Shout Factory Wants You All Howling – I Say Oblige Them.

Posted on June 21, 2013 by geelw

Thank yooooooou, Shout Factory (awoooooooo)! Getting Joe Dante’s classic werewolf flick The Howling back into circulation on DVD and Blu-Ray? Nice. Now I can stop telling folks I run into campfire tales of how awesome (and freakishly LONG) that wonderful Rob Bottin-created transformation sequence was while also rambling on about Pino Donaggio’s excellent score and how the film managed to be at turns scary and silly as well as packed with in-jokes and plenty of references to other films. Huzzah! That and I can stop getting picked up by the fuzz here for setting campfires to lend a scary atmosphere to things whenever someone asks me about the film. Well, and carrying an axe in public, using said axe to chop up the nearest wooden sign for firewood (I don’t go after trees, as we need them around here), scaring little kids by acting out the transformation and a few other minor offenses. Er, um… saaaay, isn’t that some nice *new* cover art on the right up there?

(“Exit, stage left!” Oops, that’s YOUR right. Damn, you Snagglepuss!)

Random Film of the Week: Logan’s Run

Posted on June 19, 2013 by geelw

When 2001: A Space Odyssey set the bar for visual effects back in 1968, movie studios around the globe kept trying to reach that level of polish and for the most part failed miserably. Outside of a few major and minor sci-fi hits and misses in theaters (Marooned, Journey to the Far Side of the Sun and Silent Running pop off the top of my head) and on TV (those bits of Gerry Andersen’s UFO and Space: 1999 that work), it wasn’t until the release of Star Wars that a major studio film had a visual aesthetic genre fans could glom onto almost universally for sheer “wow” factor. Granted, when Logan’s Run was in its production phase, I’m betting it sure looked “futuristic” to the very hard working teams building that huge model of the city and domes, the set and costume designers and yes, the visual effects crew, actors and director. Hell, it certainly impressed the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, as a special Oscar was awarded the film at the 1977 Academy Awards. Of course, George Lucas and ILM made that award all theirs the next year in a film not predicted to do all that well by a few people (Lucas included)…

Still, that didn’t help matters much in my case, as even as a wee bairn of eight years of age, I knew Logan’s Run was going to be enjoyably junky thanks to the TV commercials and rainbow on those posters I saw in subway stations. Interestingly enough, it actually popped up on TV about a year later (an amazingly fast time for a major Hollywood film), and while I was fascinated by some elements, to my mind it still looked cheap and the story (which I didn’t know was even more edited for TV) was hard to follow. Naturally, even though I didn’t like the film much, I ended up watching every episode of the 1977-78 CBS TV series and just like what happened with Planet of the Apes on the network, it managed to be dumber than the film, but easier to follow once I figured out that nothing would happen to the leads because they needed to be around for next week’s show. But I digress…
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Random Film of the Week: The Magic Sword

Posted on June 13, 2013 by geelw

(Thanks, Alistair Knight!)

Us-ually, I like to write up these RFotW posts alone, as I sometimes rely on memory and a re-viewing of a film to do some precision pre and post watching-progression in a few notes before writing. That said, I actually hadn’t planned on writing up The Magic Sword at all, but I was dropping off a loaner game at a friend’s, he happened to let me know that the movie was coming on TCM in about twenty four minutes and asked if I wanted to hang out and watch it.

My eyebrow went up, as I’m quite a busy guy this week… but I can be bribed under the proper circumstances (usually with food). “Toss in a pizza for two as a bonus for the pleasure of my company and we’re on”, I gently “suggest”. Hey, I’m no fool and double hey, he owes me a favor anyway, so it’s a deal.

A call was made, no anchovies were laid and thankfully, that pie was here exactly two minutes before the film started. I hadn’t seen it for a number of years, so I figured “what the hell!” as it would be interesting to see what happens when I sit down with an audience (hey, an extra person is an audience to me!) to catch something I’m usually trying to concentrate on alone for later article-worthy purposes. Ah, the best-laid plans of mice and men (and Bemis) get steamrolled into heckle-filled hilarity as the film in question wasn’t quite as good in some aspects as remembered… Continue reading →

Humor: Old Goats Butting Heads – Coming to a Theater Near You!

Posted on June 9, 2013 by geelw

Hoo boy. Other than the obvious joke “One or both of these movies will be subtitled”… well, I’m at a loss for words here other than wondering how fast both of these will pop up on cable so I can see them back to back and fall off my couch laughing in the comfort of my own home. Hey, those theater floors can be sticky sometimes, you know?

Yeesh. Well, thank Dionysus and The Muses they’re still kicking around and able to collect those paychecks, I suppose…

Yeah, Yeah…

Status

OK, despite the super-nice new weather outside (whee), I’m still not quite awake today and mistakes have been made. But they’ve been fixed.

EDIT! It’s a damn good thing bad spelling isn’t a work safety issue (well, under normal circumstances and definitely NOT in the case of a misread prescription thanks to a doctor that scribbles like he or she’s ON too many of the drugs they want you to take).

Imagine if it were, though?

