Saturday, December 12, 2015

Weekend Open Thread

This time it's personal!

We're less than a week away from The Force Awakens! And The Road Chip! And just a few weeks away from Christmas! But that's post Road Chip and I don't want to get ahead of myself. The point is that if you want to know what I want for Christmas, just ask.

Talk away!

39 comments:

  1. Great comment by Heath on the recent Podcast for all us Pod people, I like how this really is the end, this build up has been a unique thing, it has been fun all the waiting, wondering, reading, teasers, trailers, international trailers, the time has finally come, Krampus this Weekend, Star wars next, good times...

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    1. After rewatching Super 8 last weekend I have renewed optimism in Abrams' story-telling ability. Also read an interview online where he committed to dialing down the lens flare effect. SW7 could be a lot of fun if he successfully resisted his indulgent tendencies.

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    2. And he made me love Star trek and I was never a Trekkie, to busy watching 80s horror movies, you know me, I did like Super 8 a lot, a film with a big heart

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    3. That wasn't Star Trek.

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    4. Hi Kathy.

      I was talking about the Director of the new Star treks JJ Abrams who is also Directing Star Wars, he made me love Star Trek, Sorry im confused?
      Cheers Dennis

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  2. Just discovered a captivating podcast called The Message. It's a science fiction radio play about a team of cryptologists trying to decode an alien broadcast. The series consists of eight short episodes with a total run time under two hours. Available at your local podcast outlet and themessagepodcast.com

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  3. I saw 2 movies yesterday- first was Krampus which I loved but the ending was a bit of a letdown. The second was Creed and it was amazing. If I had been alone in the theater I probably would have been yelling and throwing jabs at the screen! Star Wars is going to have to be pretty great to bump Creed off the top of my list.

    P.S. What do you want for Christmas Patrick? Let me guess- an original one sheet poster of The Road Chip signed by all 3 Chipmunks.

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  4. Tonight's the night I finally get to watch 'John Rad's' "Dangerous Men" at Brooklyn's Nitehawk Cinema. Loved that, on a recent podcast, Patrick found the experience of viewing such a train wreck fascinating while Riske pretty much hated it. Those are the movies I look forward to seeing to come up with my own conclusion. It better be worth it, though, since I'm giving up a chance to watch midnight 35mm screenings of Kubrick's "Eyes Wide Shut" (also at Nitehawk), Wes Craven's "Shocker" (IFC Center) and McTiernan's "Die Hard" (Landmark Sunshine).

    But I digress, time for another DING! DING! DING! WE HAVE A WINNER! pick. 1982's BUTCHER, BAKER, NIGHTMARE MAKER, aka NIGHT WARNING, was screened in 35mm last Thursday night at Nitehawk as part of its monthly series of movies that played in Times Square back during the exploitation heyday of the 70's and 80's. The print was more pink than Blake Edwards' panther but it was widescreen, unlike the full-screen, dubbed-from-a-VHS version currently on YouTube (but for how long?). I dare you to watch the opening 3 minutes and 20 seconds and not want to see the rest of this well-made flick that effectively walks a tightrope between an early 80's slasher and a "Psycho"-style character study of someone snapping. This is prime 'Junesploitation' material from veteran TV and beach party director William Asher ("Muscle Beach Party"), who somehow had within him a great horror flick that's unlike anything else in his filmography. It's like "Psycho II" (not really), except it's not a sequel and the 'slasher' portions come a lot bloodier and nastier than what the dramatic build-up leads one to expect.

    And holy shit, having just seen her in John Huston's "Fat City" I think Susan Tyrrell might be the next supporting actress whose every movie I'll make my mission to track down and see. There are many elements that go into making this an early 80's hidden gem (it barely played American theaters and fell into the UK's 'video nasties' list), but chief among them is Susan's go-for-broke performance. It's a constant back-and-forth between Tyrrell and Bo Svenson's a-hole police detective to see who walks away stealing the movie. Is it June already? Because there's no way I'm not sneaking in "Night Warning" as an excuse to watch it and talk about it again. Yep, it's that good. :-)

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    1. I watched it during SMM.

      "Progressive for '82 addressing incest and homophobia." I thought it was pretty good.

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  5. Any one else going to hold off on seeing the Force Awakens? I just don't think I can handle all the cheering that's going to happen opening weekend. I think I'll have to wait until sometime around Christmas.

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    1. I'm going to try and experiment and not look at any reviews or word of mouth before Force Awakens just to go in without anyones opinion in my head. It might cause me to go insane but I'm going to try.

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    2. I'm going on a cruise from tomorrow through the 20th, so I'll be seeing it on the 22nd. I'll have no internet access on the cruise, which is good, but it'll be difficult staying off the net for 2 days after I get home to avoid having the movie completely spoiled for me. Like Travis, I won't be reading any reviews or anything like that beforehand either. Hopefully he'll save me some space in the asylum.

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    3. Like I did for "Attack of the Clones" back in 2002, I'll seek an early 3D morning screening (4-7AM) opening weekend to get it out of the way. Nothing like jacked-up fans who couldn't make the midnight opening day screening jacked-up on coffee the morning after their beloved baby premiered. :-P

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    4. No chance I'm going to Star Wars opening weekend. I'll be there for Road Chip though.

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    5. I'm taking my kids on the Friday. My dad and I are seeing a double feature of Creed and the Force Awakens the next night.

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    6. To Star Wars right? Not Road Chip?

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    7. I'm probably going to see it sometime in the afternoon on the following Monday.

