Get ready for F This Movie Fest 5 as Patrick and Doug talk about the movies of 1984.
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Also discussed this episode: The Rock-afire Explosion (2008); Amadeus (1984); Johnny Dangerously (1984); Blood Simple (1984); Bachelor Party (1984)
The great people at the Summer Camp I attended for most of my youth showed us Amadeus. It was an odd experience to show that to a bunch of 8-9 year old kids. They also showed us Summer Rental the next year which I think the counselors regretted. All of us kids loved Summer Rental, not so much Amadeus :)
ReplyDeleteHow could you not remember Fatz Geronimo? What about his partners in crime Billy Bob Brockali, Mitzi Mozzarella and Dook Larue? I saw my first boobs in 84! Apollonia! I had just turned 35. Life was simpler then...
ReplyDeleteThanks for answering my question! I should have sent another tweet saying that I actually love this movie, though it's certainly a hard-earned love - that came about from reading the novel and watching more David Lynch movies.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, Patrick - the movie is both fascinating and frustratingly incomplete. I've come to appreciate it for what it does, instead of what it doesn't.
Also, you can't masturbate to sandworms? Freak.
I love your stories about kids' experiences watching movies. I realize I've heard a bunch of them listening to your podcasts, and they're great. Your daughter liking Coraline and The Never Ending Story is awesome. I wonder what she's connecting with. And how are some kids so brave? The scariest movie to me as a kid was Married To The Mob. I was like 7 and terrified and obsessed with a scene where I think Alec Baldwin is in a bathtub. I could never stop thinking about it at night and one night in bed I decided something had to be done- I had to throw that VHS away. So I woke up and went downstairs and found it and walked it to the garbage can down the street (which was a ways away) and dropped it in. I remember feeling so relieved after. Haha. Kids are so interesting.
ReplyDeleteI also saw Amadeus as kid, but later since I was born in 1984. I really loved it, too. I think being a kid myself made it really easy to relate to and care about the childish Mozart/Hulce.
I really cant talk shit on the Oscars for nominating 3 of those Best Picture nominees. Amadeus, The Killing Fields, and A Passage to India. All truly great films, with huge scope and an epic feel.
ReplyDeleteAlso i think people get confused on the purpose of the Oscars when looking back at them to see if the films "are still being talked about today." The Oscars aren't meant to be future predictors, but rather to capture the zeitgeist of a certain year.
Eh, I'm gonna call BS on your second paragraph (respectfully, of course).
DeleteHow does The King's Speech capture the zeitgeist of 2010? Or The Artist in 2011? There are so many better examples of movies from those years that exemplify the spirit of the era (ERA). I have no idea if The Social Network will be talked about 30 years from now. I do know, however, that it SCREAMS 2010. And, in my opinion, it's a better film. But whatever.
No one's confused as to the purpose of the Oscars. We all know they suck. F the Oscars.
Mozart's laugh is 100 percent accurate. Documents of the time describe his laugh as high-pitched and shrill. Mozart was the life of the party, but was also extremely meticulous in his work, and his work came far from easy for him. The original drafts of his sheet music are filled with constant corrections and omissions (to quote a rival podcast). Also, a big addition in the director's cut are Elizabeth Berridge's personalities, which are a welcome addition for me (I've always found her gorgeous; she has what I call an "I can't *not* look at her!" quality, which she shares with Martha Plimpton). I love "Amadeus". It's easily in my Top 5.
ReplyDeleteAnd as long as we're talking about first VCR tapes, I had "The Great Muppet Caper" on Betamax, which was taped off of HBO, and my uncle had a "Big Box" version of "Blame It on Rio", which I never watched, but the box art kept me entertained whenever I was at his house.
So thanks to you guys I have to learn how to use Twitter and Periscope in the same week. Looking forward to seeing how you work Tinder in next.
ReplyDeletePatrick, I can't believe your daughter loves the scene from Neverending Story with the two statues. That scared the shit out me when I was a kid. It's one of the scariest things I saw as a kid (other than the Black Cauldron, which gave me nightmares for ages). Yeah, I know, I was coddled.
