SAMUEL L. JACKSON

July 28, 2019

Watched the 1999 movie Deep Blue Sea starring Saffron Burrows, Thomas Jane, Samuel L. Jackson, Stellan Skarsgard, Jacqueline McKenzie, Michael Rapaport, LL Cool J and Aida Turturro. I figured since today is the start of Shark Week, this would be the perfect day to watch this movie. A group of researchers in an isolated facility are using mako sharks as research for fighting Alzheimer's disease. Two of the researchers secretly genetically engineered the sharks to increase their brain size so they can get more protein complex... which made them a lot smarter than normal. What could possibly go wrong? This was my first time seeing this movie. It's not the best shark movie I've seen, but it was good and worth watching. 

July 28, 2019

Watched the 1991 made for TV movie Dead and Alive: The Race for Gus Farace also under the title In the Line of Duty: Mob Justice starring Tony Danza, Ted Lavine, Dan Lauria, Frank Vincent, Joe Lisi, James Rebhorn, Nicholas Turturro and Samuel L. Jackson. This is based on the true story of mafia wannabe Gus Farace, who had already served time for killing a gay teenager, murders an undercover DEA agent and goes on the run. Law enforcement puts pressure on known mob people in an effort to find him. The mob put out a hit on Farace as he's brought too much trouble and attention to them. The mob wants him dead and law enforcement wants him alive. Question is, who got to him first? Samuel L. Jackson plays the murdered DEA agent... sorry to spoil that for you but there's no other way to say who he played in the movie.  

July 28, 2019

Watched the 1978 televised play The Trial of the Moke starring Franklyn Seales, Thalmus Rasulala, Alfre Woodard, Howard Rollins, Robert Burr and Samuel L. Jackson among others. This was a play from the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre and broadcast on PBS. If you don't know your American History, there will be SPOILERS AHEAD. It's the true story of Lt. Henry O. Flipper, who in 1877 was the first black man to graduate from West Point. He was a Quartermaster and Commissary Officer under the command of Colonel William Schaffer, who was brutal with people he didn't like. After being told to keep the Quartermaster's money in his quarters instead of the safe as preferred, over $1,000 came up missing and he was blamed. He had been commissioned to write about his experiences at West Point, but they were very slow in paying him. He tried to get the money to pay it back himself but couldn't. The townspeople liked Lt. Flipper and raised the money to replace what was missing. Lt. Flipper and his servant were put on trial. The charges against his servant were dismissed for insufficient evidence. Lt. Flipper was found not guilty for the charge of stealing the money, but he was found guilty of "unbecoming an officer and gentleman" for lying about what happened and dishonorably discharged. He became a successful Civil Engineer and in 1976 his descendants were successful in getting his status reversed to an honorable discharge posthumously. Samuel L. Jackson played Johnson Whittaker, a West Point Cadet we see in flashback scenes with Flipper. Johnson Whittaker had been brutally beaten, then expelled after being accused and convicted for making the story up. I love these plays that PBS used to air. I wish there were more of them. As of this writing, it's on YouTube.      

July 27, 2019

Watched the 2005 movie Coach Carter starring Samuel L. Jackson, Rob Brown, Robert Ri'chard, Rick Gonzalez, Nana Gbewonyo, Antwon Tanner, Channing Tatum, Matt Jaworski, Ashanti, Octavia Spencer and Debbi Morgan. This is a biographical movie about Richmond High School basketball coach Ken Carter who was all over the news back in the late 90's for suspending his whole team from competition until they all brought their grade point averages up. He believed that education was just as important, if not more important than playing the game. He believed his players should be classy, on time, polite and well-behaved. He got some resistance from the players at first, but they came around and became better people because of him. I wish the lessons he instilled in his players would rub off on all teenagers. This movie is definitely worth watching. 