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    8. I'm seeing it three times in the first 24 hours. Got tickets for Thursday night, Friday morning, and Friday night. I'm still gonna completely disconnect from the net on Monday though, just to be safe.

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    9. I love my kids but not enough to sit through a fuckin chipmunk movie in the theater. My kids loved the originals and were bored as hell during the prequels. It's good because I would sell them if they liked the prequels better. I took my 7 year old to Krampus and he loved it cuz he's awesome.

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    10. Excellent. Just making sure :)

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    11. Yeah, it's going to be hard avoiding spoilers when half the world sees it opening weekend (i've even done a good job of avoiding trailers), and I have a feeling Patrick's going to drop the podcast on it early in the week (possibly even the rare Sunday podcast). But I'll have to stick it out, let the fanboys have their opening weekend where they can do all the cheering and fist pumping they want. I've got the week between Christmas and New year's off, stick at my parents house....not much else to do but go to the movies.

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    12. It's premiering in several European countries on Wednesday, so the spoiler floodgates will open then at the latest.

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    13. I have tickets for sunday and I think I have to avoid the internet until I saw it.

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  6. Been watching a lot of documentaries about movies after seeing the Cannon doc last week. My favorite ones that I've seen so far have been A Natural Born World-Shaker: Making 'Cool Hand Luke' and No Half Measures: Creating the Final Season of Breaking Bad. The Cool Hand Luke one is listed as a documentary on IMDB and the Blu-ray but I would be more inclined to call it a featurett. Despite the short run-time, it's still incredibly interesting and I'll never pass up the chance to listen to George Kennedy talk about beating up Paul Newman. The Breaking Bad doc is really cool and emotional because it meticulously covers the production of the last eight episodes. Really highlights the effort that went into the show.

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    1. Nice, Patrick. The Cool Hand Luke one sounds great. I think my fav. doc about movie making is "American Movie" (1999) It's also one of my favorite movies, period.

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    2. I love The Joe spinnel Documentary on the Bluray of Maniac a lot, and there is another Cannon doc called The GoGo boys if you enjoyed the GolumGlobus stuff

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  7. Watched Crimson Peak. Was not impressed. Didn't even think it looked that good. Watched The Keeping Room. I liked it. Brit is legit as we all know. Got my Christmas tree - now that is legit! Got my "Sam", "Freddy", "Jason", "Leatherface" and "Myers" ornaments on there!

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  8. To get into the holiday spirit, I just watched Tales of Halloween. Wrong holiday? I don't care. I loved the movie. Halloween isn't really a thing on this continent but I have a feeling Tales is gonna become a Halloween tradition for me. So much fun.

    I also tried watching Dude Bro Party Massacre III, but bailed on it after about 30 minutes. I get what it's trying to do and why it's supposed to be funny, but I didn't laugh once during that half hour. Didn't even come close.

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    1. Tales Of Halloween was freaking great. I can't wait until my kids are old enough that I show them it. It's going to be a while. I showed a clip from Jaws, and they had nightmares for weeks.....bad father??? shit, Jaws is amazing....

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    2. As some of the "podcasters" have recently become fathers (congrats), a episode on introducing movies to young kids would be great...just an idea!

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  9. Just watched "The Wave", disaster flick from Norway. I understand it's the highest grossing film from Norway this year and will be their entry for the Oscar Foreign Nom. Unfortunately, It's not good. It's like the big, blockbuster American disaster movie with only 5 minutes of disaster but all of the other cliches abound except for T&A.

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    1. Until now only season 1. Season 2 just started a week ago here in Germany.

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    2. Enjoy it. Season 2 is almost a different show entirely.

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  11. Just when I thought I had my top ten locked in for 2015 I see "The World of Kanako". Holy shit. Critics are irresponsibly (lazily) comparing this to Tarantino. I completely disagree. The easiest thing to point out is that the movie doesn't look anything like a QT film. People forget that Tarantino's voice is a compilation of a library of knowledge of films that are in his brain and come out on film. He's a master at it, no doubt, but there are others who can show their love for genre films without having to be compared to QT. In this case, the comparison is lazy because of the style that Nakashima is using. It's flashy and in your face but that's part of the point of the movie and at the same time, paying homage to revenge/crime films as QT has done (although nowhere as extreme) but it's also modern in a somewhat frantic, ADD kind of way at times. "Kanako" is not an easy film to watch, both in structure and content, but, damn, is it effective.

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  12. This was the weekend of Intelligent historical dramas for me. I saw Bridge of Spies and Spotlight. I absolutely LOVED both of them. Brilliant and highly entertaining films.

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    1. Just got back from Bridge Of Spies. Found myself relieved by how much I enjoyed it.

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    2. I saw "Bridge of spies" two weeks ago and was very entertained. I like this kind of classic, kind of old fashioned movies, so this weekend I saw another one.
      "In the heart of the sea" was a classic sea adventure, which was way better than I expected after the trailers. Filled with character actors and familiar faces in every corner of the frame, it´s more of a survival story than the fight against Moby Dick that the trailers suggested. Fine performances, great cinematography from "Dredd`s" Anthony Dod Mantle, an interesting story and good pacing held my interest throughout.
      The rest of the weekend was made up by the second season of HBOs "True Detective", the Streep/Roberts dysfunctional family horror "August, Osage County" and last years "Calvary" starring the wonderful Brendan Gleeson, who also showed up in "In the heart of the sea". So everything came full circle.

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