, would be broadcast on Comedy Central while I updating my Facebook status. Amazingly enough, or perhaps not, a Republican friend of mine agreed with me. Comedy Central is/was actually broadcasting three consecutive reruns of "Futurama" against the Republican debate.