What if THE MATRIX were a silent movie?

1 comment November 11th, 2009

Then it might look a little something like this surprisingly elaborate production cooked up by the Russian group Bolshaya Raznitsa, which according to Neatorama (where I got this clip) translates as “Big Difference.”

Whatever happened to the kids from Ridgemont High?

Add comment November 9th, 2009

And I’m not talking about the actors, either. Before it was a teen comedy (frankly, probably the best teen comedy ever made, not counting RUSHMORE), FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH was a book by Cameron Crowe, the future writer/director. Crowe, who was both precocious and young-looking, enrolled at a California high school — San Diego’s Claremont High — and based his book on what he saw as a (fake) student.

Well, that was more than 30 years ago. The kids — who inspired such well-known characters as Spicoli, Brad and whatever the heck Phoebe Cates’ characters name was — graduated in 1979, and now they’re having their 30th reunion.

From the San Diego Union-Tribune (via a link at Cinematical):

At its 30-year-reunion celebrations this weekend, the crowd is filled with firefighters, teachers,professors, businessmen, engineers, mechanics and many others who are gainfully employed and contributing to society. Last night, the Chieftains danced to popular 1970s and 1980s tunes and posed for promlike pictures in front of clusters of orange, blue and white balloons symbolizing their school colors.

Read the whole story, including how some of these grads don’t want their own teens watching FAST TIMES, here.

(When FAST TIMES hit theaters back in 1982, it was the must-sneak-into movie of the year for my sophomore high school class. I tried valiantly with a friend, but we were followed into the theater by the manager, who forced us to watch E.T. — the movie we had actually bought the ticket for — again. I wouldn’t see FAST TIMES until it came out on the brand-new format of videotape a few years later.)

Adam and …. Adam?

Add comment October 28th, 2009

Have you ever dreamed of seeing Adam Sandler playing both the male and female roles in a romantic comedy?

If so, I’m happy to tell you that your sick, twisted dream is about to come true. From Variety…

Adam Sandler is climbing up the hill for Columbia Pictures. The actor will next star in the romantic comedy JACK AND JILL and produce via his Happy Madison shingle. Sandler will play Jack as well as twin sister Jill.

OK, since the characters Sandler is playing are brother and sister, we can be pretty sure they’re not the romantic couple at the center of the story ( I sure hope not!). But after admiring Sandler’s performance in PUNCH DRUNK LOVE and seeing him stretch a bit as an actor in FUNNY PEOPLE, it’s a disappointment to see him fall back into the same dopey comic ruts he’s been stuck in for years. I mean, surely the guy has enough money by now, right?

Oh well. At least it’s being produced by the same guy who brought us PAUL BLART: MALL COP. That means it has to be good, right? Right?

Friday Morning Videos: Groucho teaches the class

1 comment October 16th, 2009

Today seems like the sort of day that could use a little Marx Brothers. So here’s a classic classroom scene from HORSE FEATHERS…

“According to Von Steinmetz, the eminent physiologist, there is ever present a group of white thagacytes…”

Friday Morning Videos: Warner Bros. Bloopers

Add comment September 25th, 2009

Back in the glory days of the studio era, Warner Bros. would compile collections of each year’s bloopers and screw-ups and show them at the annual holiday party. Thankfully, many of these have been included on various Warner Bros. DVDs (the first gangster boxed set has plenty). Here’s the reel from 1936. You’ll see some familiar faces — including Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis and Edward G. Robinson — and hear them spout some slightly naughty language.

Friday Afternoon Videos: IT’S A GIFT

Add comment September 18th, 2009

When he was at his best — i.e. trying to live in a world set against him — there was almost no topping W.C. Fields. And he’s at his best in this clip from IT’S A GIFT, when all he’s trying to do is catch a few much-needed winks.

“La Fong! Carl La Fong! Capital L, small A, captital F, small O, small N, small G! La Fong! Carl La Fong!”

Friday Afternoon Videos: BLACK DYNAMITE trailer

Add comment September 11th, 2009

Here’s the trailer for BLACK DYNAMITE, a faux-blaxploitation movie that looks like it nails the genre more accurately than anything I’ve ever seen, from the frenzied voice-over to the kung fu to the list of (fake) actors’ names at the end. (The actual trailer it most resembles is the hard-to-believe-it’s-real promo for Rudy Ray Moore’s oddball masterpiece, DOLEMITE.)

It opens Oct. 16, and as a fan of crazed ’70s cinema, I can’t wait to see it. Here’s one of the posters which, like the trailer, nails the time-period perfectly. (For more, check out the official site.)

Friday Morning Videos: THE LADIES MAN

Add comment September 4th, 2009

It’s Labor Day weekend, which means the Jerry Lewis Muscular Distrophy telethon will be airing somewhere on a TV set near you. Jerry is clearly past his prime, and just about the only time you see him these days is on the annual telethon. But once upon a time, back in the 1950s and 1960s, he was a global superstar — and one of the most interesting filmmakers around. Check out this surreal, beautifully shot  and staged scene from his 1961 movie THE LADIES MAN (my personal favorite in the Lewis filmography) and you might change your opinion of the guy…

And, if you’d like to donate to the fight muscular distrophy, click here.

Just when we needed them most!

Add comment September 3rd, 2009

We haven’t heard from this pair of cultural critics in a while, but Beavis and Butt-head have returned just in time to bring us a review (sort of) of the new movie EXTRACT, which opens this weekend and just happens to be written and directed by Mike Judge, the same guy who created the troubled teens (and provides both their voices).

As you’ll see, they haven’t changed a bit. Take that as a warning, if you must.

How long was Bill Murray stuck on Feb. 2 anyway?

1 comment August 21st, 2009

In GROUNDHOG DAY (one of the best movies of the 1990s, incidentally), snarky weather man Phil Connor (Bill Murray) learns to be a better person after reliving the same exact day over and over (and over and over) again. The question remains, though — just how long was poor Phil stuck in the 24 hours of Groundhog Day?

It turns out there’s a bit of a debate. Harold Ramis, who wrote and directed the movie, says in this e-mail to Heeb Magazine’s Web site that he spent at least a few decades on that single day:

 ”I think the 10-year estimate is too short. It takes at least 10 years to get good at anything, and, alloting for the down time and misguided years he spent, it had to be more like 30 or 40 years… People [i.e. spaz] have way too much time on their hands. They could be learning to play the piano or speak French or sculpt ice”

Turns out Ramis is responding to this guy, who claims it was eight years, eight months and 16 days. And he has the math to prove it! (Check out his site for the extremely detailed explanation of the graphic below.)

Supposedly, the original version of the script had Murray stuck on the same day for the equivalent of 10,000 years. Personally, I like that idea. It fits more into the philosophical theme of the film — that to become a better person, it might take a very, very long time.