Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Movie of the Day COMMENTS

This is topic Movie of the Day COMMENTS in forum The Afterlife at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by James R. Hammonds, Jr (Member # 673) on 01-01-2003, 02:07 AM:

Put you comments here. [Smile]

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 01-01-2003, 03:04 AM:

Heart and Souls is a very good movie that generally got missed during it's theatrical release. Anyone who hasn't seen it really should go out and rent it.

It is scope too! [Smile]

Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 01-01-2003, 09:05 AM:

Released in 1993, I believe it was the second feature from universal pictures to feature DTS sound.

Posted by Sean McKinnon (Member # 612) on 01-02-2003, 12:18 AM:

I never saw this movie.

Posted by Mike Spaeth (Member # 524) on 01-02-2003, 02:29 AM:

Defending Your Life - I was this on one of the pay cable movie channels last week (just about an hour) ... it seemed interesting ... off to Blockbuster I go.

Posted by James R. Hammonds, Jr (Member # 673) on 01-02-2003, 03:36 AM:

I rented Defending Your Life after Brad originally posted his review in the reviews section.
After seeing how many movies he hates, I just had to see something he actually did like. [Razz]

Pretty good flick.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 01-02-2003, 06:32 PM:

"Defending Your Life" --pretty good film. Watched it again when it aired on HBO a couple weeks back. "Heart and Souls" was pretty good. I watched it in DTS at GCC Northpark #1-#2 ("Jurassic Park" had both 1-2 screens there, but "Heart and Souls" took the #1 theater for a while --I seem to remember "JP" going back to the #1 screen).

"Heart and Souls" is also the reason why DTS changed their time code to include Film ID data. I'm sure there are others here who heard the stories about theaters who forgot to swap out CDs for "JP" and "Heart and Souls." Customers were complaining they were hearing loud velociraptor screams during a comedy.

Posted by David Favel (Member # 1125) on 01-04-2003, 02:04 AM:

I bought the criterion edition 2 weeks ago & played it to my son. He thought it was too cool for words. The played Starship Troopers as a double feature.

Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 01-04-2003, 05:49 PM:

What's a "Criterion Edition" DVD as opposed to a regular-edition DVD? Is it sort of like MFSL releases of audio recordings? (Better quality, more features, etc.)

=TMP=

Posted by William Leland III (Member # 1400) on 01-04-2003, 06:10 PM:

Thomas, here is the link

Criterion Home Page

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 01-04-2003, 06:11 PM:

The Criterion company licenses special editions of certain films. They started doing this when laserdisc was popular. Some of the best Criterion LD titles were CAV edition of "Close Encounters" and "Lawrence of Arabia."

When DVD came onto the scene Criterion released new special editions of other films. "Robocop" was one of those titles. It wasn't long on features, but it did contain the original "X-rated" cut and a very good commentary track the film's director (Paul Verhoeven) and the shows producers and writers. It's kind of revealing on the MPAA's system on censorship. The Criterion version of "Robocop" is no longer in print, but there are plenty of other special edition DVDs there.

Incidentally, wasn't "Robocop" the very first film to be released with Dolby SR optical tracks? "Star Trek IV" had Dolby SR on two 70mm mag prints that played in Los Angeles, but all the 35mm prints were Dolby A.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 01-04-2003, 06:18 PM:

I can't believe no comments about Fast Times at Ridgemont High! (I'm assuming once the "day" is over for that particular film, no more comments on it? Or is that wrong?)

What the hell, I'm gonna make a comment anyway: The "Phoebe Cates coming out of the pool" scene is among the greatest moments ever filmed. (in the teenage nudity division) [eyes]

Posted by James R. Hammonds, Jr (Member # 673) on 01-04-2003, 06:55 PM:

Nah, this thread is for any comment about any movie of the day or about the game and the rules itself.
The only place the one post per day rule applies is in the movie of the day thread itself.
It would be more interesting though if thee is a little more information than just a movie title as their pick of movie of the day.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 01-05-2003, 03:05 AM:

What about the original cut of "Robocop" made it worthy of the coveted X rating? Violence? Robo-nudity?