July 16, 2019

Watched the 2002 movie Changing Lanes starring Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Affleck, Toni Collette, Sydney Pollack, Richard Jenkins, Amanda Peet, William Hurt and many more. One man is a recovering alcoholic trying to get his family back, the other man is a cocky young lawyer. The first man is on his way to a court hearing to get visitation with his kids, the other is on his way to court with papers to prove someone who died had signed over his estate to the law firm he works for. The lawyer crashes his car into the other guy but doesn't stick around for the police to show up making the guy miss his court hearing and he loses custody of his kids. The lawyer makes it to court only to realize he lost the important papers he was supposed to deliver at the accident site and is granted a continuance. The one guy won't give the papers back, so the lawyer uses his connections to completely ruin the guy's credit and credibility so he can't buy a house. From there it's back and forth revenge until they come to their senses. I think I started to watch this movie a long time ago but got distracted and never saw the end. I'm glad I got to see it again and finish it because it was so good. Definitely worth seeing. 

July 16, 2019

Watched the 2015 movie The Hateful Eight starring Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Walton Goggins, Demian Bichir, Time Roth, Michael Madsen, Bruce Dern, Lee Horsley and Channing Tatum among others. Another Quentin Tarantino movie. This one is a western that takes place in the late 1800's after the Civil War. Strangers on a stagecoach take refuge at a country store to get out of the raging blizzard where they encounter another strangers. All of them have secrets or things they're trying to protect and nobody trusts anybody. Their greed and paranoia... plus throw in some criminals... gets the better of them and nothing good comes of it. Samuel L. Jackson plays a bounty hunter. The movie does have that same disturbing over the top violence that makes me feel uneasy when I try and watch Tarantino's movies. I know if you love his work, you'll really like this movie. For me, once was enough. 

July 14, 2019

Watched the 2011 movie The Sunset Limited starring Samuel L. Jackson and Tommy Lee Jones. A black, religious ex-convict stops a white, atheist professor from committing suicide by jumping in front of a subway train. The movie takes place in the black guy's run-down apartment where the two exchange a lot of dialog about things like like, god's plan, family, feelings... you name it. The black guy felt it was god telling him he needed to help the white guy find a reason to live. I'm not going to tell you how the story turns out. All I know is it left me an emotional wreck because they were just so damn good. It very much reminded me of another movie I'd seen; the 1986 movie 'night, Mother starring Sissy Spacek and Anne Bancroft. I highly recommend both movies for their powerful performances. 

July 14, 2019

Watched the 2013 movie Oldboy directed by Spike Lee and starring Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Olsen, Samuel L. Jackson and Michael Imperioli among others. Josh Brolin plays Joe, married with a wife and daughter and an alcoholic. One night he passes out and wakes up locked in a room where he's taken care of by his captors but he has no idea who has locked him up or why. He learns that his wife was murdered and he's the prime suspect and that his daughter has been adopted. He spends 20 years locked up. He's drugged, then released with a cell phone and some money. He looks up an old friend for help, who then calls Marie to help. There's a lot of game playing with some plot twists. If I try to explain any of it, it will give away the story. It's a really good story. I know a lot of people say the original Korean version of this movie was better, and it probably was, but I've never seen that so I have nothing to compare this to. If you haven't seen the original, you'll probably like this, if you've seen the original, you'll probably be disappointed in this one.

July 14, 2019

Watched the 1990 movie The Exorcist III starring George C. Scott, Ed Flanders, Jason Miller, Scott Wilson, Brad Dourif, Nicol Williamson and Harry Carey Jr. among many others. Samuel L. Jackson plays the blind dream guy. Priests are being murdered, but the fingerprints of each don't match so the police aren't sure it's the same killer. The M.O. however fits that of the Gemini serial killer who had been executed many years prior.  After more events, The man the Gemini serial killer is now possessing (Father Karras), reveals he's controlled by the same thing that had once possessed Regan McNeil (the girl in the first Exorcist movie played by Linda Blair) and it's pissed that Father Karras exorcised it and is getting revenge by using Karras to kill. That's where I'm going to leave it. A lot more happens, but you'll have to see it for yourself. I was leery about watching this movie. The first Exorcist scared the hell out of me. The second movie didn't scare me and I was hoping the same for the 3rd. I was wrong... it freaked me the fuck out! I'd seen this movie back in the early 90s when it first came out on VHS when I was still working in the video store. The ceiling crawler scene had me scared to turn the lights out for weeks. I was reluctant to watch it again, but the unwritten rule of the actor marathons is I have to watch everything that's available to see... so I watched it again... and I'll likely sleep with the lights on again for a while. 

