What Are You Watching Right Now? Episode 3 - Turtles in Time

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Re: What Are You Watching Right Now? Episode 3 - Turtles in

Post by Buscemi2 »

I saw Wayne's World tonight. The DCP is sadly the home video version because of a certain rock group still refusing to budge on music rights (making an old 35mm print the only way to see the original version of the film) but it was still a fun experience because you got to quote along with the movie. And since I already know much of the script anyway, I took part.

I was surprised that most of the audience didn't stick around through the end credits. They did post-credit scenes before Marvel, you know!

In addition, three trailers (Action Point, The Spy Who Dumped Me, Super Troopers 2) were screened. I don't understand why people think Action Point looks funny.

Up next: The Jerk, followed by Super Troopers 1 & 2.
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Re: What Are You Watching Right Now? Episode 3 - Turtles in

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I watched The Jerk tonight. The magnum opus of Steve Martin's talents plays well on a big screen (the DCP looked good too) and it's kind of sad that we may never get a comedian-driven star debut of this caliber again, where so many talented people get a small budget and total creative freedom and create such a funny and sweet-natured film and in the process finds so much mainstream acceptance. I'm hoping the other three Steve Martin/Carl Reiner teamings get booked here in the near-future (Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid would look nice on a large screen).

Three trailers were also shown (Action Point, Deadpool 2, and a red band of Super Troopers 2).
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Re: What Are You Watching Right Now? Episode 3 - Turtles in

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I didn't say much about my viewing of Super Troopers because I already talked about seeing both on another thread. So today's classic movie viewing was...

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Wes Anderson's first film, which was screened for two days only at the local arthouse. And I must wonder how at the time of release, this had the worst test screening scores in the history of Columbia Pictures. You're telling me this played worse than North, The Next Karate Kid, Return to the Blue Lagoon, Amos & Andrew, Mary Reilly, Never Talk to Strangers, and many other Sony bombs of the era? If anything, this film was ahead of its time. While the mid 90's were about Jim Carrey, Kevin Smith, and Beavis and Butt-head (created by Mike Judge, another one of Austin's favorite sons), this film kind of predicted that 2000's indie-style of "less is more" humor. And yet, this was a studio film. Columbia really missed capitalizing on a trend here.

As for the film itself, I really wish Anderson would return to the roots of his first two films. The simplicity of this heist/love story is part of its charm and the humor, while also playing with the buffoonery that's so popular in comedy, also feels realistic. You probably know these people. It's also the least stylistic of Anderson's films and perhaps one of his more accessible films despite being his most obscure.

The best character is probably Anthony though Bob and Inez are fascinating characters that could probably carry their own film.

Print-wise, the film was projected from the Criterion Blu-ray and it's kind of a dated master (after all, it was one of their first Blu-rays). If Criterion ever goes to UHD (there have been some baseless rumors), this should be a contender for a remaster. Three trailers (Foxtrot, RBG, Lean on Pete) were also shown.

Up next: Vertigo, then Blazing Saddles (apparently in 35mm).
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Re: What Are You Watching Right Now? Episode 3 - Turtles in

Post by Chienfantome »

Last year I attended a screening of Bottle Rocket here in Paris, introduced by Wes Anderson himself and with a Q&A with him afterwards. You can find the genesis of his work as a filmmaker in it. Very good film.
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Re: What Are You Watching Right Now? Episode 3 - Turtles in

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Tonight's classic movie screening...

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Much like Raiders of the Lost Ark, this is a film that one hasn't fully seen until they've seen it in a movie theatre. It might be the best shot film ever (hard to believe it wasn't nominated for an Oscar but Emmanuel Lubezki can win three consecutive years when he didn't even deserve it in any of those years) and the color palette should make it required viewing for any cineaste and visual artist (the short version: more Robert Burks, less Jeff "I Can't Light a Damn Scene" Cronenweth).

But enough of the potshots, let's get to the film itself. This in a way feels like Hitchcock's attempt at a French film. Not only was it based on a French novel, it feels as if Alfred saw Diabolique and decided to do his own, higher-budgeted version. It's probably not too surprising that this was a bomb in 1958 as it's very sophisticated for a Hollywood movie (hell, a movie like this would bomb in 2018 unless you made it on a Blumhouse budget) and Jimmy Stewart plays against type (audiences were probably still a decade away from watching beloved actors break out of their comfort zones). But ever since Universal got the film in the 80's, Vertigo has developed a new appreciation. And deservedly so. It's one of Hitchcock's finest hours as a filmmaker.