Posted by Christopher Duvall (Member # 284) on 01-05-2003, 03:12 AM:

Violence. The scene in the beginning of the film with the ED-209 was part of it. That scene went on much longer and the poor guy looked like hambuger afterwards. Another scene is the death of Murphy. There was a camera shot through his head after Clarence shot him there. Pretty graphic...just the way I like it! [Big Grin]

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 01-05-2003, 01:05 PM:

The commentary track on the Criterion "Robocop" DVD was really good in respect to the scene of Murphy's death. There was a lot of talk about items that got cut in relation to the MPAA's demands (like Murphy's whole arm getting blown off, the animatronic Murphy pulling himself up in a circle-dolly shot and getting shot through the head in the same shot). It was funny to hear the writer talking about how appalled Orion's executives were over the Murphy scene --these were old guys used to making Woody Allen comedies.

On the ED-209 scene where Mr. Kinney gets blown away, they shot the scene three different times. Verhoeven was not happy with the original result (which was actually used in the theatrical cut). One of the producers sceduled a reshoot. Still not good enough. They finally got some of the biggest sandwich baggies to fill up with fake blood and squibbs and just blew the hell out of the actor as he was sprawled on the model of New Detriot. Verhoeven was happy with that, but the MPAA told them to cut it (among with numerous things in the Murphy death scene) or get slapped with an X-rating.

It really sucks that the new MGM DVD version of "Robocop" is lacking of the uncut version and the commentary track that only works with the uncut version. Maybe some years down to road this DVD title will be revisited and given better audio/video treatment (like a properly mastered 16x9 enhanced video transfer and better DD 5.1 sound remaster to go with the original 2.0 mix).

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 01-05-2003, 01:14 PM:

"To Live and Die in L.A." was William Friedkin's best movie of the 1980's. It was a pretty slick crime drama that would make Michael Mann (who was doing Miami Vice at the time) just plain jealous.

What know what really sucks? You can't buy this movie in video at all! There is no DVD available. And if you hit the VHS link at IMDB's website, it takes you to a page at Amazon.com's site which informs you the VHS crapvision tape is out of stock.

New Century Productions released the film back in 1985. It went bankrupt after that (presumably since "To Live and Die in L.A." didn't exactly live up to its box office potential. Since then, the title has pretty much been stuck in legal limbo. I think MGM/UA Home Video has the rights to the title now. But there seems to be no sign of when/if a DVD will ever be released.

On top of that, MGM/UA has an extremely inconsistent level of quality on their DVD product. Some of their offerings are pretty good, but then there's others than just suck. MGM has really not ever been able to get its act together since corporate raider Kirk Kerkorian bought the company and virtually dismantled it (he sold off the original studio --at the time, the world's largest movie studio, the original MGM film library is actually owned by Ted Turner and Time Warner now, and the MGM company has gone through many different hands of ownership throughout the late 1980's and 1990's). The only thing MGM has going for it at all is a recognizeable trademark. That's it. If it weren't for the James Bond films, MGM would likely be history.

Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 01-07-2003, 05:32 PM:

If we're gonna post more than one "movie of the day", I'm not gonna be able to see them all!

Posted by James R. Hammonds, Jr (Member # 673) on 01-07-2003, 06:00 PM:

I was just going to say the same thing.
Three people have posted for the movie of the day for today so far.
I guess people either don't want to folow the rules I set up since I'm not the forum moderator or else they just didn't read them.

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 01-07-2003, 06:57 PM:

"Robocop" was the first movie in Dolby SR.

Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 01-07-2003, 10:35 PM:

James -- I think people are just doing it how they want and hoping you won't notice. [Wink]

Now, if they had some POINTS to take off in this GAME... [Razz]

=TMP=

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 01-07-2003, 11:57 PM:

Michael, Wasn't Throw Mama From The Train" the first one in SR? I know that R-2 Rattle-Shake-Hum-Hiss-Bang-Boom was the first SR wide release. I ran test reels of it at a theatre near Chicago for the Paramount(I think it was them) Boys so they could make a comparison.
Mark

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 01-08-2003, 04:22 AM:

Mark, nowhere in the movie did it say that you HAD to eat seafood in Judgment City! If so, then it would be hell, which it proclaimed not to be. [Big Grin]

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 01-08-2003, 06:44 AM:

But Brad,
You are dead when you are there and ALL of the food tasts soooooo good that you'd end up eating at least some.......now you can't sit there and tell me you'd miss out going to the Sushi Bar.....ha? At Judgement City there are no "Magnetic Influences" to get in the way of how food tastes....... [thumbsup]

Mark

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 01-08-2003, 08:54 AM:

I think I read that somewhere on the Dolby website, that "Robocop" was the first SR release (and "Robocop 2" the 100th).

Posted by Paul Linfesty (Member # 214) on 01-08-2003, 08:57 AM:

Robocop was the first wide 35mm SR release, but SR was first applied to two 70mm prints of Star Trek IV in 1986 (One played the Village Westwood, the other at the Cinerama Dome, Hollywood).

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 01-09-2003, 06:10 PM:

"Cool Hand Luke," the Movie of the Day (at the time of this posting) is a good choice. Great film and also currently worth noting since the film's cinematographer, Conrad Hall, passed away just a few days ago.

Posted by Gordon Hedges III (Member # 863) on 01-12-2003, 01:09 PM:

I did not know about Conrad Hall's passing prior to my post. All I can remember about Cool Hand Luke, before I watched it, was how people were giving it great reviews. I would pass by it many times at the local video store. I finally picked it up a few years back and loved it. The story was intriguing and soulful. I especially enjoyed the opening scene where he walks around cutting down parking meters.

Posted by William Leland III (Member # 1400) on 01-21-2003, 04:28 PM:

David S. how did u have that " Zombia" pic? I tried to past and copy "Ninja Scroll" but that doesn't work? How did u put that pic on there?

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 01-21-2003, 04:52 PM:

Speaking of Windows and IE now, on most web pages, you can right-click on an image and do a "Save As..." to save it on your system (though this produces an interesting result if you try it with images on Film-Tech itself [Wink]

). Then use Film-Tech's "Upload" button over there on the left to upload the image. You then have to cut and paste the resulting url from the "upload successful" page into your f-t post.

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 02-26-2003, 12:40 AM:

Bouncing to page 1 to encourage commentary on the "Movie of the Day" thread.

Chris: Coincidentally, I just noticed your comment on "Somewhere In Time." Actually, the movie is based on the book "Bid Time Return" by Richard Matheson. Did you mean to say that his book was based on "Time and Again"?

(By the way...This is the thread for posting comments.)

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 03-27-2003, 02:52 PM:

Bumping for Michael Schaffer, and should be moved to Afterlife. [Smile]

Posted by Daryl C. W. O'Shea (Member # 1303) on 03-27-2003, 07:36 PM:

I was going to move it earlier but frankly was too lazy to find it.

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 03-28-2003, 12:58 AM:

Well, thank the LORD for Daryl !!!

Paul -- Great to see your two posts there in the MOTD thread. Finally !!!

But, you know what? I will never forgive you for tempting me to actually go out and buy "Xanadu."

Posted by Chris Markiewicz (Member # 1415) on 03-28-2003, 01:11 PM:

Manny,
I wasn't aware of the Richard Matheson book. I need to read it. Is the premise of time travel by self-hypnosis the same? In any case, both Matheson and Finney are much underrated science fiction/fantasy authors.
Chris

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 03-28-2003, 08:59 PM:

If it's Friday, then it must be double-feature night !

Reminder -- the rules of the thread is that we're only supposed to review one movie per day. The rules also specify that the movie should be at least five years old.

This was a dying thread a while ago and I wanted to keep it going. I have started posting later and later in the day to give people a chance. I'm happy to see other people posting.