July 14, 2019

Watched the 2001 movie Formula 51 or it's alternate title The 51st State starring Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Carlyle, Emily Mortimer, Meat Loaf, Sean Pertwee and Rhys Ifans. The movie starts in the early 70s where a man, who just received his college degree with honors in Pharmacology, is pulled over by the police for being under the influence of marijuana. His arrest means he can never work as a Pharmacist. The movie picks up 30 years later. He's still bitter and manufacturing narcotics for a drug lord. Only... he has other plans for the drugs he's creating. He meets up in Liverpool England with another sleazy character who is supposed to deliver him to the drug lord he's meeting with there. Plus they're dodging a hired assassin, who at first was supposed to kill him, but was then ordered to kill anybody who got in his way and keep him alive.  I wasn't sure what I was expecting when I started watching this movie, but I really did enjoy it. It's got it's funny moments, it's action moments, it's drama and a couple of really gross moments. It was worth watching. 

July 8, 2019

Watched the 1994 movie Pulp Fiction starring Samuel L. Jackson, John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Bruce Willis, Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Amanda Plummer, Ving Rhames, Eric Stoltz, Rosanna Arquette and Christopher Walken. Seven titled chapters of three interconnecting stories about two hit men, a has-been boxer and a wife all connected to a mob boss. As I mentioned yesterday when I posted Kill Bill, it's difficult for me to watch Tarantino movies. For me they cross the line from gratuitous fictional violence to mentally disturbed. Not to mention, it's way too long and a lot of that could have been cut without compromising the plots. Of course I'm not in any way dismissing people who do like his work as it seems his films are all fast becoming or have already become cult classics. If you enjoy his work, you'll probably love this movie. 

July 7, 2019

Watched the 2008 movie Lakeview Terrace starring Samuel L. Jackson, Patrick Wilson and Kerry Washington among others. An interracial newlywed couple buy a home in the Lakeview Terrace area of Los Angeles. It's bad enough that the hills all around their new home are on fire due to a wildfire, as is common in California, they also have to deal with an mentally unstable neighbor who hates white men with black women and makes their life a living hell. Not to mention the fact that the mentally unstable neighbor is also an LAPD officer so getting people to believe them was the challenge. Definitely a really good movie and worth seeing!  

July 7, 2019

Watched the 1998 movie Sphere starring Dustin Hoffman, Sharon Stone, Samuel L. Jackson, Liev Schreiber, Peter Coyote and Queen Latifah. A psychiatrist, a biologist, mathematician and an astrophysicist are called to the site where a 300 year old spacecraft is at the bottom of the ocean. Their job is to study it in a lab that has been built on the ocean floor near the spacecraft. In time, they learn it's not really what they first believe it is and can't handle what it really is. I thought it was a really good movie and well worth the time to watch. 

July 7, 2019

Watched the 2004 movie Kill Bill starring Uma Thurman, David Carradine, Lucy Liu, Vivica A. Fox, Michael Madsen, Daryl Hannah, Julie Dreyfus, Sonny Chiba and Samuel L. Jackson among many others. The Kill Bill franchise story is; a woman, who is pregnant with Bill's child but is about to be married to someone else, is shot in the head and left for dead along with everyone else in the wedding party by the members of The Deadly Assassination Squad. Samuel L. Jackson plays the piano player. She survives, wakes from a coma 4 years later and goes on a quest to kill all of squad members. I have to admit, I'm not a fan of Quentin Tarantino's movies. You would think with as many horror films I've seen and how many I've had a hand in producing, that violence wouldn't bother me. However, his films go beyond just being gory, his are disturbing to a degree in which I can't even define. It's a good thing he has his films as an outlet because if he didn't, he'd probably be a serial killer. I know Samuel L. Jackson is in a number of his films and I will watch them because that's what the challenge is. I admit, Quentin Tarantino films are extremely successful, so he's got a loyal audience. 

