There will be some special Anniversaries this month, but for now...
10 Years Old This Month
School of Rock - Jack Black conning a classroom of children to put on a rock band is about a million times better than it sounds; these kids can play!
Brother Bear - Only mentioning this because it's a Disney Animated Canon film. It's one of my least favorites, mostly because it's so disjointed (the middle feels like an entirely different setting than the beginning and end), but it was a lot better than I expected it to be when I finally gave it a chance.
20 Years Old This Month
Demolition Man - I only saw it once, and I remember very little about it. However, any film that gives us a platinum blonde Wesley Snipes and an eerily prophetic "Politician Schwarzenegger" deserves to be mentioned.
Fatal Instinct - Woefully underrated parody film directed by Carl Reiner pokes fun at the kind of early 90's thrillers suggested in the title. Armand Assante is a comedy genius as lawyer/cop Ned Ravine. That's right: Armand Assante.
30 Years Old This Month
Never Say Never Again - Only saw this Bond film once, and it struck me as a ripoff of Thunderball. However, it was Sean Connery returning to his most beloved (and ironically his most personally hated) role after vowing never to come back. That's worth a mention here.
The Dead Zone - Christopher Walken in a Stephen King film. Why has this not happened again? Plus, Martin Sheen as a politician is hilarious in hindsight.
The Right Stuff - Never seen it, but everybody and their mother parodies it, so it deserves a nod.
"Only saw this Bond film once, and it struck me as a ripoff of Thunderball."
ReplyDeleteThat'd be because they're both based off the same book.
That's what I thought, but I wasn't sure.
DeleteYeah, what's interesting about Never Say Never Again is that it's not actually an "official" James Bond movie, being produced by a company other than Eon productions. That's part of why it's Connery as Bond rather than the then-incumbent Moore, and why it chooses to re-adapt an older Fleming book.
DeleteI've never seen it (I have a spectacular distaste for Bond movies) but interestingly enough it's directed by Irvin Kershner, who of course has a certain other franchise to his credit...Also the DP (cinematographer) was Douglas Slocomb, who DP'd for Raiders of the Lost Ark and Jesus Christ Superstar, among many other films.
Yeah, it was dueling with Octopussy at the time I believe.
DeleteSpeaking of James Bond, this month marks the 50th anniversary of From Russia With Love.
DeleteReally? It wasn't on the website I use for reference...or was it released in the UK before the US like Dr. No?
DeleteI think it was UK release before US release. US release apparently was in 64.
DeleteThe Nightmare Before Christmas also turns 20 this month.
ReplyDeleteWhy don't you reread that first sentence again (special = getting its own post at some point).
DeleteThere'll be a few. Like I said, a post a day this week.
October 30
ReplyDelete75 years ago an enfant terrible by the name of Orson Welles made a radio presentation of H.G. Wells' "War of the Worlds" causing those who weren't more genre savvy to panic at the idea of an alien invasion. It was said that years after the event, whenever anyone asked Mr. Welles if his intentions to scare were, well, intentional, he would just smile. Tomorrow there will be an episode on American Experience (PBS) about the event.
I actually have that on CD elsewhere
DeleteOf course, the stories of people panicking were dramatized slightly by the newspapers at the time...an estimated 20% of listeners actually mistook the program for reality, while the reported versions of things exaggerated that by quite a bit.
DeleteThus, the power of media.
DeleteIndeed.
Delete