Okay, I'm going hunting for a used copy of "Virgin Suicides" now. Thanks for the review.

Posted by Paul Linfesty (Member # 214) on 03-29-2003, 09:35 AM:

Excuse me, Michael, but THIS is the place to post if you want to criticize my review in the MOTD.

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 03-29-2003, 10:55 AM:

"Visions of Light" isn`t a movie anyway. HA!

Posted by Paul Linfesty (Member # 214) on 03-29-2003, 12:31 PM:

Well, I SAW Visions of Light in a movie theatre (Laemmle's Monica in Santa Monica). It is a feature length documentary. AND Siskel & Ebert said "Great film. A must for film buffs." Both Mike Clark, USA Today, and Peter Travers, Rolling Stone, said "One of the 10 best films of the year." SO, I guess I'm not alone in thinking of this as a film.
Oh, and the San Francisco Chronicle noted that this was "The most criticaly acclaimed film of the year, according to a poll of 40 critics nationwide."

We are known by the company we keep. HA! HA! [Big Grin]

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 03-29-2003, 01:05 PM:

I thought it was a book!

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 03-29-2003, 01:42 PM:

"Visions of Light" may also be a book, but it most certainly is a movie. I saw it in college. Michael may be thinking about "Matters of Light and Depth."

Reminder: Straight-to-Video and TV movies are eligible for MOTD.

Michael stop being a troublemaker!

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 03-30-2003, 01:14 PM:

I saw Visions of Light at Bijou Art Cinemas in Eugene, a mortuary that was converted into a theatre. [Cool]

Posted by Bill Gabel (Member # 1105) on 03-31-2003, 10:12 AM:

I saw "Visions of Light" at the Laemmle's Monica like Paul did, when I was assigned to Paramount Hollywood. I know the DP, Nancy Schreiber from when she did "Shadow Magic".

Posted by Paul Linfesty (Member # 214) on 03-31-2003, 02:22 PM:

Could posters in MOVIE OF THE DAY please remember that the rules set up by the post initiator calls for only one movie posted for that day. [Smile]

BTW, that was an interesting analysis of THE LOST BOYS. For some reason I've never caught this film, but my curiosity has certainly been spiked.

Posted by Don Bruechert (Member # 1538) on 04-01-2003, 08:22 AM:

RE: Xanadu (1980)

I have this movie in my collection, and besides all the excellent scenery within, it has an extraordinarily kick ass soundtrack for it's day when played on a modern surround sound processor. You have to hear it to believe it, and Crank it up!

Posted by Gunnar Johansson (Member # 1661) on 04-04-2003, 03:50 AM:

Regarding trying to post two movies on the same day (yesterday):
Sorry, got the timezones screwed up. Won´t happen again.

//Gunnar

Posted by Paul Linfesty (Member # 214) on 04-07-2003, 07:48 PM:

Comment on today's (Grease 2)MOTD:

Actually, in many ways, Grease 2 betters Grease. Choreography and camerawork work together seamlessly here. I found both to be pretty clumsy in the original. Michelle Pfeiffer does a pretty credible job here. Good choice, Manny.

Posted by Gunnar Johansson (Member # 1661) on 04-08-2003, 05:35 PM:

A day to late, maybe, but Grease 2 happens to be a favourite of mine too. My sister used to watch endlessly, over and over again, and it just sort of grew on you. I probably know all the songs by heart. I liked it more as a sort of a movie you love to hate, but it´s part of my adolescence and I wouldn´t trade it for any other film, ooh, wait maybe I would like to trade for any other film...

//Gunnar

Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 04-15-2003, 10:41 PM:

Regarding one of today's MOTDs Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, for now the 1984 full-length version (Japanese title Kaze no Tani no Naushika) is not available outside of Japan. New World Pictures licensed it in 1985, and released a severely edited (1+56 cut to 1+25), English-dubbed version of it under the title Warriors of the Wind. This version had a very small art-house release here (4 screens I think) and then went to video; the rights have since expired. Nausicaa was Hayao Miyazaki's first film as both writer and director, and he was appalled when he found out what New World had done to it--since then he has maintained a strict "no cuts" requirement for releases of his films.