July 1, 2019

Watched the 1977 short The Displaced Person starring Irene Worth, Shirley Stoler, Lane Smith, John Houseman, Noam Yerushalmi, Robert Earl Jones and Samuel L. Jackson. The is part of The American Short Story Story anthology of short stories that was on PBS in the mid to late 70's. This story is about a widow who runs a farm in Georgia and takes place just after WWII in the 40's. She has the local priest find her a displaced person (someone who had to leave their country because of the war) to work as a farmhand. Things were going well... so well, she fired one of the other workers and he and his family had to leave the farm. She learned he was going to have his white teenage cousin marry one of the black farmhands (Samuel L. Jackson) for citizenship and she just wasn't having it. I'm going to stop there because I don't want to give the whole thing away. I found this on YouTube and it's just under an hour long if you want to watch it yourself. I remember watching these shows when I was a kid and they're all really good. Fair warning though... if you get offended really easily, the "N" word is used a lot... just consider the era this this story takes place... and if you're really sensitive, you may want to skip this.  

July 1, 2019

Watched the 2017 film Unicorn Store directed by, produced by and starring Brie Larson along with Samuel L. Jackson, Joan Cusack, Bradley Whitford and Mamoudou Athie among others. A woman who has a very artistic mind but doesn't express herself very well, tends to "fail" at the things like relating to her parents, making friends, dating, school and a job. She's lost and depressed when she receives a number of invitations to The Store... so she goes. She meets a flamboyant salesman (Samuel L. Jackson) in a flamboyant place who promises her she can have her own unicorn... but first she has to get ready for it and must meet all of the requirements he gives her. You'll have to watch the movie to find out what the lesson is. Really young kids probably wouldn't sit through it, but for pre-teen and teens, it's a good family movie. 

June 30, 2019

Watched the 1998 film The Red Violin starring Carlo Cecchi, Irene Grazioli, Anita Laurenzi, Christoph Koncz, Jean-Luc Bideau, Jason Flemyng, Greta Scacchi, Sylvia Chang and Samuel L. Jackson among others. The movie follows a legendary mysterious red violin from it's creation in Cremona Italy in 1681 through 4 centuries, 5 countries and countless owners until it's up for auction in 1997. Samuel L. Jackson plays appraiser who authenticates instruments for auction. What a fantastic, so very moving film. Being a violinist I'm surprised I hadn't heard of this until now. Definitely worth watching! 

June 30, 2019

Watched the 2005 season 1 episode 5 of the British TV show Extras Samuel L. Jackson guest starred in. Extras is the brain child of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant about actors trying to get their big break in movies by being background extras. Samuel L. Jackson plays himself as the star of the movie being filmed and deals with a background actor who compliments him for his performance in The Matrix... and since humor doesn't always translate well these days - especially in writing... the joke is, Mr. Jackson was not in The Matrix, that was Laurence Fishburne... whom Mr. Jackson has been mistaken for before in real life. That was a funny show. 

June 30, 2019

Watched the 1991 season 1 episode 14 of the TV show Law & Order Samuel L. Jackson guest starred in titled The Violence of Summer. The detectives and the prosecutors are trying to get the evidence they need to convict a group of young men for gang raping a female reporter. Samuel L. Jackson plays the defense attorney for one of the suspects. Everybody looks so young in this... Philip Seymour Hoffman, Gil Bellows, Chirs Noth... all look like kids. It's hard for me to conceive that 1991 was 28 years ago. For me it seems like yesterday and I was 24 years old back then. 

June 30, 2019

Watched the 1989 episode of the TV show A Man Called Hawk Samuel L. Jackson guest starred in titled Intensive Care. This TV show, starring Avery Brooks, is a spin-off of Spensor: For Hire as described in my previous post. Samuel L. Jackson plays a man who is part of a group of criminals who ambush and rob an armored truck of $6 million dollars, then he takes off with the getaway car and the money and leaves all of the other criminals behind. They know he's been going to the hospital to visit somebody but don't know who. One of the criminals kills him before he can tell them where the money is so they take the hospital hostage until they find out who is was going to visit. Hawk is at the hospital looking after a friend who had a stroke and must stop them or she'll die. The quality of the video I found online isn't good, but at least I got to see it. 

