Oops! A week late! This is actually the second take of 1988, the first dumped for excess boringness! As Mark gets older, and Allen gets younger (?!?) they take time out to talk about the movies of 1988
discussed in this episode:
- The Top 10 Grossing films of 1988
- Comedies of 1988
- Sci-fi in 1988
- Action films of 1988
coming up next:
the movies of 1988 – part two!
7 comments:
Ok. I want to discuss the 1979 segment and your ripping “The Black Hole” a new one – What’s up with that? When Mark said he compared it to Buck Rogers I literally threw my shoes at the monitor. You guys need to get a copy and watch it on Hi Def to fully appreciate the awesomeness. Have a double feature and watch it with Disney’s version of “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea”. Sure, the story was pretty messed up – You need to blame too many writers & producers on that one. The original treatment was 10 times better, but some jack-ass studio exec wanted more Star Wars and less Silent Running. Some of the lines in the movie are bloody brilliant though – Stop pissing on about the ‘painted on eyeballs’ with the ‘bots Allen, and listen to the dialogue man.
Black Hole was also ‘the bridge’ between Old School effects geniuses and their eventual successors. These Old School guys actually got their hands dirty – Not sitting in front of a PC drinking Dr. Pepper in a third rate shit effects house. One of Peter Ellenshaws last productions – Take a second look at the visual effects (esp. mattes & miniatures) and seriously tell me whether CGI can hold a candle to it. The model of the USS Cygnus was actually 20+ feet long and constructed out of metal (brass? – I’m too lazy to check). It was made by actual people man – Not some computer generated junk. Now this film was also one of Harrison Ellenshaw’s first, which was sorta like the passing of the torch for modern day effects. Then you have other guys like Art Cruickshaw, Mike Edmonson and others – genius effects guys – watch the movie again and appreciate the effects.
WAH WAH The shots of the spaceships took too long. The 15 minutes that you pan across the Cygnus is worth it!... Kubrick did longer shots of ships and yet everyone geeks out over 2001. Don’t get me started on the slow, lazy shots of the Nostromo, Allen!
If you somehow get bored of the meticulous work put into the miniatures, you may notice that the space backdrop was HAND PAINTED. How many flicks have hand-painted space backdrops? And it looks incredible. John Barry’s score is amazing… One of his few breakouts from the Bond genre. And the last movie of all time to include an Overture.
Maximillian was the baddest robot ever made. I had the opportunity to see the actual model years ago in a warehouse – Amazingly, it’s only 3-4 feet tall. The way they made Maximillian so menacing and imposing (through camera angles) was a work of art.
Black Hole also was groundbreaking with the fact that Disney never had such a graphic scene of death (Perkins getting CuisinArted by Maximillian). Now in the previous podcast, you guys were complaining about ‘homogenization’ and all that – Here’s Disney showing violence like never before. It didn’t really bugger the MPAA, but the outcry by parents wanting Disney to conform to its homogenized standards lead to the formation of Touchstone Pictures (which I’m sure you’ll be praising in your 1988 show).
Others Films from 1979 that were cool: THE TIN DRUM. The IMDB and Siskel/ Ebert search engines are pretty sloppy. Don’t rely on them as much.
And RUNNING. Mark, you talk about Ontario in every episode, yet here’s a rare treat starring Michael Douglas that was filmed North of Toronto. And it’s pretty damn good!
Ok. I’m done ranting. Keep up the good work guys. Happy Holidays.
OK, you asked for contributions for ’88…
No Sci Fi/ Genre Stuff in 1988!? That was a great year!
Lots of schlock, but if Nightmare 4 got a mention…
Akira !!!
Monkey Shines (great Romero movie)
Dead Heat (Vincent Price’s second last movie) – Plus you guys need to talk about the crazy theme of 1988 ‘Heat’ named movies – Red Heat, Dead Heat, Outer Heat (original Alienation title)
Return of the Killer Tomatoes (starring George Clooney)
The Vanishing
Child’s Play
Bad Dreams (the poster was later used for NightBreed)
PumpkinHead
Killer Klowns from Outer Space
The Blob remake
Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers
Demonia (classic Fulci)
Maniac Cop
Bad Taste (Peter Jackson!)
And Allen: where’s the love for Earth Girls Are Easy? (Mark – Jim Carrey starred in this before Dead Pool, so he was even doing his ‘thing’ back then)
oh Martini! Where have you been? I have missed the comments and perspective! and Dude! You got me smiling here with the obvious passion and knowledge for films you possess! I really wish you could join us for the podcast and keep us on out toes on the fly!
Regarding the '88 show... 2 things...
1- It's not over, so some of the stuff you have mentioned may be coming up yet
and 2- the show is as big a mess as i was recording it! LOL We recorded it twice actually, and the first was unlistenable! Seriously, it was the antidote for interesting! The second one was better, but I will own that too much drink the night before made me the muddle man!
As well, there is so much stuff that is released each year and there just isn't time to be prolific and talk about everything, as much as we would love to. However, we will be doing 1994 next, so if you think there is something that we should not gloss over tell us now before we do it! Please!
Now, about the Black Hole... I will give you that the shots of the Nostromo are somewhat self-indulgent as well, but damn it, it's freaking Alien! It gets alot of latitude ¦¬) But I stand by the Black Hole being a much lesser, much duller movie. (Now here is where I distract you and use Mark as a human sheild...) But wait till you hear what Mark says about Akira!!! (tee hee) Keep those typing fingers loosened up!
Thanx so much for the comments, and I hope you have a great Holiday Season!
Martini! Gah! I had completely forgotten about Bad Taste! When Allen and I originally went through the 1988 list, that one jumped out at me and I got all excited, but after that first night, it's like it fell off the list and I forgot all about it. I didn't even remember again until you mentioned it now. I loved that movie.
Alrighty... here's where I get a bit nit-picky. :o) Dead Pool was released in July of 1988 in the US and Earth Girls are Easy wasn't seen until September 1988 at the Toronto Film Festival and not until May of 1989 in the States. He might have shot EGaE a full year before for all I know and it sat in a can on a shelf, but Dead Pool was still seen first.
A double feature of The Black Hole and 20000 Leagues Under the Sea? Could we watch 20000 Leagues first? I wouldn't want to fall asleep and miss it if Black Hole was the first on the bill. Heheh... It may be technically fantastic, with beautiful miniatures and out of this world (heh, nice one) matte paintings, but that doesn't detract from the fact that it was a boring piece of poop and Alien was not. But, I'll give you this... I liked the idea of it a lot more when I was a kid. I didn't have a Ripley action figure after all. It was actually one of those Holy Grail-like movies for me, up until I actually saw it before the podcast.
Earth Girls are Easy sat on the shelf for nearly a year by my estimates. Studio was having problems getting it distributed. Same thing happened to Bill & Ted, which even had a longer gestation period. I remember reading that EGAE was in Post back in 1987 - But you can bet Dirty Harry didn't wait around to be released.
Would you want to be the one to tell Harry Callahan that he had to wait? Heh. :o)
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