Thursday, January 19, 2012

Here's the F This Movie Fest Lineup!

Earlier this week, we announced the first ever F This Movie Fest taking place February 4 all over the WORLD (but mostly on Twitter).

Today, we're announcing the festival lineup, which celebrates the movies of 1982. Happy 30th Birthday, 1982!

*All start times are Central Standard Time and approximate. We'll be close, but you'll want to follow along on Twitter/Facebook/F This Movie! to know when exactly we're starting each movie.

Noon
Dir. Amy Heckerling/90m.

2pm
(1982 theatrical cut)
Dir. Ridley Scott/117m.
(Note: When the festival was announced, BLADE RUNNER was available on Netflix Instant. It has since been removed. It can still be viewed on Amazon VOD for only $2.99)

4pm
 Dir. Jim Henson/Frank Oz/93m.
Watch on Netflix

6pm
 Dir. Nicholas Meyer/113m.

8pm
 Dir. George Miller/95m.

The festival will conclude with a recording of F This Movie!'s 100th EPISODE, on which we'll announce the winners of the F This Movie! Win Our Stuff! contest. If you haven't already entered, what are you waiting for?

Before you chime in with "But you left this one out" and "Hey, dum dum, you forgot this other one," I KNOW. So many good movies came out in '82 that a whole separate festival could be programmed -- 1982 Part II (and, if this one is a success, IT JUST MIGHT). Some tough choices had to be made.

If you don't already own any or all of these movies, start tracking them down now. Two of the titles are available on Netflix Instant, if that helps (Update: Now it's just one. See above.)

Is everyone getting excited yet? We are!

20 comments:

  1. I was sure Cronenberg's "Videodrome" was going to make the list. Care to share with us what movies barely missed being included? Anything that wasn't a Hollywood studio movie even remotely in the running? Because the above looks like the line-up of any given weekday schedule on HBO or TBS in the mid-to-late 80's (with "Beastmaster" in the mix for old time's sake! :-P).

    Ironically the three movies I do own of the five ("Fast Times," "Blade Runner" and "Road Warrior") are all on HD-DVD. So it will be an 'F This Movie' film festival and an HD-DVD revival at my house, the perfect excuse to fire-up the good old Toshiba player. I might check out during "Dark Crystal" and "Star Trek II" though, the former because I don't like the Muppets or anything Jim Henson ever did (though I haven't seen the movie) and the latter because I've never seen anything "Star Trek" in my entire life. I would have to watch the entire original series and the first movie before seeing "ST II" (I'm OCD like that with chronology... sound familiar Patrick?). Oh well, three out of five ain't bad.

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    1. J.M. the good thing about Star trek II, The Wrath of Khan, is that you did not NEED to see the first movie. It is a great stand alone movie, and although it has elements thrown in from the original series, they are just explanations, not cut back scenes.
      As for the Dark Crystal, although it has elements of cuteness in it from time to time, it is a serious bit of science fiction. The characters in it are as strange as the Gelfling's quest to him.
      This must have been a stellar year for sci-fi! no wonder i love it so much! BTW except for Fast Times at Ridgemont High, these all seem to be survivalist movies too. Who should survive (morality lines in there) and who is good, and who is evil? Sounds like a lot of fun.

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    2. Yes! Awesome. Thanks, Summer. Let's not overlook the fact that Fast Times is all about SURVIVING HIGH SCHOOL. That's not at all a stretch.

      '82 was a GREAT year for sci-fi -- and just genre movies in general. No year has so many movies that I genuinely love and love to watch. Hope you'll join us!

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  2. Love. Love. Love. Love. and Love. Great poster, too! In 1982 I was 18... like Phoebe. Just sayin'.

    And J.M., I think you should give DC a chance! Feel the felt, baby. Also, Kirk = good, Khan = bad. There, now you're all caught up and you can enjoy ST II.

    I'll be in for all of them, FTM crew!

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  3. "I might check out during "Dark Crystal" ... because I don't like the Muppets or anything Jim Henson ever did (though I haven't seen the movie)"

    Completely dismiss any thoughts of Muppets and WATCH THIS MOVIE! Is it perfect? No, but it's one of the most unique films you will ever see. There is some fantastic character design going on in there, some of which gave me nightmares when I was a kid seeing it for the first time.

    We're mixing years here, but I would combine The Dark Crystal, Tron, and The Last Starfighter as three great experiments from the early 80s in how to make movies -- two unfortunately were never really repeated, and the third had a profound effect on how special effects are done in movies. I wish more movies these days were as creative.

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  4. Thanks, everybody. Glad the response to the picks is mostly positive. I agree, J.M., that they're not exactly adventurous, but I wanted them to be accessible to everyone. If you're bringing the movies to the audience, you can choose more offbeat and obscure stuff (like TURKEY SHOOT and TIMERIDER, which were in the running for a while), but I wanted everyone to be able to get copies of the movies. Plus, it's more about celebrating how all of these incredible movies came out in a SINGLE YEAR -- and that's leaving out E.T. and CONAN THE BARBARIAN and THE THING and, yes, VIDEODROME. And TRON and DEAD MEN DON'T WEAR PLAID and CAT PEOPLE and THE LAST AMERICAN VIRGIN and POLTERGEIST and FIRST BLOOD and 48 HRS. and CREEPSHOW and THE SECRET OF NIMH and BASKET CASE and FRIDAY THE 13th PART 3 and ONE FROM THE HEART and NIGHT SHIFT and TENEBRAE and...I think you get the idea.