June 30, 2019

Watched the two 1987 episodes of the TV show Spensor: For Hire Samuel L. Jackson guest starred in: season 2 episode 3 titled White Knight and season 3 episode 2 titled My Enemy, My Friend. The premise of the show is Spenser (Robert Urich) is a failed boxer who becomes a private investigator along with his hired enforcer, Hawk. In White Knight, Hawk (Avery Brooks) and Spenser travel to a small town to check on a young boxer Hawk owns and Hawk ends up getting arrested and Spenser has to figure out how to help him in a web of corrupt politics. In My Enemy, My Friend, Spenser and Hawk have to help a young teenager who thinks he can run with the big boys in the crime world but is in way over his head. Funny, Samuel L. Jackson plays different characters in these episodes, yet both characters are the slimy criminal they end up having to strong-arm and threaten to get the information they need to resolve the issues. 

June 30, 2019

Watched the 1976 Season 2, episode 18 of the TV show Movin' On titled Woman of Steel Samuel L. Jackson had a role in as a highway patrolman. Movin' On starred Claude Akins and Frank Converse and was about two truckers and their weekly adventures. In this episode, the guys go to a steel mill run by a crooked man who stole money from just about everybody, everyone knew but did nothing because they needed the work he provided. These two guys stood up to him and he made their lives hell for a bit but came out on top in the end. I love that so many of those classic shows are on YouTube and we can see the earlier roles of the actors who are now A-list. 

June 30, 2019

Watched the 2016 movie Cell starring John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson, Isabelle Fuhrman and Stacy Keach among others. This movie is based on the 2006 novel by Stephen King. I read through some of the reviews on IMDb and many were upset that it didn't follow the book. In all fairness, most movies based on books don't follow them to a T because what works in writing sometimes doesn't always translate well to film. Plus time is a factor too so editing and re-writes are necessary. I always ignore reviews that say the acting was bad because only sad pathetic people who can't act at all criticize those who do act. The premise is, a powerful cell phone signal is broadcast across the world and anybody who had their phone up to their ear at the time became a zombie-like murderous monster. A man needs to get home to his son and a couple of people decide to go with him. They encounter other people along the way as they try to figure out how to either stop what's happening or get to a place where they will be safe from them. In time the creatures become less about killing and more about recruiting by sharing the signal. I don't want to give it all away here. I thought the movie was good, but I'm still undecided about the ending. I've come up with a few interpretations of the ending in my mind because it's not 100% clear. Still, it was worth the time to watch.   

June 29, 2019

Watched Spike Lee's 1989 movie Do the Right Thing starring Spike Lee, Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Richard Edson, Giancarlo Esposito, Bill Nunn, John Turturro, Rosie Perez, Martin Lawrence, Samuel L. Jackson, Steve Park, Bill Nunn, Rober Guenveur Smith, Frankie Faison and John Savage among others. Since tomorrow is the 30th anniversary of when this movie was first released, I thought it was most appropriate to get it in this weekend. The movie takes place on an extremely hot summer day in a Brooklyn New York neighborhood. Everyone is irritable because of the heat and growing racial tension between the Black and Hispanic citizens of the neighborhood against the White homeowner and the White and Asian business owners on the block and the treatment of the citizens by the local police. Samuel L. Jackson plays the character of the neighborhood FM radio DJ Mister Senor Love Daddy. I'm not going to give away the plot. You'll have to watch it if you haven't already. This topic was very relevant and now historical for the time it was made. What is sad to me is, things should have evolved and gotten better by now. For a while it seemed like it was getting better, but sadly, in the last few years we've come to learn that this kind of hatred and bigotry is still very much alive. Not much has changed since then... actually, it seems like we went backwards 50 years instead of forward 30 years. We're supposed to be better than that. Food for thought. 