Then all you blogger-types would have to deal with mandatory viewings of safety videos based on this Herk Harvey classic:

That is all. Back later – I may need to soak my head in a pot of coffee, though…

Random Film of the Week(end), Too: Dark City

Posted on June 8, 2013 by geelw

I didn’t get around to seeing The Matrix until its first sequel hit theaters, but when I did, I was surprised that it was so close thematically and visually it was to Dark City, Alex Proyas’ complex and visually stunning sci-fi film. For me, despite the lack of a more polished story, a reliance on mostly practical effects and a smaller budget, the film has a richer and more unique look than The Matrix that borrows from all over but manages to work almost perfectly.

Silent, film noir and more modern films get multiple nods, there’s a decidedly comic book aesthetic to the action scenes with “panel” compositions to some shots and everything’s wrapped into a “pay attention!” plot that makes for a film requiring multiple viewings to appreciate. Of course, other than loving the look and those freaky bald Strangers doing their thing (The teeth clicking? Scary and hilarious simultaneously), I didn’t much care for the film the first time I saw the original theatrical cut…

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Random Film of the Week(end): The Conversation

Posted on June 8, 2013 by geelw

It’s not surprising at all to me that everything we do on the internet or on the phone is monitored and for the most part, the average Joe and Jane is too caught up in not paying attention to this as an important issue and continues yakking or clicking away because they don’t see sanctioned invisible nosiness as a problem until it stomps on their big toe while chasing someone else.

That or there’s an “Oh well, what can you do?” attitude that’s only changed when they find out how bad things really are before case of mild online petition signing and outrage slides back into apathy as soon as that new Kardashian photo or cute cat video pops up in your inbox. Yeah, you know that’s you in there somewhere… I’ve got the transcripts if you want to come check them out sometime…

Anyway, The Conversation may (and should) make you even more paranoid as you’re watching it, but feel free to feel delighted as well as its eavesdropping surveillance whiz (Gene Hackman in one of his best performances) has his world fall apart around him while he plays catch-up with his conscience. For me, this is my favorite Francis Ford Coppola film because it’s still as timely, smart and ultimately depressing as it was when it was released almost 40 years (!) ago.

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Random Film of the Week: Invaders From Mars (1953)

Posted on June 5, 2013 by geelw

Thanks to the need to quickly get out product to audiences rabid for the fantastic, plenty of 1950’s sci-fi and horror movies look as if they were tossed together on a few weekends or less by people more or less making stuff up as they went along. Granted, this led to some true classics of awesomely wretched in-excess (otherwise known as “Z” movie greatness around here), but there were also some surprisingly well-made gems that still pack a punch in terms of story, design and overall impact.

Despite two out of three unconvincing-looking aliens (the third one’s the charm) and a bit too much military stock footage inserted to show loads of troops on the move, Invaders From Mars in squarely in the latter camp thanks to its director and production designer, William Cameron Menzies. The multiple Oscar winner applied his keen eye to the film’s visual style, which presents an alien invasion primarily from the point of view of the young boy who sees a saucer land in the field behind his house. Of course, no one believes him, but as things start to go strange around him, there are a few that finally see the light and fight back against the aliens… Continue reading →

Hump Day With The Ross Sisters: Don’t Get It Twisted, Mister…

Posted on June 5, 2013 by geelw

I’d forgotten all about the almost forgettable 1944 musical Broadway Rhythm until I was flipping around with the remote looking for something to work to as background noise for a bit of writing and boom, I see that TCM is showing the wonderful documentary That’s Entertainment III, an instant watch just for the old Hollywood history lesson and ton of rejected clips and alternate takes from more great MGM musicals. Anyway, they ran the end of this incredible dance sequence featuring The Ross Sisters (their sole film appearance) and as I watched it, I recalled I’d seen part of this film before, but changed the channel just before the “Solid Potato Salad” number where the gals do their thing.

Ouch, and ouch and ouch – all this clip reminds me of is how I really need to exercise more. Well, not to THAT point of flexibility, though. Hell, I almost broke a hip watching this. Anyway, nope, no special effects or stunt doubles here – just a lot of practice and probably no chemically packed fast food slowing them down one bit. Er, don’t try this at home, folks. Or at least keep an ambulance on speed dial…

Shout Factory Keeps The 70’s Rolling Along With Some Genre Classics…

Posted on June 4, 2013 by geelw

Seeing these three films pop up on the Shout Factory site almost makes me feel old, except for they got me excited that they’re back in circulation, so I’m bouncing around the room. OK, not so much at my age… but any activity is good when you get this creaky. I added the road movie from hell Race With the Devil as a Random Film of the Week last year, but haven’t got around to Electra Glide in Blue (a really good, quirky cop flick with one of those depressing 70’s endings) and Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry, a pretty cool extended car chase flick with some great action and yep, another smasher of an ending sequence.

Hmmm, with all this road wreckage, wild hippie women, devil worshipers doing their thing in the woods and assorted traffic cops going through really lousy workdays, it’s a wonder real people drove ANYWHERE during this period. Well, they had to go to the movies too, so I’d gather an evening at the drive-in for a triple feature of all three might have been happening somewhere out there back in the day…