The print was a DCP based on a 2012 improvement of the 1996 restoration. The rich colors and VistaVision cinematography are gorgeous on the big screen (I'm jealous of those who got to see it in 70mm). The audio seemed to be the original stereo mix rather than the 5.1 DTS mix that the 1996 release had (a controversial mix due to the added effects). Three trailers (Mission: Impossible - Fallout, Three Identical Strangers, Beast) were included as well.

Up next: Blazing Saddles. And for May (so far): Videodrome, Clerks, and the restored Basket Case.
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Re: What Are You Watching Right Now? Episode 3 - Turtles in

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Tonight's classic screening...

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And in 35mm, no less. Not surprisingly, this film still has an impact 44 years later (though I have to wonder how many people actually got what Mel Brooks was trying to say and how many just like it because they believe those myths about "political correctness" while ignoring you can raunch and off-color humor everywhere). Bart is one entertaining protagonist (and I really wish Cleavon Little had gotten to do more big roles during his lifetime) and it's amazing to note how Brooks had the clout to break so many conventions of the genre, especially in a big studio film. It's a film that works not because it goes after everyone but because it does it so well while also still having a charm comparable to the old Warner Bros. cartoons.

Favorite character: Hedley Lamarr. Perhaps the most entertainingly silly movie villain of all-time.

Print quality: the 35mm print was from the original 1974 release (confirmed before the movie) and though it's been through many runs (the film kept coming back to theatres because it was so popular), it's still decent enough (the worst-looking 35mm print I've ever seen was one for The Goonies, which was thrashed to hell and had splices everywhere).

Also shown: seven trailers (Stagecoach, Forty Guns, Warlock, Rio Bravo, Sory to Bother You, Action Point, Tag).

Lastly, I forgot to mention my favorite characters in Super Troopers and Vertigo.

Super Troopers: Farva (so evil, yet so funny)
Vertigo: Midge
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Re: What Are You Watching Right Now? Episode 3 - Turtles in

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A double dose of old movie goodness.

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&

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From big Texas to the even bigger Great White North, these two 80's films are thrillers of a different variety. One's a throwback to film noir while the other's a technological terror but both helped bring a higher profile to directors with a strong independent spirit, The Coen Brothers and David Cronenberg.

First, Blood Simple. The DCP provided by Janus Films was of the slightly longer (and not often seen) theatrical cut, which has some moments that don't flow as well and it's understandable that The Coens went back and sped up the pace many years later (yes, there is no problem with a shorter director's cut, though some people view this as sacrilege). However, viewing it again gave me a new-found adoration for John Getz's performance. The performance is still somewhat bland but it fits the character, much like some of Peter Weller's performances or Stephen Lack in Scanners. However, M. Emmet Walsh is still the real star of the film. Loren is pure evil and the kind of villain not often seen in film today (instead, it's all about trying to sympathize with the unsympathetic).

Second, Videodrome. Universal's DCP is the theatrical cut (which removes some content to get an R, all home video releases are the director's cut) but despite some obvious cuts, the film still works. And I'm convinced Max Renn is the alter ego of Mark Burnett, exploitation maven of television. And even though most look at the Rick Baker effects and the sexual imagery, I'd say one should note the scenes with Brian O'Bilivion, the Marshall McLuhan-inspired prophet of television. The message of the film seems to be conveyed through these sequences. I believe Cronenberg was telling us that too much television and the addiction to it leads to dangerous consequences. Hmm, that might explain binge watching.

Also included: six trailers combined (You Were Never Really Here, Disobedience, American Animals, Kin, a red band for Upgrade, and Under the Silver Lake).
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Re: What Are You Watching Right Now? Episode 3 - Turtles in

Post by Ron Burgundy »

Cool boosh. I went through a bit of a Cronenberg binge 5-6 years ago, including Videodrome, i saw The Fly, Scanners and Naked Lunch. Videodrome was my fav from those, i wish we had more of those type movies today.

I watched a few on the weekend

Phantom Thread
Very well acted and a deep character study played by none other than Daniel Day Lewis. You are sucked into the world of dressmaking through the main characters and their arc. Paul Thomas Anderson gives us a modern masterpiece. So sad DDL is retired...
8/10

The Darkest Hour
Stellar performance from Gary Oldman- but not much more. Just annoyed that the film focuses on a single event (Dunkirk) in the 2nd half of the film. Still, was decent.
6/10

Fifty Shades of Grey
1/10
I couldn't even finish this while playing computer games. Was utter crap.