June 29, 2019

Watched the 2006 movie Home of the Brave starring Samuel L. Jackson, Jessica Biel, Brian Presley, 50 Cent, Victoria Rowell, Chad Michael Murray and Christian Ricci. An Army National Guard unit stationed in Iraq get the news that their tour is done and they will be going home... but first they have to do a humanitarian mission to deliver medical supplies to a remote Iraqi city. Upon entering the city, the convoy is ambushed resulting in many injuries and causalities. The bulk of the film centers on four of the soldiers as they return home and try to move forward with their lives as they deal with their lasting wounds, both physical and mental. Watching the movie gave me new appreciation for the soldiers who have and are still serving. The cast is perfect... there's no other way to describe them. Definitely see this. 

June 23, 2019

Watched the 1993 movie Loaded Weapon 1 starring Samuel L. Jackson, Emilio Estevez, Tim Curry, William Shatner, Kathy Ireland, Jim Lovitz, Frank McRae, Denis Leary, F. Murray Abraham, Beverly Johnson and Ken Ober among others. Also a whole lot of cameo appearances by Whoopi Goldberg, Erik Estrada, Larry Wilcox, Corey Feldman, Phil Hartman, Richard Moll, Bruce Willis, Denise Richards, Charlie Sheen and Dr. Joyce Brothers to name a few. Again, it's one of those movies I've seen about a hundred times. I love these kind of spoof movies and this one spoofs the Lethal Weapon movies. An undercover detective is murdered by a man disguised as a Wilderness Girl selling cookies because he wants the microfilm. Her former partner gets the case and is teamed with a psycho cop who doesn't care about anything since "Claire" left him. They are assigned to investigate how General Mortars is conducting his drug business. If you've seen the Lethal Weapon movies, you'll recognize the gags. Just a lot of fun silliness not to be taken seriously. 

June 23, 2019

Watched the 2003 movie S.W.A.T. starring Samuel L. Jackson, Colin Farrell, LL Cool J, Michelle Rodriguez, Brian Van Holt, Jeremy Renner and Oliver Martinez among others. This is one of those movies I've seen at least a dozen times, if not more. I just watched it again last night. Of course it's based on the 1975 TV series of the same title with the same character names. Jim Street and his partner are suspended from the S.W.A.T. program for defying a direct order and shooting a hostage in the process. Jim stays on to work out his probationary period in hopes of returning to S.W.A.T. one day, or at least still being a police officer. His partner quit and believes Jim ratted him out. Sergeant Hondo is brought in to form a new S.W.A.T. team and he agrees on the condition that he gets to choose the team members. Of course he picks the ones the police captain doesn't like and the new team is born. There's a whole side story going on with a drug lord I'm not going to go into detail about. You'll just have to watch it if you haven't already.  

June 23, 2019

I want to kick off the marathon with a film I watched when I did the Victor Garber marathon last year on social media; the 2014 movie Big Game starring Samuel L. Jackson, Onni Tommila, Victor Garber, Felicity Huffman, Ted Levine, Jim Broadbent, Ray Stevens and Mehmet Kurtulus. Airforce One is shot down by terrorists somewhere over Finland and the U.S. President is stranded in the snowy mountains. A 13 year old boy trying to prove his manhood by going hunting, finds the President and tries to help him... not only out of the dangerous mountains, but because he's also being hunted by the terrorists who know he's not dead. A whole lot happens I'm not going to tell you about, especially the major plot twist, so you'll have to see it. I thought it was fantastic and well worth watching. 

June 23, 2019

The first thing I always do before I begin an actor marathon is set up an Excel spreadsheet listing all of their credits listed on IMDb and divide it into Film and Television. This makes it easier for me to know where online to look for them. As I watch the movies and TV shows I'll highlight the lines yellow. The goal is to have all of the lines yellow. If after exhausting every resource I know of and I'm unable to find something, I'll highlight it red. I now have my Samuel L. Jackson page all set up and I'm ready to begin the marathon.