Saturday, February 4, 2017

Weekend Open Thread

Happy Women in Horror Month! Happy 1987 Week!

We're one week away from F This Movie Fest 6! ARE YOU EXCITED?? Do you have all your movies ready? Be sure to visit the site every day this week for lots of cool 1987-themed content as we celebrate F This Movie Fest's year in high fashion.

In the meantime, let's talk about other stuff. Like movies! And women in horror! And how excited we are for F This Movie Fest!

47 comments:

  1. I mentioned, on JB's great Psycho article, that Psycho was definitely in my top five horror movies. It got me thinking about what other four movies would be up there. After much soul-searching I came up with: The Shining, The Fly, Rosemary's Baby, and The Loved Ones. I know, I know, "A sly declaration of new classic status slipped in with some old, safe ones. Very pussy." But that movie is so freakin great and has one of my favourite villains of all time in Robin McLeavy's Lola. If you haven't seen it yet, I highly, highly, highly recommend it!

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  2. I was home sick with the flu for most of the week, so I've mainly watched movies. Saw 1953's House of Wax and the movie it's a remake of, 1933's Mystery of the Wax Museum,. Also Poltergeist, Firestarter, The Return of the Living Dead (plus the 2-hour documentary on the Blu-ray), Howard the Duck, Martial Law, Mission of Justice and Life of Brian. Apart from Poltergeist (second time) and Life of Brian (umpteenth time), everything else I was seeing for the first time. Of those, House of Wax and especially The Return of the Living Dead became instant favorites, the others less so.

    Also watched all four seasons of That Mitchell and Webb Look, one of my favorite sketch shows.

    And now looking forward to 1987 week. Got a couple of movies lined up, plus I've ordered Cherry 2000 and Amazon Women on the Moon. I just hope they arrive in time.

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    1. My dad has always been a huge fan of Cherry 2000. Not a bad movie but I still jokingly give him shit for being such a big champion of it.

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    2. Cherry 2000 will always remind of Encore movie channel's early slate of forgotten gems:-)

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    3. I watched Mystery of the Wax Museum last Scary Movie Month, and was blown away by how entertaining I found it. I liked it better than House of Wax, but it's really different. It's got that '30s fast talking newspaper dame angle that the remake so sorely missed. :) Return of the Living Dead is my all-time favorite horror movie.

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  3. Despite watching nearly nothing in January, I've partially made up for it this last week. With some old ones:

    Due Date (2010): This was a lot funnier than I remember it being. RDJ is excellent in this. I had forgotten Danny McBride had a small part.

    Horrible Bosses (2011): Not as funny the 2nd time. I realize as much as I love Sunny In Philadelphia, Charlie Day has only one character he can play.

    Hot Tub Time Machine (2010): For a movie based on a dumb premise, this movie is funny and loveable. Also, I love Craig Robinson.

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    1. And some new (to me) ones...

      Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift: What a dumb fun time! Really enjoyed.

      Fast 5, Fast & Furious 6: Was sick and drifting in and out of sleep through these ones. Looked like fun, but didn't follow the plot. Will rewatch

      I've watched one of the F & F movies in the past (the one with cars?? any guesses?), but don't remember which one. Guess I'm going to have to watch them all to find out? Should have probably started in order at least.

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    2. Edit: I didn't mean "old" movies, but rather ones I've already seen...before you all start mocking me :)

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    3. Tokyo Drift is probably my favourite of the earlier F & F movies. That being said, not sure how I feel about F8. I'm kind of happy to leave the series behind now. Who knows? Maybe it'll capture the dumb fun magic again...

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  4. Sadako vs Kayako reminds me why the J Horror fad is over. Also, the title is extremely misleading.

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    1. Yeah, it's a bad sign...ie. Freddy vs Jason, Alien vs Predator, Dollman vs Demonic Toys, etc.

      Although I still will defend AvP: Requiem...

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    2. Well - SPOILER - at least in all of those films the VS actually happened!! Sadako and Kayako don't even fight! Haha

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    3. Apparently they did have a fight and I have no idea how I missed it. I must have been getting a refill.

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    4. It just occurred to me that this might be the most 'Women in Horror Month' movie you could have. Are there any female horror villains as iconic as these two?

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    5. Hmmm...good question. Carrie?

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    6. Yikes, SvK was f'in Rosemary's Baby compared to Rings. What a debacle!

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    7. Haven't seen Rings yet so can't comment.

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    8. Rings makes The Ring Two look like The Ring. :)

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  5. Patrick was dead on - The Love Witch is something special. Had I seen it last year it would have been in my top ten. From the beginning of the film in where I recognized Morricone's score from "A Lizard in a Woman's Skin" to the amazing use of color and a flat out awesome performance, the film just feels confident, knows exactly what it's doing and is executed beautifully.

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    1. I was so happy to see this hit iTunes this week! Hopefully this weekend I'll Jean Luke Picard this sucker and "Make it so".

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    2. The movie's gorgeous, but I ultimately found it thematically kind of confusing, and it has no business being as long as it is, especially for the type of movie it's referencing... but overall, I'm much happier that this type of thing can get made and released than I am focused on what didn't work for me about it. If you dug this, I'd recommend checking out some of the stuff it's descended from, Like Crypt of Dark Secrets and Sinthia, The Devil's Doll!

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    3. Oh yeah, and Psyched by the 4-D Witch!

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    4. For once, I thought the length was juts fine as I was enamored with the movie in general.

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  6. Finally got the chance to watch The Monster last night. And...pretty good. I wasn't sure how I'd feel about it, I watched the Strangers again for the second time a few weeks ago, and had a much more negative reaction from what I did in the theater. But this was a much more competent and, dare I say, mature effort from Bertino. I continue to be glad that we have so many filmmakers trying to expand the limits of genre filmmaking.

