The Films You Watched Thread V: Dead Men Watch No Movies

[Dogg Thang]

But this genre gave us Airplane! which more than makes up for any of its sins.

Definitely. I have seen a couple of the Airport films but, honestly, I don't remember anything. Airplane is a masterpiece and one of my favourite films. I have been tempted to revisit the Airport films at some point to remind myself where it all started.

[Neon Ignition]

There are a few scenes in Airport that you recognise from their parody in Airplane, the biggest surprise with Airplane is just how late after Airport it came along. Airport's entire four film franchise was dead, Airplane being a 1980 parody of a 1970 film

[QualityChimp]

Definitely. I have seen a couple of the Airport films but, honestly, I don't remember anything. Airplane is a masterpiece and one of my favourite films. I have been tempted to revisit the Airport films at some point to remind myself where it all started.

Did you know that Airplane! is technically a remake?

This was the first film by Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker ("ZAZ") after The Kentucky Fried Movie, which was a series of sketches and movie spoofs. Airplane! was a complete story and they used the 1957 film Zero Hour! as its template, but stuck so close to the story (because they were new to writing screenplays) that they had to buy the rights from Warner Bros to Zero Hour! for a princely sum of $2500.

[Dogg Thang]

Did you know that Airplane! is technically a remake?

I had no idea! That trailer is fascinating in terms of how close it is to Airplane.

[QualityChimp]

I had no idea! That trailer is fascinating in terms of how close it is to Airplane.

Simon Brew was talking about it in his excellent Film Stories podcast, which I urge film fans to check out:

https://www.filmstories.co.uk/news/podcast-bram-stokers-dracula-1992-and-the-naked-gun-1988/

[Dogg Thang]

Thanks QC! I'll check it out!

[QualityChimp]

Each one discusses two films, and even the ones I don't intend to watch are interesting, like the one about Mars Attacks! and Legally Blonde.

Reese With Her Spoon got it written into her contract that she could keep all the outfits - she got about 200 Jimmy Choo shoes out of that clause!

[Atticus]

Dr Strangelove - Only the second time I've seen it ever. Such a unique vision. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Amazing stuff.

The Shining - I generally watch this every couple of years ... only this time it was the new 4k blu release. Amazing as ever and looking tip top. Really nice release. It's the longer US cut as well, which I prefer.

[Cepp]

Just watched Hard Boiled for the first time.

That hospital one shot. My god.

[Atticus]

The Magnificent Ambersons - Orson Welles' second film is famous for one big negative: Welles not only didn't get final cut, but the feature was massively pared down and given a different ending. Despite being hobbled, what's left still has a great deal going for it. Some of the set pieces look like a Christmas card come to life, and a beautiful, poetic narration by Welles (who isn't in the film) drenches it in nostalgia. But despite these flashes of greatness it's hard to get beyond what it might have, and should have been.

[Atticus]

Angel Heart - I love a good detective yarn and I love a good horror and this mashes both up nicely. It's a dark tale with very little relief ... full of foreboding and misdirection. Add in a couple of acting heavyweights (Mickey Rourke and Robert De Niro) and you've got a recipe for something quite special. Watching it it's a shame Rourke's career went off the rails so spectacularly ... he's unbelievable in this, maybe his finest hour. I hadn't actually seen the film since I was at school so it was great to revisit ... although, a

->Open Spoiler<-

dodgy moment / special effect at the end

can't help but kill the overall effect a bit.

[Team Andromeda]

The Shining - I generally watch this every couple of years ... only this time it was the new 4k blu release. Amazing as ever and looking tip top. Really nice release. It's the longer US cut as well, which I prefer.

Such a clever and well-made film that just doesn't age and one of those films just gets better every time you watch it again.
Stanley Kubrick was a genius

[charlesr]

The Aeronauts

Pretty exciting. Go watch it.

[Neon Ignition]

Angel Has Fallen
It's quite amusing watching the budget get thrown at the screen in one moment then yanked back in another, some moments look so cheap like much of London did but then others aren't too bad. They still haven't quite gotten their heads around the fact that part of the reason Olympus worked so well and avoided feeling too cheap is that most of it took place indoors which would work much better for this series wherever possible. That being said, this is immensely generic as an action film goes, there are no twists even though they're written in because they're both too obvious and so is the casting. However, it's solid enough to be entertaining and is also overall more enjoyable than the second film which continues the franchises bizarre lifespan.

[QualityChimp]

A bit seasonally late, but I watched Halloween (2018).

It was pretty good and better than it deserved to be. There's some retconning as it's a direct sequel to the original.
Michael Myers is no longer Laurie Strode's brother. That idea was introduced in Halloween II.

What I found interesting was the crazy kill count. In the original, as they mention, it was only 5 people, but in this

->Open Spoiler<-

it's 18

!

There's a particularly well done one-take that lasts ages as Myers goes house-to-house killing people.

If you're a fan of the series, there are some really nice homages throughout.
Three kids running around in Season of the Witch masks, a couple of kids dressed like the ones who bump into Myers in 2, the reverse-decaying pumpkin in the opening titles has a (clearer) Myers-with-a-knife for the eye like the original and some funny plot flips that swaps Myers and Strode's roles in the original.

Biggest problem was I knew there's a sequel and who's in it and it kinda killed the tension.