    Hope you'll change your mind about The Dark Crystal and Star Trek II, because I think both are terrific and worth seeing, but I'm glad you'll be joining us for at least some of the day. And that you'll get to make use of your dead technology.

    I love The Last Starfighter, Carl, and if we were celebrating a different year, that movie would MOST DEF make the cut. But you're absolutely right about creativity. What amazes me when I look at the output of just '82 (not to mention many other years of the early '80s) is just how many of these movies would NEVER BE MADE today, especially by major studios and receiving widespread distribution. A lot of it is genre stuff, obviously (probably why I like it), but even that's saying something.

    janbottig, it wouldn't be an F This Movie! Fest without you.

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    1. Man, I forgot Secret of NIMH was in there. You and JB (I think) talked about the type of children's movies that aren't made anymore. How about a children's cartoon that scared the piss out of me when I first saw it? Even now, mutant rats with glowing eyes give me the heebie jeebies...

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  5. HD-DVD dead technology? Not as long as its torch burns bright in the hearts of true HD enthusiasts. I watch my 125+ HD-DVD collection all the time (especially the Kubrick one's), so it's never been dead to me. It just got 'sucker punch'ed by Warner Bros. in early '08. But hey, I like Blu-ray too. Who's complaining, right? Best of both worlds.

    Little suggestion Patrick (if you accept them). Since the movies are starting at the top of the hour every couple of hours, any chance the start time of "Dark Crystal" could be pushed to either 4:10 or 4:15PM CT? Coming from "Blade Runner's" 117 min. running time there's only three minutes between "BR" and "DC." Some of us would appreciate a little break for bathroom time, sandwich making, thumb relaxation (from constant tweeting) or just to rest the eyes. And since "Dark Crystal" is 93 min. pushing its start time still leaves a 15-20 min. break between it and "ST II: ...Khan's" 6PM start time. Think about it, won't you? It's a little favor for people like JB (older than you) and me (between you and JB) that are getting too old for this shit... :-)

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  6. The start times are approximate, just figuring two hours for every movie. There will be breaks between each movie, I promise.

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  7. Jesus Vargas, just shit in your chair like a real man!

    This should be interesting - hope I can catch it - aside from Blade Runner, I've either never watched these movies or last watched them as a kid (except for maybe a certain clip from Fast Times...wink, wink, nudge, nudge, say no more!)

    Unfortunately Super Bowl weekend often means my folks coming up to the city so not sure if I'll be able to participate, but will at least follow on Twitter when I can. This is a really cool idea - hopefully it's repeated!

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  8. Can't wait, everyone! I have to admit... I have not seen a few of these films. My tweets will be extra sweet.

    Whoo-hoo!

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  9. Don't we need to invent a new Twitter term for this new breed of intertubes phenomenon?

    F This Movie Festival on Twitter =

    Twestival?
    FThisFestival?
    Fwestival?
    FwitterFest?

    I stink at this. F-heads, assemble.

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  10. I'll be there for Fast Times and Blade Runner. Going to a Bulls game later that day/night. Should be a fun pre-game.

    My vote for the name of this marathon/festival.

    An American Tail: F This Movie Goes Westival

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  11. I'll be there, as well. Also, that Road Warrior poster is SWEET.

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  12. Great Selection.

    Im really looking forward to this, in particular Dark Crystal. As a child of the 80s I always had a preference towards Labyrinth and somehow neglected this film, so I keen to check it out. Also, dont tell my fellow countrymen but I havent seen any of the Mad Max films, so Road Warrior will be a treat too. (is seeing the first one necessary or beneficial in any way to the enjoyment of the second?)

    Good idea scheduling them on the hour too, really helps with time zone conversion and jumping in and out.

    Let the F-Fest Begin!

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  13. Glad to hear you're in, Brad! You definitely do not need to see Mad Max to appreciate The Road Warrior. Aside from understanding why Max is so Mad, the two movies have very little to do with one another.

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  14. Way behind, but checking in to note I'll be there. Damn fine list and I'm hoping Dark Crystal and Star Trek II are a pleasant surprise for those of us who haven't seen them.

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  15. Congratulations on AV Club mention!

    Quick question: How lost am I going to be if I only have access to the final and director's cuts of "Blade Runner"?

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  16. Thanks, Emeric!

    I don't think you'll be lost at all. In fact, you'll get to watch a better version of the movie. The reason we're going with the '82 theatrical cut is because a) it's what came out in 1982 and b) it's the version that's on Netflix. The only thing you'll have to know is that if we're making fun of voiceover on Twitter, just ignore it.

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  17. Thanks for the quick reply, Patrick (I've gotta borrow my friend's copy before he finds out about the festival.)

    I actually figured you chose that cut specifically to make fun of the notorious voiceover. Hopefully you can fit some quotes in those 140 characters so I don't miss out on the references like my uninformed friend will miss out on the festival (he's gonna be SO pissed, tee hee.)

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