Saturday, August 31, 2013

Weekend Weigh-in: Free For All

In lieu of a specific topic this week, we're opening the WWi to all of you to ask, discuss or vent about anything you want. Probably movie-related, of course.


39 comments:

  1. I'll throw out a topic, how about underappreciated Animated movies? I just watched Secret of NIMH in it's entirety for the first time ever and wow what a ballsy movie, available on netflix instant right now and how it got a G rating on release is amazing, check it out if you haven't

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    1. That's one of those movies that I want to someday write about for ICFt80s. Like so many of the genre movies of the decade, it's presumably aimed at kids but also SUPER INTENSE AND SCARY.

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    2. Great question Tom! I would say all of these are somewhat under-appreciated: Monster House, Lilo & Stitch, Mulan, Ponyo, The Great Mouse Detective, The Illusionist

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    3. I haven't seen the secret of nimh in a long time but, I do like it. A discussion about intelligent "kids' movies" and the lack of them today would make interesting podcast material.

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    4. I agree. Mulan is really good. Princess Mononoke is one of the best movies, not just animated movies, I have ever seen.

      "Your art... is the best art... of ALL the art."

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    5. I love the Secret of NIMH. One of my favorite animated films. I must have watched it dozens of times as a kid. Loved the book as well even when I had to read it in the fourth grade.

      Along with your question of under appreciated animated films, I have always really liked "The Flight of Dragons" (1982) by the great Rankin & Bass. There are criticisms and I really can't watch it without the veil of nostalgia having seen it so many times as a child.

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    6. I would also like to throw in Ray Bradbury's "The Halloween Tree" (1993) for being a great lesser known animated film.

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    7. The Halloween Tree is awesome! I'd love a DVD or Blu-ray release of that.

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    8. Kudos for the support of Lilo and Stitch. That one is definitely in my Disney top five.

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    9. Kudos for the support of Lilo and Stitch. That one is definitely in my Disney top five.

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    10. Under-appreciated animation: ReBoot, whose first two seasons are on Netflix.

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    11. Studio Ghibli is responsible for some truly special animated movies, such as My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away, but another favorite of mine is Kiki's Delivery Service. I tend to prefer the Japanese voices subtitled, but I do get a kick out of Phil Hartman's performance as Kiki's cat.

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  2. Today I'm warming up for Scary Movie Month by listening to the director's commentary for Rob Zombie's Halloween 2 ( director's cut) and The Woman in Black.

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    1. Yes! I'm impatiently counting down the days until SMM! October seriously can't come soon enough!

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  3. I like this idea. Here's my movie day: Today I'm watching a triple feature of Netflix rentals of Michael Clayton, Sideways and Take Shelter, all of which I'm somehow only watching for the first time. I'm very excited, as I hear great things about all of these movies.

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    1. I'm jealous of you. They're all really good movies.

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  4. I recently watched Salo, or the 120 days of Sodom in a theater. It was my first time seeing the film and perhaps watching it with 50 other stone-faced, glassy-eyed people wasn't the best choice. It was one of the most awkward movie going experiences ever.

    As for the movie itself, i'll just quote Palmer from John Carpenter's The Thing: "You've got to be fucking kidding!".

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    1. So is that "F this movie!" or "F! this movie!"?

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    2. So is that "F this movie!" or "F! this movie!"?

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    3. I can't imagine watching that movie with other people... it would be like reading the book aloud to a small audience of people. Where the hell was that playing in a theater?

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    4. It was more like F?! This movie?!!?.

      They showed it at the Billy Wilder Theater near Beverly Hills, CA. It was part of a Pier Paolo Pasolini retrospective.

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    5. I also watched "Salo" for the first time in a packed theater at Brooklyn Academy of Music on the 4th of July a few years back. It's the type of movie you don't clap afterwards (when everybody awkwardly gets up from their seats) but you kind-of want to at the balls it took for Pasolini to go there. Not a happy film though, and the closest one that lives up to 'torture porn' moniker on the audience, especially the final five minutes.

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  5. I have nothing, so I'll just share that this past Friday the Lincoln Center Film Society closed its summer midnight movie series with a 35mm print screening of the unrated cut of Stuart Gordon's "Re-Animator." I tried to talk a couple of co-workers, both horror fans and "Re-Animator" virgins, to come with me but the desire to start Labor Day Weekend ASAP won over. They really missed out. Screenwriter Dennis Paoli ("Dagon," "From Beyond") showed up without advance warning and was talked into introducing the movie and answer some questions. I asked him what he thought of the Brian Yuzna-directed "Re-Animator" sequels that built upon his foundation and, politely, he said they had a few good ideas and that (plus Jeffrey Combs) was all they had going for them... ouch! He also plugged the hell out of the "Re-Animator" off-broadway musical, which apparently is coming back later this year.

    The print had seen better days but it was pretty solid and the movie still holds. "Re-Animator" is one of those 80's horror gems that everyone caught on video, but to see it in a mostly-filled theater with an appreciative crowd (Richard Band's credit got the most applause during the opening credits) both felt comforting and like we were all watching/doing something we'd need to take a shower for afterwards. "The scene" with a naked Barbara Crampton literally made ten people say 'holy shit!' outloud. :-P

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    1. I genuinely love Barbara Crampton's reaction to that scene on the DVD commentary. "Here it is, my mom's favorite scene!" Great track all around.

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    2. I like how Jeffrey Combs keeps trying to shush everyone when he's on screen.