ReplyDeleteAlso, looking to slowly ease my under-10 kids into horror, I was going to watch Caroline with them. I've never seen it, but glad to hear (implied?) that you approve.
It's funny to hear you guys talk about 1984 being the best year for movies. I've always thought that myself and you guys definitely made the case for it. I mean, what an incredible list of movies, and plus like you guys mentioned, foundation movies that launched careers or franchises as well. I never really thought about Blood Simple being a 1984 film, for some reason I thought it was late 80s (sad that I didn't know since I own the Blu Ray, lol). While it may not have been a great year as far as the so-called 'prestige' films like Amadeus (love that movie), but it is packed with some of the most entertaining, groundbreaking, culturally impactful films of the past 30+ years. Anyways, you guys covered all this wonderfully. Thanks for continuing to provide great content weekly, I love F This Movie!!
ReplyDeleteI am hoping to watch at least 2 films this weekend on the festival list and participate. I don't know which 2 yet, hopefully I can get my girlfriend on board with watching more, at the very least I should be able to get her to watch ghostbusters, lol, but I want to check out Streets of Fire or The Last Starfighter...I haven't seen either of them, but I trust Mr. Bromley!
I have to chime in about Amadeus, because I think you guys missed one critical thing: it's Salieri who tells the whole story, and from his perspective Mozart is a despicable idiot who ruined his world. Salieri had it all figured out, he was a renowned composer and the court's maestro, and suddenly this uncouth, blabbering punk shows up and he's a million times more talented and, like Patrick points out, it all comes to him naturally because he was born a genius - and Salieri hates him because he's secretly dying to have at least a fraction of his talent, and starts hating himself for not being as good as he always thought he was.
ReplyDeleteAnd what also drives him crazy is that God (and he is rally devout) chose to give this incredible spark of genius to this crude, worthless piece of crap. What he does have, however, is position and clout, so he acts out in the ugliest, pettiest way possible, by sabotaging Mozart's career. It's a story of frustration, jealousy, and not being able to come to turns with your own limitations.
Needless to say, I think it's a terrific movie.
* come to terms not turns, obviously.
DeletePersonal anecdote: Immediately after seeing "The Rock-afire Explosion," my wife and I looked up Chris Thrash and saw that he had opened a restaurant approximately four hours from where we lived. I grew up near a Showbiz Pizza and have tons of fond memories of that animatronic band, so we took a little weekend trip down Phenix, Alabama to check out Showbiz Pizza Place, Thrash's homage to the original restaurant.
ReplyDeleteThe place is closed now, which sucks, but man, was that place amazing. Thrash had collected tons of the old Showbiz Pizza memorabilia, including the parody movie posters that used to hang on the walls (Chuck E. Cheese restaurants actually picked this up for a while), the same tables, some of the prizes, tons of arcade games and, of course, the band.
This is going to sound super-nerdy, but there's a reason the Rock-afire Explosion has a devoted following: It's really good. The shows are genuinely funny, and the characters are much, much more expressive than those Chuck E. Cheese began using after the switch in brands. It's amazing to think that these things used to be in restaurants all over the country. These days, Chuck E. Cheese Restaurants feature, at most, a single robot. Some of them have none.
My wife and I stayed a few hours. We ate pizza, played games and enjoyed several performances. There were several families there, and it was neat to see both children and adults reacting to that robot band with equal enthusiasm, although for different reasons. Kids were thrilled because it was a bunch of robot animals telling jokes and playing songs; the parents because, like me, they remembered Showbiz Pizza from their childhoods and, for a spell, they were six or seven years old again.
Thrash himself was very nice and obviously very proud of his setup. I talked to him for a few minutes about the documentary and how cool I thought it was that he had devoted himself to something so specific. I meant that, too. If not for Thrash, I would have never been able to spend a few hours reveling in my childhood memories. In fact, before I saw the documentary, I barely remembered The Rock-afire Explosion (I was a big Billy Bear fan, myself).
People who devote themselves to recapturing something from their childhoods are both somewhat sad and, for the people like me, who are able to leech a little bit of magic from their efforts, really admirable.