Krampus
Not bad, but really not very good. It was a case of who gives a rats ass about the people getting involved in a screamfest terrorised by the Christmas demon and his Toy minions.
3.5/10

Father Figures
Average buddy (in this case brother) comedy with Owen Wilson and Ed Helms where they go looking for a long lost father. Helms wasn't his usual unbearble self and Wilson plays his normal laid guy back guy role. I would hate to pay $15 to see this but for a Sunday night its fine.
5/10

Also watched first few episodes of:
Silicon Valley S5 and Westworld S2, both pretty awesome.
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Re: What Are You Watching Right Now? Episode 3 - Turtles in

Post by JohnErle »

It's always nice to see a classic that lives up to the hype, and I saw two this weekend that deserve all the accolades they've ever received.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (10/10)

I can't believe it took me this long to finally watch this, but it was definitely worth the wait. I always get Leone's westerns mixed up, so for years I thought I'd actually watched this before, but I'd only ever seen bits and pieces. I loved the way it completely subverted the typical Hollywood three-act structure (I think the MacGuffin isn't introduced until after the one-hour point) and it was interesting to see other characters sometimes get the upper hand on Blondie, because it's unusual to see Eastwood in a role where his character isn't always the Alpha dog. And Lee Van Cleef and Eli Wallach were terrific, although the latter would never be allowed to play that role today, for obvious reasons.

All About Eve (9/10)

You couldn't ask for a more different film from a Leone western, because the former is very visual while rapid-fire dialogue is All About Eve's hallmark. I found the non-stop banter a tad overwhelming at times, so the movie could have used a few transitional panorama shots to give the audience a breather, and to borrow Six's critique of Aaron Sorkin, all the characters sound exactly the same, which was common in this era of Hollywood, so it's something you just have to go with, much like the terrible dubbing of Italian films of the 60s on display in spaghetti westerns. I always enjoy seeing George Sanders and Thelma Ritter, and while Bette Davis gets the flashiest role, and the most memorable line, it's Anne Baxter who carries the film, and she's terrific. I'd never seen her in anything before, so she was a revelation. She reminded me a bit of Nicole Kidman in To Die For, where the seemingly innocent exterior is slowly peeled away.

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Re: What Are You Watching Right Now? Episode 3 - Turtles in

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Today's retro movie screening...

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Yes, it's everyone's favorite teen movie narcissist (why do I get a feeling Ferris grew up to be friends with Rod Farva?). In a way, this could be seen as both the ultimate 80's movie (as seems to best depict the attitudes that the media loved to exploit and you had a guy who enabled that culture in John Hughes as writer and director) and the main example of Hughes's teenager-themed period (it also served as his swan song for directing teen-aimed films, his next two films were adult-focused and his last two were more family-friendly). The film has been dissected, sewn back together, and taken apart again so many times that anything new would seem old hat. But I will show some notes I took in my head while watching it.

- For a screenplay that had its first draft written in two days (or something like that, Hughes wrote scripts quick), it has a really well-thought-out concept. The film has little notes and events that go into detail on how the day was planned and how Ferris was just that good as his hustle.

- Rooney isn't too far off from Ferris, despite being mortal enemies. Both are zealous to the point of using others and skewing other priorities to get to an objective.

- Despite Ferris and his self-importance, he does somewhat serve as a teacher to others to take things easy. Not only does Cameron learn, so does Jeannie. Some theories have suggested that Ferris only exists in Cameron's mind but how does this explain Jeannie's actions in the last half-hour? Ferris is more than a man, he's a philosophy. Was Save Ferris the 80's version of Dudeism?

- Hughes should have shot in scope more often. Watching this on a big screen really made me notice how good Tak Fujimoto's cinematography looks.

- A bunch of the side characters could easily carry their own film. Grace, the valet parkers (I remember an old YouTube comment that suggested they were Qui-Gon Jinn and Mace Windu because of the use of the Star Wars theme), the girl who looked like Ferris from behind, and Charlie Sheen's cameo (we need to know exactly why he was awake for four days straight before filming his scenes).

In addition, three trailers were shown (Eighth Grade, Johnny English Strikes Again, Night School).