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  7. Best movies based on a particular profession? I'm thinking journalist. You've got critical darlings Citizen Kane, La Dolce Vita and His Girl Friday. You've got 70s paranoia with All the President's Men and Network. You've got Almost Famous, Zodiac, Spotlight, The Insider, heck you've got Anchorman!

    There are certainly other strong contenders: soldier, police officer, musician. Do you consider any to have a superior selection to the journalists?

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    1. I've always been partial to private detectives, retired black ops, and ninjas, but you might have nailed it with journalist.

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    2. Not sure if they sit comfortably alongside the ones you've previously mentioned, but I have soft spots for Good Night, and Good Luck, State of Play and Frost/Nixon.

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    3. If we're talking the best selection of movies based around a profession, I'll have to go with police officer. It's a bit unfair because there just SO much more to choose from. You get a range from hard boiled nor, to classic detective like French Connection, to modern action like Die Hard, or crime drama like Heat, to even genre-defying classics like Pieces.

      But, if we're talking what movies best represent that profession, probably journalist. Movie cops are fun, but they rarely resemble their real life counterparts. Journalists, on the other hand, absolutely do.

      On the flips idea to that, is the movie architect. As an architect myself, I can honestly say that I've never seen a single movie architect that even closely resembles my daily experience. The closest one, honestly, is probably William Peterson from Fear. And even he's not close.

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    4. The Accountant is a pretty realistic portrayal of an average accountant, right?

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  8. Just watched some of The Wedding Singer and it occurred to me that everyone is now copying Adam Sandler by riding the nostalgia wave...Adam Sandler visionary???

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  9. The Trigger Effect (1996) with Kyle MacLachlan, Elisabeth Shue and Dermot Mulroney was the movie I watched on Netflix last night. What would you do to survive a blackout when the whole town suffers from a power outage for a few days?

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  10. judgement night, with emilio estevez. one of the best soundtrack ever. movie is okay.

    invasion of the body snatchers, the one with donald sutherland. great horror sci-fi from when they knew how to make them

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  11. Rewatched Withnail and I without realizing at first it was a 1987 movie (although I assume it didn't come out here in the U.S. in '87). I haven't seen it since sometime in the 90's and even then I don't know that I quite got it at the time. Now I kinda feel like I get it, but it still doesn't do much for me even though some of the performances are good.

    Also rewatched The Gate for the first time since I was a kid. I don't think I ever realized back then how slow that first half is. It takes almost 45 minutes for the creatures to even show up. I'll always like the design and animation of those little bastards though even if the movie is a bit crap overall.

    Then onto an '87 movie I hadn't seen, Light of Day starring Michael J. Fox and Joan Jett as brother and sister musicians. I had to watch this on youtube which I wouldn't normally do, but there isn't really another option short of a used VHS. It gets very movie of the week halfway through but Fox and Jett were more than enough to carry me through it. Springsteen wrote the title song, so bonus points there also. If this were released in some modern format I'd buy it.

    Up next, I'm about to watch No Man's Land because it's another 1987 movie I haven't seen and it's got Charlie Sheen and Randy Quaid from a more innocent era.

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  12. It would not be a weekend thread without me talking Xtro

    It was confirmed just this week that there is another cut of the film that a good negative has been found. So the 4 disc version of Xtro we are waiting for is now updated to a 5 disc version, 3 different cuts of the film, 1 disc of extras and the soundtrack,
    2 blurays, 2 DVDs and a CD
    And if you look on my twitter you will see the prototype of the Xtro model which looks amazing too

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    1. Holy mackerel, man, common wisdom would seem to dictate that they add Xtro 2 & 3 to this set and just call it a night on all physical media for this franchise. Unless, of course... There's a sequel or reboot on the way??

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    3. I know what you mean, I get the feeling they know parts 2 and 3 are garbage so they are making part 1 the ultimate edition,
      There is a Xtro reboot with the original Director and producer in the works, I talk about it on our Xtro page

      http://www.fthismovie.net/2016/10/talking-xtro-with-1-fan-of-xtro.html?m=1

      It sounds really interesting

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  13. I've a question. My parents arrived today for a visit, and me and the kids went over to their hotel (we live in 1-bed apart.), and while browsing through the "On Demand" videos, I was surprised to see Moana (for $17.99, plus tax) available on demand. This is still in theaters! WTF

    Does anybody have an explanation for this? It can't be a "purchase in advance" deal, because it was in a hotel room.

    Very strange.

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    1. For $17.99 it would almost have to be some sort of "purchase in advance" thing I would think. I can't see them charging that much for a rental during a hotel stay, especially with the digital release coming in a couple weeks.

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    2. moana is coming out on blu-ray at the end of march. so it's most likely a presale you're seeing. usually the come out on streaming a week or two before the blu-ray

      moana might still be in theatre, but that's because of the oscars nomination. that movie have been out for a while now.

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    4. Sorry i misspoke. Moana is coming out in exactly a month on blu-ray. That mean streaming will be available in about 2 weeks.

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    5. Interesting, I never know that such thing as pre-sales existed.

      Also, I should point out that all the movies were $17.99+tax, even 1or 2 year old movies. ( Canadian dollars, so $15 us after tax). Apparently some people are richer than me.

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  14. Was scrolling through Amazon's blu ray section and noticed a few gems coming out in the next few months:

    Tales From the Hood (Collector's)
    Wishmaster Collection - gotta admit, seeing Jack Sholder commentary on disc 2 has me intrigued, haha
    Phantasm Collection - Just got the remastered original on blu ray that was released last year as a gift actually, might have to get the set in preparation for SMM (shh, too early, i know)

    Couldn't help but think of Adam Riske with those first two on the list. Take my money!

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