Worried about Sir Scott's Prometheus? Is it an Alien prequel?
"This Is Not An Alien Prequel" Ridley has revealed...Its confusing, its also 3-D.
Worrying...There is only one scientific way to find out the truth of how disappointing the new film (will) may be.
Young Scott VS Old Scott
Young Scott:
1:Alien (1979)
2:Blade Runner (1982)
3:Legend (1985)
Old Scott:
1:Kingdom Of Heaven (2005)
2:Hannibal (2001)
3:A Good Year (2006)
Mmmmm...When was the last great Scott film? Black Rain? (1989) I really like but its not a masterpiece, if I'm honest it may be Blade Runner. I still get shivers when I think about Hannibal, a truly terrible film.
Winner:
Young Scott.
Exception to the rule: Prometheus? (2012) (The whole world crosses their fingers)
Sunday 27 February 2011
SPIELBERG VS SPIELBERG
I can remember seeing a drawing of Steven Spielberg in a comic when I was young, he was sitting on a directors chair and hand his arms around E.T and had Jaws and Indiana Jones stood behind him (Can sharks stand?). I couldn't believe that one man had made so many of my favorite films. I grew up with his films such as E.T, Empire Of The Sun and Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, I even have fond memories of 1941! I think I started to fall out of love with Spielberg after going to see Jurassic Park, I don't think it was to do with growing up because Duel, Raiders Of The Lost Ark and Jaws are very adult, maybe Spielberg had lost something on the way?
When We Were Young will look at directors and compare there early work with there current work.
Young Spielberg:
1:Jaws (1975)
2:Raiders Of The Lost Ark (1981)
3:Close encounters Of The Third Kind (1977)
Old Spielberg:
1:Indian Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull (2008)
2:War Of The Worlds (2005)
3:A.I Artificial Intelligence (2001)
Will I be disappointed by The Adventures Of Tintin: The Secret Of The Unicorn? Probably. I'm hoping that Peter Jackson is steering the film in the right direction. I think that Spielberg struggles to end a film in a satisfying way, A.I, Saving Private Ryan, Crystal Skull, War Of The Worlds all have horrible tacked on endings where the film should have finished at least 10 mins before they actually do.
Where else was I going to see Knightriders, Carnival Of Souls, Grim Prairie Tales, Tracks and Walker? Will any of these films ever be shown on TV again? I guess with the advent of dvds it now means its pretty cheap to release films now and you can usually get hold of these lost cult classics quite easily now, but back then I'd try and cram 4 Moviedrome movies onto 1VHS taped in Long Play. I can still remember the first time I saw Rabid as of many on this list and its no coincidence that 2 of my top 3 films of all time are on this list (Mishima and Performance)...Thank you Fantastic Mr Cox.
Moviedrome 1991-1993: BBC2
At Close Range
Badlands
The Beguiled
The Big Combo
The Big Knife
Bird
Cape Fear
Carnival Of Souls
Carrie
China Town
Cry Baby
Dark Man
The Day Of The Locust
Dead Ringers
Les Diaboliques
Django
The Dualists
Escape from Alcatraz
Escape From New York
F For Fake
Face To Face
Gothic
Grim Prairie Tales
Hells Angels On Wheels
The Hill
House Of Games
Inserts
Invasion Of The Body Snatchers
Junior Bonner
Knightriders
Lenny
Lolita
The Long Riders
Mad Max 2
A Man Escaped
Manhunter
Mishima
The Music Lovers
The Navigator
Performance
Play Misty For Me
The Prowler
Rabid
Rebel Without A Cause
Requiescant
Romance Of A Horse Thief
Run Of The Arrow
The Serpent And The Rainbow
Solaris
Something Wild
The Spiders Stratagem
To Sleep with Anger
Tracks
200 Motels
Vamp
Verboten!
Walker
Weekend
Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?
What Have I Done To Deserve This?
Wise Blood
Witchfinder General
What a list.
Homework: Get yourself a Love Film account and work your way through the2 Moviedrome lists.
Further Reading:
10,000 Ways to Die: A Director's Take on the Spaghetti Western: Alex Cox
X-Films: True Confessions Of A Radical Filmmaker: Alex Cox
The Alex Cox series Moviedrome is wholly responsible for my love of cult cinema. I started watching this season of cult double bills at a very young age and wouldn't have access to these films any other way. This was my education and Alex Cox was my guide, I used to love the introductions that Alex delivered in his laid back drawl. I believe the clip above comes from the first episode of Moviedrome way back in 1988 and contains Moviedromes mission statement. I love the fact he's got a Walker T-shirt on, I got the chance to meet Alex last year and I'm pretty sure he was dressed the same except he had a Repo Chick T-shirt on. Here is a list of the films shown in the first series of the Alex Cox run of Moviedrome, it reads like a list of my favorite films and the show is really missed, I wouldn't be the same person without its influence.
Moviedrome: BBC2- 1988-1990
Ace In The Hole
Alligator
Alphaville
An American Werewolf In London
Assualt On Precinct 13
Barberella
The Big Silence
Big Wednesday
Brazil
The Buddy Holly Story
A Bullet For The General
The California Dolls
Dead Of Night
Diva
D.O.A
Down By Law
Electra Glide In Blue
Fat City
Five Easy Pieces
The Fly
Get Carter
Goin' South
The Good The Bad And The Ugly
The Grisom Gang
The Hired Hand
The Honeymoon Killers
Incredible Shrinking Man
Invasion Of the Body Snatchers
Jabberwocky
Johnny Guitar
The Last Picture Show
The Long Hair Of Death
The Loved One
The Man Who Fell To Earth
The Man With The X-ray Eyes
Night Of The Comet
One-Eyed Jacks
One From The Heart
The Parallax View
The Phoenix City Story
Q-The Winged Serpent
Razorback
Rumblefish
Stardust Memories
Sunset Boulevard
Sweet Smell Of Success
The Terminator
The Thing From Another World
THX 1138
Trancers
Two-Lane Blacktop
Ulzanas Raid
Walk On The Wild Side
A Wedding
The Wicker Man
Yojimbo
Why of why isn't there a series like Moviedrome on TV now? I'll talk about the 91-93 series in my next post.
Mishka NYC made this fantastic Eraser Head jumper for there Fall season 2010 and I didn't buy it...WHY? If they get round to making an Elephant Man jumper then I'm definitely buying one.
1: Death Line (1973)
2: THX 1138 (1971)
3: Halloween (1978)
4: Cul-de-sac (1966)
5: From Beyond The Grave (1974)
Top 5 Sutherland Films:
1: MASH (1970)
2: Don't Look Now (1973)
3: Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1978)
4: Kelly's Heroes (1970)
5: Animal House (1978)
Its a close call, I can think of more Pleasence movies I love than Sutherland. Pleasence is a local lad too (Worksop) and Pleasence would have probably turned down the Italian Job remake. Sutherland has been in over 150 films but has a terrible sense of quality control (Fools Gold!), Pleasence was a P.O.W.
If Sutherland was in a room with me now and flashed his trademark smile he'd win hands down, but...
Winner:
Donald Pleasence
Just for the great Halloween scene:
" I met him fifteen years ago. I was told there was nothing left. No reason, no conscience, no understanding of even the most rudimentary sense of life or death, of good or evil, right or wrong. I met this six year old child with this blank, pale, emotionless face, and the blackest eyes, the Devil's eyes. I spent eight years trying to reach him and then another seven trying to keep him locked up because I realized that what was living behind that boy's eyes was purely and simply... evil."