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  6. I have a really interesting story to share. Today I found a box crammed full of VHS tapes filled with movies that my grandfather taped from the years between when he retired and when he died. There are tons of them that span from silent movies all the way up to like the 70s and 80s. Each tape also has little cards associated with them that details what's on the tape, when the movie was released, who played in it, when he taped it, what channel, and any Academy Awards the films won. I am keeping his VHS tape of Universal horror movies and other horror classics like Nosferatu and Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde. That was an amazing find, and it shows I come by my love of movies honestly. If only VHS wasn't a dead format.

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    1. That's awesome John. Do you have access to a VHS player to see these? Even if you don't, the fact your grandpa went through all these troubles makes these VHS tapes worth keeping, IMHO. :-)

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    2. Unfortunately not. :-/ But at the very least I'll probably keep the notes he took, if not the tapes themselves. Obviously I have IMDB for all that info now, but he put so much work into that stuff, I would hate to see it all go to waste and just be thrown away. Plus, it would be a neat keepsake and a great reminder that my grandfather was into some of the same stuff I am now.

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  7. What's going on with the Massacre this year? Music Box or The Portage?

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    1. The official Massacre will be at the Patio theater this year. I'm still trying to decide what to do. There might be something new in store this year.

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  8. Going back to a previous column about "alternate versions" of movies on DVD/blu-ray...

    Star Trek: The Wrath of Darkness (no, I won't stop calling it that) is coming out on disc on the 9th of this month. As usual, there are the sets with "toys" - Amazon has a set with a phaser replica for $79, Walmart has a steelcase with a Hot Wheels version of Khan's ship for $39). These have all of the same extras included with the "standard version" of the movie.

    Then there's Target and Best Buy. Each store's set contains a bonus disc with about a half an hour of extras, one completely different from the other store's. They won't tell you what's on them (so far).

    Interested in a commentary track? Forget the discs. You'll have to buy a copy of the film off of iTunes to get that!

    And what are the odds that there *isn't* a set containing all, some or none of all of these things plus the stuff they're currently holding back that will become available at Xmas time?

    And they wonder why people pirate stuff....

    It would be so nice if people told them to stick all of these different versions up their asses and buy MST3K: The Movie on blu-ray instead.... I can dream, can't I?

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  9. I've been pretty lucky lately (mostly because the movies I'm seeing aren't crowded), but I fear it's only getting worse. The lines between home viewing/theatrical experiences are erasing, and this wonderful new Entitlement Generation viewing texting/tweeting/talking as a right, not an intrusion. Look at the stupid dustup from a few weeks ago where a grown man actually argued in favor of a separate section in theaters where the audience could have a "second screen experience" (be allowed to use their smartphones). I would be ok with this only if those people agreed that it be called the Fucking Asshole section.

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  10. I saw You're Next in a nearly empty theater, but because I came in during the previews I had to stumble to a seat in the pitch black. Once my eyes adjusted, I realized I sat down two seats away from one of the only other people in the theater. I suppose that counts as a horrible audience experience for the other guy.

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  11. I've had some bad moviewatching experiences but by far the worst tend to be with horror movies which is why I utterly refuse to go to a horror movie on an opening weekend anymore, to paraphrase a famous movie line "Oh yes there will be assholes". I actually had a good time at You're Next because there were only 10 people in the audience, it sucks it has to be that way but I went to the Conjuring which was about 2/3rds full and couldn't get away from the stupid "we're gonna laugh at everything" stupid people in the back ugh.

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  12. I saw You're Next again in a nearly empty theater. 14 people - 6 walkouts, 3 other people basically ran out of the theater the moment the end credits rolled. 2 of the walkouts were a really old couple (I've seen so many old couple walkouts at horror movies - what the hell are they expecting?). Of the 5 people left, 2 people talked the ENTIRE MOVIE and luckily they sat in the same row as me. One guy was by himself and quiet. And one dude randomly was punching his friend's arm at several points in the movie. The person punching was Mark Ahn. The punched arm belong to me. Mark was having none of the Amy Seimetz character arc. NONE OF IT!

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    1. My sweet, sweet Amy Seimetz.

      The old couple was the best. I might go to more horror movies just to see old couples walking out; I have so many questions. What did they think YOU'RE NEXT was going to be? Was it between that and SMURFS 2? Had they seen every other movie that was offered? When exactly did they realize they wanted to leave?

      Also, go see YOU'RE NEXT, if you haven't. Because a city doesn't get leveled in it.

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  13. When I saw "The Wolverine" some asshole couple sitting a few seats from me had an infant baby that cried the entire movie. Had it been a better, more serious movie, I would have been more upset...but come on!

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  14. I stopped attending all the so called big blockbuster movies during their opening weekend after The Amazing Spiderman last year. On a Friday night, a mother & her two brats (who both had to be no older than 7 years old) sat right behind me & they wouldn't stop talking or crying throughout the whole time. The mother didn't give a damn & I wasn't the only one that told them to Shhhhhh! She didn't have the decency to leave the theater. Hire a babysitter or stay at home & don't ruin the movie for the rest of us!

    For some reason, I don't get the assholes on Mondays or cheap Tuesdays at the theaters I go to.

    Wait a second. Did I hear the ultra-progressive Patrick Bromley bashing The Entitlement Generation? Good Lord, is Bromley finally coming over to the dark conservative side? Yes, Bromley, give in to my way of thinking. Ha! Ha! Evil Laugh!

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    1. I know. It's crazy, right? Despite being pretty liberal, I form opinions on things on a case-by-case basis rather than subscribing to a predetermined ideology!

      That reads as an accusation. It is not. I know you were making a joke.

      And I get fewer assholes at earlier movies, too. The row of teenage girls nearly ruined The Conjuring for my wife and me.

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