Another Triple-Feature.

In a previous post I mentioned how my last 3 Netflix rentals all had something in common (they were all based on true stories). I thought it was pretty cool, since it had happened unintentionally.

Well, I am very happy to announce that it has happened again. I'm on a roll!!

My movies this week were "Shadows and Fog," "The Majestic," and "Mighty Aphrodite." 10 points to the person who can guess what the connection is this time around....they all feature David Ogden Stiers*!!

OK, OK, I know he's not as recognizable as Harrison or Julia, and I probably wouldn't even have noticed it if it weren't for my knowledge of Disney films. (I'm going somewhere with this, I promise).

I remember listening to the director's commentary on a Disney animated film (I think it was Atlantis) and David Ogden Stiers had a short cameo in the beginning as one of the professors. The director mentioned that DOS is like their good luck charm and they use him in as many of their animated films as possible. As I reference the Internet Movie database, I see that his stint with Disney began with "Beauty and the Beast" (he was Cogsworth the clock) and has since appeared in most of the films (he was the villain in both "Lilo & Stitch" and "Pocahontas").

So, as I saw his name on the opening credits of "Shadows and Fog" (I love Woody Allen!) I was excited to look for him and see what he looked like. Unfortunately, most of the film took place in shadow and fog and the cameos were so quick, I couldn't recognize him by his voice. I was able to point out a young William H Macy, who was at-the-time listed as WH Macy. Kinda cool. And by the way, it's too bad that "Shadows and Fog" is such a hard film to find anymore. A hidden treasure!

I didn't recognize him in "The Majestic" until the very end and I was like ohhhhhhhh ok. By the way, this film got a bad rap. Kinda like "The Cable Guy." I think most people were expecting another Ace Ventura wildman out of Jim Carrey and instead they got a Capra-esque drama. But give it a chance. Much like Adam Sandler's "Punch Drunk Love"...only easier to make sense out of. But to be fair, the poster for "The Majestic" was, in my opinion, the worst poster EVER. A watercolor painting of Jim Carrey? And a bad one at that? Booo!

I haven't even watched "Mighty Aphrodite" yet. As soon as I saw DOS's name in the credits, I flipped out and had to let you know about it. Turns out that he also appears in a lot of Woody's films, so this might be cheating a bit, but since I didn't know, I shall excuse myself and still bask in the wonderment of coincidence.

My next 3 Netflix movies coming are "The Truth About Charlie," "My Family (AKA Mi Familia)," and "Air Jaws 1 and 2:Sharks of South Africa." I think I may have just put the kibbosh on my "3 films that are oddly linked together somehow." But who knows. I'm hoping Edward James Olmos will surprise me.



*[For all of you M*A*S*H* fans, David Ogden Stiers played Maj Charles Emerson Winchester III on the TV series. I have no idea who that is since I've never seen an entire episode of the show. I try not to watch horribly overrated TV shows that are in truth just plain boring]