In 1996 Disney agreed to the "no cuts" clause and obtained the rights to the full-length version of Nausicaa, along with most of the rest of Studio Ghibli's output to date. Nausicaa will be released on DVD in Japan later this year or in early 2004. There is speculation and hope amongst us NA Ghibli fans that Disney will release Nausicaa in NA sometime after the Japanese DVD release. Signs look good as they have released four Ghibli titles to R1 DVD so far: Princess Mononoke in 1999, and as of today Spirited Away, Castle in the Sky, and Kiki's Delivery Service (previously released on VHS and LD). Fox's rights to My Neighbor Totoro revert to Disney in 2004--hopefully Disney will give it the same enhanced widescreen (as opposed to Fox's P&S) treatment that they have given the others so far.

A shameless plug and link to the best English-language fan site for all things Ghibli (I am temporarily one of the site's administrators): http://nausicaa.net/miyazaki/

Posted by Brad Haven (Member # 954) on 04-25-2003, 12:56 AM:

I really enjoyed SHOW ME LOVE, it had a cinema release here at cinema paradiso , but i didn't catch it until recently when it was screened on SBS tv, nicely presented in widescreen SD.

I believe this director has a new film coming soon, which i will hopefully see at the cinema this time!

A bit recent for MOVIE OF THE DAY, but a good suggestion [thumbsup]

Posted by Gunnar Johansson (Member # 1661) on 04-26-2003, 08:25 AM:

Brad: Having broken the "rules" at least once before I actually checked it out, and it said "ideally at least 5 years old", which is what I followed.
Lukas Moodysson (the director) has made two movies since, both really good, but I can´t remember if I´v heard about a new one. Tillsammans (Together?)(with the beatuiful tagline (roughly translated rather eating porridge together than veal alone....) (I just love tag lines [Smile]

)(oh, and parenthesis....) was a really good film about hippie collective in the 70´s, and Lilja 4-ever, a haunting story about a russian girl on the way downhill, and by no fault of her one. Incindently not many swedish actors in that one, shot somewhere in Russia. Not the feel-good-movie of the year, but it´s good.
Hopefully he´ll make a new film soon, and I´m looking forward to it.
Fucking Åmål almost turned in to a cult in Sweden, and definetly put Åmål on the map, but nothing in the film is shot in Åmål... It was shot in another town, not very far from Åmål, I guess Åmål wasn´t looking enough like Åmål...

//Gunnar (BTW Peggy Sue was a really good choice...)
----------------------------------------
Full of broken thoughts I can not repair

Posted by Brad Haven (Member # 954) on 04-26-2003, 10:56 AM:

Hi Gunnar,
LILJA 4_EVER is the new film i was thinking of, we are a little behind here [Wink]

I missed TOGETHER, it's down at my local video store and is on my list of films to see.
HAVE FUN
BRAD

Posted by Michael Coate (Member # 757) on 04-29-2003, 09:24 PM:

Comment on Grease 2 from the review thread:

quote:
See for yourself what all the fuss is about! Unfortunately, it's not available yet on DVD so VHS will have to do.

Region 1 DVD due on June 10.

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 05-01-2003, 03:39 PM:

[Smile]

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 10-11-2003, 03:08 AM:

Remember now...

The comments go in here!

Posted by Paul Linfesty (Member # 214) on 12-19-2003, 07:38 PM:

Oh, Joy! One of my MOTD's is headed to DVD in the new year! Fox Home Video releases MYRA BRECKINRIDGE on March 9 complete with two commentaries (director Michael Sarne and Raquel Welch) and is part of a box set featuring 5 Welch films (including One Million Years B.C., Bandolero, Fathom, Mother, Jugs& Speed), all for 50 bucks retail (individual titles for $14.95)!