Next up: Clerks, though Raising Arizona is showing on Sunday and I might go to that.

As for my ten decades goal, I'm stuck at seven. However, I might somehow have all ten years of the 1980's in by the end of the year. Currently, I have six years covered with 1982 coming later in the week. I could be up to eight years, with 1981 and 1989 (1988, depending on how on classifies Heathers) still to go.
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Re: What Are You Watching Right Now? Episode 3 - Turtles in

Post by Buscemi2 »

Today's rep showing...

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More 80's, more Coens.

Nicolas Cage does some of his best work as a habitual criminal who decides to steal a baby to cheer up his depressed wife (Holly Hunter in a breakout performance). And that's only the beginning of the story.

In a way, this is somewhat of an antithesis of Blood Simple. Though both deal with crime in the Southwest (Raising Arizona takes us to the Phoenix suburb of Tempe), this is a much lighter film. It also showed what the brothers could do with a studio-friendly film. And all was good, as this film's success gave us Miller's Crossing (which is as far from Raising Arizona as one could get).

Up next: Clerks, followed by Basket Case.
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Re: What Are You Watching Right Now? Episode 3 - Turtles in

Post by Buscemi2 »

I forgot to mention that Raising Arizona was shown through a beautiful DCP that might be the best that the film has ever looked.

Anyway, tonight's rep screening...

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It seems as if people have forgotten that Kevin Smith used to make good movies. Nowadays, people seem to know him as that guy who never changes clothes and makes terrible films like Yoga Hosers when he's not running his comic book shop or doing things for IMDb. This was, of course, his first film, which showed how resourceful he could be with $27,000 (minus the thousands spent in post by Miramax to clear the soundtrack). The film is simple but it's effective, with memorable characters (Randal probably being the best) and some filthy but funny dialogue.

Watching it on a big screen got me to see some things I'd never noticed before:

- The film takes place sometime in 1993, as the Waco siege is referenced in a newspaper headline.

- The video store has a bootleg copy of Heavy Metal (the film didn't get a home video release until 1996 due to music rights).

- One of the tapes held by the customer Randal is ignoring is Devil Fish, which was later riffed on MST3K (so Randal was telling the truth when he said it was bad).

- Jay is wearing a San Jose Sharks cap.

- There's a brief reference to Alyssa Jones, the female protagonist of Chasing Amy (and Willam appears in a much thinner form).

They're a little minute but the things you'll find when you're not watching them at home (an interesting note: I was watching this on Encore when I found out that the actress who played Caitlin died).

The film was projected from a Blu-ray (I guess the current owners of the Miramax library only have DCP's for some titles) but it looked pretty good for a small film shot on 16mm. Four trailers were also shown (A Royal Affair, Action Point, Tag, and Deadpool 2).
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Re: What Are You Watching Right Now? Episode 3 - Turtles in

Post by W »

Moviepass is running a thing where every member can gift a free month to three different people. If any US resident wants to try it out, let me know. There are tons of rules to follow and whatnot, but as long as they are in business it is completely worth the hassle. By the end of my eighth month I'll have seen about 56-58 movies (I'm at 53 right now, next billed June 8) and paid $79.60, so about $1.50 or a bit under per movie.
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Re: What Are You Watching Right Now? Episode 3 - Turtles in

Post by undeadmonkey »

If i lived in the states, i would totally make use of it.

unfortunately, by the time i make it back there, they will probably have filed for bankruptcy.

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Re: What Are You Watching Right Now? Episode 3 - Turtles in

Post by Spectre »

W wrote:Moviepass is running a thing where every member can gift a free month to three different people. If any US resident wants to try it out, let me know. There are tons of rules to follow and whatnot, but as long as they are in business it is completely worth the hassle. By the end of my eighth month I'll have seen about 56-58 movies (I'm at 53 right now, next billed June 8) and paid $79.60, so about $1.50 or a bit under per movie.
Enjoy it while you can, the cash burn for MoviePass is absolutely absurd and I don't see how they fix it in time. They're essentially hoping to eventually get enough people who watch 1 or less than 1 movies a month to offset... customers like you ;) but they're burning through cash at such a rate that unless they secure additional funding, there's no way they make it. The business model isn't sustainable. The parent company's stock has recently crashed and they're doing some sketchy things to keep afloat.

Let's just say... I'd be hesitant to renew an annual pass and would probably switch to monthly vs. paying up front. I'll be surprised if they last the year.

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